What is a Project?

Name: The Principles of Project Management
Uploaded: 2026-02-27T14:30:45.497956+00:00
Channel: CMI Engagement Webinar
Description: Summary and key takeaways on What is a Project?, covering core themes from a webinar on project management presented by David, with Lucia introducing the event

CMI Engagement Webinar

Feb 27, 2026

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4 min read

YouTube video ID: vJMdi9y_viw

Source: YouTube video by CMI Engagement Webinar — Watch original video

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This article summarizes core themes from a webinar on project management presented by David, with Lucia introducing the event for the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). The session covered definitions, stages, principles, common failures, practical guidance and a Q&A that reinforced clarity and communication as central concerns.

What is a Project?

A project is a sequence of tasks, bounded by time and resources, with a clear desired result. Projects are temporary and can range in duration from weeks to years, making them distinct from business as usual. They are often cross-functional, requiring skills and resources that do not sit within a single team. Projects are unique and involve uncertainty and vagueness, which the project manager aims to reduce.

What a Project Isn't

Projects are not business as usual; mixing those things up leads to confusion.
Projects are not open-ended; they have a defined start and end date.
Projects are not unfocused; they are targeted at specific objectives and outcomes.
Projects are not "more of the same"; they are about making a change or introducing something new.

Project Stages

Stage	Core focus
Starting / Thinking	Defining the "why" and "what."
Initiating	Getting the project off the ground, identifying stakeholders and resources.
Directing / Managing	Overseeing quality, timelines, and execution.
Controlling	Monitoring progress, making decisions at gateways, and managing deviations.
Closing	Properly concluding the project, documenting outcomes, and learning from experience.

Key Aspects of Project Management

Costs, including budgeting and tracking expenditure, are fundamental and must be controlled. Time scales set deadlines and milestones and require active schedule management. Communication keeps stakeholders informed and manages expectations. Quality needs to be defined and measured against project deliverables. Scope must be clearly stated to avoid "scope creep," and risk requires proactive identification and mitigation planning. Benefit focuses on understanding and realizing the value the project is intended to deliver.

Themes of a Project: Kipling's Six Serving Men

The project themes rest on Who, What, Why, When and How. "Where" is implied through progress and change over the course of the project. These questions shape planning, roles and ongoing decisions throughout the lifecycle.

Project Manager Traits

A successful project manager brings enthusiasm for the work and the right skills, or the potential for support to develop them. They must be able to manage change, tolerate ambiguity, and keep a customer-first attitude. The role demands the ability to stay focused, direct attention appropriately, and possess strong organizational knowledge.

Principles and Planning

Projects should maintain continued business justification, reassessing validity regularly. Learning from experience and defining roles and responsibilities are essential. Management by stages and management by exception help keep oversight manageable and focused on deviations. Plans should set SMART goals, define scope management and milestones, and record risks and constraints so that decisions are informed and traceable.

Monitoring, Closure and Evaluation

Monitoring involves tracking progress, comparing cost expenditure to plan, observing team dynamics, managing resources, reporting, and validating the business case. Closing a project requires proper shutdown procedures, team reassignment or release, outcome review and stakeholder approval, contractual and financial finalization, and documentation of lessons learned. Evaluation should capture what went well, what did not, what to repeat and what to avoid to inform future projects.

Why Projects Fail

Projects can fail for many interconnected reasons: isolation (especially in remote work), lack of ongoing collaboration, technical limitations, lack of executive sponsorship, vagueness or lack of clear purpose, scope creep, insufficient planning, accidental project managers without skills or training, unmitigated risks, and a haphazard approach. "This is where a lot of projects fail because they lose that difference, if you like [between projects and business as usual]."

Do's

Plan diligently and avoid shortcutting planning.
Manage change actively and define roles clearly.
Provide regular updates, including bad news, and seek help when needed.
Mentor team members and use leadership and influence skills.
Adapt communication and leadership style to the context.
Communicate consistently to everybody that needs to know.

Don'ts

Don't jump straight into operating without planning.
Don't assume understanding, compliance or that roles are known.
Don't hide bad news or assume risks are already managed.
Don't assume everyone shares the same priorities.
Don't be haphazard; maintain discipline and structure.
Don't treat project work as "more of the same" business as usual.

Quick Takeaways

Have a clear, detailed plan and keep revisiting it. Expect the unexpected and build flexibility into your approach—"Expect the unexpected. It will happen." Develop resilience and fortitude, and prioritise persistent communication — "Communicate communicate communicate and then communicate some more." Apply principles in practice, even in small personal projects.

Q&A Highlights and Closing Remarks

The Q&A reinforced clarity and communication as central principles, and noted that core project principles apply across different sectors. Incorporate learning into daily deliverables and use appropriate tools; "Project in a Box" was mentioned as a software recommendation. On qualifications versus experience, experience was described as more important, with qualifications offering understanding—Prince2 was referenced in that context. Resources such as Management Direct were noted as available, and the session encouraged considering a career in project management.

Takeaways

A project is a temporary, cross-functional sequence of tasks with a clear desired result, distinct from business as usual.
Project success depends on continued business justification, clear roles, stage-based management and focused attention on results.
Common causes of failure include isolation, lack of collaboration, scope creep, insufficient planning and unmitigated risks.
Effective project managers combine enthusiasm, change management, tolerance for ambiguity, customer focus and organizational knowledge.
Consistent, transparent communication and disciplined planning are essential, and lessons learned should inform future projects.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Yes, the full transcript for this video is available on this page. Click 'Show transcript' in the sidebar to read it.

