Project Management A-Z: A Compendium of Project Management Techniques and How to Use Them

A Compendium of Project Management Techniques and How to Use Them

Alan Wren

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138716506
• eBook ISBN: 9781351768597
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This title was first published in 2003. What does project authorization involve and how should you seek it? What is earned value and how are the calculations made? How do you select the appropriate method for handing over a project and what are the pitfalls associated with the options you can choose from? "The Project Management A-Z" provides you with the answer to these questions and more in an A-Z coverage of 80 project management techniques. Each one includes an explanation of the technique, how, when and why you would use it. There are sample forms, checklists of key questions to ask yourself and others, cross-references to the other techniques within the manual, in fact everything to ensure that you: understand the technique and the context in which it is used; identify whether or not it will work for you; and are able to apply it appropriately and effectively. If you are just starting a project or deeply engrossed in one, the opportunity to discuss alternative approaches, or explore the problems and opportunities that the project may throw up is particularly valuable. Sometimes you may have access to a project mentor or coach who can advise you. The Project Management A-Z helps fill that role, challenging your perception and helping build your confidence in the quality of the processes you are using and the decisions you are making. Successful projects are built on the skills of the project manager, the quality of the basic foundations that are laid, and sensitive but assertive management of processes and resources. This title should prove a useful reference to the main techniques for all of these key elements.

A-Z

Approval

Approval is formal management recognition that a deliverable or output is ‘fit for purpose’.When you have approval, you can update your plan to indicate completion, whether for a task, stage or project. Before presenting any output for management approval, it would be wise to have some form of independent assessment of the deliverable, against a checklist or other form of criteria established for the deliverable at the outset. If you are using PRINCE®, you should be able arrange a Quality Review, using a product description created during ‘Defining and Analysing Products’ in the planning process.

Where your deliverable is for your ‘internal’ project use, such as a plan or a status report, you should have standard criteria for its format, medium and content. Where a deliverable is for ‘external’ use, by the project’s customer or customers, you should have arranged for the customer to create and then to use Acceptance Criteria, against which they will be able to assess and approve each deliverable for use.

You may have already experienced an element of ‘chicken’ and ‘egg’ between ‘approval’ and ‘authorization’, or may have felt that they mean the same. You should find that approval is the acceptance of project outputs, while authorization permits you to execute plans and spend money. For example, your corporate board may have allocated funds for your project in its Business Plan, but you should not be able to start until you have submitted a plan and Business Case, gained approval for both from your project board and received authorization to start work (and incur costs) probably on the first stage only.

You will find that the single most important approval is usually that which initiates a project. It is at this point that an organization ends the process of evaluating various optional ways forward, by approving a plan to deliver the option it has selected.

Decisions are needed to set up a Project Board or Steering Group, appoint people to project roles, authorize the forecast expenditure shown in the Business Case, commit resources, and ensure that the project supports and fits in with the overall business programme.

Be aware that verbal approval of project outputs is unsatisfactory and risky. You should seek some sign-off from the individual who is accountable for approving that deliverable and who is independent of the person or group who has created or procured it. While this may appear bureaucratic and time-consuming, it will minimize, and should eliminate, the risks and waste that can occur if things go wrong later, when an individual might think it is politic to forget a verbal approval he or she has given. If one does not already exist, you can easily create a simple, standard ‘Approval’ form, with space for a signature, to show what was approved, when, and by whom. Like all original project documents, you should keep this in a properly organized and secure Project File, perhaps under the supervision of a Project Office, if you use one. See Figure 2 for a sample approval document.

Figure 2 Sample approval document

WHY MIGHT IT BE USEFUL?

You need a good understanding of your organization’s approvals process to be better able to provide the information you know your Project Board will need, in the appropriate format and detail, at the right time. There is nothing more frustrating than project delays, awaiting management decisions. Some of this is out of your hands, but it is unforgivable for a project manager to cause delays by failing to understand what is needed to enable approvals, and when.

WHEN MIGHT YOU NEED IT?

