2.9 KiB
| title |
|---|
| Management of Your Consulting Project/Contract |
Project Planning
$400 before record for taxation
Project vs. Program
Project
A temporary task undertaken to create a unique product or service
Program
A series of projects that are managed in a coordinated way (longer term)
Project management is a process:
- Initiate: conceptualize the idea or task
- Plan: how will you actually complete the task
- Execute: do the plan
- Control:
- Close:
Project Initiation
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
Project Planning
Areas to cover:
- Scope of project/tasks
- Time requirements
- Cost discussion
- Known issues that need to be addressed
- Risk management
- Quality control requirements
- Communications
- Resource requirements
Helpful Artifacts
- Work breakdown structure (WBS)
- Project budget
- Bill of Materials (BOM)
- Project schedule
- Start and end dates
- How to fill in everything in between
- Major milestones
- Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)
- Configuration change control process
- Know the cost of making a change
- Risk management plan
Project execution
How do you know if you are ahead or behind schedule?
- Schedule tracking and status
- All planned tasks should be incorporated into some form of a schedule
- Advises number of resources and how to adjust if necessary
- Measure Project Activities
- Amount of effort over time
- What happened or is happening?
- Report progress to client/customer
Work Breakdown Structure
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
Change Management
Depends on risk of change for each requirement.
Project Status Reporting
Can be formal or informal, but ultimately up to the client or customer.
- Informal tends to allow more open and honest communication
- Still need actual metrics
How often to report status
- Monthly is too infrequent
- Daily can make it hard to assess and react
- Weekly tends to be about right
Acceptance
- Fully define some level of acceptance
- How do you know when the product is acceptable
- Clear criteria doesn't always exist
Approval
- Who approves the project deliverables?
- When is a project approved?
- May require your client to seek approval if you are a sub-contractor