About project tools and execution
All project managers, scrum masters, product owners uses facilitating and planning tools while creating results.
I have picked some of the most common planning and execution tools/methods I have used and divided them into two categories:
But before we dive into the pool of tools let’s take a view on how a general project is managed.
I will argue that nearly 95% of projects are staged. Even the agile ones – they are just staged in a different manner.
Most projects start with a planning phase, that can be divided into sub-phases with sub-activities. Followed by a build phase that can also be broken down one way or the other. And in the end a run phase where we implement the final product into our production environment.
But before going that far a project vision must be established. The vision should set the goal for the project and eliminates any kind of confusion around the project. It should be presented in a way so that it unites all stakeholders around the project and be an inspiration to all the project participants.
A vision is often some fluffy ideas, that’s the reason why it must be broken down into some concrete goals that can fulfill the SMART criteria.
The project vision is often confused and mixed up with the project strategy. But the project strategy is something else. It is about the planning and decisions that managers above the project manager are responsibly for and tactics is about the planning and execution part that the project manager is responsible for.
In large organizations the decisions are often taken because a way of working has already been decided.
Anyhow in some cases it necessary to challenge the decisions, but in most cases the decisions are built on solid ground and just need to be followed. An strategical issue could be the need of being more agile and if agility is not a part of the companies’ project model a need for some strategic thinking is needed. But writing a project strategy is in most cases waste of time.
I have – at the moment – not documented all tools because of lack of time. So more will follow during the coming months.