PROJECT MANAGEMENT. Dispensing with the crystal ball - actually managing the project Coping with projects going wrong.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Dispensing with the crystal ball - actually managing the project

• Coping with projects going wrong

Contents

1. Management Services Organisation2. Project Planning - why3. Levels of Planning4. Planning Items5. Project Monitoring6. Methods of Planning - (Bar Charts, Networks)7. Project Reporting8. Project Control - the ultimate goal

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Must be able to: • plan• identify tasks• estimate time & effort• schedule work• monitor & control

progress• adjust plans• evaluate the product

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Define Plan Monitor and Control Review

Feasibility Analysis Design Construct Test Use

Time

Eff

ort

Project Start Project End

The Typical Project Management Cycle

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Time

Eff

ort

The Actual Profile of the Way Students Manage Projects

Define Plan Monitor and Control Review

Feasibility Analysis Design Construct Tes

t

Use

Project Start Project End

1. Typical Management Services Organisation

Chairman of Board of Directors|

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|Management Services Director

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| | | | | | | | ||

Systems Development Manager|

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| |Project Manager(s) Systems & Programming Manager

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| | | | | | | | || |

Analysts Programmers

2. Project Planning - why?

Because we need to know:

a. How much a project will cost

- manpower

- materials

b. How long it will take

We need to allocate resources:Who and What need to be Where and When

People need to be told well in advanceWhat they will be doing, Where and When

3. Levels of Planning

Similar to Levels of Management:

STRATEGIC planninge.g. spending £millions on a new system-evaluate, select and order h/w and s/w

TACTICAL planninge.g. make sure we will have the staff-evaluate nos., obtain funding, recruit

OPERATIONAL planninge.g. right people, right place, right time- allocate people to project teams

4. Planning Items

Possibly many unknowns in a projectBUTMost things known about in advanceSOGet these items plannedANDYou need only worry about items that crop up

Some unanticipated problems may include:

IllnessAccidentProduction Systems requiring resourcesChanging of MindsTechnical difficultiesetc., etc.

N.B. Don't forget to plan for system maintenance- this can occupy 50% of a programmer's timeAND, be forceful, remember:

"there is never enough time to do a good job, but there is always enough time to patch up a botched one"

5. Project Monitoring

Why - because we need to know whether we are:

a. Overspent orb. Late orc. BOTH!

Or - perhaps more importantly:

We need to be able to answer two questions from the boss:

1. How are we doing AND2. If badly, why?

6. Methods of Planning/Monitoring

Things we can plan and monitor:

Money and people.

Tools include:

Bar Charts and Networks.

PROJECT MANAGEMENTBuilding a garage (from Oakshott, 1994)Building a garage (from Oakshott, 1994)

AA Obtain bricklayerObtain bricklayer - - 1010BB Dig FoundationsDig Foundations A A 8 8CC Lay the baseLay the base B B 1 1DD Build the wallsBuild the walls C C 8 8EE Build the roofBuild the roof D D 3 3FF Tile the roofTile the roof E E 1 1GG Make window framesMake window frames - - 3 3HH Fit window framesFit window frames D & GD & G 1 1II Fit glass to framesFit glass to frames H H 1 1JJ Fit the doorFit the door D D 1 1KK Paint (J&H)Paint (J&H) I & JI & J 3 3LL Point the brickworkPoint the brickwork D D 2 2

Identifier Task description Dependent on Est. duration

Bar Charts

May be either high level or detail

Difficult to show inter-dependencies -i.e. some activities cannot begin until others have ended.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

I

J

K

L

M

Bar Chart

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS (CPA)CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS (CPA)The activity-on-node method:The activity-on-node method:

allows the time of the projectallows the time of the projectand the slack (or float) of and the slack (or float) of individual activities to be individual activities to be determined. A “zero” floatdetermined. A “zero” floatactivity is said to be “critical”activity is said to be “critical”because any delay in thatbecause any delay in thatacitivity would delay the entireacitivity would delay the entireproject.project.

this is NOT the method shown in Britton & Doake but is the one used by the Business School here and taught by our Faculty’s Quantitative Methods Field

PROJECT MANAGEMENTBuilding a garage (from Oakshott, 1994)Building a garage (from Oakshott, 1994)

AA Obtain bricklayerObtain bricklayer - - 1010BB Dig FoundationsDig Foundations A A 8 8CC Lay the baseLay the base B B 1 1DD Build the wallsBuild the walls C C 8 8EE Build the roofBuild the roof D D 3 3FF Tile the roofTile the roof E E 1 1GG Make window framesMake window frames - - 3 3HH Fit window framesFit window frames D & GD & G 1 1II Fit glass to framesFit glass to frames H H 1 1JJ Fit the doorFit the door D D 1 1KK Paint (J&H)Paint (J&H) I & JI & J 3 3LL Point the brickworkPoint the brickwork D D 2 2

Identifier Task description Dependent on Est. duration

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

A10

C1

G3

B8

K3

J1

I1

H1

F1

E3

D8

L2

ENDSTART

With this network of activities, what is With this network of activities, what is the minimum time required to building the minimum time required to building a garage?a garage?

0 100 10 10 1810 18 18 1918 19 19 2719 27 27 3027 30 30 3130 31

27 2927 29

27 2827 28

27 2827 28 28 2928 29 29 3229 32

3232

0 30 3

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

A10

C1

B8

K3

I1

H1

D8

27 2827 28 28 2928 29 29 3229 32

0 100 10 10 1810 18 18 1918 19 19 2719 27

27 2827 28 28 2928 29 29 3229 32

00 00 00 00

00 00 00

0 100 10 10 1810 18 18 1918 19 19 2719 27

CRITICAL PATH:CRITICAL PATH:

Duration: 32 daysDuration: 32 days

ENDSTART

7. Project Reporting

Need to report:

What we've done (tasks this week)Why we've done it (how it fits into plan)Worries (any new problems, plus solutions)What's next (new for next week)Where we are (in front, on target or behind)

8. Project Control

Ref. feedback mechanisms in Systems TheoryLittle point in monitoring unless we do something about it so....

Solutions

If problems, then:

1. Rework plan in light of new informatione.g. some things can be done simultaneously

2. Re-organise individual priorities - makesure people are working on the most important (critical) elements

3. Increase motivation e.g. avoid anyconflicts within project groups

4. Re-employ resources (move them round)-allocate critical jobs to fastest workers

5. Increase guidance - provide on-the-jobsupervision and advice

6. Draft in help - but BEWARE it can take longerto tell someone what to do than it does to do it yourselfor, finally

7. Admit defeat and revise the target.

Contents

1. Management Services Organisation2. Project Planning - why3. Levels of Planning4. Planning Items5. Project Monitoring6. Methods of Planning - (Bar Charts, Networks)7. Project Reporting8. Project Control - the ultimate goal