Project Management Tips Top 10 Maine Digital Government Summit October 18, 2007 Kelly Hokkanen, InforME

Real World Project Management

1. Document Everything You are the project expert What to document: Standard project documentation Important discussions and decisions made Dates of deliverables, decisions, milestones Meetings, emails and phone calls If a new project manager were to take over tomorrow, would they have the complete project history and status? Quality of documentation Where and how is the information stored?

2. Establish Clear Roles Who has decision making authority? Who are the project team members and what is each person’s role? Have team members been given the time they will need to complete their responsibilities related to the project? Avoid: Decision by Committee!

3. Follow a Standard Process Make a template or guide of common steps for a given type of project Checklist for each phase or at completion Documentation templates with standard language that can be re-used/customized Benefits: You won’t miss important steps Documentation is faster and easier to write

4. Manage the Project Scope Take time for good requirements gathering Understand stakeholder goals, needs, and constraints Document the project scope (level of detail will vary) and get approval of all parties involved Keep the project within scope (nearly impossible) OR manage changes carefully Analyze change requests and consider alternate solutions Consider pushing changes to future project phases – the initial project does not need to include everything or it may never get done

5. Communicate Coordination and leadership of your project team – keep everyone on track Make sure tasks and timelines are clear to all Provide frequent status reports Respond to questions and requests Manage expectations – don’t promise what you can’t deliver

6. Run Effective Meetings Provide an agenda for each meeting It’s your job to facilitate the meeting – follow the agenda Encourage side conversations to move “offline” Keep meetings under 2 hours Close meeting with re-cap Follow meeting with minutes or an email summarizing decisions and next steps Don’t hold unnecessary meetings

7. Have a Plan Develop a project plan with milestones and a timeline Balance detail with practicality (depending on project size/complexity) The plan is a tool Be flexible and accept that your timeline will change – keep everyone informed

8. Save Time to Test For any project, testing is very important Internal & external testing Quality assurance Standards compliance Functionality (meets specifications) User interface(s) Technical/back-end Security Usability

9. Be Smart Be aware of state policies, standards, and security issues Don’t assume – when in doubt, find out Examples: Don’t use email, AutoForms, or What’s New tool for sensitive information Establish where databases and applications will be hosted early in project Build to state standards

10. Know Your Resources Available Tools, such as: AutoForms What’s New Tool WebShop, Payment Engine InforME as a resource Web design Web application & database development eCommerce application development Payment engine – over-the-counter & online credit card and e-check processing

Questions? Contact: Kelly Hokkanen Director of eGovernment Solutions InforME kelly@informe.org 621-2600 x28