Vendor and Project Management 101
Metro Philadelphia Chapter LMA Program
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Speakers:
- Clare Block, Director of Marketing, Flaster Greenberg PC
- Marci Krufka Taylor, Founder, Mantra Partner
- Rae Ritter, Director of Client Service and Marketing, Legal Internet Solutions Incorporated (LISI)
The January program started off with an introduction from Cynthia Sharp of The Sharper Lawyer who was sponsoring the lunch. The speakers did a great job of getting their point across and engaging the audience. Clare, Marci and Rae covered the best practices of vendor and project management. They noted that the two are very tightly interwoven today so in some cases they used that terminology interchangeably. They talked about the best practices of project management and vendor management, how to stay on track and what to do if your project does get derailed or you have some scope creep.
The program included plenty of interaction between the speakers and guests as well as between the guests themselves. Questions were asked throughout the presentation including a project management software conversation that broke out mid-way through the presentation. The speakers shared software they’ve used and other guests sharing software recommendations and experiences. The audience was able to see project management from the vendor’s point of view as a vendor spoke up at the end of the program to let them know they can rely on their vendors as well. He let them know that vendors can act as management team for their clients up to a certain point. They can give you accurate reading, production times, etc.
Lastly, the speakers left the group with an actionable checklist of steps, outlined below, so that they could apply those to their next project.
Checklist:
1. Pre-project Planning
- Get budget estimate
- Check in with resources
- Identify stakeholders
- Define goals
- Record Benchmarks
2. Gather Requirement
- Techniques
- Test “use cases” against the requirements
- Check in with resources
- Vendor selection
3. Project Management
- Follow the leader
- Manage expectations
- Educate your vendor on your company culture
4. Communication, Communication, Communication
- Communicate the schedule
- Communicate risks
- Schedule regular check-ins
- Have an escalation plan
- Prevent scope creep
5. Test Deliverables
- Compare to requirements at every milestone
- Soft launch with pilot group for testing
- Measure against benchmarks
- Communicate with company once project is approved and complete
6. Evaluate the Project
- Lessons learned
- Victories
- Disappointments
- ROI
- Apply take-aways to the next project
- Go celebrate!
Click here to download the PowerPoint presentation.