Different projects require difgferent approaches. It's not a matter of which is better - traditional Waterfall or the newer agile approach -- it's a matter of what type of project your doing,. This NTEN presentation discusses both approaches and advises on when each one might work, as well as discussing what software will help.

1. Project Management:
Choosing the Right
Tools and Approach
#13NTCTools
Peter Campbell
Project Management 1

2. What Is A Project?
Slide 2Project Management Picture: Laurensvanlieshout from nl

3. Project Factors
• Distinctness – Is it a change from your routine tasks?
• Scope – Is it ambitious or important enough to track?
• Duration - Will it be done before the plan is written down?
• Complexity - Is this simple enough to trust that it can be
done without oversight?
• Budget - Is the cost inconsequential?
• Impact – Will anyone notice when the project is
completed?
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4. What Does A Project Plan Do For
You?
• Summarizes an initiative’s goals
• Sets scope, milestones and schedule
• Keeps multiple parties on task
• Identifies pre-requisites and risks
• Manages workloads
• Provides marketing data
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5. What Does A Project Plan Fail To
Do?
• Go as planned
• Keep anyone on task
• Do the job for you
• Communicate
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6. Communication
• “90% of a Project Managers time is spent
communicating”
– Project Management Institute
• “And the remaining 10% is spent
communicating”
– Jeff Herron, Beaconfire
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7. Communication Styles
• Agreement on communication protocols can
greatly support a project’s success
• All the same, a great Project Manager
understands and adapts to the team’s
individual styles
– Traits of a Successful Project Manager – Beaconfire Blog
• In addition to the project plan, large projects
also benefit from communications plans
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8. Waterfall
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9. Waterfall
• Traditional Project Management
methodology
• Focuses on plan, dependencies, resource
allocation
• Deadline driven
• Best for large, structured projects with
clearly defined outcomes
– Construction, Bridges
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10. Work-Breakdown Structure
• A work-breakdown structure makes a project
manageable by iteratively identifying the
subprojects that make up the whole project
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11. Project Charter
• Short description of the project and it’s goals
• Must effectively communicate why the effort
is being taken
• Best to have three or four high-level goals
• Make them your mantra!
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12. Work-Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Draft project summary
• Break into subprojects
– Tip: look at each deliverable as a subproject
• Iterate until manageable
• Assign tasks
• Define relationships ( Identify predecessors)
• Assign dates and milestones
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13. WBS Example
• Project: Replace Email Marketing System
– Sub 1 Deliverable: Requirements Gathered
• Tasks: Discuss needs, prep requirements doc
– Sub 2 Deliverable: Suitable Replacements IDed
• Tasks: Research, evaluation
– Sub 3 Deliverable: Product Decided On
• Tasks: schedule demos, view demos, decide
– Sub 4 Deliverable: Product Purchased
• Tasks: Negotiate contract…
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14. Dates, Deliverables and
Dependencies
• Deliverables
– components of the project that are produced
– measurable
• Dependencies
– Pre-requisites
– Key to tracking and adjusting to project delays
• Dates
– Targets that can be adjusted as plans change
Project Management 14Picture by Claude Covo-Farchi

15. Sample Plan
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16. RACI Matrixes
• RACI is an acronym for:
– Responsible
• Those who perform the project tasks
– Accountable
• Those who approve the project work
– Consulted
• Those who advise on the project
– Informed
• Those who are reported to on project status
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17. Allocating Resources
• Time and effort allocations are
ambitious
– Identify project vs general duty hours
– Consider tracking time
• Task Labor = Effort / Employees
– If it takes 80 hours to input the legacy data
into the system, and two people are
assigned
– Effort = 40 hours for each person.
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18. GANTT Charts
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19. Agile
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20. Agile
• Modern approach
• Prioritizes communication, constant review,
collaboration
• Highly adaptable timeline
• Best for opportunistic projects with flexible
outcomes:
– Software applications, web sites, some campaigns
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21. 12 Principles of Agile Development
Per Kent Beck, source: Wikipedia
•Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software
•Welcome changing requirements, even late in development
•Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
•Working software is the principal measure of progress
•Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace
•Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers
•Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)
•Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
•Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
•Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential
•Self-organizing teams
•Regular adaptation to changing circumstances
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22. Kanban
Project Management 22Picture by Jeff.lasovski

23. SCRUM
• Is not an acronym, so give it up!
• Is a project planning methodology
• Iterative and incremental
• Incorporates frequent feedback loops btw:
– Product Owner/Customer
– Development Team
– Scrum Master (Servant/Leader)
• Gives decision-making authority to developers
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24. Sprints
• Coding Sprints meet short term objectives in a
SCRUM environment
• A SCRUM board will list the issues to be
addressed by the sprint
• A Burndown chart will track the progress as
issues are checked off.
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25. Issue Lists
• For agile projects, issue lists contain all of the
items to be addressed.
• Issue lists are rapidly modified as issues are
added and marked off.
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26. Project Management 26
Tools

27. Microsoft Project
• Grandaddy of Waterfall Planning Tools
• Optimal for building bridges, planning the
Olympics
• Much improved in 2010 version, but still
suffers from poor collaboration
• Project Server is collaborative product
– Requires Sharepoint + Project ($$$)
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28. Salesforce
• Dream Team – waterfall, NPO discounts
• Milestones PM – Popular free task
management
• Do – Salesforce’s free task management
• Lots more here:
– https://appexchange.salesforce.com/category/pr
oject-management
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29. Sharepoint
• 2013 has many of the basic PM features built-
in:
– Task lists, wikis, document management,
calendars, social networking
• Relatively inexpensive (TechSoup)
• Requires lots of hardware, though
• Difficult licensing for external parties
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30. Jira
• Powerful, flexible task and issue
management
• Free for Nonprofits
• Integrates w/Confluence Wiki and
Greenhopper Agile PM tool
• Highly extensible
• SQL-based macros! (I’m a geek, I admit it)
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31. Basecamp
• Cloud-based agile tool
• Elegantly simple web task management
• Strong calendaring and email integration
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32. GANTTProject
• Cross-platform (JAVA) tool for creating GANNT
Charts
• Mini-MS Project, if you want
• Imports/exports to spreadsheet, graphics,
Project
– http://www.ganttproject.biz/
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33. What else?
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34. That’s It!
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