What is a Project?

What a Project Isn't

- Projects are not business as usual; mixing those things up leads to confusion. - Projects are not open-ended; they have a defined start and end date. - Projects are not unfocused; they are targeted at specific objectives and outcomes. - Projects are not "more of the same"; they are about making a change or introducing something new.

Why Projects Fail

Helpful resources related to this video

If you want to practice or explore the concepts discussed in the video, these commonly used tools may help.

Prince2 Manual Recommended

Comprehensive reference for Prince2 concepts and terminology; useful for understanding structured project approaches.

Amazon →

Project Planner Notebook

Physical planner to capture milestones, risks and daily tasks; helps maintain focus and track progress on a project.

Amazon →

Gantt Chart Pad

Easy visual tool for time scales and milestones; supports schedule management and stakeholder communication.

Amazon →

Project Management Books

Books consolidate principles, case studies and frameworks; valuable for learning from experience and building practical skills.

Amazon →

Links may be affiliate links. We only include resources that are genuinely relevant to the topic.

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Full Transcript YouTube

[Music]
good morning everyone and welcome to the
principles of project management webinar
my name is lucia and i'm an events
manager at cmi i was sure to be handing
over to david who's running the session
today
if you have a question during the
webinar you can use them using the live
chat box on the right on your screen
and we shall answer as many as we can
today's session is being recorded and
will be shared with you
later on today now over to david chmc
assessment manager at the chartered
management institute
thanks lichia and good morning everybody
and before we start
i think it's really important to say
that when we're thinking about project
management
this is a massive area we have a short
time together today
so i want to focus on the principles of
project management so
to give you a an understanding of some
of the basics of it to break it down
into
its constituent parts and to think about
some of the things that make a project
work
and some of the things that will make a
project fail
and without dwelling on that for for too
long because i think the two
are connected we'll crack on so
before we get going too far i think it's
really important to understand what a
project is and what a project isn't
and a project really can be thought of
as a sequence a sequence of tasks
that starts in a particular place and
ends in a particular place
and it's bounded by time and that's
really important to remember
and has enough resources to produce the
desired results we have a very clear
understanding of what those desired
results are
projects are always temporary and when
we talk about temporary
that can range in terms of weeks months
and years
it doesn't put a constraint on the time
but it is temporary
and that's really important to remember
because it's different to business as
usual
this is where a lot of projects fail
because they lose that they use that
difference if you like
projects are very much cross-functional
you won't have everything you need
within one team
and if you have everything you need one
within one team
you can start to really question is this
a project or is this a change piece
now a change piece can be termed as a
project and a project can be termed as a
change because they're kind of inter
uh they're interchangeable but it's
really important to remember that
projects are by and large often
cross-functional you'll bring people in
that have skills that don't exist within
your team that you don't have
necessarily as a project manager
so it's useful to remember that projects
will be
unique we don't repeat projects we do
projects differently
but if it's repeating then it's not a
project it's business as usual you need
to ask yourself that before you start
is this is this really a project or
isn't it a project
because if it isn't a project we'll
manage it in a different way
if we're going down the project
management room we'll do that with a
project and there are
certain stages that i'll talk about in a
little while that we need to go through
in order to
to get that managed and get it done the
biggest thing to remember about projects
is there is a huge amount of uncertainty
there is a huge amount of vagary and
your role as the project manager as the
pm
or as part of the project team is to try
and reduce as much of that vaguely as
possible we'll talk about how you do
that as well
but projects are always uncertain by
their very nature they're doing
something different
doing something that's temporary doing
something that has a very particular
desired result
so there's a lot of uncertainty in there
what a project isn't is important to
think about as well as i mentioned it's
not business as usual projects are not
business as usual if you're mixing those
things up you're just going to get in a
model so be very clear is it a project
or is it business as usual but we want
to do slightly differently
if we want to do it slightly differently
can that be constrained into a project
or are we just tweaking the process and
looking at quality performance rather
than looking at a whole project
projects are not open-ended as i said
they have a very they're time-bound
you have a start date you have an end
date now they may have a lapse
they may finish early they may be
delayed we all hear about projects all
the time that delayed specifically with
the government let's let's be honest
here
government projects are notorious for
their debates
overestimated uh underpriced and
you know it all goes uh skewed because
of that but there's a different agenda
behind that remember there's a there's a
political agenda behind that as well
a project isn't unfocused it's very much
driven by what it is you're trying to
achieve
and why you're trying to achieve that
and as i mentioned
it's not more of the same it is
different it's making a change
it's introducing a new product it's
introducing a new way of working
it may be if you're in an industrial
setting maybe introducing
a whole new um production line for
example within
within a factory setting or within some
other kind of setting
um it may be introducing a new product
and there's
a there's a trial phase for that and one
of the great things about projects
is we can try things we can try new
things we can try different things and
we can isolate them
as a project we can say we've got to try
this this isn't affecting business as
usual
because it isn't business as usual this
is trying something different and if it
works we'll keep it
if it doesn't work we'll let it go and
we invest in it in that way we say
almost
this is a risk we're going to take a
chance on this if it works we can scale
it up
and we can make it business as usual if
it doesn't work we can try something
else
so that's the beauty of a project that i
think is really important
to remember those elements
there are there are there are different
project methodologies and the one i'm
going to focus on today
is kind of it's one i've tailored and
tailored a lot and it's based on prince
um but all projects have the same kind
of stages to them
with generally speaking there are five
stages to a project
you are thinking about starting the
