This document contains tips and questions for managing projects effectively from the book "Project Management for Dummies". It discusses 10 questions project managers should ask, including the purpose of the project, who needs to be involved, what results will be produced, and what constraints and assumptions exist. It also provides 10 tips for project managers, such as thinking about the big picture, assuming cautiously, viewing people as allies, acknowledging good performance, and being both a manager and a leader. The source is from a book for a class project between a teacher and student.

1. Integrative Project III
Collaborative Work
SOURCE: BOOK “PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR DUMMIES”
PART VI: THE PART OF TENS.
TEACHER: MSC. MIGUEL PONCE
STUDENT: FABIÀN TELLO
LEVEL NINTH
10/11/2017 1

2. What’s the Purpose of your Project?
• As soon as you’re assigned to your project, get a clear and complete
picture of its significance.
Whom do you need to involve?
• Involving people in a timely manner ensures that their input will be
available when it’s needed and lets them know you value and respect
their contributions.
• Drivers: People looking for your project’s results.
• Supporters: People who can help your project succeed.
• Observers: People interested in your project.
10/11/2017 2
TEN QUESTIONS

3. What results will you produce?
• All I expect my project to achieve. I must describe each product, service, or impact; make
the outcomes measurable and include performance targets.
What constraints must you satisfy?
• When you know your constraints, you can plan to minimize their effects on your project.
Identify all information, processes, and guidelines that may restrict your project activities
and your performance. Distinguish between the following:
• Limitations: Restrictions that people outside your project team set.
• Needs: Restrictions that you and your project’s team members establish.
What assumptions are you making?
• Each of assumptions can lead to one or more project risks that you may choose to plan in
advance. Update your plans whenever an assumption changes or you find out its actual
value.
10/11/2017 3

4. What work has to be done?
• Identify all the activities required to produce your project’s deliverables so that
you can assign responsibilities for them, develop schedules, estimate resource
needs, give specific tasks to team members, and monitor your project’s
performance. For each activity, specify the following:
• The work to be done: The processes and steps that each activity entails.
• Inputs: All people, facilities, equipment, supplies, raw materials, funds, and
information necessary to perform each activity.
• Results you expect: Products, services, situations, or other deliverables that you
expect each activity to produce.
• Interdependencies and relationships: Activities that you must complete before
you can start the next one; activities you can start after you’ve completed the
current one.
• Durations: The number of work periods required to perform each activity.
10/11/2017 4

5. When does each activity start and end?
• Develop a detailed schedule with activities, to give team members precise
guidance on when to perform their assignments.
• Duration: The number of work periods required to perform each individual
activity.
• Interdependencies: What you must finish before you can begin your activity.
• Resource availability: When you need particular resources and when they’re
available.
What other resources do you need?
• Identify all equipment, facilities, services, supplies, and funds that you need to
perform your project work. Specify how much of each resource you need and
when.
10/11/2017 5

6. Who will perform the project work?
• Knowing who will perform each task and how much effort they’ll have to devote allows you
to plan for their availability and more accurately estimate the overall project budget. Who
need to work on your project?
• Their names, position descriptions or titles, and the skills and knowledge they need to do
the assignment.
• The specific roles each person will have on an activity when more than one person will work
on the same activity, as well as how they can coordinate their efforts.
• The level of effort each person has to invest.
• The exact time when people will do their work if they will work less than full time on an
activity.
What can go wrong?
• Identify those parts of your project that may not go according to plan. Decide which risks
pose the greatest dangers to your project’s success, and develop plans to minimize their
negative effects.
10/11/2017 6

7. Be a “Why” Person
• Understanding "why" helps you make sure you respond appropriately
to team members, upper managers, and all other project audiences.
First, look to understand the reasons behind other people’s requests
and actions; then share your findings with other people.
Be a “Can Do” Person
• Look at all problems as challenges, and do everything you can to find
ways to overcome them. Be creative, flexible, and tenacious. Keep
working at the problem until you solve it.
10/11/2017 7
TEN TIPS

8. Think about the Big Picture
• Keep events in perspective. Understand where you want to go and how
your plan will get you there. Recognize the effect your actions have on
current and future efforts. Share your vision with other people.
Think in Detail
• Be thorough. If you don’t think through your project’s issues, who will?
The more clearly you describe your intended results, the more easily
people can recognize the benefits associated with your project. And the
more clearly you define your intended work, the more often people will
ask important and insightful questions, and believe that they can perform
the work successfully. Clarity leads to increased personal motivation and
reduced chances of mistakes.
10/11/2017 8

9. Assume Cautiously
• Take the time to find out the facts; use assumptions only as a last
resort. With every assumption comes a risk that you’re wrong. The
fewer assumptions you make, the more confidence you can have in
your plan.
View people as Allies, Not Adversaries
• Focus on common goals, not individual agendas. Making people feel
comfortable encourages brainstorming, creative thinking, and the
willingness to try new ideas, all of which are essential to managing a
successful project. But viewing and treating people as adversaries can
put them on the defensive and encourage them to become enemies.
10/11/2017 9

10. Say what you mean, and mean what you say.
• Communicate clearly. Be specific by letting people know exactly what you
mean. Tell them what you want them to know, what you want them to do,
and what you’ll do for them. Don’t leave these details up to their
imaginations. You may think that being vague gives you more leeway, but, in
reality, being vague just increases the chances for misunderstandings and
mistakes.
Respect other people.
• Focus on people’s strengths rather than their weaknesses. In each person on
your team, find a quality that you can respect. People work harder and enjoy
• their work more when they’re around others who appreciate them and their
efforts.
10/11/2017 10

11. Acknowledge good performance.
• When someone does something good, tell the person, tell the person’s boss, tell other
team members, and tell the person’s peers that you appreciate the effort and its
results. Recognizing good performance confirms to a person the accuracy and value of
his work; your praise tells a person that you appreciate his efforts, which motivates him
to work with you and other team members on future projects. When acknowledging a
person’s performance, mention the quality of the results he accomplished as well as the
effort he invested.
Be a Manager and a Leader.
• Attend to people as well as to information, processes, and systems. Create and share
your vision and excitement with your team members, but don’t forget to share a sense
of order and efficiency, too. Encourage people to strive for outstanding results, and
provide the guidance and support to help them achieve those results.
10/11/2017 11

12. ENDSOURCE: BOOK “PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR DUMMIES”
PART VI: THE PART OF TENS.
TEACHER: MSC. MIGUEL PONCE
STUDENT: FABIÀN TELLO
LEVEL NINTH
10/11/2017 12