Facilitating the Project Lifecycle: The Skills & Tools to Accelerate Progress for Project Managers, Facilitators, and Six Sigma Project Teams (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series)

418 Pages·2005·5.27 MB·English

by  Janet A. Means

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Facilitating the
Project Lifecycle
Skills & Tools to
Accelerate Progress for
Project Managers, Facilitators, and
Six Sigma Project Teams
Jan Means
Tammy Adams
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01_978752_ffirs.qxd 7/11/05 6:41 PM Page i
Facilitating the
Project Lifecycle
01_978752_ffirs.qxd 7/11/05 6:41 PM Page ii
01_978752_ffirs.qxd 7/11/05 6:41 PM Page iii
Facilitating the
Project Lifecycle
Skills & Tools to
Accelerate Progress for
Project Managers, Facilitators, and
Six Sigma Project Teams
Jan Means
Tammy Adams
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Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Facilitating the Project Lifecycleby Jan Means and Tammy Adams
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Means, Jan.
Facilitating the project lifecycle : skills & tools to accelerate progress for project managers, facilitators, and
six sigma project teams / Jan Means, Tammy Adams.-1st ed.
p. cm.- (The Jossey-Bass business & management series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13 978-0-7879-7875-4 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10 0-7879-7875-2 (alk. paper)
1. Project management. 2. Group facilitation. 3. Six sigma (Quality control standard) I. Adams, Tammy
II. Title. III. Series.
HD69.P75A335 2005
658.4’013-dc22 2005004547
Printed in the United States of America
FIRSTEDITION
PB Printing10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series
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We dedicate this work to:
Those who laid a strong foundation—
Our parents
Harry and Dorothy Means
J.L.and Doris Kennedy
Mentor and friend
Kevin Brennan
Those who inspire us to grow—
Our clients
Our colleagues
Those who have seen us through it all,our greatest gifts—our husbands
Bernie Fredette
Howard Adams
In memory of Kevin Brennan
1948–2002
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Contents
Tables, Figures, and Exhibits ix
Acknowledgments xiii
The Authors xv
Introduction xvii
PART 1 THE POWER OF THE PARTNERSHIP:PROJECTS AND FACILITATION
Section 1 The Commitment to Perform 3
1 Old Dogs and New Tricks 5
2 Facilitation Within the Project Lifecycle 12
Section 2 The Ability to Perform 23
3 Who’s on First? 25
4 What Effective Facilitation Is and Is Not 32
PART 2 THE PARTNERSHIP IN PRACTICE:MAKING FACILITATED WORK
SESSIONS WORK
Section 3 Work Session Basics 43
5 Making Work Sessions Work 45
6 The Work Session Tightrope 55
7 Preparing for the Work Session 69
8 Conducting the Work Session 82
9 Wrapping Up the Work Session 94
Section 4 Facilitating the Deliverable 101
10 Establishing the Project Charter 103
11 Analyzing and Designing Business Processes 116
12 Defining Business Requirements 135
vii
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viii Contents
13 Assessing Risks 152
14 Convening Work-in-Progress Reviews 166
PART 3 THE TECHNIQUES
Section 5 General Facilitation Techniques:Engaging the Group 187
15 It’s All About Communication 189
16 Flip-Charting 197
17 Brainstorming 202
18 Facilitated Dialogue 206
19 Nominal Group and Affinity Analysis 211
20 Prioritization Techniques 217
21 Breakout Groups 232
22 Staying On Track: Agendas, Action Items, and Other Focusing
Techniques 237
Section 6 Specialized Facilitation Techniques:Building the Deliverables 251
23 Creating a Purpose Statement 253
24 Defining Objectives and Targets 258
25 Scope Framing 267
26 Guiding Factors: Assumptions, Constraints, Dependencies,
and Touch Points 276
27 Discovering Impacts 282
28 Risk Analysis Matrices 288
29 Process Decomposition 298
30 Process Mapping 308
31 Process Detail Table 323
32 Context Diagramming 329
33 Requirements Table 345
34 Developing a Timeline 357
PART 4 RESOURCES
A Cross-Reference Tables for Tools and Techniques 367
B Recommended Books and Journals 369
C Recommended Web Sites 372
D Recommended Organizations 375
References 378
Index 379
Templates on CD-ROM 385
How to Use the Accompanying CD-ROM 391