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The 5 Unbeatable Benefits of Having a Contingency Plan in Project Management

February 27, 2023 No Comments

By Hayley Folk

Are you looking to level up your team’s success using a project management platform? Before you jump in, you first need to have a contingency plan laid out. It might sound like big jargon, but having this one plan in place can make the difference between big failure or big success.

Ready to do the best you can in 2023 with your team? Here’s everything you need to know about a contingency plan in project management, below.

What is a contingency plan in project management?

A contingency plan in project management is important for creating a successful project and keeping your team on track. To put it simply, a contingency plan is basically an action plan for any unexpected event or changes that could come up throughout the project.

Here’s why creating a contingency plan is important for your team.

1. It minimizes the risk

Contingency plans minimize the risk of unforeseen events from becoming major problems by preparing for them in advance. By having a plan in place, your team knows how to respond and handle any risks that may come up throughout the project.

2. It helps identify weaknesses

By creating a contingency plan, your team can uncover any potential weaknesses in the project and address them quickly. This way, potential risks and issues can be handled before they become major problems.

3. It increases efficiency

Contingency plans help promote efficiency throughout the project. With a plan already in place, everyone knows what to do in the event of a problem, reducing the amount of time that is wasted trying to figure out what to do and how to address the issue.

4. It improves planning and control

Contingency plans allow for improved project planning and control. With a plan in place, it’s easier to track progress and ensure that the project is on track and everything is going according to plan.

5. It improves team communication

Having this plan in place also helps improve team communication and coordination. Everyone will be on the same page about how to handle any issues and there will be fewer disagreements and confusion.

Having a contingency plan in your project management strategy is essential for creating a successful project and keeping your team on track. By having a plan in place, your team can minimize risk, identify weaknesses, increase efficiency, improve planning and control, and improve team communication.

By Hayley Folk

Sourced from Hive

In News

How to build a project management workflow template

July 5, 2022 No Comments

By William J. Francis

From small to large projects, a workflow template can help you identify everything needed to complete a project. This guide covers the six steps for creating a successful project management workflow.

When you’re working on a project, being organized and approaching the task methodically ensures consistent, timely results, and the best way to do that is through workflow management. The following step-by-step guide walks you through the process of creating a project management workflow template that you can implement for all your future projects.

What is workflow management in project management?

Workflow management refers to the identification, organization and coordination of the set of tasks that result in a specific outcome. When done correctly, workflow management will ensure you get to the desired outcome as quickly and efficiently as possible. If you are new to the topic of workflow management, comparing and contrasting it to project management is a good place to start.

What is workflow vs. project management?

Project management is the science of all the things it takes to complete a project or task. By providing transparency to all aspects of the project, formalized project management seeks to answer what is going to be delivered, by whom and when.

Workflow management is the next layer of detail below project management. While project management is broad, workflow management is more narrowly focused. Workflows are the specific, sequenced steps required to complete a task or project. In short, while project management is charged with answering what, who and when, a workflow is primarily focused on the how.

Why is project management workflow important?

It is entirely possible to deliver a project without workflow management. That said, it’s not recommended.

While you can make a reasonable argument that as you deliver the project the workflows will emerge, failure to manage your workflows will result in missed dependencies, which manifest as delays and work stoppages. This lack of efficiency will make it difficult to answer when a project will be complete, one of the desired outcomes of good project management.

The goal of workflow management is to create efficient, repeatable ways to get work done. The repeatable aspect is especially important if you manage similar types of projects. For example if you are part of a team that primarily delivers software, you’ll find that once you have a good workflow defined, your ability to predict the other aspects of project management such as resources and timelines will greatly improve.

At the end of the day, the best project managers utilize project management and workflow management to successfully deliver a project.

How do you build a project management workflow?

There are a number of good project management software tools on the market to help you create your project management workflow. Products like Jira, Smartsheet and monday work management all have a number of templated workflows you can use out of the box or customize.

You don’t necessarily need any tools other than a pen and some paper to design your project management workflows. Here are the steps we recommend.

1. Tasks

The first action for designing a project management workflow is thinking through all the steps required to complete your project. It’s important to think categorically versus discreetly. For example, a typical software workflow might consist of:

Interviewing stakeholders
Creating wireframes
Building the software
Testing
Deploying

These are repeatable steps you could apply to multiple projects. As you are documenting your task list, try your best to sequence the items chronologically, as this will be handy later.

