Project Management

Project Management

http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/v6/en/index.html

http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/v6/en/index.html

Project Scheduling SEEM 3530 2

How many events?How many participants?Where are the events located?How should the events be scheduled?

What infrastructure needs to be built?When to build? Completion time?

BP Oil Spill Response

Glastonbury Festival


What is a Project?

A project is a “temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service”.

A project is a well-defined set of tasks or activities that must all be completed in order to meet the project’s goals. Two prevalent characteristics: Each task may be started or stopped

independently of other tasks; Tasks are ordered such that they must be

performed in a given sequence.


Examples of ProjectsBuilding the pyramidsApollo moon landing missionDeveloping MS WindowsMaking The Lord of the RingsOrganizing the Olympics GamesDeveloping and marketing a new drug Implementing a new company wide IT

systemDesigning this courseProject management spans both the manufacturing and service sectors.


Other examples of “projects"

Construction of dams, warehouse, freeways, railways, etc.

Design of new models of products, such as new cars, ships, and aircraft.

Development of computer systems, software, etc.

New product marketing, advertising campaigns, global mergers, capital acquisitions, etc.

Set-up of a new enterprise, organization, department, office, etc.

Performing major maintenance or repair.


Definition of a “project"A project is an organized endeavor aimed at

accomplishing a specific non-routine set of tasks within a certain time and under a certain resource constraint.

Time required and costs are usually significant.


Characteristics of projects

There is a set of well-defined goals. There is a specific start and a specific end point. The endeavor is unique and not repetitious. A project usually contains costs and time

schedules to produce a specified product or result.

A project often cuts across many organizational and functional lines, and thus there are requirements for specific expertise, and sometimes conflicts with within the project team.


Project management

The means, techniques, and the concepts used to run a project and achieve its objectives subject to various constraints and limits on time, resources, technology, and personnel. Planning Organising resources Directing and Controlling


Project management

The main components : Project initiation, selection, and definition. Project organization Analysis of activities/tasks Project scheduling Project budgeting Resource management Project execution and control Project termination


What is a Project Manager?

Acknowledgment: Ms. Colleen White, Project Manager, Cardinal Health, Dublin, Ohio, USA


Characteristics Needed as a Project Manager

During planning: Detail oriented, organized, logical thinker, can deal with uncertainty, creative.

During execution: Effective communicator, problem solver, quick thinker, good memory.

During assessment: Analytic, sensitive, continuous improver.

During collaboration: Effective communicator, facilitator, motivator, team builder.

Acknowledgment: Ms. Sally Stark, Director of Program Management, New Product Innovations, Powell, Ohio, USA


History of Project Management

Some early examples of project management was the construction of the pyramids in Egypt, building the Great Wall of China

Henry L. Gantt (1861-1919) added an important visualization tool around 1917 with the Gantt Chart


Example—Gantt Chart for building a house


History of Project Management

In 1957, J.E. Kelly of Remington-Rand and M.R. Walker of DuPont Company developed the Critical Path Method (CPM) for project scheduling, i.e. the basic algorithm used in MS Project scheduling maintenance shutdown of chemical plants

Also in the late 1950s, Booz Allen Hamilton developed the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), which models uncertainty in project management Lockheed Aircraft, US Navy Special Projects Office: Polaris Missile Project

New directions since 1995: critical chains, agile and extreme project management


Polaris A3T missile(Submarine-launched ballistic missile)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine-launched_ballistic_missile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine-launched_ballistic_missile


Importance of Project Management

Project management effectively controls organizational change, allowing organizations to introduce new products, new processes, and new programs effectively.

Projects are becoming more complex, making them more difficult to control without a formal management structure.

Projects with substantially different characteristics, especially in IT, are emerging.

Project management helps cross-functional teams to become more effective.


Importance of Project Management

“At last we are beginning to see research which proves how important project management is ... without well-trained and capable project managers the percentage of GDP spent through projects is inflated due to many exceeding their budget through poor management.”

Richard Pharro, author and consultant (2003)


Project Management versus Process Management

“Ultimately, the parallels between process and project management give way to a fundamental difference: process management seeks to eliminate variability whereas project management must accept variability because each project is unique.”

