Thanks so much to those of you who made it to yesterday’s second workshop in our Project Management Summer Series – What is a Project Manager?  We know it’s a particularly tough time of year to commit a half day to a workshop, and we’re so grateful for the time and energy you’re giving to co-creating project processes and culture in IS.

We’d be very glad to see you at our final workshop, What is a Project and What does it Mean for Us?, on Wednesday, August 8th.  We’re just going to do one session this time, beginning with lunch at 12:30 followed by the workshop from 1:15-4:30.  We’re looking forward to bringing everyone together for a single discussion.

Sign up by August 1st.  Please note we’re meeting in Campus Center 200, not the Gateway Conference Room this time!

And finally, our PMO website is growing!  We have lots of new resources to add following yesterday’s discussions including workshop materials, simple tools for project managers, additions to the glossary, and more best practices.  We hope to have these up on this page sometime next week.

We are pleased to present a working draft of the best practices that came out of the Project Lifecycle group discussions that took place at the 6/13 workshop! Anything to add?  Comment below or send us an email!  Want to contribute to IS’ Project Management Best Practices?  Sign up for Workshop #2, What is a Project Manager?

Initiation

Stakeholders:

• Name every stakeholder (individual or group), how involved they need to be, and communicate with them as appropriate during Initiation (throughout the project).
• Get as many “we” and as few “they” as possible by inviting every single person that needs to be involved in the project to a launch meeting.

Sponsor:

• Name a project sponsor (individual or advisory group) as early as possible.
• The Project manager is responsible for informing and engaging the Sponsor throughout.
• The sponsor should communicate the need a project will meet to potential stakeholders.
• The sponsor should have the organizational position to resolve any governance issues a project faces.

Project Manager:

• Name a single project manager as early as possible, even if the project will be initiated by a group.
• High-level planning:
• Define high-level goals and limits – what problem are you trying to solve, and what problem are you not trying to solve?
• Do prototyping, proof of concept, feasibility study for risky/high stakes projects – in Initiation or as a separate phase or project
• Do a high-level risk analysis to see if the project tis viable. (Develop a risk response strategy in the Planning stage, and adjust and monitor it during Executing.)
• Make a high-level budget, including contingency, before the project is authorized. (Make the budget more precise during Planning, and monitor it during Executing.)

Planning

Deliverables:

• Ask users to define high-level goals and needs before articulating specific requirements.
• Define and document deliverables, sort them into project phases as needed, and assign a timeline to each.
• Use a change management process to authorize changes to the project timeline, scope and/or budget.
• Add project phases if further development is authorized.
• If implementing a new service, set clear deliverables so that when implementation is completed, the project ends.

Phases and Sub-Projects:

• Break large projects into sub-projects, as necessary, to make more efficient use of staff specialties.
• Sub-projects and project phases each have their own Initiation, Planning, Executing and Closing stages.

Executing

• Mark the beginning of Executing with a kickoff meeting that includes all core and extended team members and the sponsor.
• For “Agile” project management, solicit frequent user feedback and adjust the project plan accordingly. Project phases are shorter and iterative.
• Document repeat processes so that they can be used in future projects.

Closing

• If additional needs are discovered, the project can still close on time with recommendation for future projects.
• Communicate closure of the project and phases publicly and/or to the team.
• Celebration marks the end of a project for the team and stakeholders.

photo by xnyhpx

Following the same format as the first Project Management Summer Series workshop, The Project Lifecycle, we look forward to co-creating project management processes and best practices with you at workshop #2, What Is a Project Manager?  Fill in this brief form to register:  https://brynmawr.wufoo.com/forms/project-management-summer-series/

Lunch is included – hope to see you there!

Thanks to everyone who came to last week’s first Project Management Summer Series session, The Project Lifecycle!  We were thrilled to have sixteen participants from nearly every group within Information Services and a few colleagues from Haverford.  Each participant spent four hours working on project management scenarios in teams, reporting back for larger group discussion, and enjoying lunch with each other.

Take a look at the TOOLS and GLOSSARY sections to see some of the things we worked on, and to see what’s in store for future Summer Series sessions.  Best Practices generated by last week’s discussions should be up later this week.  Registration is now open for the next session, What is a Project Manager?  Sign up now!

Stay tuned for more information and resources as this site develops.  Anything in particular you’d like to see?  Let us know!