Transcript CHAPTER 1
MGMT17 Project Management @ U ’ … mnm institute … makes sense 1. Define project 1.1. Access project scope and other relevant documentation 1.2. Define project stakeholders 1.3. Seek clarification from delegating authority of any issues related to project and project parameters 1.4. Identify limits of own responsibility and reporting requirements 1.5. Clarify relationship of project to other projects and to the organisation's objectives 1.6. Determine and access available resources to undertake project 2. Develop project plan 2.1. Develop project plan including timelines, work breakdown structure, role and responsibilities and other details of how the project will be managed in relation to the project parameters 2.2. Identify and access appropriate project management tools 2.3. Formulate risk management plan for project, including occupational health and safety (OHS) 2.4. Develop and approve project budget 2.5. Consult team members and take their views into account in planning the project 2.6. Finalise project plan and gain any necessary approvals to commence project according to documented plan 3. Administer and monitor project 3.1. Take action to ensure project team members are clear about their responsibilities and the project requirements 3.2. Provide support for project team members, especially with regard to specific needs, to ensure that the quality of the expected outcomes of the project and documented time lines are met 3.3. Establish and maintain required record keeping systems throughout the project 3.4. Implement and monitor plans for managing project finances, resources (human, physical and technical) and quality 3.5. Complete and forward project reports as required to stakeholders 3.6. Undertake risk management as required to ensure project outcomes are met 3.7. Achieve project deliverables 4. Finalise project 4.1. Complete financial record keeping associated with project and check for accuracy 4.2. Assign staff involved in project to new roles or reassign to previous roles 4.3. Complete project documentation and obtain any necessary sign offs for concluding project 5. Review project 5.1. Review project outcomes and processes against the project scope and plan 5.2. Involve team members in the project review 5.3. Document lessons learnt from the project and report within the organisation Define Project The project scope is an overview of intentions that defines what the project is about. It involves creating agreements with clients and stakeholders on the following issues: What do you intend to achieve in order to meet the needs of the client(s) and stakeholders? What are their expected outcomes in terms of time, quality, cost? How long will the project take? What sort of activities will you need to undertake in order to complete the project? What are the broad risks involved in completing the project? Who else, individuals and organisations, do you need to consult? The answers to these questions will form the outline or scope of your overall project plan. The Business Case This could be in the form of a business case that can include components such as: Background market analysis Force field analysis SWOT analysis Cost benefit analysis Alternatives Committing Resources The information generated by the business case is intended to help management decide whether to commit resources to the project and to judge whether or not the project is likely to succeed. It should be remembered that there will be many competing alternatives so the benefits and risks of the project need to be fairly, honestly and professionally set out. What are the driving forces that you think can justify you taking on the project? What are some of the environmental conditions you may need to consider? Stakeholders and stakeholder analysis - stakeholder goals and objectives in relation to the proposed project. A clear outline of the sponsor's requirements. A broad outline of the work to be performed including the products, equipment and services to be provided for the project to function. An overview of any organisational, environmental or technical issues relevant to the project. Project objectives. Details about the qualifications and experience of proposed project personnel. The scope of a project may include: Interrelationships with other known projects. Benefits to the organisation. Risk factors that may prevent project success. Any exclusions to the project or matters that the project will not be dealing with. Relevant policies. Legal obligations. Known facts relevant to the project and stakeholders to the project. Estimated budget and time frames. Scope Slippage Typical causes of scope slippage are: Unstated or conflicting aims and objectives. Scope poorly formatted and presented. Scope not independently checked. Vague terminology. Vague details of the description of the work to be undertaken. Failing to acknowledge policies, procedures or specifications relevant to the project. Over enthusiasm for the project. Over caution in regard to project risks. Ignorance of project risks. Managing The Scope The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) (2000) refers to five steps required to ensure that the project remains committed only to the activities agreed to by sponsor(s) and stakeholders, noting of course that these are subject to change by agreement. These are: 1. Initiation: Committing the organisation to begin the next phase of the project. Each project phase is pre-planned, discussed between project manager, sponsor(s) and stakeholders and agreed on before the next phase is commenced. Managing The Scope 2. Scope planning: Developing a written scope statement as the basis for future scope decisions. All changes and variations can be 'benchmarked' against this original document. 