For us, it important to properly define the scope of a project. The work that needs to be completed and what will not be included within the scope of the project must be defined in oder to make the project a success.

Determining what resources will be required to complete the project is our specialty. Resources refer to all items required to complete the scope of the project, like equipment, funding and people. Once the resource requirements have been determined, we work hard to secure those resources. In a Matrix organization this usually requires us to negotiate with the functional managers to secure the project team.

Once we have the project team defined and resourced, we assemble a kick-off meeting with the whole team. It is important to review the project charter and any preliminary project documents at this time. We then use the expertise of the team to finalize documents and make sure no important items have been missed.

With the team, we determine what items have some lead time and what items are critical to the project schedule. We then determine what constraints and costs are associated with the delivery of each item so we can properly manage the project timeline. The critical items are focused on to deliver the project on time.

We work with the team to break the project scope down into steps or tasks that can be assigned to a team member. We list the steps in chronological order for ease of exacution.

We then assemble all your steps into a plan to create clarity and provide a controlling document for the project.
A work breakdown structure, task identification, task allocation, scheduling and resources are all included. This document is used to keep all Stakeholders informed and understanding what is in scope and what is out of scope for this project.

Getting stakeholder feedback on the preliminary plan is the next critical step. Adjusting timelines and work schedules must be completed before the preliminary plan becomes the baseline plan.

We have the flexibility to make changes to the plan as needed, always keeping in mind the scope and resources of the project.

Tracking progress on a project is part of our daily routine. In monitoring scheduled performance, we collect information and evaluate it to ensure its accuracy. Monitoring project scheduled performance can provide early indications of resource conflicts, possible cost overruns and other problem areas.

Risk and Issue logs help keep the project on track and act as a communication tool to stakeholders. Keeping records for lessons learned has helped build a continuous improvement cycle for projects.