Essentials of Project Management Philosophy

1. What is a Project? A programme of non-routine work bringing about a beneficial change Guided by at least one well-engaged sponsor who has both adequate authorities and

resources to charter the project effort Has a start and an end date A multi-disciplinary team brought together for the project Scope of work that is well defined Constrained by cost, time and quality

2. Project Parameters for NegotiationDuring the course of a project a team negotiates for one or more of these:

Scope, cost & schedule objectives Changes to scope, cost or schedules Contract terms and conditions Resources

How does Project Management “Add Value”?Projects may be completed with one or more of the following:

Stretched Deadlines Over Stressed team Wasted resources Unmet customer functional requirements Overshot Budget

However a good project management methodology provides a framework, process, guidelines and techniques to greatly increase the chances of being successful, and therefore provides value to the project.

Define the project Reduce it to a set of manageable tasks Obtain appropriate and necessary resources Build a team or teams to perform the project work Plan the work and allocate the resources to the tasks Monitor and control the work Report progress to senior management and/or the project sponsor Close down the project when completed Review it to ensure that the lessons are learnt and widely understood

Project Management Principles: Five dimensions that must be managed on a Project:

o Featureso Qualityo Costo Scheduleo Staff

These dimensions are dependent on one another - if you add staff, the schedule may shorten and the cost will increase

The trade-offs among these five dimensions are not linear. For each project, we need to decide which dimensions are critical and how to balance the others so as to achieve the key project objectives

Each of these five dimensions can take one of three roles on any given project: a driver, a constraint, or a degree of freedom.

A driver is a key objective of the project. A constraint is a limiting factor beyond the project Team's control. Any project dimension that is neither a driver nor a constraint becomes a degree of

freedom.

A constraint gives the project Team virtually no flexibility, a driver has low flexibility, and a degree of freedom provides wider latitude to balance that dimension against the other four.

An important aspect of this model is not which of the five dimensions turn out to be drivers or constraints on any given project, but that the relative priorities of the dimensions be negotiated in advance by the project team, the customers, and the management.

A graphical way to depict these points is to use a “Kiviat diagram” below, which allows us to plot several values (five, in this case) as an irregularly shaped polygon on a set of normalized axes. The position of each point on its axis indicates the relative degree of flexibility of that dimension for a particular project, on an arbitrary scale of zero (completely constrained) to ten (completely flexible).

Staff

Schedule

CostQuality

Features

0

5

10

Roles, Responsibilities and Teamwork

1. Who are the Players in projects?Individuals and organizations –

That are actively involved in the project Whose interests may be affected (positively or negatively) by the outcome (success or

failure) of the project Exert influence over the project and its results. Players are also called “stakeholders” of the project Project manger - the individual responsible for managing the product Customer – the individual or organization that will use the product. Performing organization - the enterprise whose employees are most directly involved in

doing the work of the project (the project team). Sponsor- the individual or group within or external to the performing organization that

funds the project

2. The many hats of a PM An organization may consider working on more than one project at any point of time Experienced in Project management, a Project Manager may manage more than one of

these projects at any time. He shall be responsible for ensuring that the portfolios of projects deliver the beneficial

business gain intended

3. Stakeholders roles & expectations at the various stages of projectsSponsor PM Team Customer

Initiation

Planning

Execution

Control

Close

A successful Project Manager must simultaneously manage the four basic elements of a project: resources, time, money, and most importantly, scope. All these elements are interrelated. Each must be managed effectively. All must be managed together if the project, and the project manager, is to be a success.

ResourcesPeople, equipment, material

TimeTask durations, dependencies, critical path

MoneyCosts, contingencies, profit

ScopeProject size, goals, requirements

Most literature on project management speaks of the need to manage and balance three elements: people, time, and money. However, the fourth element is the most important and it is the first

and last task for a successful project manager. First and foremost you have to manage the project scope.

The project scope is the definition of what the project is supposed to accomplish and the budget (of time and money) that has been created to achieve these objectives. It is absolutely imperative that any change to the scope of the project have a matching change in budget, either time or resources. If the project scope is to build a building to house three widgets with a budget of $100,000 the project manager is expected to do that. However, if the scope is changed to a building for four widgets, the project manager must obtain an appropriate change in budgeted resources. If the budget is not adjusted, the smart project manager will avoid the change in scope.

