September 25, 2017
BY: EMILY WELSH
Class Learning:
This week our class found ourselves in the beginning of the initiating phase of project planning and management: how do you select and receive approval for a project?
The CADE method was presented as one template for selecting a good project. The acronym CADE stands for:
Criteria
Assumptions
Data
Evaluation
Teams should begin by laying down the groundwork of the criteria for potential projects. Criteria for projects would include compatibility with institutional mandate, resources required, and time required. Then the assumptions should be stated including the constraints on your project, the perceived needs of the publics, and the availability of resources. To inform the process, data should be collected to illustrate which project types would be best, including conducting or reviewing visitor research, completing competitive analysis, and examining institutional needs or priorities. Finally, groups will evaluate potential projects using qualitative or quantitative methods against the criteria, assumptions and data they have just compiled.
During the class three additional strategies were listed as "Decision Making" methods:
1. Gap Analysis- "where I am / where do I want to be"
In this strategy, project teams should look at their institutions and critically reflect on where they currently are in their missions and where they hope to be. From this reflection, projects may arise that facilitate the journey.
2. Brainstorming
This method is used to create a vast number of project ideas in a quick fashion. However I was intrigued to learn that we often use the brainstorming process incorrectly. In its true form, brainstorming consists of two phases. In the first, project ideas are presented without any discussion on their feasibility or value. If instead the discussion leads to elaborating on one idea, the proposal of alternative ideas is impeded and we lose the opportunity of seeing bad ideas to inform improvements to better ones. The second phase would be where a team debates the merits of the project ideas presented.
3. SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis allows a team to take one candidate idea and compete a situational investigation of its feasibility. A team could use this method to compare a couple ideas, but it cannot be used for more than a couple, as the amount of work required would negate the benefit of the tool.
SWOT is an acronym which stands for:
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
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| A SWOT analysis is a useful tool for not only determining if a project is a meaningful one for your institution, but also provides you with a justification to those who need to approve your selection. Source. |
I had learned a little about the SWOT analysis in a previous course but we used it as a more qualitative, brainstorming tool to look at an institution and its competitive environment. What I did not realize was that the analysis could be a quantitative tool for examining the feasibility and merit of a project. First you create criteria that would be used to evaluate your project and assign percentage values to them based on important they are to the project. Next, values between 1 and 10 are assigned to each criterion based on how well your project idea fits it. Multiplying the two values gives you scores for the criteria and allows you to enter criteria into the strengths and weaknesses sections of your charts.
To fill the other two squares, you need to create a list of opportunities and risks that are represented by or face the project. These must be external influences or factors. Your internal qualities and factors are represented in your strengths and weaknesses. For risk in particular, this too is a quantitative assignment with risks being evaluated for importance by multiplying values of likelihood and impact. Only risks of above a certain level will be considered threats.
Personally I think it helps to put these multiple strategies in a more coherent sequence by incorporating these three methods into the CADE structure and adding another letter. My model would be CADGE:
Criteria
Assumptions
Data
Generation
Evaluation
Just like CADE, teams would determine the criteria and assumptions for their project and compile data that informs which project are most needed. The Gap Analysis method would be incorporated into the Data section. Once these items are completed, the team needs to generate a series of project ideas. This could be done in different ways but I think inserting the brainstorming method here would be a valuable step; using the information previously compiled, a series of informed ideas could be generated. Narrowing this list down to one or two ideas, the team would then move on to the evaluation stage where a SWOT analysis would be completed to test the feasibility and highlight the potential problems in the project(s).
So you have a good idea.....now what?
A key part for receiving approval for your project is the value or return on investment for the project and its deliverables. This consideration of value also plays a role when you think about which projects might be worthwhile completing and thus selecting. Value here does not merely mean monetary value. For museums, their visions & missions drive institutional activities which do not focus on making large profits. For some projects, such as exhibitions, revenue would be considered a valuable outcome as museums do need to make money to pay their expenses and stay afloat. However, value may also come from the impacts of the project's deliverables on the public, including affective learning, cognitive learning, the development of community partnerships and giving voices to the communities.
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| Is your project valuable? Remember for institutions such as museums value does not necessarily mean profit! What kinds of value can you think of? Source. |
To have your project approved you will need to complete a project charter. This is a written document that outlines the various information of the project including project name, team members, objective, vision, funding, budget, deliverables, risks and assumptions. A major part of this document is the rationale or "business case" in which you will need to describe the value of this project.
Not only is this document important for receiving institutional approval, its is crucial to the success of your team. Without a clear understanding of the project, its risks, needs, and description, I do not believe you will have the clarity needed for your team to move forward in a timely fashion. Without a clear rationale and understanding of value, you may also not have the complete buy-in of your team to see this project through to completion.
Reading Insight:
The reading I would like to highlight this week is "Prove Your Project is Worth Your Time." This is Step Two in Russell's book 10 Steps to Successful Project Management.
Russell brings up the importance of consulting with stakeholders when determining a project's objectives. Without this step you will "begin building the project that you think the stakeholders want, instead of the project they do want" (Russell, 2007, p. 42). As the author explains, it is the stakeholders that will decide whether your project is successful or not. Although the author speaks from a business perspective, this holds true for museums; your visitors, communities, and board of directors among other stakeholders will judge your project, whether they understand or have knowledge of your objectives or not. Since museums lay out missions that serve their publics, they should consult with them and analyze their needs when determining which projects are needed or take advantage of worthy opportunities.
Until next time I will leave you with this quote from the opening page of the chapter that highlights the importance of documenting and communicating your project:
"You see, if people don't clearly understand what a project will deliver,
they'll always be disappointed with what it does deliver" (Russell, 2007, p. 31).
they'll always be disappointed with what it does deliver" (Russell, 2007, p. 31).
Happy planning!
Resources:
Russell, L. (2007). Step two: prove your project is worth your time.” In 10 steps to successful project management (pp. 31-44). Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development, dba Association for Talent Development.
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