A beginner's level introduction to basic project management concepts and techniques.

1. Elements of Project
Management
Kevin R. Thomas
Manager, Training & Development
x3542
kevin.r.thomas@williams.edu

2. Introductions
• Name
• Where you work
• A recent project you
were involved in:
– 1 thing that went well
– 1 thing that could
have been better

3. Objectives
• Apply concepts of
project management
to:
– Write a basic project
charter
– Implement projects
– Harvest learning
from past projects
through after action
review.

4. Norms
• Confidentiality
• Listening
• Participation

5. Program Outline
• Planning
– Project mission
– Goals
– Constraints
– Risks
– Stakeholder analysis
• Implementation
– Milestones
– The Planning Fallacy
– Work breakdown and dependencies
– Project team meetings
• Completion
– After Action Review
– Celebration

6. Definitions
• Project:
a temporary group activity designed to
produce a unique product, service or result.
• Project Management:
the application of knowledge, skills and
techniques to execute projects effectively and
efficiently.

7. Agenda

8. Planning
• Project Charter
– Mission
– Goals
– Constraints
– Risks
– Stakeholder Others

9. Project Charter
a statement of the scope,
objectives, and
participants in a project.
It provides a preliminary delineation
of roles and responsibilities,
outlines the project objectives,
identifies the main stakeholders,
and defines the authority of the
project manager.

10. Project Mission
• Describes why the project is being
undertaken, and the benefits it hopes to
achieve.
"If you don't know where you are
going, you might wind up
someplace else." - Yogi Berra

11. Example
• By developing a robust program of HR Analytics,
we can:
– Fulfill our role as strategic partners to Harvard Library
Leadership by identifying strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats with regard to the
development of the Harvard Library workforce.
– Prioritize and customize HR Programs and services to
maximize their value to the organization.
– Make powerful impact statements about the nature,
volume, and value of our work.

12. Your Turn!
• Write a mission statement for your project.
• Pair up and share your statement with your
partner.
• Get feedback on your mission statement from
your partner (strengths, opportunities for
improvement)

13. Project Goals
• Goals are the concrete
accomplishments that will
fulfill the project’s mission.

14. Project Goal Example
• "upgrade the helpdesk telephone system by
December 31 to achieve average client wait
times of no more than two minutes"

15. Your Turn!
• Write one of the goals for your project. Make
sure it meets all of the SMART criteria.
• Pair up with someone else, and share the goal
you’ve written.
• Get feedback from your partner.

16. Constraints
• Describe known limitations on the project, especially in
terms of:
– Time
“We’ve committed to key stakeholders that the new
admissions processing software will be online by DATE.”
– Money
“Aside from already funded positions, there is no budget
for additional manpower on this project. $X has been
budgeted for materials; it may be possible to obtain
additional funding if necessary.”
– Scope / Quality
“By 2019, 32 million will gain health insurance.”

17. Triple Constraint
"Project-triangle" by Cosmocatalano - Own work. Licensed under CC0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Project-
triangle.svg#/media/File:Project-triangle.svg

18. Your Turn!
• Describe any known constraints on your
project.

19. Risks
• Risk: An event that would have significant
consequences for the project if it were to
occur.
• Risk Analysis: The identification, assessment,
and prioritization of risks that may impact the
project, in order to inform action planning.

20. Risk Likelihood and Consequences

21. Risks: Example
• Obamacare
– States may not accept the subsidized expansion of
Medicaid that is a key component of guaranteeing
universal insurance for all Americans.
– States may not create their own health insurance
exchanges, greatly increasing the load on the
national exchange website.

22. Risks: Your Turn
• Complete the risk worksheet for your project.

23. Project Stakeholders
• Stakeholder: anyone that
has an interest in or will be
impacted by the project.
• Includes the project team,
customers, and others
• Stakeholders have various
degrees of power and
influence, attitudes towards
the project, hopes and fears,
strengths and limitations,
etc.
• Communication is the key to
stakeholder management

24. Project Team Roles: The Project
Sponsor
• Project sponsor
– Wants to see the project succeed
– Has formal authority
• Can add additional resources to a project or
influence those that aren’t doing their part.
• Many projects fail because sponsor is not
deeply invested or committed to project
success

25. Project Team Roles: RACI Chart
• For each significant piece of work, defines which
team members are:
– Responsible: The doers of the project, and especially
the project lead.
– Accountable: The buck stops here. Often the project
sponsor.
– Consulted: Stakeholders whose expertise is required
or whose needs must be understood.
– Informed: Stakeholders who are not directly involved
in the project activity, but need to know what is going
on.

