Application Project Management

Hargeisa University
July 2017

1
 Introduction to Project Management

• Project Failures
• Project Successes
• What is Project Management?
• Key Functional Areas of Project Management
• Project Life Cycle

2
 Project Failure
Exercise

• Identify reasons that project fail.

3
 Reasons for Project Failure

1. Poor project and program management

2. Lack of executive-level support
3. No linkage to the business strategy
4. Wrong team members
5. No measures for evaluating the success of
the project
6. No risk management
7. Inability to manage change

4
 Project Success Criteria

• On time
• On budget
• Meeting the goals that have been agreed upon

5
 What is a Project?
• Any project is essentially a collection of
interrelated activities:
– people,
– tools,
– resources,
– processes, and other assets brought together in the
pursuit of a common goal
• � The goal may be in terms of generating a
physical product, providing a service, or
achieving a specific result.
6
 Why are projects challenging?
 Unique, something new, no blueprint
 Sometimes difficult to define what is it, when
does it end
 Working with people
 Too much to do, too little time
 As soon as you start, something changes

7
Why is project management important?
 Why do we need project managers or people
who can manage projects?
 to address the previous challenges
 to get the required work done as quickly and
efficiently as possible

8
 What is a Project Manager?

• Ultimately responsible for the Project’s

Success
• Plan and Act
• Focus on the project’s end
• Be a manager & leader

9
 Project Manager Role
• A Good Project Manager
– Takes ownership of the whole project
– Is proactive not reactive
– Adequately plans the project
– Is Authoritative (NOT Authoritarian)
– Is Decisive
– Is a Good Communicator
– Manages by data and facts not uniformed optimism
– Leads by example
– Has sound Judgement
– Is a Motivator
– Is Diplomatic
– Can Delegate
10
 Cont…
• The overarching goals of project management
are similar:-
 They want to apply a proven practice.
 They want to save time.
 They want to save money.
 They want to optimize their resources.
 They want to serve customer needs.

11
 Cont…
• Project management progressively more
attractive.
• It is claimed that project management saves:-
– time
– money, and organizational effort,
– value-added profession from the customer
perspective

12
 PM as a Time- and Cost-Saver
• One of major reasons that project management
has become increasingly popular is its role as
time-saver.

• In many modern projects, time is a

consideration equal to, or more important
than, money.

13
 Cont…
• Early Intervention

 Project management saves time and money

most effectively when it is used from the
beginning of a project.

 The power of project management as the

means of being competitive.

14
 Project Management

• Project Management:-

– The “application of knowledge, skills, tools and

techniques to project activities to meet project
requirements.”
• 9 Knowledge areas that you have to know

15
 Cont…
1. Integration Management
– Fitting everything together
– Planning
– Project Changes

2. Project Scope Management

16
 Cont…
3. Project Time Management
– Time and Schedule
• Planning
• Managing
4. Project Cost Management

17
 Cont…
5. Project Quality Management
– Planning quality
– Enforcing quality
– Checking quality control

18
 Cont…

6. Project Human Resource Management

– Organizational planning
– Staff acquisition
– Making a team
7. Project Communications Management

19
 Cont…
8. Project Risk Management
– Risk management plan

9. Project Procurement Management

20
Activities before the project Initiation
• Discovery: Finding the Projects
• Projects don ’t just spring from nowhere.
• Discovery is the process by reviews the
available opportunities and decides which of
them will become projects in due course.

21
 Cont…
• Ideally, the discovery process should ensure
that the best opportunities are pursued.
• portfolio planning: potential projects are
matched against the resources or capabilities
of the organization itself.
• The eventual result is a list of projects that are
truly the top priorities.

22
 Cont…
• Understanding what has been discovered, and
how the project that you ’re managing came to
be started, is very important.
• It can tell you whether the project is truly of
high value to the organization.
• It may also give you early insight into the
complexities you might have to face during the
project.

23
 Idea Generation

• Project selection process starts with the

generation of a project idea.
• Ideas are based on technological
breakthroughs.
• Most of the project ideas are variant of
present products or services.

24
 Cont…
• The project ideas can be generated from
various internal and external sources.
 Knowledge of market, products, and services.
 Knowledge of potential customer choice.
 Emerging trends in demand for particular
product
 Scope for producing substitute product.
 Market survey & research.
25
 Cont…
 Going through Professional magazines.
 Making visits to trade and exhibitions
 Government guidelines & policy.
 Ideas given by the experienced person.
 Ideas by own experience.
 SWOT analysis.

