CollaborativeProjectManagementIN 5 STEPS

“A journey of a thousand milesmust begin with a single step”

LAO TZU ~ CHINESE PHILOSOPHER

InitiateSTEP ONE

Get the project approved, sponsored and resourcesallocatedDecide the project management process Create a collaborative project site

A good question to ask is 'what might I need for thisstep?'

It’s very likely that you will at least need a meetingwith the project sponsor. It's also possible that thesponsor will request a project charter or a project

statement.

Even if the sponsor doesn't request one, it's a goodidea to produce one for yourself and the rest of the

project team.

GET THE PROJECT APPROVED, SPONSORED ANDRESOURCES ALLOCATED

As they say, be careful what you ask for, you justmight get it!

Now you have a project approved and you need todecide how to manage the project and how much

project management rigor you will apply.

As depicted in the diagram on the next slide, someprojects require a lighter touch and some require

much more project management.

DECIDE THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS

DECIDE THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS

The site you set up needs to mirror the approach toproject management that you will undertake.

Below is a table using some of our BrightWorktemplates to jumpstart your ideas. For example, on

the left you are following a lite approach andmanaging with a few elements, e.g. Project Statement,

Issues, and Tasks.

On the right, you are following a structured approachand managing everything that you can think of! You

can start out with one approach at the outset and laterevolve as project needs dictate.

CREATE A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT SITE

Plan & SetupSTEP TWO

Plan the projectDesk check the project planNotify the team of their responsibilities

Complete the Project StatementDefine and allocate the tasksAdd the other project artifacts neededAssign the work

PLAN THE PROJECT

A simple set of four sub-steps toplan the project is as follows:

By this stage your project should be well planned butit is no harm to have a step where you stand back and

review it thoroughly.

Now that you have created lots of tasks and artifacts,you should look at the entire project in a Gantt (time

sequenced) chart.

You will very likely see adjustments that it makessense to make before the plan goes live.

DESK CHECK PROJECT PLAN

It is all very well to plan a project in detail but you willneed to let team members know the plan for success.

The more high quality communication on your projectthe better the chance your plan for success will come

true.

Project team members are very smart and capable, sobe sure empower them by letting them know what is

going on.

NOTIFY TEAM OF RESPONSIBILITIES

WorkSTEP THREE

Team member requestTeam member process / rhythmTeam member responsibilities

Your project has now started and everybody(hopefully!) knows what they are meant to do.

In a collaborative project you as the project managerare essentially asking the team members for three

commitments as follows:

Find workDo workUpdate progress on work (recording any issues)

TEAM MEMBER REQUEST

It is very likely that the team members on your projectswill be involved in more than one project and will have

other work responsibilities and as such will find itdifficult to keep up with all the deadlines.

In fact do not be surprised if some of them are sofocused on work, that they are not too worried about

deadlines.

As the project manager you will want to ensure thatteam members understand their responsibilities. Using

the simple 3-step explanation (find, do, update) is aneasy way to communicate expectations.

TEAM MEMBER PROCESS / RHYTHM

It is a very positive and progressive step to talk to teammembers about the responsibility expected of them ona collaborative project. You can ask collaborative team

members to have the courage to:

Take responsibility givenContribute to the teamChallenge the direction respectfullyAccept the agreed team directionParticipate in the speed of the projectAlways take positive actions

TEAM MEMBER RESPONSIBILITIES

Track &Re-Plan STEP FOUR

Check and understand the project's progressFind and manage exceptions (e.g. issues, risks andchange requests)Re-plan the project

By fair means or foul you as the project manager needto figure where the project is before you re-plan.

You need to know which tasks are ahead of scheduleand which tasks are falling behind.

CHECK AND UNDERSTAND PROJECT PROGRESS

As a new project manager, it is important not to beafraid to make adjustments to your project.

Some project managers are natural re-planners and doit daily as the project progresses. Others are so busy,

re-planning itself needs to be logged as a task.

Styles and personalities come into play here. Somepeople embrace change and love re-planning and

some decidedly do not!

RE-PLAN THE PROJECT

Here are three sub-steps you might consider for there-plan step, whether you do it as necessary or at a set

time every week:

RE-PLAN THE PROJECT

Re-assign work and send notificationsReport to and work with the appropriatestakeholdersTailor the project site as needed

Now you know where the project is at but you are notready to re-plan just yet!

You should now check for outstanding exceptions (e.g.issues, risks and change requests).

Exceptions on a project may come in many forms butissues, risks and change requests are the most

common.

FIND AND MANAGE EXCEPTIONS

Close STEP FIVE

Close out the project siteRun project post-mortem and track lessons learnedCapture any useful modifications

On an administrative note, you now have a live projectsite for a project that is just closed.

At a minimum you should mark the project closed, sothat anyone who visits the site can quickly see that the

project is closed.

You also want to ensure that the project does notappear in any reports going to senior management.

CLOSE OUT THE PROJECT SITE

No project ever goes perfectly. None! If you considerthe approach advocated in this presentation, we

suggest that you have regular tracking and re-planningsteps.

This is essentially a tacit admission that we are learningas we go. We advocate the “Start Evolve” approach to

project management practice adoption.

RUN PROJECT POST-MORTEM

So if we can learn as we go, why not as we finish? There is a tendency to take flight when the project is

over and move to the next one.

However, the more you learn from the project youhave just completed, the more successful you will be

with the project you are about to start.

RUN PROJECT POST-MORTEM

If the project site was modified as you went throughthe project, you will want to review the adaptations andapply those approved to the template you use to make

new project sites.

This is a very pragmatic and cheap way to improve theway you carry out project management.

CAPTURE PROJECT SITE MODIFICATIONS

Why not practice this approach with a free trial of the brightworkproject management software?

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