26. RACI Chart Example

27. RACI Chart: Your Turn
• In the left column, fill in the main phases of
your project.
• In the top row, fill in at least 3 key
stakeholders of your project.
• Complete the RACI chart.

28. Stakeholder Analysis
• Stakeholder analysis is a process of
systematically gathering and analyzing
qualitative information to determine whose
interests should be taken into account when
planning or implementing a project.

29. Your Turn
• Complete the stakeholder analysis worksheet.
• What did you learn? How will you
communicate with this stakeholder based on
your analysis?

30. Agenda

31. Implementation
• Milestones
• Planning Fallacy
• Work breakdown and task dependencies
• Team meetings
• Managing people

32. Milestones
• Mark the completion of key
phases of the project.
• Aid in gauging the timeliness
of project completion.
• Create an occasion for mini-
celebrations

33. Example
PACK
PATCH
&
PAINT
MOVE
10/26
STYLE
OPEN
HOUSE
11/3

34. Example
PACK
PATCH
&
PAINT
MOVE
10/26
STYLE
OPEN
HOUSE
11/3
TODAY:
Buy
Boxes
and
Painting
Materials

35. Your Turn!
• What are the key milestones of your project,
and the deadlines associated with them?

36. Beware the Planning Fallacy
• The first edition of the
Oxford English Dictionary
was scheduled to take
two years to complete...
• Five years later they had
only reached the word
“ant.”
• Psych. research has
shown we systematically
underestimate how long
it will take to achieve
goals.

37. Addressing the Planning Fallacy
• Others are more accurate at predicting than
we are ourselves, so ask a colleague for a time
estimate.
• Or:
– Make a prediction now, later see how accurate it
was.
– In the future, multiply your time estimate by your
personal planning fallacy multiple.

38. Work Breakdown and Dependencies
• Work Breakdown Structure
• Dependencies: tasks that cannot be started
until other tasks are complete.
• Track the task, dependencies, who is assigned,
due date, and current status.

39. Work Breakdown Structure: Your Turn
• Identify the top headings of your work
breakdown structure.
• For at least one of them, create a detailed
analysis.

40. Project Team Meetings
• With some regularity (daily, weekly, monthly),
all team members gather to talk about:
– What they have done since the last meeting
– What obstacles they may have encountered
– What they plan to do by the next meeting
• Choose someone to take notes and review
action commitments at the end of the
meeting.

41. When They Don’t Do What They’re
Supposed To …
• People are complicated.
• All projects mean change.
• “Yes” does not always mean “Yes”.

42. Your Turn
• Think of a time (present or past) when
someone didn’t do something they were
supposed to do.
• Complete the worksheet.
• If you answered “Don’t Know”, how could you
find out?
• If you answered “Yes”, what could you do to
influence this factor?

43. Case Study

44. Agenda

45. Project Completion
• Post Project Review
• Celebration

46. Post Project Review
• Most neglected part of projects.
• Meet with project team, discuss and record:
– What went well
– What you might have done differently

47. Your Turn
• Pair Up
– Talk about a past project
• What went well?
• What could have been improved?
• If your project team will work on similar projects in the
future, how can you help the team learn and improve?

48. Celebration
• Keep the team motivated and looking forward to completion
• Leave people with a positive feeling about being on your
project team
• Plan and budget your celebration like any other part of the
project.
• Ideally, go to your celebration right after your post project
review.

49. Conclusion
• Project Manager is:
– Cheerleader
– Team Builder
– Nudge
– Politician
– Time and Resource Engineer
– Troubleshooter
• Every project you manage is an opportunity for you to
develop and communicate values:
– Accountability
– Cooperation
– Communication
– Resilience

50. Agenda

51. Resources and Next Steps
• Course pages for
project management
• Lynda.com video
training library

52. Kevin R. Thomas
Manager, Training & Development
x3542
Kevin.R.Thomas@williams.edu
• Program evaluation link will be sent by email.
• You’ll get a link to a course page with all the materials.