There are two main levels of approval in project work:

1. Macro level – for approval of stage or project completions.

2. Micro level – for approval of deliverables along the way.

Macro

You will need approval from your Steering Group that you have completed each stage to their satisfaction, so that you can then ask for authorization to start the next stage, or to close the project. To enable this, they should have a checklist of all the products you planned to complete during the stage, and you should be able to provide evidence that the project team or its suppliers have delivered and gained approval of each one. The Steering Group will not normally want to approve individual deliverables, except where these are business-critical, such as future contracts with third-party suppliers.

You will not normally be able to commence the next stage until all the outputs from the former, including an updated plan and Business Case, have been approved and you have obtained authorization to move ahead. You will see that while approval and authorization often occur very close together, approval is for things you have done, and authorization is for things you still need to do. You would not expect to receive authorization to execute a plan until it had been approved.

At the end of Stage One, you would then seek approval that you have completed it satisfactorily, so that you can seek authorization to start Stage Two. Eventually, you would seek approval of the outputs of the final stage, and authorization to close the project, wind up the project budget, disband the team, and hand over responsibility for operations and maintenance to the appropriate party.

Micro

As you create deliverables along the way, you need some assurance that they are fit for purpose and complete. You will probably not be able to do this yourself, even though you may have that urge. It is probably better that you delegate this responsibility to a person or group independent of the project team, and provide them with the means to do a satisfactory job. Hopefully, your organization will have both the principles and procedures in place for this, similar to those described in PRINCE® Quality Reviews.

Be aware that regular approvals for deliverables throughout a project stage take time, and allow for this when estimating when those deliverables will be completed, particularly when they are on the critical path.

WHAT SHOULD YOU CHECK?

Make sure you know who needs to approve what, and when. Show the ‘macro’ approval points as milestones on your plan, and consider allowing some contingency time after these milestones, in case approval is delayed for any reason.

• Do you have documented procedures for:

– quick and simple approval of a brief plan (and budget) for any early initial work that you may need to conduct before a project is initiated?

– approval of all the deliverables in a stage?

– signed approval of a stage by your Steering Group, in which they confirm that it has been completed?

– signed approval of a project by your Steering Group, in which they confirm that it has been completed?

• Do you know what will need to be done next, if whosoever is responsible for an approval declines to sign off a deliverable as fit for purpose and complete? If not, check your standards and procedures. It is possible that you will be required to do some rework and resubmit the output for approval.

• Do you know whether those responsible for approvals are aware of their responsibility, familiar with what is required, and briefed or trained if necessary? Has someone given them specific or standard terms of reference?

• Do you know what information you should provide, and in what format and sequence to ensure that all approvals proceed smoothly?

• Are all deliverables subject to a Quality Review or other independent inspection?

• If only major deliverables need approval, are the criteria for a major deliverable clear and consistent? (Is everyone clear and agreed on which deliverables are ‘major’?)

• Does approval automatically lead to baselining (where any future changes are subject to some degree of formal change control)? Do you have and use a Change Control procedure?

• Does sign-off mean what it implies? Do individuals sign a document to show that they approved the deliverable as complete and to requirements?

SEE ALSO

Authorization

Baselines and Baselining

Change Control

Milestones and Milestone Plans

Network Analysis and the Critical Path

Quality Reviews and Product Descriptions

Starting a Project

Authorization

In project work, authorization usually relates to permission to spend money and use resources on future work, once you have gained approval for the plan and budget.

WHY MIGHT IT BE USEFUL?

You need to know how to gain authorization to start work, spend money and use resources. This is particularly important when you will need to procure products and services externally, as mistaken assumptions here could lead to contract disputes and consequent delays.

WHEN MIGHT YOU NEED IT?

You will normally need to seek formal authorization to spend money and apply resources to work on your project. Ideally, you will have created a Business Case, or some similar written justification. Within this, you may (should!) have conducted some form of investment appraisal that conforms to your organization’s rules and conventions. Once the Steering Group approves the overall justification, you should seek authorization for the initiation work, when you will produce detailed plans and budgets. You will then need to seek approval of these, followed by authorization to start the project. At the end of each stage, the Steering Group will need to approve its outputs and gi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• Background
• Acknowledgements
• How You Might Use This Manual
• Introduction
• Glossary of Common Project Management Terms
• A–Z
• Appendix: PRINCE®
• Bibliography
• Index