26
 Cont…
• SWOT Analysis :- SWOT is an acronym for
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
• SWOT analysis represents conscious, deliberate
and systematic effort by an organisation to
identify opportunities that can be profitably
exploited by it.
• Periodic SWOT analysis facilitates the
generation of ideas.
• Need Assessment for developmental projects
27
 Idea Generation Techniques
• Active Search: Active search refers to hunting
for a particular solution.

• Attribute List: Attribute listing refers to

taking an existing product or system, breaking
it into parts and then recombining these to
identify new forms of the product or system.

28
 Cont…
• Brainstorm: Brainstorming involves generating
a large number of solutions to a problem (idea)
with a focus on the quantity of ideas.
• During this process, no ideas are evaluated; in
fact unusual ideas are welcomed.
• Ideas are often combined to form a single good
idea as suggested by the slogan “1+1=3”.
– Brainstorming can be used by groups as well as
individuals.
29
 Cont…
• Collaborate: Collaboration refers to two or more
people working together towards a common goal.

• Designers often work in groups and co-create during

the entire creative process.
• Critique: Critique refers to receiving input on current
ideas.
• This could be collaborative such as receiving a design critique
from a colleague or individuals critiquing their own ideas.
• This technique often spurs new thought by finding solutions
to fault within current concepts.

30
 Cont…
• Documenting: Documenting refers to designers writing
down ideas (physically or electronically).

• This includes journaling, writing stories, and taking notes.

• Expert Opinion: Often elicit opinions from
experts to identify potential problems with products or
services before more comprehensive evaluations.
• This occurs when they are looking for an answer to a
problem that is outside their domain knowledge or
when they want to test a new idea.

31
 Cont…
• Forced Analogy: Forced analogy involves
comparing the current problem with something
else that has little or nothing in common in
order to gain new insights and results.

• This technique often generates ideas for new

areas of research.

32
 Cont…
• Incubate: Incubation refers to stepping back
from the problem to let the subconscious mind
work.
• Prototyping: Prototyping, in this study, refers
to a low fidelity model of an idea.
• These models can be created with any type of
material (paper, clay, etc.) as they are only
used to conceptualize a thought.

33
 Cont…
• Reflect: Reflection occurs when designers
review their previous work (sketches,
documents, prototypes, etc.)
• Sketching: Sketching refers to a rough
drawing of an idea.
• Socializing: Socializing refers to talking with
others about topics unrelated to the current
project.

34
 Screening project ideas
• The alternative project ideas must adherence
to:
– government policies,
– development vision and
– program orientations and
– prioritized on the basis of their benefits and ease
of implementation.
• This leads to an ordered list of possible
projects.
35
 Example Ideas
1. Remove manual work from current processes.
2. Speed up inventory checking.
3. Improve tracking of customer orders, queries,
and complaints.
4. Allow customers to interact in more ways.

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Cont…

37
 A life-cycle approach to project
management
• Divides a project into:
– distinct and
– sequential components

38
 Cont…
• Project Management Processes

1. Initiating
2. Planning
3. Executing
4. Controlling (and monitoring)
5. Closing

39
Understanding the Project Life Cycle

40
 Cont…
• Where is time typically spent?
1. Initiating
2. Planning
3. Executing
4. Controlling (and monitoring)
5. Closing

41
 Initiation phase
• In this phase, the current or prospective project
leader writes a proposal.
• The prospective sponsors of the project
evaluate the proposal and, upon approval,
provide the necessary financing.

• The project officially begins at the time of

approval.

42
 Exercise One & Presentation
• Questions to be answered in the initiation
phase include the following:
• Why this project?
• Is it feasible?
• Who are possible partners in this project?
• What should the results be?
• What are the boundaries of this project (what
is outside the scope of the project)
43
 Initiation Tools and Best Practices
• The Project Initiation Document
– The Project Initiation Document summarizes the
what, how, when, and why of the project.
• It represents the agreement between all parties
on what the project is about and, importantly,
why the project is being undertaken.

44
 Cont…
The Project Initiation Document needs to summarize:
• the project ’s objective (what you ’re trying to achieve)
• the key deliverables (how you ’re going to achieve the
objective)
• the overall rationale for the project (why you ’re
undertaking it)
• the initial timings (when it will be achieved)
• the project ’s initial organization (who is involved)

45
Cont…

46
 Seven Essential Steps
for a Successful Initiation
1. Pick projects that are important to the
organization and to its future.
2. Make sure that you have appropriate
resources for your project.
3. Include the people who are affected by, and
interested in.

