Musings on project management: Maintaining control

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Maintaining control

At "herding cats" there a good list of control elements in a posting I read, interesting enough that I offer the short version here:

Short term feedback - what's happening right in front of me? What do I need to do NOW to maintain stability, to survive for the next 10 feet on the trail

Long term feedback - I see things coming ...[project managers are paid the big bucks to see around corners!]

Corrective actions - what corrective actions am I capable of performing?

Alternative choices - ... choices present themselves. Some are optional, some are mandatory alternatives.

Estimate what's right in front of you - A quick estimate is needed to decide what to do. Keep going, speed up, slow down, stop? All depends on the situation.

Estimates of needed for solutions coming up the trail - with short term estimating there are a limited number of choices, .... For longer term choices, there are more options. A Plan B is needed as part of the normal process

Estimates of needed resources - The resource plan for the project is needed no matter the method used to develop the project.What skills, how many of those skills, the availability of those skills?

Estimates to complete -

On projects knowing something about when you plan to finish is part of managing the project.

Anyone working on a project that doesn't have some type of deadline is working on a de minimis project - it's too small for anyone to care about.

Same for the budget; Same for the needed technical performance

A Plan B and even a Plan C - planning in depth is a good idea whenever ....

Knowing the Value at Risk defines the magnitude and detail of the plan.

Risk Management is How Adults Manage Projects Tim Lister should never be forgotten

Knowledge of capacity for work - how big is it?

On projects, if we don't our capacity for work, we can't make informed estimates if we can get to the end in one piece.