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Project
Management
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Project Interdependences Principle
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Once the project is underway,
cross-company project interdependencies must be
identified. These are best identified in meetings of
people impacted by the project. These meetings must be
strictly chaired to maintain focus on identifying and nor
solving interdependencies. |
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Objectives
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People scoping projects at the
proposal and initiation stages should know how to
maximise the autonomy of projects |
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People managing projects
should know how to divide projects up in such ways as
will reduce the coupling between parts of a project and
to maximise the internal cohesion of each part of the
project |
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People involved in the
direction and management of projects should have means
to manage inter-dependencies when they occur |
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Project managers should be
able to maximise the probability of inter-dependencies
emerging during the detailed planning process |
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Our Approach
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Interdependencies
between tasks and projects occur in one of three ways:
Contention for a shared
resource. The
most noticeable interdependency.
More than one task or project requires the same
resource at the same time, and one or more projects have to
wait for the release of the resource.
Resource can be a unit of a person’s time, a
deployment of a person’s particular skill, or a physical
resource such as a room or equipment.
Coincidence of a shared
process. More
than one task or project involves the same process(es).
People instinctively decide to perform the process once
instead of replicating the work, causing the projects wait
upon each others’ schedules.
Coincidence of a shared
outcome. More
than one task or project requires a same intermediate result,
deliverable or product. People
instinctively decide to create the result once instead of
replicating the outcome, and again the projects are made to
wait upon each others’ schedules. |
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The identification
investigation may itself require staff time, specific skills
and a budget beyond the resources of the sponsoring budget
holder to fund the investigation.
In such cases, a one-page summary should be prepared
following the lines of the proposal
template but without investigations to substantiate the
business justification. It is up to the Board or
Executive Management Team to commission the necessary
investigation. The
proposal should stress the prima facie business case
for the investigation. |
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Use the
template
proposal as a checklist, make investigations under each
of the headings. |
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The
template
requires that the scope of any project is defined, that
key people impacted are identified and an approximate
estimate is made of the impact on their time at
different stages of the project and that the likelihood
of budget is stated. |
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The availability of a supplier
and product, if appropriate, should be established |
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The outcomes of any
investigations for any key show-stoppers should be
recorded |
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