Facilitating the Project Lifecycle (eBook)

Janet A. Means is cofounder of Resource Advantage, Inc., a consulting and training firm specializing in business process innovation, organizational productivity improvement, and information technology planning and design. She is a certified professional facilitator with the International Association of Facilitators. Tammy Adams is the managing partner of Chaosity LLC, a consulting firm specializing in collaborative techniques for business process improvement and project acceleration. She is a certified professional facilitator and certified quality manager.

Tables, Figures, and Exhibits.

Acknowledgments.

The Authors.

Introduction.

PART 1: THE POWER OF THE PARTNERSHIP: PROJECTS AND
FACILITATION.

Section 1: The Commitment to Perform.

1. Old Dogs and New Tricks.

2. Facilitation Within the Project Lifecycle.

Section 2: The Ability to Perform.

3. Who's on First?

4. What Effective Facilitation Is and Is Not.

PART 2: THE PARTNERSHIP IN PRACTICE: MAKING FACILITATED WORK
SESSIONS WORK.

Section 3: Work Session Basics.

5. Making Work Sessions Work.

6. The Work Session Tightrope.

7. Preparing for the Work Session.

8. Conducting the Work Session.

9. Wrapping Up the Work Session.

Section 4: Facilitating the Deliverable.

10. Establishing the Project Charter.

11. Analyzing and Designing Business Processes.

12. Defining Business Requirements.

13. Assessing Risks.

14. Convening Work-in-Progress Reviews.

PART 3: THE TECHNIQUES.

Section 5: General Facilitation Techniques: Engaging the
Group.

15. It's All About Communication.

16. Flip-Charting.

17. Brainstorming.

18. Facilitated Dialogue.

19. Nominal Group and Affinity Analysis.

20. Prioritization Techniques.

21. Breakout Groups.

22. Staying On Track: Agendas, Action Items, and Other Focusing
Techniques.

Section 6: Specialized Facilitation Techniques: Building the
Deliverables.

23. Creating a Purpose Statement.

24. Defining Objectives and Targets.

25. Scope Framing.

26. Guiding Factors: Assumptions, Constraints, Dependencies, and
Touch Points.

27. Discovering Impacts.

28. Risk Analysis Matrices.

29. Process Decomposition.

30. Process Mapping.

31. Process Detail Table.

32. Context Diagramming.

33. Requirements Table.

34. Developing a Timeline.

PART 4: RESOURCES.

A. Cross-Reference Tables for Tools and Techniques.

B. Recommended Books and Journals.

C. Recommended Web Sites.

D. Recommended Organizations.

References.

Index.

Templates on CD-ROM.

How to Use the Accompanying CD-ROM.

"Chock-full of helpful session templates, guidelines, and
resources."

--Ellen Gottesdiener, EBG Consulting, Inc., author, Requirements
by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needs

"This book is a road map to successful facilitation of
teams to realize business improvements and change through
projects."

--Wes Hopmans, director of IT, Crane & Co., Inc.

"Jan Means and Tammy Adams open their notebooks, sharing
hard-won procedures, session designs, and tips that would take
years to acquire on your own."

--Maureen Jenkins, chair, International Association of
Facilitators

"Anyone who runs projects effectively knows that project
success is rooted in people. Facilitating the Project
Lifecycle puts people on center stage, which makes it
exceptional among project management books."

--J. Davidson Frame, academic dean, University of Management and
Technology

"This book does an amazing job of applying facilitation to
the complexities of project management. I can't imagine a
project leader who wouldn't want to keep this resource
handy!"

--Ingrid Bens, author, Facilitating with Ease!

"Jan Means and Tammy Adams give us a toolkit of skills,
templates, and techniques essential for success on any
project."

--Doug DeCarlo, author, eXtreme Project Management

"The real roadblock to a successful project is invariably
people. This book tackles this challenge head on by leveraging
group dynamics to bring teams to consensus and break down barriers
to successful project delivery."

--William M. Ulrich, president, Tactical Strategy Group, Inc.,
author, Legacy Systems: Transformation Strategies