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The Fundamentals of Project Management: Getting Back to the Basics

August 16, 2007 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Role of the Project Manager

The Fundamentals of Project Management: Getting Back to the Basics
By Chris Wright, MPM, PMP - Global Knowledge Course Director

One recent Friday afternoon, I received a frantic phone call from a former student (let’s refer to him as Ellis). Ellis told me that his manager (a division Vice President) tasked him to provide a time and cost estimate for a project that was communicated to him as “the company President’s number one priority.” The estimate was due first thing the following Monday morning.

To make matters more challenging, the parting words from his boss were, “Ellis, whatever you come up with, please ensure that your estimate is accurate because this is a very high-profile project and we do not want to let the President down. Whatever your estimate is, be sure that you can meet it.” Can you say no-win situation?
The Fundamental Problem

Unfortunately, Ellis’ scenario is not uncommon for project management practitioners. Whether due to competitive pressures, market forces, or the organizational culture, project managers are often expected to accurately forecast-and successfully deliver-initiatives that have not been defined. The root cause of this dilemma is a lack of project management fundamentals. In order to get back to the basics, the organization must do a better job of defining the projects, engaging knowledge capital, and consistently applying standard project management practices.

Basic Step #1: Define the Project

When teaching, I emphasize that defining the project is the most critical step for any project. Even during project initiation, it is imperative that key stakeholders have a common understanding of what the project about. The first step in defining the “what” of the project is to formulate a scope statement. The scope statement outlines the justification for the project, its products, objectives, and deliverables and serves as the basis for future project decisions. It can be as short as a few sentences or as long as a couple of pages. Of course, the scope statement is not as detailed as the overall project plan, but it contains enough detail to help define the work required to complete the project. A well-written scope statement serves as the primary input to the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

My advice to Ellis was to collaborate with his manager and develop a scope statement for the President’s project. Once written, Ellis should obtain sign-off from the project’s sponsor (his manager, the Vice President) because the scope statement will serve as the basis for the project’s expectations.

Basic Step #2: Engage Knowledge Capital

Stakeholders often expect accurate estimates-even before the project team has had an opportunity to assess, evaluate, and plan the work. Accuracy is not realistic at this point; however, you can develop reliable estimates when the right people are involved in the process. To achieve this, it is important that knowledgeable resources actively participate in the schedule and cost estimating initiatives. A best practice is to engage the people who will actually perform the work for the project or those who have experience with the type of project being estimated. In most cases, not only does the project manager not have the insight of those doing the work, team members are more likely to accept the plan if it reflects their own input.

For Ellis’ project, he must work with internal experts to formulate the estimates. I recommended that he work with his manager to secure dedicated resources for his project estimating effort ASAP.

Basic Step #3: Follow Your Own Lead

One of the common ironies of our discipline is that we do not always practice what we preach as it relates to the principles of project management planning. For Ellis, it was his manager who signed him up for my Project Management Essentials training class because their organization needed “to add rigor to our project management processes in order to do a better job of estimating and delivering on commitments.” It is not realistic to expect Ellis to turn around an estimate with any precision with limited information and within the timeframe allotted. On a larger scale, we cannot expect our project management success to occur by simply sending our team members to a training class. Collectively, we all must implement the processes and utilize them on a consistent basis.

My final bit of advice was for Ellis to turn this scenario into a pilot for implementing better practices in project planning.

Moral of the Story: Back to the Basics

In the end, Ellis did get back to the fundamentals by working with the Sponsor to define the project, engaging the in-house experts to formulate the estimates and documenting an order of magnitude estimate for the Monday deadline. He committed to providing a more definitive estimate by the end of the following week once his team completed its project planning initiatives (WBS, Activity Plan, Timeline, Project Plan). Ellis’ project will now serve as the pilot for their organization’s implementation of their project management process.

Applying the basic tools, processes, and practices is critical for a successful project management environment. The fundamentals serve as the basis for everything else we do on a project and are evident in all best-in-class organizations. In major league baseball, for instance, seasoned professional athletes spend the first six weeks of every season in Spring Training where they revert back to basic practices such as fielding thousands of ground balls, hitting off of a batting tee, and practicing defensive coverage plays. By doing this, these skills soon become enhanced and are considered natural practice.

This article was originally published in Global Knowledge’s Business Brief e-newsletter. Global Knowledge delivers comprehensive hands-on project management, business process, and professional skills training. Visit our online Knowledge Center at www.globalknowledge.com/business for free white papers, webinars, and more.

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