Before we can begin to go into the detail of the essential project management basics I want you to get up and get a coffee (cr numbering all over the place). The thing is that not many people out here actually do just that. I mean there are those shredders we see him in, over-active, too “proactive” to be here, whatever. But to go back to basics, the basics really do not have to be to complex. And you don’t have to have a formal project (P4) either to just follow these basic elements myself. As you can find on a PRINCE 2 Foundation Course qualification.
I go by the “P” format on my project management days – the Product. The product is what the project is. It’s what you need to deliver. I like this. Systems are systems are systems!
Gone are the days of the elusive “instant” and ” Herb agendas”, done in a complete Amazonian utopia with paperless projects. We have evolved so much to be so thankful that this medium now exists.
Both the project manager and the project team need to have a product. Sadly (to some) I think of “project” as a marketer’s buzzword to describe various things, rather than an actual product or service to be delivered (i.e. any project!). Now, is that fair? But I got the inspiration of aish number of project management courses and reading on blogs over the past few years to really focus on the fundamental product definition itself, and find ways to express the end product through the specific project-specific activities.
Some simple project primers to start with
If you are reading this, you probably need some solid in-depth project management training. For me, this was the case from day one. Both my Dad, and my Dad’s Dad, made it a point that my children were born to be my overlords, and my employees, my progenitors. I had worked for them, and they had worked for me and are now producing at a high level. This was their first job. I didn’t know much about planning, but this was my dad’s way. You understand the power of a boss’s ego!
So, today I’m going to give you some basic PROMPTORE project management training to make your own job sound as fresh and letting go like mine. These are simple ideas only, but ones that genuinely work. Now when I talk about project management issues, I’m just going to cut and paste them into the same process following these as I did:
P1: The Project Scope
So, a project has a scope, and an individual work out what his individual responsibilities are within that scope. The scope may even be flexible if things change during the life cycle of that project. This is – at the very least – some very basic PM training.
P2: The Project Time
Keith Lee calls this “chronality” and I feel it is a pretty big part of the big picture when it comes to project time management. However, at some juncture, I’m always reminded – and it still is – that people who are working on their product tend to be fickle. Therefore, I try to make sure that I am always walking that tightrope. This means that I can’t buy any time off, despite having a face-to-face interview, by having my kids pay for a holiday for me.
P3: The Project Schedule (Springy beck, no Banking please!)
One of the most important things to a project is that things move and don’t getbriskly. After all, if you’re moving a mountain from your back door to your front door, you wouldn’t expect the mountain to start taking shape on the way out, either!
P4: The Project Monitor and constantly Plan for the Worst
As with the scope statement above, project managers need to plan for things to happen. The more they plan, the less they’re waffling. However, to be able to achieve this optimum plan, project managers need to be monitoring everything (and this means both the project manager and your team) thoroughly, in order to catch the things that might slip through the crack.
Well, that is it for this post! I hope my thoughts on PROMPTORE were useful to you. If you’d like more, please do drop me a line atsherri@sherinducedpath.com, or send me an email atsherri@sher Lebanese MBA.com
