Project Management 411

Small Business Project Management, part 2

by Kim Beasley on November 22nd, 2008

So the question might be, how can you integrate project management into a small business? My answer would be very easily because business owners daily manage projects and may not even know it. In this installment regarding small business project management, I will cover a scenario that actually steps through the Deming process of Plan-Do-Check-Act.

Scenario 1: Business owner needs to develop process for handling client support request

Phase 1: Plan-establish your objectives

• Analyze what steps you need to put in place to handle client support request in a timely manner.
• Ask yourself questions that will help you determine your objectives.
  • What am I trying to accomplish with my support request system?
  • How will I determine if the system is an improvement?
  • What changes do I need to make in my current status for the system?

Phase 2: Do - take action to implement your processes

• Determine the key factors that would affect the process. Such as, is the request time sensitive and if so is there a process in place to escalate it.
• Create a step-through process plan for handling regular client request from the beginning (when a request is received) to the end (once a request is completed).
• Analyze your process and determine what your support request tools will be (phone-only, website-only or a combination of the two.
• Determine if parts of your support request system need to be outsource to ensure smooth handling of your client requests. Or do you need to staff someone to handle your support request.

Phase 3: Check - monitor or watch how your plan progresses against your objectives and generate a report about the results

• Make sure to keep an ongoing tracking system in place to monitor the success/failure of your progress.

Phase 4: Act - Assess and make improves if necessary in weak areas of your processes

• Generate tracking reports that shows the progress of your client support system.
• Determine weak areas where you might need improvement and take action.
• Repeat the process for PDCA as an ongoing plan to ensure quality control (that it is flowing smoothly) of your client support system.

So as a small business owner, project management processes such as Deming’s PDCA can be very useful when determining how to run your business. Do you have other scenarios that you would like to see analyzed? Please feel free to post your ideas or comments. Would love to hear them!

Image credit: Kim Beasley (creator) borrowed from Deming

Share This

Related Stories

• Small Business Project Management, part 1
• Federal Program Enables Small Business Projects
• Why is BI So Hot?
• Introduction to Kim Beasley, PM411 Columnist
• A Personal Success Story I Like to Tell

POSTED IN: Kim Beasley, Project Management, Small Business