CHAPTER 4 (Making the Rules)

Projects come in all shapes and sizes, from the small and straight-forward to extremely large and highly complex. Project management can be concerned with anything: people, products, services, materials, production, IT and communications, etc…. One of the most important services always initiates as a project and need to be developed in a dynamic manner is the Instructional Design (ID). Any ID starts and ends as a project. Therefore, the development of instructional design should be always without exception associated with specific rules, terms and regulations that govern and control the processes and successes of the project.

The project rules should be an accurate description of what the project aims to achieve, and the criteria and flexibilities involved, its parameters, scope, range, outputs, sources, participants (stakeholders’ identification), funds and timeline. Usually the project manager must consult with others and then agree the project specification with superiors, or with relevant authorities. The specifications and rules may involve several drafts before it is agreed or can be changed with the course of the project development. A project specification is essential in that it creates a measurable accountability for anyone wishing at any time to assess how the project is going, or its success on achievement. Project rules also provide an essential discipline and framework to keep the project on track, and concerned with the original agreed aims and parameters. A properly formulated and agreed project rules also protects the project manager from being held to account for issues that are outside the original scope of the project or beyond the project manager's control.

Project rules can are to be declared in the Statement of Work (SOW), which should includes:
Describe purpose, aims and deliverables.
State parameters (timescales, budgets, range, scope, territory, authority).
State people involved and the way the team will work (frequency of meetings, decision-making process).
Establish 'break-points' at which to review and check progress, and how progress and results will be measured.

Communication is a serious component of all levels of project management. Communication needs to be on different levels such as formal and informal with stakeholders and within the project team. In order to ensure that communication is controlled a communication map should be produced at the start of the project as part of the project plan. This communication map should identify who needs what information, when they will need it and in what form it will be given to them. It should include the collection and filing structure, reporting structure and the regularity of reporting. This ensures that all parties know what information they are due to receive during the project and whom they must communicate through to get their issues executed. Communication needs to be clear. For example the communication of the project schedule needs to be in such a way that the stakeholders can easily understand the work packages and the program. It is important that the project manger does not rely on gobbledygook to communicate to stakeholders. All the communications between the project manager and stakeholders should through more than one means and documental.

CHAPTER 3 (Project Stakeholders)

Identifying Stakeholders – a Crucial and an enduring Task "Please stakeholders!" is the project manager's hymn. For successful projects, it's not enough to deliver on the customer's demand; projects have to meet all stakeholder expectations. Identifying stakeholders is a primary task because all the important decisions during the initiation, planning and execution stages of the project are made by these stakeholders.
The five principal project stakeholders are the project manager, the project team, the functional management, the sponsor, and the customer. In a common sense, anyone who participates in the project or is impacted by its results is a stakeholder. Each stakeholder has an essential contribution to make and all stakeholder expectations need to be met. Contribution made by different people to the project is the principal criteria for identifying stakeholders.

From instructional designer standpoint, Project Manager Roles as a stakeholder should include assisting the Performance and Learning Team in ensuring that the Company's business objectives are achieved by developing the training materials and other resources necessary to maximize customer service, management effectiveness, and general associate development. Project manager job consists of a variety of tasks, few of which are covered by general operating procedures. Should offers professional challenges and excitement plus the stability that comes lead to successful business growth.

Project team members – produce the outputs (deliverables) for the project; participate in the project management process; contribute their skills and effort to perform tasks.

Sponsor (or upper manager) – is the person with formal authority who is ultimately responsible for the project; oversees the project; acts as a liaison between the upper management team and the project leader; provides authority, guidance, and maintains project priority.

Project customer – the person or group whose needs and requirements drive the project; receives the final output(s) that the project produces; provides product requirements and funding.

Functional managers (also known as resource managers or line managers) – provide company policy and resources, particularly people who are involved in the project.

