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Eng2001 Notes

This document defines what a project and project management are, outlines the key processes and knowledge areas of project management, and identifies factors that contribute to successful and failed projects. It also discusses the evolution of project management, from an ad hoc approach to a more systematic integration with organizational objectives. The key elements of developing a project work plan are outlined, including defining the project team and charter, developing plans for scope, risk, communication, and budget/costs. The roles and stages of project implementation and team development are also summarized.

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Rohan Kaicker
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151 views

Eng2001 Notes

This document defines what a project and project management are, outlines the key processes and knowledge areas of project management, and identifies factors that contribute to successful and failed projects. It also discusses the evolution of project management, from an ad hoc approach to a more systematic integration with organizational objectives. The key elements of developing a project work plan are outlined, including defining the project team and charter, developing plans for scope, risk, communication, and budget/costs. The roles and stages of project implementation and team development are also summarized.

Uploaded by

Rohan Kaicker
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is a Project: A complex, non-routine, one time effort, limited by time, budget,

resources, and performance specifications designed to meet customers needs

What is project management: Application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques


to a broad range of activities in order to meet requirements of particular project. Comprised of
5 processes (initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing). And 9 knowledge areas
(project integration, scope, project time, project cost, project quality, project human
resources, project communications, project risk management, and project procurement)

Successful Project: Meets projects objectives, satisfied customer (meets their needs and
expectations), repeat business, happy project team (responsibility of project manager),
learned/ improvement
Constraints: Quality/ scope interaled, once one item fixed, little flexibility remains. Minimise
implementation before planning stage. Determine a scope achievable within the available cost/
time determine an appropriate buffer (slack) intended for emergencies not changes of
plan.

What makes project fail: Slow communication, limited resources/ mismanagement,


wrong tools, not meeting specifications, wrong team/changing team, poor contingency
planning, lack of customer buy-in, unmanaged conflict, attitude/ perspective

Pressures leading to need for project management: Corporate downsizing,


global competition, knowledge explosion, small projects representing big problems,
compression of product lifecycle, increased customer focus, rapid development of third world
and closed economies,

Evolution of project management

Ad hoc usage use of tools on case by case basis, not organized/ systematic, friction
with rest of organization
Project driven organization projects fully integrated with strategic objectives,
accounting, management

1. Definition doing the right thing? What its worth? Do we want to get into this?
Project Charter
2. Planning doing things right? How will we do it?
3. Execution are we getting things done? Monitoring / communications
a. Consist of several stages, can be overlapped
4. Delivery are we getting expected benefits? Documented/ learning, do what we get
what we expected?

Pressures on project life cycle:

1. External pressures: more scope/ fewer resource and time

What do we need?

Definition of project/ project scope (including timeline)


Feasible plan for achieving deliverables (deliverables related to project, not just a
product)
Who does what? How are changes handled? (change is inevitable)
Communications

Project Work plan:


1. Project Team
a. Comprised of subset of primary stakeholders in project
b. Composition of team may vary over course of project
c. Subset should include people with necessary skills and knowledge to achieve
project goals
d. Project stake holders = individuals/ organizations who are involved in/ may be
affected by project activities
e. Sponsor = person/ group within performing organization who provides financial
resources
i. Authority to sign off on project completion, requestor/ payer, fights for
project and resources at high level, removes roadblocks, has interest in
project succeeding
f. Other stake holders = contractors, team members/families, government
agencies, public
2. Project Charter

a. Primary outcome from early project definition


b. Formally recognizes existence of project, defines; description of work to be
performed, identitifes main deliverables/ ways of measuring outcome, lays out
assumptions/ constraints/ resource requirements
c. Issued by higher level manager, preferably external to project
d. Contract from customer may = charter
e. Project definition:
i. May get SOW (statement of work) instead of charter
ii. Charter includes risks limits, customer needs, spending limits, and even
team composition, also authorizes project manager to initiate and lead
project
iii. Project scope check list
1. Project objectives, deliverables, milestones (tools to mark specific
points along project time line aka project start/ end date, need
for external review/ budget checks, DO NOT IMPACT PROJECT
DURATION), technical requirements, limits/ exclusions, reviews
with customer
3. Scope management Plan
a. Few projects proceed to completion according to original plan laid out in project
initiation Scope of project changes as project progresses
b. SMP identifies: how changes integrated into project, how much change
expected, how changes to be identified/ initiated and by whom
4. Risk Management Plan

a. Primary areas of Risk


i. Staffing (have team members work together in past, is PM experienced?
Client activiely involved? Dedicated/ shared project resources? Some/ all
work subcontracted?)
ii. Environment (level of senior management support? Moral among staff?
Communication well? Perceived functional value of project? )

iii. Project Definition (proposal / feasibility study? Anticipated ROI? Project


specifications/ success criteria defined and agreed upon? Project
responsibilities documented/ accepted? Project dependencies outside
direct control of project team?
iv. Project Management (who preparing/ prepared project plan? Is plan well
documented? Project deliverables based on proven standards? Formal
project management being used?)
v. Nature of project ( project justification? Expected project duration?
Unique project? Straightforward project? Project specifications? Timing
critical? Weather? Politics/ regulatory bodies a factor? Do external
stakeholders hold a lot of influence?
b. Risk analysis: What is risk event? What outcomes if event occurs? How severe
are consequences of event? Likelihood of event happening? When might event
occur? What is impact of event on project?

