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Effective Teamwork and Project Management

Learn techniques and perspectives for successful teamwork and project management. Capitalize on individual differences, lead teams to consensus, expand team capabilities, and understand the role of project manager. Develop expertise and master the art of project coordination.

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Effective Teamwork and Project Management

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  1. Teamwork and Project Management Karl A. Smith Purdue University/ University of Minnesota ksmith@umn.edu Engineers Leadership Institute Minnesota Society for Professional Engineers December, 2006

  2. Teambuilding and Project Management Perspectives • Capitalizing on individual differences • Leading a team to consensus; the importance of buy-in • Expanding a team’s capabilities • Perspectives on the role of project manager • Key components to project and/or team success • Project coordination 2

  3. . . . Tomorrow’s corporation is a “collection of projects” . . . Everyone needs to learn to work in teams with multiple independent experts--each will be dependent upon all the others voluntarily giving their best. . . .The new lead actor/boss--the Project Manager--must learn to command and coach; that is, to deal with paradox. From Eight Commandments for Project Managers Tom Peters

  4. Engineering Total Design – 36% Computer applications – 31% Management – 29% Civil/Architectural Management – 45% Design – 39% Computer applications – 20% Top Three Main Engineering Work Activities Burton, L., Parker, L, & LeBold, W. 1998. U.S. engineering career trends. ASEE Prism, 7(9), 18-21.

  5. Project A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result -- Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), 2004 A project is a combination of human and nonhuman sources pulled together in a temporary organization to achieve a specified purpose. -- Cleland and Kerzner, 1985 5

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  9. The Project Management Body of Knowledge is the sum of knowledge within the profession of project management PMBOK www.pmi.org 9

  10. “The Project Management Body of Knowledge is the sum of knowledge within the profession of project management” page 3. 10

  11. Project Management is not just scheduling (Lewis, p. 8) It’s the intersection of: Tools People Systems 11

  12. Developing Project Management Expertise • What is expertise? • What is project management expertise? • Why is this important? • How to develop expertise? 12

  13. Expertise Implies: • a set of cognitive and metacognitive skills • an organized body of knowledge that is deep and contextualized • an ability to notice patterns of information in a new situation • flexibility in retrieving and applying that knowledge to a new problem 13 Bransford, Brown & Cocking. 1999. How people learn. National Academy Press.

  14. Expert Project Managers • Take a moment to recall one of your expert project managers • Describe him or her briefly • Listen as others describe their expert project managers • List common characteristics 14

  15. Characteristics of Expert Project Managers • ? • ?? 15

  16. What is takes to be a good project manager --Barry Posner (1987) Communications (84% of the respondents listed it) Listening Persuading Organizational skills (75%) Planning Goal-setting Analyzing Team Building Skills (72%) Empathy Motivation Esprit de Corps Leadership Skills (68%) Sets Example Energetic Vision (big picture) Delegates Positive Coping Skills (59%) Flexibility Creativity Patience Persistence Technological Skills (46%) Experience Project Knowledge

  17. http://www-1.ibm.com/services/files/ibv_gray.pdf 17

  18. Acquisition of Expertise • Cognition: Learn from instruction or observation what knowledge and actions are appropriate • Associative: Practice (with feedback) allowing smooth and accurate performance • Automaticity: “Compilation” or performance and associative sequences so that they can be done without large amounts of cognitive resources 18

  19. Paradox of Expertise • The very knowledge we wish to teach others (as well as the knowledge we wish to represent in computer programs) often turns out to be the knowledge we are least able to talk about. 19

  20. Teamwork and Project Management Exercise Project Life Cycle The engineering method is design under constraints – Wm. Wulf, President, National Academy of Engineering The engineering method is the use of heuristics to cause the best change in a poorly understood situation within the available resources – Billy Koen, Mechanical Engineering Professor, UT-Austin, author Discussion of the Method 20

  21. Team Member Roles • Task Recorder • Process Recorder • Materials Manager 21

  22. Design objective Design and build a tower that can support a concentrated load (standard book) at a height of least 25 cm. The tower is built from index cards and office tape. Design rules Materials are 100 index cards and one roll of office tape Cards can be folded but not torn No piece of tape can be longer than 2 inches Tower cannot be taped to the floor, ceiling, or any other object Tower must be in one piece, and easily transported in one hand Time to design and build: 20 minutes Height is measured from the ground to the lowest corner of the book placed on top Tower must support book for at least 10 seconds before the measurement is made Room must be cleaned up before measurements are made.

