Management? But I’m an Historian

Sharon M. LeonRoy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

sharonmleon@gmail.com@sleonchnm

January 2, 2014

Overview

• Outline:– Why Project Management– Resource Assessment– Project Proposals (Necessary Fictions)– Launching a Project– Personnel– Functional Work Plans– Reporting and Wrapping up a project

Introductions: Everyday vs. Special Projects

• Existing management responsibilities?• Existing project ideas?– Rescuing or Hatching?

• Failed Projects: Why?

Project Manager as Leader

• Project Manager offers– Clear Communication– Motivation– Oversight– Accountability– Clean-up

All of this requires trust and cooperation.

Resource Assessment: Staff

• Are we getting the most out of the people we work with?– Existing skills– Hard won experience– Emerging interests – Capacity to learn and lead– Collaboration

Resource Assessment: Infrastructure

• Physical Space– Individual workspaces– Collaborative areas– Whiteboards

• Hardware access (computers, servers)– IT staff and support

Resource Assessment: Partners

• Collaborators– Full partners who contribute to through the

lifecycle of the project– Continuous consultation and ongoing work

• Advisors– Trusted and experienced members of the field

• Subcontractors (work for hire)• Community resources (outreach & support)

Resource Assessment: Time

• Pilot projects and Estimating– Survey of the full scope of the work– Selection of a portion for processing– Roughing out a workflow/design/architecture– Extrapolating to the whole• Accounting for increasing efficiency overtime• Anticipating particularly difficult areas

– Padding for safety

Project Proposals (Necessary Fictions)

• Needs, Outcomes, Deliverables– Standards in the field/Requirements

• Schedule• Staffing• Budget• Advisory Boards, Consultation• Evaluation• Outreach and Publicity

Launching a Project

• Project Charters– Needs, deliverables, outcomes– Staff: key roles and responsibilities– Schedule (functional work plan)

(Sounds like a grant proposal, doesn’t it?)

Functional Work Plans

• Anticipating roadblocks (and removing them)• Using Project Management Software– Overview of the work– Public accountability– Collaborative space

• Deliverables -> Milestones• Milestones -> ToDos• Messages, Documents, Files

Personnel• Shared Communication Norms

– Email, IM, etc.– Overlap Hours

• Meeting Procedures– Size and frequency– Agendas– Notes and follow-up

• Personalities – Time management– Coworker relations

• Evaluation– Honesty is essential– Formal and informal

Reporting

• External Stakeholders– Deliver on time and on budget– Use is one of the best metrics of success

• Internal Stakeholders– What lessons does the project team take forward?– How has the staff grown?

• What if the project didn’t go well?