An Introduction to Documentation Project Management

1
An Introduction to Documentation Project
Management

• Charles Fisher, Datatel, Inc.
• STC Washington DC Chapter Workshop
• November 18, 2004

2
Introduction

• Who is this guy?
• Why are you here?
• What will we be doing today?

3
Workshop Topics

• Basics of project management
• The project management lifecycle
• Determining resources
• Developing estimates
• Developing and monitoring a project schedule
• Risk management (overview)

4
Workshop Non-Topics

• Supervisory skills
• Team-building skills
• Personnel management skills
• Managing multiple projects
• Organizational structures
• Developing and implementing a risk management
  plan
• Strategic planning

5
Project Management Lifecycle

• Information gathering
• Resources and estimates
• Identifying tasks
• Scheduling the project
• Project Kickoff
• Monitoring and Managing the Project
• Wrap-up and evaluation

6
Questions about Planning

• When should you start planning?
• How much time should you spend planning?
• How much do you need to know before you can start
  planning?

7
Information Gathering

• What do you need to know?
• Where will you find this information?

8
Basic Information You Need

• What are you producing?
• When does it need to be ready?

9
Developing a Project Plan

• A project plan documents the following
• scope
• deliverables
• assumptions
• major milestones and delivery points
• approach
• estimates and schedules (when developed)
• A project plan is not a content plan

10
Resource Availability

• How many people are available?
• How much productive, project-related time can you
  expect from them?
• For planning purposes, take a high-level approach
  for resource availability.

11
Exercise 1

• Calculate the amount of project-related time you
  can expect from one full-time writer each week.
• What other factors could increase or decrease
  this amount of time?

12
Estimating the Project

• Where to start?
• Use what you know.
• Compare to similar projects.
• State any assumptions you make.
• Refine the estimate as you learn more.
• WAGs, SWAGs, and third-round estimates.

13
Refining the Estimate

• Refine your initial estimates based on these
  project-specific factors (Hackos)
• product stability
• information availability
• subject matter expert availability
• review effectiveness
• writer experience
• technical experience
• understanding of audience
• team experience
• prototype availability

14
Exercise 2

• Using the sample project in your handout, develop
  an initial time estimate for completing it, then
  refine the estimate using some project-specific
  factors.

15
Identifying Tasks

• Use the content plan as a starting point.
• Chunk larger tasks into smaller subtasks.
• Identify due dates and task dependencies.
• No task should be longer than about 40 hours in
  duration. Why?
• Use a project management tool.

16
Exercise 3

• Using the sample project in your handout,
  identify some of the main tasks and milestones.
  Identify some tasks that need to be broken out
  into smaller sub-tasks, and identify some
  interdependencies between tasks.

17
Scheduling the Project

• What is the difference between duration and work?
• Scheduling is the train-wreck of resources,
  tasks, and estimates.
• Watch out for other concurrent projects, resource
  over-allocation, and tasks that are not
  infinitely divisible.

18
Exercise 4

• Using the sample project in the handout, identify
  your tasks and dependencies, then develop a
  schedule.

19
Project Kick-Off

• For larger projects, hold a formal start-up
  meeting.
• You may have already done some initial planning
  and analysis work.
• For very large projects, the planning may be a
  project in itself.

20
Monitoring the Project

• Meet weekly with the writer to discuss the
  project.
• Identify and remove obstacles as they arise.
• Change the plan and schedule as needed.
• Communicate changes to all appropriate
  departments.

21
Assessing and Managing Risk

• This topic could be a workshop in itself.
• Identify the main risks that could adversely
  affect the project.
• Identify the likelihood of each risk occurring,
  and the severity of the risk.
• Develop criteria to help you recognize when you
  are in a crisis situation.
• Develop and implement contingency plans as needed.

22
What If?

• If a project falls behind schedule, there are
  always three (and only three) options for
  completing it
• extend the due date
• add more resources
• adjust (cut) the scope of the project

23
Exercise 5

• For your sample project, your lead writer broke
  his ankle bungee-jumping while on vacation. He
  will be out of the office for two more weeks.
  What are some options for completing the project?

24
Project Wrap-Up

• Collect data on actual time spent and actual
  amount of material produced (number of pages and
  chapters).
• Conduct a post-mortem to identify positive
  experiences and areas for improvement.
• Produce a written report and store this
  information for use when planning future projects.

25
Session Wrap-up

• Questions?
• For more information