project why are we going to do this what
are we going to do
thinking about initiating a project how
we're going to get this off the ground
so we had this idea we think it's a
project we talked about it we understand
it is a project it's got a definite
start
definite end we know what resources we
need we're gonna get into initiating the
project who needs to be involved
who gets the final sign off who gives us
the money who supports it where are the
stakeholders who are these people that
are going to
back the project and see it through to
conclusion
then we're into the whole directing a
project or managing a project if you
like
thinking about the quality of what's
going on think about when things need to
be done
thinking about all those things that
need to happen
we can line up controlling the project
as well when does a project
need to stop when do we need to take
that uh course when do we need to have a
special meeting
when do we decide it's okay to go on
through that gateway to the next phase
of the project
so we're going from design into
production from production to business
as usual how are we doing
and a really really important part of a
project often gets overlooked
is closing a project we need to close a
project
properly when we close a project it's
not enough to just stop
we need to close a project and then
there are a lot of situations where you
see a project just gently fade away
and people wonder why it doesn't work it
doesn't work because
it wasn't closed properly there's no
definite article in if you like of
of what was achieved what was the
success where were the failures so we'll
talk about that as
we go through as works that's it's a
really important thing to
to do and one of the things you can do
with the project is is we
very much start with the end in mind
what am i trying to achieve
and we need to spend a lot of time
thinking about that before we do
anything else
so we don't understand that we don't
understand the project
apart from the five stages there are six
aspects of project management we need to
think about the costs
where's the money coming from is there
enough money how much is it going to
cost
can we really very accurately
determine what the cost is going to be
or is this just a finger in the wind in
terms of cost
how are we going to manage those costs
how are we going to determine where the
money is spent
how are we going to determine what costs
what because we need to charge this back
to various people if we're the project
manager
and we're bringing somebody from another
team so we're bringing in say finance or
bringing in it
then that team needs to be recompensed
for the loss of that time
so we need to think about how much does
that person cost one of the things you
see with projects where they don't work
they run over is that isn't costed
properly
you'll be asked to join a project team
nobody's left to pick up your work or
somebody's brought in to pick up your
work if it's a long-term project
so where does the cost of that go is
that a lay to the project is that
swallowed somewhere else
where is that cost identified and how
much is it how do we charge it back
we need to think about time scales how
long is the project going to last
what are the time scales in terms of the
the gateways we might call them or the
critical successful
points and the key performance
indicators and all of those things you
know
at what time should we have been at this
point and if we're at that point before
time can we move on
if we're delaying we're not going to
meet at that time scale
before we move on to the next phase of
the project who needs to know
why do they need to know what they need
to know how soon and how quickly do they
need to know
and you'll start to pick up from all the
things i'm saying that one of the most
important things you can do in the
project is communicate
communicate communicate communicate and
then communicate to more
then when you think you've communicated
enough tell somebody else what you've
done
do it again make sure everybody knows
what's going on
for those of you that listen to my
webinars on a regular basis you'll know
i'm a big fan of communication
and if we don't tell people stuff they
fill in the gaps
and it's never good never fill in the
gap positively it's just something we do
as human beings really really hard to do
to look at something and say there's a
gap there but it's going to be okay
i know it's going to be okay we don't do
that okay this is awful something's gone
wrong somebody's gone
it's gonna it's not something we're very
good at doing so communicate as much as
you can
how we're going to measure quality in a
project are we going for a gold standard
are we going for bronze stack are we up
for something in between
is this about cost you know if we need
it done cheaply we're not necessarily
going to get the quality
with the time remember that that uh
those of you that have seen other
webinars online remember that
that triangle the quality the cost and
the time you know you can have it done
cheap
but it won't be it won't be a good
quality you can have it done quick but
it won't be cheap all those kinds of
things think about that
what's your quality what's your quality
marker you can deliver loads of work but
is it up to quality so we need those
things in there
and deliver loads of work but is it
within the cost you need all of those
factors
really really big one to think about
when you're looking at a project is
what's the scope
what's in scope and what's out of
strength
now a big problem with projects is that
you'll get scope creep and i'll talk
about that a little bit later on
but you need to think about what's in
scope what is contained within this
project
and when we start with the scope we know
what the what we're aiming for
we can put much better terms of cost and
time scaling
so think about the skill what's in
what's out and you'll really
have to manage this very carefully
because you will get pushed on
scope think about risk think about
all the things that may happen within
the project and we think about that and
that's what we think about as proactive
you know
we're thinking about what could go wrong
and what we're going to do about it if
it does go wrong
and that's very different to an issue an
issue is something really that has
happened
with a reacts now so we can we can plan
for both
but really you're focusing on risk to
think about what could go wrong
what are the consequences if that does
go up what are the costs or the
implications for the project what's the
worst that could happen think about
worst case scenario
really really important and often gets
missed on projects as well is the
benefit what's the benefit of doing this
project
now that's not only thinking about the
outcome in terms of a product or a new
process
what's the benefit of doing that we talk
a lot about benefits realization within
projects
and it it really is important to think
about like why are we doing this
what's the benefit going to be wider
than the new product to be in there
so we can think about if it is a new
product for example we can think about
increased revenue we can think about
increased sales
we can think about better market
segmentation we can think about better
market saturation
all of those things if it's a process
the benefits can be
uh reduce time reduce cost reduce
manpower all of the things that we need
to think about
with the new process what are the
benefits of doing this project
