"You only get out of project management what you put into it." Without follow-up, there is little point to managing a project. Although project management is an on-going process, it is important that project status reports be prepared and reviewed on a routine basis for consistency. A weekly time frame is perhaps the best cycle to routinely evaluate project progress. A monthly reporting cycle may not detect project errors in time for correction.

Each resource must review their work for the past period and the next succeeding period. The project manager, in turn, prepares a comparable report for the overall project. A careful review will reveal problems and suggest areas for improvement. Communication problems requiring correction will be uncovered. This review provides the opportunity to examine each individual's performance and to give recognition to accomplishments and progress. By careful attention on the part of management to these reviews, problem areas will not occur as surprises. Management will be able to take corrective action on a timely basis.

To assist in the detection of problem areas, project tolerances should be established to note when time estimates, costs and schedules will be overrun or underrun. Tolerances represent the percent allowable deviation on a project, e.g., 10%, 15%, etc. It is the relationship between "estimated to do" and project tolerances that provides for an early warning system in project management. If an employee expresses a slipped assignment and it surpasses project tolerances, then an estimate or schedule deviation is brought to the attention of the project manager. An estimate and/or schedule revision should then be prepared.

Revisions are a natural part of all projects. Any revision in estimate and schedule should be accompanied with an explanation for the change. These explanations can be used later for project auditing purposes and to provide insight for adjusting estimating guidelines.

Any time a project becomes inordinately large, it will be difficult to control. This problem usually occurs due to poor planning where the work effort is ill-defined and bottlenecks created. The temptation to try to do more than what is possible in the required time frame must be avoided. You simply cannot put two quarts of liquid into a quart bottle. Projects should be broken into smaller, more manageable pieces. If a project does not produce a significant result within one month, it will lose control.

The most important control within project management is that the responsibility for accomplishment be clearly assigned. Each professional understands this responsibility and makes personal project commitments. Given a good attitude on the part of the professional, individual responsibility promotes successful project execution with minimal supervision. Remember, projects will be accomplished only when people want to do them.

One last word on project control. It seldom occurs to people that it is just as bad to underrun a project as it is to overrun a project. Maybe it is because most people overrun them. However, underrunning a project can be equally bad when a company has specifically budgeted funds and resources for the project. An excessive underrun could represent a waste of resources, when they could have been invested more wisely elsewhere.  

PROJECT CONTROL SHEETS

The Project Control Sheet included in "PRIDE" serves two purposes:

1. To prepare Detail estimates and schedules, and...

2. To report time against assignments.