Project management in libraries, archives and museums : working with government and other external partners

Aimed at practitioners and managers, this practical handbook provides a source of guidance on project management techniques for the academic and cultural heritage sectors, focusing on managing projects involving public sector and other external partners. Issues under consideration and illustration include: different approaches to managing projects and how to select appropriate methods; using project management tools and other applications in project development and implementation; ensuring the sustainability of project outcomes and transferability into practice; realistic monitoring methodologies and specification and commissioning evaluation work that has real value.

• List of figures and tables p. ix
• Acknowledgements p. xiii
• List of abbreviations and acronyms p. xv
• About the author p. xvii
• 1 What does project management mean? p. 1
• Introduction p. 1
• What is a project? p. 2
• Kinds of projects p. 3
• Project or programme p. 5
• The project lifecycle approach to project management p. 6
• Prince2 p. 10
• Why project management - why projects fail p. 11
• Project management role and responsibilities p. 13
• Projects management in libraries, museums and archives p. 15
• What does this book do? p. 17
• Notes p. 19
• 2 Project planning and review p. 21
• Introduction p. 21
• Project initiation p. 21
• Revisiting the project plan p. 22
• Project planning activities p. 25
• The business case p. 35
• Monitoring the project plan p. 37
• Monitoring assumptions and risks p. 39
• Notes p. 39
• 3 Working in project partnerships p. 41
• Introduction p. 41
• Local government and other partnership policies p. 41
• Benefits of working in partnership p. 45
• Building partnerships p. 47
• Partnership roles and tasks p. 50
• Governance and management structures p. 53
• Project partnership governance structures p. 55
• Partnership management challenges p. 56
• Working across different cultures and sectors p. 59
• Notes p. 61
• 4 Risk management p. 63
• Introduction p. 63
• What does risk management involve? p. 64
• Elements of risk management p. 64
• Management and institutional attitudes to risk p. 65
• Initial risk identification and analysis p. 66
• Techniques for assessing risk p. 67
• Risk categories and factors p. 71
• Legal issues p. 76
• Risk tolerance and risk thresholds p. 77
• The risk log p. 78
• The risk profile p. 80
• Suitable responses to risk p. 82
• Risk responsibilities p. 83
• Notes p. 84
• 5 Managing human resources within a project p. 85
• Introduction p. 85
• Orchestrating decisions p. 86
• Knowledge, skills and attitudes required by project managers p. 87
• Contextual issues in managing the project's human resources p. 89
• The project team p. 94
• Team building p. 97
• Internal and external dynamics p. 99
• Interface management p. 100
• Team communication p. 102
• Team motivation p. 103
• Notes p. 104
• 6 Managing other project resources p. 107
• Introduction p. 107
• Time p. 108
• Monitoring project progress p. 111
• Time management p. 112
• Money p. 114
• Subcontractors and suppliers p. 120
• Notes p. 126
• 7 Evaluation and review p. 127
• Introduction p. 127
• Planning evaluations p. 128
• General principles for evaluation p. 128
• What type of evaluation? p. 128
• Review or evaluation p. 133
• Who will carry out the evaluation? p. 133
• Designing the evaluation p. 133
• Evaluation approaches p. 137
• Evaluation research methods p. 144
• Managing the evaluation process p. 147
• Notes p. 149
• 8 Quality management in projects p. 151
• Introduction p. 151
• Quality management systems p. 152
• Challenges associated with project quality management p. 153
• Project quality or deliverable quality? p. 154
• Managing quality and quality assurance p. 154
• Essential components of quality management within projects p. 155
• Quality planning p. 159
• Quality control p. 163
• Acceptance testing, piloting and evaluating p. 166
• Notes p. 169
• 9 Sustainability of projects p. 171
• Introduction p. 171
• Sustainability aspects p. 171
• Sustainability and quality p. 173
• Sustainability and equity p. 174
• Planning for sustainability p. 174
• Revenue generation p. 176
• Notes p. 180
• 10 Using information and communication technology in project management p. 181
• Introduction p. 181
• Project management applications p. 182
• The task-oriented approach to choosing ICT tools p. 188
• Challenges for the project manager p. 194
• Notes p. 195
• Useful resources p. 197
• Glossary of project management terms p. 201
• Index p. 205