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Frequently Asked Questions Project Steward, Project Manager, what's the difference? How can I select the right person to lead a project? How does project work differ from regular work? How can I estimate how long this project will take? How soon can you start?

Project Steward, Project Manager, what's the difference? "A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet," said Shakespeare's Romeo in Romeo and Juliette. The problem is that people use the term Project Manager to mean so many different things. A Project Steward is someone who has: Direct, hands-on involvement in Problem Analysis and Solution Architecture; along with Responsibility for: Solution Concept Testing, Solution Development and Project Completion. Thus the Project Steward has continuous responsibility and direct involvement in the project, from its inception to its completion. This continuous responsibility, or Stewardship, avoids many of the communications difficulties inherent when different people have responsibilty for each stage of the process.

How can I select the right person to lead a project? Selecting the right person to lead your next project is never easy. That person must be a master juggler. They will have to juggle: Subject Matter Whatever is relevant for your project Environment Political Economic Social Technological Ecological Resources People Equipment Facilities Material Money Project Process Communications Procurement Quality Risk Control Review If you cannot find someone who is an expert in all four areas, you will have to decide where the other members of the project team will be able to help and where your lead will have to be most proficient from the start. Finally, it involves giving up a degree of control. That means you need to select someone with the expertise to succeed and whose judgement you trust.

How does project work differ from regular work? Regular employment goes on and on. It is routine. It is necessary. It is what ensures that, when you: go into the grocery store, there is food on the shelf, turn on the light switch, electricity flows through the wires and the lights come on, put your card into the ATM, you get money out. In short, regular work is nothing less than the stuff of Civilization. But these things were not always available. There was a time before grocery stores. There was a time before electric lights. There was a time before ATMs. Each of these (and countless other things) came into being as a result of a specific initiative -- a project. Projects are nothing less than the making of the future. A Project has an objective, a beginning and a predefined end.

How can I estimate how long this project will take? Estimating is both an art and a science. The art lies in deciding what you've done that was similar to what you are going to be doing. The science lies in mapping the components or steps of that previous project to the components or steps of this new one and then adjusting the times, based upon differences in circumstances. It is also critical to monitor actual times and costs. For tasks completed early in the project you should compare the actuals to the estimates. This will give you some insight into the reliability of the rest of the estimates. You then use the differences to adjust your remaining estimates.

How soon can you start? That's an easy question to answer; you can start immediately. However, 'when will your project be finished?' is a much harder question to answer.