Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

JOSEPH PHILLIPS, PMP is a project management consultant, instructor, and owner of Project Seminars, Inc. and Instructing.com. He is the author of several project management books, including PMP: Project Management Professional Study Guide and IT Project Management: On Track from Start to Finish.

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You have an important project that if completed successfully (and on time!) will generate profit for your business and keep your company running smoothly. What you need are the benefits that come with proper project management methods to ensure that things get done efficiently and on schedule. But unlike a larger corporation, you don’t have the resources, the people, or the time it takes to learn and institute a complex project management program.

Skipping the complicated theory and going straight to the heart of what it really takes to make a project a success, Project Management for Small Business gives you straightforward, repeatable practices for planning, executing, and controlling projects in smaller environments. Whether you’re a manager, business owner, or just someone faced with completing a project, this easy-to-understand guide provides you with the simple project management techniques you need to:

Define the scope of your project and its requirements

Create a project schedule based on the availability of resources

Estimate, budget, and control costs

Identify and minimize risks associated with your project

Manage the workflow

Communicate effectively with others

Control project change

And more

Do you want to know five immediate ways to improve your projects? Are you curious what the six hidden costs are associated with most projects? What actions should you always take when closing out a project to ensure—beyond a doubt—that it’s brought successfully to completion? This easy-to-understand book, grounded in real-world experience and simplifying the proven thinking behind project management philosophy, gives you bulleted lists, quickly instituted techniques, and down-to-earth systems you can use no matter what industry you’re in or how many different hats you’re wearing.

Smaller businesses need the core principles and powerful strategies of project management just as much as big companies. This book delivers all the streamlined, simple guidance you need to achieve project management success with flying colors.

JOSEPH PHILLIPS, PMP, Project+, is a project management consultant, instructor, and owner of Project Seminars, Inc. and Instructing.com. He is the author of several project management books, including PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide and IT Project Management: On Track from Start to Finish.

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Project Management for Small Business

AMACOM

Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................1CHAPTER 1: THE BUSINESS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT..........................3CHAPTER 2: INITIATING A PROJECT........................................37CHAPTER 3: PLANNING A PROFITABLE PROJECT...............................65CHAPTER 4: MANAGING PROJECT COSTS......................................95CHAPTER 5: SCHEDULING PROJECT WORK.....................................123CHAPTER 6: CONTROLLING THE PROJECT.....................................149CHAPTER 7: MANAGING PROJECT RISK.......................................181CHAPTER 8: COMMUNICATING WITH PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS.....................209CHAPTER 9: MANAGING PROJECT WORKFLOW...................................239CHAPTER 10: CLOSING A PROJECT..........................................263INDEX..................................................................287

Chapter One

BUSINESSES EXIST FOR ONE PRIMARY PURPOSE: to make money. They may have lofty goals and vision statements, and they may want to do good while earning a profit, but the fundamental reason for their existence is to make money. Successful businesses provide goods and services that people and other companies will willingly pay for. The culture of business is an exciting blend of competition, accuracy, risk, and a concerted effort to achieve more than just profit.

Projects have a purpose as well: to get things done. They are temporary creative endeavors that have a definite beginning, action, and an ending. Projects are a conduit that enables businesses to reach their goals, achieve their visions, and increase their market share. It's not difficult to see the connection between successful projects and profit. When projects are managed properly, profits increase, businesses can grow, and stress diminishes. There's a distinct difference between simply managing a project and managing a profitable project.

Massive, bulky companies follow stodgy, cumbersome methodologies for project management. In this book, I am sharing my lean, mean, and proven approach to project management for small businesses. When I talk about project management for small businesses, what I'm really talking about is people and the four specific roles they play in a project. Each role owns a portion of the project, and it's possible for a single person to play more than one role.

The most important role that is played in a project is that of the project customer. Customers are the reason why businesses and projects exist. Customers ask businesses for products and services in exchange for money—it's a simple concept. In project management, it's all about keeping the customer happy by doing what was promised. If you want profitable projects, and I know you do, then focus on what the customer wants to buy.

The second role in project management for small businesses is played by the people on the project team. The team members are the employees who do the work on the project. They are the people who have the most sway over the quality of the project, the project schedule, and the project costs. As a project team member doing the actual work, you have considerable responsibility on your shoulders, because people are depending on you to do the work properly. You are a direct link between what the project customer receives and the profitability of the company.

The third role is played by the project manager. The project manager is the person who oversees the coordination of all the project activities. She is the hub of planning, decisions, communication, and project discipline. She is the intermediary among the project customer, the project team, and the business owner. As the project manager, you'll work with the project team, help the project customer, and report the performance of the project to the business owner.

The final role in the project is played by the business owner. The business owner carries the stress and responsibility of dealing with payroll, taxes, insurance, and overhead costs, and is always looking for new sales to keep the business afloat and growing. As the business owner, you've identified a need for your product or service, you've marketed your ability to satisfy that need, and you're doing the work—all while balancing the opportunity against the cost of that opportunity. In other words, you don't want to work for free and keep pouring revenue into a business that's not creating a profit.

And, of course, you've invested more than just cash into your venture; you've invested your energy, your passion, and yourself. You're taking energy that could be spent with your family and friends, from hobbies and leisure, and often from everything else you have, and you're investing it all in your business. Remember when you first started? All you could think of was the opportunity to be your own boss, enjoy the freedom, and control your destiny. Now, however, running a business is more than a personal passion and a dream come true; people are counting on you and depending on you, and they're demanding that you deliver on your promises. Owning and operating a business isn't easy; if it were, everyone would do it.

The project customer may pay for the project, but the project team members, the project manager, and the business owner all contribute to its success or failure. The project team members, project manager, and business owner must work together if the project is to be a success. The integrated efforts of these three roles allow a project to be profitable, allow people to earn wages, and allow a business to grow and be sustainable. Get this lesson right away: In project management, there must never be an us-against-them mentality. Harmony and respect among these project roles will contribute to far greater project success than the best of plans laced with blame, contempt, and spite.

In this book, I'm addressing you the business owner, you the project manager, and you the project team member. You must understand and acknowledge how projects operate, how your roles are interdependent, and how the project customer is depending on you. Each person involved in the project has responsibilities that affect how well other people can do their jobs. There must be a commitment to do the correct work correctly, and a determination to be dependable, and to depend on others. While it's easy to see these three roles in project management as a chain of command, it's better to see them as pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. The business owner, the project manager, and the project team are all reliant on one another.

In your company, you might call your projects jobs, assignments, contracts, or some other name. Let's be clear: A project is a temporary endeavor to create products, provide a service, or create a desired condition for other people. Projects have a definite beginning and a definite ending. They are unique in that they are not part of the day-to-day grind of operations, like bookkeeping and assembly lines. Projects are about creating. At the end of the project, you can step back, admire your work, and see the project's vision realized and utilized. You've ushered the endeavor from concept, through execution, and finally to closing. Projects allow you to take an idea and move it from the ether into reality.

Projects can go to the heart of your company: The project...