These documents represent a suggested process for managing projects within LTS. Please adapt these documents for your use. This process is still new and being developed, if you have suggestions for improvement, leave a comment on this page or send a message to Jenn Colt (jrc88).
Before you get started, make sure your project is really a project. Projects usually:
- Are time bound, and not an on-going service
- Have a specific goal or objective
- Require resources (people, time, money, space, etc)
A full project project management process is often too much for our projects. For the purpose of project management in LTS, focus on scope, scheduling, and costs (costs may just be time). If your project is larger and more expensive,scale up the process and make it more formal as needed.
Your project will move through initiation, implementation, and closing phases. More information is found in the project management handbook attached to this page, and in the LinkedIn Learning Project Management Fundamentals course.
Initiation
At the start of your project, you'll create one or two documents:
- Project charter -> Set scope and goals, request resources, gain agreement from all parties
- Project plan -> Helps set schedule and costs
If your project is very small, the charter and the plan could be in the same document. Templates for these documents and for a work breakdown structure are attached to this page.
Implementation
While the project is being executed, the project manager will monitor progress, keep track of change requests, manage resources, and communicate with stakeholders.
Project management software is often used during this stage. LTS does not have designated project management software, Box, Confluence, JIRA, Trello, and others have all been used. The work breakdown structure template attached to this page may be useful for tracking tasks and their dependencies.
Closing
At the end of the project, be sure to celebrate the conclusion of the project, perform project assessment, document lessons learned, and move the project to a maintenance phase if it requires one.
