“WHO ME?”
THE CITY CLERK AS
PROJECT MANAGER
ME1
WE ASKED… WHAT ARE HURDLES?
2
“FINDING TIME AND RESOURCES”
“SELECTING THE RIGHT TEAM”
“HAVING THE RIGHT TECH TOOLS”
MORE HURDLES
3
“ROLE CLARITY”
“BALANCING THE BUSINESS NEED
WITH THE IT VISION”
“CITY MANAGER CONFIDENCE ”
WHAT IS GETTING IN THE WAY
The challenge isn’t technical, it’s the
political, power dynamics - how to
expand Clerk influence.
4
WHY YOU?
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES OF CITY CLERK
▪ Global Perspective on organization
▪ Cross Departmental Relationships
▪ Responsible for meeting statutory deadlines
▪ Understands “political realities”
5
ASK US NOW…
Text questions to our Moderator,
Michelle Poché Flaherty
650-509-0726
As appropriate during presentation Michelle will
interject your questions.
6
YOU WILL LEAVE WITH
▪ A Basic Understanding of PM
Principles, Practices and Resources
▪ Renewed confidence in PM skills
7
YOU SHARED POTENTIAL PROJECTS
RECORDS MANAGEMENT
ELECTED ONBOARDING
PRA PROCESS
ELECTIONS
8
PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN 5 STEPS
9
INITIATE
Story
Telling
PLAN
Resources
EXECUTE
Working
Plan
MONITOR
Oversight
CLOSE
Implement
ME2
ME4
CHANGE MANAGEMENT REALITIES
▪ Projects often enhance resources, solve
problems, create positive new products or
services
▪ Projects always create change
and require
Change-Management planning
10
▪
11
INITIATING: CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND
COMMUNICATION
▪ Telling/Selling the Story
▫ What is possible? Why is it needed?
▫ What resources will be saved?
▫ What is industry trend?
▫ How will work life be improved?
▫ Success Criteria and Vision
12
INITIATING: SETTING THE GOAL/CHARTER
▪ Clarifying/Codifying the Activities
▪ Estimating and Budgeting
▪ Resource and Feasibility Planning
▪ Element of Kickoff Documentation
13
INITIATING: SETTING THE GOAL/CHARTER
▫ What are we definitely not doing?
▫ How much work is to be done?
▫ What are the deliverables?
▫ Levels of authority and controls
▫ What are parameters/scope of project?
14
WHAT IS A CHARTER?
Critical formal document - outlines
project objectives, scope, identifies
main stakeholders and roles, defines
PM authority.
How to authorize scope -funding
changes, cost controls
15
The most powerful
person in the world
is the story teller
who sets the vision,
values and agenda
- Steve Jobs
“
“
PLANNING: IDENTIFYING BUDGET AND
RESOURCES
▪ Specifics we must achieve?
▪ ID levels of oversight needed?
▪ Codify funding realities
▪ Can this be a Pilot?
▪ Tools to be used
17
Plan the work…
and then work
the plan
PLANNING: ASSEMBLING TEAM
Core/Working Group
▪ Who is on the team? Roles?
▪ What is the chain of command?
▪ How will we work together?
Satellite Group/Support
▪ Who are stakeholders?
▪ Who are Sponsors/Champions?
19
PLANNING: ASSEMBLING TEAM
Stakeholder: person, group or system
impacted by project.
Sponsor: Ultimately responsible for project,
secures $ resources, in cash or in-kind, for
project. (Often CM)
Team member: Those working on project.
20
PLANNING: IDENTIFY RISKS
What/who might derail project?
Likelihood of issues emerging?
ID detractors? Engage in process early?
How can we mitigate risks?
What can we do now to prepare?
