Understanding Competitive Needs and " Scope Creep "
Competing needs (three elements that the project needs to master)
Any project has three competing needs:
- Quality: Satisfaction with project requirements.
- Time: The time required to achieve the deliverables of the project.
- Cost: The number/quantity of funds, personnel, and other resources required to complete the project.
You can think of these three competing demands as variables in the following equation:
quality = time + cost
Change any one of the variables, and the other two variables will also change. For example, suppose you decide to complete a database project in half the time of your original estimate. At this point, one of two things must happen: your costs go up, or the quality of the final product goes down. The reason for this is that you need to hire more people to work faster, or have to tolerate more system flaws than originally planned due to lack of time, people to recheck functionality.
Deciding whether and how to weigh quality, time, and cost is a major area of project management. It is important to keep all stakeholders informed of any changes to project objectives and to explain the consequences of these changes involving quality, time, and cost. If you ignore this, you can lead to disagreement and dissatisfaction with the project outcome from stakeholders at the end of the project.
range creep
Beware of "scope creep" as your project goal-defining process continues. Scope creep is when stakeholders put pressure on project managers to do more work than originally planned. As you discuss the project with stakeholders, they may gradually define "project success" by expanding criteria, with more and more problems that the project must solve according to their perspective. You will suddenly find that the project goals you have listed are beyond the scope of warning.
To avoid getting caught in "scope creep", one must resist the pressure to solve problems for everyone in the project. Even if these legitimate or urgent issues need to be addressed by the company, they should never be included in your system of project goals if they go beyond the scope of your project. If stakeholders ask you to expand the scope of the project, they must make it clear about the quality, time, and cost implications of doing so.
What are the key factors in making trade-offs and redefining goals as the project progresses? Fully understand the impact and consequences of these activities. At the same time, ensure that stakeholders are aware of and accountable for these consequences.
It is necessary to fully consider the competitive requirements that determine the success or failure of the project, balance the project requirements, control the scope creep, determine the project objectives, confirm the understanding of the project stakeholders, and bear the consequences of the project.
Define roles and responsibilities
The people involved are one of the determinants of a project's success. If staffing is inadequate, or employees do not understand their roles and responsibilities, the project will most likely end in failure.
Project sponsor
The sponsor has the approval power of the project, they are managers or executors with actual interests in the project results, and are directly responsible for the project performance.
sponsor:
- Support project
- The right to define the scope of work
- Provide the necessary resources to the project team
- Remove organizational barriers
- Approve or reject the final deliverables of the project
Project sponsors should also perform the following important tasks:
- Ensure senior management supports the project team's decision-making and course of action
- Make sure the rest of the organization (especially leadership) is informed about the progress of the project
- Keep an eye on any changes to company goals that may affect project goals
- Help managers solve their subordinates' time allocation problems between project responsibilities and day-to-day work
project manager
Project managers are responsible for planning, scheduling project tasks, and monitoring the day-to-day execution of projects. This person bears the greatest responsibility for the success or failure of the project. This person is authorized by the sponsor and plays the most important role in all phases of the project cycle.
The task of a project manager has many similarities to that of a manager leading a team. Both require:
- Identify required resources
- Recruit competent participants
- Coordinate activities
- Consult with higher management (especially sponsors)
- mediate conflict
- Set milestones
- manage budget
- keep work organized
- Ensure projects are delivered on time and on budget
Similar to team leaders, project managers do not necessarily have formal management authority over those who work on the project. For example, the project manager responsible for IT innovation activities may be a manager of an IT department, but the project team members can come from multiple departments such as marketing, finance, customer service, and so on. Therefore, project managers must use leadership skills to influence the behavior and performance of team members.
Project team leader
Many large projects have project team leaders . This person reports directly to the project manager and is in charge of one or more aspects of the work. In small projects, the project manager also acts as the leader of the project team.
A competent project team leader should play six roles:
- Advocate: Identify actions needed to meet project goals. Encourage team members to take these actions.
- Demonstrators: Demonstrate behaviors that support the success of the project. For example, if the team members need the cooperation of the client to complete the project, then the team leader should visit the client on a regular basis, establish a client focus team, etc. These behaviors will encourage the rest of the team to follow suit.
- Negotiator: Use negotiation skills to obtain the resources needed for the project.
- Listeners: Talk and listen at the same time. Gather signals from the outside world about urgent crises, employee dissatisfaction, and profit opportunities. Make decisions based on the experience and knowledge of many people.
- Mentor: Use a variety of coaching methods to help team members improve day by day; identify coaching opportunities in day-to-day business.
- Working members of the team: share work, especially in areas where they can use their strengths. Take on the role of a team member.
Tasks of the project team leader include:
- Communicate daily with the project manager on project progress and issues.
- Regularly evaluate project progress and team member perspectives.
- Ensuring the full commitment of all members and their right to express themselves.
Project team members do most of the work. Selection should be based on their skill level and their ability to work with others. The main tasks of the project team members are:
- Complete all assigned tasks on time.
- Express your grievances and concerns to leaders and other members.
- Support leaders and other members.
- Help other members making requests and ask for help when needed.
The optimal size of the project team depends on the goals and tasks of the project. People should do their jobs well and avoid being superfluous. Understaffing will slow you down and lack the necessary skills. Overstaffing results in a lot of valuable time and energy being devoted to communication and collaboration, which also slows down your work progress.
project stakeholders
Project stakeholders are those who have a vested interest in the project results. Contributors, customers, managers, and financial staff are all stakeholders; they are the judges of the success or failure of the project. To help you identify all project stakeholders, consider which functions or people will be affected by the project's activities or outcomes. Also, identify who will provide resources (people, space, time, tools, and funding) to the project.
Once stakeholders have been identified, their understanding of what it means to be "successful" for the project should be inquired. Stakeholders have diverse interests, so their definitions of success are likely to vary widely. One of your important tasks during the Define and Organize phase is to incorporate stakeholder expectations into a coherent, manageable system of project goals.
Create a project charter
Proper staffing is especially critical for project teams. But it's also important to have a charter that clearly articulates the scope and nature of the work and management's expectations for outcomes. A project charter is a concise written document that contains some (or all) of the following:
- Project Mission Statement
- is an overview of the roles and responsibilities of the employee, including the name of the project sponsor
- Project scope
- A brief description of the project deliverables (objectives)
- The relationship between project goals and higher organizational goals
- Expected timelines for work and milestones
- Budget, configuration, and resources in the hands of the project team
- list of constraints
- List of project-related assumptions
- Quality requirements
- main risk
- Contribution of the project to the organization
- Patron's signature
It seems rather time consuming to cover all the information mentioned above. But in the absence of a formal charter, a project is likely to go astray and ultimately jeopardize the achievement of organizational goals. At the same time, the project may experience "scope creep" by succumbing to the increasing demands of stakeholders.
An effective project charter can indicate the desired outcomes of the work, but it cannot reveal the means by which the team achieves those outcomes. Methodological issues should be left to project managers, team leaders, and members to resolve.
Communicate about the project charter
Once you have set up a project charter, it should be distributed to all stakeholders and project team members. The charter clearly articulates in writing the nature and scope of the current work and management's expectations for the outcome. Failure to adequately communicate this information can lead to misunderstandings and eventual failure of the project.