A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result with a defined start and end date, and scope and resources. Project management involves applying knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. It draws on 10 knowledge areas including scope, time, cost, quality and risk management. The project manager is responsible for managing the triple constraint of scope, time and cost to achieve project success.
2. What is a Project?
A project is temporary in that it has
a defined beginning and end in time, and
therefore
defined scope and resources.
A project is unique in that it is not a routine
operation, but a specific set of operations
designed to accomplish a singular goal.
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3. Examples of Projects
development of software for an improved
business process
construction of a building or bridge
relief effort after a natural disaster
expansion of sales into a new geographic
market
designing a new material for a specialized use
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4. What is Project Management?
the application of knowledge, skills and
techniques to execute projects effectively and
efficiently.
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6. Project Management
PM knowledge draws on 10 areas:
Scope
Time
Cost
Quality
Procurement
Human resources
Communications
Risk
Stakeholder management
Integration (of the above)
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7. Project Success & Triple Constraint
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Project Management is tasked with the control
and management of the Triple Constraint:
Scope – end products (deliverables)
Cost – including hidden costs
Schedule – don’t miss the window
8. Scope and Deadline were precisely defined by Kennedy (1961:
man safely to and from the moon, before the end of the decade) so
only the budget was in question.
over $20 billion was spent (approximately $145 billion in 2008 dollars)
using over 500 primary contractors
creating over 1 million vehicle components
in a program of about 18 missions (each its own project)
At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 people and
required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities.
The coordination of these resources is considered one of the great
successes of project management.
Success: 6 trips to the moon, the first before deadline. One of the
biggest triumphs for PM. Amazingly, estimates show that the
program was not more than 12% over the 1966 projected budget.
The Apollo Space Program
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http://users.business.uconn.edu/bday/PMDay2.pp
9. The Big Dig
The plan (1982) was to alleviate congestion in Boston by
moving the Central Artery into a tunnel, in conjunction
with a number of smaller but substantial road
construction projects.
Cost estimates when initiated: $2.8 Billion
No clear deadline set for completion
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http://users.business.uconn.edu/bday/PMDay2.p
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~benh/matos/portfolio/index_lessscience.html
11. Project Manager
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The project manager is the person ultimately responsible for the outcome of
the project. Ideally:
Formally empowered to use organizational resources (i.e. Project
Charter)
In control of the project
Authorized to spend the project’s budget
Authorized to make decisions for the project.
Along with resources, responsible for triple constraints: Time, Cost,
Scope
Project managers are typically found in a matrix or projectized organization:
Projectized – structured according to the projects instead of functional
departments. PM is both manager of the project and of the people.
Matrix – Hybrid organization where individuals have both a functional
manager and a project manager for projects.
15. Risk Management
The plan to handle (minimize) changes to scope and
budget
Risk is the #1 item to discuss in meetings, to avoid
undesired changes
S.W.O.T. analysis – during Initiation and Planning
Handle threats by:
Acceptance
Transfer (ex. insurance)
Mitigation
Avoidance
+ -
internal Strengths Weaknesses
externa
l
Opportunities Threats
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17. Project Processes
Linear, sequential,
“directional” design
process
Schedule (mostly) known
in advance
For predictable, structured
projects
Reduces costly changes to
an already costly design
process
Common to construction
and manufacturing
Incremental, iterative,
“evolutionary” design
process
A recurring (typically
weekly) timeline
For dynamic, hard-to-
predict projects
Reduces up-front
expenses related to
multiple changes
Common to software
development
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Waterfall (project
management)
Agile (scrum)
18. My PM lessons learned
Communication
Establish communication protocols
Ensure the team follows communication
protocols
Document (and back-up) everything
Provide both positive and negative feedback
Be sure to involve all relevant stakeholders
prior to decisions
Know your team
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19. PM lessons from ASU nanoscience
Ph.D.
Take a macroscopic perspective first (as in root-cause failure analysis),
to avoid wasting resources
Use PM tools like a Fishbone (Ishikawa) Diagram
Then, what are your top 5 explanations?
What data is needed to (in)validate those explanations?
