Projects are designed to promote change and innovation. They provide opportunities to test possible innovations in a protected environment without taking the decision to change established practice until it can be shown that the new ideas work.
So, a good first question in project planning is “do we need to change?†A good first principle is:
- Look at present practice
- Is it OK?
- Yes!! – keep it and reinforce it
- No!! – change and innovate
Are you ready to innovate?
Here are some of the necessary conditions for successful innovative projects
a) A feeling of dissatisfaction with the way things are done at the moment
b) A vision of what you would like to achieve (so you need to go beyond criticism of the present situation to describing what would be a satisfactory situation)
c) A clear idea of the first steps to be taken to initiate change (you don’t need to know everything – you wouldn’t need a project if you did – but you do have to have an idea of
where to start)
d) An idea of what the cost of change will be (this doesn’t just mean money; the cost of a project can be seen in terms of the time it will take, the stress of carrying through change, the other opportunities you miss by choosing this option)
Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific (and usually) one-time objective, for example, construct a building or implement a major new computer system. Project management includes developing a project plan, which includes defining and confirming the project goals and objectives, identifying tasks and how goals will be achieved, quantifying the resources needed, and determining budgets and timelines for completion. It also includes managing the implementation of the project plan, along with operating regular ‘controls’ to ensure that there is accurate and objective information on ‘performance’ relative to the plan, and the mechanisms to implement recovery actions where necessary. Projects usually follow major phases or stages (with various titles for these), including feasibility, definition, project planning, implementation, evaluation and support/maintenance.
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