Project managers are assigned to a Project to complete it successfully. They organize the team to accomplish it. He/She will work with the team to create a Project Plan. The Project Plan is break into executable tasks. All tasks are scheduled with a Start and End date and resources assigned to it. This produces an executable Project Plan.
They take the full responsibility to complete the project. He/She is accountable for the success or failure of the project.
Main responsibilities of a Project Manager include: Planning, Execution and Closing the project.
Defining Project: They take an idea and create a complete project plan
Project Team: Assemble a project team to complete the project
Project Tasks: They work with the team and create the project tasks
Team Leader: Project Manager leads the team by giving the direction, training the members, coaching them to finally accomplish the goal
Stakeholders: Work with all the stakeholders and gather the requirements from them. Add their requirements in the project plan. These requirements will be used for defining the project scope. Make sure these requirements are in the project scope. Communicate to stakeholders in a timely fashion about the status of the project
Budget: Project Manager will put together the budget for the project. He/She will monitor it constantly to control the budget.
Closing: Project Manager completes a project and closes with a defined process
Handover: Project Manager will hand over the project to the next person who will maintain the project. He will provide the necessary documents and knowledge transfer to the incoming team.
Project Scope will be defined for each project. The In-Scope and Out of Scope will be clearly mentioned in the Project Charter document.
The objective of the project and the goals of the project will define the Scope of the project. The tasks and the resources that perform the tasks will all go together in defining the Scope of the project as well. The scope is defined with these in mind. The Scope encompasses the Objectives and Goals of the project.
The scope will be defined using the following information
- Objectives of the Project
- Goals identified in the Project
- Tasks – that are defined in the project plan
- Schedule – The Project Plan Schedule with critical path
- Resources – All resources that will be utilized to complete the project
- Budget – The budget is an important variable in the scope. Without proper budgeting projects will fail
All the above mentioned items have to be defined clearly in the project plan. Without these items in place, the project will fail. These are the items that will help to achieve In-Scope of the project. It’s a good practice to define the Out-of-Scope items in the project to set the expectation for the sponsors.
After having a defined clear project scope, the path is set for the Project Manager to proceed for the execution phase of the project.
The scope will help the project manager in defining the risks and change management.
Risk management
When a project is going on smoothly, there are chances that it stumbles due to a block in the process. This unexpected situation causes potential risks to the business.
The Project Manager has to expect such potential risks and plan for the mitigation.The risks have to be managed efficiently to complete the project in time and money.
Examples of risks: Loss of data due to security breaches, system failures due to many unexpected reasons, Coding issues due to lack of resources, project halt due to employee attrition etc
Mitigation Plan: The potential risks have to be planned well before the start of the project and a mitigation plan should be put in place.
Risk register: A risk register should be maintained by the Project Manager. Any identified potential risk should be entered in to the register with a risk id.
The risks have to be communicated to the sponsors, all stakeholders and the project team. This will prepare them for the risks and remove surprises. The mitigation plan can be implemented, by the well trained project team
How to Manage the Risks in a Project?
Following steps will help mitigate the risks
Assessment of Risk
- Identify the risk
- Analyze the risk
- Evaluate the risk
Implementation of Mitigation
- Treat the risk
Management of the Mitigation Plan
- Monitor the risk
- Review the risk