Large teams are tough to pull off
Establish procedures
Divide into groups of no more than 12
Clearly identify and assign roles
People get pissed when there’s a mistake (50/50)
“Coming from grad school, ownership is important”
At Intel, EVERYTHING has an owner:
Tool
Document
Code
Process
Ownership ensures someone identifies and resolves a potential problem
before it becomes one.
Find out where to place project buffers (click here)
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20. Project Management Institute
(PMI)
Research: dollars lost to poor project
management
2012: $120M for every US$1B spent on projects
2013: $135M for every US$1B spent on projects
(due to increased % of projects not meeting goals)
Education
PMBOK
www.pmi.org
Certification: PMP, CAPM…
Training, lectures, seminars, networking
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Me: Project Engineering at First Solar. SEEC PSM, advisor Jeff Luth asked me to speak. PMP.
Project Management, in various forms, has been in existence for 1000s of years, but really gained momentum in the 70 years. The growing magnitude of projects in the latter half of the 20th century created a need for a disciplined approach to the way we work on projects.
In its report on Post War National Development, approved for publication in 1944, the Institution of Civil Engineers of Great Britain recognized the need for a systematic approach to planning public works projects. It pointed, “In order to carry out work efficiently, it is essential that a scheme of operations be first decided by those directly responsible for the execution.”
The report continued, “With such planning, the work can be broken down into a series of operations and an orderly sequence (or program) of execution evolved...Without a systems approach the execution can only be HAPHAZARD and DISORDERLY...”
And, 70 years later, organizations around the world are increasingly implementing project management to help them execute business strategy.
Not all projects are wonders of humankind. My project experience is in publishing – as a managing editor– and in renewable energy development.
Formalized, through the PMI.Scope may be referred to as “deliverables”, the end result of the project that will be turned over to a customer/client/department.
So a project team often includes people who don’t usually work together – sometimes from different organizations and across multiple geographies.
All successfully accomplished by effective Proj. Mgmt.
PMI definition. Focus is on “management”: management of people, of resources, of time, of money, of quality, of scope, of risk, of change (which, during a project, you don’t want)...Knowledge: experience, foresight, proceduresSkills: procedures, preparations for changesTechniques: communication, analysis, documentationAcross the entire lifecycle of a project.
Finally, compliance w/regulations and sign-off; lessons learned.
Purple should also be “planning”. Everything is planning/preventative maintenance/proactive resolution.
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” Ben Franklin, Winston Churchill
6/7/2014
http://users.business.uconn.edu/bday/PMDay2.ppt
Where the Apollo Program is often hailed as one of PM’s greatest triumphs, the Big Dig is quintessential textbook example of Project Mismanagement.
http://users.business.uconn.edu/bday/
6/7/2014
WBS – a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work. Used to calculate cost.
Baseline used during M&C to measure progress/velocity:earned value (EV) / actual cost (AC) = cost perf index (CPI), and EV / planned value (PV) = sched perf index (SPI). Ratios tells us how well we’re progressing.
Stakeholders: all affected by a decision.Ex. Customer wants exactly the same product, except 1 part different. Changes structural/electrical/construction/scheduling/training/warranties/O&M/budget CHANGE REQUEST
Critical path (p.177) is not a path per se, but a duration to complete activities: the shortest duration possible to complete all the tasks of a project.
To understand, just look at the top-middle box (duration) of each activity A through D. The duration of C is 5 days longer than that of B, so B has 5 days of “float”, in which it can start/finish without affecting the critical path (the time to project completion) of 30 days. Path A-C-D is thus critical path.
PM should spend far more time preventing problems than dealing with them.Expected Monetary Value (EMV) analysis (PMBOK p339)
To understand, follow lines and white boxes from left to right, then follow shaded gray boxes back from right to left, for each path. All other things equal, “upgrade plant” is a lower monetary risk (higher EMV) than “build new plant”.
PM is communicating 90% of the time
He wanted to let you guys know that semiconductor theory is likely NOT what you’ll be doing, but you won’t know what you WILL be doing beforehand. And, that models are trivial because, “there’s rarely anything you will encounter that hasn’t been encountered before.” Seasoned employees are familiar with all relevant issues.