and i have to say if you don't
understand all of this you need to put
some more time into it
if you get to the point where you're
about to launch your project and you
think
there's some of this is missing stop
take some time
think about all of these aspects because
now is the time to think about them
rather than trying to do it three months
into the project
because you'll always be on the back
foot and you'll always be trying to
recover
there are along with the five aspects
and the the
there are seven themes of a project
and i like to think of these as kipling
six serving men really nice poem if you
if you don't know it
yeah google kipling six serving men and
he'll give you the whole thing it's very
short
um i came across it years ago just as a
slight side i came across it years ago
and i use this in a lot of
a lot of the thinking that i do so we
think about who what why when and how
so why are we doing this what's the
business case who's involved
in the organization who's involved
outside of the organization
who else needs to be involved that we
don't yet know where do we get them from
to come in to help us with this
what is the quality you know is it uh
gold standard is it bronze standard are
we about saving money or about
introducing something we
may give you very different levels of
quality so think about that
what's the quality think about plans
when do we need to plan how are we going
to plan
are we going to use technology to do
that are we going to use a whiteboard
are we going to use
the back of a cigarette packet how are
we going to plan now what do we need to
do
and when do we need to do it think about
the what if the risk
what if this works that's that's a
strange one to ask is it what if this
works
that's what we don't always think about
we always think what if this goes wrong
what if this breaks what if this doesn't
come in on cost what if it works
that will give you an idea of what the
benefits are
think about what's the impact what's
going to change
now we need to think here about the law
of unintended consequences because
some things will change and we think
yeah that's what we want that's the
change that we're after
but then we follow that through and we
can do some analysis
and we might end up saying actually this
change is going to have a bigger impact
further down the line
that's not what we're after so we may
want to step back from this and
look at doing the project a different
way or indeed saying this project isn't
going to work
work for us because further down the
line it's actually going to cost a lot
more
it's going to be not a change that we're
after
we need to think about progress where
are we now where are we now
where are we on our journey to getting
towards the the
product to the end of this or the change
at the end of this project
how do we need to move from where we are
now to where we need to be next and that
will be phased in
and remember things you know this is if
you've got a large project or even a
small project
we need to chunk it up because chunking
up will allow us to see
what we need to do when we need to do it
how we need to do it and are we ready
to do that next bit yeah really
important things to remember
when we think about a project manager
there are a number of traits that we can
think about with the project manager
that we're looking
for a project manager you can't force
somebody to manage a project they need
to be enthusiastic about the project
they need to be behind it if you're
getting somebody to do something they
don't want to do
don't be surprised when it doesn't work
because it's really difficult to do that
so we need somebody who's enthusiastic
about the project
now when we're thinking about that it
needs to be the right person with the
right skills
not necessarily based on hierarchy or
level within an organization
we need to think about who's the right
person to lead this and it may not
necessarily be
the person you you initially think of so
have a good think about that
does the person have enthusiasm do they
have the skills if they don't can we
support them through the process
is there a way that we can take the most
enthusiastic person
even if they don't have the skills that
we need and help them to achieve
what we need to achieve they need to
have the ability to manage
change and as i said there's a lot of
uncertainty a lot of change
involved in projects it will change from
day to day week to week
they need to have a tolerant attitude
towards ambiguity will that vaguery
you know if you're flustered by vaguely
if you don't like change you don't like
ambiguity
then don't manage a project because it
will drive you insane so you need to be
able to identify people who can do all
these things
because that's the way we get success
very much need to have a customer first
attitude this really
is where it comes into identifying who
your customer is
is your customer within your team is
your customer
external to the organization do you have
multiple customers in various places
you need to involve your customers as
part of your stakeholder group
but your customers are why you're
running the project you're not running
the project for the sake of the project
there will be customers and you need to
think very hard about the customers
so going back to what we were saying
about benefits how is this benefiting
the customer
is the cost benefit analysis worth doing
the project
if it isn't have another thing and we
need the ability to stay focused what
needs to be achieved i need to do this
now and this is what i need you to do
in order that this project is going to
move on i need to bring other people in
and
and focus other people's attention who
may only touch the project ever so
slightly
to get done what we need to get done in
order that the project can move
and you very much need organizational
knowledge you can't do this if you don't
understand the organization you don't
understand what the organization is
trying to achieve
where the organization is what their
goals are what their strategy is what
their values and mission are you need to
understand all of that
so that what you do tailors in with the
organization
there's some principles that will keep
us thinking about when we're going
through
a project and these are things that
really are very useful to keep in mind
is there continued business
justification
when we start a project one of the
things that can happen is it's
absolutely right
at that time to launch that project to
start that project
because we can see where we're going to
go we've done all the things i've talked
about
and we know exactly where we're going
and exactly what the outcome is and a
couple of months in
the environment changes and so that
project is no longer justified
think about the current situation we're
in anybody who's starting a project in
january or february
may well have had that project change or
be discontinued
because there's no longer continued
business justification for that
so we need to keep checking back is this
still valid is it still justified
we're learning from experience what
worked well in the last
phase what worked well in the last in
the last project i was on
what worked well in other projects that
have been run in this organization what
didn't
because that will help us manage the
project iran as well
so we're starting to build up that
thorough understanding of the
organization
thorough understanding of the customers
their understanding of why we're doing
