Project management survival

Basic Principals of Project Management
• You must deliver – Production of high quality deliverables on time and on budget is your job. • Knowledge is power – Become a credible content expert in at least one area. – Train yourself everyday. – Stretch yourself to move outside of your comfort zone. – Understand the big picture. • Share the wealth – Advise supervisors of issues and risk in a timelyand persistent manner. – Train others in your area of expertise. • Be truthful – Deal only in facts that you have verified first hand. – When dealing with information, ask yourself, “How do we know that?”

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Basic Principals of Project Management (Cont’d.)
• Know and defend your work – Don’t be a coward. Always be prepared to give your rationale forproject decisions. However, display self confidence without arrogance. • Embrace innovation – We constantly need new ideas and new ways of doing them. Improve existing processes and create new ones. • Follow methodology – We have Accenture Delivery Methods and many processes. Understand the steps/deliverables involved. Learn them and live them. – Embody the Accenture Core Values in day-to-daywork and act as a role model to members of their team. • Know your team – You need to understand your team’s level of experience and skills. Also, get to know them as people. • Be an advocate for your team – You need to make sure your team is satisfied with their work and productivity. Provide coaching and career guidance. – Develop high performing teams through role assignments and empowerment.Key Success Factors for Project Managers
• Know the expectations of your Program Manager/Project Sponsor – If you aren’t sure, ask • Know the business rationale of the project – Why are we doing this project? – What are the benefits to the client? • Clearly define requirements and scope • Focus on deliverables – Think about your project’s deliverables from the viewpoint of the client. What wouldthe client be willing to pay for? – Recognize your project’s relationships with other projects, and maintain communications with project managers of those teams. • Be confident in your estimates – Ask others with estimating experience to review your workplan and estimates – Remember, tasks should be less than 80 hours • Use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and earned value to assess projectperformance and report status • Tell a “story” when reporting status

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Tips For Managing The Project
• Understand the context of your project. How did it come about? Why are you doing it? Who else is looking to benefit from it? • Describe the end point of the project, but ensure the vision grows and developswith the project – don’t give it concrete shoes. • Remember that "Planning" is an integral part of the project - it’s not a preliminary or optional step. You can spend up to 40% of the project time defining and confirming the scope of the project. • Involve your project team in all aspects of the planning so they understand the details and commit to it. • Meet with the Project Owners on a weeklybasis to keep them informed. • The project must have boundaries clearly defined. Review your scope at various points along the way. If there are changes required, work through them with the project team and ensure the sponsor agrees. • Communicate clearly, concisely and consistently. You can never have too much communications. • Manage your stakeholders as well as your deliverables. Know who theyare and what their expectations are. • Clearly document the project issues and manage them day to day so they don’t become risks to the project. Escalating issues early enables time for revisions to the plans to ensure the project stays on track. • In the early and middle phases of the project you can be open and explore new ideas. As you near the end of the project, the focus must be on...