Video: How To Do a Project in 5 Steps
Sample How To Articles
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Planning a Project with a Difficult Executive
Watch a project manager start planning, get eaten alive by a tough executive and start work with no defined scope. Then see the PM try it again, using best planning practices, and win the day with a crystal clear scope definition. Includes analysis of the PM's performance by Dick Billows, PMP
Build the Right Work Breakdown Structure for Your Project
A good WBS is not a detailed "To Do" list. But too many PMs and executives think all that micro-detail gives them tight control. It actually gives them less control and a schedule that is too detailed to track and keep up to date.
WBS: How Many Tasks?
Project managers often ask this question and are often surprised at how you figure it out on each project. Read the article and watch the video on creating a WBS that lets you plan and control the project and make crystal clear assignments to team members.
Project Planning Techniques
Project managers use a variety of techniques to build the project plan and schedule. The article provides an inventory of these techniques and when to use them depending on the project's complexity, size and risk.
Project Estimating
Project managers estimate duration and work in various stages of the project lifecycle. We have order of magnitude estimates in Initiation, definitive estimates in Planning and rolling estimates every week of the project during Execution. A number of techniques are used for estimating including analogous, PERT, parametric and bottom-up estimating.
Assess a PM's Performance in a Planning Meeting
Watch the video of a PM and 5 team members planning a project and spot the mistakes. Then listen to private interviews afterward and hear what the team really thought. The listen to Dick Billows, PMP, GCA's analysis of the PM's work.
Communicating With Your Team: Estimating
Watch the video to learn about adapting your communications style to "fit" each team member's personality and get better commitment and clear communication.
Project Methodology: 3 Sizes for Different Projects
We utilize 3 different sized methodologies for managing projects depending on their size, complexity and the amount of business risk. The first level methodology is for smaller projects done within a department on a small project. The second methodology is appropriate for projects that involve multiple departments and organizations and a larger number of stakeholders on a medium-sized project. The third methodology is for larger projects done for clients or customers.
Team Assignments
Utilize specific techniques for assigning tasks to the project team members. We need clarity of the deliverables the team member needs to produce as well as commitment to the estimated work and duration of the project. The techniques project managers use differ, depending on the size, scale, and risk of the project.
Critical Path
The critical path is a powerful tool for project managers as it allows them to shorten the duration of the project while maximizing the efficient use of project resources.
Lessons Learned
The project lessons learned process keeps organizations from making the same mistakes over and over again on projects. There are a number of techniques to apply in the lessons learned meeting which should involve the project sponsor, project manager and the project team.
Project Scope
Scope creep is a significant problem in project management where the list of deliverables the project has to produce increases week after week as we execute the project plan. Project managers need to apply techniques to control the scope of the project.
Project Trade-offs
Project trade-offs are an important technique of project managers when dealing with the initial project plan as well as with changes to the project. We trade-off project scope vs. budget vs. cost vs. risk giving the sponsor and stakeholders choices while maintaining the feasibility of the project.
Handling Requests to Finish Earlier
Project managers handle requests to finish earlier all the time. But all too often the PM handles them incorrectly and winds us with unhappy customers or a conflict that gets escalated to upper management. There is a better way as you will see in this video which shows the wrong way and then the correct way to handle these requests to finish earlier.
Project Manager Authority
Project managers need certain types of authority to produce project deliverables on time and within budget. The type of authority project managers need changes depending on the size, complexity, risk and size of the project team.
Project Sponsors
A bad project sponsor can ruin the results of even the most skillful project manager. Too many project sponsors think they don't need to learn any new skills to be an executive sponsor of a project. This is bad enough when they’re initiating just one project at a time. But unfortunately the same overconfident executives usually wind up sponsoring multiple projects, which makes the confusion and uncertainty even worse.
Project Software: Picking the Right Tool for Your Projects
Project management software can save project managers substantial amounts of time vs. doing it by hand or in a spreadsheet program. We survey the available types of project management software and discuss which is appropriate for various kinds of projects based on the size and complexity.
Techniques for Leading your Team
Watch this video of a PM dealing with a situation where a team member has been pulled off the project and assigned elsewhere. In the first video, we see the PM use a technique that does not fit the personality of the team member. The result is complete failure. Next watch an analysis and then see the PM do it the right way, using the right technique for the team member.
Project Requirements as a Foundation for Success
Project managers need to work with the project sponsor and stakeholders during the planning process to gather the requirements the project must meet. The project manager is most effective if he uses top-down planning techniques based on clearly defined high-level deliverables and scope.
Project Risk Identification
The first step in project risk management is to identify the risks which may affect projects results. This process involves the project manager and the stakeholders, and on larger projects, outside experts. There are specific techniques we use identifying risks as discussed in the article.
