Chapter Summary

Every project has its boundaries. Before you can begin to implement a project, assess budget dollars, or define a project goal, you must know the boundaries of  the project. A project manager must know exactly what the project is to accomplish. The goal of project planning is to answer questions in regard to the project scope. Planning allows decisions to be made, teams to be assembled , and the wheels of productivity to begin to turn .

Create and evaluate a feasibility study to determine the project goal, the validity of the project, and the desired results of the project. Work together with your team to research, report, and develop the study. The feasibility study allows all parties to evaluate the project, its results, and its estimated ROI.

Establishing project priority, through researching the project, allows teams to work together for the good of the company. As conflicts, politics, and personal achievement arise, a set path of conflict resolution needs to be established between project managers, project sponsors, and upper management. The business champion should always win by putting the good of the company against the desire of others. In a perfect world, departments, management, and teams share information, work together, and strive to dovetail projects to create a powerful organization. It is achievable, but not always probable.

Financial obligations to a project should be considered during the planning phase. A successful project manager will evaluate the cost of the technology and the ROI. As a project manager, you must know the difference between value and investment and determine which technology will be the best investment.

You also have to be able to organize the tasks required to complete a project. Research must be organized and shared to determine the required tasks , required time, and required talent to complete an implementation.

Finally, for each major phase of a project you should create a contingency plan. A contingency plan allows you to make predetermined decisions in the event of project phases gone awry. Contingency plans allow a project team to work with management, allow for different variables to a project, and add a touch of realism to an expected flawless execution. As Henry Ford said, Before everything else, getting ready is the secret to success.

From the Field

Interview with Eric Chermely

Name : Eric Chermely
Title: Manager of Practice Support/IT
Company: Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP
Years as an IT project manager: 17

Eric Chermely, a certified project planner, earned his MBA from Xavier University with an IT concentration. Mr. Chermely serves as the IT manager for a law firm in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has managed many projects as an integrator as well as for the client side of the business.

Q: What is the best part about IT project management?

A: One of the advantages of IT is that it never stops changing. This makes each project new and exciting. If you like to be challenged at every turn, IT projects will meet that goal. No two projects are the same. Hardware, operating systems, and software products change every few months.

Q: How do you begin researching a new project?

A: The birth of a project should be the needs assessment. Many managers overlook the internal research and begin researching the newest technology ”in particular, asking the question What is the business need that the potential project should address? Too often, IT managers jump to the techie stuff without looking at the business strategy. The first task is asking the right questions so that the team can begin to create the project's scope.

Q: How important is it to research a project versus going with the vendor's implementation recommendations?

A: Vendors can be your best source of knowledge. Just realize that vendors make money in some fashion. Knowing how they make their money and whom they represent is a key to the review of their recommendations. Help from e-mail listservs and industry associations are vital . If I know other law firms that have used an integrator, I might quiz the integrator about a specific project, but only with the consent of the other firm. That shows a potential vendor that I'm well connected and I've collected lots of intelligence.

Q: When researching a new project, what's the most important thing a project manager should do?

A: Don't get hung up in the technology. Stay focused on the business need and how a particular project could provide a solution. Last, be objective and keep an open mind. If a new and very cool technology has no current application, put the research away and move on.

Q: How do you delegate research to team members ?

A: Each person on a team has particular interests and an area of expertise. I will delegate accordingly . This process includes seminars , Internet research, or review of journal articles. I may circulate articles to team members just to expose them to a new area or product and then ask them to comment. The same people researching in their area of interest may end up with that piece of the project.

Q: What percentage of a project's time, on average, is given to research?

A: I consider research part of the planning phase. Measure twice, cut once is a good message for IT project planners too. For every one hour spent in planning, you save three during implementation. It is difficult to find an average percentage. Our team may spend 10 to 25 percent of the total time in the planning stage, but this will vary according to the scope and size of the project.

Q: How are projects introduced in the legal profession: through vendors, trade magazines, or the desire to create a solution?

A: Most are solution based. Usually, it's the desire to provide a solution to a business need. Then we perform the research to find possible alternative solutions. Again, knowing how other law firms solved similar business needs may help direct our research efforts.

Q: Should technical training be part of a project's research phase?

A: Yes. As long as you know the training will not go waste. It should be broad enough to expose the person to the technology as well as the product. Much of today's training is vendor sponsored. Keep an open mind even in training.

Q: How do vendors impact the research portion of your project?

A: Vendors are a great source of information for their product. You need to know how they make their money. If they represent all the products, a particular product margin may dictate their solution. Also, you will hear the good news, not the bad, and you should assume that you may not hear the whole story.

Q: How useful is the Internet when researching projects?

A: The Internet is a good place to start. Journals, articles, technical specifications, vendor information, and success (or failure) stories can be found on the net. It may be a good idea to look at vendors' support web sites to review the type of problems and solutions that current customers are seeing.

Q: What's a common trap IT project managers fall into and how can they avoid it?

A: Too many times, technology is the excuse for everything else. Make sure to take credit when due and share in the success too. Project creep, or adding items to the project after a project plan is in place and the charter approved, can ruin a project. A project manager has to learn to say no or at least We'll look at that project later. Some sponsors will help you run the political defense.

Q: What are characteristics of successful research?

A: First, it's not just the technical knowledge but also the benefits to the business that must be researched. If everything is working, replacing Ethernet hubs with more advanced switches means nothing to a CEO. If the CEO knew that switches would provide the user population faster access to information when servicing clients on the phone and the savings could be quantified , that's the type of research that will make a difference to the CEO.

Q: What advice can you offer fellow IT project managers in regard to researching new technologies?

A: Technology professionals have a tendency to rush to the newest bleeding edge technologies. If a project has a large financial impact and changes the operations of a company, research it as if the company depends on the project's success.