Usually, scope changes occur in the form of "scope creep". Scope creep is the piling up of small changes that by themselves are manageable, but in aggregate are significant. For example, the project calls for a building to be 80,000 square feet in size. The client wants to add a ten foot long, 4 foot wide awning over one bay door. That's a pretty minor change. Later the client wants to extend the awning 8 feet to cover the adjacent bay. Another minor change. Then it's a change to block the upwind side to the covered area to keep out the wind. Later, it's a request to block the other end to make the addition more symmetrical. Eventually, the client asks for a ceiling under the awning, lights in the ceiling, electrical outlets, a water faucet for the workers, some sound-proofing, and a security camera. By now, the minor change has become a major addition. Make sure any requested change, no matter how small, is accompanied by approval for a change in budget or schedule or both.

You can not effectively manage the resources, time and money in a project unless you actively manage the project scope.

When you have the project scope clearly identified and associated to the timeline and budget, you can begin to manage the project resources. These include the people, equipment, and material needed to complete the project.

A successful Project Manager must effectively manage the resources assigned to the project. This includes the labor hours of the designers, the builders, the testers and the inspectors on the project team. It also include managing any labor subcontracts. However, managing project resources frequently involves more than people management. The project manager must also manage the equipment used for the project and the material needed by the people and equipment assigned to the project.

PeopleProject employees, vendor staff, subcontract labor

EquipmentCranes, trucks, backhoes, other heavy equipment or Development, test, and staging servers, CD burners or Recording studio, tape decks, mixers, microphones and speakers

MaterialConcrete, pipe, rebar, insulation or CD blanks, computers, jewel cases, instruction manuals

Managing the people resources means having the right people, with the right skills and the proper tools, in the right quantity at the right time. It also means ensuring that they know what needs to be done, when, and how. And it means motivating them to take ownership in the project too.

Managing direct employees normally means managing the senior person in each group of employees assigned to your project. Remember that these employees also have a line manager to whom they report and from whom the usually take technical direction. In a matrix management situation, like a project team, your job is to provide project direction to them. Managing labor subcontracts usually means managing the team lead for the subcontracted workers, who in turn manages the workers.

The equipment you have to manage as part of your project depends on the nature of the project. A project to construct a frozen food warehouse would need earth moving equipment, cranes, and cement trucks. For a project to release a new version of a computer game, the equipment would include computers, test equipment, and duplication and packaging machinery. The project management key for equipment is much like for people resources. You have to make sure you have the right equipment in the right place at the right time and that it has the supplies it needs to operate properly.

Most projects involve the purchase of material. For a frozen food warehouse, this would be freezers, the building HVAC machinery and the material handling equipment. For a project to release a music CD by a hot new artist, it would include the CD blanks, artwork for the jewel case, and press releases to be sent to deejays. The project management issue with supplies is to make sure the right supplies arrive at the right time (we'll talk about the right price later).

All your skill in managing resources won't help, however, unless you can stick to the project schedule. Time management is critical in successful project management.

Time management is a critically important skill for any successful project manager. I have observed that Project Managers who succeed in meeting their project schedule have a good chance of staying within their project budget. The most common cause of blown project budgets is lack of schedule management. Fortunately there is a lot of software on the market today to help you manage your project schedule or timeline.

TasksDuration, resources, dependencies

ScheduleTasks, predecessors, successors

Critical PathChangeable, often multiple, float

Any project can be broken down into a number of tasks that have to be performed. To prepare the project schedule, the project manager has to figure out what the tasks are, how long they will take, what resources they require, and in what order they should be done. Each of these elements has a direct bearing on the schedule.

If you omit a task, the project won't be completed. If you underestimate the length of time or the amount of resources required for the task, you may miss your schedule. The schedule can also be blown if you make a mistake in the sequencing of the tasks.