21
PLANNING: WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE
Breaking work, data, service into
deliverable pieces
Phased assignments for the project team
to meet deliverable plans – helps manage
schedule and costs
22
SMART SHEET
MS PROJECT
BASECAMP
ASANA
GOOGLE DOCS
SLACK
Place your screenshot here
23
TOOLS AVAILABLE
SAMPLE GANTT CHART
24
Project Management
Tools
Place your
screenshot here
25 01 08 15 22
Jan07
29 05 12 19
Feb07
26 05 12 19
Mar07
26 02 09 16 23
Apr07
30 07
14
May07
Status Date: 02/Mar/2007
WBS Description
Sample Project Plan
1 Literature Search
2 Concepts Development
3 Lab Models
4 Design
5 Prototype
SAMPLE GANTT CHART
25
Project Management
Tools
Place your
screenshot here
EXECUTING:
MANAGING SCHEDULE AND TIMELINE
▪ Timeline – Tracking deliverables
▪ Monitor sequence of activities
▪ Track estimate vs actual time required
for each step
▪ Monitor Tech solutions vs actual
26
COMMUNICATION MATTERS
▪ Face to Face meetings
▪ Video conferences/meetings
▪ Telephone conference, or voice only web conference
▪
Webinars for delivery of presentation based activities
▪ Telephone updates
▪ Stand up presentations in person
27
MORE COMMUNICATION
▪ Pod or Web cast
▪ Email
▪ Intranet bulletin boards
▪ Blogs
▪ Project website
▪ Project newsletter
▪ Table top presentation or display
28
29
WHAT TO DO
WHEN
THINGS
GO WRONG
MONITORING: RESPONSE PLAN
▪ Revisit Communication
▪ Engage the Project Champion (CM)
▪ Identify problem & size/impact
▪ Who will take the lead on fix?
▪ Use as growth opportunity
▪ “Learn to take breaks, not to quit”
30
WORK THE FIVE STEPS
31
INITIATE
Story
Telling
PLAN
Resources
EXECUTE
Working
Plan
MONITOR
Oversight
CLOSE
Implement
ME2
ME4
CLOSING
▪ Acknowledge work, people, and
partnerships
▪ Ensure Implementation complete
▪ Debrief, Evaluate and learn
▪ Celebrate
32
33
QUESTIONS
Mary Egan and Shirley Concolino
Providing
Innovative and
Practical Solutions
for our clients for
over 10 years
▪ Workplace Investigations
▪ HR Services
▪ CEO & Executive
Evaluations
▪ Project Management
▪ City Clerk Development
▪ Economic Development
▪ Training & Coaching
▪ Elected & Appointed
Board Governance
▪ Organizational Audits
▪ Parks & Recreation
▪ Use Planning
▪ Transit Demand
Management
34
Solutions-MRG.com 916-261-7547
Linn Walsh [email protected]
Project Management Essentials for City Clerk Executives
By Mary Egan and Shirley Concolino
We’re all familiar with the guidance “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. As organizational leaders, we
uncover opportunities to streamline and improve operations that are not apparent to others due to our
global perspective. The challenge is how to operationalize improvement opportunities and successfully
bring a project to conclusion.
City Clerks are natural project managers, currently responsible for meeting statutory deadlines, tracking
written materials and complex projects, and serving as subject matter experts in a variety of areas critical
to an agency’s success. Clerks have a unique perspective, an understanding of “political realities” and an
eye for efficiencies and enhancements that could improve city operations.
The daily activities of the City Clerk require knowledge of constituent demands and expectations. With
the increased need for government transparency, 24/7 access to City records, demands for public record
release, and clarity in agenda and actions, the time has never been better for expansion of the Clerk’s
role as a project leader.
What do we mean by Project Management?
Project Management is a learned set of “hard skills”, tools and techniques and “soft” skills such as
communication and conflict management that enables the visionary leader to build support for the
financial and time commitment to organizational change, assemble a team of engaged stakeholders,
track and lead the project following a critical path and ensure successful completion.
Critical Elements for Managing a Successful Project
There are several key project management skills that build upon project management theory, best
practices and experiences that are critical to deliver results. This article identifies the critical project
management tools to guide and inspire leaders.
Leadership Vision – Serving as a Change Manager
Every project starts with a vision of a new possibility. The success of any program relies upon a well-
executed front-end effort to build enthusiasm for change. Most are familiar with Stephen Covey’s, The
7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and so adeptly stated by him, one must “begin with the end in
mind”. By clearly envisioning the end game, we can steer a project to achieve that predetermined goal.
The Project Manager begins with a clear business case for the change, facilitates a critical path for
achieving the vision, seeks “buy in” and assigns responsibilities to stakeholders and task-focused staff
and vendors. Serving as an architect, the Project Manager facilitates the free flow of critical
information, resolves conflicts and monitors progress toward the end goal. Finally, the Project Manager
serves as the “cheerleader” for the project as few meaningful changes are successfully implemented
without an enthusiastic visionary leader.
2
Leadership in the project management context includes ensuring that the project does not begin without
a carefully constructed process, timeline and deliverables. The Project Manager does not have to be the
most senior leader in the organization but must visualize their role as a “stand in” for those up the chain
of command, including the elected body to ensure that the project resources are well used, and the
outcome as intended.
