Make sure that you manage your business projects, rather than having your projects manage you.
Turn your business goals into reality by dividing them into a series of projects. Projects with a clearly defined end-point. Projects that can be controlled and managed. Projects that succeed.
Equip yourself with the mindset of a project manager, the single-minded focus required to achieve major goals, and the discipline to make sure the small things are not forgotten. Learn how to balance the project management triangle of Scope, Time & Cost.
There might be some hard decisions to make along the way - this is the true cost of getting what you want.
5. A project also:
• Has a deadline (usually)
• But you don’t need a deadline if you
commit to the right process
• Process might be as simple as putting
five hours in per day
7. Turn dreams into projects
• “Travel Australia" is a dream
• “Spend six months travelling Australia in a
4WD" is a goal
• “Spend six months travelling outback
Australia, including Ayers Rock, the
Simpson Desert and Cape York starting
28 April 2011" is a project
8. Project Management in five steps
Set the goal
Make a plan
Get to work
Stick to it
Achieve the goal!
9. Set the goal
• Make the goal ultra-clear and specific
• First critical step
• Can be hard for DN’s
10. –Basil S. Walsh
“If you don't know where you are
going, how can you expect to get
there?”
11. Define the scope
• A clear definition required
• What is really important
• What can be ignored
• What can be done later
14. Another way of looking at the PM triangle
Choose any two
15. –Winston Churchill
“Those who plan do better than
those who do not, even though they
rarely stick to their plan”
Make a Plan
16. Make a Plan - Schedule
• What is the sequence of activities.
• How long will each activity take?
• Can some activities be done together?
• What are the critical path activities?
17. Critical path
• Activities that must occur in sequence
• The activity sequence that directly
impacts project completion
18. Plan - Resources
• What will you will do
• What key activities do you need others
to do
• Use people smarter than you
25. Stay focussed
• Absolutely critical to your success
• Prioritise ruthlessly and with a single minded
focus
• List actions, every day, and put critical dates
in your calendar.
• Identify and eliminate distractions
27. Distractions are project cyanide
• Take actions to get you closer to the goal, every
day. Stay focussed
• Don’t take actions which don’t contribute to the goal.
Stay focussed
• Get used to saying no. Pressures exist around you.
Stay focussed
• If you don’t protect your time and your money, other
people will spend them for you. Stay focussed
31. Scope creep kills projects
• Just one more feature
• Wouldn't it be cool if we could include
this
• Broadening our target market
• Freelance clients asking you to do
something you hadn’t quoted for
Scope creep is:
33. Review
• Continually review your project.
• Is it going where you want.
• Is it taking too long or costing too much?
• Can you take steps to mitigate further
cost and time loss?
• Review. Act. Repeat
34. Communicate
• Communicate with you and your team daily.
• Your team: Trello, Slack/Hipchat, emails or short
Skype calls. Make it brief, and make it daily.
• You: review your goals and your progress toward
them.
• Record what you have done, in your diary, in
Evernote or use iDoneThis. Do it daily.
35. Take the last step
• The last step is often the hardest.
• Publish the book.
• Put a Buy Now button on your website.
• Send your product to Amazon.
• List your app on the App Store.
36. Just do it
• Call the project finished.
• Congratulations - it has been a long
journey
• Take a break, and start turning your
next dream into a project
39. Make a plan - Activities
Identify activities and critical path
Join running group
Run training
Find running coach - critical path
Book flights and accom
40. Plan - Hurdles
Identify constraints
Too busy to train
Not enough money to buy a plane ticket
Potential actions
Get up earlier and run before work
Eat out less to save money for ticket
41. Plan - Resources
Potential resources required
Running trainer (coach)
Running group (mastermind group)
New shoes - critical path to start running
43. Stay focussed
Run two hours every day. Rain, hail or shine
Say yes to social activities on Saturday nights
Say no to social activities every other night, because you need
to run in the morning
Say no to cake
Say no to your cousin’s wedding in New Zealand, because that
will ruin your budget to get to Hawaii
Say yes to running in Hawaii in April 2016
44. Choose a dream
Make it a project
Stay focussed
Make it happen
Do it now
andrew@taitua.com taitua.com/coaching
Hinweis der Redaktion
For DN’s, having a clearly defined objective is the number one thing that will make a huge difference to getting stuff done.
If you can't define when a task or project is finished you can't manage it, and the odds of success are low.
A goal without a defined finish is a dream.
Deadlines may add extra stress to DN’s with personal projects. They aren’t always required, if you use a process instead.
