Index

accountability, 5, 23, 39, 65, 69

—activities. See tasks

—attitude, 63

—authority, 5

 

bar charts, 51, 54–55, 57. See also Gantt charts

bottlenecks, 63, 68. See also troubleshooting

—anticipating, 48

—correcting, 81, 86–87

—schedule adjustment for, 79

budgets, 5, 6, 7, 57

—ballpark, 9

—contingencies in, 39, 70–71

—cost categories in, 58–59

—developing, 37, 56, 58–60

—expenditure tracking and, 60

—flexibility in, 58

—overruns in, 26, 79–82

—progress monitoring against, 66, 69–71, 79, 80

—trade-offs in, 24–26

—Work Breakdown Structure in estimating, 26

build-up phase, 3, 6, 37–60

—activities, skills, and tools for, 8

—budget development in, 56, 58–60

—schedules in, 37, 44–56

—steps in, 37

—team, assembling in, 37, 38–43

buy-in

—stakeholder, 18–20

—team member, 43

 

capital expenditures, budget for, 59

charts, 51, 52–55, 57. See also bar charts; flow charts; Gantt charts; PERT charts

closeout phase, 3, 7, 91–101

—final report in, 94–99

—handoff preparation in, 92–93

—post-project evaluation in, 93–94

—self-assessment in, 100–101

—thanking team in, 100

communication

—final report, 94–99

—people issues and, 82

—of purpose of project, 44

—with stakeholders, 22–23, 26, 48, 73–74

—within teams, 42, 43, 44

completion dates, 9, 46. See also schedules

contingency planning, 57, 70–71

costing methods, 70

Critical Path Method, 48–51

 

delays, 78–79, 80. See also bottlenecks; schedules

delegation, 40–41

—kinds of tasks for, 65

—reverse, deflecting, 41, 45

—for skill development, 45

—tracking results and, 64–66

deliverables, 46, 48, 72, 77–78

drop-dead dates, 46. See also schedules

 

evaluation

—facilitators in, 94

—of learning, 93–94

—of underlying problem, criteria for, 15

—post-project, 93–99

—self-assessment, 100–101

expectations, 18–19, 33

—unrealistic stakeholder, 19–20

 

feature creep, 77–78

financial skills, 5–6

flexibility

—in budgets, 58

—delegation and, 64–65

—in schedules, 47

flow charts, 51, 54–55, 57. See also PERT charts

focus

—in problem definition, 15

—in progress tracking, 67–68

 

Gantt charts, 51, 52, 57. See also bar charts

goals, 7

—clarifying, 16–17

—milestones and, 46, 48

—realistic, 46, 48

—setting, 13, 20–23

—SMART, 21–22

—of stakeholders, 15

—team member involvement in, 43

—unrealistic stakeholder, 19–20

 

handoff preparation, 92–93

 

implementation phase, 3, 7, 63, 64–65

incentives, 81

 

kickoff meetings, 6, 43

 

learning, evaluation of, 93–94

 

milestones, 46, 48, 69

—flexibility in, 47

—quality, 72

monitoring. See progress tracking

motivation, 63, 81

 

objectives. See goals; scope

organizational skills, 5–6, 22

overhead, budget for, 59

 

people skills, 5–6, 82, 83–85

personnel

—access to appropriate, 22

—budget for, 58, 70

PERT (Performance Evaluation and Review Technique) charts, 51, 53–54, 57. See also flow charts

