WestCoast2008:PM Principles - Introduction to Project Management

Notetaker: Jude

MNTP 101 Intro.

Participant go-around key words or associations (partial list):

• Tides foundation
• Technology without background.
• Project management.
• Technology;
• Hewlett Foundation;
• Technology cooperative;
• Accidental project manager;
• Web developer;
• Database of money and votes.
• All project management;
• Intern program for researchers;
• ISQL and database management
• System to organize all projects in pipeline.
• Integrated system for all NPTM;
• Track, report and measure projects;
• Facilities, putting on conferences.
• Communications department;
• Website content management;
• Redesign website.
• Need podcasts, blogs;

Laura.

Walk through a project.

Vicky: Integrate all the databases. Filemaker. Excel, payments, grantee information, artists who show at gallery. Artwork for the city. Vendors, people involved in projects. Donors and fundraising.

San Francisco Arts Commission as a case study for discussion.

After dbase integration – how to use. Mailings, payments, pull out queries, less duplication of info. See overlap w/in organization.

See chart. Initiate phase: where you figure out what your doing  Goal of the project.

What do define about the project?

• Funding, budget.
• How long we have to solve the project?
• Define the problem clearly?
• What it is and what it is not?
• Audience – who’s it for?
• When to start, when do we know we’re done?

Difficulties?

• Not useful information – documentation, requirement, timing, resources. NOT Clear.
• Who's control center
• Who's in charge.

PLAN phase.

• Eg. What’s in the dbases, what’s needed.
• Define, share and document vision, plan, requirement.
• Requirements gathering
• Talk to stakeholders. What would be useful to them
• Techniques & tips.
• People are committed to process.

Translating vision of staff into implementable; understandable.

• Quality control component: how we ensure the data is clean
• How much to scrub

Vision. Scope = what spec Specifically are we doing – budget. Requirement: scoping.

Dynamic Facilitation – group process to vision and plan.

Technology and project goals. Personal document.

Have someone in charge of the process. To reflect the process agreements, coordinate. Set things down so they don’t morph unintentionally. Direct points of reference.

Terms: define scope, requirements. Use Cases = take form of idea, list of things that people would want to do in the system. Users, what are they going to do.

Eg. program associate create mailing to previous grantees. User Story = Use Cases.

Set the scenario. Iterate through levels of uses. Story, impressionistic, then technical may come in.

User scenarios. User personas. Define typical program associate (background, what he wants to do). Eg. public website, teenager eg.

Planning, implementing and Monitoring.

1. Waterfall project management. One cycle through the diagram to Close.

2. Agile methodology – do cycle a lot of times. Example:

  *a. One dbase and see how it goes. Raw alpha version of website to see what staff thinks. 
  *b. Or phase project and continue to iterate through. 

Ultimate system. Phased in. Priorities of different systems. Overall strategic plan.

Monitor:

• Quality control,
• Evaluation and possibly redesign.

Close is a small bubble. Theoretically. How do you know you’re done with the specific project. Then you know you can move on to another project. Is the project effective for use? Open another project.

? even after launch – updating and data input and users. I.e project manager perspective the project is never closed. How and when do you predict. What time commitment does the new website e.g. have.

Consider this in the initiation phase. Content managers and that’s all they do. Iterative. Who can maintain this? What does it take, e.g. half time. Become part of business processes – part of the organizations. Don’t launch website and leave static. Have to do both content and techie part.

Training and oversight part of the project.

Some close… or never ending… define it. Close the development phase. Define when you switch over to implementation an update.

Scope: what’s in the project, size Cost & Time: Quality – eg. bug free for launch? Golden triangle. Cost, Time, Scope or Quality. Can’t have all of these fixed and none are movable. We can build your crazy project, but it won’t work out if you don’t have time to maintain it. What features are in it? People – managing what skills on project, they get along, Risk: eg. Server not coming in on time, programmer leaves team. Try to mitigate it. Procurement – lining up everything that need to be in place.

Communication?

Content management: website platforms, eg Joomla!. Contact management. Eg outlook Constituent management: bigger system. Constituent Relationship management – relations with all constituents, board, grantees,

Salesforce.com is one CRM

Gantt Chart: old school project management tool that represents flow of task on the project and dependencies between them. People and time and tasks and what happens before other things. Graphical representation of what is happening. So when time lags on some thing.

MS Project. Omni-Plan

Gantt charts are too time consuming for most NPTP management. Putting in the time spans. Very serious project to invest the time. OK for million dollar project.

Six Sigma – quality initiative. Agreement and process to management quality. Six levels. Generally a corporate thing. Large and complicated.

Lean: similar philosophy around management. Overall management philosophy.

Is there a glossary of terms (CRM, CMP, etc) and various types of applications, software, etc. Is there an overall chart linking up different types of systems with different software applications?

Technology projects. There are so many of them. Session was about project management in general and not as linked to technology specifics.

Idealware. Aspirations.

Take-aways:

• Initiation phase very important. Allocate for risk.
• Waterfall versus Agile project management impt context.
• Close – how do you know when you’re done, so you can avoid spiralling within project.