  23. Group Processing Plus/Delta Format Delta (∆) Things Group Could Improve Plus (+) Things That Group Did Well

  24. Teamwork & 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? 24

  25. 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

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  27. 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 27

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  29. Wysocki & Rudd, Figure 2.8, page 47 29

  30. Project Manager’s Role Over the Project Life Cycle: • Planning • Organizing • Staffing • Directing • Controlling See Smith (2004) p. 67-68

  31. Successful Projects • Take a moment to recall one of your most successful projects • Describe it briefly • Listen as others describe their successful projects • List common characteristics 31

  32. Characteristics • ? 32

  33. A recent survey of technology projects in the United States by the Project Management Institute reveals some startling percentages. Close to half of the projects started were never finished, 30% were completed but took at least twice as long as expected, some took 5 times as long. Only 10% of the projects were finished on time.

  34. Standish Group Survey of Software Project – 1994 (Lewis, 2000, p. 109) 17% Succeeded 50% Revised 33% Failed

  35. Critical Success Factors and Their Importance for System Implementation (Listed in decreasing order of correlation) [Pinto (1986), See Smith (2004), p. 67] 1.Project mission. Initial clearly defined goals and general directions. 2.Top management support. Willingness of top management to provide the necessary resources and authority/power for implementation success. 3.Schedule plans. A detailed specification of the individual action steps for system implementation. 4.Client consultation. Communication, consultation, and active listening to all parties impacted by the proposed project. 5.Personnel. Recruitment, selection, and training of the necessary personnel for the implantation project team. 6.Technical tasks. Availability of the required technology and expertise to accomplish the specific technical action steps to bring the project on-line. 7.Client acceptance. The act of "selling" final product to its ultimate intended users. 8.Monitoring and feedback. Timely provision of comprehensive control information at each stage in the implementation process. 9.Communication. The provision of an appropriate network and necessary data to all key actors in the project implementation process. 10.Troubleshooting. Ability to handle unexpected crises and deviations from plan.

  36. Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Succeed (Standish Group, 2000) • Executive management support • User involvement • Experienced project manager • Clear business objectives • Minimized scope • Standardized infrastructure • Firm basic requirements • Formal methodology • Reliable estimates • Skilled staff Wysocki & Rudd, p. 34 36

  37. Predictors of Lowered Project SuccessWilliam M. Hayden • Unrealistic project work plans • Inability to deal early with suspected problem issues • Technical complexities not well communicated to team members • Conflict between client expectations and the state of deliverables • Insufficient involvement on the part of senior management early in the life cycle

  38. What is a project?(Cleland and Kerzner, 1985; Nicholas, 1990) • … a combination of human and nonhuman sources pulled together in a temporary organization to achieve a specified purpose. • Features • Definable purpose with established goals • Cost, time and performance requirements • Multiple resources across organizational lines • One-time activity • Element of risk • Temporary activity • Process with phases/ project life cycle 38

  39. Performance, Cost, and Time Project Targets 39

  40. Project Success: Quadruple Constraint

  41. Session Summary • (Minute Paper) • Reflect on the session: • 1. Most interesting, valuable, useful thing you learned. • 2. Question/Topic/Issue you would like to have addressed. • 3. Comments, suggestions, etc • Pace: Too slow 1 . . . . 5 Too fast • Relevance: Little 1 . . . 5 Lots • Instructional Format: Ugh 1 . . . 5 Ah 41

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