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Project Management

Project Management. EMBA Strategy Implementation. Overview. Morning Introduction to project management Work Breakdown Structure Building the Project Plan Implementing the Project Plan Exercise. What is a project?.

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Project Management

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  1. Project Management EMBA Strategy Implementation

  2. Overview • Morning • Introduction to project management • Work Breakdown Structure • Building the Project Plan • Implementing the Project Plan • Exercise

  3. What is a project? • A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique result • Projects have a beginning and end • A project has specific deliverables • Teams are usually disbanded at the end • Operations, in contrast, are repetitive and on-going • Projects are an increasingly important means of executing strategy • So-called “strategic initiatives” • Project goals can be progressively elaborated over time

  4. What is PM? • Project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet project requirements”. • Now an IEEE Standard (IEEE1490) • Project Management Institute • Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) • PM is seen in a broad context • Management of the team, risks, quality & external stakeholders as well as cost and time

  5. Why adopt PM? • Most projects are over time and over budget (often significantly) • On average only 25% of projects meet all of their goals, around 25% fail completely • According to the CHAOS report the average project in 2001 was: • 163% over time • 145% over budget

  6. Benefits • PM can: • Justify work and changes • Improve tracking of critical variables • Identify tasks at differing levels of complexity • Decrease project costs • Let everyone know how they fit in • Improve client reporting • Decrease development time/costs and increase productivity and reusability“If you fail to plan then plan to fail”

  7. Critical Variables Scope Time Quality/Risk Cost

  8. Stages of PM • Initiating • Planning • Executing • Controlling • Closing

  9. Initiating: Scope and Charter • Project scope management • Defining and controlling what is, or is not, included in the project deliverables • Project charter • A written statement of project scope that is formally agreed with stakeholders and shared with the team

  10. Project Charter • Problem/opportunity • Project name, sponsor, manager • Singular Project Goal • Objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time based (SMART) • Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) • Success criteria • Assumptions, risks, obstacles

  11. Issues in Scope Mgt • Scope Verification • A process should be defined for how the stakeholder will formally accept that deliverables have been achieved • Can verify at various stages or phases • Verification may be conditional • Scope Change • A process should also be defined for how scope can be adjusted and the resulting impacts on cost, time, and risk quantified.

  12. Work Breakdown Structure • A WBS is a categorization and decomposition of project deliverables • Work packages are the lowest level of the structure • They are the smallest deliverables • 8-80 hours of work (1 day-2 weeks per person/team) • Can be further decomposed into activities or tasks • The WBS is the input to all other project plans • Work that is not in the WBS is not in the project !

  13. WBS Process • Ideally a team-based activity (offline with whiteboard) • Break the project into phases • By lifecycle, milestones, or obligations • Decompose the phases into discrete deliverables • Decompose the deliverables into work packages using the 8-80 rule • Must be able to assign time and resources • Create WBS diagram

  14. Screen clipping taken: 10/29/2007, 12:43 PM WBS by Output

  15. Screen clipping taken: 10/29/2007, 12:56 PM WBS by Phase

  16. WBS Process ctd. • Next steps • Include milestones to mark end of each phase • Convert WBS to OpenProj to create timeline (see Donaldson example) • Present to project sponsor and key project stakeholders • Get formal approval

  17. Gantt Chart of WBS

  18. Geoff Choo on WBS • Begins with a lifecycle of major phases • I work the WBS in iterative cycles • Start with high level activities • Add sub-activities (note that activities are not really part of WBS) • Decompose as deeply as you need • Down to one individual working 1-10 days • The lowest level should have one individual • A list of assignments and accountabilities • Let the team fill in low-level activities • Length of time predicted from personal experience, historical data and team

  19. Exercise • In your teams, create a WBS for the EMBA trip next year • Use OpenProj to determine how early the planning needs to start if the trip must start no later than December 4, 2011 • OpenProj Skills • Enter phases, tasks, and durations • Link phases (create dependencies) • Set milestones • Determine start date

  20. Building the Project Plan • By now, we have the project charter, scope, and WBS • We need to add: • Schedule and cost estimates • Performance measurement baselines • Milestones and target dates • Required staff • Extras • Risk, quality, staffing, communications

  21. Note on Activities • Technically, the WBS contains only deliverables not activities • The work packages need to be decomposed into activities (even sub-activities) • Choo’s advice is useful – 1 person for 1 to 10 days

