106 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
106 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Management of Your Consulting Project/Contract
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---
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# Project Planning
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$400 before record for taxation
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## Project vs. Program
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#### Project
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A temporary task undertaken to create a unique product or service
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#### Program
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A series of projects that are managed in a coordinated way (longer term)
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#### Project management is a process:
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- **Initiate:** conceptualize the idea or task
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- **Plan:** how will you actually complete the task
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- **Execute:** do the plan
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- **Control:**
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- **Close:**
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## Project Initiation
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How does your project get started?
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- Formal response to request for proposal (RFP)
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- Informal request to tackle a project
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- Cold call
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- **Mission:** why are you taking on the project
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- **Objective:** what are the goals of the project
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- **Deliverables:** what outcomes constitute completion
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- **Client/Customer:** who has interest in the project
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## Project Planning
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### Areas to cover:
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- Scope of project/tasks
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- Time requirements
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- Cost discussion
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- Known issues that need to be addressed
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- Risk management
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- Quality control requirements
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- Communications
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- Resource requirements
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### Helpful Artifacts
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- Work breakdown structure (WBS)
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- Project budget
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- Bill of Materials (BOM)
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- Project schedule
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- Start and end dates
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- How to fill in everything in between
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- Major milestones
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- Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)
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- Configuration change control process
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- Know the cost of making a change
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- Risk management plan
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## Project execution
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How do you know if you are ahead or behind schedule?
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- Schedule tracking and status
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- All planned tasks should be incorporated into some form of a schedule
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- Advises number of resources and how to adjust if necessary
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- Measure Project Activities
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- Amount of effort over time
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- What happened or is happening?
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- Report progress to client/customer
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# Work Breakdown Structure
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A product-oriented "family tree" division of hardware, software, services, and other work products which organizes graphically.
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- Hierarchical breakdown of products and services
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- All products and services required to complete the project
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- Consulting likely won't get to this level of detail
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- Budget
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- Master schedule
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- Organization
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- Contract Tasking
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- Risk management
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- Reporting
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# Change Management
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Depends on risk of change for each requirement.
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# Project Status Reporting
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Can be formal or informal, but ultimately up to the client or customer.
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- Informal tends to allow more open and honest communication
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- Still need actual metrics
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### How often to report status
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- Monthly is too infrequent
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- Daily can make it hard to assess and react
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- Weekly tends to be about right
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### Acceptance
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- Fully define some level of acceptance
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- How do you know when the product is acceptable
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- Clear criteria doesn't always exist
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### Approval
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- Who approves the project deliverables?
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- When is a project approved?
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- May require your client to seek approval if you are a sub-contractor
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