Life Cycle Models for High-Technology Projects Applying Systems Thinking to Managing Projects

1. Life Cycle Models for High-Technology ProjectsApplying Systems Thinking to Managing Projects Russell D. Archibald Fellow PMI and APM/IPMA, PMP, MSc PMI-São Paulo 4th International Seminar Sáo Paulo, Brazil, December 9-10 2004

2. Purpose of My Presentation • To enhance your ability to: • Develop the best life cycle model for your projects • Document your Project Life Cycle Management System/PLCMS • Improve your PLCMS through systems thinking Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

3. Presentation Outline • Categorizing Projects • Project Life Cycle Models & PLCMS • Hi-Tech Project Categories & Their Life Cycles • Improving the PLCMS • Conclusions Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

4. 1. Categorizing Projects • Projects: • Are the common denominator for all aspects of project management • Exist in many sizes & types • Produce many different products & results • Can be classified in many different ways Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

5. Aerospace/Defense Business & Organizational Change Projects Communication Systems Projects Event Projects Facilities Projects Information Systems International Development Media & Entertainment Product/Service Development Research & Dev. Recommended Major Categories Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

6. 2. Project Life Cycle Models & PLCManagement Systems • Many life cycle models are in use • They portray a project as an overall process or system • Their purposes include: • To enable all to understand overall process • To capture best experience, enable improvement • To relate roles, responsibilities, systems and tools to all elements of the project Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

7. Generic Life Cycle: 4 Phases • Concept • Initiation, identification, selection • Definition • Feasibility, development, demonstration, design prototype, quantification • Execution • Implementation, realization, production & deployment, design/construct/commission, installation and test • Closeout Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

8. Generic Life Cycles • Apply to any project • Too broad to be very useful, practical • Need to be tailored to the project category… … And key environmental factors Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

9. 3 Parameters to Work With: • Number & definition of phases & sub-phases • Their inter-relationships: sequential, overlapping, repeated • Number, definition and placement of key decision points Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

10. Identify Deliverables: Each Phase and Sub-Phase • Documents related to the project: • Objectives, scope, plans, schedules, reports, authorizations, work orders, etc. • Documents related to the product: • Specs, drawings, product cost, reports, etc. • Physical products or results: • Mock-ups, models, prototypes, test articles, tooling, equipment, software, facilities, materials, etc. Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

11. Defining Decision Points • Key events/milestones – ‘gates’ – at start & end of a phase or sub-phase • Decisions typically authorize project manager & team to: • Complete current phase, start next • Revise objectives, scope, schedule • Re-plan, re-start, repeat previous work • Terminate or put project on hold Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

12. Deliverables & Decision Points • Decisions are often made based on contents or results of key deliverables • Therefore these two elements are closely linked • You can’t make good decisions without adequate information Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

13. Documenting a Project Life Cycle Management Process • Define the life cycle: • Select the life cycle model to be used • Name phases, sub-phases decision points • Establish inter-relationships among them • Portray the result: flow chart, narrative • Specify authorizing documents: • Purpose & levels of approval authority • For initiation & major changes Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

14. Documenting PLCMS (Cont’d) • Identify key roles & define responsibilities • Identify major deliverables by phase • Specify issue escalation procedures • Specify differences for: • Major vs minor projects, or • Other project classes within a sub-category Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

15. 3. Hi-Tech Project Categories & Their Life Cycles • 4 (of 10) basic hi-tech categories: • Communication Systems • Information Systems • Product & Service Development • Research & Development Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

16. Hi-Tech in Other Categories • Defense/Aerospace: • Very advanced, specialized life cycles prescribed by DOD & NASA • Facilities: • Very mature, specialized life cycle models • Hi-tech projects within programs in these and other categories can be placed in one of the preceding 4 hi-tech categories Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

17. Two Types of Hi-Tech Life Cycle Models • Predictive: • Waterfall, Prototyping, Rapid Application Development/RAD, Incremental Build, Spiral • Adaptive: • Adaptive Software Development/ASD, Extreme Programming/XP, SCRUM Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

18. Predictive Life Cycle Models • Waterfall • Linear ordering phases, sequential or overlapping, no phase repeated • Prototyping • Functional requirements and physical design specs are generated simultaneously • Rapid Application Development/RAD • Based on an evolving prototype that is not thrown away Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

19. Predictive LC Models (Cont’d) • Incremental Build • Decomposition of large development effort into a succession of smaller components • Spiral • Repetition of the same set of life-cycle phases such as plan, develop, build, and evaluate until development is complete Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

