Issues in PM

What do you want to do or produce (e.g. upgrade the IT structure in a

department)?

• Dependencies

• Aim of the project

• Outputs

• Quality Criteria

What do you need to deliver in order to achieve your aim (e.g. a new

software system or a new building)?

• milestone

• Outputs

• Tolerance

• Scheduling

The level of quality needs to be defined, together with the stakeholders.

• Quality Criteria

• Outputs

• Tolerance

• Management Structure

These include staff, particular knowledge or skills, money and time. Some tasks can't be hurried along by throwing more money at the problem, e.g. delivery times or the time needed for concrete to set on a building project.

• Quality Criteria

• Tolerance

• Resources

• Management Structure

How are you going to manage the work? Who will be the decision-makers for different types of work? How will you share progress on the project? How will the project manager report to the project sponsor(s)?

• Tolerance

• Resources

• Quality Criteria

• Management Structure

it makes sense to break up any project into discrete chunks, with a sensible deadline for each main task. On an IT project, this may include gathering requirements, tender writing, project tendering, contract negotiation, deployment and testing.

• Tolerances

• Milestones

• Quality Criteria

• Scheduling

In terms of finance, these may be +/-5 per cent; in terms of time, +/-10 per cent, or in terms of quality, to what extent are you prepared to accept changes in quality?

• Management Structure

• Risks

• Tolerances

• Milestones

What needs to happen before something else? These can sometimes be internal (under the project manager's control) or external (beyond the project manager's control).

• Risks

• Dependencies

• Scheduling

• Outputs

What could go wrong? What could damage your ability to deliver? Is there anything you can do to avoid these?

• Scheduling

• Risks

• Dependencies

• Quality Criteria

This is the Gantt-style chart that many people visualise when a project plan is mentioned. In this way, you can describe what you can expect to happen when. It will provide a general overview of the project. But you cannot make a perfect one.

• Scheduling

• Dependencies

• Risks

• Quality Criteria