THE CORE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS {FOR SMALL PROJECTS}

The Core Project Management Process

{For Small Projects}
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THE CORE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS {FOR SMALL PROJECTS}

What is this guide for?

The purpose is to help you better manage the small projects that you encounter on a daily basis. Small projects are the projects with short deadlines (a

few months at most), almost no budget, and a small team (two to six people). Example projects are:
to create a new brochure for a program; design an informational website; or develop a proof-of-concept for a smart phone application. Most small projects are in addition to your regular work so you do not have a lot of time or resources to apply to the project.

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How to use this guide?

This guide was created to help you apply the core project management principles and techniques to successfully manage the small project without having to spend much of your time doing the traditional project management planning and administration. The goal is to help you make your project successful by giving you just the essential elements for managing a project. Worksheets have been provided at the end of each section, and are distinguished with an image of a paper clip in the upper right-hand corner.
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WARNING!

Do not use this guide for managing projects that: take more than 4 months to complete, have a substantial budget, or a project team of more than six people. Especially do not use this guide if the project is going to be your primary work. Projects can become very complicated very quickly and you should use robust project management methods such as the Project Management Body of Knowledge as developed by the Project Management Institute.

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The Core Project Management Process (CPMP)

consists of seven templates that capture the essential aspects of project management. Feel free to customize the templates as you want but do take the time to complete first six templates with your project sponsor and project team.

The main purpose of the templates is to make sure that everyone is communicating and has a clear understanding of the projects purpose and results.
Put everything in writing so you dont have to guess later what was actually said.
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Who do I contact for questions or guidance?

Please contact me if you have any questions or need help in filling out the templates. I am a certified Project Management Professional and have taught project management to MBA students and working professionals for close to six years. I love talking about and researching project management so I would appreciate your comments or suggestions concerning the CPMP. Thank you for your interest in this guide.

Bill Brantley
Dr. Bill Brantley, PMP bill@billbrantley.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction...2 Instructions for Project Charter.8 Instructions for Scope Statement..14 Instructions for Project Plan.21 Instructions for Communication Manager.33 Instructions for Risk Management.41 Instructions for Project Control Plan....51 Instructions for Status Report Template.61 Project Management Resources.67
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Instructions for Project Charter

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1) Project Product or Results:

This is the most important question of your proposed project and is closely-allied with Project Purpose.

What exactly will the project customer(s) have when the project is completed?
Be specific and most important the project customer(s), project sponsor, project team, and you have to agree 100% on what the project product or result will be.

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2) Project Purpose:
This is the business case for the project product or result. The project product or result must tie into a strategic objective of the organization and there is consensus that this particular project will best meet that strategic objective. The more strategic objectives that this project can meet strengthen the case for doing the project.

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3) Project Customers:
List the people and/or groups that will direct benefit from the project product or results and whose acceptance criteria will determine if the project is successful or not. The project customers are also part of the stakeholders but you will list all stakeholders (those who influence the project outcome) in a later template.
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4) Project Sponsor:
The project sponsor is the executive from whom you will borrow the authority to manage the project. If you don't have a project sponsor then your project will most likely fail. The project sponsor is the one who has the power to supply you with resources, personnel, and a budget and can help remove obstacle to completing the project. It is vital that you meet with him or her on a regular basis and can contact him or her when needed.

Make sure to get their signature so that you can prove that you have the project sponsor's blessing.
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Project Charter for [Project Title]

Project Product or Result: Project Purpose: Project Customer(s): Project Sponsor (Full Contact Information): This charter authorizes [Project Manager] to manage this project under my authority. __________________________________ Project Sponsor
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Instructions for Scope Statement

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1) Customer Requirements:
The best way to handle this aspect is to have a meeting with all of your project customers and your project sponsor. The fewer customers the better for the project in reaching a consensus on the project product or results requirements. It may be helpful to

list the requirements as: "Must Haves" and "Nice to Haves." Keep the list as short as possible by thinking of
the first iteration of the project as a proof-of-concept and keeping other requirements back for future versions of this project.

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2) Deadline:
The actual date that the project product or results must be delivered or the project will be cancelled. You should also negotiate for milestone dates so that the customer and/or sponsor can decide if the project's progress warrants it going further.

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3) Budget Cap:
What is the maximum amount that you can spend on the project? You will not know the true project budget until you actually start the project plan and begin the work so this figure will be a ballpark estimate. This is also a good point to discuss having contingency planning for unexpected expenses.

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4) What is not in this project's scope?

Scope creep is the biggest threat to the small project because the project already has severely-limited time, resources, and budget.

Continually adding more features and tasks will cause project failure. Thus, you need consensus from the project
customer(s), project sponsor, and project team on what will not be included in the project product or results. This does not have to be an exhaustive list because the real purpose of this item is to start the conversation on realistic project expectations.