this project
do we have defined roles do people know
what their roles and responsibilities
are
now remember as a project manager you're
ultimately responsible for this
but you're not responsible for
everything if you define roles and
responsibilities to people
you may have finance people you may have
tech people you may have construction
people you may have somebody else
knows what to do is better place to do
things than you
are for a particular task give them your
responsibility manage them to let them
get on with it
we need to manage by stages as i
mentioned chunk it up chunk it up make
it easy eat that elephant
slowly manage by exception as well and
when we talk about managed by exception
this is a really interesting one for
some people
we are expecting people to succeed
so we let them succeed we're there to
support them we focus on
on supporting them facilitating and
doing what they need to do
and we step in when we see it isn't
going quite right
we step in when they ask us for help so
we assume
everything's going to succeed so we
manage by exception right now
and we're all the time focusing on the
results focusing on the outcome
are we going where we need to go are we
going there in time are we going there
in cost
are we still meeting the quality that we
said we would establish in the first
place
all those things we need to think about
and you might start to say yourself well
how is this different from managing an
organization
on a day-to-day basis well the
difference is remember
a project is constrained it's timely
it's time-bound
and it's it's a fixed thing of its own
it's not part of business as usual until
you hand it over
as business as usual at the end of the
project
so that ties nicely into our project
management plan we need to think about
those smart goals
focus on the scope remember what's in
what's out
what are you looking at what are you not
looking at keep a very tight reign on
that because it will grow
it will grow immensely if you let it go
and that's another reason projects fail
because
the scope isn't managed the scope isn't
maintained we're asked to go in to do
one thing
we cost it we time it we resource it and
suddenly
it's starting to grow into this unmanned
unwieldy beast
that we can't afford we can't deliver
we don't have the resources we don't
have the skills we don't have the time
so scope is very very important within
that plan is where you're going to have
milestones how do you move into the next
phase
they're going to be your milestones and
what are your risks and constraints all
of these need to be taken into your
to your plan so we're pulling all the
things that we've talked about
into this plan and we've now got a plan
we fully understand it we've got our
project manager in place
we've checked that it is actually a
project and we're ready to go
off we go for that for that success of a
project
so we're into the project now we're
monitoring what's going on we have to
find out how it's all going how it's
working
and who needs to know what's working so
why are we working
in in relation to what we said we would
do on the plan is the volume of work
there are we going completely some time
what do we need to speed up
or slow down is the quality there all
the things i've talked about
cost expenditure compared to the plan we
said at this point we'd have spent x
we've actually spent y so why is that
what's the difference
what uh what's the cause of that can we
pull it back within
within the overall budget of the project
or are we at that stage saying
this is running out of control we need
to get some agreement for more money
or indeed i'm saying we've done this a
lot a lot cheaper than we thought we
would do it
and so we've got some money to spare
that we can focus on other areas
is there is there a team or have you
just got a group of people
you know monitor your team make sure
it's still a team
if you get people in that group of
people that team who are no longer team
players consider moving them out
consider bringing somebody else in
instead who's going to be a better place
to do it
what you don't want somebody inside
causing problems
now that doesn't mean you should get rid
of everybody you don't agree with or get
rid of but even
slightly you to look at the whole
picture
if you've got somebody who's very
negative you know help them be somewhere
else
because they're not going to help you
where they are
make sure you've got enough resources
make sure you've got people in the right
place
make sure you've got what you need in
order to succeed
tell everybody what you're doing report
to the to the
project board report to stakeholders
report to anybody who needs to know
tell them everything that they need to
know unless there's a very good reason
not to tell them
and that will be determined by the
product by the scope of the project
think about is that is the business case
still valid are we still trying to
achieve what we set out to achieve
and talk to as many people as possible
keep that communication
going so we've done the project
it's been a success or it hasn't and
that's that's no
reflection really because some things
just don't work what we think we want to
start
isn't what we want at the end so you
know as a project manager
that's challenging but it's not always
to be one indoor
but we need to close a project properly
and there are
certain areas and you see this a lot in
the public sector for example where
projects don't close they just drift on
and we've worked with a nice group of
people and they're lovely people
and they're you know they're a good team
they work well together and we don't
want to get rid of them
so we just find them something else to
do so the project
mutates from one thing to another thing
to another thing nobody remembers what
they tried to achieve because nobody's
really achieved anything but instead of
saying
this didn't work after you go back to
your work teams we keep them because
we're nice
and that's really not a good thing to do
so we need to shut down the operation
give the team back to the parts of the
business they came from or release them
if they came from outside their
contractors
they'd be well used to that they'll be
expecting to be released
they wanted to stay with you forever
they would get job with you so think
about these kinds of things
what was the outcome of the project and
review that with
everybody that was involved all the
stakeholders you need to get final
approval from the stakeholders that the
project's finished and you can hand it
over as business as usual
or close it down finalize all your
contractual commitments make sure
everybody's paid all the contracts are
signed
all the paperwork is done make sure
the accounting is finished and make sure
you've documented all the results
and think about the recommendations for
the future
this is really important because
projects will generally have a lessons
learned blog
and what happens sometimes is that
lessons learned are lessons recorded
and not learned and you will be in a
situation where especially if you're
running a project internally you'll go
down the corridor six months time
meet a colleague and they will say oh i
have a real trouble with this project
yeah we had that problem as well
we wrote a lessons learned like where's
the lessons learned it's in the
paperwork that got filed in the archive
so think about how you're going to learn
from this how you're going to share
those lessons
with other people because that's really
