In my first article on this subject, I identified a short list of some ways that skilled Project Management resources can help a small business or startup.  These are:

 

 

 

 





     
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  • Understanding how they got in trouble




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  • Setting up more formalized processes to track project status




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  • Creating templates for the projects they manage




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  • Mapping current business processes to identify change needs




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  • Resource management and oversight




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  • Budgeting, forecasting and estimating




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Again, there are likely many more ways that a skilled PM with an entrepreneurial spirit can help a small business with no PM structure and a definite need for some stability and focus going forward.  At this time, I would like to discuss one such case that I was involved with.

 

 

 

 

To the Rescue – Case Study 1

 

 

 

 

A very young and very small organization with a web-based product offering was desperate because their first three large customers were canceling their projects with them.  Deadlines were being missed badly and all three customers had lost nearly all confidence that their projects would ever be successfully completed and implemented.  There was no real project oversight, no good processes in place, and no accountability and reporting.

 

 

 

 

The key issues:

 

 

 

 

 

 





     
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  • Missed deadlines




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  • Poor management oversight




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  • Minimal accountability to the customers




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  • No structured status reporting




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  • No issue tracking




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Since the issues were the same across all three of these key customers, it was obvious that it was not a customer issue or specific to any one implementation.  This client of mine lacked the processes and structure to successfully track and manage these implementations and they were definitely large enough engagements that they could not be managed ‘on the fly.’  These were all very critical projects for the company and could mean life or death for the organization as it was moving toward a large injection of venture capital if it could show success on these implementations.

 

 

 

 

Investigate

 

 

 

 

The first thing I did after coming on board was to meet with everyone from the CEO on down to better understand the issues, frustrations, and current processes that were being followed.  I was thoroughly briefed on the background and status of each project, gathering copies of all relevant documents like SOWs, budgets, schedules, meeting notes, etc. 

 

 

 

 

I then began that task of putting project schedule templates together as well as creating detailed project schedules for each of these three implementations.  Project status reports and other project document templates were created and I began to put project oversight processes together and document them for use on future engagements.

 

 

 

 

Meet the Customer

 

 

 

 

As I mentioned, these three projects were extremely critical to the company not only for the obvious reasons of revenue and reputation, but also because they were moving toward a large venture capital payday if they were able to show success on these initial projects.  Needless to say, the pressure was on. 

 

 

 

 

Within three weeks after coming on board, I brought all three customers in separately and did presentations for them on how we were going to formally manage and track their implementations and presented them with status reports, project plans and budget information on each of their implementations.  I explained how their projects would be managed going forward if they rescinded their requests to cancel the projects.

 

 

 

 

Thankfully, all three did rescind their cancellation requests.  From that point on, I closely managed all three projects, led all status meetings and status reporting activities for each of the projects and also directly managed the development efforts on the project (as I said, it was a small company).

 

 

 

 

Going Forward

 

 

 

 

I ended up working with this organization for 4-5 months continuing to lead these three projects as well as several new undertakings.  As I learned more about their business and their customers, I continued to tweak the templates and processes I had documented to best ensure their success on formally managing their future projects.

 

 

 

 

The three projects were eventually all implemented according to the revised timelines that I put together in agreement with the customer, the development team and the CEO.  All three ended up as happy customers and as repeat customers (the best indication of a happy customer!).  And this organization has a somewhat formalized PM process in place to this day with many new happy customers as well.

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

 

 

 

What this organization’s customers needed was to know that there was a plan.  Both a plan to ‘right the ship’ and a plan going forward to successfully implement their project and help ensure that the same issues didn’t resurface.  We gained their confidence with swift, proactive changes and decision-making.