by John D Carmack

Created on: July 01, 2009

A project manager (PM) has many tools in the project management belt. Here are some of the more useful things to know about when running your project.

The first and most important thing to remember is that the project is supposed to produce something. It is far too easy for a PM to manage the project schedule, project meetings and project documentation, but forget why the project exists in the first place.

People make up your team. People are, well, people. A good PM is as competent at handling people as the technical stuff.

Open communication is your friend, even when it is bad news. A PM will, sooner or later (and probably sooner), have to deliver bad news. That is part of the job. However, it is also part of the job to know how to deal with the situation so as to minimize the impact. Can time be "made up" with overtime? Can quality be increased by moving the release date one week? What is the recommended solution? If the PM does not know the answer, then that is why there is a team of subject matter experts (SMEs) on the team!

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the method of breaking down larger tasks into smaller, more manageable ones. This is done in order to simplify what otherwise might be a very complex problem the project is trying to solve. In addition, you want to try to specify tasks that are not less than 8 hours long, nor more than 80 hours long wherever possible. If the tasks are too short in duration, the team member will easily become confused about what they should be working on next. If the tasks are too long in duration, the team member will be less accurate in estimating and reporting the amount complete.

Project schedule tells you when tasks are supposed to be started and completed. Normally, this is done in a tool similar to MS Project, which is really a combination of a WBS, WBS dictionary, Gannt chart and project schedule.

Earned Value Management (EVM) is a set of techniques to calculate where you are in the project vs. where you had planned to be. Value is "earned" as work is completed and compared against the base plan. There are various formulas to determine just how far off track your project is compared to plan. However, keep in mind it only tells you that it is off-plan; it does not tell you why. It is still up to the PM to determine why the project seems to be off of plan.

Triple constraint is cost, scope and duration. Cost may be measured in hours or dollars, depending upon a number of factors. If

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