Project Management - Simplified Through the 5-Part MPM Model

The purpose of this blog post is to provide a quick working overview of how to simplify project management using what I call the MPM model to start, execute, and finish your project.  The MPM model presents all of the Project Items essential to delivering a successful project, and also facilitates an approach to successfully managing a project on a daily and weekly basis.

The PM MPM is a model of project items and how to manage a project

Project Management – Start Here

INITIATE by creating a brief document that has initial high-level information about each project management item.  

INITIATE covers high-level inital information about each project management item

The Project Management model for INITIATE covers all of the items you need to collect initial information on, and also what is needed to manage your project from start to finish.  It is a complete set.  You don’t need any more.

INITIATE

• High Level Items – Collect initial high level information about each project management item.
• Project Charter – the document that contains all of the initial information about your project items.

Each item is listed below under one of the three project management domains of LEAD, CONTROL, and PLAN, with a on sentence description so you have an idea about each one.  Each is covered in more detail in subsequent blog posts.

Project Management – Do these daily and weekly

LEAD - Motive

• Purpose – A statement about your motivation or reason for doing the project.
• Description – Additional project background information to support your project purpose.
• Assumptions – What needs to be true for your project to succeed.
• Risks – What potential issues could have a negative impact on your project or organization if they occur.

LEAD – People

• Roles – What kind of people are needed, what is expected of them, and who is assigned to that role.
• Organization – The decision-making authority structure for the project roles.
• Stakeholders – Those who most impact, or who are most impacted, by the project.
• Communications – What, how and when for sharing information about the project with the stakeholders.
• Adoption – The project is not successful until the end customer integrates the outcomes into daily habits.

CONTROL – Things

• Objectives – Statements about objective measures, which when true, fulfill the project purpose.
• Requirements – Mandatory and Optional details desired for the outcomes for the project.
• Scope – The boundaries of analysis and activities for the project. 
• Deliverables – The tangible outcomes the project produces.
• Quality – The conformance of deliverables to the project’s Objectives, Scope and Requirements. 

CONTROL – Money

• CAPEX – Capital, asset based, expenditures for the project.
• OPEX – Expense, administrative, disposable expenditures for the project. 
• Budget – CAPEX and OPEX spending over the project by weekly or monthly calendar periods.
• Procurement – The process for making large, significant purchases on the project.

PLAN – Map

• Methodology – Any standard template or way of executing used by the project.
• Approach – The path the project is taking to create the deliverables based on the methodology.

PLAN – Timing

• Schedule – The approach with calendar dates and timing applied.
• Milestones – The deliverables and dates important to the stakeholders and project progress.

INITIATE collects initial high level information for each one of the project items above and presents it in a document called the Project Charter.  

The charter is reviewed and approved by the stakeholders before the project starts, and it is updated as necessary as the project proceeds. 

Project Management – Finish Here

TRANSITION finishes your project by covering the final things to do once your project is complete.

TRANSITION – Completes your project

TRANSITION

• Stakeholder and Objectives Review – Review the achievement of the measurable project objectives. 
• Lessons Learned – Analysis and documentation of what worked and didn’t work during the project.
• Financial Review – How project money was managed and handling any deficits or surpluses.
• Resource Allocation – Reallocation of people and non-people resources that were part of the project.
• Project vs Operational Information – Set up the support of the project for continued success.

Summary

The PM MPM Model has all of the items you need to manage your project from start to finish.  It is a complete set.  You don’t need any more.

The model has five main parts.  INITIATE starts your project with initial high level information about each project item.  LEAD, CONTROL, and PLAN are a series of small habits you follow daily and weekly to most efficiently manage your project.  When complete, follow the steps in TRANSITION to finish off your successful project.

Action Steps / Apply This Knowledge

1. Create a simple INITIATE document, and call it a Project Charter, with the headings from above and just a couple of sentences under each as a starting point for your project.  An actual document template and some examples are covered in the workshops, but for now creating a quick overview document for yourself can be very helpful.
2. If your project has already launched, do it anyway as it can be revealing about conversations that you can have with your stakeholders for clarification.
3. If your project has recently finished, and you have not completed the TRANSITION activities then do that now and the “How To” for TRANSITION blog post contains more detail on this.

Learn More

In an upcoming workshop, for which you can subscribe to be notified when it’s available, we cover project management examples in detail.  

Also, in the workshop, we go into greater depth on many of the project management items in the Project Management Mastery (MPM) model.  As well you can ask questions about any of your current projects during the Q&A. 

PM MPM – Project Management Overview 

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