Build the project schedule by listing, in order, all the tasks that need to be completed. Assign a duration to each task. Allocate the required resources. Determine predecessors (what tasks must be completed before) and successors (tasks that can't start until after) each task. It's pretty simple and straightforward. For instance, think of a project called "Getting Dressed In The Morning". The task "put on shirt" may have a longer duration if it is a buttoned dress shirt than if it's a pullover. It doesn't matter which order you complete the tasks "put on right shoe" and "put on left shoe", but it is important to complete the "put on pants" task before starting the "put on shoes" task.

The difficulty in managing a project schedule is that there are seldom enough resources and enough time to complete the tasks sequentially. Therefore, tasks have to be overlapped so several happen at the same time. Project management software (see sidebar) greatly simplifies the task of creating and managing the project schedule by handling the iterations in the schedule logic for you.

When all tasks have been listed, resourced, and sequenced, you will see that some tasks have a little flexibility in their required start and finish date. This is called float. Other tasks have no flexibility, zero float. A line through all the tasks with zero float is called the critical path. All tasks on this path, and there can be multiple, parallel paths, must be completed on time if the project is to be completed on time. The Project Manager's key time management task is to manage the critical path.

Be aware, that items can be added to or removed from the critical path as circumstances change during the execution of the project. Installation of security cameras may not be on the critical path, but if the shipment is delayed, it may become part of the critical path. Conversely, pouring the concrete foundation may be on the critical path, but if the project manager obtains an addition crew and the pour is completed early it could come off the critical path (or reduce the length of the critical path).

Regardless of how well you manage the schedule and the resources, there is one more critical element - managing the budget.

Often a Project Manager is evaluated on his or her ability to complete a project within budget. If you have effectively managed the project resources and project schedule, this should not be a problem. It is, however, a task that requires the project manager's careful attention. You can only manage effectively a limited number of cost items, so focus on the critical ones (see the 80-20 Rule in the sidebar).

CostsEstimated, actual, variability

ContingenciesWeather, suppliers, design allowance

ProfitCost, contingencies, remainder

Each project task will have a cost, whether it is the cost of the labor hours of a computer programmer or the purchase price of a cubic yard of concrete. In preparing the project budget, each of these costs is estimated and then totaled. Some of these estimates will be more accurate than others. A company knows what it will charge each of its projects for different classifications of labor. Commodities like concrete are priced in a very competitive market so prices are fairly predictable. Other estimates are less accurate. For instance, the cost of a conveyor system with higher performance specifications that normal can be estimated to be more expensive, but it is hard to determine whether it will be 10% more or 15% more. For an expensive item, that can be a significant amount.

When the estimated cost of an item is uncertain, the project budget often includes a design allowance. This is money that is set aside in the budget "just in case" the actual cost of the item is wildly different than the estimate.

Unusual weather or problems with suppliers are always a possibility on large projects. Companies usually include a contingency amount in the project budget to cover these kinds of things.

So a project budget is composed of the estimated cost, plus the contingency and design allowance, plus any profit. The project manager's job is to keep the actual cost at or below the estimated cost, to use as little of the design allowance and contingency as possible, and to maximize the profit the company earns on the project.

To maximize your chances of meeting your project budget, meet your project schedule. The most common cause of blown budgets is blown schedules. Meeting the project schedule won't guarantee you will meet the project budget, but it significantly increases your chances. And above all, manage the project scope. Don't allow the project scope to "creep" upward without getting budget and/or schedule adjustments to match.

Successful project management is an art and a science that takes practice. The ideas presented above can give you a basic understanding of project management, but consider it only a beginning. If your job or career path includes project management, and you want to improve your skills, talk to successful project managers, read, and practice. Project management can be a very rewarding career.