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Scope Statement Worksheets

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Customer Requirements:
1) 2) 3) Deadline: Budget Cap: What is not in this projects scope? 1) 2) 3)
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Instructions for Project Plan

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1) Project Team:
The table is self-explanatory except for the Type column. Many small projects have part-time team members so it is important to note the commitment that individual team members Core team members are the ones you can count on to be there to the end, committed 100%. Shared team members could be on the project the entire team but may only be able to devote some of their time to project tasks. Temporary team members can only commit to some of the project life span. Outsourced team members are the most restricted in that they can only devote some time to one project task. Feel free to expand these categories if needed.
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2) Stakeholders:
These are people and groups that have some influence over your project but differ from project customers or the project sponsor because they don't directly receive the benefits of the project product or result. Examples could be the agency's IT group, a competing department, vendors, or interested executive managers. The purpose of this

question is to determine potential supporters and opponents to the project so that you can plan on enlisting their help or mitigating their opposition.

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3) Task List:
These are the tasks needed to complete the project and deliver the project product or result. A good rule of thumb is to break tasks down to a work

package which can be completed by one person in less than eight hours (one standard workday). Try to order the list with the first tasks first and later tasks that depend on earlier tasks later in the list. If you have more than twenty-five tasks on your list, consider
using a formal project management methodology. In giving a Task ID you can simply number the task or use a prefix scheme to designate a specific group of tasks. For example, if part of your project is to build a website you could use the prefix "WEB-" to number those tasks for easier scheduling and assignment.
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4) Resources List:
Only list the resources you will need specifically for the project. For example, you would list Microsoft Word because that is a common software package in the office but you might list Dreamweaver if you need to purchase that program for editing web pages.

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5) Cost Data:
You will want to create a simple spreadsheet for recording the cost of project resources and any team members you may have to pay for. For ease of tracking expenses, set up the following four tabs: Master Budget: Total costs broken down by expenses and source(s) of income. A balance sheet. Budget by Task: List of tasks with their associated costs. Budget by Resources: List of resources with their associated costs. Cash Flow: The project schedule and anticipated expenditures by day or week. Helps you to spot spending spikes and prepares you to save for those spikes.

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Project Plan Worksheets

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Project Team: Name Contact Information

Notes

Type*

* Core, Outsourced, Temporary, Shared

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Stakeholders: Name Contact Information

Notes

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Task List: Task Description ID

Start Date / End Date

Dependencies

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Resources List: Resource Description ID

Task ID(s)

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Cost Data: Master Budget

Budget by Tasks

Budget by Resources

Cash Flow

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Instructions for Communication Management

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1) Communication Grid:
Ninety percent of your job as a project manager is communication. Go down your list of project customers and stakeholders to determine who you need to communicate with about what. Consult with them on how often they would like to be contacted ("when") and how they want to be contacted (email, phone call, text, etc.). For your own purposes note why you need to communicate with then on a regular basis and any notes that will help you communicate better with that person or group.
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Your very first person on the grid will always be the project sponsor. Your second person will always be the project customer. If you have multiple customers, list the customers in order of importance.

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2) Status Reports:
Note that the seventh template of CPMP is a general purpose status template. Modify as warranted depending on your audience. Use the grid to determine who receives the report on regular basis and what information they will receive.

As a general rule- your project team and project sponsor receives

the most detailed report while project customers should receive more of a progress report on the project product or results and stakeholders should receive a high-level summary.

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3) Meeting Calendar:
Use this to plan regular face-to-face or synchronous meetings. The project sponsor always has a standing meeting as well as your core project team members.

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Communication Management Worksheets

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Communication Grid: Who What When

How

Why

Notes

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Status Reports: [General Status Report Modify as Needed] Who Gets It How Notes

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Meeting Calendar: With Who

When

About

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Instructions for Risk Management

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1) Risk Register:
A risk is an event that either harms or benefits your project. Most forget that not

all risk events are bad but it is the bad events that can hurt or kill your project. Spend the time brainstorming with your team to identify the bad events and give each event an ID and enough of description to help you plan your response to it. Then, go through your list and decide on
the most likely probability of the event occurring in increments of 20s. This doesn't have to be exact but err on the worst-case scenario side. Also determine what the impact would be to the project if the event does happen. Assign "1" to events that would have a negligible impact on the project all the way to "5" for events that would make the project fail. These are the risks that you want to continually monitor. Continue to add to the risk register as the project progresses.
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2) Impact Grid:
Use this grid to graphically display the risk profile of your project. Start with the first risk event and place its Risk ID in the box intersected by the probability and severity. If you have a color version of this guide you will see a green zone, a yellow zone, and a red zone. For those with a black-and-white version, here are the zones:

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Green Severity = 1: 0% to 80% Severity = 2: 0% to 40%

Yellow Severity = 1: 81% to 100% Severity = 2: 41% to 80% Severity = 3: 0% to 60% Severity = 4: 0% to 20%

Red Severity = 2: 81% to 100% Severity = 3: 61% to 100% Severity = 4: 21% to 100% Severity = 5: 0% to 100%

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Red Zone: Plan an immediate risk response by avoiding, mitigating or finding a way to shift the risk to someone else ("insurance"). Yellow Zone: Plan a risk response, but wait until after you completed the red zone risk response plans first. Green Zone: Plan for the items or just accept the risk events when they happen if your resources and time is limited. It is possible for a risk to migrate to different zones to make sure to update the impact grid on a regular basis. A good time would be when you are also updating the risk register.

