This book describes building blocks to design and implement project management process and procedures for a scalable organisation.
Resulting from over twenty years of direct experience by the author in developing PMO offices, the book approaches the subject from a pragmatic approach to cover, yet in structured way, the foundations and tools and process to develop a structured methodologies in the project area.
Project modelling is described as 5 steps: Planning, Design, Develop, Deploy and Acceptance; all steps are described for contents, methodology, tools and success tips.
Sometimes sales representative and customers ( either external or internal ) could be very "creative" in their requests and expectations , it is very important is to get a proper and solid document and process to deliver while surviving.
So, what is a project ? In practice, the distinction between what is "normal work" and "project work" can be quite grey. Many activities that we usually classify as just normal work can be called projects.
Main characteristics of a project are as follows:
Defined start and an hopefully finish date.
Time frame for completion..
Involvement of several resources
Limited set of resources
Set of activities and milestones
"Project Scoping and Planning", is the first and most important stage for the Project manager. It is in this stage that the project manager has the opportunity to look at and assess the project before it becomes formally "live" - to establish how the project should be organised.
For many projects, gaining support from others in the organisation is a key issue to consider.
Planning is one of the main key task to successful project implementation. In the first place, during the planning stage, a good plan creates a model of the project which enables the Project Manager to analyse how the work needs to be carried out and identify the options for doing so.
In spite of all the planning and thinking done, all projects face unforeseen pitfalls. Experienced Project Managers know this and try to look ahead and predict such pitfalls beforehand and find means to avoid an mitigate effects.
Many times projects go wrong because of poor communications and misunderstandings than any other single factor. A project manager need to try to ensure that all involved in the project know what is going on, what their role is, and what they should be working on.
If your project involves a team, then investing time in keeping the team connected, committed and energised will make the project progress much more smoothly.
All projects need a final stage; to ensure that all know that the project is over and has been successful, and to ensure that everyone's contributions have been recognised by their line managers and by the Project Sponsor.
There is no "magic formula" to success in project management. In practice it is simply a matter of introducing definition, focus and clarity into the project and then managing people and tasks actively to ensure progress this is the aim of this book.
Thanks for your interest
Best Regards, Massimo Antoniello