Project Management Karl A. Smith University of Minnesota ksmith@umn ce.umn/~smith

1. Project Management Karl A. Smith University of Minnesota ksmith@umn.edu www.ce.umn.edu/~smith MOT 8221 Spring, 2002

2. Project Life-Cycle Hands-On Construction Project Simply Supported Beam Groups of Three or Four

3. Team Member Roles • Task Recorder • Process Recorder • Materials Manager 3

4. Simply Supported Beam Specification: Free Span > 65 cm Concentrated Load located at Beam Center Final Design May Contain ONLY: One sheet of beam material One file folder label Beam may NOT be attached to supports

5. Project Management Heuristics--Examples • Identify the weak link and Allocate resources to the weak link • Freeze the design--at some stage in the project (when about 75% of the time or resources are used up) the design must be frozen • Discuss the process and ask meta-level questions, e.g., What are we doing? Why are we doing it? How does it help? 5

6. Group Processing B Plus/Delta Format B Delta Things Group Could Improve Plus Things That Group Did Well

7. The prevailing view of the project life cycle is that projects go through distinct phases, such as: • Conceiving and defining the project • Planning the project • Implementing the plan • Completing and evaluating the project • Operate and maintain project A typical construction project has the following seven phases (Kerzner, 1998): 1. Planning, data gathering, and procedures 2. Studies and basic engineering 3. Major review 4. Detail engineering 5. Detail engineering/construction overlap 6. Construction 7. Testing and commissioning

8. Project Life Cycle? • Wild enthusiasm • Disillusionment • Total confusion • Search for the guilty • Punishment of the innocent • Praise and honors for the non-participants 8

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10. Traditional Create – 10% Sell – 0% Implement – 90% Exit – 0% The Project 50 Create – 30% Sell – 30% Implement – 30% Exit – 10% The Project 50 – Tom Peters 10

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12. Project Manager’s Role Over the Project Life Cycle: • Planning • Organizing • Staffing • Directing • Controlling See Smith (2000) p. 59-61

13. Project Manager's Role1 Planning - Establish project objectives and performance requirements - Involve key participants in the process - Establish well-defined milestones with deadlines - Build in contingencies to allow for unforeseen problems - Prepare formal agreements to deal with changes - Clearly define responsibilities, schedules, and budgets 1Oberlender, G.D. 1993. Project management for engineering and construction. New York: McGraw-Hill. 13

14. Organizing - Develop a work breakdown structure that divides the project into units of work - Create a project organization chart - Clearly define responsibilities, schedules, and budgets 14

15. Staffing - Define work requirement and seek appropriate managers input when selecting team members - Orient team members to overall project - Seek each team members input to define and agree upon scope, budget, and schedule - Set specific performance expectations with each team member 15

16. Directing - Coordinate all project components - Display positive attitude - Be available to team members - Investigate potential problems as soon as they arise - Research and allocate necessary resources - Recognize team members good work and guide necessary improvement 16

17. Controlling Measure project performance by maintaining a record of planned and completed work - Chart planned and completed milestones chart - Chart monthly project costs - Document agreements, meetings, telephone conversations - Communicate regularly with team members 17