Summarizing my core project management approach in ten bullets. There are more things to take care but I believe these are the top ten things to keep in mind.

1. Essence Of Project Management In Ten Bullets
Suresh Gopalakrishnan
SGK_00@yahoo.com

2. Change Management
Articulate a clear goal/end result and
communicate
Many thinks “Build it and they will come” – but they won’t
Emphasis the benefit so that everyone is clear on WIIFM (What’s In
It For Me)
Survey various stakeholder groups, on a regular
basis, by asking 4 ARE (see backup slide# 1)
Are we doing the right thing?
Are we doing it right?
Are we getting it done well?
Are we getting the intended benefit?

3. Expectation Management
Define what success means – not just for overall
project but for each intermediate milestones
It should be measurable, simple and realistic
Manage expectations - Ensure no one in the
business is having “Silver bullet” thinking
Explain to key stakeholders how you arrived at the
schedule
Highlight the variability and key risk factors
Highlight design assumptions made

4. Scope/Schedule Management
Ensure a good amount of time is spent on below to
reduce scope creep
As-is/To-be business process
Business scenario listing and test scripts
Identify inter-dependency – Don’t rely on
scheduling softwares to identify critical path,
think through all major tasks from start to finish
Make it an ongoing exercise
Bottlenecks and dependencies change over time
Additional monitoring of critical path activities

5. Value Management
Make sure all critical success factors are
continuously monitored through out the life cycle
Incorporate a check in each test cycles
Use Result Chain (Benefit Map) to stay on course
(see backup slide# 2)
Helps control scope
Helps alignment of project’s goal with organizational
strategy

6. Influencing Without Authority
One of the key concept in “Science of Persuasion”
Knowledge + Trust = Authority
Ensure the team spends additional time in the beginning to under
stand the business process thoroughly

7. Backup Slides

8. 4 ARE Survey SLIDE#1

9. Result Chain (Value Map)
Complete
Project or
part of a
project
Desired
Result of the
program
Outcome
SLIDE#2