20. Adaptive Life Cycle Models • Adaptive Software Development/ASD: • Mission driven, component based, iterative cycles, time boxed cycles, risk driven, change tolerant • Extreme Programming/XP • Teams of developers, managers, and users; programming done in pairs; iterative process; collective code ownership Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

21. Adaptive LC Models (Cont’d) • SCRUM (as in rugby) • Similar to above adaptive models with iterations called “sprints” that typically last 30 days • Defined functionality to be met in each sprint • Active management role throughout Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

22. XP Resources www.extremeprogramming.org/index/html www.industriallogic.com www.xprogramming.com www.objectmentor.com/home http://c2.com/cg/wiki?ExtremeProgrammingRoadmap Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

23. Impact of Environment on Life Cycle Model Selection • Project environment is of primary importance in selecting a LC model for a given project category: • Organizational characteristics • Familiarity with involved technology • Competitive demands (schedule, other) • Other Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

24. Software Life Cycle Models - Examples Source: “The Project Manager’s Guide to Software Engineering’s Best Practices” ISBN 0-7695-1199-6 IEEE Computer Society Press order # BP01199 Chapter 7, “Software Life Cycle Process Management”

25. IEEE/EIA Standard 12207 Life Cycle Processes & Roles

26. Simplified Project Life Cycle Model - Software

27. Waterfall Life Cycle Model- Software

28. Incremental Life Cycle Model- Software

29. Incremental Waterfall Development Model - Software

30. Evolutionary Life Cycle Model - Software

31. Spiral Model of Development - Software

32. NASA’s Project Life Cycle Model

33. Stage-GateTM Life Cycle ProcessSource: Cooper et al 2001 see www.prod-dev.com

34. 4. Improving the PLCMS • Document the integrated project life cycle model • Document & describe the PLCMS • Re-engineer the integrated process • Apply systems thinking: TOC • Implement the improvements • Repeat these steps as required Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

35. Re-Engineer the PLCMS • Identify system constraints, gaps & weaknesses • Relate poor results to constraints & identify benefits to their removal • Look for speed bumps, accelerators • Redesign the PLCMS to remove constraints Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

36. Implement Improvements • Obtain approval to conduct tests and analyses • Plan, approve & execute the improvement project to implement the revised PLCMS Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

37. Rational Unified Process/RUP • Process framework for • Software development • Software customization • Also a ‘process product’ developed and maintained by IBM Rational: • Integrated with a suite of SW tools • Available on CD-ROM or via Internet Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

38. Six Best Practices in RUP • Develop SW iteratively • Manage requirements • Use component-based architectures • Visually model SW • Continuously verify SW quality • Control changes to the SW For info: www.maxwideman.com/papers/acquisition/intro.htm Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

39. Apply Theory of Constraints/TOC (Source: Leach 2000) • Identify system constraints • Decide how to exploit system constraints • Subordinate all else to above decision • Elevate the system constraints • Does the new constraint limit output? Yes: Back to step 1 No: Beware inertia Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

40. 5. Conclusions • Project categories are important: • Based on end results best way (?) • Sub-categories also needed • Further classification within categories and sub-categories needed (see http:/projectcategories.org -- and join our team!) Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

41. 5. Conclusions (Cont’d) • Project life cycle models must be designed for each category/sub-category • Define and inter-relate phases & sub-phases • Identify deliverables for each of these • Define & relate decision points Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

42. 5. Conclusions (Cont’d) • Project Life Cycle Management System PLCMS must be well defined: • For each project category/sub-category • Enables application of systems thinking to improve the process Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

43. 5. Conclusions (Cont’d) • Two types of life cycle models are used for high-technology projects: • Predictive • Adaptive With several variations within each of these Selection depends on the key environmental factors affecting the project Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

44. 5. Conclusions (Cont’d) • Systematic improvement of PLCMS is achieved through: • Re-engineering the total system • Application of TOC to total PLCMS or to a given phase • Such improvement must be a major project management goal in every organization Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

45. Further Reading • Archibald: Managing High-Technology Programs and Projects, 3rd ed 2003 • Chapters 2 and 3 • Download this paper • 18 additional references given in the paper Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar

46. Thanks for Listening • Questions? • Download this paper and/or slides at www.russarchibald.com go to ‘Author:Recent Papers’ & select title of paper • Contact me: russell_archibald@yahoo.com Russ Archibald PMI-Sao Paulo 4th International Seminar