phaseout. See closeout phase

planning phase, 3, 6, 13–33

—completion dates, 9, 46

—problem definition in, 13, 14–17

—for quality benchmarks, 72

—setting goals in, 13, 20–23

—spelling out tasks in, 13, 26–33

—stakeholder definition in, 6, 13, 15, 18–20

—steps in, 13

—for trade-offs, 13, 24–26

post-project evaluation reports, 93–99

problem definition, 13, 14–17

problems. See troubleshooting

progress tracking

—against budgets, 69–71

—budget tracking and, 59

—charts for, 54, 55

—delegation and, 64–66

—focus in, 67–68

—against schedules, 66–69

—schedule updates and, 48

—stakeholder reporting in, 73–74

—timely information in, 68–69

—trust and track in, 66

—Work Breakdown Structure and, 31

project management, 63–74. See also projects

—budget monitoring in, 69–71

—delegating and tracking results in, 64–66

—post-project assessment of, 94–101

—progress monitoring in, 66–71

—quality assurance in, 71–72

—self-assessment on, 100–101

—skills for, 5–6

—software for, 51, 57, 66, 67

—stakeholder progress reports in, 73–74

—timely information in, 68–69

—trust and track in, 66

—what’s involved in, 4–6

projects

—phases of, 3, 6–9

—what constitutes, 3–4

 

quality, 71–72

—goals on, 22

—poor, team problems and, 85

—trade-offs in, 25

 

recognition, 91, 100–101

research, budget for, 59

resources, 45, 66. See also budgets; personnel

—allocation of, 5, 48, 49, 79

—contributors of, 18, 79–80

risk management, 23, 56

—padding estimates and, 33

—post-project assessment of, 95

schedules, 37, 44–56

—beginning to develop, 46, 48

—bottlenecks in, 48, 79

—choosing systems for, 54–55

—completion date, 9

—Critical Path Method for, 48–51

—delays in, 79–80, 81

—deliverables in, 46, 48

—detail level in, 47

—drop-dead dates in, 46

—estimating duration of tasks for, 32–33

—Gantt charts/PERT charts for, 51, 52–54

—progress tracking against, 66–69

—quality assurance and, 72

—sequence of activities in, 32

—software for, 51, 54, 55–56

—time segments in, 31, 47

—tips for, 47

—trade-offs in, 24–26

—updating/revising, 48

 

scope, 13, 24–26

—creep, 77–78

—in Work Breakdown Structure, 26

self-assessment, 100–101

skills, 7, 44

—assembling teams with, 38–39

—delegation based on, 65

—developing through delegation, 45

—for each phase, 8

—for project management, 5–6

—task assignment based on, 42–43

—teams lacking, 83

SMART (specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, time-limited) goals, 21–22

software

—project-management, 57, 66–67

—scheduling, 51, 54, 55–56

space, budget for, 59

stakeholders, 6

—budget overruns and, 80–81

—buy-in from, 18–20

—changes in during projects, 19

—communicating with, 22–23, 26, 48

—identifying, 13, 15, 18–20

—progress reports for, 73–74

—trade-offs and, 24–26

—unrealistic expectations of, 19–20

supplies, budget for, 59

 

tasks, 7, 8

—assigning people to, 42–43

—delegating, 65

—estimating duration of, 32–33

—scheduling, 47

—sequence of, 32, 51

—spelling out, 13, 26–33

—Work Breakdown Structure and, 26–33

teams

—assembling, 6, 37, 38–44

—authority over members of, 5

—challenges in leading, 40–41

—conflict within, 84

—cross-functional, 39

—delays and, 79

—delegation to, 40–41, 45

—departure of members from, 83

—getting the best people for, 38–39

—kickoff meetings for, 43

—motivating, 63

—overly friendly, 84

—people issues in, 82, 83–85

—productivity problems in, 85

—recognizing accomplishments of, 91, 100

—skills lacking within, 83

—spirit of learning in, 93–94

—structure problems with, 83

—task assignments in, 42–43

—time mismanagement by, 85

—tips for working with, 44, 45

time management, 85. See also schedules

tools, 7, 8

trade-offs, 13, 24–26

—budget overruns and, 79–82

—delays and, 81

—scope creep and, 77–78

training, budget for, 58, 71

travel, budget for, 58

troubleshooting, 43, 77–87

—bottlenecks, 48, 86–87

—budget overruns, 79–82

—delays, 78–79, 81

—people issues, 82, 83–85

—progress monitoring and, 68–69

—scope creep, 77–78

trust and track, 66

 

Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), 26–33

—creating, 26, 32

—delegating to teams based on, 40–41

—deliverables in, 46, 48

—levels in, 32

—sample of, 27–30