Hi everyone, My first post, and straight in with a request for help...
First, a bit of background. I worked as an IT manager, but the company I worked for didn't invest any money in supplying training. Eventually I left, realising that the demands placed on us (me) were excessive if we weren't going to be given the tools to do the job.
So I set up my own IT business, with the aim to be very professional on every level. I began with my own skills, and got the correct industry qualifications in order to stand by our claims to be very good at IT.
I also recognised the need to become good at business practices, so I am working on ITIL and project management, though we haven't got too far into it yet.
All good so far...
Now, the question I am getting to is regarding a project we have been invited to do.
We have been asked to provide the IT infrastructure for a school. The installation is clearly a project as it has some good, clear end points. Once delivered, we will then go on to ongoing support.
The issue is that it's come a little early for us as we are still learning project management.
I don't want to turn the opportunity down, however I do want to do everything right, a fully professional offering along project management best practices. The budget will not allow for me to call in an external Project Manager.
So, I would really like to ask if anyone knows of any case studies or project plan templates that I could follow to help me get it right.
Of course, a voluntary mentor would be most welcome...
Overall, I see good project management and good business practices as essential, and it's a conscoius decision for us to push to become good in these areas.
We just need a bit of help with our first steps...
Many thanks, and I look forward to being a member here.
Neil
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George JucanManaging Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers NetworkWoodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Neil, to “get by” until you have time to learn do the following:
- Project Charter, to define the project scope (“in” and “out”), establish the relationship between the client and your company, define major milestones (e.g. completion date);
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to decompose the scope into work packages, ensuring that you’re not missing anything;
- Estimate (effort, duration, cost) each task;
- Determine logical dependencies between tasks (what must be executed in sequence and what may be executed in parallel);
- Apply resources to tasks and modify the schedule so no task is allocated more than 100% (you will need overtime anyway, don’t plan for it from the beginning);
- Get the schedule approved by your client, especially that they will need to ensure you access to their facilities in corresponding dates;
- Execute and monitor the work, adjusting for any deviations.
Now, please understand that the list above is not real project management, just something to “get by”. There will be many things falling through the cracks because the above list is focused on activities scheduling only, and none of the other aspects are covered (e.g. communication, as a project is only as successful as the client thinks it is – so conveying the right messages at the right time etc is as important as actually doing the work). So I certainly recommend that as you earn a living also keep learning, there are many tricks of the trade that make your life so much easier.
There are many templates on gantthead for the steps I listed above, just search their database. And once you draft your project planning artifacts (the Charter for example) you can post them back and ask the community to comment on them – you will learn a lot from their suggestions. Good luck!
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David SmithIT Manager Building and Safety Division| LA County DPWAlhambra, Ca, United States
In your project charter discuss things like schedules for regular meetings, status reports, change management, and documentation to name a few key points. It must also indicate who reports to who and how conflicts will be resolved.
Your contract with the school should indicate exactly what the school wants delivered. If this is only a vaguely defined item then the first deliverable should be a document that defines the project scope (Project Definition Report) and the individual delivery items. From this document the main project deliverable can be detailed in the work breakdown structure. Saving Changes...