Project WBS Techniques
The work breakdown structure for a project is not a list of "To-Do's" or a wish list from the stakeholders. Rather, the WBS is a list of the deliverables and sub-deliverables necessary to produce the project scope. Project managers need to use specific techniques to avoid including unnecessary items in the project.
Getting Team Member Commitment
Having a team that has some commitment to their estimates increases the odds of finishing on time. The 3-point technique (PERT estimating) helps you get that commitment and also gives you more accurate estimates.
The Mistake in Micromanagement
Micromanagement is a problem that follows a project manager. The mistake is to think that checking people's work several times a day and trying to centralize all decision-making on the project will give the PM tight control. It's far better to hold team members accountable for their end results rather than trying to oversee every step in their tasks.
Interpersonal Techniques; Adapting your Approach to Different Personalities
Dick Billows, PMP, GCA, narrates a video in which we first see a project manager try to handle a problem with a team member. At first, the project manager makes things worse by using bad interpersonal techniques. Then we see him tailor his communications to the team member's personality type with a much more effective result.
Steps in a Project Management Career
- Getting into project management
- Earning an industry-specific certification and PMI certification
- Managing multiple projects and executive sponsors.
Watch the video on rising through the stages of a project management career establishing a track record of on-time, on-budget project completions where the deliverables meet expectations. Beyond exceptional performance, earning certifications are critical stepping stones for advancement and successful job hunting.
Project Tracking and Status Reports
Project status reporting involves the project manager, sponsor and a number of stakeholders. There are a number of techniques that need to be applied to track a project's progress, spot problems and develop solutions.
Project Planning Responsibilities
Project planning involves not just the project manager but also the project sponsor, stakeholders and the project team. There are various techniques that can be applied during the planning process and each is the responsibility of the different project roles.
Visual Status Reports = Fast Understanding
In status meetings, we need a visual tool to quickly communicate status data, even to people who are new to projects.
Project Change Requests
Project managers and sponsors need to work together to properly control change requests. It's foolish to try to limit or stop change requests, instead we want to handle them with techniques that allow the stakeholders and executives to change the project while also giving the project manager compensating increases in duration and budget.Responding to Project Risks
Project managers respond to risks using one or more of the following strategies: avoidance, mitigation, deflection, or as a last resort, acceptance with a contingency plan. Learn how to do it.Getting Your Project Approved
When project managers present their project plan and project schedule for approval, the process can be complicated by misconceptions on both sides. The appropriate techniques for this presentation can correct those misunderstandings.
Project Presentations: Using Body Language
Being an effective presenter is critical to building project support and influencing people; both keys to project success. In our all our classes you make live presentations privately with your instructor over the web. You get a video of your presentation along with your instructor' feedback and comments. Practicing presentations and seeing yourself on film are the best ways to get better. This is a video we use with students who need to improve their body language. Watch 5 presenters and then listen to commentary on their work by Dick Billows, PMP.
Company Project Management Processes
As the number of projects in an organization increases, the organization must develop processes for properly initiating projects, planning and tracking progress, spotting problems and allocating financial and human resources. It's that methodology that prevents project failure.
Leading Your Project Team
Project managers need to apply leadership skills and techniques with their project team members. These techniques vary depending on the size of the project, the number of people on the team, whether the project spans departmental boundaries, or involves multiple organizations.
The Project Office: Different Types for Different Needs
The project office gives companies the opportunity to properly control and track project progress. A project office needs not be expensive and in a small organization it is a part-time job and perhaps as little as a couple of hours each week. The project office collects project plans and weekly status data and produces reports for upper management. In more complex situations, additional control functions can be assigned to the project office.
The Project Charter: Techniques for Different Sized Projects
The project charter documents the overall objectives, resource requirements, project risks and project manager authority. The charter document is presented to the sponsor and approved by the organization.
Resolving Project Team Conflict
Project managers can resolve some conflicts using one of the 5 techniques discussed in the article. But other conflicts can't be resolved and rather than give up, project managers should manage these feuds so they don't affect the project results.
The Projectized Organization
The project-based organization, the Projectized organization, has adopted policies that ensure the efficient initiation of projects as well as the allocation of resources and provides project managers with the appropriate authority to manage the resources.
Project Estimating for Smaller Projects
Coming up with good estimates is a challenge for all project managers. We give you the 4 different estimating techniques in the article and the video shows you how to present the estimates to the sponsor.
How To Fix a Dysfunctional Project Team
Dysfunctional project teams can cause major overruns on project duration and budget. There are techniques that project managers can use to salvage a dysfunctional project team and turn it into a high performing team.