really important
i'm missing a trick if we don't do that
then we're into evaluation this is after
the project is closed so we're thinking
about what went well
what didn't go so well what would you do
again and importantly what wouldn't you
do again what would you never touch with
a barge pop
and this is one of the benefits of
projects because we can as i mentioned
at the start we can try out new ideas
and sometimes those ideas get embedded
in and taken on and
moved to business as usual and sometimes
those ideas inform you in a way of
saying
we've tried this it's not for us we are
never going to touch this again
you know we will get somebody else in if
we need to do this we will pass this on
to a colleague
or another company we won't actually
touch this project because it's just not
us we can't do it well enough
so think about all those things and what
are those lessons that you're going to
take to the next project how are you
going to share this with the
rest of the organization whether it be
that you're working for a consultancy or
whether it be
that you're working internal or working
as a contractor
how are you going to take what you've
learned forward because if we don't
learn
what is the point you know you're all
here because you want to learn
so we're not learning things as we go
through then you have to say what what
is the point
so that's that's how we make projects
successful so let's think about why
projects foul
the two things i want to think about you
know lots of these things will tie in
together but some things are
when we think about remote projects at
the moment that are going it's important
to think about
why projects fail the main reason remote
projects for ours is isolation
you're working on your own you're
beavering away hard and sometimes you
lose sight of where you are where you
need to be
what you're trying to achieve just
because the very nature that you're not
able to talk to anybody else
so avoid isolation and get involved with
other people as much as you possibly can
even if it's over zoom
or hangouts or this kind of meeting
however it is talk to other people
they will have different views different
ideas different perspectives that can
help you
succeed there's a there's often a lack
of ongoing collaboration everybody's
brilliant at the start oh this is
fantastic we've got a great new project
it's going to give us this and that and
the other and it's going to be huge
success and then a couple of months in
you know that enthusiasm dies off that
enthusiasm only resists exists
in the project team the lack of
collaboration
outside the team we need to work hard to
bring that back
sometimes it just comes down to remote
control we're not we're used to working
remotely
um it's new for people so there's a
whole adjustment period involved in
there as well
and alongside that there are often
technical limitations you know all of
this works
providing you've got good wi-fi signal
providing you've got a good broadband
signal
if you haven't working remotely is very
very difficult
sometimes there's a there's a lack of
executive sponsorship and support from
the board you know
these things start off well as i say
they infuse us and drift off so we need
to bring that back on board
all we need to be prepared to say this
isn't working let's stop this is not
what we need any longer you know we
thought this is what we needed
but we didn't and sometimes it's just
about that vaguely
we weren't really sure it seemed like a
good idea we had five people that were
spare we had a bit of money
got a bit of sponsorship let's try
something out it doesn't really fit but
you know
let's keep it going anyway it's better
than laying these people off if all that
is in place you're on
if none of that is is cleared up early
you're on or hiding to nothing and
you're you're likely to fail
rather than you are to succeed so think
about all these things
and as i said earlier on start with the
end in mind think about all the things
that could go wrong
try to head them off early
project scope and project creed is the
biggest
issue for projects that and funding the
biggest issues for
forum for projects if your project
starts to creep
so outside of the scope you originally
agreed to
and a really really simple way of doing
this is somebody says to you can you
make me a cup of tea so you know what
you're going to do can i make a cup of
tea
so you go after the kitchen and then
they say oh can you give me some
biscuits
and can i get a bit of fruit and can i
get a plate and a napkin for a bit of
fruit
and uh oh concern so have a coffee as
well while you're there
and suddenly you've gone from making
yourself and a colleague a cup of tea
five minutes to 15 20 30 minutes
really really really simple analogy but
think about those things
you know it's that that's how it works
and if you scale that up towards a
project
suddenly you're into a whole load of
work that you've never bargained for
never signed up for you're not recessed
for resourced for sorry
and you're not funded for so that will
fail
the project will fail on that basis if
you don't put enough effort into
planning
remember what i said if you've not got
all your plans in place stop go back do
some more planning
you're on a hiding to nothing you need
to make sure that whoever's in charge of
the project whether it's you or somebody
else
has the necessary knowledge and training
in order to do what they need to do
again you know we can put people in
because we think they're we think
they're the best person and then we end
up with an accidental project managers
like we end up with accidental managers
we get somebody who's fantastic at the
tech
fantastic at the engineering we give
them a project to run
and it fails because we haven't
supported them they don't have the
skills and knowledge
to run a project have the skills and
knowledge to do the engineering the
technical stuff the finance whatever it
might be
but they don't have the knowledge to run
a project without the people skills
their communication skills necessary
so think about those things are the
people that you're putting in
the right people to do the things that
you're asking them to do
if they are you can train them great if
they're not
don't do it go back to the to the to the
planning stage make sure you've got
other people in place you can do it
think about the unmitigated risks that
you you might come across
do that planning in there and make sure
you have a solid approach
to project management don't have that
haphazard it's going to work
well we'll make it work kind of approach
it won't
trust me you need to be very dedicated
because don't forget this is
time-bound this is not going to run on
forever
you've not got forever in a day to get
this right you've said you're going to
get this done in x amount of time
you can't be haphazard you need that
focus you need that discipline
so some do's and don'ts for you do get
off to a good start be very disciplined
about the planning stages
that's really important make sure that
you're aware
what change is going to happen and if
changes do happen how are they going to
be received is it going to cause
uh an absolute um riot or is it going to
be yeah whatever okay we expected that
so think about all the things that may
change the things that could go wrong
make sure you've got roles and
responsibilities to define and people
know what they're responsible for
when we talk about responsibilities
