The document discusses best practices for managing creative projects, including planning the scope of work, tracking schedule progress and making adjustments when needed, and identifying stakeholders and communicating with them. It provides tips for inspecting work, managing scope changes, updating schedules, and distributing information and managing expectations. Examples are given of using tools like Microsoft Project and SharePoint for project management.

1. Getting it Done: What to Do Well
and What to Avoid when Running
Creative Projects Webinar
David Younger, PMP

2. Where do we Begin?
1. Plan it out.
2. Get it done. How?
Monitor: Track & Report performance data with
Collect project
respect to a plan, produce performance
& measures, and report and disseminate
performance information
Control: Compare&actual performance with planned
Direct Act
performance, analyzing
variances, assessing trends to effect
process improvements, evaluating
possible alternatives, and recommending
appropriate corrective action as needed

3. Where Planning was:
WHAT needs to be done? Scope
defining the scope, breaking down the work
HOW to do it? Schedule
activities, time, effort
WHO to do it? Resourcing
considerations: skills, availability, options

4. Doing is:
Scope Management
Managing WHAT is supposed to be done.
verifying your deliverables, controlling changes
Schedule Management
Managing HOW it’s progressing
monitoring progress, taking corrective actions
Communications Management
Ensuring everyone’s aware & doing what they should
distributing information, managing stakeholder expectations

5. Let’s take an example
Scenario: You’re a member of a marketing department
at a large company, and you’ve been asked to manage
a project to deliver a Facebook game as part of a
campaign for a new movie.
In Scope (high level): Game concept (single player, save progress
available if paid), wireframes, media assets, raw code, publishable
format
Out of Scope: Advertising of game, training & documentation

6. Managing the Scope

7. How can we Manage Scope?
1. Inspect: make sure the pieces of scope you’re delivering
are acceptable.
During project, not just at end!
Use: reviews, walkthroughs, etc.

8. 2. Monitor Changes: anything outside of the agreed scope is
a change
Change is inevitable – so why not manage it?
Change can come from anywhere: the customer, the project
team, the competition, landscape changes
And avoid…
Scope Creep: Adding features
and functionality (project
scope) without addressing
the effects on time,
costs, and quality, or
without customer approval

9. Triple Constraint: A change in scope
leads to an increase in time or cost
or a decrease in quality

10. What do we do when changes come
in???
5 steps:
1. Review: evaluate the request and determine if it can be
worked into your plan or if it’s a change
2. Assess: what has to give? Think: Triple Constraint
Avoid: Scope Creep
3. Communicate: let the customer know the impact
4. Update the scope: remember that
scope + changes = new scope
5. Document it! if your agreement isn’t captured
anywhere, it may as well not have happened.

11. In our example…
3 weeks into the project, the customer decides he needs
some new features and behaviours in the game:
1. Leaderboard
brand new scope
2. Facebook ads to promote game
had been “out of scope” but now added in
3. Scrap the whole paid functionality
reduced the scope but still annoying

12. In our example…
Leaderboard:
1. Review: definitely a big change which will affect the project
2. Assess: will require an additional $2000 and a 1 week delay
3. Communicate: inform the customer of the costs & delay in
schedule and get her approval
4. Update the scope: I’ll amend our proposal to include the
change and send back to the customer for sign-off
5. Document it! I’ll hold on to the approved document & email
thread in case I’m challenged.

13. Managing the Schedule

14. How can we manage Schedules?
1. Track the progress of the work against the schedule
1. Update the schedule when (and only when) required
(ex. When a scope change leads to a schedule change)

15. What to do when the schedule starts
falling behind?
Compress the schedule. How?
1. Crashing – add more people
+ =
2. Fast Tracking – overlap some tasks

16. Managing the Communications

17. 4 steps to good project comms
1.Identify your stakeholders
2.Plan how to communicate
3.Distribute information
4.Manage stakeholder expectations

18. Communications examples
Walmart Holiday Initiative
Status Update - Period Ending: October 14, 2011
Portfolio Manager Business Owner Department Overall Status Target Completion
D. Younger D. Smith Retail G December 31, 2011
Executive Update
Detailed Update
Legal
Offer
Handset Inventory
Merchandising
Logistics
Activation
IT
Communications
Post Launch
Support
Interactions

19. http://systemsadvisors.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/sharepoint-collaboration-just-got-easier-with-microsoft-dynamics-ax-2012/

20. To Summarize
Manage the Scope
Manage the Schedule
Inspect the scope
Manage the Comms
Manage change Track progress
Update schedule Identify stakeholders
(only when needed) Plan comms
Distribute info
Manage expectations

21. Tools & Ideas

22. Referenced in this presentation:
Microsoft Project [microsoft.com/project]
Microsoft Sharepoint [microsoft.com/sharepoint]
Where else to look:
Project tools for Creative Projects [bit.ly/JGwdnq]
Project Management Institute [pmi.org]

23. Questions?

24. Thank You
David Younger, PMP
dyounger@windmobile.ca
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/davidyoungerpmp