Project Management:

A Critical Skill for Princeton

Presented by Hetty Baiz

Princeton Project Office
OIT, Princeton University
Background

 Multiple Projects
 Cross-functional
 Mutually Interdependent

Success and failure is no longer within the total control of that

project.
What’s A Project?
 What’s A Project?
A “project”

 Will deliver
– Business and/or technical objectives
 Is made up of
– Defined processes & tasks
 Will run for
– Set period of time
 Has a budget
– Resources and $’s
What is Project Success?
 What is Project Success?
Project success occurs when we have:


A delighted client (expectations met)
Objectives  Delivered the agreed objectives
 Met an agreed budget - $, resources etc.
 Within an agreed time frame
The 'Golden Triangle' of
Project Success

and

 Done it all professionally &

without killing the team

Time Cost
 Why Do Projects Fail?
 Changing scope
 Insufficient planning
 No risk or issues management
 Poor communication
 Lack of commitment and responsibility by stakeholders
 Who Are Stakeholders?
Steering
Committee

Senior Mgmt Clients & Users

Academic & Project Interdependent

Business Units Projects

Information Outside Groups

Technology (Vendors)

Team
Members
 Project Management
A Maturity Model best practice

competent
Success rate better
than 75%

aware
aware
e Success rate of 45
to 75%
seat
seat
ofofthe
pants
pants Success rate of 30
Success rate less to 45%
than 30%
 Seat of Success rate less
Seat of Pants pants than 30%

 Projects happen without correct initiation

– Planning is insufficient
– Benefits are unknown
– There is often inadequate buy-in
 Communication is poor
 Interdependencies are not managed
 Standards, if any, are poorly defined or
unenforced.
 aware Success rate of 30
Aware To 40%

 Projects are formally initiated & plans

endorsed but with varying standards and few
disciplines
 Methodology has been introduced
 Stakeholders support projects overall
 The number of projects is rationalized
 Projects are explicitly associated with
business planning
 Success rate of 45
Competent competent To 75%

 Methodology and standards are well established and supported

 Stakeholders understand and accept roles
 Discrete measures support good management
 Projects are set up and managed end-to-end
 Risks are clearly defined and controlled
 Best Practice best practice Success rate better
than 75%

 Improvement programs are formal

 Good measurement enables optimization
 Level of confidence sees organization taking
on high risk projects successfully
 Respect and support of projects and project
managers
 Why Should We Care?
 To Increase the likelihood that projects will :

– be done on time and within budget

– meet people’s expectations
– be done well
Project Office Mission
To enable the successful implementation of OIT
initiatives in a way that establishes a project
management culture so that we deliver projects
on time, within budget and with expected results.
 How?
 Define a Princeton Project Management Methodology
(PPMM)
 Support and Mentor
 Offer Training
 Facilitation, Audit, Review
 P2K Project Office
Methodology

Continuous
Improvement

Consulting/Mentoring Education/Training
Project Management Process

Tracking
& Control

Complete
Initiation &
Planning Reporting Assess

Review

Initiation Detailed Status Post

Plan Plan Report Project
Review
Report
Management Techniques
To increase the likelihood of project success you must manage:

 Stakeholders
 Risks
 Issues
 Change
How to Manage Stakeholders

A stakeholder is any person or group who, if their support were to

be withdrawn, could cause the project to fail.

- Get them involved

- Keep them informed
- Gain their endorsement
 How to Manage Stakeholders
 Identify stakeholders
 Involve in planning
 Establish expectations / accountabilities
 Formal communication
 Gain sign-off
 Change and issues resolution
 Project reviews
 Define project completion
Risk Management

What is “risk”?

 Any factor capable of causing the project to go off track.

– Develop and monitor a Risk Plan

Issues Management

 Unresolved issues will drive a project towards failure and consume a

significant part of a project manager’s time.

 Stakeholders play key role in issues management and resolution

- Establish Issues log, review, escalation process

Change Management
 Uncontrolled changes to a project will probably account for up to 30% of a project’s
total effort.

 If these changes are not managed, the project will be viewed to be over time and over
budget.

