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Best Practices Project Methodology

Consistent Methods Across the Organization

Our Methodology Solves These Problems:

1. "Project team members don't know what's expected."
2. "We don't have a common project language."
3. "Our estimates are never accurate."
4. "Executives can't track progress objectively."
5. "Everybody does projects differently."
6. "We can't get major initiatives done."
7. "We never spot problems early...its always too late."
8. "We do projects over and over to fix the same problem."
We help clients install this methodology in their organizations. Along with
Enterprise Project Control — Portfolio Management — Customer Projects

 

Scalable Methodology

No Paperwork Jungle... Just Enough Project Management for Success
The methodology is scaleable with three tiers of techniques designed for projects of differing size and significance.
 

Tier #1 Methods
Small Projects

Within a department for the department manager

Tier #2 Methods
Medium Projects

Affects multiple departments or a customer or client

Tier #3 Methods

Strategic Projects

Organization-wide projects with long term effects for Sr. management

Identify Stakeholders

 

None

 Simple effort to identify those affected so the project team is not surprised by late arriving requirements Elaborate process of surveys and interviews to identify internal and external stakeholders who may be affected by the project so their requirements can be considered
Project
Business
Case

 

None

 Sponsor & PM detail business value of the project and support its priority for using resources Feasibility study with cost benefit analysis, detailed justification with payback and ROI calculations and link to company strategy
Project
Charter

One-page:
-deliverables
-constraints
-risks
-resources

-acceptance criteria
-business justification
-cost & hour estimates
-risk mitigation
-resource requirements
-deliverables
.

 -acceptance criteria
-major deliverables
-risks & assumptions
-benefits and impacts
-link to strategy
Gather
Project Requirements		 Limited to a meeting where we define the project's measure of success (MOS) Stakeholders are surveyed for their requirements, each of which is either included or explicitly excluded from the project Process of identifying and analyzing requirements gathered from the stakeholders. We maintain trace ability to the stakeholder who originated each requirement
Project
Scope Statement		 Short statement of the project deliverable and acceptance criteria. More detailed scope statement that covers assumptions, constraints and the major deliverables Full scope baseline with exploration of alternative means of delivering the project scope as well as a detailed decomposition of the deliverables
Stakeholder Management & Communication Plan Status reports Communications plan based on the information requirements of the stakeholders Plan to meet stakeholder needs and active management of all stakeholders' issues with tracking to ensure their resolution
Project
Change Control		 Project sponsor (the boss) approval is the only requirement Project-specific change procedure with analysis and documentation standards and identification of specific individuals authorized to approve changes of a specific size Change control and configuration management combined for handling changes to project baselines as well as changes to the specifications of the deliverables. Change control authority is defined both at the project level and for changes of major deliverables
Project
Schedule and Work Breakdown		 Schedule based on work estimates made by the team members Schedule based on work estimates plus work packages for each assignment and a WBS dictionary with supporting data for each task Work-based schedules with work packages with probabilistic estimates of work and duration and a WBS dictionary. Schedule may include work contouring for resource intensive tasks
Project Procurement Handled by purchasing department. Competitive bids on larger purchases, Requests for Quotation (RFQ) on smaller purchases with bidders conferences Full competitive bid process (RFP, RFQ) with make-buy analysis of procurements, specification and Statement of Work and independent assessment of vendor proposals
Project Quality Management None Quality Control effort to measure deliverables against their quality metrics and specifications Quality Control plus active Quality Assurance with continuous improvement effort for the processes that produce deliverables.
Human
Resource Management 		None Simple resource acquisition plan with limited training provided to team members Human resource staffing, acquisition and team development plans are fully detailed and tied to gaps in the requirements versus capabilities of the team members and stakeholders
Risk Analysis 1-2 hours total Qualitative risk analysis with a risk response plan for 5-10 risks. Qualitative and quantitative risk management plan for several dozen risks.
Text book
Course

Implementing Best Practices

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Request additional information

Company-wide

 Consistent control across the organization and allocation of resources to high priority projects to maximize project portfolio yield.

Sales & Marketing Programs

 Coordinate diverse specialists and give every one crystal clear accountabilities you can track.

Consulting Projects

 Define project success with techniques that sell the client on your project and also give you the ability to control scope and get paid for all the services you provide.

Portfolio Management

 Balance competing interests and align project and resource allocation with strategic objectives.

Summary of Best Practices Core Techniques

 

Broadbrush Project Plan

1½ page Project Initiation

The Best Practices Broadbrush Plan is a concise 1½ page plan that allows executives to exercise strategic control over projects and the business value they produce. It also provides them with hard-edged metrics for measuring performance and the quality of deliverables.