3. Scope definition: Subdividing the major project deliverables into smaller,. more manageable components, so that change can be dearly identified and addressed. 4. Scope verification: Formalising acceptance of the project scope. A sign off by the project manager and sponsor(s). 5. Scope change control: Controlling changes to project scope by requiring administrative documentation. Managing The Scope First, What is the project’s main objective? What exactly do you want to achieve and when? Make sure when you write it, that it is: S M A R T Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time and cost bound Project Feasibility At this stage the project manager needs to be ready to discuss the overall risks to the project success with the project sponsor. It is at this point that a SWOT analysis or a ‘force field’ analysis will assist the project team in evaluating the likelihood of the project’s success. SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis is a simple tool used to evaluate the Likely success of your project. Your team needs to examine and list the: Strengths of the project Weaknesses of the project Opportunities of the project Threats to the project Force Field Analysis Driving Forces: The more powerful the driving forces behind the project the better the chances it will succeed. Resisting Forces: Typically people resist change, and by identifying these areas of resistance in advance you will minimise their impact and increase your chances of success. Significant Risks Project managers should ask themselves these questions. Where might the risks to my project come from? How large are the risks? Who or what organisation(s) might pose a risk to my project? What situations or activities create the possibility of risks occurring? What level of risk will the sponsor organisation carry and at what level of risk should the project manager take action to reduce or eliminate a potential risk? What are the key risks in the day-to-day operations of the project? What risks are involved in the recruitment and management of staff for the project? How can the project manager develop a set of potential actions to meet the anticipated risks faced by the project? Steps To Reduce Risks: There are four key steps in managing project risks. 1. Identify project risks 2. Analyse and evaluate project risks 3. Treat project risks 4. Monitor and review project risks Legal Obligations: It is also the manager’s responsibility not to contravene any relevant statutes, regulations or codes of practice. Project Stakeholders Are Defined A stakeholder is any person, business or Organisation that has any form of interest in the project. The major stakeholders in any project are: The project manager The sponsor(s): The team: The customers: Suppliers: Estimates And Accuracy Accurate estimating of resources is a vital component of project management. Project management is primarily concerned with controlling risk. The better the risk is controlled the more likely the project will succeed. Cont…. Estimates And Inaccuracies Estimating inaccuracies could arise from: Broad and over generalised scope statements Poorly identified activities Those too eager to please Inexperienced estimators False assumptions Pressure from sponsors Pressure from stakeholders Inexperienced team participants At this early stage of your project you probably will be guessing resource requirements and costs. The more accurate the data the less change, revision, and negotiation will be required later. Some Tools for Meeting Estimating Inaccuracies Verzuh (1999) outlines a number of traditional estimating approaches that project managers have used. One is termed ‘phased estimating’: Where the project is artificially broken down into 'realistic planning horizons'. After an overall 'ball park' estimation the project manager commits only to the next logical phase with a detailed estimate commitment. The rationale is that the closer to the task the project manager is, the more accurate the estimate. At each of these phased points, the sponsor or the client has an opportunity to decline further commitment if the risks, as they relate to costs, look too high. Some Tools for Meeting Estimating Inaccuracies Another traditional estimating approach is ‘parametric estimating’: Where a typical project task or activity is used as a base model for similar following tasks. Once the boundaries of the base task are understood variations can more accurately be estimated, based on the prescriptions of the model. Some Tools for Meeting Estimating Inaccuracies Apportioning is where the budget is divided into smaller apportioned amounts to each phase, thereby risking only a smaller percentage of the funds at each agreed phase. Finally: Bottom-up or zero based budgeting can be the most exacting and involves working from the detailed costs of the lower level activities and progressively adding them to reveal the total project cost. This can rarely be done at the early stages of project planning. Develop Project Plan Develop Project Plan Now that you have approval to commence planning your project you will need to cover the following issues with you team: 1. Organisation or work breakdown: What needs to be done? 2. Draw the network: A logical diagram showing the relationship between each activity 3. Timeline: How long will each task take? Develop Project Plan 4. Budget: What are the costs involved with each task? 5. Resources: How will the tasks be carried out? What and how many people, equipment, and materials will be needed? 