about delivering as well you said
you would deliver on this you're
responsible for that delivery
manage people in that way lots of
updates
don't hide bad news tell people the good
news but also tell them the bad news
people aren't silly when they're
engaging with the project people know
it's not always going to succeed they
know it's always going to be risky
so tell people about the bad news it
doesn't mean it's an end of it
means you've got something you need to
deal with
if you need help seek help especially
when resolving issues of risk
think about who can help you who is best
in place to help you
personally what i would do as well is if
i was running a project i'd get somebody
who could mentor me
now that might be somebody inside the
organization somebody outside the
organization a long-term mentor that
you've got
somebody you can just bounce ideas off
and say actually
can i do this how would you do would you
do it differently think about all those
things get all that lined up
when you start the project off much much
easier just have some of the coffee with
a
glass of wine and say you know what
would you do
this is what i'm doing what do you think
does it sound okay it gives you that
bit of help bit of the freedom to
challenge ideas
keep hold of your scope watch your goals
on your project plan
think about those things um use your
leadership and influence skills to get
things done
you will be working with a lot of people
whom you have no authority over they
will be in other teams they will come
into your team
come into the project dip in for a
little walk around you have to
encourage them and infuse them into the
project they may not necessarily want to
be there
so think about how you can influence
people to get things done think about
your
situational leadership skills and
remember
one style of leadership won't work for
everybody so so bear in mind that you
will need to change that
as you go through the project natural
dealing with different audiences
same as your communication you will need
to communicate differently
with different audiences and bear that
in mind as well
so don'ts for you don't jump into
operating
think about the planning make sure the
planning is there make sure everything's
in place before you go
don't shortcut the planning you will get
it all wrong if you do
don't assume anything don't assume that
other people know what their role is
don't assume they'll do what you say
because you don't have any authority
over them
if i don't want to be there i work in a
particular department i've been asked to
go into this project
told to go into this project because i'm
the only person available i don't agree
with the project
i don't want to be there why should i do
what you say
i mean professional standing aside if i
don't like the project i don't agree
with it if the projects
potentially going to put me out of work
or put one of my colleagues at work
you know don't assume that i'm always
going to do what you asked me to do
follow it out make sure i understand
make sure that the person you're talking
to knows exactly what you need them to
do
when you need them to do it how they're
going to communicate with you if that's
not going to be
done think about all those issues early
days
because that will save you a lot of
grief and a lot of stress once you get
into the body of the project
as i say don't have bad news it's never
a good idea it will always come back to
buy you
don't assume because you've mentioned a
risk that that risk is going to be
managed
follow it up you're the project manager
you're responsible
make sure that things are being done
when they're supposed to be done
don't assume everyone has the same
priorities as you as i say because they
won't
people will be on there they don't want
to be there they're going to cause you
problems and if you find that with an
individual
go to the people that can help you go to
their manager go to hr
go to somebody who can help you deal
with that person potentially replace
them
you know i'm not talking about sacking
people we're talking about taking
somebody off a project
putting them back in their day job and
finding somebody else who can do what we
need them to do
so don't think if i get rid of this
person they're gonna be if i don't want
this person they're gonna be fired
unless they're a contractor that's not
gonna happen so think about that think
about what you need
for the produce time to be selfish in a
way think about what you need
to achieve what you've agreed to do
within the time and cost
that you've agreed to do it because
that's where we are
some quick takeaways for you very very
important have a clear plan what are you
going to do when you're going to do it
how are you going to do it what's going
to cost all the things i've talked about
having said that you need to be flexible
things will change
expect things to change and rather like
monty python and spanish inquisition
expect the unexpected it will happen
things that you don't expect
will happen how are you going to deal
with that how are you going to get the
resilience personally
to deal with the unexpected and that's
where your mentor comes in
that's where building your own internal
fortitude and your own resilience comes
in
because that's really really important
for you to deal with the vagueries the
ambiguities of a project
and as i said earlier if you don't like
vaguely you don't like change you don't
like ambiguity
don't be a project manager because you
will send yourself mad
the biggest thing you can do is
communicate communicate
to everybody that needs to know
communicate everything
unless there's a very good reason not to
now as i said will depend on the project
but i will tell everybody everything
unless there's a reason not to if you
can't tell them
tell them you can't tell them yeah there
are things going on
that you cannot know about you cannot
know about them because x y and z
you don't have the security clearance
you don't have whatever it might be
okay but there are things going on
believe me we have this in hand
but i can't tell you what it is is is
better than not saying anything
and you can take all of this on but none
of this means anything
until you actually apply it you need to
get out there and apply it
whenever you get a chance if you want to
be a project manager whenever you get a
chance
do it and start small you know if you
think about these things you can do
these things at home
i'm going to decorate the front room
treat it as a project
i'm going to bake a cake in lockdown
treat it as a project
i'm going to re-landscape my garden i'm
going to sell my car i'm going to buy a
new car
treat it as a project think about the
steps we've talked about today
to get your head in that space where
you're thinking about
time cost quality how do i move on to
the next phase
what am i trying to achieve when will i
know it's done think about all of those
things
apply them as often as you can and
you'll become a really sound
good project manager
just before i give you back to um lucia
just a reminder there are masses and
masses of resources on management direct
if you're a member you have access to
that
and there are masses of resources all
over the place for this
um be careful what you look at think
about the things i've talked about today
the principles and the um the the five
elements of a project
think about what works for you and good
luck in your in your career as a project
manager
i'm gonna that's it for me i'm gonna
