Software: Basecamp

 If you are looking for a simple online tool that allows you to collaborate with clients and others working on your projects then have a look at Basecamp.

http://www.basecamphq.com/

It seems to be well geared to being a fairly quick and easy way to setup project extranets and something that should go some way to reducing the amount of emails and files flying around on your projects.

Here is a recent article on it worth reading:

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/featured-articles/basecamp-project-collaboration-utopia-000902.php

You will find links to other project collaboration tools tagged as “software” in our del.icio.us link collection

http://del.icio.us/projectcandy/software

Book: The Art of Project Management

Scott Berkun is a former Microsoft Program Manager who has learned a thing or two about project management in his time. Luckily for the rest of the project management community he has put together his thoughts in the form of a great book on the subject.  I would certainly recommend picking yourself up a copy.

You can find out more about the book here:

http://www.scottberkun.com/books/artofpm/

Creating a framework for your project methodology

A project methodology needs to be built around the logical sequence of events that occur when undertaking a project. It is a framework or plan that can used to give everyone involved in a project a better understanding of where that the tasks they are undertaking fit in to the overall scheme of things.  Having one in place can allow teams to work in a more focused and efficient manner, ultimately leading to better results.

If you want to create a methodology for your organisation you first need to think through what sort of lifecycle your projects go through. This should be pretty straightforward given that all projects should have a definite starting point, and a definite end point. You will of course also need to address how you approach  everything that goes on in between. Ultimately you really want to define the the key stages of your projects and then determine the processes that drive each of these stages.

As a general guide there are five key aspects to a project that you could use as a basis for developing your project methodology. These are:

1. Starting the project and defining the scope of work to be undertaken.

2. Planning what you need to do to produce the end product.

3. Doing what has been planned.

4. Monitoring and controlling the progress of the project.

5. Confirming that the end product has been completed to plan and ending the project.

Once you have it clear in your mind how this applies to your working environment, think about what actually goes on in each of these key stages of your projects. As a general rule, each of the stages would be undertaken in sequence, so start by creating a list of all the tasks that would need to be completed in each stage before you could move on to the next. Simply work through from the logical starting point to the logical end point of a project and you will have yourself a pretty good general framework to kick things off. 

I will go into more detail on completing and implementing your methodology in an upcoming post.

What is a project methodology and why do I need one?

A project methodology is essentially a set or system of methods, principles, and rules for regulating the running of a project. It is an important consideration for any business that undertakes project based work and is something that every project manager or producer should work towards implementing on behalf of their own organisation. In my opinion, the lack of agreed processes and a proper project methodology will be a major cause of grief and disquiet in any project focused agency, regardless of the project management talent and skills they have available to them.

 The implementation of a methodology however does not need to be cumbersome or restrictive. I was once involved in the development of a project metholodolgy that was theoretically stunning. The aim was to develop a methodology that could be applied to medium to large scale digital projects using both PRINCE2 and the PMBOK. The outcome was certainly impressive. It was nothing short of a dazzling array of processes, documentation and sexy diagrams that would quite effectively bamboozle any client into thinking that we were capable of nothing short of project management genius.

 Let me tell you, if this thing had ever actually been put into practice we would have spent more time dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s than actually developing the product. The cost and time implications would have been enormous. Having spent some time early in my career working on large scale construction projects where mere millimetres of error can lead to an unmitigated disaster, I certainly appreciate the need for precise and thorough project management where nothing is left to chance. If you are working on a megastructure that may one day feature on the Discovery channel then the time and cost of this sort of approach is very much warranted. In a creative environment however, where ideas, designs, and client expectations are usually pretty fluid, this not the aim of the game. 

What you really need to do to implement a successful methodology is get the right mix of project management skills, tools and techniques in place that work for everyone in this sort of environment. There are many different personality types to contend with across the varied disciplines in an agency, and it is really critical to find a balance that caters well for each one. Whilst I do believe that a standard, or baseline framework could be developed for managing project in a creative environment, each agency will have it’s own ways of approaching things and probably should look at what works best for their internal culture. Whatever the framework, a project methodology is an important aspect of business and the successful implementation of one will not only increase morale, it will boost the bottom line too.

What I have learned since my early experiences with developing creative project methodologies, is that in order to mitigate the stresses that go with the fluid nature of creative projects a reasonable degree of process is still very important.  A juggernaut project management methodology that imposes unecessary restrictions on the project flow and frustrates everyone, is not. Despite these misguided early efforts however, it was a great learning experience and it allowed me to get a really good grip on the theoretical side of project management. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend recreating this scenario to boost your own learning, but I would certainly suggest spending some time getting your head around some of the theoretical frameworks I have mentioned here if you are keen to get things working well in your agency.

What exactly is project management?

If I was asked to find one word to describe what project management is all about it would be “communication”.  Whilst there are many other aspects to the management science that is project management, communication is by far the key ingredient to successful projects. I will expand on this at another time, and will endeavour to explain in more detail why I believe communication is all important to project management, but for now I just want to have a high level look at how project management is broadly defined.

In stricter terms one of the most widely referenced and comprehensive definitions of project management is outlined in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). The PMBOK is a global project management standard developed by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and it defines project management as follows:

 “Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of a particular project. Project management is comprised of five Project Management Process Groups – Initiating Processes, Planning Processes, Executing Processes, Monitoring and Controlling Processes, and Closing Processes – as well as nine Knowledge Areas. These nine Knowledge Areas center on management expertise in Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resources Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management and Project Procurement Management.”

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide), – Third Edition

 It is of course a definition that is structured around the PMBOK itself and may be a little overwhelming for anyone not yet familiar with the structure of the actual standard. I do however suggest that it is certainly something worth having a look at for all project managers and producers as it is widely recognised as a very solid global platform. Whilst you certainly don’t need to know it back to front it does provide any project manager with a very good theoretical base to work from.

One of the other well know approaches to project management PRINCE2 provides us with a definition of a project rather than the discipline itself:

 “A management environment that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified Business Case.”

- from Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

Further to this, for a general and high level overview of project management I would suggest having a look at the following entry on Wikipedia:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management

Of course there is a wealth of other opinion and information out there on project management but I am confident that if you stick with these as a starting point it will give you a good theoretical understanding of what it’s all about.