Crisis Management & Business Continuity / MASY1-GC 3615-200
Kelly McKinney, Adjunct Instructor | krm261@nyu.edu
Description of Assignment5: Project Canvas
Due prior to Class #6
“It’s not enough to do a lot of things quickly. We must be able to do everything all at once”
Background
The crisis is deliberate and methodical. It bides its time, gathering strength and power, and building its unique chaotic mix. And, at just the right moment, it unleashes its most fearsome weapon, an avalanche of impacts we call surge. Everything happens at once—everything, that is, except what we want to happen
Extreme Project Management
To counter this, it’s not enough for us to do a lot of things at the same time. Human needs cannot wait, so we have to be able to do everything all at once. We call that multi-tasking, or extreme project management
Luckily you have a process and tools that you put into place long ago and practice long before the crisis so you have the muscle memory to execute. And get you started down the road of doing everything all at once
Project Canvas
The project canvas is a tool that enables your emergency operations. It allows you to execute many big and critically important things all at the same time
First you must gather your team. That is your team, your mechanism; your greatest tool. The mechanism is an incident organization. Convened by you. In the crisis business we call it a “task-based organization” because it is unique. It is convened for a specific incident and doesn’t exist after that incident is over.
And you use that team to help you to list all of the things that need to be done, who will do them, when they will be completed and where you will get all of the stuff you will need to make it happen
Template
A template project canvas is attached to this assignment sheet that includes the three domains made up of three building blocks each.
· These are the fundamental questions that must be answered by the crisis team
1. Foundation: Why are we doing it? How much will it cost? What benefits will it bring?
2. People: Who will be accountable for it? Who will benefit from it? Who will manage it?
3. Creation: What will it deliver? How and when will the work be done? How are we going to engage stakeholders?
Assignment
For this assignment, you will use the attached template project canvas and execute the following steps to develop a completed project canvas:
1. Review the worst-case scenario that you submitted for your focus organization in Assignment 2
2. Review the impacts that your worst-case scenario is having on your focus organization that you submitted in Assignment 3 (Worst-Case Scenario Analysis) and what you are doing about them (as listed under “What I/ We Would Do About It”)
3. Review the fictional Situation Report that you prepared for your worst-case scenario that you submitted in Assignment 4 (Situation Report: Worst-Case Scenario).
4. Choose one incident-related project (hereafter the “focus project”) as listed under “What I/ We Would Do About It” that you submitted in Assignment 3 (Worst-Case Scenario Analysis).
a. Your focus project should be a complex, long duration and multi-faceted effort with significant costs as well as significant benefits to stakeholders
b. Example focus projects for this assignment could include design, organizing and implementing such operations as large-scale:
i. Facility clean-up and restoration
ii. Employee shelter and feeding facility
iii. Support operation for the dozens of families of colleagues killed
5. Now, consider this fictional situation: You are the Project Manager for the focus project and it is two hours into its worst case scenario
6. You have convened an imaginary task force (a subcommittee of the Crisis Team) that consists of an executive sponsor, project team, experts and suppliers for a detailed scoping workshop
7. The deliverable of the scoping workshop is a completed project canvas
8. The completed project canvas will list all the information elements that must be considered to ensure effective execution of the focus project that has arisen out of your worst-case scenario disaster
Peel the onion
1. To do this, you will need to “peel the onion”:
i. What would be happening in the affected area? What would you be seeing, feeling, thinking and experiencing there?
ii. Apply your attention to your fictional situation to fully imagine and develop your project canvas in as much rich, fine-grained detail as possible.
iii. Imagine the people and make up their titles, roles and responsibilities
iv. Describe the tasks along with who, what and where they would occur
v. Determine the resources that would be required along with how many you will need and how much it will cost
vi. Name names, dollar amounts, addresses—all of the information that would be provided for a real incident
2. Use these imagined insights and content to prepare and submit a completed “Project Canvas”
Macintosh HD:Users:deepa:Downloads:sps_long_color.jpg
Macintosh HD:Users:deepa:Downloads:sps_long_color.jpg
3.
3 Assignment Description
Project Manager
Project Name
Foundation
People
Creation
Purpose
Why are we doing the project?
Sponsorship
Who is accountable for the project?
Stakeholders
Who will benefit from and be affected by the project?.
Deliverables
What will the project produce, build or deliver?
Plan
How and when will the work be carried out?
Resources
Who will manage the project, and which skills are needed to deliver the project?
Change
How are we going to engage stakeholders and manage the risks?
Investment
How much with the project cost?
Benefits
What benefits and impact will the project generate, and how will we know the project is successful?
Version
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MASY1-GC 3615-200 / Crisis Management & Business Continuity
Adjunct Instructor Kelly McKinney | krm261@nyu.edu
Project Canvas is the title of the fifth assignment.
Prior to the start of Class #6, this assignment is due.
“Doing a lot of things quickly isn’t enough. We need to be able to do everything at the same time.”
Background
The crisis is well-planned and well-executed. It bides its time, gaining strength and power while it creates its own wild combination. It also launches its most terrifying weapon, an avalanche of impacts known as surge, at precisely the exact time. Everything happens at the same time—everything except what we desire to happen, that is.
Project Management at Its Finest
To combat this, doing a lot of tasks at the same time isn’t enough. Human needs cannot be postponed, so we must be prepared to respond quickly.