Project planning is a discipline for stating how to complete a project within a certain timeframe, usually with defined stages, and with designated resources. One view of project planning divides the activity into:

Setting objectives (these should be measurable) Identifying deliverables Planning the schedule Making supporting plans

Supporting plans may include those related to: human resources, communication methods, and risk management

Project Planning-Scoping

1. Objective of Scoping To clearly define the project boundaries Explicitly stating the objectives that the project will (or will not) cover Implicitly providing direction to the project and enabling assessment of the final product’s QUALITY

2. Components of Scoping Scope of Investigation – identifying dimensions relevant (or irrelevant) to the project Helps focus on only the relevant areas Identifies problems and requirements Scope of solution – identifying the range of cost justified solutions Determines the design and build stages of the project

3. Scoping the Project

Establish Project Objectives Identify from clients through workshops, interviews Ensure an alignment with the business direction of the organization

Establish Scope of Investigation Determine the dimensions (what is in scope and what is out of scope) that apply to the

project Identify the constraints, specific limitations or exclusions Record any assumptions made in defining the scope

Identify Initial Requirements

Validate them against the project objective Identify the criteria for assessing the success of both the final project product and the

process used to create it (e.g., quality objectives, quantitative requirements, expected benefits)

Identify Outline solution Prepare an outline solution to illustrate the feasibility of achieving the defined business

requirements for the project (Business case)

Identify Training requirement Determine the probable client training and technical writing requirement

Review Project Scope Conduct a review of the Objective statement Review of scope definition documents to ensure that all standards are met

Using the project plan A preliminary document that guides the execution of a project

Key stages work plans and the actual performance is compared with the project plan prepared for the stage

Accomplished through Project Tracking - the value of certain key parameters must be measured

Issues such as how the task, the effort and the defects will be tracked, what tools will be used, what reporting structure and frequency will be followed are decided at various Stages

In case of differences, the reasons behind the changes are analyzed and the deliverables in terms of cost, schedule, and effort are altered accordingly.

Change Management Process1. Identify need for change

Done by Project Team2. Identify alternative solutions

Evaluate proposal for change Identify alternative solutions Study the impact of the alternatives on scope, schedule, effort and cost Record qualified alternative, impacts & recommendations in change request form

3. Decide change actions Present the worked Change Proposals to Management Team Management Team accepts / rejects / seeks further investigation Project manager produces Exception Situation Report that replaces the Stage Plan in

case the alternative disturbs one or more stages4. Implement change

Make appropriate schedule and other project plan adjustments Communicate these to team members Monitor progress and execute quality control on the changes

Tools for Change Management

1. Change Management System (CMS) Collection of formal documented procedure defining how Project Performance will be

monitored and evaluated Project Plan updates based on Change request details are output of CMS, ought to be

documented. The above-mentioned procedures may be unique to an organization based on their

project needs Includes procedures to handle the changes that may be approved without prior review,

so that the evolution of baseline can be documented

2. Configuration Management Identify the configuration items and define the naming and numbering scheme, Directory

structure, Access Restrictions, define a backup procedure and method for tracking the status of Configuration Items.

Identify and define the responsibility and authority of the CMS.

CPM

The Critical Path Method (CPM) is one of several related techniques for doing project planning. CPM is for projects that are made up of a number of individual "activities." If some of the activities require other activities to finish before they can start, then the project becomes a complex web of activities.

CPM can help you figure out:

how long your complex project will take to complete which activities are "critical," meaning that they have to be done on time or else the

whole project will take longer

If you put in information about the cost of each activity, and how much it costs to speed up each activity, CPM can help you figure out:

whether you should try to speed up the project, and, if so, what is the least costly way to speed up the project.

Activities

An activity is a specific task.  It gets something done.  An activity can have these properties:

names of any other activities that have to be completed before this one can start a projected normal time duration

If you want to do a speedup cost analysis, you also have to know these things about each activity:

a cost to complete a shorter time to complete on a crash basis the higher cost of completing it on a crash basis

CPM analysis starts after you have figured out all the individual activities in your project.

Drawing a Critical Path Analysis Chart

Step 1. List all activities in the plan

For each activity, show the earliest start date, estimated length of time it will take, and whether it is parallel or sequential. If tasks are sequential, show which stage they depend on.

Figure 1. Task List: Planning a custom-written computer project

Task Earliest start Length Type Dependent on...

