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Notes on Making it Happen by Mackenzie Kyle

Structure of an Assignment

1. GENESIS
2. DESIGN (describes the final product in enough detail so that you could produce it)
   1. preliminary design: problem solving, generation of options, feasbility analysis, proposed "best" solution
   2. preliminary design sign-off by sponsor
   3. produce detailed design schedule and cost estimate
   4. detailed design schedule and cost approved by sponsor
   5. detailed design
   6. sponsor approves detailed design
3. EXECUTION PLAN (Project)
4. EXECUTION
5. REVIEW
   1. (Review of Design)
   2. (Review of Execution Plan and Execution)
   3. (Review of Genesis)

When asked to do an Assignment

1. Identify the sponsor. He or she is the person who can spend the money.
2. Make sure the sponsor knows who the sponsor is. The sponsor must understand his/her responsibilities. This should be part of the culture, but never assume.
3. Write the first objective statement. Make sure you answer all of these questions:
   • What is wrong with the existing situation?
   • How will things be better when we are done?
   • What are the performance criteria for the deliverables?
   • What is the scope of the assignment (i.e., what is in the assignment and what is not in the assignment)?
   • What are the specific constraints regarding cost, time, quality, and so on?
   • Who is the sponsor?
   • Who is the project manager?
   • What authority is being given?
4. Have the sponsor sign the objective statement. Always get a signature on the document.
5. Collect the best project team that you can. Remember, the same responsibilities must be fulfilled on every assignment, but team members may double up on some roles depending on the assignment. Roles include
   1. sponsor
   2. project manager
   3. feasability analyst
   4. designer
   5. user's rep
   6. project administrator
   7. implementer
   8. reviewers
6. Create the conceptual design.
7. Get the sponsor's signed approval of both the conceptual design and the funding to complete the detailed design.
8. Detail the design. You'll know it's complete if you can do an execution plan.
9. Get the sponsor's signature on the detailed design.
10. Create the execution plan with the project team. Use the logic of the interrelation of the activities to create a dependency chart, which will be the basis for determining things like costs, schedule, and resource requirements.
11. Get the sponsor's signature on the execution plan.
12. Execute the plan.
13. Review the assignment. Complete all three review steps.

A Plan

• Helps structure your thinking
• Communicates your intentions

project = execution plan

Dependency Chart

Elements to include:

1. Description
2. Duration
3. Resource(s)
4. Interdependency

As much as possible, you want the float to come afte the particular task or activity with which it is associated.

The critical path is simply the path with the least amount of float.

To "crash" a project (i.e., make the project shorter), focus on the critical activities, the ones that determine the length of the project. Shorten them by adding resources, reducing the scope of the task, not do it as well, or change the resource to a more productive one. Remember, changes you make in each task can affect all the others. And as you shorten tasks, the critical path may change. Check the critical path each time you crash a task.