  22. Activity Sequencing 1 • Once the activities have been defined they need to be sequenced

  23. Activity Sequencing 2 • Constraints (see advanced tab) • Do what? Start/Finish • When? No earlier than/ No later than/ On this date / As Soon as Possible /As Late as Possible • Lead or Lag time is also possible • Double click on a link to set all sequence information

  24. Activity Duration • Once sequencing has been done, the duration required for each activity has to be estimated • Estimates based on experience/history • Time units –m, h, d, w, mo • Duration is the time required to complete an activity or task

  25. OpenProj • By default, • One day equals 8 hours, one week equals 40 hours, and one month equals 20 working days. • 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. is the default work day. • Tools: Change Working Calendar • Options…sets default working time • Ability to change default, add extra time, add non-working time (e.g. holidays) • Change Gantt chart/entry table • Add columns to WBS • Split screen display

  26. Calculating Duration • Duration = Work/Resource Units • If a resource’s workday is eight hours and he or she is assigned to work on a task at 100% Units (for eight hours of work), then the Duration is eight hours (one day by default).Now let’s say you change the Units to 50%. Then the Duration becomes 16 hours or two days, because if a person is working half of an eight-hour day on this task, then it will take them 16 hours (two days) to complete eight hours of work. • Duration stays fixed for first work assignment • Recalculates after subsequent work assignments

  27. Network Diagrams • Working with units of time rather than specific dates allows more flexibility • We have used Gantt charts, a project network diagram is an alternative way of representing a project. • Establishes the “critical path” • Contingency planning • Allows the team to “tinker” with alternate dependencies and constraints

  28. Critical Path Analysis • The critical path is the longest duration from project start to finish • If any activity on the critical path is delayed the project is going to be late • Slack is the limit an activity not on the critical path can be delayed • Free slack – the time a single activity can be delayed without delaying successors • Total slack – the time an activity can be delayed without delaying the entire project • Project slack – the time the project can be delayed before missing the customer deadline

  29. Adjusting the critical path • Fast tracking • Parallel rather than sequential (FS to SS) • Can add some lag to second task to create a partial overlap • Can be risky if first task delayed • Crashing • More resources – but not all tasks can be shortened with more resources

  30. Management Reserve • Always reflect the accurate amount of time it should take to complete a task • Don’t inflate time to allow for mistakes, rework, and late activities • Parkinson’s law – work will expand to fill the time available • A management reserve is an artificial task at the end of a project • 10-15% of total time • Overruns are applied to the reserve

  31. Assigning Resources • A resource is defined as any people, equipment, or materials • View Resource Breakdown Schedule • Key variables • Type – work (per hour), material (per unit), or cost (per activity) • Max Units: 50% or 3 engineers • Rates –per time period (m, d, mo, y) or per use • Double click for resource information • Flexible availability, costs, calendar • Accrual methods – start, prorated, end

  32. Interview with NiralModi • Insights • Includes 12-15% variance for unknowns • Assessing time required and assigning resources with no slack (or over-allocation) are the toughest tasks • Consult team members so you don’t create a schedule you can’t deliver • Don’t be too generous though • On going deliverables and communication with client can make a difficult project easier

  33. Exercise • Take your WBS from the first exercise and convert it to a project schedule by adding activities using the 8-80 rule • Assign resources • Keong, Dean Jarley, Lisa, Travel Agent, Other Internal & External Parties • Find the critical path and then try shortening • What risks does this entail?

  34. Implementing the Project Plan • Team has to be motivated and monitored • Project status meetings (usually weekly) • Reporting – compare to baseline, • Generating a sense of responsibility & ownership (peer pressure helps the former) • Acknowledgements and thank yous • Review of status and risks • Remediation (if necessary)

  35. Tracking • Tools to track include: • E-mail, spreadsheets, web forms, OpenProj, Projects on Demand (cloud-based) • Each report should include costs and % of total work completed • If work is getting off schedule • Add additional resources • Invoke the management reserve (reduce the reserve and add time to late task) • Reassign the work unit

  36. Tracking Finances

  37. Tracking Finances

  38. Interview with Jason Duigou • Lack of supervision is fatal • Coming in on time and budget is bloody difficult • Try using dynamic digital dashboards for feedback (especially when team is dispersed) • Throttle resources up and down as needed • Ongoing reward and recognition • Communication and feedback is the key • Learn from lessons learned – after action

  39. GROUP ACTIVITY • In your teams, complete • the POM+ Project, or • Blue Zuma for more of a challenge • If you finish early… • help others • compare your answers!

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