6. Roles and responsibilities: Who will be responsible for each of the activities and any other required project functions? The Work Breakdown Structure What needs to be done? Your first planning meeting needs to be with your team to develop a detailed list of all the tasks/activities involved in the project. Do not worry about the order of the tasks at this point. Just list as many as possible. Initially a ‘brainstorm’ approach is best. Just invite contributions which can be edited and put into a logical order later. Once you are happy with the list, you can then start to group the activities under categories. Suggested Categories of Activities Theme Budget Expressions of interest Bookings Conference Review Then ask yourself are these elements of these activities Macro or Micro Activity Set out the logical sequence of each activity, then ask your team if there are any activities that can be performed at the same time. Category Activity No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Activity Responsibility Once the sequence has been agreed to, your team will need to assign responsibilities. Considerations: Who is the most experienced and capable? Who is the most committed? If you get this right then your project will be completed on time and on budget. Activity The next stage is to draw up a logical flow diagram of your project showing the relationship between each activity. To do this you will need to: File Plan 1. Show all tasks in a box. For example – A 2. 3. Show the relationship between tasks. This is known as sequencing. Let logic determine whether Recruit the events can run B consecutively or at the File Plan Produce same time. A D Purchase C Estimating Time The completion date for most projects are a given and are usually set by the sponsor. More often than not the project manager will need to compress the project activities to fit into these circumstances. Every effort must be made to make your time estimates as accurate as possible. Whether you are an optimist or a pessimist in terms of estimating time here are a number of ways to increase the accuracy of your estimates: Review similar project activities Seek stakeholder advice Use activity simulation or modeling Do the activity and time it Seek expert advice (an estimator) Activity: Develop a Gantt Chart for your project When you have allocated estimated times to your chosen activities you will need to develop a Gantt chart as a simple and effective way of showing the relationship between task, time and responsibility: Activity Person Plan Fred Recruit Fred Train Sue Evaluate Arthur 1st Demo Sue Evaluate Arthur Allocate Fred Review Arthur Appoint Fred W4 W6 W8 W10 W12 W10 W15 Critical Path Analysis Project managers need to examine or analyse the project network diagram in order to understand and draw conclusions from the interrelationships between tasks or activities. The duration and start and finish times of each activity are the main issues of these interrelationships. The following questions can then be considered for each of the activities: • • • • • Where is there spare time? Where can time be saved? Can some activities be delayed? Can the start times of some activities be delayed? For how long? Critical Path This is the shortest time in which your project can be completed. The path that has the longest duration determines the quickest time to complete the project. All key tasks on that path have to be completed on time otherwise the project completion date will be missed. The critical path is disclosed after the exercise of the forward and backward passes and is often shown as a bold line joining critical project activities. Lead Time Lead time is the amount of time by which the next activity may start before the activity before it has been fully completed. However the overall Finish Start (FS) relationship remains. Event A Event B Lead Time Project Budget - Cont Your budget should include for all activities: Direct project activity resource costs, labour costs, materials, hire costs etc. Capital costs - check your organisation's policy regarding capital acquisitions Indirect costs - overheads Project team costs There are two main approaches to budgeting 1. Bottom up or zero based budgeting: Estimate the cost of the each of the individual work items within each activity and rolled up these costs to obtain a final total project cost. 2. Top down, fixed budgeting: This is where the amount of money for the project is decided in advance. Project team members are then directed to ensure that expenditure either meets or is less than the set figure. Costs: Labour, Overheads Some of the costs you will need to consider for your overall project are: Cost of labour: For each activity calculate the wage rates: Wage rates x number hours worked Where industrial awards or agreements apply, there may be varying rates for casual, temporary or part-time workers as well as allowances, overtime and penalty rates to be considered. When calculating labour costs many organisations will have an 'on cost‘ factor that allows for leave, superannuation and other accepted additions to the hourly or weekly rate of an employee. These can be as high as an additional 40% to the hourly or weekly base rate. Cost of overheads: These typically will include any rents, hire costs, electricity and water