Project Management Notes
Module 1 Introduction 1/1
1.1 What Is a Project? 1/2
1.2 What Is Project Management? 1/8
1.3 Characteristics of Project Management 1/16
1.4 Potential Benefits and Challenges of Project Management 1/23
1.5 The History of Project Management 1/25
1.6 Project Management Today 1/27
Module 2 Individual and Team Issues 2/1
2.1 Introduction 2/2
2.2 The Project Manager 2/4
2.3 The Project Team 2/30
2.4 Project Team Staffing Profile and Operation 2/36
2.5 Project Team Evolution 2/46
2.6 Project Team Motivation 2/53
2.7 Project Team Communications 2/58
2.8 Project Team Stress 2/63
2.9 Conflict Identification and Resolution 2/68
Module 3 Project Risk Management 3/1
3.1 Introduction 3/2
3.2 Background to Risk 3/3
3.3 Risk Handling 3/11
3.4 Types of Risk 3/19
3.5 Risk Conditions and Decision making 3/25
3.6 The Concept of Risk Management 3/33
3.7 Risk, Contracts and Procurement 3/55
Module 4 Project Management Organisational Structures and Standards 4/1
4.1 Introduction 4/2
4.2 Organisational Theory and Structures 4/5
4.3 Examples of Organisational Structures 4/50
4.4 Project Management Standards 4/56
Module 5 Project Time Planning and Control 5/1
5.1 The Concept of Project Time Planning and Control 5/2
5.2 The Process of Project Time Planning 5/10
5.3 Project Replanning 5/60
5.4 Trade-off Analysis 5/72
5.5 Resource Scheduling 5/85
5.6 Project Planning Software 5/95
Module 6 Project Cost Planning and Control 6/1
6.1 Introduction 6/1
6.2 Project Cost Planning and Control Systems 6/2
6.3 The Project Cost Control System 6/27
Module 7 Project Quality Management 7/1
7.1 Introduction 7/2
7.2 Quality Management as a Concept 7/3
7.3 The Quality Gurus 7/20
7.4 The Quality Management ‘Six Pack’ 7/36
7.5 Total Quality Management 7/61
7.6 Configuration Management 7/70
7.7 Concurrent Engineering and Time-Based Competition 7/80
Module 8 Case Study 8/1
8.1 Aims and Objectives of the Case Study 8/1
8.2 Introduction (Module 1) 8/2
8.3 Individual and Team Issues (Module 2) 8/10
8.4 Risk Management (Module 3) 8/17
8.5 Case Study First Supplement 8/22
8.6 Organisational Structures (Module 4) 8/27
8.7 Case Study Second Supplement 8/30
8.8 Time Planning and Control (Module 5) 8/33
8.9 Cost Planning and Control (Module 6) 8/41
8.10 Quality Management (Module 7) 8/52
1 - Introduction
1.1 What Is a Project? 1/2
Project – one-off process with single definable end-result or product.
Three key variables: Time, Cost, Quality.
1.1.1 Introduction 1/2
Production system takes resource inputs, passes through transformation, changes into desired outputs.
1.1.2 Projects and Other Production Systems 1/3
Mass production – large number of repetitive items, maximum efficiency, capital intensive, mechanistic, little management
Batch production – non-continuous demand, modifications at intervals, less mechanistic, more management, functional groupings
Project production – one-off, non-repetitive, no learning curve, complex management planning and control
1.1.3 Characteristics of Projects 1/5
· Single definable purpose, product or result
· Defined constraints, targets
· Skills & talents from multiple professions
· Unique, unfamiliar
· Temporary
· Interlinked process; directed at achieving goal
· Secondary importance to organisation
· Complex
Project management
· plans, coordinates, controls complex & diverse activities in projects
· general management of an organisation
· requires skills
o financial awareness
o marketing appreciation
o technical knowledge
o planning skills
o strategic awareness
o quality management
Project types
· External (revenue source)
· Internal (improve operations)
· Hardware (tangible physical result)
· Software (end result is system or process)
1.2 What Is Project Management? 1/8
1.2.1 Introduction 1/8
1.2.2 Definition of Project Management 1/8
· Achieving time, cost, quality targets
· within context of overall strategic and tactical client requirements
· using project resources
· planning and controlling from inception to completion
· Decide on success criteria (time, cost, quality)
· Run the project as single entity
· Drive the team to success
1.2.3 The Basic Project Management Structures 1/11
Internal (non-executive) Project Management
· Project members also part of functional structure
· Single designated responsible (the project manager)
· Acts independently (outside functional structure)
· Equal authority to functional managers
· Single leader coordinates resources to achieve objectives
· Multidisciplinary group
· Negotiates with functional managers
· Two lines of authority for members
· Decision-making, accountability, rewards shared
· Temporary structure
· Can originate from any organisational level (product dev from Marketing; technology application from R&D…)
· Require assistance from support structures
External Project Management
· Agent on behalf of client
· More flexible than internal system
· Instructions/communications cross organisational boundary
· Lower team allegiance
· PM has direct control
· Functional structure not relevant
· Requirement for risk transfer and contractual control
· No built-in knowledge of firm
1.3 Characteristics of Project Management 1/16
1.3.1 Introduction 1/16
Differences to traditional management
· International standards
· Industry benchmarks
· Full life-cycle
1.3.2 Multiple Objectives 1/16
Ensure project-success criteria are met within changing constraints of time-cost-quality continuum.
