Naming Projects

There is power in a name.

People know a project by its name.

A project name needs to (a) explain what the project is about; and (b) distinguish it from other things which are not the project.

Many projects have two names - the organisation's name and the name people use (aka colloquial name). You are seldom able to completely contral the colloquial name. Generally the colloquial name is the one which will persist. If you have sufficient influence, consider making the colloquial name the name for the project.

You can also have both a short name and a long name. The short name may be a couple of words or an acronym or some other abbreviation - this is a good way to keep the organisation's name and the colloquial name closely aligned.

Systems projects tend to be named after the system which is being built. Which is appropriate. Although confusion can sometimes occur. When the longer titles are used - The Blah Blah Project and the Blah Blah System - things are OK, but when both are shortened to Blah Blah, there can be issues. Although practically speaking this is only a minor risk.

...Geoff

The One Page Project Manager (a slide show)

Using The One Page Project Manager

View more documents from Geoff Higgins.

Project Outcomes

In addition to achieving the project objective, there are generally a range of project outcomes, both positive and negative. For example, the organisation may have purchased a technology for the project which is useful for other tasks; or through the changes implemented on the project people are freed up to do things they had not previously done.

It is good practice to predict what these could be. These predications can then be used to promote the project to people for whom the main project objective is not particularly attractive.

Project Deadline

By definition projects are expected to finish. In most cases we have a good idea of when that will, or must, happen. At this stage you have not developed a rigorous project schedule, but you have decided what the key activities will be, and how much you are likely to be spending. You should be able to take a stab at the project end date.

If you are going to be presenting this information to people who are likely to treat this finish date as a commitment, make sure you add some time. This is another kind of contingency – in this case a time contingency as opposed to a cost contingency.

The reason why you add time is that projects seldom finish early (unless timeframes have been poorly estimated or you have done less than you expected). They are much more likely to run over time. We often identify tasks that we did not think of before we started, or we decide to do more than we had planned. (This is called 'scope creep' and is considered a no-no in sophisticated project management circles.)

Project Budget

There are lots of different kinds of costs – fixed and variable costs, operational and capital costs. In planning project costs for small costs I like to distinguish between ‘cumulative’ and ‘lump-sum’ costs.

The cumulative costs are those that increase as you do more, or as tasks take longer – for example, when you are paying a contractor an hourly rate. The lump sum costs are those that will cost a particular amount – for example, when you have a quote from an electrician for lighting and power points. Lump sums can vary, but generally only under particular recognisable circumstances, such as when we later ask the electrician to add a new safety switch to the fuse box. In this case the electrician will have a legitimate reason to ask for more money.

Wrapped up in the need to budget is the need for a source of funds. Identifying and making firm friends (or at least developing a grudging mutual respect) with the person through whom you obtain the funds is very important.

You need to ensure that you can afford the unexpected – such as the people you are paying an hourly rate taking longer to get things done than planned; or needing to/wanting to do some things you did not initially put in the budget. You can do this by going back to the source of the project funds and asking for more money. Alternatively, you can add a contingency figure to the figures in your budget. This is generally to cover for small additional costs. A project managers’ rule of thumb is to always add 10%. If you have reason to expect to need more, you can consider adding more. But remember that a high contingency may stand out, and need to be justified. A really high contingency may prevent the project from going ahead (which may be the best outcome if the chances of cost overruns are high).

Microsoft Excel (or other spreadsheet program) is a good place to record your budget, although you can equally use a pen and paper (and calculator if needed).