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 Project Management Tutorial
Author: Center for instructional technologies
You will find that effort you put into planning, scheduling, and organizing
your project will pay off enormously. Here we'll outline some proven techniques
for planning, scheduling, and completing your project.
A project has five phases. Here's a brief summary of each:
Initiation
Articulate your vision for the project, establish goals, assemble your team,
and define expectations and the scope of your project.
Planning
Refine the scope, identify specific tasks and activities to be completed, and
develop a schedule and budget.
Executing
Accomplish your goals by leading your team, solving problems, and building your
project.
Controlling
Monitor changes to the project, make corrections, adjust your schedule to respond
to problems, or adjust your expectations and goals.
Closing
Deliver your project to your audience, acknowledge results, and assess its success.
Take the time to compose a written evaluation of the project and the development
effort.
The middle three phases are not sequential. You will find that you are constantly
planning, executing, and controlling your project as necessary. Aren't these
phases really just common sense? In many ways, yes. But keep in mind that software
development, whether a few Web pages or a complex CD-ROM, is a complex, unpredictable
process. Most software projects (something like 80 percent) are delivered late,
substantially over budget, and incomplete. The more effort you put into managing
your project, the more you increase your chances of success.
Why do projects fail?
1. not enough time, money, or other resources
2. unclear goals or expectations
3. unresolved disagreement among the people involved
4. poorly defined audience—"trying to please everyone"
The last item is especially dangerous for software projects. It is impossible
to create a Web site that successfully serves all students, all faculty, all
staff, and the general public, since these groups have very different needs
and goals. Let's develop a clear focus, beginning with initiation and articulating
goals:
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