What do you get when you combine a great Vision with goal-oriented Strategies and SMART objectives? That’s right — an incredible Project! If only it were that easy. In our prior blogs, we shaped your idea into a Vision, then converted that Vision into Strategies. We also discussed decomposing each Strategy into Goals and Objectives. But objectives are static until they become Projects. That’s where the magic happens. A project is not something that takes place within the monotony of the day-to-day grind. A project is a unique endeavor that has a targeted start date as well as a targeted end date. One person, a small team, a large team, or several teams of different sizes can manage a project. An objective may have multiple projects that form a portfolio that must be managed.

Some projects, such as building a house, follow a logical progression from start to finish. These projects are often referred to as waterfall or predictive. Other projects require a more adaptive approach, such as Agile efforts that involve regular input from the project sponsor or their representative. Adaptive projects work in short iterations, which fit more inventive projects that need to adjust rapidly based on feedback and changing needs, such as creating new software or technology. It’s also not uncommon to find projects that use a hybrid approach where some portions of the project, such as planning, are predictive and others, such as designing the user interface, are adaptive.

Method To The Madness

Every project has three critical parts that you must always consider. Those critical factors are the scope of the project, the amount of time the project needs, and, most importantly, the funding.

Scope of Work (SOW)

A Business Analyst or the Project Manager will work with you to segment each objective into projects and then identify deliverables and requirements. Next, the Project Manager will decompose the projects into work packages or tasks, which in predictive projects is called a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and in adaptive projects is a Backlog. It’s important to note that each project methodology uses its own tools, techniques, and terminologies. Momentum’s Project Management Consultants are highly skilled in managing both predictive and adaptive projects in many industries and disciplines. While Momentum’s Business Analysts specialize in guiding clients through the pre-initiation phase of a project, many Project Managers also have business analysis experience. Momentum Project Manager Consultant Amy Townson advises,

“I frequently encounter projects that are not well scoped out. If the team doesn’t agree on what the final product will look and feel like, or what it will achieve, how can they hope to agree on where the finish line is?”  

When planning the SOW, you should prepare for the worst (risks) and expect the best — not to be pessimistic but more of a realist. While the same Project Manager and Business Analyst may be involved from beginning to end, it’s not uncommon for a long-term project to have changes in the team. You may also have been brought in to rescue a project in trouble. It’s always important to conduct Scope Reviews and document Lessons Learned to track how the project is developing relative to the original project objective and does the project objective align with the Strategy, Mission, and Vision.

Tick Tock

Piggybacking on the realistic viewpoint, the next critical factor you should always consider is time. Projects are often delivered late and sometimes not completed. It’s important to understand the project constraints; one of the most important is your timeline. The timeline is where you will identify Milestones, which are critical accomplishments to achieve project success, and also plan the availability of resources. The Project Manager will identify dependencies, such as ensuring that the painter shows up after the drywall is in place and whether the software programmer you need is available when you need them and for the duration needed. If one part of the project runs late, the specialist you need may have moved on to a new project.

Projects are a best guess and impossible to predict fully. Supply shortages, weather, slow decision-makers, and other factors can cause unexpected delays. The Project Manager keeps a pulse on the project so that if the timeline starts to slip, the situation can be assessed and remedied before it spins out of control.

One final note that can jeopardize a project schedule is scope creep and gold plating. Scope creep is the client asking for changes that are not part of the planned work. Project changes are inevitable, and adaptive projects are executed with the premise of incorporating rapid changes during iterations. However, it is critical to have a change management process to ensure that extra time and costs are planned and authorized. Gold plating is when extra features that were not planned are added. Such good intentions can create unexpected problems with acceptance and drain resources better applied to achieve planned deliverables.

Ka-Ching!

It is extremely difficult to complete your project without the financial support it needs. The Catch-22 is that you won’t know exactly how much your project may cost until the project matures. Projects often have budgets that cannot be increased, and it’s best if you don’t need to ask for additional funds. To keep your project out of the red and your project owners’ faces from turning an angry shade of red, the Project Manager will constantly monitor, control, and communicate project progress against the triple constraint: scope, time, and budget. That means when a project starts to run over budget, the Project Manager will understand the cause, seek to remedy the situation, and adjust the time and scope to accommodate the decrease in funds. This might mean that the scope is reduced or broken into phases that can be funded separately, or perhaps not as many people or work hours can be applied.  Whenever possible, planning and avoiding budget risks is the most desirable outcome.

The Value of Responsiveness

While you are considering the triple constraint, there is one additional variable that the fate of your project depends on: you. The value of responsiveness is key. Whether you are the project owner, manager, or specialist on the project team, it is important that you not only have set expectations but also meet those expectations. Depending on the project’s magnitude and the financial support you gain, others may work side-by-side with you. Respecting others’ time and work is non-negotiable. A lack of trust within the team spells the demise of many projects.

And last but certainly not least, communication — yes, I know, redundancy is relevant to my point, but communication is paramount. Your project will only be as good as you allow it to be.

Here at Momentum, we hold ourselves to the utmost professional standards while our Business Analysts, Project Managers, and Specialists consult for you and your team. Our goal is for you to achieve your Vision by accomplishing critical projects and tasks while maintaining your scope, schedule, and budget for every project we work on together. It is a critical part of Momentum’s Vision to understand and focus on what is important to you as the client. Contact us today to get your consultation started and your projects completed.