Understanding Project Management

Part (1)
1. Understanding Project Management
Dr. Mohamed Abouelmagd

Content
 What is a Project?
 What is Project Management?
 Projects’ Life Cycle
 The role of the Project Manager
Dr. Mohamed Abouelmagd Cost Management

The Project could be defined as A Unique Venture
That has a Start and an End
That is conducted by People
To meet Established Goals
Within parameters of Cost, Schedule, and Quality.
What is a Project?

Project Regular Work
Temporary Ongoing
Output is Unique Output is Repetitive
Purpose is to attain its objective Purpose is to sustain the business
and then terminate
How do projects differ from regular work?

 A set of tools, techniques, and knowledge that helps you produce better results for your project.
 The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the
requirements of the particular project and its goals.
 Project management processes can be placed into Five process groups:
 Initiation
 Planning
 Executing
 Closing
 Controlling
What is Project Management

Processes can also be placed into Ten knowledge areas:
1. Integration Management
2. Scope Management
3. Time Management
4. Cost Management
5. Quality Management
6. Resource Management
7. Communications Management
8. Risk Management
9. Procurement Management
10. Project Stakeholder Management
Project Management Basics
Project management
can be applied to any project regardless of size,
budget, or timeline.

 Background information about your company or organization
 Name of your project
 Why you are doing it (the purpose)
 Who will be involved?
 Is this a project you have asked to do or was it assigned to you?
 How it will benefit you, your department, a specific group of individuals, or your organization as a whole?
 How much time you expect it to take?
 Whether you have identified any costs or not (remember, time is a cost!)?
 What planning and tracking tools you will use?
Pre-Assignment Review

 Scope What is the expected outcome and final product.
 Time Time required to see this project through to completion.
 Money Equipment, materials, labor or staffing needs, financing
 Quality Is there a need as outlined by the organization or the clients for the out to meet certain standards?
 Communication Who needs to be told of project progress? Why must they be told?
What should they be told? How or what medium will be used to communicate?
 Human Resources Who will be involved? Why those individuals?
Is there a need on the project for special skills/needs or qualifications? How will they be motivated?
 Contracts Are there contracts? With whom? Are they third party (outside of the supplier and customer, such as subcontractors)?
Is there a requirement for training and development?
 Risk How much risk is associated with the project?
Pre-Project Questions

A Projects’ Life Cycle
Initiation Phase
Planning Phase Execution Phase
Termination Phase
Time & Cost
Project
Activity
Controlling

 First three milestones in every project are the “go or no go” phase gates
1. After all the Preliminary work has been done to shape what the project will look like a critical decision has to be made.
Is this project worth doing? Shall we move forward with it?
2. Has all the Planning been done? If No? Go back and finish it.
Is this project still something we want to do? In that case, let’s move forward.
3. At the end of Execution. Have all the deliverables been given to the customer?
• If no, then back you go to finish the job
• If the final deliverable has been completed, then you can move to the final phase
A Project’s Life Cycle Milestones

 The first phase is Initiation, sometimes called the Conceptual or Create phase.
 This phase shapes the project. It often begins after the project has been selected.
 The purpose of this phase is
 to provide direction to the team
 to decide what is to be accomplished
 to identify constraints and risks.
Project’s Life Cycle
Phase I : Initiation Phase

Phase I : Initiation Phase
 Study, discuss, and analyze
 Write the project definition
 Set an end results objective
 List imperatives and desirables
 Generate alternative strategies
 Evaluate alternatives
 Determining feasibility
 Choose a course of action

 This is where the project team identifies the steps and develops the plan for how and when the project will be accomplished.
 This is the most critical and most often neglected phase of the project.
 Poor planning or lack of planning here can have consequences all down the line.
 If everybody knows what is to be done and they are all on the same page, the project will go much more smoothly.
Phase II: Planning Phase

 Establish the project end objective.
 Choose a basic strategy for achieving the objective.
 Break the project down into subunits or steps.
 Determine the performance standards for each subunit.
 Determine how much time is required to complete each subunit.
 Determine the proper sequence for completing the subunits and aggregate this information into a schedule for the total project.
 Determine the cost of each subunit and aggregate costs into the project budget.
 Design the necessary staff organization, including the number and kind of positions and the duties and responsibilities of each.
 Determine what training is required.
 Develop the necessary policies and procedures.
 Determine how to test the results.
Phase II: Planning Phase

 After the project plan is approved, the execution phase starts,
where the plan must then be executed or put into action.
 Here is where you get down to working on the project and creating the deliverables.
 To make sure the work is on track, the team (or the project manager) must monitor progress,
and if required, recommend changes.
 Progress reports go to the stakeholders.
 Execution Phase consists of tasks or control the work in progress.
Phase III: Execution Phase

