|
 MANAGING
PROJECTS
A clear understanding of the basic principles of project management
will pay dividends for any SME looking to harness IT for business success
Effective project management can provide the same major benefits for small
and medium-sized enterprises as it does for larger organisations.
Well-managed projects should result in required deliverables
to the quality expected. These should be produced to planned timescale,
resource and, of course, cost. Successful projects can significantly help
the organisation achieve its business objectives, making effective use of
IT and business processes to enhance performance, productivity or competitive
advantage. Yet many SMEs suffer badly from "failed" projects which do not
meet business expectations. Their senior executives and other users may
feel that project management is an unnecessary overhead - a black art which
delivers unpredictable or unsatisfactory results at high cost. This may
be because in many SMEs with limited resources and budgets, dedicated project
management is not seen as an essential specialist skill.
For example, business analysts or technical specialists may
be asked to multi-task by handling projects in addition to their other roles.
Such multi-tasking or change of role could dilute their focus and effectiveness,
and make it difficult for them to keep their eye on the ball across their
various roles. A cost-effective solution could be provided by engaging a
specialist project management consultancy - for example, on a fixed-cost
or fixed-time basis - to manage a project or portfolio of projects, while
also advising in-house staff on project management principles, processes
and techniques for specific needs of the organisation. Most of the basic
principles of project management apply to SMEs just as they do to larger
organisations. But it is by no means one size fits all, as most of these
businesses do not have project management offices or internal project auditors,
or make full use of a heavyweight project management methodology.
Nevertheless, clear identification of business needs and their
effective delivery via projects is often essential for the commercial success
of an SME. Key factors to address include project framework, responsibility,
process and results. An SME can gain significant benefit from its executives
clearly knowing what they want from their projects. Initially, they should
understand the big picture, or framework, of where they want to go and some
alternative approaches (eg business changes, processes, IT) for how to get
there.
An evaluation should be done to assess the comparative business
benefits and risks of each approach. In this way it should be possible to
clarify which approach is best aligned to the organisation's business objectives.
For each project, the SME chief executive should appoint an executive (the
more senior the better) as sponsor, with top-level commitment for ensuring
project success and overall responsibility for all aspects of the project
including resources, budget and business benefits. Project success can be
helped by good use of process, techniques and tools based on best practice
guidelines and selected aspects of a widely used standard methodology such
as Prince 2.
Key aspects to address include clear definition and documentation
of project requirements and deliverables. Also important is test planning
from an early stage, leading to as much system and user testing as possible,
and fast turnaround of test results and issues. These and other aspects
can be optimised to fit the organisation's needs, resources and budgets,
using: "Light" project planning and control using only selected key documents/outputs;
"Light" processes for project governance, reporting and other communications;
"Light" configuration, quality and risk management; Off-the-shelf, re-usable
templates and tools where possible. Project results should be easy to monitor
against plan, easy to communicate and easy to compare with project requirements
and success criteria. Business benefits delivered can therefore be measured.
How can a busy SME CEO or senior executive start the process
of improved project management? This could be effected by an initial assessment
of business needs, plans and current project status by an external project
management specialist. Such an objective health check can help to identify
and clarify project needs, areas of concern and aspects needing particular
focus.
These papers are provided to give a general overview
of current industry thinking.
If you wish to use the information in
its original form please obtain permission by E-Mailing G.A.W.
Associates. |