47
 Cont…
4. Set up a project board with the necessary
members right at the beginning of the project.
5. Create a Project Initiation Document and
review it.
7. Create a communications plan that outlines
who needs to be kept informed about your
project ’s progress.

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 Part III

Project planning

49
 Cont…
• Planning is arguably the most important phase
of your project.

• If you invest in planning, the entire project

will run much more smoothly.

50
 Why Plan?
• to understand your project better
• to work out the best way to approach things
• to communicate to both your team and the
client or customer exactly how the project is
going to be approached
• to help you get work done and keep track of
progress
• to provide direction

51
 Cont…
• Without a plan, it becomes very hard to
execute and control your project.

• How do you know what to do next, or whether

you ’re on track?

52
 What to Plan
• Traditional project planning is focused around
tasks jobs that you need to do.

• A task-based plan will literally give you a list

of items that you need to do.

53
 How to Plan
• Planning a project for the first time is a six-step
process:
1. Break down the project into pieces small enough to
work with.
2. Identify dependencies.
3. Estimate how long each piece will take
4. Add some contingency.
5. Consider the risks.
6. Represent the plan in a format that the team, board,
and stakeholders will understand and follow.
54
 Tools and Best Practices
• A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a
representation of the scope of the project.

• It comprises a tree structure that hierarchically

represents the project and its component.

• A WBS for your project should show 100% of

the scope.

55
 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Breaks large project into manageable units

– Total project
– Subprojects
– Milestone (completion of an important set of work
packages)
– Major activities (summary tasks)

56
 WBS
• Helps to:
– Identify all work needing to be done
– Logically organize work so that is can be
scheduled
– Assign work to team members
– Identify resources needed
– Communicate what has to be done

57
 Cont…
• You should keep breaking the parts down into
smaller levels of detail until the pieces are both
achievable and manageable.

• Rule of thumb for this task is that the smallest

nodes should comprise deliverables that won ’t
take longer than two or three days to achieve.

58
59
Time Estimation for each Activity
• Why is this so important? Because estimates need to
be realistic.
• More than that, estimates need to be realistic for the
people who ’ll work with them.
• Get the point that the right people need to be
involved in this task.

• But how does this estimating process actually work?

60
 Estimation techniques
1. Expert Judgment
2. Analogues Estimation
3. Simulation

61
 Cont…
• A few averaging techniques are available:-

(Most optimistic + least optimistic) ÷ 2

This really is just the average of your longest and
shortest estimates.

[Most optimistic + (4 x most likely) + least

optimistic] ÷ 6
• The point of this method is to give extra weight to
the most likely estimate.
62
 Cont…
• Contingency is extra time that ’s allowed in
the schedule to cover unexpected events.
• Instead of adding contingency at this detailed
level, then, it ’s best to add it at a much higher
level.
• Rather than adding a day here, and two days
there, add a week of contingency for the entire
first release that you ’re planning.

63
 Considering the Risks
• Risk management is considered as part of the
planning process because panic rarely
results in the best approach for dealing with an
issue.

• Risks are no more than elements that might go

wrong in your project.

64
 Cont…
• The process for creating a Risk Management
Plan is as follows:

1. Identify potential risks.

2. Rate them by likelihood and severity.
3. Choose which risks to plan for.
4. Make plans for dealing with those risks.

65
 Risk management

• Identify
– Sources of risk
• Funding
• Time
• Staffing
• Customer relations
• Project size and/or complexity
• Overall structure
• Organizational resistance
• External factors

66
 Risk Analysis
• Probability
• Impact
• Overall exposure = Probability X Impact

67
 Risk Plan
• Accept
• Avoid
• Mitigation
• Transfer

68
Human Resources Management

69
 Learning Objectives
• Explain the importance of good human resource
management on projects
• Define project human resource management and
understand its processes
• Summarize key concepts for managing people by
understanding theories of motivation, influence, and
power; how people and teams can become more
effective

70
 What is Project Human Resource Management?
• Making the most effective use of the people involved
with a project
• Processes include:-
– Planning human resource management: identifying and
documenting project roles, responsibilities, and reporting
relationships
– Acquiring the project team: getting the needed
personnel assigned to and working on the project
– Developing the project team: building individual and
group skills to enhance project performance
– Managing the project team: tracking team member
performance, motivating team members, providing timely
feedback to help enhance project performance
71
 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
• Intrinsic motivation causes people to
participate in an activity for their own
enjoyment.