J. Elton, J. Roe. 1998. Bringing Discipline to Project Management. Harvard Business Review.


Measures of Project Success

Overall perceptionCostCompletion timeTechnical goals, compared to initial

specifications (“scope”)Technical goals, compared to other projects

in the organizationTechnical goals, taking into account the

problems that arose in the project

R.J. Might and W.A. Fischer (1985)


Nine Factors Critical to the Success of Many Projects

Clearly defined goalsCompetent project managerTop management supportCompetent project team membersSufficient resource allocationAdequate communication channelsEffective control mechanismsUse of feedback for improvementResponsiveness to clients

J. Pinto and D. Slevin (1987)


Challenges of Project Management

Initiation: Over-commitment - management commits to a schedule, budget, or deliverable that is unrealistic.

Planning: Outsourced contributors present problems which can affect client satisfaction and delivery.

Execution: Resource competition / unfocused resources result in missed estimates.

Controlling: Change control is good, but apparently not nearly as good as apathy.

Closing: “We need project managers, not historians!”

Acknowledgment: Mr. Carl Long, Medical IT Portfolio Manager, Cardinal Health, Dublin, Ohio


Famous Project Failures (1 of 5)

In 1988, Westpac Banking Corporation initiated a 5-year, $85m project to improve its information system. Three years later, after spending $150m with nothing to show for it, they cancelled the project and eliminated 500 IT development jobs.



The computerized baggage handling system at the Denver International Airport delayed the opening of the airport from March 1994 to February 1995 and added $85 million to the original budget. The baggage system tried to unload bags that were jammed on the conveyor belt. The system also loaded bags into telecarts that were already full. Hence, many bags fell onto the tracks, jamming the telecarts…

Hong Kong Airport Changeover: 7 July, 1998



Lack of preparations behind H.K. airport opening chaosAsian Economic News, Jan 25, 1999 A Hong Kong government commission Friday

attributed last July's chaotic systems operations at the opening of the territory's new airport to overconfidence by the authorities and lack of coordination. The government-appointed Commission of Inquiry led by Justice Woo Kwok-hing said in a report that the chaos at the Chek Lap Kok airport could have been avoided by postponing operations by about two months.

The report said the Airport Authority and the major cargo operator, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. (HACTL), were overconfident in assessing the risks involved in compressing the testing and training time for the new systems at the airport.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDP/

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDP/is_1999_Jan_25/


London Heathrow Terminal 5 Opening (2008)



Disney's shipbuilder was six months late in delivering its new cruise ships in 1998. Thousands of tourists who had purchased tickets had to be compensated for making different plans.



The “Big Dig” road construction project in Boston (1987-2007) was budgeted at $5.8b but eventually cost over $15b. The project resulted in criminal arrests, thousands of water leaks, the death of a motorist from a tunnel collapse, and hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits.



In 2005, UK grocery chain J. Sainsbury wrote off its $526m investment in an automated supply chain management system. They hired 3,000 additional workers to stock their shelves manually.


Reasons Why Projects Fail Improper focus of the project management

system, e.g. too much focus on low level details

Fixation on first budget estimatesToo much reliance on inaccurate project

management softwareToo many people on the project teamPoor communication within the project

team Incentives that reward the wrong actions


Common Excuses for Project Failures

Unexpectedly poor weather delayed construction

Unforeseeable poor performance by contractors

Senior management imposed an unrealistic schedule

Instructions by senior management were unclear

Many wasteful “synchronization” meetings interrupted actual work


Management of IT Projects

More than $250 billion is spent in the US each year on approximately 175,000 information technology projects.

IT project management is an $850 million industry and is expected to grow by as much as 20 percent per year. Gene Bounds, “The Last Word on Project

Management”, IIE Solutions, 1998.


IT Project Outcomes

26%: On time29%: Cancellation

6%: Less than 20% late

16%: 101-200% late 9%: 51-100%

late

8%: 21-50% late

6%: more than 200% late

Standish Group Survey, 1999. (from a survey of 8000 business systems projects)


Why Do IT Projects Fail?

Ill-defined or changing requirements Poor project planning/management Uncontrolled quality problems, e.g.

software fails to complete computing task in time

Unrealistic expectations/inaccurate estimates

Adoption of new technology without fully understanding itWhy are IT projects apparently more difficult

than traditional projects?


Design (Scope), Cost, Time Tradeoffs

Target

COST

DE

SIG

N

TIME (S

CHEDULE)

Due Date

Budget Constraint

Optimal Time-Cost Tradeoff

Required Performance

“You can have your job done cheap, quick, or right; pick two.” [Sign in local copy center.]

This is sometimes called the “triple constraint”of projectmanagement


Project management

The main components : Project initiation, selection, and definition. Project organization Analysis of activities/tasks Project scheduling Project budgeting Resource management Project execution and control Project termination

Project Management

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