2. Resources

After you’ve detailed the tasks required to complete your project, it’s time to consider what sorts of resources you’ll need to get it done. These usually fall into the categories of tools and people. If you are delivering software, you’ll need developers and visual designers. Make sure you not only list out all the resources required but highlight gaps, or areas where you are missing the people and/or tools needed to be successful.

3. Deliverables

Just to make sure you haven’t left any critical steps out of your workflow, it’s a good idea to jot down exactly what the output from your project will be. For example, if you are designing a new report for the accounting team, your deliverables might be the new reporting software itself, documentation on how to use that report and a training class to teach the accounting team how the new software works.

Going through this thought process might cause you to reevaluate the tasks and resources you’ve identified previously. Maybe there should be a documentation task between the build and test steps. Or maybe you need a change manager as a resource on your team to successfully deliver the training.

4. Roles and assignments

With your list of tasks and required resources determined, decide who will contribute to which tasks to complete your project. Remember, the goal is to design a reusable workflow, not a specific project plan. Therefore, think roles like user experience designer instead of names like Tracy from creative.

5. Diagram your workflow

It can be especially effective to visualize a project management workflow. There are a number of ways you can visualize the workflow from a flow chart to Gantt chart. The table below is an example of an easy way to diagram a project management workflow. Across the x-axis, we have laid out all of our tasks, chronologically. On the y-axis, we’ve detailed the required resources at each step. In our example, those resources are people, but they could consist of people, tools or both.

1. Interviews	2. Wireframes	3. Development	4. Test	5. Deploy
CX researchers	Visual designer and information architect	Engineering manager, developers and tech architect	Manual tester and automation engineer	DevSecOps engineer

With this visual representation, it becomes more clear both the sequence of the tasks, and any dependencies between them.

6. Iterate

Last but not least, don’t let perfection get in the way of good enough. It’s unlikely you’ll get everything right with your project management workflow the first go round. Don’t let that stop you from putting it into practice. If you constantly inspect and adapt along the way, in no time your project management workflow will be humming.

By William J. Francis

Sourced from TechRepublic

In News

When Is the Waterfall Methodology Better Than Agile?

November 24, 2021 No Comments

By Nate Nead

Ask any two software developers what the best approach to development is, and you’ll probably get two different answers. Development is both a logical and creative pursuit, so there’s a lot of room for personal opinion.

That said, most methodologies can be broadly categorized into two competing approaches: waterfall and agile. Agile software development is arguably more popular, used by a greater percentage of individual developers and businesses. It’s also commonly touted as the “superior” approach – but is it? And are there situations or projects where the waterfall methodology is better?

What Is Waterfall Development?

Let’s start by analyzing the waterfall development methodology.

Think of a waterfall in nature. The water flows in one direction, from its source, through the fall, and down to the pooling water below. In a similar way, waterfall development is unidirectional. You’ll start with a specific, detailed plan on what you’re going to develop and how you’re going to develop it. Across a series of phases, including research and planning, you’ll flesh out the details, then start building the architecture.

Your goal is to create the product from the ground up, as completely as possible, with minimal changes along the way.

There are several advantages to this approach:

Clear central planning. With the waterfall methodology, you’ll invest a lot of time and effort at the beginning of your project. You’ll analyze the competition, make thorough documentation about the type of product you want to build, brainstorm the possibilities, and make critical decisions that will impact the project for weeks or months to come. This front-loaded process leaves you with more information and a clear direction to follow for the entirety of the project.
A clean, phased approach. Waterfall development also has a very clean, phased approach. There’s no ambiguity as to when a phase is over and you’re not bogged down by competing priorities. In many environments, this leads to painless, straightforward development.
Easy coordination and workflow. Many developers also find that waterfall makes it easy to collaborate, especially with people working in other roles (like project management). It’s very obvious when the project should change hands, and there’s no question about when the project is ready for launch.
Less back and forth. As we’ll see, conversation and the “back and forth” process of collaboration can be valuable for software development. However, it can also be time-consuming, confusing, and complicated. In waterfall development, there are fewer micro conversations that need to occur and fewer meetings that need to take place. Developers can spend less time talking and more time coding.

What Is Agile Development?