Leading those outside normal chain of command requires:
1) A clear project charter includes the scope of work, required deliverables, expected quality and
performance metrics, a project related timeline, an anticipated final outcome and pilot testing
expectations. It should also clarify team roles, hierarchy, authority and ultimate decision-making
chain of command clearly defined in a Charter;
2) Establishment of a project team typically includes categories of Sponsor, Steering Committee,
Users Group, Specialized Expert Users, Pilot Team, Legal Support, Contract Management and
Trainers. These role definitions provide a road map for addressing change requests, timeline
changes and other forces outside the control of the Project Manager. This group can also
establish the priority of desired deliverables, and make decisions with the larger organization in
mind;
3) Developing a team motivated to perform through shared expectations and accountability
processes.
Framing the Project Life Cycle – the Master Plan
A goal without a plan is a “wish”. The master plan is the critical document that drives the project-based
activities from the RFP through the post-implementation debrief. The plan is simply organizing the
tasks in the order required to optimize time and meet deadlines.
All projects have a delivery date – which requires a thoughtfully constructed timeline. The schedule
must be carefully developed because it establishes expectations and allows stakeholders to manage their
time and staff resources to support the project.
Planning tools help identify major milestones, and then define and sequence critical tasks, estimate
resource needs, and divide project elements into smaller pieces that can be more easily managed and
controlled.
There are many easy-to-use online project management tools that make the planning phase much easier
readily available. Applications, such as Smart Sheet, Zoho Project Manager and Basecamp, provide
access to visual tools such as Gantt Charts and allow online collaboration. These tools allow for “what
if” scenarios, to compare the impact of extending timelines or phases, allows for planning of resource
availability, and early indication if there are likely project delays.
There are many best practice tools within these software programs to help break the work into
meaningful tasks develop a schedule (critical path) and estimate resource needs. No matter the size or
scope of the project, the schedule is critical to define when each activity should be completed, and the
path toward completion. It is a living document, changing as issues arise. The well-executed project
plan also helps guard against or effectively manage “scope creep” where new deliverables or project
expectations are added to the project while underway.
3
In some cases, with major projects the Project Manager is relieved of other day to day responsibilities to
focus on the Project Management workload. However, with limited resources and growing
expectations, it is likely that the project will be an added expectation to a normal set of deliverables.
Time management is a critical success skill for project managers. Clerks may find that adopting some of
the same communication skills, work flow and organization tools and project planning systems for a
normal workload help maintain balance.
Allocate specific periods of time for focused project management responsibilities among other City
Clerk activities. Parkinson’s law tells us that a project will expand to the time allocated. Think carefully
about how your time is allocated. The project plan can eliminate energy- and time-wasting tendencies by
focusing and executing the team’s goals.
Communication – The Glue that Holds the Project Together
Project management inherently requires staff in the organization to change a current process, and in
many cases master a new skill. Project management brings together a disparate group of staff, often with
competing interests and expectations and crafts a joint vision of success.
Communication expectations, norms and methods are a critical element of the plan and should be
codified in the project Charter, the contract documents and the critical path/timeline.
Teams struggle without clarity on what they need to do, why and how they need to do it, and when they
must deliver. The project manager balances listening to understand with direction to ensure questions
are answered. A successful Project Manager does not have to be the subject matter expert on the topic
but must know how and when to access technical resources. However, Project Managers must work to
understand the platforms, systems and work flow related to the project at a deep enough level to
facilitate the critical conversations with confidence.
Clear and regular communication is necessary to control rumors, clarify direction and manage the scope
and anticipated outcomes. The best projects have managed stakeholder expectations by providing
accessible information available in a virtual and updated format for review. These methods can also be
used to solicit ideas, guidance and concerns from impacted staff without a direct role in the project. The
Project Manager must keep an open ear to “naysayers” who must be heard early in the project.
Meetings can be a “thief” of productive project time. However, they are critical for success. Project
managers develop effective meeting skills and ensure that project related staff prepare agendas in
advance, manage meeting times and outcomes, and follow up with action items. Project communication
includes clear status reports that define project details, reinforce the change management opportunities
and next steps by project phase.
Finally, the Project Team must be considering the change management impacts on the culture. If those
impacted by the change are not considered, it can and often does negatively impact the implementation.
When the organization is “on board” the odds of success are greater.
Self-Management – Managing the “Project Manager”
City Clerks are often among the most task laden staff in any agency. They have required routines and
protocols that, if breeched, interfere with the governing body’s ability to conduct business. These are
high stakes responsibilities. The Clerk is uniquely situated to impact the organization and inspire
change.
