Basics of project work

1. Basics of project work

2. Contents • Learning the basic principles of project work • Emphasis on planning and monitoring tasks • Learning the basic project management terminology • Preparing you for you own project work

3. Project life cycle • A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service • Each project is divided into phases to make management easier • Phases = project life cycle

4. Five phases • Initiating • Building a business case • Finding requirements • Determining the goal / deliverable • Planning • Writing the project life cycle on paper • Implementation / execution • The project life cycle in practice

5. Five phases continued • Tracking and monitoring • Project management work • Iterative planning • Closing • Hand over deliverable and documentation • Bill • Evaluation and final report • Lessons learned

6. Project management diamond Scope Communication Risk Cost Time Quality Resources Change

7. Project manager competence Managing the project work How and by whom? Managing the content Leading people What? Under what kind of leadership?

8. Project manager competence • Personal development: • knowing strengths and development areas • taking responsibility • assertiveness • willingness to learn • belief in the project • motivation skills • visionary thinking • Process and project knowledge: • project planning and tracking skills • process knowledge • project phases Managing the project work Managing the content Leading people • Motivation: • feedback • Leadership: • sharing objectives and a common goal • team building • efficiency • communication • Understanding of the project scope: • application area • technologies used

9. Scope management • Includes the following activities: • Initiation – identify the project and get commitment • Scope planning – identify the work that has to be done • Scope definition – divide the work into manageable activities (WBS) • Scope verification – get approval for your scope • Scope change control – identify the way to control the scope

10. Time management • Includes the following activities: • Activity definition – identify the activities (WBS) • Activity sequencing – establish the dependencies between activities • Activity duration estimation – how long it will take to complete the activity • Schedule development – create the project schedule • Schedule control – control the changes to project schedule

11. Cost management • Includes the following activities: • Resource planning – how much and what kind of resources are needed to perform project tasks • Cost estimation – estimate the cost of the resources needed • Cost budgeting – cost estimate to individual activities • Cost control – controlling the changes to project costs

12. Quality management • Includes the following activities: • Quality planning – identify which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to meet these standards • Quality assurance – evaluate overall project performance on a regular basis to make sure that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards • Quality control – monitor specific project results to make sure that they comply with the relevant quality standards

13. Human resource management • Includes the following activities: • Organisational planning – identify, document and assign project roles, responsibilities and reporting relationships • Staff acquisition – get the human resources needed assigned to the project • Team development – develop individual and group competences.

14. Risk management • Includes the following activities: • Risk identification – identify the risks which are likely to affect the project • Risk quantification – evaluate and prioritise the risks focusing on probability and impact • Risk response development – risk control both to avoid risks and to minimise their impact • Risk response control – monitor risks continuously and systematically

15. Communications management • Includes the following activities: • Communications planning – determine the communications needed • Information distribution – make the information available to stakeholders • Performance reporting – collect and ‘publish’ performance information • Administrative closure – generate, gather and publish information to formalise a phase or project completion

16. Change management • Control the change and be prepared to alter the project plan. • Scope: • Quality compromised • Money pit • Schedule out of proportion • Flop

17. Work breakdown structure (WBS) • Break the project into manageable tasks (work packages): • Measurable • Tangible results & short duration • Identifiable and available input • Clear / single owner • Clear deliverable

18. WBS continued • Considerations in developing WBS: • How big should the tasks be? • Low-level tasks should not cost more than high level tasks • Coordinate WPs into project milestones • Clear start and end dates

19. WBS continued Project ? ? ?

20. WBS dependency types • FINISH – START • After A finished, B can start. • START – START • When I starts, B can start as well. • FINISH – FINISH • When A finishes, B can finish too. • START – FINISH • After B started, A can finish.

21. Critical path method • Place the WPs on a timeline illustrating the dependencies. • Calculate the sum of the days on longest path, that is, the earliest finish date for the project. • Critical path refers to the longest path.

22. Risk analysis • Risk analysis = no surprises • Some risks are inevitable. Risk is not a problem until it happens. • Exercise: • Find 10 risks in the project. • Give them a grading of probability (1 to 10) • Give them a grading of impact (1-10) • Multiply to get the general effect. • Find a preventive and corrective action for top 5.

23. Links • Project management institute • www.pmi.org • The project management forum • www.pmforum.org

24. Project kick-off 10 Mar 2008

25. Project roles • project manager • communications manager • risk manager

26. Project manager • Writes the project plan: • WBS • Schedule • Follows the implementation of the plan • Change management • Communication with the customer • Writes the final report

27. Communications manager • Writes the communications plan: • Reporting • Informs the customer and the steering group of the progress

28. Risk manager • Writes the risk analysis • Calculate the biggest risks • Proactive and reactive • Modify the risk analysis

29. Project deliverables • Project plan • Must be committed to by project members • Must be reviewed by SG • Communications plan • Risk analysis • Actual project work Everyone’s input must be visible both in the plan and the outcome.

30. Project – Visual tool for HUTK administration • THE ANNUAL CYCLE OF FACULTY ADMINISTRATION(ACTIVITY CALENDAR) • Contacts: • Leena Kuure (the primary contact person) • Sinikka Koivunen (head of administrative affairs) • Kari Kaskela (head of student affairs) • Harri Mantila (chairman of the HULPI working group) • Product: • A visual representation (or several alternative representations) of the annual cycle of faculty administration (e.g. important milestones and deadlines) • Available both in Finnish and English • Format: • different formats (documents, web) • There should be an editable source. • More details in the wiki.

31. Groups • Decide on the project roles. • Inform the steering group of your decision. • Contact the customer and decide on the final deadline. • Start the work.