Managing Small Projects.

The vast majority of projects that organisations try to deliver are valued at less that £50,000. In a large project this would be deliverd at a task level but the principals for delivering a project task or small discreet project are the same. For may years Vic Tuffenbhas been an advocate of the Small Prpject Management philosophy and has introduced the concepts into a number of large and small businesses.

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The methodology takes the principles of the book and delivers them in a handy Work Book which you can then customise to fit your business or project.the key parts of the training are covered in the following guidance notes for the work book.

Guidance Notes for the "Small Project Work Book".

Project Definition.

Context.The background to the project. Should include a business reason for doing the work.

Objective.The purpose for carrying out the project. This should be written in one sentence and should not include the word "And".

Scope.A statement on what is included and excluded from the project.

Constraints.A statement on external influences that will restrict the scope of the project. The Key constraints are Cost, Resources and Timescales.

Roles and Responsibilities.A list of those people or resources that will be involved in delivery of the project. It should state what they will do and should emphasise what they are accountable for.

Main Products and Deliverables.A more detailed description of what will be delivered. It should include statements on both quality and quantity and should describe the success criteria.

External Dependencies.This is a list of any actions that will have a bearing on the success of the project that are not within the direct control of the Project Manager.

Underlying Assumptions.This is a list of conditions that the project manager is expecting to be met in order to ensure success of the project.

Project Phases/ Tasks.A list of tasks that need to be done in the order that they should be completed in order to successfully deliver the project. As an option a plan could be drafted in MS project.

Project Review Points.  The milestones or stage gates should be planned and published prior to starting the project. The expected outcome of each phase should be stated and the method used to test the actual status. At this stage the stakeholders should be given the opportunity to approve the project scope and deliverables. In addition you can also decide whether any of the additional documents are required.

Project Risk Assessment.  This is a means to assess the project level risks. This is actions, situation or conditions that pose a threat to the success of the project. Some obvious ones are insufficient funds, insufficient resources, wrong skill set or inadequate instructions. The preventative action is the plan you put in place to ensure the risk does not become an issue. The contingent action is the plan you put in place if the preventative plan is ineffective or if it is not possible to prevent the issue. The trigger actions are those conditions that you will monitor to warn you that the risk condition is apparent.

Change Management.  This is the tool we will use to track changes to the project scope and deliverables. The change should be described together with the implications for the change i.e. cost, resources or timescales. A change should only be applied following a consultation process and agreement with the stakeholders.

Project Quality Plan. 

Quality target-Thequality targets for the deliverables should be described here.

Approach to be used-Themethod by which those quality objectives will be measured should be stated. These should be clearly defined criteria i.e. Dimensions, quality of finish or S.M.A.R.T.

Implementation Strategy-The manner used to introduce the product or process into production.

Major Products to be reviewed-This is a report used at the measurement stage to record the output. .

Stakeholder Management Plan.

Stakeholder name-Any person who could have an impact on the course of the project.

Impact-Classify as:

• High - Is in a position to change the scope of the project on command or veto decisions.

• Medium - Is in a position to change the scope of the project by agreement and can influence

decisions.

• Low - Is in a position to change the scope of the project only by third party intervention but

has no direct influence on decisions.

Attitude- Classify as:

• Champion - Fully supports the project. Will defend the project objective.

• Supporter - Presents a positive attitude to the project but maintains a watching brief.

• Critic - Is less supportive of the objective. May present a negative attitude.

Actions- An action plan should be drafted and implemented for each stakeholder. The action plan could be "No action required" for a Champion of the project who could have low impact. If you had a critic of the project who had high impact you should arrange regular meetings with them to brief them on progress and ensure that they sign on to the process at each stage.

Budget Plan.

(This will be a spread sheet to assist with the costing of the project but it is not yet ready to add to the workbook.).

For more information Contact us on 0800 612 7688 or at sales@tuffentech.co.uk.