the promised deliverables? Quality is affected by the balance of time, cost, and scope.

     Following this snappy analogy of photography, what kind of camera would you like to put on top of your tripod? If you’re like me, I bet you’d like a digital SLR, capable of 12 megapixels, and a few gigs of memory for your digital photos. Of you could rely on a manual 35mm camera, with slide film, and a nice set of filters.

     But wouldn’t you have better photos with the 12 megapixel digital camera? Not necessarily. Just because you have a fantastic camera doesn’t mean your photos will be fantastic. It’s not the camera that takes the pictures - it’s the photographer.

     The camera, in our project management analogy, are the mechanics of project management. The person behind the camera is the project manager. Just as the photographer has to know how to adjust the camera to capture the perfect photo, so does the project manager adjust the controls within project management to deliver on the project’s demands.

     Good photographers and good project managers have much in common: experience, a foundation in the fundamentals, and a willingness to learn. At the core, I believe, is an ability to capture a vision - and then process that vision for others to see.

Projects Tell a Story

     If you don’t like photography maybe you’ll like stories.
Projects, like a good story, have a beginning, a middle, and a satisfying end. Think back to any project you’ve managed or worked on. Can you recall the beginning, middle, and a Hollywood ending?

     The story for all projects is that they move through five process groups to get from start to finish. Within each proce
ss group there are key activities which help a project move along. Figure 2 demonstrates the flow of a project through the five process groups.

Initiate a project

     This process group starts all the fun. In this group the business need for the project is identified, some initial solutions may be proposed, and the project manager is selected.

     The most important document to come out of this group is the project charter. The project charter authorizes the project work and assigns the project manager the power to complete the project on behalf of the project sponsor. The project sponsor is typically someone high enough in the organizational hierarchy to have power over the resources that need to be involved in the project. (Having a weak sponsor for your project can also, unfortunately, lead to cheap tequila.)

Planning the project

     In order to plan the project manager must know what the project will create. The project manager and the project stakeholders - the people that have a stake in the project outcome - have to determine what the desired future state is. A dreamy wish list won’t work. The project demands exact requirements. If you don’t know what the project should create how will you ever get there?
Once the project requirements have been agreed upon then the project manager, the project team, and in some instances the project stakeholders will create a plan on how to achieve the project objectives. This isn’t a one-time process. Planning is an iterative process that happens throughout the project duration. Planning is a cornerstone of project management - skip planning or do it half-heartedly and the project is doomed.

Executing the Project

     Ever hear the quip, “Plan your work and then work your plan?” This is the working part. The executing process group is the project team executing the project work according to plan -- and the project manager working with any vendors that may be in involved in the execution or support of the deliverables needed for the project completion.