On the road to seamless project management

Every strategic plan objective, operational plan initiative and physical product – from a building, a computing device, software, clothing and methodology – are all executed through projects.

As such, seamless project management is integral to the successful workings of an organisation.

“Organisations are required to be more efficient and effective in their use of resources and their investment choices in projects,” Peopleistic Global Chief Executive Officer and Edith Cowan University School of Business and Law Adjunct Associate Professor Todd Hutchison FAIM said.

“Therefore, when project management is done most efficiently, there is the best return on their investment.”

Key factors for project success in a business

According to Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison, projects are notoriously challenged with ambiguity in the scope definition, inadequate planning and inaccurate estimates leading to poor execution. 

He said the top factors for success included having a clear project scope, ensuring executive support, creating a detailed project plan and an efficient process for execution.

“Ensure the project scope is clarified upfront, which can benefit from defining both what is in scope and what is out of scope, called exclusions,” Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison said.

“Make sure there is buy-in from the key stakeholders and strong executive support. 

“Develop the right level of detail in the project management plan, including getting accuracy in the schedule, budget and human resource allocation. 

“Ensure efficiency in the process of managing scope changes and issues, and have the correct project management methodology to adequately plan, execute, monitor, control and report progress.”

Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison said organisations should also define a comprehensive project plan for major projects and a less rigorous project plan for minor projects, not make the process overly complicated and, rather, plan to the extent that enables success.

The biggest impacts of having skilled project managers

For organisations looking to thrive, having skilled and knowledgeable project managers is an invaluable resource.

Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison said project managers needed to be supported with the right tools to be able to adequately plan and execute a project, with the organisation focused on encouraging standardised and good practices across the entity, given process guides behaviour.  

“Project managers need to be emotionally intelligent to maintain their composure to deal with various key stakeholders, and the pressures of delivering results and leading people of differing genders, cultures and religions as an effective single team,” he said.

“This includes being good at defining the scope and engaging stakeholders to manage expectations, as well as leading the team to make sure tasks are progressed on time, and to the budget while dealing with issues fast as they arise. 

“This extends to approving any appropriate variations to scope through a defined change management process to avoid unwanted scope creep.”

The critical tools project managers need

Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison identified three key tools a good project manager should rely on.

“A work breakdown structure is a critical tool to be able to effectively plan a project, including detailing the activities and tasks, schedule, budget and human resource allocation.”

“This becomes the key tool for tracking the progress of the project, and any cost and schedule variations," he said.

“Another tool is a change request and register to enable the controlled approval or rejection of proposed variations to the scope of the project to avoid scope creep.

“The register then allows tracking of any invoices against approved work that goes beyond the initial budget.

“Finally, an issues register capturing any issues which may stop, slow down or hurt the project and sets out the remedies so action can be taken to resolve them fast.”

How to overcome or avoid project issues

Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison flagged the main issues with project management involved the definition of the scope and being able to address the issues as, and when, they arose.

“Scope definition requires knowledgeable people to define what the deliverables are (product scope) and the process to deliver them (project scope),” he said.

“When the scope is insufficiently detailed or has ambiguity, the budget, schedule and human resource allocations can be wrong, making the project management plan challenged.”

Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison said people tended to hide issues to avoid repercussions like reputation damage, having to pay for mistakes or getting into trouble.

To tackle this, a team culture needs to be encouraged to enable authentic conversations for any mistakes made, which can alert the project manager of any issues early. 

“This requires an effective project manager who can engage and lead the team to be more open and communicative in altering issues early, so they can be addressed fast,” Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison said.

“This mostly relies on a process where the project manager is alerted and the issue is detailed on an issues register immediately to be addressed by the team as soon as possible.

“This includes having the right tools to monitor and control progress to enable identifying any issues or negative trends early.”

This extends to key stakeholder expectations being managed.

“Managing client expectations is largely achieved by defining what is in scope, as well as what exclusions exist so they are well informed of what they are and are not getting upfront.”

Steps to avoid issues through risk management

Risk management is used to identify and manage extreme and high-risk events before the project executes, typically reducing the number and severity of potential issues during implementation. 

When a risk with a negative outcome for the project is realised, it becomes an issue. 

“Risk management begins at the initiation of the project and a full risk management plan is developed in the planning phase,” Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison said.

“During the execution and close-out phase, the plan transitions to a dynamic risk register where the implementation and tracking of the previously planned risk treatments is recorded, as well as capturing and strategising any additional risks.”

Where to from here?

Through a case study approach, AIM WA’s Applied Project Management course gives participants the skills to plan and create key project documentation to successfully manage and control projects.

According to Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison, the training delivers insights into the four-phase project life cycle, what the typical templates, tools and approaches for each phase are, and how to navigate them for project success.

Suited to project sponsors, portfolio managers, project managers and team members, as well as contract managers and administrators, he said the key knowledge and practical skills a participant would develop included understanding project management terminology and having an appreciation of how each of the 10 knowledge areas make up project management – for example, scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, risk, communications, stakeholder, procurement and integration management.

“You will also be able to ensure deliverables are presented with clarity, as well as determine the detail of all the task-level work, which must be done as set out in the work breakdown structure,” Adjunct Associate Professor Hutchison said.

“You will also develop skills to utilise the work breakdown structure to then define time duration for tasks, activities and the project schedule, as well as the budget and the human resource allocations.

“In addition, you will understand the key project methodologies and specific templates used in project management practice, and recognise the importance of managing the risks, issues and changes that may arise during execution to increase the likelihood of project success.”