By contrast, agile development is all about flexibility and adaptation. You’ll still spend time researching and planning – but nowhere near as much as you’ll need to spend if you’re following the Waterfall methodology. Here, the goal is to start working as soon as possible, building a loose sketch of a product, then filling in the details later.

During this process, you’ll be reviewing your work, talking to clients, collaborating with others, and fine-tuning your approach. You’ll be developing continuously, even after your product launches, polishing old features and adding new ones.

These are some of the best advantages:

Faster startup. The intensive planning in the initial phases of waterfall development can be beneficial, but they can also delay your startup. If you’re interested in developing a minimum viable product as quickly as possible, or if you need to get rolling immediately, agile development will work out better for you.
Easy modifications. There are many reasons why you might want to change the nature of your product, or its core features, in the middle of development. There might be new technologies, new competitors, or new market dynamics to think about. You might second guess a key feature or come up with a new idea on the fly. You might even find that your original idea isn’t working out the way you want. In any case, agile methodologies allow you to adapt – rather than being stuck with your original plan.
Continuous testing. Thanks to AI and other powerful testing tools, agile software developers have the advantage of continuous testing on their side. They can discover flaws and bugs as they’re developing, so they can stamp them out long before they ever impact a user.
Active client involvement. Agile development is also popular because of its ability to support active client engagement. Project managers and clients alike can get into conversations with developers, analyze the product, provide new direction, and guide the product to the finish line together.
Constant communication and refinement. The agile methodology also provides opportunities for constant communication and refinement. You can consistently polish your product until it’s as perfect as you originally imagined it.

Why Agile Has Become Dominant

Agile software development has slowly grown to become the dominant methodology in the development field. It certainly has plenty of advantages, but why has it become this popular?

There are a few influential factors:

Evolving scope. Scope creep is a problem for all kinds of projects. Clients change their minds. Stakeholders come up with new requirements. People get new ideas. With agile, scope creep isn’t nearly as big of a problem; you can adapt to the new requirements responsively and keep making progress toward the finish line.
Changing landscapes. The landscape for your software is always changing. You’ll experience the introduction of new competitors, new technologies, and new ideas. Waterfall can lock you into a position you don’t want, while agile gives you an opportunity to escape.
Faster progress. Tech businesses have a desperate need to generate revenue as quickly as possible. Only agile development allows you to hit the ground running.
Customer service. In many ways, agile development also provides opportunities for better customer service. Your customers are more involved and more invested in the development process; accordingly, you’re likely to see better results if you’re creating products for others.

When Is Waterfall Better?

Is waterfall ever better?

The short answer is yes. Waterfall is more efficient, more streamlined, and faster when it comes to specific types of projects like these:

Small, quick projects. Generally speaking, the smaller the project, the better suited it is to waterfall development. If you’re only working with a few hundred lines of code or if the scope of the project is limited, there’s no reason to take the continuous phased approach.
Low priority projects. Low priority projects – those with minimal impact – don’t need much outside attention or group coordination. They can easily be planned and knocked out with a waterfall methodology.
Internal projects. One of the best advantages of agile development is that your clients get to be an active part of the development process. But if you don’t have any clients, that advantage disappears. If you’re working internally, there are fewer voices and opinions to worry about – which means waterfall might be a better fit.
Projects with few stakeholders. Similarly, if the project has few stakeholders, waterfall can work better than agile. If you’re working with a council of managers or an entire team of decision makers, agile is almost a prerequisite. But if it’s just you and one other guy, waterfall may be ideal.
Fixed projects not subject to change. It’s sometimes hard to tell which projects will be “fixed” and which ones will be subject to change in the future. But if you feel confident your project isn’t going to change or evolve in the future, you should consider waterfall development.

The agile development approach is so popular and so well-received that it’s even influencing organizational culture beyond the realm software development. But despite its appeal and lasting popularity, it’s not a perfect system – and there are some projects that perform better with the help of waterfall development. Analyze your project and your goals completely before deciding which methodology to follow.

By Nate Nead

Nate Nead is the CEO & Managing Member of Nead, LLC, a consulting company that provides strategic advisory services across multiple disciplines including finance, marketing and software development. For over a decade Nate had provided strategic guidance on M&A, capital procurement, technology and marketing solutions for some of the most well-known online brands. He and his team advise Fortune 500 and SMB clients alike. The team is based in Seattle, Washington; El Paso, Texas and West Palm Beach, Florida.