The document discusses project management techniques including defining a project, the project lifecycle, components of projects, tools for managing projects, and reasons why projects fail. It provides an overview of key project management concepts such as the work breakdown structure, critical path, Gantt charts, and risk management. Examples are given of project management tools and documentation including status reports, requirements and schedule tracking charts, and lessons learned.

1. Project Management
“On One Foot”
Ari Davidow
adavidow@jwa.org
Workshop for Museum Computer Network Conference 2009
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2. Agenda
• What is Project Management?
• The PMI project management lifecycle
• Components of a project
• Understanding the bones of your project
– Work Breakdown Structure
– Critical Path
– Gantt Charts
• Risk Management
• Agile Development and Project Management
• Tools for Managing Projects
• Where to go to learn more
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3. If we don’t manage projects…
• How do we know when they are done?
• How do we know if we succeeded?
• How will we do better next time?
• And in the middle, how will we know where
we are and what it means?
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4. Project Plans that aren’t
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5. Project Plans that aren’t - 2
This is my favorite. These pieces came embedded in a 13-page proposal for
something we called an OAI-ORE-compatible presentation tool.
Note that there is no mention of OAI-ORE.
Note that there =is= mention of a PDF creator
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6. Why do projects fail?
Group
discussion 1
Break into groups of three
Use the sticky pads and make lists of
reasons projects fail
After five minutes, stop and we’ll compare
findings
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7. Common reasons
projects fail
• Too many projects competing for the same
resources
• Insufficient or inadequate resources
• Insufficient or inadequate business involvement
• Project team isolated from the business
• Team roles & responsibilities are unclear
• Poor communications
• Roadblocks are not resolved in a timely manner
• Scope changes are not managed properly
[slide adapted from Lydia Milne, “Foundations of Project Management,” from Brandeis
University Graduate Professional Studies.]
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8. Project Management is …
PMBOK:
• A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or
result.
– Temporary -- not on-going
• Does not imply short in duration
• Does not apply to the product or service
– Has a beginning and an end
– Unique product or service -- not a commodity or ongoing operation
– Can be a subset of a larger program or a stand-alone effort
– Requires coordination of tasks and resources
Wysocki, Beck, & Crane:
• A project is a sequence of unique, complex, and connected activities having
one goal or purpose and that must be completed by a specific time, within budget,
and according to specifications.
[slide adapted from Lydia Milne, “Foundations of Project Management,” from Brandeis University Graduate Professional Studies.]
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9. 9

10. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
10

11. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
11

12. Project Management Knowledge Areas
Risk Management
Probability, impacts, actions
Quality Management Procurement Management
Planning, assurance Solicitation, sub-contractors
control
Cost Management Integration Communications
Budget, control Management Management
Information System
Time Management Human Resource
Schedules, activities, Management
control Productivity and efficiency
Scope Management
Objectives, needs,
specifications
[from Lydia Milne, “Foundations of Project Management,” from Brandeis University Graduate Professional Studies.]
12

13. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
13

14. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
14

15. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
15

16. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
16

17. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
17

18. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
18

19. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
19

20. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
20

21. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide)--Fourth Edition
21

22. Initiation (in 5 bullet points)
• This is where you take the idea
• Flesh it out
• Create a Project Charter (larger projects)
• Create RFP (in some cases)
• Identify and Engage Stateholders
22

23. Copyright 2008, Project Management Institute. From A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK
Guide)--Fourth Edition
23

24. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
24

25. Gantt Charts
• Used to Model
dependencies,
milestones
• Helps visualize
critical path
• Overall activity
snapshot of
project
Not going to go into network diagrams, etc.
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26. Project Status
It’s 90% done
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27. Project Summary Dashboard
'Example Program'
Multi-Project Summary Dashboard
Division: ACME Software Works Revision 1.9 Manager: Peter White
Project Name Manager Customer Week Schedule Incidents Requirements Staffing
1) Eager Beaver Byron Murray FPQR 1-Mar-98 (1 of 20) 100.0% G 100.0% G 100.0% G 100.0% G
2) The Big Dig Ron Holliday FMNO 15-Mar-98 (15 of 30) 81.0% Y ò 97.6% G ñ 99.0% G ñ 101.4% G ò
3) We Need Programmers Jim Hassey FJKL 15-Mar-98 (5 of 20) 77.3% Y ñ 100.0% G – 98.0% G – 50.0% R ñ
4) Too Good to be True Joel Lehrer FGHI 15-Mar-98 (9 of 12) 100.0% G – 100.0% G – 100.0% G – 97.6% G ñ
5) Churn and Burn Tom Carter FDEF 15-Mar-98 (6 of 20) 83.3% Y ò 93.3% G ò 89.0% R ò 96.1% G ñ
6) Too Many Bugs Bob Albanese FABC 15-Mar-98 (15 of 20) 92.3% G ò 82.9% Y ò 99.0% G – 101.4% G ò
Notes:
- Percentages represent indices for 'Schedule Performance', 'Incident Closure', 'Requirements Stability', and 'Staffing'
- Color-coded status is determined by ranges that are defined for each project.
- Arrows indicate whether the status is improving (up) or worsening (down).
- For more information about any of these statistics or status codes, see the relevant project dashboard workbook.
[from Lydia Milne, “Foundations of Project Management,” from Brandeis University Graduate Professional Studies.]
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28. Changes to Requirements Remaining Activities
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Division:
Project #:
12/7/1997
Main Menu
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
12/7/1997
Update Chart
Update Chart
12/21/1997
12/21/1997
Added
1/4/1998
1/4/1998
1/18/1998
Planned
998877005
1/18/1998
2/1/1998
2/1/1998
ACME Software
2/15/1998
M odified
2/15/1998
3/1/1998
3/1/1998
Actual
3/15/1998
3/15/1998
Schedule
3/29/1998
Delet ed
Requirements
3/29/1998
4/12/1998
4/12/1998
4/26/1998
4/26/1998
5/10/1998
Project ed
5/10/1998
5/24/1998
Cum Changes
5/24/1998
6/7/1998
6/7/1998
6/21/1998
6/21/1998
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
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Revision 1.8
'The Big Dig'
Staff Weeks Number of Incidents
Project Dashboard
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
12/7/1997 12/7/1997
Update Chart
Update Chart
12/21/1997 12/21/1997
Planned
1/4/1998 1/4/1998
Opened
1/18/1998 1/18/1998
2/1/1998 2/1/1998
Actual
Customer:
Manager:
2/15/1998 2/15/1998
Closed
3/1/1998 3/1/1998
3/15/1998
3/15/1998
Staffing
Incidents
3/29/1998 3/29/1998
Cum Planned
4/12/1998
Pay More Inc
Ron Holliday
4/12/1998
Cum Opened
4/26/1998
4/26/1998
5/10/1998
5/10/1998
5/24/1998
5/24/1998
Cum Actual
6/7/1998
6/7/1998
Cum Closed
6/21/1998
6/21/1998
Update All Charts
0
50
0
100
150
200
20
40
60
80
[from Lydia Milne, “Foundations of Project Management,” from Brandeis University Graduate Professional Studies.]
Individual Project Dashboard
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29. Risk Management
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30. Risks?
• So many things can go wrong
• What are the risks you worry about on
your projects?
– Schedule?
– Wrong requirements?
– Stakeholder problems?
– Budget overruns?
– ….
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31. Levels of Risk Management
•• Crisis management
Crisis management
– Fire fighting; address risks only after they become problems
– Fire fighting; address risks only after they become problems
•• Fix on failure (important to fix but not crisis)
Fix on failure (important to fix but not crisis)
– Detect and react to risks quickly, but only after they have
– Detect and react to risks quickly, but only after they have
occurred
occurred
•• Risk mitigation
Risk mitigation
– Plan ahead of time to provide resources to cover risks if they
– Plan ahead of time to provide resources to cover risks if they
occur, but do nothing to eliminate them in the first place
occur, but do nothing to eliminate them in the first place
•• Prevention
Prevention
– Implement and execute a plan as part of the project to
– Implement and execute a plan as part of the project to
identify risks and prevent them from becoming problems
identify risks and prevent them from becoming problems
•• Elimination of root causes
Elimination of root causes
– Identify and eliminate factors that make it possible for risks to
– Identify and eliminate factors that make it possible for risks to
exist at all.
exist at all.
from “Rapid Development” by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press c. 1996, pg. 84
Go back to risks we just identified – what are appropriate levels for each of the risks
we covered? What are good examples of those in action?
In the end, we have a “Risk Register” – things that we have identified, what we
intend to do if they show up. Update this regularly.
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32. Why we accurate requirements matter
Cost of Correcting a Technical Problem
1000
$1000 ---
$100 --- 25
$10 ---
$1 ---
Normalized Projected Lifecycle
[from Lydia Milne, “Foundations of Project Management,” from Brandeis University Graduate Professional Studies.]
K-J exercise here
Look at MCN website
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33. Agile Development
• A range of development methodologies based on the idea that
projects are divided into short sequences – “sprints”
• Commonly, index cards or similar medium used to note feature
requests, requirements
• Next sprint is derived from which features matter most, that can be
delivered in the sprint (usually defined as 1-3 months)
• Goal is to put working tools into people’s hands quickly for feedback
and learning, rather than get to the end of a two year project and
discover that it no longer makes sense
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34. Closing Processes
At JWA, for web development projects, we require the
following deliverables before we will accept a project as
“done”:
• Code must be checked into a source control repository (CVS,
Subversion, etc.) and/or be available as an AWS AMI
• Documentation must be available, usually via wiki
• We are able to successfully check out the code, and by following
the documentation, install it on our site.
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35. Lessons Learned
Final tests run
Contracts closed
Project completed
Then … Lessons Learned
And everything archived
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36. Some good tools
• The “traditional” project management
information system:
– MS Word
– MS Excel
– MS Outlook
– MS Project – note that MS Project, in and of itself, is
not a PMIS
– MS Visio
• An online hosted service with similar capabilities:
Zoho: http://www.zoho.com
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37. www.zoho.com
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38. Basecamp - basecamphq.com
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39. Redmine - www.redmine.org
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40. Redmine – another project
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41. Additional Resources
• Project Management Institute (PMI)
www.pmi.org
Look for local chapters!
• Brandeis University Graduate Professional
Studies (includes distance learning using
Moodle)
www.brandeis.edu/gps/
One good example of a Project Management
Cert/Master program*
*Disclaimer: I have a degree from the program, and I will be co-teaching a
new online course in “Content Management” this coming spring
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