• Extrinsic motivation causes people to do

something for a reward or to avoid a penalty.

72
 Ways to Influence that Help and Hurt
Projects
• Projects are more likely to succeed when
project managers influence with
– expertise
– work challenge
• Projects are more likely to fail when project
managers rely too heavily on
– Authority
– penalty

73
 Improving Effectiveness
• Project managers can apply Covey’s 6 habits
to improve effectiveness on projects
– Be proactive
– Begin with the end in mind
– Put first things first
– Think win/win
– Seek first to understand, then to be understood
– Sharpen the saw

74
 Leadership
• There is no one best way to be a leader
• Most experts agree that the best leaders are able
to adapt their style to needs of the situation
• Five leadership styles:
1. Visionary
2. Coaching
3. Democratic
4. Pacesetting
5. Commanding
75
Developing the Human Resource Plan
• Involves identifying and documenting project
roles, responsibilities, and reporting
relationships
• Contents include
– project organizational charts
– staffing management plan
– responsibility assignment matrixes
– resource histograms

76
Figure Sample Organizational Chart for a
Large Project

77
 Responsibility Assignment Matrices
• A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)
is a matrix that maps the work of the project as
described in the WBS to the people
responsible for performing the work.

• Can be created in different ways to meet

unique project needs

78
 Staffing Management Plans and Resource
Histograms
• A staffing management plan describes when
and how people will be added to and taken off
the project team.

• A resource histogram is a column chart that

shows the number of resources assigned to a
project over time

79
Figure Sample Resource Histogram

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 Acquiring the Project Team
• Acquiring qualified people for teams is crucial

• It’s important to assign the appropriate type

and number of people to work on projects at
the appropriate times.

81
 Developing the Project Team
• The main goal of team development is to help
people work together more effectively to
improve project performance.

• It takes teamwork to successfully complete

most projects.

82
 Training
• Training can help people understand
themselves, each other, and how to work better
in teams
• Team building activities include
– physical challenges
– psychological preference indicator tools

83
 Reward and Recognition Systems
• Team-based reward and recognition systems
can promote teamwork.
• Focus on rewarding teams for achieving
specific goals.
• Allow time for team members to mentor and
help each other to meet project goals and
develop human resources.

84
 Managing the Project Team
• Project managers must lead their teams in
performing various project activities
• After assessing team performance and related
information, the project manager must decide
– if changes should be requested to the project
– if corrective or preventive actions should be
recommended
– if updates are needed to the project management plan .

85
Tools and Techniques for Managing Project
Teams
• Observation and conversation
• Project performance appraisals
• Interpersonal skills
• Conflict management

86
 Conflict Handling Modes
1. Confrontation: Directly face a conflict using a problem-solving
approach
2. Compromise: Use a give-and-take approach
3. Smoothing: De-emphasize areas of difference and emphasize
areas of agreement
4. Forcing: The win-lose approach
5. Withdrawal: Retreat or withdraw from an actual or potential
disagreement
6. Collaborating: Decision makers incorporate different viewpoints
and insights to develop consensus and commitment

87
Project Cost Management

88
 Project Cost Management
• Cost is a resource sacrificed or foregone to
achieve a specific objective or something given
up in exchange
• Costs are usually measured in monetary units
like dollars
• Project cost management includes the processes
required to ensure that the project is completed
within an approved budget

89
Project Cost Management Processes
• Resource planning: determining what resources
and quantities of them should be used.
• Cost estimating: developing an estimate of the
costs and resources needed to complete a
project
• Cost budgeting: allocating the overall cost
estimate to individual work items to establish a
baseline for measuring performance
• Cost control: controlling changes to the project
budget

90
 Cost Estimating
• An important output of project cost
management is a cost estimate.

• There are several types of cost estimates and

tools and techniques to help create them

91
 Cost Estimation Tools and Techniques
• Basic tools and techniques for cost estimates:
– analogous or top-down: use the actual cost of a
previous, similar project as the basis for the new
estimate
– bottom-up: estimate individual work items and sum
them to get a total estimate
– parametric: use project characteristics in a
mathematical model to estimate costs

