Stakeholder roles: Project Sponsor Many projects are organizational anomalies. They cross department and corporate boundaries; they staff up for short periods, then disband; they may span a portion of a budget cycle while drawing funding from multiple groups within a company. The temporary, ad-hoc nature of projects can create major problems for project managers because…
Tag: Project Management
Gain Perspective: Identify Project Stakeholders (The Customer)
Stakeholder roles: The Customer Whenever a project exists, somebody will be paying for it. And whoever pays usually gets the first and last word on product description, budget, and the criteria by which success will be measured. Although other stakeholders may try to squeeze in extra requirements, the final say on the product will come…
Gain Perspective: Identify Project Stakeholders (Project Manager and Team)
Stakeholder roles: Project Manager What does a project manager contribute to the project? Magic, or, more precisely, practical magic. Just as a symphony conductor directs the orchestra to bring out the magic in the music, the project manager must keep all the disparate groups in a project moving in harmony. Whether he or she is…
How To Define Projects and Get Your Stakeholders On The Same Page
How do you define projects? Who is responsible for what? Who has authority? What are our goals? How do we communicate? In most organizations, these questions were answered long ago; the unique nature of projects, however, means that all of these questions have to be addressed each time a project begins. How they are answered…
The Project Manager is a Leader, No Discussion There
The discipline of project management can be compared to a set of woodworking tools. Both are designed for specific purposes. And both are capable of amazing results in the hands of a master. Every project needs a project manager who, performs the functions of project management. It is a role that can be fulfilled in…
How to Survive Your Organizational Structure
Understanding organizational styles is more than an academic exercise because choosing the right structure could provide a competitive advantage for a firm. But how does the organizational structure affect you as a project manager? Consider the following: Authority. Clearly, the difference between the organizational styles is that some favor projects while others favor ongoing operations.…
A Product Development Life Cycle May Contain Many Projects
One of the reasons project management techniques are increasing in popularity is because of their role in new product development. Whether the effort is a new drug, a new software product, a new model car, or a new baseball stadium, it is done one time and produces a unique product. Since product development has the…
What is Your Organizational Style? Here Are Some Examples
Certain firms perform nothing but project work; large construction companies fit this model. The majority of their organization is devoted to specific projects. On the other end of the spectrum, utilities are operations-oriented. The majority of companies, however, conduct ongoing operations and projects. Choosing an organizational style that supports projects has never been easy. After…
What is a Project Life Cycle
A project life cycle represents the linear progression of a project, from defining the project, through making a plan, executing the work, and closing out the project. At first glance, it might seem that this life cycle is the same as the project management functions. Define, plan, and execute seem to map directly to definition,…
Project Management Functions
Setting realistic expectations, fostering agreement among all parties, and then delivering the product is frequently challenging and always requires a wide array of techniques. From a high level these techniques can be grouped into the three project management functions. Project definition lays out the foundation for a project. There are two activities involved in this…