Chapter 2- Foundation Principles of Project Management

-          managing projects vs managing ongoing operations

-          how the discipline of PM address the challenges

-          terminology

Projects require PM

All projects have two essential characteristics:

-          Every project has a beginning and an end.

-          Every project produces a unique product.

Projects are unique and temporary. Project results may be tangible or intangible.

The challenge of managing projects

-          Personnel:

-          Estimating: estimates of costs and schedules – contain more assumptions than facts

-          Authority: cross organizational boundaries – political maneuvering and a gridlock that blocks progress

-          Controls: normal accounting practices – project timeframe

Projects and ongoing ops overlap and interact. Projects initiate or change ongoing ops.

Program evaluation and review technique (PERT)

Critical path method (CPM)

PM is industry-independent –Project Managers are not.

The industry independence has been a major factor in the development of PM as a discipline, but that independence doesn’t extend to the people practicing the discipline. Project managers require skills in three different areas:

1.       PM.

2.       Business Management. Negotiating, finance, customer recruitment, organizational development, communication, and motivation are skills that any good manager should have, whether managing projects or Ops.

3.       Technical: project leads are not to the best technicians in the group.

Project managers are more likely to be involved in technical decisions on projects & need to understand the work being performed.

PM is industry-independent – the theory works in all kinds of industries. But project managers are not industry-independent – they must have good technical skills in their field. [Is to become a project manager still a good career goal for me?]

The definition of success

On time

On budget

High quality: the outcome must meet the customer’s expectations for use. “Fitness or use” and ‘conformance to requirements’. For project managers, quality has two components: 1. Scope; 2. Performance: how well the functionality works

The cost-schedule-quality equilibrium

Cost, schedule, and quality are the three primary variables of a project.

A project manager is to balance these variables to create the optimal cost-schedule-quality equilibrium.

Managing expectations

Recognizing that our project’s success is defined by the perceptions of others is a powerful incentive to make sure that all parties involved in the project agree on the basics. This leads us to a new success formula for project managers:

1.       Set realistic expectations about the cost-schedule-quality equilibrium with all the project’s stakeholders

2.       Manage expectations throughout the project. If the equilibrium changes, make sure everybody knows and accepts the new equilibrium.

3.       Deliver the promised product, on time and within budget.

The ultimate challenge: no damage

The ultimate challenge for project managers is to meet the cost, schedule, and quality goals of the project without damage to the people. That means the project ends with high morale, great relationships with customers, and vendors that can’t wait to work with you on the next project.

3 PM Functions:

1.       Project definition lays out the foundation for a project. There are 2 activities involved in this groundwork.

·         Determine the purpose, goals, and the constraints of the project.

·         Establish basic PM controls (agree on which people and organizations are involved and what their roles will be. Clarify the chain of command, communication strategy, and change control process.)

2.       Project planning puts together the details of how to meet the project’s goals, given the constraints.

3.       Project control includes all the activities that keep the project moving toward the goal. These activities include: progress measurement; communication; corrective action

Project Life Cycle

A PLC represents the linear progression of a project, from defining the project through making a plan, executing the work, and closing out the project.

The difference is that the life cycle is linear and the phase boundaries represent decision points.

1.       Define

2.       Plan: (the importance of the 1^st 2 phases in the PLC cannot be overemphasized. They are essential in preparing the team for efficient performance during the execution phase.)

3.       Execute

4.       Closeout

[I have heard of Product Life Cycle but never heard of Project Life Cycle. What are their differences?]

Product Life Cycle versus Project Life Cycle

A product development life cycle will be industry-specific. The specific steps for reengineering an emergency room admissions process are different from the steps for building a refinery. The project life cycle is industry-independent, because project management theory is industry-independent. Defining these differences further:

·         The product development life cycle describes the work required to create the product. The project life cycle focuses on managing the work.

·         A product development life cycle may contain many projects, each of which must go through the full project life cycle.

Understanding that any development effort can contain multiple projects and that each one needs to be managed as a complete project is one of the keys to success in project management.