Practical Project Management

A slide show that covers the fundamental concepts of project management. This is a good place to start for both beginners and experienced project managers to ensure we're all on the same page.

A few more key project management concepts

Agile and waterfall are both good project management methodologies. The best project managers use tools and techniques from both.

A brief introduction to the four phases of a project

     0. Evaluate

     1. Plan

     2. Execute

     3. Close

A lecture on the first phase of a project: Evaluate

Introduction to our case study: Tina's Italian Kitchen

This quick tutorial shows you how to create folders in Google Drive. Using collaborative cloud-based file sharing like Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive are important tools every project manager should be familiar with. By sharing links to files, the stakeholders will always have access to the most current information. Be sure to make the documents read-only, and be sure not to share any sensitive information.

Written follow-up ensures clarity, consistency, and alignment.

Meeting minutes are a simple yet powerful project management tool. This step-by-step lecture walks you through the process of creating meeting minutes.

Changes occur on all projects. Project Managers must actively manage change to ensure project success.

After reviewing the project notes, our client decided it would be better to change her business model from owning inventory, in her garage, to having the inventory ship directly from the supplier to the customer. This is known as dropship.

Project changes are communicated through a variety of means and are not always formalized. In this case, it's a phone call to the project manager. It's the role of the project manager to ensure changes are documented, approved, and communicated. Changes to a project scope almost always affect the budget and the timeline so those items will need to be adjusted. Because this change was identified before the project charter was completed, a formal change document does not need to be created.

The lecture contains the audio of the phone conversation. you can listen to the call or simply read the script below:

Hello

Hey, Andrew, it’s Tina - I want to talk to you about something

Sure, what’s up?

After reviewing the notes you sent out, I’m concerned about the cost and hassle of buying inventory

Yeah --- that’s a legitimate concern

What do think about changing it to a Drop Ship business?

Drop ship?

I will still sell the product on my website, but the products ship directly to the customer from the supplier. It’s a little less profit per item, but I can sell many more items this way.

That does sound better. You wont to have to turn your garage into a warehouse or deal packing and shipping either

What’s the impact on the project?

Project managers like to say “ that the earlier in a project you make a change, the less it’s going to cost you.” Since we’re still in the evaluation phase -- this change is no big deal. Once the charter is signed, we’ll institute a formal change process

That’s good news

And… it sounds like the change to Drop Ship will reduce risk and it could even make your November first deadline more achievable. I’m not sure what it will take to set up technically, but I can check with our web developer

Can you put together a business case for me?

Sure, I’ll put together a spreadsheet, and then you’ll be able to do a what-if analysis

Wow, that’s great.

While I have you, I realized we didn’t discuss a logo for the website. Do you know any graphic designers?

I do. Let me get back to you on that.

Sounds good. I got some work to do. Talk to you soon.

I create an e-commerce ROI analysis from scratch in Google Sheets. The final version is attached

A quick and simple preliminary budget

Create a preliminary project schedule in Google Sheets.

Lecture on the project charter. The most important document on a project.

A step-by-step guide to creating a project charter. After this hands-on tutorial, students will be able to create a project charter. The charter template and the completed charter are located in the resources section. The resource section also contains a video review of the case study charter with our project team members. This will show you how easy it is to hold a virtual charter review session with your team.

An introduction to the Plan phase of project management. Students will learn the elements of a good project plan and the reasons for each of them.

Stakeholder Analysis is an often overlooked step in project management. The simple and practical process shown here makes stakeholder analysis a quick and painless step. The template used is in the resource section. A bonus video showing how I created the template is also included in the resources.

Creating a communication plan in Google sheets. The template is provided in the resourses.

Lecture on WBS 

Creating the WBS for Tina's Italian Kitchen in Google Docs

Resources are the people, tools, and equipment needed to complete a project

One of the most important items in a project plan is the Project Schedule. In a nutshell, the project schedule documents who is going to do what, and when they are going to do it.

A step-by-step guide to creating a Project Schedule from a blank spreadsheet. The template for the schedule is included in the resources. A more advanced version of a spreadsheet-based Gantt chart is available from a company called Vertex42. They have given me permission to link to their website. For large projects, a tool like Microsoft Project is ideal for creating and maintaining a project schedule. Whether you use the simple tool I provided or a high-end tool, don't get caught up in it. Project Management is not about the tools; it's about the people.

A lecture on Critical Path Analysis that uses making coffee as a real-life example

A step-by-step guide to creating a Project Budget from a blank spreadsheet. The template for the budget is included in the resources.

A Risk Register is an important, although often excluded, part of a good project management plan. The template is in the resource section.

The Execute Phase is where the work happens. During this phase, the Project Manager's role is to monitor and control the project.

The first step in the Execute Phase is a Project Kickoff Meeting. This lecture shows you how to create the agenda and the invitation

In this lecture, we review the Status Tool (provided in the resources) which allows a project manager to easily track and report on scope, cost, time, and quality.

Every project has problems that arise. In business, we call these problems issues. Practical Project Managers manage issues to keep the project moving forward.

A quick look at our completed website

See how well you understand the tasks in the project execution phase