1.3.3 International Co-operation and Standards 1/19
International Project Management Association (IPMA)
National agencies allow for cultural and economic differences:
- Association for Project Management (APM) (UK)
- Project Management Institute (PMI) (US)
1.3.4 Multi-Industry/Multidisciplinary Practitioners 1/20
Largest membership groups in APM:
- Information Technology (IT)
- Process engineering
- Construction
1.3.5 Generic Benchmarks 1/20
BS6079 – current UK standard for PM practice
ISO10006 – European code of practice
PRINCE2 – controlled environment industries and UK government
BT, Construction Industry Council codes of practice
1.3.6 Specific Provisions 1/20
Professional project manager – specialist manager, trained in PM with relevant industry experience in PM
1.3.7 Project Life Cycle 1/21
- Inception – assemble basic proposal
- Feasibility – validate the proposal (financial, time-dependent, technological, political perspectives)
- Prototype
- Full design development
- Tendering and contractual arrangements
- Manufacturing
- Commissioning (turning system on)
- Operation (may be longest part but not always, e.g. moon rockets)
- Decommissioning (e.g. toxic processes)
- Removal and recycling (legislative and environmental concerns)
1.4 Potential Benefits and Challenges of Project Management 1/23
1.4.1 Introduction 1/23
1.4.2 Potential Benefits of Project Management 1/24
- focus on objectives
- efficient use of resources
- accountability
- competition with functional units
- reduced disruption
- visibility
- life-cycle costs
- release speed
- communications
- security or project information
- team spirit/cohesion
- innovation
- skill development
1.4.3 Potential Challenges to Project Management 1/24
- Impact on functional performance
- Detrimental effect of competition
- Conflicting orders
- Functional manager deprives resources
- Additional level of authority
- Contingency on flexible approach/attitude
- Readjustment to functional working after project
1.5 The History of Project Management 1/25
Pyramids, Great Wall, Roman roads/aqueducts
Industrial Revolution: traditional management practices – batch/mass production
1900s- Gantt chart
1950 – Network diagrams for industrial processes
1940s – Los Alamos – first complex, high-tech project
1957 – DuPont – critical path method (CPM)
1958 – US Navy – program evaluation and review technique (PERT)
Late 1960s – Project Management Institute (PMI) & Association for Project Management (APM)
1988 - APM Body of Knowledge (BoK)
1996 – BS6079
1997 – ISO10006
1.6 Project Management Today 1/27
2 - Individual and Team Issues
2.1 Introduction 2/2
No urgent need for developing tools further. People make projects succeed or fail.
2.2 The Project Manager 2/4
2.2.1 Introduction 2/4
Term “project manager” means different things to different people
Wide variation in roles and duties
2.2.2 Selecting the Project Manager 2/4
- Charged with organising and managing a project team to meet objectives
- Sole responsibility for outcome
- Responsible to project sponsor
- Temporary role without traditional hierarchical power
- Authority to make decisions
- No authority to issue direct orders
- Sources of influence:
o Competency
o Professionalism
o Reputation
o Skill
o Interpersonal skills
o Alliances
- May manage across functional, departmental, organisational and geographic boundaries
- Central position -> High volume of communications
- Intellect to devise strategy and diligence to ensure execution
- Primary requirements:
o Planning
o Organising team
o Interfacing
o Negotiating
o Managing resources
o Monitoring/controlling status
o Identifying issues
o Finding solutions
o Resolving conflicts
- Interface management – between managerial and technical functions
o Maps each team member / stakeholder with clear lines and channels (A2/15)
§ Formal/contractual, verbal
- Soft management skills
o Flexibility
o Parallel focus
o Initiative
o Persuasiveness
o Communications
o Organisation
o Problem identification
o Time management
o Negotiation / diplomacy
- Hard skills
o Team set-up and management
o Complex time/cost plans
o Contracts, procurement, purchasing, personnel
o Technology
o Business strategy
- Best selection: good functional manager with PM skills
o Should not retain functional role!
