TenStep - Project Management Process

The TenStep Project Management Process® helps project managers successfully manage projects of all kinds.

The TenStep Project Management Process provides the information you need to be a successful project manager, including a step-by-step approach, starting with the basics and getting as sophisticated as you need for your particular project.

Flexible and Scalable...

The TenStep Project Management Process is a methodology for managing work as a project. It is designed to be as flexible as you need to manage your project. For instance, it may not make sense to spend a lot of time on risk management for a project that requires 500 hours of effort and is similar to many projects that were done before. That does not imply that you ignore potential risks - just that you do not spend as much time as you might on another project (for instance, one where you were implementing new technology).

The flexible and scalable approach is visible throughout the TenStep process and is one area that differentiates this methodology from others.

The Value of Project Management

Does your organization have any of the following characteristics?

• Projects completed late, over-budget, or without meeting the functionality requirements of your client
• Weak standard processes and techniques used inconsistently by project managers
• Project management is reactive and not seen as providing value
• The time required to manage projects proactively is not built into the schedule, since it is considered 'overhead'
• Projects are 'successful' in spite of a lack of planning and project management, through heavy stress and overtime work throughout the lifecycle

Good project management discipline is the way to overcome these shortcomings. The value of good project management is that you have standard processes in place to deal with all contingencies:

• Completing projects more quickly and cheaply. One of the biggest benefits of using a common methodology is the value of reuse. Once the processes, procedures and templates are created, they can be used (perhaps with small modifications) on all projects in the future. This results in reduced project start-up time, a shorter learning curve for project team members and time savings from not having to reinvent processes and templates from scratch on each project.
• Saving effort and cost with proactive scope management. Many projects have difficulty managing scope, which results in additional effort and cost to the project. Having better project management processes will result in being able to manage scope more effectively.
• Better solution “fit” the first time through better planning. Many projects experience problems because there is a gap between what the client expects and what the project team delivers. Using a methodology results in better project planning, which gives the team and the sponsor an opportunity to make sure they are in agreement on the major deliverables produced by the project.
• Resolving problems more quickly. Some teams spend too much time and energy dealing with problems because they do not know how to resolve the problems to begin with. Having a proactive issues management process helps ensure that problems are resolved as quickly as possible.
• Resolving future risk before the problems occur. TenStep includes processes to identify and manage risks. Sound risk management processes will result in potential problems being identified and managed before the problems actually occur.
• Communicating and managing expectations with clients, team members and stakeholders more effectively. Many problems on a project can be avoided with proactive and multifaceted communication. In addition, much of the conflict that does arise on a project is not the result of a specific problem, but because of surprises. The TenStep methodology focuses on proactive formal and informal communication, which results in fewer surprises.
• Building a higher quality product the first time. TenStep contains quality management processes that will help the team understand the needs of the customer in terms of quality. Once those needs are defined, the team can implement quality control and quality assurance techniques to meet the customer expectations.
• Improved financial management. This is the result of better project definition, better estimating, more formal budgeting and better tracking of the project actual costs against the budget. All this rigor results in better financial predictability and control.
• Stopping “bad” projects more quickly. "Bad" projects are those where the cost-benefit justification no longer makes sense. A project may have started with sound cost-benefit justification. However, if the project is late and over-budget it may hit a threshold where the business case is no longer valid. Effective project management allows you to see these situations earlier so that you can make better decisions to re-scope or cancel the project.
• More focus on metrics and fact-based decision making. One of the more sophisticated aspects of TenStep is that it provides guidance to make it easier to collect metrics (measurements). Metrics give you information that helps you determine how effectively and efficiently your team is performing and the level of the quality of your deliverables. Metrics also give you the information necessary to validate whether or not you were successful.
• Improved work environment. If your projects are more successful, you will find additional intangible benefits associated with your project team. Your clients will have more involvement, your project team will take more ownership of the project, morale will be better, and the project team will behave with a greater sense of professionalism and self-confidence. This should make sense. People that work on projects with problems tend to be unhappy. On the other hand, people on successful projects tend to feel better about their jobs and themselves.