Risk assessment form/ risk response matrix

c.

Risk

management:
i. Avoid risk (take least risky path)
ii. Reduce risk (have several suppliers for critical components/ have back up
systems)

iii. Transfer risk (have insurance/ fixed price contracts) usually a cost
premium to transferring risk
iv. Accept risk ( play the probabilities and accept the consequences, build in
time/ money contingency)
v. Share risk (coop ventures)
5. Communications/ reporting plan
a. Details formal communication/ reporting requirements for primary project stake
holders. Include nature of communication required (meeting, written report,
conference call, email, etc,), frequency, level of detail, and any sign off
requirements which may result
6. Work break down structure (wbs)
a. Having described scope/ deliverables, WBS describes actual work done, project
broken down into smaller taks ensures everything necessary is included like
table of contents
b. Hierarchical structure provides framework for managing project
i. Facilitates evaluation of time, cost, resources and technical performance
at all levels
ii. Provides information appropriate to different levels of management

c. Why WBS? Adaptable to any situation, provides basis for change control,
facilitates monitoring of progress enables effective project communication,
makes unmanageable manageable, further clarifies project scope
d. Include in wbs
i. Fully describe all activates
ii. State measurable deliverables
iii. Describe sub activities
iv. State known constraints
e. Work packages
i. What is being done, how long it will take, time phased budget (cost),
resources (how much) who is responsible, milestones for measuring
progress
7. Master budget
a. Types of cost
i. Indirect: overhead, support facilities
ii. Direct: resources, variable, fixed
iii. opportunity: benefits lost as a result of choosing a different option
iv. sunk cost: costs already incurred
b. estimating project costs:

i. top down estimation (analogous): uses previous similar project as basis


for expected costs
ii. parametric modelling: based on mathematical calculations of project
parameters (ranging from cost per unit of raw materials to more complex
formulations, best when accurate historical information available, readily
quantifiable parameters, model is scalable)
iii. bottom up estimation (summing up costs of individual work items of
project)
8. Task responsibility:
a. Decision making common problems: not known who is responsible for making
decisions, nobody willing to take responsibility for decision
b. Responsibility matrix :

Project Implementation: Filling the gaps (identify anything which seems to be missing),
implementing plan (coordinate all project components, establish communication/ feedback,
determine project statues, identify/ resolve problems, adjust/ maintain project variables), earn
confidence of stakeholders

Managing project: Roles of


1. Project manager: monitor, analyze, quality control, motivate, manage conflict, reward
adjustment, change, gather information, communicate, status, make decisions

2.
3.
4.
5.

a. Good traits include: systems thinker, integrity, proactive, high tolerance of


stress, business perspective, good communicator, effective time management,
skillful politician, optimist
Project Team Members: do jobs on schedule and on budget, communicate (both good
and bad news), help resolve problems
Functional managers: deliver on resources promised, stay informed/ take interest, take
responsibility for work quality
Sponsor: financial
Senior management: not obstruct, pay/ reward success, support when needed respect
project management process, take some responsibility

Team development stages:


1. Forming: getting acquainted with each other, determine project roles
2. Storming : internal conflict, resenting personal constraints imposed by team, arguing
over control/ decision making
3. Norming : increasing cohesiveness and camaraderie
4. Performing: fully functional, energies directed into project
5. Adjourning: wrapping up project

Conflicting views:

Old views: troublemakers, bad, avoid, suppress


New views: inevitable, can be beneficial, natural result of changes, can/should be
managed

Managing conflict:
1. Avoid
a. Helps if conflict is minor, has not solved basic cause, cooling off period
2. Smooth over
a. Diffuse situation, platitudes, diversion, another stop gap
3. Compromise
a. Neither side happy, may be workable, not necessarily good leadership since
project may also be compromised
4. Force
a. or else, decisive, may work but someone loses
5. Solve
a. Gets to real issue, fixes problem, deals with issue (here is issue, here are options,
what and why, options available), best solution if possible causes can be complex
and multi layered

Reporting project Status:

Measure progress (how much done (underestimate), how much left (over estimate),
time versus effort (when to finish))
Change control
Effective communication
Feedback tailored to what is needed and by whom
Make sure information is easily available determine who updates this

Preparing for a meeting: Plan, inform, prepare, structure and control (chair, scribe,
facilitator, note taker, time keeper), summarize

Managing multiple projects: consistency of pm process, establish clear project


priorities, assign responsibilities and resources to activities, emphasise communication, practice
time management prioritize projects

Time management: use a to do list, prioritize activities, note that urgent =/= important
Keep time log: daily journal, record of interruptions,

Project completion: as project winds down, people may be re-assigned and information
can disappear, without documentation all resources spent on intangibles (learning, process,
skills) lost to the organisation, planning for end of project important in order to get full value,
hand over to the client is also vital and should be managed appropriately

As project comes to completion:

Collect/ summarize project results (lots of documentation should already exist)


Compare results with project plan (should have been ongoing )
Evaluate performance of team (whether/ not team member reports to us or not)
Conduct post project management review/ record outcome
Ask if we had to do it again (as a more positive alternative to what went wrong)
Capture knowledge and lessons learned, templates for re use, information available to
others

Project hand off: documentation and information required by management/ client,


ongoing customer support (who is responsible, timing/ overlap, transfer of knowledge and
history), customer validation , reward team

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