92
 Cost Control

• Project cost control includes:-

– monitoring cost performance

– ensuring that only appropriate project changes are
included in a revised cost baseline
– informing project stakeholders of authorized
changes to the project that will affect costs

93
Project Quality Management

94
 What Is Quality?
• The International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) defines quality as:-
– the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear
on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs
• Other experts define quality based on

– conformance to requirements: meeting written

specifications

95
Project Quality Management Processes
• Quality planning: identifying which quality
standards are relevant to the project and how
to satisfy them
• Quality assurance: evaluating overall project
performance to ensure the project will satisfy
the relevant quality standards
• Quality control: monitoring specific project
results to ensure that they comply with the
relevant quality standards.

96
 Quality Assurance
• Quality assurance includes all the activities
related to satisfying the relevant quality standards
for a project
• Another goal of quality assurance is continuous
quality improvement
• Benchmarking can be used to generate ideas for
quality improvements
• Quality audits help identify lessons learned that
can improve performance on current or future
projects

97
 Modern Quality Management
• Modern quality management
– requires customer satisfaction

– recognizes management responsibility for quality

98
Project Communication
Planning
 What is Project Communication

 Exchange of Project-specific information

Project Communication Management
Communication Information
Planning Distribution

Initiating
Initiating Planning
Planning Executing
Executing
Processes
Processes Processes
Processes Processes
Processes

Controlling
Controlling
Processes
Processes
Performance Closing
Closing
Reporting Processes
Processes
 Project Communication Plan
• Identifies the project team
• Explains methods of communication including
community involvement
• Provides project reporting information
What is Project Scope Management?
• Scope refers to all the work involved in creating
the project.

• Project scope management includes the processes

involved in defining and controlling what is or is
not included in a project.

Project Scope Management 103

Project Procurement Management
• Procurement planning: what to procure and
when.
• Source selection: choose from among the
potential.
• Contract Administration: Managing the
relationship with the seller.

104
 Control the Project
• The purpose of the project control is to guarantee that
design requirements, budget and schedule are met by
project team.
• As the project advances, the actual work is compared to
the original plan.
• Actions maybe taken based on this comparison.
• The expected cost and duration to complete the work
must be continually updated and reported.
 Why Project Control is needed?
- Unexpected technical problems arise
- Insufficient resources are unavailable when
needed
- Quality problems occur
- Owner/Client requires changes in technical
specifications
- Market changes that increase/decrease the
project’s value
 Cont….
 Cost
- Technical difficulties that require more resources
- Bid amount (accepted for the contract award) is too low
- Project budgeting for contractor cash flows not done
right
- Changes in market prices of the inputs
 Cont…
 Time
- Technical difficulties require more time to solve
- Scope of work increases
- Task sequencing not done right
- Required material, labor/equipment unavailable
when needed
- Key preceding tasks were not completed on time.
 Indicators
– More resources or less resources haven been used
than planned

– Activities are taking long than planned

– Cost of activity (or of project to date) is higher

than expected

109
 Elements of Project Control

Resources-related Project-related
 Cont…
Resource-related

• Manpower-related control
• Money-related control
• Material-related control
 Closing the Project
• In order to complete the final phase of the
project life cycle Closing.
• How do we know when a project is
finished?
• And what will we do if the customer doesn ’t
agree that we ’re done?

112
 Closing a Project
• Closing your project involves a four step
process:
– review,
– agree,
– complete, and
– celebrate
• As in other project activities, it ’s important,
first of all, to determine who needs to be
involved in each step.
113
 Review
• The first step in closing is to review the
project, presenting the product or process
that has been delivered.

• Your focus should be on the success criteria

that were agreed in the initiating phase, and
were revisited regularly when changes were
made during the Planning, Executing, and
Controlling phases.
114
 Cont…
1. Has the project come in on or under budget?
2. Has the project been delivered on time?
3. Has the project delivered the required scope?
4. Has the project been delivered to the required
standard of quality?

115
 Agree
• The next step is to gain agreement on exactly
what remains to be done before the
project can be officially closed.

• It ’s important for this stage to be very

transparent for everyone involved.

116
 Project Close-out Phase
• Document the lessons learned during the
project
• After-implementation review
• Provide performance feedback
• Close-out contracts
• Complete administrative close-out
• Deliver project completion report
Cloth the project and Celebrate !!!

Thank you too!!!

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