usage charges and costs of administration. Costs: Material, Insurances, Equipment, Risk Treatment Materials: These will be the costs of the resources consumed by each activity such as timber, sand, steel etc. Equipment: This includes machinery, tools etc. Insurances: The project manager should review each activity to identify any insurances required. A review of the risk chart may also disclose areas where insurances may be appropriate. Costs of treatments for risk: These need to be checked to ensure part of an activity where necessary. that the costs are included as Activity - Prepare a Budget: Use the sample below: Project: Activity No: Date Prepared: Responsibility: Activity No. ………………………… ………………………… ………………………… ………………………… Item Rate Time Required Total Cost Total Team Members Are Consulted Check with your team and sponsor and if necessary any of your project stakeholders to ensure that they have a full opportunity to review the information accessed so far. This is an important step in both gaining commitment and creating a team spirit for the project. Make sure all your team have fully participated in this process. To enter into the next phase of your project with any team members feeling that they have not been fully consulted and/or not given the opportunity to have actively participated with their ideas or points of view, will not augur well for your project. Administrator and Monitor Project Administer and Monitor Project Overview: Armed with your project plan and the tools for managing the project you will need to conduct a team briefing. Project activity leaders need to gain a clear understanding of their responsibilities regarding the project. For example: What is to be communicated? To whom? How and When? Plan for budget management. Risk treatment and problem handling. This is to ensure 100% effort from the project team to secure project deliverables, on time and within budget. Crash Management You should be aware that things can go wrong. Resources, materials, and equipment can arrive late which can impact on project activities, quality outcomes, budget, and schedules. When this happens you will need to know how to handle the crisis. By studying the network critical path you can determine if you have any skilled staff, budget, material, or equipment which can be allocated from non-critical to critical activities. How to Crash a Project: Example Project crash costings and implications: Activity No. Resources to be added Duration required Rate $/hr Total Cost Comments 7 4 laborers 3 mixers 1 bobcat 1 driver 8 hours 8 hours 8 hours 8 hours 25.00 70.00 120.00 40.00 200.00 1680.00 960.00 320.00 9 2 painters 4 hours 28.00 224.00 Reallocate from activity 5 11 3 roofers 4 hours 22.00 264.00 Reallocate from activity 4 Total 3648.00 Site induction Broome Hire Broome Hire Site induction Action is taken to ensure that project team members are clear about their responsibilities and the requirements of the project Following approval of your project you should arrange a formal team meeting to validate the project, ensuring any changes required by the sponsor are included and fully understood. Focus the team's attention on their responsibilities for each individual activity, remembering that issues such as Occupational Health and Safety may need to be highlighted. Any effort to create responsibility for the project as a whole rather than for separate activities will be valuable as despite your best planning things will not always run smoothly. Activity: Outline how you intend to do this in regard to your project Support is provided to team members, especially with regard to special need, to ensure that the quality of the expected outcomes of the project and the documented timelines are met. Your role as the project manager is to regularly review the key deliverable and progress of the project time, cost and quality. Clear, concise and easily understood communication appropriate for the recipients is necessary and to this end you should implement your plan of scheduled visits and meetings to review progress. These will be in addition to the milestones you have marked on your network. Required record keeping systems are established and maintained throughout the project Ensure that your records are easily accessible to your project team. In the event of your unavailability make sure a deputy is appointed who is fully aware of all the relevant project progress information. Records required by legislation (Occupational Health and Safety, environmental, local authority applications and approvals etc.) and those required by sponsor or stakeholder policy should not be overlooked. Plans for managing project finances, human, physical and technical resources and quality are implemented and monitored Once your budget has been approved and the project commences there will be change, especially in the budget. This can be caused by: Invalid budget estimates at the planning stage Changes in project activities (new approaches) Sponsor driven change (request to alter timings). Resource cost escalation (wage increases, etc). Project reports are completed and forwarded as required to stakeholders Your project sponsor or stakeholders will require specific reports on progress usually the milestone reports, budget reports or reports on exceptions, where activities are not performing to the schedule. Consult both your network diagram and your stakeholder communication chart to check that the content, format and timing of your reports are as agreed in your planning stage. Risk management is undertaken as required to ensure project outcomes are met Now is the time to implement your risk treatment plans. Ensure that the most serious and immediate risks receive priority attention. Lesser rated risks should be reviewed to ensure that the risk factors have not changed. Whenever changes occur in key risk factors (identified in previous risk analyses) a review of risk treatments should be undertaken. Risk Treatment Review Risk Objective Progress or changes Date Checked Amendment made to plan Project deliverables are achieved The milestone chart can now be used as a check sheet to mark off the project deliverables. Activity: Complete a Milestone chart. Review Questions 1. What support do you think you could give your team to ensure that time, cost and quality outcomes are met for your project? 