Project Management

Introduction

PART 1

Practical Theory

1 The project

1.1 Types of activities, types of work

1.2 Examples of projects

1.3 What is a project?

1.4 Moving from improvised to project based to routine activities

1.5 Types of projects

1.6 Things to remember

1.7 Doing things in phases

1.8 Why do things in phases?

1.9 The phases of a project: an illustration

1.10 When to do it as a project

1.11 Lifecycle of a project

1.12 Projects should be SMART

1.13 Carrying out the projects in this book

Assignments

2 People working on projects

2.1 Line organisation

2.2 The project organisation

2.3 The project sponsor

2.4 Future users

2.5 The project manager

2.6 The project members

2.7 Relationship sponsor and project manager

2.8 Task-oriented and people-oriented leadership

2.9 Working on a project

2.10 Team roles according to Belbin

2.11 Digital tools for collaboration

2.12 Team agreements

2.13 Creativity and brainstorming

2.14 Negotiating

2.15 Making decisions in a project

2.16 Related projects

2.17 Outsourcing a project

2.18 Projects and cultural differences

Assignments

3 The project from start to finish

3.1 Organising and carrying out the project

3.2 Reasons for starting the project

3.3 From reasons to do a project to actually doing the project itself

3.4 Project proposal

3.5 Initial meeting with the sponsor

3.6 Setting up the project

3.7 Project start-up meeting

3.8 Design and preparation

3.9 Realisation of the project result

3.10 Completion of the project

3.11 Project in time

3.12 Monitoring aspects of a project

3.13 Monitoring projects in practice

3.14 Why projects fail

3.15 Project risks

3.16 Terminating a project prematurely

3.17 Project management: methods

Assignments

4 Planning

4.1 Why plan?

4.2 Concepts and terms

4.3 Gantt charts

4.4 Network diagrams

4.5 Deriving a Gantt chart from a network diagram

4.6 Adjustments to a planning

4.7 Which activities are required?

4.8 Planning software

4.9 Using planning software

4.10 Planning a large project in phases

4.11 Time management

4.12 Mini-course on MS Project on the website

Assignments

PART 2

How to do a project: methods and tools

5 How to do a project - the P6-Method

5.1 The P6-Method

5.2 Overview of the six steps

5.3 Step 1: Initiating the project

5.4 Step 2: Organising the project

5.5 Step 3: Writing a project plan

5.6 Step 4: Executing the project

5.7 Step 5: Delivering the project's results

5.8 Step 6: Finalizing the project

Assignments

6 Writing a project plan

6.1 The project plan

6.2 Dividing the project plan into sections

6.3 Background information

6.4 The project's results

6.5 Project activities

6.6 Project scope and conditions

6.7 Intermediate results

6.8 Quality control

6.9 The project organisation

6.10 Planning

6.11 Costs and benefits

6.12 Risk analysis

6.13 Writing the project plan

6.14 The project's files

Assignments

7 Using Scrum

7.1 Scrum

7.2 Scrum applications

7.3 The benefits and drawbacks of Scrum

7.4 Scrum components

7.5 Roles within Scrum

7.6 Information during the Scrum process

7.7 Meetings during the Scrum process

Assignments

8 Organising meetings

8.1 Project meeting

8.2 Preparing for the meeting

8.3 The meeting's agenda

8.4 The meeting itself

8.5 After the meeting

Assignments

9 Conducting interviews

9.1 Types of interviews

9.2 The three stages of an interview

Assignments

10 Writing a report

10.1 Preparing to write the report

10.2 Putting the report together

10.3 The structure of the report

10.4 The main contents and finishing touches to the report

Assignments

11 Holding a presentation

11.1 Organisation and contents of a presentation

11.2 Using an overhead projector or screen

11.3 The structure of a presentation

11.4 The presentation itself

Assignments

12 Making an executive summary

12.1 The purpose of an executive summary

12.2 The components of an executive summary

Assignments

Final Assignments

Appendix 1 Risk Analysis

Appendix 2 Website www.projectmanagement-english.noordhoff.nl

Bibliography

About the author

Index