New Project Development Management

Project managers are team leaders.
If you are responsible for new project development, you must have defined procedures for establishing boundaries and to differentiate between stages of the project. You must know the standard for evaluating progress at any given check point or stage which requires review. In order for your projects to pass from one stage to another in an orderly fashion certain requirements must be adhered to. At each check point, the generated progress reviews provide an excellent opportunity for presenting proficiency reports to executives. This is also a very good time to present any new data that has been collected in support the project

As the administrator you will proceed through the review process, usually focusing on passing through the procedure so you may provide approval for moving to the next stage. This intense focusing on internal issues could cause you to overlook external issues which could effect the projects outcome. If the review does not include all possibilities internal and external, the project could be jeopardized and be subject to failure. Therefore all issues must be addressed at each inspection point. You, as the administrator, are responsible for taking the time to distinguish between problems that may raise from within the project as-well-as all external pressures.

Internal issues lie within the clear boundaries of the administrator's responsibility and influence. External issues on the other hand, involve pressure from outside the defined scope of your responsibility. There are some external issues which may arise from executive management and are external in nature yet internal in scope. These issues may help the administrator to define areas which are often overlooked by project supervisors. The clarification of some issues could very well prove useful in making you aware of possible risk, which areas are being influenced as well as any shift in responsibility that project supervisors may have overlooked.

Managing External Forces
How well can you, as the administrator, develop your new project keeping in mind the external forces that may be brought to bear. What will you do if you have to go on the defense to save the project? Are you willing to take appropriate and effective action to secure the project? Some techniques you may find effective, such as using “event charts” to fortify your position as well as the the validity of the project. An event chart is different then a “ milestone chart” in that a milestone chart identifies key accomplishments or delivery dates that must be met while an event chart shows what is likely to occur in the external environment as the project proceeds.

In order to identify and track as many external factors that may influence the project, an event chart should be drawn on a plane in which the horizontal axis represents time and the vertical axis represents areas of subjectivity. After brainstorming the relevant areas (such as corporate calendar, upcoming political, regulatory and legislative events, or timing of competitor introductions), your “event chart” might include: Published dates of Board of Director meetings; timing of corporate and functional budget cycles and strategic planning cycles. Also include expected completion dates of projects which share your project's resources, or whose introduction may influence distribution. Other areas of interest are: customers or competitors of your project – expectations about future economic, social or environmental conditions – dates of expected competitor product introductions – and expected changes in technology which might also affect the project. The report must be clear and direct for best deliverability. Make it understandable for everyone concerned. The best way to get everyone on the same page that you are on, is to make the report as simple and to the point as possible.

All projects begin with an idea or concept and proceed to realization or completion. When lying out a project it is best to include all members of the team. The entire team should brainstorm the scope of the project including its possibilities on the one end and its limitations on the other. The impact of the project on policies and procedures should also be evaluated before the start date. How is the project going to effect other departments within the organization? What if any legalities will be in question? These and thousands of other details should be considered before the project becomes active. Don't allow anything to cause a disturbance once the project is in motion. Projects are a team effort and just like any well functioning team, each player has his/her duties to preform. The better each team member is in his/her role, the better the success of the project. Team members must be prepared for any and all problems which may surface.

In Conclusion
When planning and executing a project don’t take anything for granted, even when it seems like victory is imminent. Take into consideration what happened to a new projects team manager at a major Fortune 500 foods company. At the direction of an executive, he was prepared to launch a new marketing project when the company's president decided to cancel it. Later when he was put in charge of starting a new project, he regrouped his team and mapped out a strategy for dealing directly with management. His team members interviewed department managers to find out just what each one wanted, and to discover if they had any objections or conflicting concepts that might surface to influence the project's directive. They also checked out the managers understanding of the team’s mission. As the project proceeded, a senior officer was entrusted to play the role of arbitrator, listener and influencer. She kept in touch with executive management to be sure that the project continued to have its needed support. A lesson learned – never leave management support to chance.