2. What records and record keeping systems do you need to manage your project effectively? 3. What do you understand by the term 'crashing a project'? 4. What, how and how often do you intend to report to your stakeholders? Summary Now that your project has started the quality and results of your planning, communication, delegation and leadership will be revealed to all. Things can and will go wrong. When they do, involve your team and communicate clearly to your sponsor(s) and stakeholders. They all have a vested interest in helping you ensure the project runs smoothly and concludes satisfactorily. Without clear and timely information the quality of their input will be diminished. Your role is to bring people and information together, to problem solve and maintain overall control of the project. The project tools and techniques, together with your management skills, used wisely are your greatest assets. Finalise Project Finalise Project Overview: Few projects will be entirely successful. Don’t expect perfection. Most projects encounter planning flaws, changes and unforeseen risks. The aim of project management is to come in below budget and ahead of the agreed date having met all quality standards. Ending Before Time: The world is full of examples where a project is brought to an abrupt end. For Example: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Political interference Technological developments: Hi-fi vinyl record systems developments superseded by CDs. Catastrophic events: Cancelled space shuttle projects following the explosion of the Challenger booster rocket. Economic influences: Projects halted because of company failures caused by rising interest rates. Corporate restructures: Project sponsors or champions relocated or removed. Global impacts: Increased competition from other countries. Less dramatic but more local reasons for bringing a project to an end The project no longer meets the organisation's needs. Lack of sponsor support. Problems of motivation or abilities of the project team. Changes in project team members. The end result, be it a product or service, is no longer a viable or cost effective proposition. More pressing claims for the project's resources (staff or equipment). Initial planning assumptions prove too inaccurate. A realisation that there is a better way of managing the activity than as a project. Financial record keeping associated with project is completed and checked for accuracy Prepare summaries of all activities to date of finalisation. Ensure audit checks and final audit report are filed and copies forwarded to the appropriate personnel. Status report on any unfinished activities or unstarted activities where financial commitment is involved. Staff involved in project are assigned to new roles or reassigned to previous roles PROJECT TEAM Evaluate team performance within activities completed. Evaluate individual performance within activities completed. Plan and carry out individual staff deployments either within the organisation or externally. Report that all payments and conditions regarding employment are met. Staff involved in project are assigned to new roles or reassigned to previous roles STAKEHOLDERS Advise all stakeholders of activity and project status and any ongoing effects. Cancel any purchasing commitments, contracts or informal agreements. Arrange for the return, disposal or sale of any residual material or equipment. Staff involved in project are assigned to new roles or reassigned to previous roles LEGAL Action any issues relating to contracts affected by the early finish. Complete and report on any insurance claims or legal proceedings relating to the project. Report on any OH&S workers compensation or rehabilitation issues. Advise any regulatory authorities of the project status where approvals, fees or inspection processes or audit commitments may be involved. Staff involved in project are assigned to new roles or reassigned to previous roles SECURITY Ensure any site, residual equipment or material is secured together with any cautionary signage. Dispose safely of any unwanted documentation. Note the need to treat any material with personal details sensitively. Staff involved in project are assigned to new roles or reassigned to previous roles PUBLICITY Prepare a professional end of project report. Plan any necessary publicity journal, in-house, trade magazines, newspapers, community flyers). Report on any opportunities for the future. Project documentation is completed and any necessary sign-offs obtained for concluding project Larger projects also use a final report which is designed to indicate to the sponsor, stakeholders and team that: The project has been formally completed. The agreed outcomes or deliverables