Successful Project Management

Trevor L Young was, for many years, a senior consultant for the Industrial Society where he designed and conducted two public training courses in project management techniques and project leadership. He is now an independent consultant specializing in the introduction of programme management. He is a member of the Institute of Personnel and Development and is also the author of How to be a Better Project Manager and Successful Project Management (both published by Kogan Page).

1.what is success? what happens to the project?; defining success; your view of success; success depends on who is measuring; what are the perceived causes of failure; reduce the probability of failure 2.the climate for success why do initiatives appear to fail?; some definitions; projects - are they just an accident?; a common misconception; what's the current climate?; what influences the climate?; operating climate for success; the key activities; defined roles and responsibilities - the key players; influence of organisational culture 3.the project process - key steps for success the project phases; the phase gates; the phase gate - a constraint?; the key steps to success; 4.project conception and start-up selecting the right project; the start-up process; customer needs and expectations; identifying the project constraints; assumptions; the kick-off meeting; recording essential information 5.the definition phase the project brief and specification; defining the project; risk assessment; getting your project definition approved 6.managing the stakeholders what is a stakeholder; identifying stakeholders; the two most important stakeholders; stakeholder influence; gathering information about stakeholders; the stakeholder influence matrix; what happens next with stakeholders 7.managing the risks what is a risk; why bother?; the risk management process; identifying the risks; a typical starter checklist; decide the primary response strategy; quantifying the risks; risk score; what do i do now? monitoring risks 8.planning the project a common misconception; who needs to be involved; where does planning start?; identifying the key stages; allocating responsibility; estimating; the critical path of your project; analyse resource requirements; optimising your schedule; review the project risk log; review the project budget; freezing the baseline schedule; seeking approval to launch 9.launching and executing the project preparing for project execution; the control environment; monitoring the progress; managing the issues arising; tracking your project 10.closure and post-project evaluation project drift; set the completion criteria; the acceptan