A new book, Lessons Learned in Project Management: 140 Tips in 140 Words or Less has just been published by John A. Estrella, the ‘tips’ were contributed by a wide range of authors. Our tips were:
Tip 36: Understand who’s who and who’s playing
Projects attract stakeholders. You need to find out who they are and manage their relationships with the project if you want to succeed.
Only when you understand who the important stakeholders are can you develop and implement a structured communication plan to positively influence their attitudes and expectations. Your stakeholder community is never static! People’s attitudes change, and individual stakeholders become more or less important as time goes by. Routine monitoring is critical, supported by adjustments to your communication plan.
If this sounds hard, it is a lot less difficult than dealing with a failed project, and help is at hand. Take a look at http://www.stakeholder-management.com for a range of resources to support the Stakeholder Circle® methodology. This lets you focus on the right stakeholders at the right time to maximize your chances of success.
—Dr. Lynda Bourne, DPM, PMP
Managing Director, Stakeholder Management Pty Ltd
Tip 37: Treat your schedule as king
Useful schedules are used! The only thing management can influence is the future; the past is a fact, and the present is too late.
Useful schedules are developed collaboratively, are used to coordinate the work of the project team and help management formulate wise decisions. Good schedules are:
• Elegant and easy to understand
• Concise and accurate
• As simple as possible
• Maintained by regular status/updates—all incomplete work MUST be in the future!
To achieve these objectives, you must avoid vast schedules and unnecessary detail—no one understands them, and you can’t maintain them; for guidance refer to the PMI Practice Standard for Scheduling. Only after you understand the flow and timing of the work can you hope to develop accurate resource plans and then cost budgets.
—Patrick Weaver, PMP, PMI‐SP
Managing Director, Mosaic Project Services Pty Ltd
To read the other 138 tips, buy the book form Amazon, see:
http://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Learned-Project-Management-Words/dp/1456357581 for details.
Pat Weaver
Lynda Bourne
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