have been transferred to the new owners. Any residual resources have been accounted for and returned to the source owners or disposed of appropriately. Project documentation is completed and any necessary sign-offs obtained for concluding project Confirmation that all final financial statements have been delivered to the sponsor and stakeholders. Confirmation that all contracts have been formally terminated and that there are no ongoing legal obligations. A statement outlining that all relevant project documents have been properly filed and that any sensitive information has been properly secured. Review Project Review Project Why Review The Project? So that the lessons learnt from project planning are able to be used in future projects or ventures. Understandings of the timings and durations of activities are enhanced for more effective projects in the future. The learning experiences, skills and knowledge of the project team members are recognised and documented for resumes and qualification credits. Why Review The Project? Cont….. Lessons learnt from experiences with new equipment and techniques are documented for future use. Experience with management skills such as negotiation, conflict management, recruitment, budgeting, and leadership are recognised and used for organisational development. Highlights and benefits of the project are extracted for publicity and ongoing business opportunities. Opportunities for enhancing stakeholder relationships are developed. Questions to ask your team Did you achieve what you set out to do in the project scope? Did the project activities occur as timed and were their finish dates as planned? In other words how accurate was your time planning and duration estimating? With hindsight are there any activities that could be run in parallel or done at different times for an improved result? How did each of the activities track to budget estimates? Questions to ask your team Were there sufficient funds available? Did you have to resort to contingency funding? Why? Were any revenue generating activities able to be organised in a different way to maximise project opportunities? Which activities overran budget and which came in under budget? Was expenditure monitored effectively? How effective was the financial administration? Questions to ask your team Could project communication have been improved? Were the experience, skill and knowledge levels of the team members acceptable? How effective was the project's training commitment? What lessons could be learnt for future recruitment? Project outcomes and processes are reviewed against the project scope and plan What did you achieve against what you intended to achieve? Activity: Use your project scope and plan to guide you and your team through this discussion. Team members are involved in the review of the project This is a review process with all those involved in the project. Your aim is to find out honestly: What was well done? What could be improved? Conducting the team review and debrief: For the first part of the review an informal team discussion should be facilitated. You may need to tailor your questions to issues you know warrant discussion based on the activities and outcomes within each stage. Any issues which involve individual performance within the team that cause you concern should be handled at a separate private interview. Team and individual performance report Could project communication have been improved? Were there any aspects of the team's performance that were outstanding? What were the factors that contributed to this? How could this be recreated for other teams and activities in other projects? How could team performance have been improved? How well was the team managed? Was the team balanced with an appropriate mix of skills and abilities? Team and individual performance report What additional training did the team require? Did the team receive the appropriate internal and external support? Were there any issues of conflict within the team? How well was conflict handled? Did it require the project manager's intervention or was it handled by the team? Was the team morale and performance maintained at critical times throughout the project? Activity: Review your team's performance using the questions above. Note any significant Issues not covered by the questions. Team Member Activity No. Comments on Performance Personal File Noted Lessons learnt from project are documented and reported within the organisation No project can ever complete without valuable lessons learnt and experience gained. What was learnt about managing the team? Were the skills adequate? Was the training, attitudes, and levels of motivation adequate? This information needs to be documented for future reference. Interview It is suggested that you interview as many key players as possible, such as: Project sponsor Stakeholders Project team Resource suppliers Do not avoid negative feedback as painful as it may be as this is where your most valuable lessons may come from. Activity - Project Review: Review your project with your team and compile a Project Review chart. Be prepared to present your project Week 5 of the subject schedule. Project Management, Stephen Hartley, 2008, Pearson Education, Australia Management Theory and Practice, 2011, Pearson Education, Australia Andrew Gowans EzineArticles.com/84899 (2011) www.innovationmanagement.org (2001) Slideshow creation MnM Institute Pty Ltd www.mnminstitute.com [email protected] … www.mnminstitute.com [email protected] mnm institute … makes sense