A. High level analysis Week 0 1 week Sequential

B. Selection of hardware platform Week 1 1 day Sequential A

C. Installation and commissioning of hardware Week 1.2 2 weeks Parallel B

D. Detailed analysis of core modules Week 1 2 weeks Sequential A

E. Detailed analysis of supporting modules Week 3 2 weeks Sequential D

F. Programming of core modules Week 3 2 weeks Sequential D

G. Programming of supporting modules Week 5 3 weeks Sequential E

H. Quality assurance of core modules Week 5 1 week Sequential F

I. Quality assurance of supporting modules Week 8 1 week Sequential G

J.Core module training Week 6 1 day Parallel C,H

K. Development and QA of accounting reporting

Week 5 1 week Parallel E

L. Development and QA of management reporting

Week 5 1 week Parallel E

M. Development of Management Information System

Week 6 1 week Sequential L

N. Detailed training Week 9 1 week Sequential I, J, K, M

Step 2. Plot the activities as a circle and arrow diagram

Critical Path Analyses are presented using circle and arrow diagrams.

In these, circles show events within the project, such as the start and finish of tasks. The number shown in the left hand half of the circle allows you to identify each one easily. Circles are sometimes known as nodes.

An arrow running between two event circles shows the activity needed to complete that task. A description of the task is written underneath the arrow. The length of the task is shown above it. By convention, all arrows run left to right. Arrows are also sometimes called arcs.

An example of a very simple diagram is shown below:

This shows the start event (circle 1), and the completion of the 'High Level Analysis' task (circle 2). The arrow between them shows the activity of carrying out the High Level Analysis. This activity should take 1 week.

Where one activity cannot start until another has been completed, we start the arrow for the dependent activity at the completion event circle of the previous activity. An example of this is shown below:

Here the activities of 'Select Hardware' and 'Core Module Analysis' cannot be started until 'High Level Analysis' has been completed. This diagram also brings out a number of other important points:

Within Critical Path Analysis, we refer to activities by the numbers in the circles at each end. For example, the task 'Core Module Analysis' would be called activity 2 to 3. 'Select Hardware' would be activity 2 to 9.

Activities are not drawn to scale. In the diagram above, activities are 1 week long, 2 weeks long, and 1 day long. Arrows in this case are all the same length.

In the example above, you can see a second number in the top, right hand quadrant of each circle. This shows the earliest start time for the following activity. It is conventional to start at 0. Here units are whole weeks.

A different case is shown below:

Here activity 6 to 7 cannot start until the other four activities (11 to 6, 5 to 6, 4 to 6, and 8 to 6) have been completed.

This shows all the activities that will take place as part of the project. Notice that each event circle also has a figure in the bottom, right hand quadrant. This shows the latest finish time that's permissible for the preceeding activity if the project is to be completed in the minimum time possible. You can calculate this by starting at the last event and working backwards.The latest finish time of the preceeding event and the earliest start time of the following even will be the same for ciircles on the critical path.

You can see that event M can start any time between weeks 6 and 8. The timing of this event is not critical. Events 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, 4 to 5, 5 to 6 and 6 to 7 must be started and completed on time if the project is to be completed in 10 weeks. This is the 'critical path' – these activities must be very closely managed to ensure that activities are completed on time. If jobs on the critical path slip, immediate action should be taken to get the project back on schedule. Otherwise completion of the whole project will slip.

Crash Action

need to complete a project earlier than your Critical Path Analysis says is possible. In this case you need to re-plan your project.

You have a number of options and would need to assess the impact of each on the project’s cost, quality and time required to complete it. For example, you could increase resource available for each project activity to bring down time spent on each but the impact of some of this would be insignificant and a more efficient way of doing this would be to look only at activities on the critical path.

As an example, it may be necessary to complete the computer project in Figure 5 in 8 weeks rather than 10 weeks. In this case you could look at using two analysts in activities 2 to 3 and 3 to 4. This would shorten the project by two weeks, but may raise the project cost – doubling resources at any stage may only improve productivity by, say, 50% as additional time may need to be spent getting the team members up to speed on what is required, coordinating tasks split between them, integrating their contributions etc.

In some situations, shortening the original critical path of a project can lead to a different series of activities becoming the critical path. For example, if activity 4 to 5 were reduced to 1 week, activities 4 to 8 and 8 to 6 would come onto the critical path.