Finished up the second PM class last Saturday. Lots to learn. Lots to internalize. Several things to be aware of, including one late inclusion that's described at the very end of the post. (Mystery revealed?) This post continues to work through Project Integration Management. This Knowledge Area is the only one to stretch across all Process Groups, so it's likely that there will be another two or three posts in this area.
4.3 Direct and Manage Project Work
A project management plan template will be identified, chosen, and periodically updated with work from all subsequent knowledge areas. This will define the project activities. As noted in the PMBOK® Guide: “The work performance data will also be used as an input to the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group.” (p. 81)
4.3.1 Direct and Manage Project Work: Inputs
4.3.1.1 Project Management Plan
Please click HERE to see section 4.2 for more information on the Project Management Plan.
4.3.1.2 Approved Change Requests
Just how much corrective action, preventive action, or defect repair may be necessary, or to what extent a formal system must be put into place, is still an open question with this small project. For instance, documents recording a sponsor’s financial commitment may have to be revised. This is easily done in a shared online spreadsheet. No formal change management system is required in this particular project.
4.3.1.3 Enterprise Environmental Factors
There are several environmental factors which will influence the Direct and Manage Plan Process. These factors generally include the organizational culture of the Closter 5k organizing committee, its sponsor, the Closter Recreation Commission, which is relaxed and trusting that the volunteer committee will get the job done and conduct an event which is viewed positively by the participants. The 5k uses existing infrastructure (buildings for event preparation, and the town’s roads for the race).
4.3.1.4 Organizational Process Assets
The shared on-line documents from prior years have become a trove of useful information that have been brought forward and updated for use in the present. We’ve always recorded historical information and lessons learned. This 5KPM project will form a standardized template and provide guidelines for future projects. How much a formal change control system will be in place is still uncertain, although one will no doubt be created for the practice of its creation and review.
4.3.2 Direct and Manage Project Work: Tools & Techniques
4.3.2.1 Expert Judgment
While the experience of the Closter 5k organizing committee has been spoken of, input is sought from the project sponsor, during informal talks with other area race directors, and personal experience at other events. Are these “professional or technical associations” (PMBOK® Guide p.83) as described in the PMBOK® Guide. Well, near enough for now. What this sample project is showing me is that there is so many processes and tools in Project Management that I can't directly apply them all to the Closter 5k project, much as I'd like to try to use them.
4.3.2.2 Project Management Information System
The aforementioned shared documents and spreadsheets are as close as we come to having a project management information system in place, although a recent article about how Google Keep could be used in a way that supports project management, insofar as it contains tools, like a shared checklist, which can be helpful to task tracking To that end, Google Keep has been in an evaluation mode to determine whether it fits in with the other shared online documents.
4.3.2.3 Meetings
Meetings occur regularly for updates, status, and an exchange of ideas. Although there is no formal minute-taking process, the output is deliverables and updates to the plan in the form of action items including, to-do lists and other updates. As a part of the 5KPM Project Management For Road Racing, the Project Plan will also be periodically updated.
4.3.3 Direct and Manage Project Work: Outputs
4.3.3.1 Deliverables
The output of our work planning is generally a list of tasks to move forward, whether to contact a vendor for an update on the event shirts, the timer about when to receive bibs in advance for runners, when to meet with police or EMS about safety (see also section 4.3.4.5 below).
4.3.3.2 Work Performance Data
Because we are an experienced committee we have a general sense of how far along we are in our planning process. Granted, this is informally measured, but we can gauge whether we need to devote more time to tasks or have things in hand. The greatest unpredictability are sponsors, and gaining enough sponsors to cover our costs.
4.3.3.3 Change Requests
As mentioned above, there is no formal change control process except an update to an existing task. For better or for worse, this process is handled informally from meeting to meeting as the deliverables are defined.
4.3.3.4 Project Plan Updates
In the unlikely event that the basic plan of the Closter 5k must change, the project plan will be updated accordingly.
4.3.4.5 Project Documents Updates
One of the project documents that must be updated is the Stakeholder Register. It's clear to me now, both from the progressive elaboration of this project, and from the Project Management Certification class, that one key stakeholder left out of the Stakeholder Register is the public. Granted, the organizing committee doesn't communicate with every household along the route of the Closter 5k (although I've long wondered if we could get them out of the house to root for the runners), but these residents are affected by the project simply by living on the course.
As always, your feedback is appreciated, so please share your thoughts about the 5KPM so far:
