Project Management Skills for Kids 9781412007641, 141200764X

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By Robert Cassella

IUustrated by Erik Hansen

O Copyright 2003 Robert Cassella. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author. Printed in Wctoria, Canada

National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Cassella, Robert, 195 1 Project management skills for kids I Robert Cassella ;illustrated by Erik Hansen. ISBN 1-4120-0764-X 1. Project management-Juvenile literdture. I. Hansen, Erik, 1962- 11. Title. HD69.P75C37 2003 j658.4'04 C2003-903842-4

This hook was published on-demand in cooperation with Trafford Publishing. Ondemand puhlishing i s a uniquc process and service of making a book available for retail sale to the public taking advantage of ondemand manufacturing and Internet marketing. On-demand publishing includes promotions, retail sales, manufacturing, ordcr fulfilment, accounting and collecting royalties on behallol Ihe author. Suite 6E. 2333 Government St., Victoria, B.C. V8T4P4. CANADA 250-383-6864 Toll-frcc 1-888-232-4444(Canada & US) Phone Fax 250-383-6804 E-mail [email protected] Web site www.trafford.com TRAFFORD PUBLISHING IS A DIVISION OF mAmRn HOI nmrrs ~ m . Trafford Catalogue #03-1132 www.trafford.com/robots/03-1132.html

Project Management Skills for Kids is a book for students and their parents and teachers that shows how LO plan, manage and execute a Project. The idea for this book came froin mny frustration trying to help my daughters with the projects they were assigned in school or in their extracurricular activities.

I want to show kids some simple and logical ways they can organize and finish a project - and develop fundamental skills they can use throughout their school years to plan, manage and organize work and to solve problems.

In my opinion, learning how to plan, manage and execute work is at least as important as the work itself.

edicated to my daughters, Sarah and E

Table of Cantents Introduction to Project Manageinent Planning Your Project Pc'lanaging Your Project Executing Your Project Notes for Parents 2nd Teachcrs

Glossary of Terms

Introduction to Project Management -

Introductiozl.ta

ect Management

What is a Project?

What is Project Management? Project Management Processes

Projects are special and different...they are not 'I-eplar'scliool \vot-k and t h q wuaJly require more effort. Projects have a definite beginning and end... there is Iinlited amount of time to do a lot ofwork. Projects create a finished prodt~ct ... a I-csearch paper or an or-alpresentation or a model.

Every Project is ullique... ~zortnall~~, no one does the sane Project hvice and no hvo pco!$e\vili do the sa~neProjectthe same way.

What i s Project Managment? Project Management is a 'systems approach' to planning and managing the processes that create a finished product...such as a research paper or a craft item, for example. Project Management Skills help you to accomplish complicated tasks on time and to specification. You callcomplete a Project without planning and managing & be a lot more difficult! your activities but it y

What is a System?

A system takes inputs...

...to produce an output

Pmject Management Tn the Planning process, you develop a Project Plan and a Project Schedule. In the Managing process, you evaluate your progress based on the Specifications and Schedule. In the Executing process, you produce intermediate and final products.

Planning Your Project

Pkmning Your

ect

M a h g a Project Plan. 'Freaking Down' a Product

Making a Project Plan iVriting your Project Plan makes you think about what you are going to do and how you arc going to do it. The Project Plan includes: Tht: Scope of the Project Assumntions hlade I

Resources Needed for the Project Constraints That Can Affect the Project Assessment of h s k s That Might Affect the Project Organization of the Project Team (if it is a team project)

The Scope of the

ect

Your project scope statement re-states facts that you have been given: %.hat must be done Write a six page research paper on UFOs...

how it must be done ...that presents two different explanations of their existence...

what ol?jecti\7es or specificatioils inust bc met ... The paper must use four sources, be typed

double-spaced and use the MLA style guide. An outline and a rough draft must be turned in on Day 12 and Day 25.

Assumptions You ~-2.ill not have all the facts that you need to do your Project...so you must make logical assumnptions. 'Assumptions' are used in place of facts that you don't T~uve.

references I will need.

12

How can you figure out what resources you will need?

By breaking down your finished product into activities, task and steps, you can estimate what resources you will need. resources.

another way of saying

Finished Product, Activities and Tasks

Activity, Tasks and Steps

Thinli Zhnut It

n 1 Draw a Picture

steps Dur-tition 2 days

Li,t thc Part5

2 days

1 day

You can csti~nateh 6 a long it will take you to complete each Actisity.

Product Bm~kDown Product Research Paper

Model

Resources

Project SeheduIe Your Project Schedule shows: what you must do (activities) groups of simdar tasks (phases) what order you must do them ill (sequence) the time needed to complete a task (duration) when they must be done (mileston The next two pages show three ways to schedule the activities, phases and inilestones of your Project...

Days

1 Day 21: Deliver thc hlodcl

21

%at

If It's a 'Team" Project2

Someone has to be in charge of the Project. Everyone has to have sornc responsibility for the Project's output. Each person's xvork must contribute to the Project's success.

Managing Your Pmject

Managing Your

HZ

'Front Loading' Your Work Assessing Risk

What are Specifications? Tnspecting Your i%'ork

increases Risk!

1/4 of avdable time

3/4 of available time

Assessing Risk!

Ir\rhat Can Go Wrong? = &'hat if someone else borrows the book I need? What if I wait too long to start working? \Vllat if the dog eats my paper? What if my model doesn't work right?

Avoiding Risk Can I Do Something About It?

What Can I Do

Front-load thewo ksks

P m j ~Specifications t understand the

'Specifications' are the Req~lirementsor Objectisre for the Project that are given to you. These Specifications are used to write your Scope statement and to make your Project Schedule. Usually, Specifications are based on: Time: Such as the dates that products are due. Quality: Such as hou7 a bibliography must be written. Quantity: Such as the nunlber of pages or sources. Conditions: Such as 'all work must be done in scho 29

Inspecting Your Work You must check or test your o\wl work to make sure you are meeting the Specifications.

Ask yourself these questions: Is the product ready on time? Is the product as good as it should be Does the product meet all requirements? Have all the conditions been met? Remember to allow yourself time to inspect your product and to fix if it needs Inore ~vork. 30

Executing Yclur Project

Executing Your Project While you do the work on your Project, keep in mind: the scope the schedule the specifications If you find that your work is going slower (or faster) than you had planned, adjust the schedule.

Notes for k ~ n tand s Teachers Help your student to succeed by: talkng about the ideas in this book providing attainable specificatioi~s requiring milestones to be met rcvie~ingthe quality of the work letting them do the work themselves

Glossary Assumption: A presumption you make in place oP a fact you don't have. Activity: A part of a product; an Intermediate Product. Constraint: Something you need but don't have enough of. Duration: The amount of time you estimate to complete a task. Estimate: An educated guess of how much of a resource you need. Fjnal Product: The otltput of a project. Front-Loading: Doing the planning work early in the project.

Glossary Inspection: Checking or testing to make sure a product meets specifications and does what it's supposed to do. Intermediate Product: The output of a project phase; an Activity. Level of Effort: The amount of work you need to do to accomplish something.

Milestone: An important date; the day that a product has to be finished. Phase: A group of tasks that produce an Intermediate or Find Product. Process: The effort and procedures that transform inputs into a product.

Glossary Product: The output of a process. Product Breakdown: Breaking a product into activities, tasks and steps. Project: A short term effort to produce a unique product. Quality: How 'good' a product must be. Risk: The possibility that something might go wrong. Resource: An input to a process. Scope: The 'What,' 'How' and 'How \%'ell' of a project.

Glossary Schedule: The sequence and timing of activities. Sequence: The order in which activities take place. Specification: A required standard that must be met. Step: Part of a task. System: The way that resources are made into products. Task: Part of an activity.

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