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3) Risk Responses:
Use this table to index all of your risk response plans. Of course your risk response plan can be more detailed and in a separate document but it is good practice to have a ready reference so that you and your team can act quickly. As with the risk register and impact grid, make sure to update your risk responses table on a regular basis. It is also good practice to examine your detailed risk response plans on a regular basis.
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Risk Management Worksheets

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Risk Register: Risk ID Description

Probability Impact Status Last Updated

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Impact Grid (Enter Risk ID in Appropriate Box):

Severity/Probability 0% to 20% 21% to 40% 41% to 60% 61% to 80% 81% to 100%

1 Negligible 2 3 4 5 Project Fails

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Risk Responses: Risk ID Response Plan

Status Last Updated

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Instructions for Project Control Plan

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1) Customer Acceptance Criteria:

In consultation with the project sponsor and the project customer(s), the project manager will create a set of criteria for the project product or result. If all of the criteria are met then the customer(s) will accept the project product or result and the project can be successfully closed out.

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2) Task Acceptance Criteria:

The acceptance criteria are determined by the project manager in consultation with the project team. These criteria should flow from the Customer Acceptance Criteria.

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3) Monitoring Checklist:
The project manager should determine the top three items he or she will monitor on a daily basis throughout the project. For example, the first item can be the budget, the second item can be the quality of the project product or results, and the third item is the schedule. The purpose of this question is to keep the project

manager focused on the project and to serve as early warning signs of developing risk events.

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4) Thresholds:
This should be same as the deadline and budget cap in the scope statement. This is another focusing prompt for the project manager.

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Project Control Plan Worksheets

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Customer Acceptance Criteria 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)

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Task Acceptance Criteria: Task Acceptance Criteria ID

Completed and Accepted

Last Updated

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Monitoring Checklist: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)

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Thresholds: Budget Schedule

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Instructions for Status Report Template

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Project Title / Date / Project Manager / Deadline: Basic information that should be on all status reports. Project Status: This table displays significant tasks and/or events in the project. Red means the task/event status is in trouble, yellow means that the task/event could become trouble unless steps are taken, and green means the task/event is proceeding normally. For black-andwhite reports either spell out the colors or use R-Y-G. Issues: Can be related to an item in the project status table or a general issue and is anything that needs to be addressed before the next status report.
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Recommendations/Requests: Most often used when reporting to the project sponsor. Planned Activities Until Next Status Report: Most often used when reporting to the project team.

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Status Report Template Worksheets

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Project Title: Date: Project Manager: Deadline:

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Project Status: Milestone

Status Notes Red Yellow Green

Issues: 1) Recommendations / Requests: 1) Planned Activities Until Next Status Report: 1)

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Project Management Resources

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The Core Project Management Process (CPMP) is designed so that all is needed is a word processing program (you can skip the spreadsheet program by putting your budget figures in a Word table and use the Formula function to add and subtract). There are many project management programs out there that you can use but these may be more complex than needed for your small project. The goal is to

have a system that requires as little project administration work as possible so that you and your team can concentrate on the project tasks. But if you would like to have some extra help there
are numerous resources online:

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1) Free Project Management Templates for Excel - Vertex42 offers both free and paid project management templates for Excel. Some of these templates can be used in Open Office. 2) CoHuman- Task and Project Manager that integrates with Google Docs. Free online service that lets you create tasks, assign tasks to other people, and group related tasks in projects. The best part of this application is that the tasks are constantly reordered as tasks are completed.

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3) OpenProj- Free open-source alternative to Microsoft Project. Might be more than needed for a small project but have all of the features of Microsoft Project and can open MS Project files. 4) Open Workbench - Another open-source alternative to Microsoft Project. I personally find OpenProj easier to use. 5) Zoho Projects- Offers one of the better free plans for project management (1 project and 10 MB of file sharing with unlimited users and file sharing). Integrates with Google Docs and I personally feel that their pricing structure is better than Basecamp.
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Thank you for reading and please feel free to contact me if you need advice or want to offer criticism, praise, and suggestions.

Dr. Bill Brantley, PMP

bill@billbrantley.com

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Image Credits: All applicable images and graphics are used with permission under the Flickr Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Special thanks to: Claude, chego101, alancleaver_2000, EvanHahn, kyz, The Fayj, Wisconsin Historical Images, vectorportal, Bogdan Suditu, Brenda Starr, AMagill, o5com, .reid., Artnow314, far4.net, and Identity Photogr@phy

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