- Establish a Change management process

 PPMM Summary Overview
 The Process
– Initiation
– Planning - Track/Control - Report - Review
– Completion and Assessment

 Management Techniques
– Stakeholder Management
– Risk Management
– Issues Management
– Change Management
PPMM Deliverables
 Project Plans
 Status Reports
 Audit & Review Report
 PPMM Tools
 Office 2000
– Word
– Excel
– Access
 MS Project 2000
For more information…...

 Call the Princeton Project Office at

8-6335
 Send e-mail to hetty@[Link]
 Visit our web site at…

[Link]/ppo
Recommended Best Practices
Project Planning and Management

 Follow proven methodologies

 Active Executive/Project Sponsor
 Identify / revisit “critical success” factors
 Document assumptions
– Business process change vs. customization
Recommended Best Practices
Project Planning and Management

 Have technical staff in place at start-up

 Plan for backfill
 Involve Steering Committee early
 Plan production support in central offices
 Plan for applying fixes
 Plan for “end of project”
 Plan for vacation/sick time
 Recommended Best Practices
Scheduling, Tracking and Control

 Break large projects into phases

(no > 18 - 24 months total)
 Control phase “bleed over”
 Post phase assessments
 “Go/No Go” decision points
 Sponsor sign-off
 Review Scope periodically
 Recommended Best Practices
Scheduling, Tracking and Control

 Building learning curve into plans

 Weekly team meetings
 Detail planning in 1-2 month segments
 Define and manage to “critical path”
– What’s important
– Prioritize
– Who, what, when
 Recommended Best Practices
Reporting

 Establish monthly status reporting

 Hold monthly status reviews with key stakeholders
– Oral status reports are effective
 Keep users of system (middle managers) informed
 Recommended Best Practices
Resourcing

 Resource Plan
 Cross functional teams work
 Co-locate teams
 Projects are full time job
 Complete training before prototyping
 Have full team train together
 Leverage investment
 Build team spirit
Recommended Best Practices
Managing Expectations

 Communication Plan
 Make major policy decisions up front
 Don’t make promises to users up front
 Monthly status report and review
 Monthly / bi-monthly presentations
 Articles, web pages, newsletters
 Special communications from sponsor
 Focus groups, demos, town meetings
Recommended Best Practices
Promoting the System

 Focus Groups during gap analysis

 Demos for every user after first release
 Active Executive Committee showed support
 Town meetings to endorse system
 Major presentation to users
 “Pretzel stick” advertisement
 Recommended Best Practices
Methodology

 Follow proven methodologies

 Consolidate methodology ( pre-kick off )
 Functional reps go to all prototyping
 Use standard report formats
 Co-locate developer with tester (short term)
Recommended Best Practices
Managing the Consulting Partner

 Selection criteria should include

– Ability to transfer knowledge
– Help organize team
– Follow proven methodology
– Provide good implementation tools
– Ability to form good working partnership
– Higher Education experience
– Work locally (near by or on-site)
Recommended Best Practices
Managing the Consulting Partner

 Take time to define contract

– Terms and conditions / Statement of work (metrics)
 Review by Legal, tech., bus., purchasing
 Veto power to select / reject resources
 Fixed price gives University more control
 Tie payments to acceptance of deliverables
 Review quality plans
 State that the University has methodology
Recommended Best Practices
Managing the Consulting Partner

 Form partnership - make part of team

 Have single point of contact
 Build one project plan
 Consultant defines phase objectives
 Build in reviews with decision points
– Meet expectations / Go-no go decision
 Plan for early transition of knowledge
 Implementation done by Princeton
Recommended Best Practices
Managing the Vendor

 Have single point of contact

 Include RFP responses / bind vendor to meet
 Cap maintenance fees (post impl. Phase)
 Don’t presume product works from day 1
– Fixes required?
 Review Quality Plans
Recommended Best Practices
Managing the Vendor

 Know package after prototyping (not sales)

 Include vendor milestones in project plan
 Build “decision points” into plan where tight vendor dependencies
 Have contingency plans in place
For more information…...

Visit our Web site at…

[Link]/ppo