Project Management Chapter 2

In order to understand the project environment we need to understand the definition of a project versus the definition of the ongoing operation. A project is a transitory and one-time venture undertaken to create an exceptional product or service that brings about valuable change or added value. This property of being a temporary and one-time undertaking contrasts with processes, or operations, which are permanent or semi-permanent ongoing functional work to create the same product or service over and over again. The management of these two systems is often very different and requires varying technical skills and philosophy, hence requiring the development of project management.
In project management we will always face certain management challenges. These challenges are dynamic and different in nature from a project to another. However, the project managers can always be faced by: (1) human resources needs and requirements that might be or might not be available at hand. The human resources and personals for any project always need different types and levels of training during the course of a project. The human resources challenge in managing projects also might include the understanding of the culture of the institute or the community that constitute the main source of the personals. (2) Estimation of the project costs is one of the most important components of the project success. Hence, project managers need to face the challenge of processing and forecasting a future result in terms of cost, based upon information available at the time. Estimating project cost is a decision about how much time and resources are necessary to carry out a piece of work to satisfactory standards of performance. (3) Authority and decision right is also to be considered a challenge that to face project managers. In many situations project mangers might have the austerity to make certain critical decisions on the right time. Therefore, handling such situations will require a lot of movements and maneuvering in planning and communication skills. (4) Controls of project plans are very challenging to project managers as the project proceeds. The environment of any project is dynamic and always influenced by the internal and external conditions of the organization. Thus, many of projects plans turned to be out of the track because of different logistical reasons and management losses control of the plane.
Project success measures can be overdone. It should be: Complete and on time —anything unmeasured is likely to be compromised. Relevant —variances clearly indicate a need for corrective action. Valid—measuring what you intended to measure. Easy to understand —so that people will accept them. Economical to obtain —know the value of the information. Timely —in comparison to the result measured. The bottom-line is this. The project will be measured. Stakeholders will decide whether it was satisfactory. Someone will decide whether or not the project was a success. WE, our team, and our organization a service and get these measures documented and agreed to right from the start.

Project Management Chapter 1

As we progress in our career, we will face more and more multifaceted and difficult challenges. Some of these may be enormous - they may involve the coordination of many different people, the completion of many tasks in a precise sequence, and the expenditure of a great deal of time and money. Therefore some of the specific skills will help us to run these projects successfully, to complete them successfully and with minimum wastage of resource. Hence, project management became the new critical career skill.
Every one benefits from Project management- It is true to say all that every one in the organization system as well as the costumers (stakeholder) will benefit from the application of sound project management. The project management will provide: enhanced scheduling and budgeting, improved cost containment, superior communication throughout project including process mapping and progress reporting, better change management processes including configuration management, quality planning, quality assurance processes, and quality acceptance steps and earlier attention paid to "red flags" - project problems that may be indicators of more trouble to come. The organization will benefit from project management in efficient use of its resources, more attention to risk management, economical project cost and schedule estimating and tied project monitoring and control.
Success of projects can be boiled down to five factors: (1) agreement among the project team, customers and management on the project, (2) a plan that shows an overall path and clear responsibilities will be used to measure progress during the project, (3) constant effective communication among every one involved in the project, (4) a controlled scope, and (5) management support. These five factors lead to that building project teams requires establishing and maintaining peak interpersonal cooperation, team enthusiasm, and cohesion. Having an effective process to ensure that you are successful can construct the difference between success and failure.

Learning about Project Managmnet

I graduated from the Agriculture Collage, Mansora University, Egypt and joined the Agricultural Research Corporation of the Sudan as Assistant Research Scientist. During this period I carried extensive field experiments and applied research. In 1990 I pursued my education as graduate student at Cornell University -USA- and received my Master degree in Soil and Water Engineering. Thereafter, I continued my education in Japan at Tottori University and obtained my Ph.D. degree specializing in Bio Production and Arid Lands Resources Management. After that I joined the Arid Land Research Center (ALRC) of Tottori University, Japan as Research Associate (Post Doctor). During my work at the ALRC I carried applied and basic research and had written scientific papers published in refereed periodical journals and international conferences. Also, during that period I supervised and coached research projects of graduate and undergraduate students and co-taught undergraduate soil and water management courses. I returned to Sudan, my home country, and worked as Research Assistant Professor for the Agricultural Research Corporation during which I lead and carried out research projects for soil and water management in the arid zones of western region of Sudan. In the same period I taught at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Omdurman Al-Ahlia University as Assistant Professor. The courses I taught included Soil Science, Soil Management, water resources management, Environmental Sciences, statistics, Research and Experimental Design.
After I moved to USA I joined the DLI as Assistant Professor teaching Arabic language, Culture and Geopolitics. Currently I am pursuing a Master degree at California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) in Instructional Sciences and Technology. I have developed excellent experience in computer and instructional technology skills. However, I always have a desire to develop my management skills in order to employ my vast career and knowledge experience in coordination with other experts in my working environments. Now I have the opportunity to learn about Project Management to top my working and learning experience.

Today let us start learning about project management!