Work Breakdown Decomposition

Crystal-clear Accountability Without Micro-management

Rather than creating mindless "To Do" lists, PMs craft Best Practices work breakdown structures by decomposing the scope into a high-level achievement network of measurable results that become team members' accountabilities. Every person's assignment is in the form of a measurable business outcome. The resulting WBS is compact so PMs can update it quickly but each entry is supported by a work package that makes everything clear so nothing is missed. Both the PM and executives have unambiguous checkpoints to measure progress.

Dynamic Project Scheduling

Update Schedules in 10 Minutes a Week

PMs use dynamic Best Practices project scheduling techniques that let them update schedules in minutes each week and quickly model alternatives for stakeholders to cut duration, lower budgets and adjust the business value a project produces. These techniques give executives the hard data they need for decision-making and consideration of alternatives.

Status Reporting that Spots Problems Early

Clear Checkpoints to Identify Problems Early

With Best Practices tracking, PMs, sponsors and stakeholders have hard-edged checkpoints to measure progress. They can anticipate problems and implement corrective action early when it costs the least. PMs make concise status reports on projects and always offer a range of alternatives for executives to consider.

Best Practices Process

Digital Templates

Requirements & Scope: Top Down Planning

Best Practices Achievement Network

 

We’ve based our Best Practices methodology on driving projects to measured business outcomes not pointless activities. Therefore, we begin our planning using the Best Practices scope interview and questioning techniques with executives to unearth the business results they expect from the project.

As the scale of the project expands, so does the methodology. Best Practices adds additional techniques for more complex project environments with multiple stakeholders. For larger customer/client projects, Best Practices expands further and adds techniques for assessing echelons of achievement in complex project situations.

Broad-brush Project Plan

Best Practices Broad-brush Project Plan

The next step in initiating the project is a Broad-brush project plan that is usually less than two pages long. In addition to the scope & achievement network developed above, it contains order of magnitude estimates of time, resources and cost for each of the high-level achievements and the project as a whole. We also assess the risks we face on each of those high-level business achievements. Next, we identify the key assumptions for the project and then design an authority and accountability structure based on the achievement network. All these elements come together in a one or two page broad-brush plan for sponsor review and approval. As the scale of the project expands, each of the preceding elements can expand including more sophisticated risk analysis and mitigation, team development, procurement planning and quality control/assurance.

Work Breakdown Structure

Best Practices WBS Decomposition

In Best Practices, we do not develop the normal “To Do” list which is impossible to track or keep current. Instead, we develop a work breakdown structure that is concise and supports a management style of holding people accountable for their results rather than micro-managing all their activities. Building a Best Practices work breakdown structure takes more thinking and skills because we decompose the high-level achievement network down to the level of the "right size" assignments for each of our team members. You get lots of practice on this technique in our courses because it is so important for project success. The Best Practices approach yields commitment and accountability from team members and easier tracking and updating of the project plan. It allows project managers to quickly know the status of their project rather than spending hours updating the plan.

MS Project Scheduling & Optimization

Best Practices Techniques for MS Project

PMs can use Best Practices with a wide variety of project management software but most of our clients and students use Microsoft Project® so all our textbooks and courses include detailed instructions for using this software. The methodology includes techniques for building dynamic project schedules that make it easy for project managers to analyze alternative ways of doing the project and assess options for recovering if/when the project encounters problems. The Best Practices methodology also includes techniques for optimizing the project schedule and resources. These techniques get more sophisticated as the scale of the project expands. Optimization always includes the analysis of trade-offs between project scope, duration and budget, so the project manager can tailor the project plan to meet the executives’ or clients’ needs.

Status Reports: Spot Problems Early

Best Practices Variance and Problem ID

All the preceding steps from the development of measured achievements to a lean work breakdown structure and a dynamic software model allow project managers who use our Best Practices methodology to spot problems early when they’re small and most easily resolved. The measured achievements provide unambiguous checkpoints that allow PMs to compare where they are to where they should be. In tracking, we apply the Best Practices trade-off techniques to assess options for recovering from variances.

Summary

Best Practices is a straightforward methodology that minimizes paperwork and meetings and focuses on business results and accountability. We've designed Best Practices for organizations where many project team members are working on multiple projects. It also supports enterprise project management, portfolio management and the effective allocation of resources based on the organization's priorities and the business value projects produce.

See also Application of Best Practices Methodology for:

We teach the Best Practices Methodology in all our courses and certifications.


We can tailor Best Practices to fit the culture and environment of your organization.

The Hampton Group, Inc. 3547 South Ivanhoe St. Denver, CO 80237-1122 USA. 1-800-942-4323.
© 2010 The Hampton Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be reproduced without written permission . The Microsoft Corporation owns the registered trademark Microsoft Project®. The Project Management Institute, Inc. owns the following registered trade and certification marks: PMI® PMBOK® PMP® and CAPM®. All rights reserved 2010.