hand you back to lucia
thank you david um we've got a few
pre-submitted questions from the
audience
the first one is if we could summarize
the principles of project management in
one sentence
what would it be uh clarity and
communication
be very clear about what it is that you
want to achieve be very clear about
how you're going to achieve it and then
talk to everybody about it
and one of the things that you'll get
from talking to people about it is
you'll get a sense check
um and somebody might say do you know
what why are you doing that
why do you think that's a good idea and
that could be your best friend
because they will say things that you
haven't thought about and they will see
things that you haven't thought about
because you've got over-excited about
running a project
so i would say clarity and communication
are key principles
the degrees of importance of project
management principles in different
sectors for example in charity
sector best versus i.t or construction
i think that's a really good question
and i think it's one i get asked quite a
bit
the principles i think are the same now
i mentioned
tailoring thinking about prints for
example um
the principles of project management
within prince
you can tailor to the to the size of the
organization and the style of the
organization you're working with
so i would say the principles i've
discussed today will be the same across
a whole range of environments
um but some bits will be will be reduced
and some bits will be
enlarged depending on the project that
you're doing
so i would say it's the same across all
environments
but different that's a very vague answer
but the principles i think while
learning the fundamentals of project
management
what is the most effective way to
incorporate what i've learned
into my daily deliverables
i think i might have covered this um in
my last slide
i think that the best thing you can do
is put it into practice
you use it in whatever way you can
wherever you think there's an
opportunity
to to practice um project management
have a go do it and what that'll also do
is that will highlight
which bits you need you're thinking
about your previous question
which bits you need to incorporate in
which bits you don't need to incorporate
so if you think about my example of
buying a car for example
you know you need to think about what's
the time frame what's the quality i want
am i going for a really
cheap car or am i going for a
rolls-royce what what do i want what's
the quality one
what's the benefits of having both do
that cost benefit analysis
what point do i need to get the money
who do i need to get the money from
do i have the money or do i need to go
for a loan think about the elements of
that as well
if you're going for a loan for example
that's another phase of the project
because what is the cost what is the
time am i doing over 24 months 48 months
what is it going to be so whenever you
can
see the benefits of using uh project
management principles i would
incorporate them as much as possible
because that way you get used to them
and you get used to thinking in that way
you know you quickly start to think i've
got to buy this what's the cost benefit
analysis it gets boring for your
partners
um what's the cost benefits analysis do
we need this
what's the outcome going to be uh how
much is it going to cost how long is it
going to last
what's the overall cost of doing it
what's the overall cost of ownership
one of the things we think about with
them i.t people buy i.t not so much
nowadays but a few years ago you buy it
and then the total cost of ownership was
never incorporated you know you pay
six seven hundred pounds for a computer
great i've saved up i've got my six
seven hundred pounds i bought my
computer
so what do i do now i need to i need a
license for the software
i need to have it regularly looked at
potentially
i need to update my virus protection
all of those kinds of things added costs
on top of the original cost that you
you estimated so you think all of those
things if you think about that as a
project you'd factor all those things in
a bit more
it's a bit boring for your partner as i
say because you can get down to the
point well let's buy some new bedding
well actually what's the cost
so you know you don't want to go too far
but use them use those skills as much as
you can and that way they become
embedded
okay and the next question was quite
popular
uh within our audience so what soft what
software do you recommend for project
management use
this is um this is
first of all i'm going to answer this in
two parts with you i think in terms of
software
i would use whatever works for you
now i say that because you can use
dedicated project management software
and there's a whole range of it
available out there in the marketplace
um some
huge costs i'm free you can use
spreadsheets i've seen
projects run on on spreadsheets if
you've got a decent enough spreadsheet
you can do that
i've seen projects run on paper people
drawing everything out on paper and
monitoring on paper
and cards and all that kind of stuff um
this
this is the second part of your question
and this is a very personal
recommendation
i don't get any um funding or support or
anything for this this is purely there's
nothing in this for me
um but personally i would use project in
the box
and the reason i would use that is
because it's free it's open source
software
um it's supported by a group of project
focused people because it is open source
it links in with other free resources
like praxis for example
um and that's why i would use it because
it's
it's developed by project managers for
the project management community
and it's free i say that there's a very
personal
recommendation i'm not supported not
sponsored i've received nothing
by saying but that would be my
recommendation have a look at it
see if it works for me have a look at
the whole range of things
and find the one that best works for you
thank you david i'm gonna pick a
question
from the chat
uh i have much project experience
large projects critical projects but i
have no qualification in project
management
how important is prince2 is it essential
no no i think qualifications are
are great um but qualifications only
take you so far
qualifications will give you the
understanding if you've got experience
experience in my mind is much more
important
qualifications now ideally of course if
you've got the two
then that's absolutely fantastic because
you've got the background understanding
you've got understanding of a particular
framework and prince2 is it
is a particular framework it's not the
whole of project management
other frameworks are available um
and for that i would have a look at the
praxis website because they're all
listed on there
uh but for me it's experience and as i
said in my last slide you know
understanding means nothing until you
apply it and knowledge means nothing
until you apply so if you've got the
experience i would i would major on the
experience
of course if you want the badge and you
want the qualification go for i wouldn't
say
no but experience in my mind is much
more important
again that's a personal view
thank you david i think this was the
last question for today
thank you everyone who joined us and
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thank you everyone again and i like to
wish you
all a great day see you soon thank you
david
thanks lucia cheers everyone bye-bye bye
you