4
Demonstrating your ability to enthusiastically communicate envision an opportunity to improve
operations, your vision and your understanding of how to pull teams together for a common goal to
benefit the organization helps define you, the City Clerk, as an asset. Isn’t this ultimately how one takes
a seat at the table?
Impact on Budget/MilestonesDecision Making Authority/Impasse Steps
Milestones/Activities
Date Approved
Signature
Business Case/Problem Statement Expected Goals/Deliverables
Team Members/Resources
Name Role
Project Description/Scope
Project Name
Project Sponsor
Project Manager
Project Charter Template
Kick Off Plan
THE TOP 20 MOST POPULAR
Project Management Software
By Capterra June 2018 https://www.capterra.com/project-management-software/#infographic
Project Management Software gives any team the ability to organize, collaborate, and track details
and responsibilities of their projects. The Project Management Software industry is now over $1 billion
with hundreds of competitive solutions. Below is a look at the most popular options as measured by
a combination of their total number of customers, users, and social presence. To see a
comprehensive list, please visit our Project Management Software Directory.
SOFTWARE MARKET
SCORE
CUSTOMERS USERS REVIEWS SOCIAL
Microsoft Project
75 880,000 22,000,000 518 FACEBOOK - 270,922
LINKED IN - 5,472,967
TWITTER
-
32,000
Wrike
71 1,510,000 2,530,000 927 FACEBOOK – 16,525
LINKED IN – 14,083
TWITTER – 11,900
Atlassian
70 50,000 65,000,000 2,526 FACEBOOK – 181,103
LINKED IN – 111,311
TWITTER – 28,600
Basecamp
64 285,000 15,000,000 4,976 FACEBOOK – 59
LINKED IN – 14,149
TWITTER
–
124,000
Trello
57 72,647 4,750,000 3,919 FACEBOOK – 107,005
LINKED IN – 17,693
TWITTER
–
162,000
Asana
57 200,000 2,000,000 3,607 FACEBOOK – 254,586
LINKED IN – 20,486
TWITTER
–
118,000
Teamwork Projects
55 382,057 3,433,298 360 FACEBOOK – 23,880
LINKED IN – 3,440
TWITTER
–
9,947
Podio
55 500,000 2,500,000 158 FACEBOOK – 20,536
LINKED IN –244,974
TWITTER
–
17,200
Smartsheet
46 100,000 1,500,000 503 FACEBOOK – 11,822
LINKED IN – 17,819
TWITTER
–
11,400
Freedcamp
43 347,000 800,000 100 FACEBOOK – 3,375
LINKED IN –4 72
TWITTER
–
2,069
monday.com
40 30,000 1,000,000 764 FACEBOOK – 294,257
LINKED IN – 5,289
TWITTER
–
5,371
ProjectManager.com
39 110,000 550,000 230 FACEBOOK – 72,175
LINKED IN – 5,694
TWITTER
–
36,800
VersionOne
38 50,000 1,250,000 31 FACEBOOK – 4,048
LINKED IN – 6,453
TWITTER
–
8,372
Zoho Projects
35 20,000 1,200,000 127 FACEBOOK – 165,972
LINKED IN – 113,713
TWITTER
–
1,781
Mavenlink
35 50,000 750,000 244 FACEBOOK – 18,362
LINKED IN – 6,120
TWITTER
–
7,853
Assembla
28 4,000 1,000,000 26 FACEBOOK – 10,235
LINKED IN – 928
TWITTER
–
4,723
WorkflowMax
26 12,000 756,000 73 FACEBOOK – 2,977
LINKED IN – 1,390
TWITTER
–
6,821
iTaskX
26 28,000 72,800 2 FACEBOOK – 28
LINKED IN – 0
TWITTER
–
0
Pivotal Tracker
25 20,000 200,000 65 FACEBOOK – 19,062
LINKED IN – 274
TWITTER
–
10,900
Workfront
25 3,000 473,000 542 FACEBOOK – 4,740
LINKED IN – 20,950
TWITTER
–
8,171
*Customer and user numbers are provided by the companies in this report. Capterra does not audit
them but uses third-party data to both challenge questionable numbers and to make estimates for
companies that do not provide data. Please refer to our blog for further insight into our research and
methodology.
Another great and more detailed review of Project Management Software products can be found at PC
Magazine
https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380448,00.asp?source=autosuggest
