Executing a Project: The Roles of the Key Players

The previous chapters have been concerned with the processes that precede work on the project proper. Because of its magnitude (in terms of duration and resources), execution is the most prominent phase in the life of a project. Execution is outputs-focused and, accordingly, it is dominated by the work required to produce, deliver and implement those outputs. That work is described and defined in the instruments discussed throughout Chap. 6 (in particular the WBS and Gantt chart). Although the plan defines what we want to happen, execution will inevitably unfold differently. Those same instruments can now be employed to monitor the project so that we are able to manage deviations from plan. Here we discuss the involvement of the key players in this activity.