- External consultant is alternative
o Learning curve
o Disparity of interest
2.2.3 Some Essential Project Manager Requirements 2/11
Functions:
- Project planning
- Authorising
- Team organising
- Controlling
- Directing
- Team building
- Leadership
- Life-cycle leadership
Constraints:
- Time
- Cost
- Quality
- Safety
Project Planning
- Time, cost, quality
- Define authority linkages with Task Responsibility Matrix (TRM)
o Milestones
o Important activities
o General responsibilities
§ Approval
§ Preparation
§ Checking
§ Making and input
§ Authorising
o Specific responsibilities
o Dates
Authorising
- Accumulate sufficient authority
- Delegate to others
- Authority: type of ability to control/direct given from above (Power is given from below)
Team organising
- Classical theory
o People are merely components in process
o E.g. automotive
- Empirical theory
o Essential similarities between systems and processes
o Observation and interpretation
o Correct process will materialise from sample and data set
o E.g. trains
- Behavioural theory
o Human relations school
§ Interpersonal relationship between people and work
§ Profit sharing
§ Expectancy theory
o Social system school
§ Social characteristics of organisations and individuals
§ Evolution as people leave/join
§ External influences
§ E.g. smoking ban, health and safety regulations
- Decision theory
o Mathematical: Management science, operations research
- Systems management theory
o Organisation characterised by throughput of resources
o Input – processing – output
- Functional managers favour Classical, Empirical, Behavioural theory. Project managers favour decision and systems management theory.
- Organising throughout the life-cycle but greatest organisational development at beginning. Clarify:
o Individual responsibilities
o Organisational breakdown structure
o Task responsibility matrix
o Communication links
o Authority links
o Configuration management system
o Project programme
Controlling
- Targeting
o Correspond to success criteria
o Cost, output, quality
- Measuring
o Formal, informal
- Evaluating
o Identification/isolation
o Alternative options
o Corrective action
o Variance analysis in conjunction with forecasting
- Correcting
o Identify source of problem
o Correct it
o Monitor actual and planned correction performance (2nd level variance analysis)
Directing
- Setting up project team
- Training and development
- Supervision
o Individual targets, evaluation, discipline, definition of objectives and responsibilities
- Motivation (team and individual)
o Rewards, evaluation, feedback, reconciliation of individual/organisational goals
- Co-ordination
o Classification of work; monitoring resources
Team building
- Early stages most critical (initial culture often continues)
- Individual and team commitment
o Common objectives, reward system, motivation drivers
- Team spirit (not same as commitment)
- Obtaining necessary resources
o Number of people, mix of skills
- Clear team/individual goals and success criteria
- Formalisation of visible manager support (attendance at key meetings)
- Effective programme leadership
o Accuracy of planning, efficiency of monitoring/control. Ownership of large problems
- Open formal/informal communications
o Complex projects have greater communication requirements
- Rewards and retribution systems (good performers rewarded, poor performers reprimanded)
- Identification /management of conflict
o High pressure is common source
o Sudden change in energy levels can be a sign
- Heterogeneity and cohesiveness
Leadership
- Decision-making ability
- Problem-solving ability
- Integration of new members (flexibility, provision of sufficient learning time)
- Interpersonal skills (comradeship and trust)
- Identify and manage conflict (when objectives/limitations are changed)
- Communication skills (most important tool)
- Interface management (upward, downward, horizontal)
- Factor-balancing skills
Life-cycle leadership
- Project teams last relatively short period of time
- Project team changes to meet needs/challenges
Phase / Characteristic / Task / People / Effect1 / Inception / High / Low / Telling
2 / Development / High / High / Persuading
3 / Stabilisation / Low / High / Participating
4 / Maturity / Low / Low / Delegating
2.3 The Project Team 2/30
2.3.1 Introduction 2/30
2.3.2 Project Teams within Functional Organisations 2/30
- Allocated to most appropriate department
- Using resources from one function or across several
- Contrast with Pure project organisation for relatively large one-off projects (e.g. Millennium Dome)
- Advantages of projects within functional organisation
o Flexibility and full use of employees
o Employees gain new experience/skills
o Cross-functional working attitude
o Experts create new synergies outside rigid functional structure
o Employees may follow primary career path in function or new career path through project
o Less costly than external consultants
- Disadvantages
o Function is depleted of resources
o Functional managers offload less efficient people
o Adaptation difficulty to demands of project environment
o Prioritisation of simultaneous projects
o Communication barriers (compared to established channels of functional units)
o Motivation (unless senior management support)
2.3.3 Team Multi-disciplinary and Heterogeneity Issues 2/33
Sentience – tendency to identify with own profession/background rather than with project and organisation
Interdependency – tendency for teams to depend on input from more than one individual
- Pooled interdependency (sections/divisions make contributions)
- Sequential interdependency (input from multiple individuals required to move to next phase)
- Reciprocal interdependency
Differentiation (specialism) contributes to sentience
Integration – process of defining responsibilities and control, ensuring everyone adheres to same definition
Multidisciplinary nature tends to increase sentience and interdependency
Greater range of backgrounds reduces overall bias (but more discussion and conflict)
2.3.4 Group and Team Processes 2/34
Group – collection of individuals with common objective
Team – group working under direction of team leader
Organisation contains many formal and informal groups. Informal tend to form quickly and voluntarily for social reasons.