On October 24th, OBIO hosted “Project Management Essentials for Every Health Science Entrepreneur” led by Ashwini Bhaskar who shared from his 20 years of experience.

The purpose of the workshop was to introduce basic project knowledge and common terminology, to provide insights into where to go for more information and provide some simple take-aways that could be used immediately.

Ashwini discussed how the 10 knowledge areas (integration, scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, communications, risk, procurement, stakeholder) are applied across the 5 stages of a project (initiate, plan, execute, monitor, close). He also provided templates for a project management handbook, change request form, issue log, status reports and risk management as well as references to other sources of information.

Some of his take-aways included:

1. Start by defining the objectives and goals of the project. Developing a project charter (AKA project proposal, statement of work). This is a short (<5 page) document where you provide at a high level, the background, scope, objectives, people involved, target dates, budget, assumptions, constraints, risks and dependencies.

2. Have clearly defined metrics that are used to monitor progress and success

3. Choose the team based on the needs of the project, not the availability of individuals.

4. Communicate – have regular calls/meetings with the team and provide updates to all stakeholders

5. Proactively manage risk – identify risk and develop strategies for dealing with them.

The recorded workshop, slides, templates and addition information are available through OBIO’s Members Portal.