With management's support, you can begin designing a detailed project plan. Whether you use a Pert chart or an old-fashioned flow chart, you need to remember the chart is not the project. Yes, it must define the objective and scope of the project, but it should also include deadlines and be flexible enough to bend when extenuating issues require it. Select tools and resources carefully to enable this kind of management flexibility. You need to choose good software and train employees and managers so everyone can use these tools.
Many tools can augment project management software to help things move smoothly.
Ordinary background products such as voicemail ande-mail can go a long way in tying temporary project teams together. Voicemail, if it's designated a priority, can cut down on phone-tag problems. Many groupware and intranet vendors tout the usefulness of shared discussion threads on Web pages or in newsgroups. But they usually play a minor role in the real world. Usually, projects are moving too fast for idle written discussion during working hours.