But the process to win the championship is the same as the process to become great basketballers. That is, the process might be to practice 4 hours a day, study footage of other teams and your own skill, and get input from a great coach. Focus on the process, and the results will speak for themselves.
No scope, no design, no budget, no hope
Simply put: Project management is a process to make a defined outcome happen.
Project management triangle. You can focus on two of these items
After you have identified and planned your activities, you need to plan your resources.
I am good at project management & problem solving. I am not so good at design or marketing, so I need to collaborate with others who are good at those functions in order to have a great project. Even though my design skills are basic, I have successfully run a $2m design project, because I had some highly skilled people on my team.
Resources in particular are influenced by which two aspects of the project management triangle you choose to focus on.
Fast and good. You want high quality resources that are fully trained and good-to-go.
Think quality and specialist freelancing platforms, typically staffed from developed countries
You will need to pay a good price for these resources
Fast and cheap
You will only be able to use limited resources, and your resource quality will be less.
Think online freelancing platforms to developing countries
Good and cheap
Alternative resources such as:
skill swaps
training your own resources, eg. employing low-cost staff and training them
or DIY
Skill swap - offer something in return. You design my app, I will market your business. Or maybe offer a small salary for someone to escape their job and work in Bali, while you provide an interesting job, accommodation, assistance and a chance to start a new life with very low risk.
What commonly derails projects?
Lack of time (deadline too short).
Potential solutions: Extend the deadline, cut product features, or hire additional resources.
For the 4WD trip we cut features on the 4WD, only did a basic 4WD course instead of the advanced one, got a friend to assist in managing the 4WD equipping, and negotiated with a client to finish some work remotely instead of in his office.
Lack of focus (too many competing interests).
Postpone or cancel some other commitments.
For the 4WD trip I stopped playing sport in another city and didn’t go surfing nearly as much as I wanted to.
Lack of commitment (project manager gets sidetracked or distracted)
Seek help. Talk to like-minded people, join a mastermind group, get a mentor, and revisit your objective (and your why)
The 4WD trip was a huge goal, and sometimes it seemed too big. I talked to my friend (who loved 4WDing) and he helped re-motivate me.
Lack of money (budget too low or is non-existent)
Do more yourself. Look for skill swaps and non-monetary ways to get help. Reduce the scope of the project.
As earlier, we scrapped some features to save both time and money. Also, travelling 7 hours to look at a 4WD the day after breaking my foot put things clearly - if I didn’t buy the automatic I had driven 7 hours to look at, I couldn’t go to work on Monday and wouldn’t get paid for at least two weeks. The joys of self-employment!
Scope creep (features are added instead of shipping the product).
Review objective regularly. Be ruthless. If it isn’t required for a minimum viable product, don’t do it.
One-and-a-half metres of action items for the 4WD. New items were discussed thoroughly before they were added to that list, and often only made it on if another item came off.
When problems come up, take action. Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away.
For the 4WD, breaking my foot, having the vehicle held hostage pending payment, and not renting the house out immediately were all major issues. In each case, I took action (often after some soul searching) and still reached the goal
This one is self explanatory. You have set your goal, chosen your priorities (time, money or scope).
Now you need to start.
Take the first step.
Jump into the project pool.
Start your journey of 1,000 miles.
Get to work
Staying focussed is fundamental to keeping your project on track
Refusing to prioritise is a choice, but not a good one
Seek help to stay focussed.
As previously mentioned, join a mastermind group. Use clarity.fm. Find a mentor. Talk to others doing similar stuff.
STAY FOCUSSED TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL!
To quote the Tropical MBA:
Your friends are throwing weddings in different countries. Can you attend? No.
Your family are throwing a lavish reunion at a 3rd party sites. Can you attend? No.
Friends having 6 hour Sunday afternoon party. Coming? No.
Beach vacations NO. Saturday morning shopping to ‘invest’ in new clothes? NO. NO. NO.
You get the point here.
Someone wants detailed help with a marketing strategy, in return for a coffee. Does more coffee help your project? NO
The scope creep monster shatters deadlines
and chews up budgets for breakfast
These things should be done only AFTER the main goal is achieved, if at all.
No, the app does not need to work on both iPhone and Android up front. Do this later.
No, the 4WD does not need a hot-water shower. Don’t do this.
No, the book does not have to be written as a trilogy. Do the first book, publish, then write the second book, then the third.
You have a clear goal
You have your activities planned
You have identified necessary resources
You are focussed on your goal with the eye of the tiger
To keep on track, continually review your project. Do this daily or weekly. Write down your weekly review some
After the first step, the last step is the hardest.
You are putting yourself out there. To your friends, to your family, and to the world.
Don’t be afraid. You have done a great job.
