Project Management is an art form and anyone that tells you differently… Well let’s just say we all have our own opinions. The best-laid plans are just that plans. They are not steadfast nor have outside influences acted upon those plans. Projects are always in a state of flux until completed. And then even when you think they are done… well let’s just say some projects never end (especially in IT). The pioneers of modern project management, Henry Gantt (who gave us the Gantt charts) and Henri Foyol (who introduced the 5 stages of project development) are the fundamental tools used by any project coordinator. The author of the textbook takes Foyol’s basic principle and modifies them to meet the needs of someone rolling out an IDS.
Foyol’s five basic stages are:
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1. Initiation
2. Planning
3. Execution
4. Monitoring
5. Completion
Using these steps as a guideline merely sets the stage for a successful project. Without following these basic steps you may complete your project but I guarantee it won’t be as easy as it could have been.
Gantt charts are an excellent was of tracking a project. Both MS Project and ACE FastTrack allow for the setting of milestones. I personally use FastTrack and one of the really cool features of this program is its ability to push back other milestones based on missed deadlines. All projects get behind at some point (humans can’t predict when someone is going to be out sick). Seeing how one task is dependent on another is a valuable tool. There are many variables in life… many of which we can’t control. On the other hand… many things we can. It is the balancing of these two that lead to the meeting of deadlines. This makes me think back to Kennedy’s promise to put a man of the Moon by 1970. The deadline was established! However since no one had ever under took a project of this magnitude… It was incredibly difficult to budget and plan man-hours to accomplish the project. The contractors knew enough about their businesses to be able to balance what they knew with the unknown and unexpected AND they managed to make Kennedy’s dream a reality 5 months before the deadline. How’s that for project management?
