What to Expect When You Engage in a Project With Lutz Tech

In the continually evolving world of IT, no two projects are ever alike. Unexpected twists and turns abound; technology can be a finicky beast – even on the best of days. Lutz Tech strives to bring reliability and peace of mind to our clients’ projects through our four pillars of Project Management. These pillars, which also align with our four Lutz core values, are always top of mind for our project managers and provide a guideline for project success, no matter the dynamic circumstances that each inevitably brings.

PM Pillar #1: Authorize the project with a Scope of Work

Core Value: Confidence

Every project at Lutz Tech starts with a Scope of Work (SOW). This document outlines the key aspects of the project and serves as a roadmap for the entire endeavor. It begins with a solution statement, which clearly asserts the objective of the whole project.

From there, perhaps the most important part of the SOW is the deliverables section. The project deliverables, in a nutshell, tell both our client and our engineering team the specific work we are agreeing to perform and holding ourselves accountable to. Just as importantly, this section also explicitly states anything that is NOT included in the project deliverables. 

Other important parts of the scope of work include any prerequisites that must be met by either team before project work can begin, the key stakeholders for both the client and engineering teams and the level of risk involved with the project endeavor. The ultimate purpose of the Scope of Work document is to give all stakeholders a clear and confident picture of what project success looks like.

PM Pillar #2: Simplify complexities

Core Value: Brainpower

IT projects can get very complicated fast. Project engineers live and thrive in complexity, whereas most end users do not. An effective project manager can distill those complex technical events into the bottom line: What is the goal we are trying to achieve, and how will this affect the end user? Will the network be unavailable during the work? For how long? What can I expect after the work is complete? Who should I reach out to if I have a problem?

These are the common questions clients ask as we guide them through IT projects. Summarizing the key points helps set proper expectations with our client partners and, more importantly, makes the complex simple so that they can continue to focus on their business. Lutz Tech digs into the technical weeds on our client’s behalf, allowing them to stay high level.

PM Pillar #3: Choose resources smartly

Core Value: Humanity

Each member of our IT project team has unique talents and strengths. A good project manager understands the unique attributes of each team member and leverages those teammates appropriately for the project at hand. Having a team member doing the work best suited to their skill set is a better experience for everyone, especially our clients.

PM Pillar #4: Proactively communicate

Core Value: Integrity

IT work is intrinsically dynamic, so we balance that by providing consistent and effective communication to our clients throughout the project lifecycle. When we first see a problem on the horizon, we make our clients aware and work with them to overcome the issue immediately. Obstacles in a project will always crop up – it’s the name of the game. Thorough communication in a project helps minimize the effect of such obstacles and builds trust and rapport with our clients.

Our four project management pillars aim to bring a standard, repeatable process to our projects, which equals a consistent experience for our clients. We believe in them so much that at the end of each project, we ask our clients to provide feedback on how well we exemplified them. We always want to improve and rely on our clients to help push us to be better. Contact us to learn more about how Lutz Tech can help you.