Project Management

Recognize the need for a project by identifying a problem or opportunity and initiating action, with top management commitment to define the mission and objectives and visualize end results.

Define project objectives from the mission statement using the smart criteria: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-limited, then seek stakeholder review to prevent objective creep.

Use the work breakdown analysis as the starting point for planning scope, cost, and time by dividing a project into discrete tasks or work packages.

Plan the time dimension by deriving task durations from a work breakdown analysis, sequencing tasks, and identifying overlapping work and resource constraints to meet deadlines and minimize duration.

Explore how a Gantt chart maps task timing, dependencies, and the critical path to project schedules, and compare it with PERT for highly interactive steps.

Use Gantt charts to keep project timing on schedule and visualize progress with color-coded bars. Green means on track, yellow signals caution or delays, and red indicates troubled tasks.

Identify tasks falling behind plan and apply corrective actions to bring the project back on track with schedule and budget, while documenting causes to prevent scope creep.

Close out the project by conducting a formal post-mortem to review performance against schedule and budget, gather measurable feedback from the originator and stakeholders, and document lessons for continual improvement.