ICT Management > Managing ICT Projects

Project Management – The People Side

By Lasa Information Systems Team

Project management methodologies abound, but the people side of project management is just as important as project management processes. This article looks at some tips and tools for working successfully with people on projects, and takes a brief look at some online project management tools that can help.

On a cold dark evening in November 2009 the London Netsquared Meetup group gathered for a session on collaborative projects facilitated by Alison Coward of Bracket and Rachael West of Left Brain Right Brain. The session focussed on the “people” side of project management. What follows is a summary of the main takeaways from the session based on the experiences of all the people in the room…

There are several project management methodologies and processes, for example PRINCE2, which is widely used in the public sector. For a more in depth look at project management methodologies see the knowledgebase article Project Management Which Method? or download the full Lasa Computanews Project Management Guide (PDF).

Whilst project management processes can undoubtedly be useful in keeping on top of projects, it’s important not to get bogged down in them. For the best chance of success, ensure that project management techniques are used appropriately, and adapt them to your particular purpose. Always remember why you are doing the project! And remember that skills including:

• Communications
• Planning
• Managing intellectual property (IP)
• Skills development (e.g. to use the tools)
• Meeting facilitation
• Agenda planning
• Minute taking

are at least as important to the success of a project as project management processes.

Problems that can arise on projects and collaborations

Because projects involve working with other people you’ll need to anticipate and have a plan for resolving issues that can arise. Being well prepared can help mitigate issues including:

• Scope or mission creep – when the project starts go grow beyond its original conception
• Forced changes in project direction
• Managing different expectations amongst project stakeholders
• Communication and getting responses
• Creative Vs technical people managing projects
• Flexibility (or lack thereof) within current processes
• “Forced” collaboration – organisations or departments that may not be a natural fit being thrown together by funders or other project sponsors
• Managing up and out – you won’t always have direct management control over the other partners in the project
• Concerns about intellectual property / sharing ideas

Preparing for and avoiding potential problems

There are various strategies and techniques that can be used to avoid problems. At the Netsquared meet up, two useful tools outlined were a collaboration toolkit and stakeholder mapping:

Collaboration toolkit

Alison Coward of Bracket suggests a collaboration toolkit that involves thinking about factors including:

• Me to we – remember you are working with other people, plan ahead and think holistically
• Self analysis – Identify what you want to achieve personally and organisationally from the project and where you need help. Scope out and identify the skills and roles needed for project tasks
• Having a balanced project team – in order to succeed teams need to have a balance of people with different skills and roles. The Belbin model suggests teams work best with a mixture of people with action oriented, people oriented, and thought oriented roles. More information on this is available in the Mindtools.com article on Belbin’s team roles and on Belbin.com
• Identifying strengths of partners and playing to them – some partners may be better at providing more creative than technical input, or have the right sort of contacts to move your project forward for example. Involve them in the right parts of the project!
• Resources – identify these, including how much time you are willing able to put into the project
• Values / vision / dream – “future mapping” exercise – what will a successful project outcome look like?
• Benchmarking – how will you know when the project is “finished” and whether or not it has been a success
• Clarity about sharing ideas / ownership – from the outset be open about discussing, considering, and agreeing who “owns” an idea and how any intellectual property will be assigned. Contracts or written agreements may be necessary
• Effective communication – identify early on what processes will be put in place. Communicate with the right people at the right time. Remember to document the project – especially decisions.
• Letting go of control – you might just need to close your eyes and trust…
• Scheduling – As well as creating timelines and milestones for completion of project tasks, remember that not everyone involved in the project needs to be involved at all stages of the project. Bring the right people in at the right time.

Stakeholder Mapping Tool

Rachael West of Left Brain Right Brain advocates using stakeholder mapping to inform your communications plan on a project or collaboration.

The tool involves listing all the stakeholders in a project, what you need from them, and what they need from you. Depending on your situation, you might want to use the tool on your own, or as an exercise with members of the project team.

We worked through some of the exercise using an example from one of the participants in the group who was involved in a project to build a corporate website for a company selling energy monitoring projects to schools, businesses and homeowners. The aim of the company / product / project is to encourage people and businesses to buy products that will help reduce energy use and hence the impact of global warming:

 

Stakeholder mapping tool

Stakeholders	What you need from them	What they need from you
Businesses	Orders Money – paid on time! Information Relationship / referrals Feedback on product / service …	Quality / effective product Value for money Customer service Timeliness Information (e.g. product pricing, how to use etc.) ...
Shareholders	Money to fund the project Clarity re expectations Comment on business plan Referrals ...	Business plan Dividends / profit Reputation / kudos “feel good factor associated with supporting product Acknowledgement / credit Confidence Assurance / accountability ...
IT Dept / Web development team Marketing Schools Homeowners Corporations / big business Product installers Head of the company Investors / financers Suppliers Distributers Energy Companies	...	...

 

By mapping stakeholders, it’s possible to see in this example what elements and features the website might need to have, and ensure that it meets the needs of all the potential stakeholders.

Online tools for managing projects

Now we’ve looked at the people side let’s not forget that technology can also help.

There are dozens of useful (and often free) online tools for planning, managing or collaborating on projects. A small selection suggested by Alison Coward is listed below. As mentioned with project management processes, it’s important to use the right tool for the job.

Remember also that Introducing new tools such as online tools can cause problems – justify the benefits of the tool(s) you wish to use to the project team, get buy-in, and provide appropriate skills training before using them. Otherwise things could all get a bit counter productive.

Google apps – document collaboration / sharing and much more…

Googlesites – free websites and wikis

Mindmeister – free web-based collaborative mind mapping tool for brainstorming and project-management.

Bubbl.us – free brainstorming tool

Twiddla – free whiteboarding tool

Shozu – Image sharing

Shout 'em and Yammer – tools for creating your own public or private micro blogging community (like twitter) to share files, photos, links and more

Basecamp and Huddle – more “traditional” project management suites offering file sharing, task assignment and more. Registered charities and charitable housing associations in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can access donated licenses for Huddle through the CTX (charity technology exchange) programme.
 

More information about online collaboration tools in these knowledgebase articles:

• Online Collaboration Tools 
• Work Smarter, Quicker, and Cheaper with Online Tools 
• Web Office Tools – The Virtual Office

Remember that although such tools can help manage a project or collaboration, they are no substitute for face to face meetings so you’ll need to have these as well!

Thanks to Amy Sample-Ward, session facilitators Alison Coward of Bracket and Rachael West of Left Brain Right Brain, and all the London NetSquared Community members for these insights.