Project Management
A project is a set of activities with a defined start point and a defined endpoint, which pursues a defined goal and uses a defined set of resources.
Most operations improvement (even continuous improvement) can be seen as a series of overlapping mini-projects that cumulatively contribute to a never-ending development effort
Project Commonality
All projects are missioned focused – they are dedicated to achieving a specific goal that should be delivered within a set timeframe, to certain specifications, using defined group resources
project management is the activity of defining, planning, controlling, and learning from projects of any type
It is concerned with balancing what the project delivers, the time it takes, and its costs within the so-called iron triangle (quality, time, and cost)
This is a very broad activity in that it can encompass almost all the operations management tasks (this is in the context of operations development because the majority of projects that the manager will be engaged in are essentially improvement projects)
Programmes vs Projects
Programmes, such as continuous improvement programmes, have no defined endpoint. Rather, it is an ongoing process of change
Individual projects may be individual sub-sections of an overall programme, but programme management will overlay and integrate the individual projects
Differentiating by project's volume and variety characteristics
All project processes are, by definition, in the top left corner of the matrix, but, within that end of the natural diagonal, projects do vary
At the very top, left-hand of the matrix are projects that are genuinely first-timers, with a very high degree of uniqueness, a volume of one and an infinite variety
With less uniqueness, higher volume, and less variety (as before, but…) projects may share some of the attributions of previous projects but may have new features where project managers have little or no previous experience to help guide them
With higher volume (therefore a greater degree of repetition) and lower variety (paint by numbers), projects are relatively routine and predictable, and so, more straightforward to manage
Differentiating by project's scale, complexity, and uncertainty characteristics
a wedding planning project has (relatively) low levels of scale, complexity, and uncertainty.
management challenges of such a project are significantly different to developing the Airbus A380, which exhibited much higher levels of all three dimensions (the scale, complexity, and uncertainty of such ground-breaking projects demand far more sophisticated planning, greater and more flexible resources, and careful control if they are to be successful)
stages of Project Management
Stage 1 = Understanding the project environment – internal and external factors that may influence the project
Stage 2 = Defining the project – setting the objectives, scope, and strategy for the project
Stage 3 = Project planning – deciding how the project will be executed
Stage 4 = Technical execution – performing the technical aspects of the project
Stage 5 = Project control – ensuring that the project is carried out according to the plan
Project environment
This comprises all the factors that may affect the project during its life
The factors are considered as:
- Geo-social environment – geographical, climatic, and cultural factors that may affect the project
- Eco-political environment – economic, governmental, and regulatory factors in which the project takes place
- Business environment – industrial, competitive, supply network, and customer expectation factors that shape the likely objectives of the project
- Internal environment – individual company’s or group’s strategy and culture, the resources available and the interaction with other projects that will influence the project
Role of Stakeholders
Project stakeholders are those individuals, groups, or entities that have an interest in the project process or outcome. In other words, they affect or are affected by, the project
Types:
Internal stakeholders include the clients, the project sponsor, the project team, functional managers, contractors, and project support
External stakeholders (this includes those outside of the core project, rather than necessarily outside of the organisation) include end users, suppliers, competitors, lobby groups, shareholders, government agencies, and employees
Managing stakeholders
One approach to discriminating between different stakeholders is to distinguish between their power to influence the project and their interest in doing so
Categories:
High-power, interested groups must be fully engaged, with the greatest effort made to satisfy them
High-power, less-interested groups require enough effort to keep them satisfied, but not so much that they become bored or irritated with the message
Low-power, interested groups need to be kept adequately informed, with checks to ensure that no major issues are arising. These groups may be very helpful with the detail of the project
Low-power, less-interested groups need monitoring, though without excessive communication
Project definition
Its objectives – the end that project management is trying to achieve
Its scope – the exact range of the responsibilities taken on by project management
Its strategy – how project management is going to meet its objectives
Project definition continuation
Objectives
help to provide a definition of the endpoint, which can be used to monitor progress and identify when success has been achieved
They can be judged in terms of the five performance objectives (quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost)
However, flexibility is regarded as a given in most projects, which, by definition, are, to some extent, one-offs.
Speed and dependability are typically compressed into one composite objective – time
Leads to the Iron Triangle (Cost, Time, and Quality)
Good objectives are that that are clear, measurable and, preferably, quantifiable
Clarifying objectives involves breaking down project objectives into three categories
Purpose – to allow budgets to be agreed upon and confirmed prior to the annual financial meeting
End result – a report that identifies the causes of budget delays, and recommends new budgeting processes and systems
Success criteria – the report should be completed by 30th June, meet all departments’ needs and enable integrated and dependable delivery of agreed budget statements. The cost of the recommendation should not exceed $200,000
Scope
It is a boundary-setting exercise that attempts to define the dividing line between what each part of the project will do and what it won’t do
Defining scope is particularly important when part of a project is being outsourced
A supplier’s scope of supply will identify the legal boundaries within which the work must be done
Sometimes the scope of the project is articulated in a formal project specification, which is the written, pictorial, and graphical information used to define the output and the accompanying terms and conditions
The project scope will also outline limits or exclusions to the project
This is critical because perceptions of project success or failure often originate from the extent to which deliverables, limits, and exclusions have been clearly stated and understood by all parties during the scoping phase
Strategy
defines, in general rather than a specific way, how the project is going to meet its objectives
This is done by:
defining the phases of the project
setting milestones and/or stage gates
Milestones is a more passive term, which may herald the review of a part-complete project or mark the completion of a stage
A stage gate often launches further activities and, therefore, commits the project to additional costs etc
How can projects be planned?
