Successful Project Management (The Sunday Times Creating Success)

Contents......Page 5
Introduction......Page 9
What is success?......Page 12
What happens to the project?......Page 13
Your view of success......Page 14
Success depends on who is measuring......Page 15
What are the perceived causes of failure?......Page 16
Reduce the probability of failure......Page 18
The climate for success......Page 19
Some definitions......Page 20
Projects – are they just an accident?......Page 23
What’s the current climate?......Page 24
What influences the climate?......Page 25
The operating climate for success......Page 31
The key activities......Page 33
Defined roles and responsibilities– the key players......Page 34
Influence of organisationalculture......Page 39
The project process– key steps for success......Page 41
The phase gates......Page 42
The phase gate – a constraint?......Page 43
The key steps to success......Page 45
Selecting the right project......Page 47
The start-up process......Page 51
Customer needs and expectations......Page 52
Identifying the project constraints......Page 57
Assumptions......Page 58
The kick-off meeting......Page 59
Recording essential information......Page 62
The project brief and specification......Page 64
Defining the project......Page 65
Risk assessment......Page 72
Getting your project definition approved......Page 74
What is a stakeholder?......Page 76
Identifying stakeholders......Page 78
The two most important stakeholders......Page 80
Stakeholder influence......Page 82
Gathering information about stakeholders......Page 83
The stakeholder influence matrix......Page 84
What happens next with stakeholders?......Page 86
What is a risk?......Page 88
Why bother?......Page 89
The risk management process......Page 90
Identifying the risks......Page 91
A typical starter checklist......Page 92
Quantifying the risks......Page 95
Risk score......Page 98
Monitoring risks......Page 99
Planning the project......Page 102
Who needs to be involved?......Page 103
Where does planning start?......Page 104
Identifying the key stages......Page 105
Allocating responsibility......Page 111
Estimating......Page 113
The critical path of your project......Page 116
Analyse resource requirements......Page 122
Optimising your schedule......Page 123
Review the project budget......Page 125
Freezing the baseline schedule......Page 126
Seeking approval to launch......Page 127
Preparing for project execution......Page 128
The control environment......Page 138
Monitoring the progress......Page 141
Managing the issues arising......Page 142
Tracking your project......Page 146
Control the costs......Page 152
Project drift......Page 156
Set the completion criteria......Page 158
The acceptance process checklist......Page 159
The closeout meeting......Page 160
Post-project evaluation......Page 161
And finally…......Page 164
Standard formats for data recording......Page 165
Further reading......Page 167