For IT service companies with "projects" as the basic operating unit, the main goal is to make each project "customer satisfaction and company profit". Although unilaterally improving the level of project management cannot achieve this goal, project management undoubtedly plays a decisive role. Therefore, project management has been recognized as one of the core competitiveness of IT service companies.
A successful project depends not only on the implementation process of the project itself from beginning to end, but also on the efforts before and after the start. A successful project should depend on three stages of efforts:
1) Before the project starts, you must "know what the customer's success is". Only when the customer succeeds can the project succeed;
2) Work that can be "responsible for the success of customers" and completed as required during the project implementation;
3) After the project is completed, it can "help customers realize value", and customers say that the success of the project is the real success.
Although the efforts before and after the project are not the focus of discussion, they are of great significance to the success of the project. Here is a brief explanation.
"Understanding what is the success of customers" means understanding the real needs of customers, which is the fundamental reason for the existence of the project. This is an answer to "What problems can you help customers solve? What value can it bring to customers? " Only by answering these two questions can we define the customer's success criteria and then define the project objectives.
In fact, this is why we must consider the problem from the customer's standpoint, which is particularly important. What customers need is not to assemble a bunch of software and hardware, but to help them solve problems. For example, if you tell a bank customer that "this centralized system can centrally manage data, unify management processes and analyze business conditions in real time", then the customer will be very excited and feel that it is totally worthwhile to buy two AS400 s and develop a new application system for this purpose; But if you consider the problem from the standpoint of the manufacturer, you may be concerned about "how many AS400 units do they need this year?" "Is there a new software list?" . Then even if the project is successfully signed and completed, the customer's evaluation can only be expected to be "stable system performance and good software quality". "Helping customers realize value" means that customers can achieve the expected business goals with the products of the project. After the system development of the project is completed, a series of work such as product handover, training support, operation and maintenance are needed to ensure the normal use of customers and achieve business goals. This part of the workload is very considerable, so we should pay special attention to it, otherwise we will fall into a dilemma: if we undertake this part of the work extra for customer satisfaction, it will cause business losses and even project losses; If you leave without doing this part of the work well, it will reduce customer satisfaction and cause loss of reputation. At present, many companies explicitly write this part of the work into the contract, or sign a maintenance contract after the project is over. If we do the above two points, we will have satisfied customers, which will not only promote business contact again, but also help us easily get new customers under the recommendation of a satisfied customer. As a process of creating products or services, "project" is not only the key to "customer satisfaction", but also the key to "company profitability". The level of project management also determines whether it can "take the responsibility for the success or failure of customers". The success factors that need to be managed in the project include: 1. Range. Also known as the scope of work, it refers to all the work that must be completed to achieve the project objectives. Generally, the scope of work is defined by defining deliverables and deliverable standards. Break down the scope of work according to the project objectives, and point out that "what work can achieve the project objectives" or "what work can complete the work items". The latter point is very important. Without the definition of the scope of work, the project may never be completed. To strictly control the change of work scope, once it is out of control, there will be an embarrassing situation of "thankless work": on the one hand, a lot of extra work has been done that has nothing to do with achieving the goal, on the other hand, the extra work has affected the original goal, resulting in double losses of business and reputation.
2. Time. The schedule describes the factors related to the project time, which not only explains the time required to complete all the work within the scope of the project, but also specifies the specific start and completion dates of each activity. The activities in the project are determined according to the scope of work, and the dependence between them should be considered when determining the start and end time of the activities.
3. cost. Refers to all the funds needed to complete the project, including labor costs, raw materials, equipment rental fees, subcontracting fees and consulting fees. The total project cost is based on the budget, and the final cost at the end of the project should be controlled within the budget. IT is particularly noteworthy that in IT projects, the proportion of labor costs is very large, and the workload is difficult to estimate, so it is very difficult to make a budget.
4. quality Refers to the degree to which a project meets explicit or implicit needs. Usually, by defining the deliverable standards in the scope of work, it is clear that these standards include various characteristics and the requirements that these characteristics need to meet, so deliverables have an important position in project management. In addition, sometimes there may be clear requirements for the process of the project, such as specifying the specifications and standards that the process should follow, and requiring to prove that these processes can be effectively implemented. Time, quality and cost are called TQC for short. In practical work, the scope of work is determined in the contract. Time is stipulated in the schedule, expenses are stipulated in the budget, and how to ensure the quality is stipulated in the quality assurance plan. These documents are the basic conditions of the project. When the scope of work and TQC of the project are determined, the goal of the project is also determined. If the project has completed its work under the constraints of TQC, it can be said that the project is successful.
To sum up, the success of the project means "customer satisfaction and company profit", which depends on many factors. Including what is the real understanding of customer success before the project and the clear criteria for success; Define a clear scope of work and TQC in the project and complete the scope of work according to the constraints of TQC; Help customers realize the business value after the project. Only when the customer says the project is successful can the project be truly successful.
There are four elements in project management: scope of work, time, quality and cost. Of course, the ideal situation of a project is "more, faster, better and cheaper". "More" means a wide range of work, "fast" means short time, "good" means high quality and "saving" means low cost. But these four factors are interrelated, and raising one index will lower the other, so in fact this ideal situation is difficult to achieve.
Give an example that everyone may have encountered-decoration. It is assumed that the original plan will be completed in two months, but due to the early demolition of the original house, it must be completed within 1.5 months. So the element of "time" has changed. What measures can be taken to shorten the construction period?
Measure 1: The original kitchen is to make its own frame and buy a plastic facade, but now it is changed to buy a whole kitchen; Obviously the cost is higher.
Measure 2: The original wall should be painted with Nippon paint for 4 times, which is very time-consuming. Now brush it twice. But at the expense of lower quality.
Measure 3: Don't lay the wooden floor first, and then install the lamps; Please note that you have changed the scope of work at this time.
As can be seen from this example, it is difficult to ensure that every goal is achieved at the same time in the project. In practical work, many factors can only be balanced to make trade-offs, so that the final plan has the least impact on the project objectives.