The planning process fulfils four distinct purposes:
It determines the cost and duration of the project
It determines the level of resources that will be needed
It helps to allocate work and to monitor progress
It helps to assess the impact of any changes to the project
The process of planning is:
Identify the activities in the project (the work breakdown structure)
Estimate the times and resources for activities
Identify the relationships and dependencies between the activities
Identify time and resource schedule constraints
Fix the schedule for time and resources
Process of Planning continuation
IA
Most projects are too complex to be planned and controlled effectively unless they are first broken down into manageable portions, which is achieved by structuring the project into a family tree that specifies major tasks or sub-projects
In turn, these are divided into smaller tasks until a defined, manageable series of tasks, called a work package, is arrived at
Each work package can be allocated its own objectives in terms of cost, quality, and time.
They also:
Don’t exceed 10 days
Should be independent of each other
Should belong to one sub-deliverable
Should constantly be monitored
Leads to the work breakdown structure (WBS), which brings clarity and definition to the project planning process
ET&R
The impact of uncertainty on estimating times leads some project managers to use a probability curve to describe the estimate
These are usually a positively skewed distribution, showing the greater the risk leading to a greater range of distribution
The natural tendency of some people is to produce optimistic estimations, but these will have a relatively low probability of being correct because they represent the time that would be taken if everything went well
A Pessimistic estimate assumes that almost everything that could go wrong does go wrong
Expected activity time = Te = (to+ 4tl + tp) / 6
Variance = ((tp - to )^2) / 36
te = Expected activity time
to = Optimistic activity time
tl = Most likely activity time
tp = Pessimistic activity time
IR&D
All the work packages that are identified will have some relationship with one another that will depend on the logic of the project
Some activities will, by necessity, need to be executed in a particular order, such as building a house
Whilst other activities do not have any such dependence on each other, such as the rear garden of the house, could probably be prepared totally independently of the gauge being built
A Gnatt chart is the simplest way to exhibit an overall project plan, because they have excellent visual impact and are easy to understand.
These two activities have an independent or parallel relationship
ISC
The finite nature of critical resources – such as special skills – means that they should be taken into account in the planning process
This often has the effect of highlighting the need for more detailed re-planning
Fundamental approaches
Resource-constrained – When only the available resource levels are used in resource scheduling and are not exceeded. As a result, the project completion may slip
Time-constrained – The overriding priority is to complete the project within a given time. Once normally available resources have been used up, alternative threshold resources are scheduled
FS
Network Analysis
As a project’s complexity increases, it becomes necessary to identify clearly the relationship between activities and show the logical sequence in which activities must take place
Bitrix24, Trello, 2-Plan PMS, Asama, MS project, and Producteev
This is typically done using the critical-path method (CPM) to clarify the relationships between activities diagrammatically (activity-on-node method)
The diagram shows that there are a number of chains of events that must be completed before the project can be considered finished
The longest of these chains of activities is called the critical-path as it represents the shortest time in which the project can be finished and therefore dictates the project timing
However, non-critical activities have some flexibility as to when they start and finish (known either as float or slack)
Program Evaluation an Review Technique
This is a technique that recognises that activity duration and costs in project management cannot be forecasted perfectly, so probability theory should be used
In this type of network, the duration of each activity is estimated on an optimistic, a most-likely, and a pessimistic basis
If it is assumed that these times estimations are consistent with a beta probability distribution, the mean and variance of the distribution can be estimated as follows
te = (to+ 4tl + tp) / 6
The variance of the distribution (V) can be calculated as follows:
V= ((tp - to)^2) / 6^2
Project control
deals with the management activities that take place during the execution of the project. As such, project control is the essential link between planning and doing
This involves 4 key challenges
How to monitor the project in order to check on its progress
How to assess the performance of the project by comparing monitored observations of the project with the project plan
How to intervene in the project in order to make the changes that will bring it back to plan
How to manage matrix tensions in the project in order to reconcile the interest of both the project and different organisational functions
Project control continuation
Project monitoring
To some extent the measures used will depend on the nature of the project. However, common measures include:
Current expenditure to date
Supplier price changes
Amount of overtime authorised
Technical changes to project
Inspection failures
Number and length of delays
Activities not started on time
Missed milestones
Some of these monitored measures affect mainly cost, some mainly time. However, when something affects the quality of the project, there are also time and cost implications
Assessing project performance
The monitored measures of project performance at any point in time need to be assessed so that project management can make a judgement concerning overall performance
This pattern of a slow start followed by a faster pace, with an eventual tail-off of activity, holds true for almost all projects, which is why the rate of total expenditure follows an S-shaped pattern
Intervening to change the project
If the project is clearly out of control in the sense that its costs, quality levels, or time are significantly different from those planned, then some kind of intervention is almost certainly likely to be required
The exact nature of the intervention will depend on the technical characteristics of the project, but it is likely to need the advice of all the people who would be affected
Given the interconnected nature of projects – a change to one part of the project will have knock-on effects elsewhere – which means that interventions often require wide consultation
Managing matrix tensions
In all but the simplest projects, project managers need to reconcile the interests of both the project itself and the departments contributing resources to the project
To function effectively, matrix management structures should have the following characteristics:
There should be effective channels of communication between all managers involved, with relevant departmental managers contributing to project planning and resourcing decisions
There should be formal procedures in place for resolving the management conflicts that do arise
Project staff should be encouraged to feel committed to their projects, as well as to their own department
Project management should b seen as the central coordinating role, with sufficient time devoted to planning the project and securing the agreement of the line managers to deliver on time and within budget