Project Management Step by Step

PROJECT MANAGEMENT: STEP BY STEP

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Key tips

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Resist the pressure to skimp on planning so you can start the work

immediately. What time you spend up-front on planning will be

repaid several times over in time saved later.

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Understand the difference between the effort an activity takes and

the duration of it.

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Contingency is not poor management, but a realistic and essential

component of a plan to account for the risk inherent in any task.

●

Focus on getting your plan complete more than worrying about

estimates. A poor estimate will mean you may overrun on time, but

a missed task may mean you cannot complete the work. (Read

Chapter 5 for some important tasks that are easy to forget at plan-

ning time.)

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Get the right team, as no matter how good a plan you have, without

the right project team the work will not get done.

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Planning software helps you present and manage your plan, it does

not ensure your plan is any better.

REFERENCES

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Copies of the planning, staff view and cost forms in MS-Word and

MS Excel format can be downloaded from the web site at

http://www.pearson-books.com

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As this subject is core to project management, almost any book

on the subject will cover this. Some references, if you want more

examples, are:

The Definitive Guide to Project Management (Financial Times

Prentice Hall) by Sebastian Nokes et al., 2003, Chapter 5.

Practical Project Management: Tips, Tactics and Tools (Wiley) by

Harvey A. Levine, 2002, Chapters 2–6.

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STEP 3: CREATE YOUR PROJECT PLAN

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The Project Workout (Financial Times Prentice Hall) by Robert

Buttrick, 2nd edn, 1999, Chapters 6, 7, and 21.

The Project Manager: Mastering the Art of Delivery (Financial Times

Prentice Hall) by Richard Newton, 2005, Chapter 5.

TO DO NOW

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Start getting ready to brainstorm a task list:

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Where are you going to do it?

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When are you going to do it?

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Who are you going to work with? Do they offer the best combi-

nation of common sense and experience of this type of work?

Have you got the time booked in their diaries?

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Having completed the brainstorm, continue with the following parts

of this step – and continually ask yourself, do you believe the plan

you are developing?

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