Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People

Chapter 14. An Introduction to Project Management

	Project management is the process of managing, allocating, and timing resources to achieve the desired goals of a project in an efficient and expedient manner. The objectives that constitute the desired goal are normally a combination of time, cost, and performance requirements.
	--Adedeji B. Badiru 1993

In most enterprises, information-development projects occur in the context of larger projects. In product-development organizations, information developers support the product’s customers, especially those who install, configure, administer, modify, and use the product in their workplace. They also support internal customers who train and support customers, install and repair equipment in the field, or market and sell the product. In other organizations, information developers are responsible for information to support internal activities. They work with others engaged in defining policies and establishing procedures. Information developers are the writers, editors, and production coordinators for projects that are guided by subject-matter experts or even committees or teams of experts. Some information developers may themselves be the subject-matter experts. They are responsible for creating a process and preparing training and reference materials to support those who perform the process. Only rarely are information developers completely ...