 Finding the time
 Obtaining money
 Recruiting people
 Getting equipment
 Meeting and leading the team
 Communicating with all stakeholders

Controlling the work
 Establishing standards
 Monitoring performance
 Inspection
 progress reviews
 Testing
 Auditing
 Taking corrective action
A Project’s Life Cycle

Taking corrective action
 Renegotiate: Ask the sponsor for more time or more money.
 Recover: Get the team back on track with the original plan.
 Narrow project scope: Remove some items from the project.
 Deploy more resources: Get more people, time, or money on the task.
 Accept substitution: If a certain part of the project needs to be removed,
perhaps the sponsor will accept another item in its place.
 Seek alternative sources: Can you outsource part of the project?
 Accept partial delivery: Perhaps you can deliver part of the project on time,
and another part a bit later.
 Offer incentives: Offering the project team a bonus for completing
on a certain date can help you meet your goals.

 Closeout or Termination is the final phase in a project.
 The customer decides whether he or she is satisfied with the project.
 The sponsor assesses the project in terms of goals met and costs incurred.
 The team discusses lessons learned and ways the next project can be improved upon.
 A final status report is issued and sent to all key stakeholders.
 This is also the time to celebrate success and thank everyone involved with the project.
Phase IV: Closing Phase

Tasks can include:
 Project completion checklist & test project output to see if it works
 Write operations manual & complete final drawings
 Deliver project output to client & train client's personnel to operate project output
 Reassign project personnel
 Dispose of surplus equipment, materials, supplies & Release facilities
 Summarize major problems encountered and their solution
 Document technological advances made
 Summarize recommendations for future research & development and the lessons learned
Phase IV: Closing Phase

Failure Factors Reasons to Succeed
 Poor planning  Good planning
 No communication  Pre-defined communication plan
 Lack of resources/money  Enough time and money
 Lack of commitment/team problems  Team commitment
 Poor choice of leader  A good team leader
 Setting unrealistic goals  Realistic goals and time frame
 Lack of experience  Experience with project planning and
experienced team members
 Unclear objectives  Clear goals
Reasons to succeed

Selecting a Project
The Priority Matrix : If there are only 2 factors:

Selecting a Project
 The Priority Matrix :
If there are multiple factors.
You can make this work by assigning points to each criterion, say on a scale of 1-10,
or you may assign points depending on their overall value.
For example: Contribution to priority area may rate 15 points, while benefit rates 10 points,
and easy to do rates 5 points.
Project Benefit Easy to do Contribution to priority area Total
A
B
C
D

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
The WBS assists project leaders, participants, and stakeholders in the development of a clear vision of the end products or outcomes
to be produced by the project.
It provides the framework for all deliverables throughout the project life cycle.

The WBS provides a graphical representation of the project scope.
Some of the main roles the WBS plays in supporting clarity for project definition are that it:
Decomposes: the overall project scope into clearly defined deliverables.
Defines: the scope of the project in terms that the stakeholders can understand.
Provides: a structure for organizing information regarding the project’s progress, status, and performance.
Supports: tracking of risks to assist the project manager in identifying and implementing necessary responses.

Example:
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4

As you can see, the first level describes the product we want to achieve
once the project is complete.
By meeting with the stakeholders, the team can start decomposing the
product into smaller, more manageable components.
This is what the level 2 is showing below:

If we take the component called “Wheels” for example, we may want
to break it down into several pieces. However, the team has to decide
how much detail the work really requires.
For this example, we can just break this level into two pieces:
The bicycle as a product has only two wheels and from a project
management standpoint, this is enough for the team.
Level 3

Finally, there could be a component that needs more details for other
reasons. In our example, the team decides to bring even more detail to
the component called “Testing”. Based on the project’s needs, there
could be a reason to add three more work packages as you can see in
the following figure:
Level 4

Very important key points to keep in mind while developing a WBS:
1. The WBS is created with the help of the team.
2. The first level is completed before the project is broken down further.
4. The WBS includes only deliverables that are really needed.
5. Deliverables not included in the WBS are not part of the project.

Critical Path
If the task durations are as shown in this network diagram, what is the critical path?
Finish
A
B
C
E
5
2
3
4
6
Start
D
= 12

If the task durations are as shown in this network diagram, what is the critical
path?
Finish
A
B
C
E
5 3
4
Start
D
2
6
= 12
= 11
Critical Path

path?
Finish
A
B
C
E
5 3
4
Start
D
2
6
= 12
= 11
= 8
Critical Path

path?
Finish
A
B
C
E
5 3
4
Start
A-C-D
D
2
6
= 12
= 11
= 8
Critical Path

A-C-D
Finish
A
B
C D
E
5
2
3
4
6
Start
path?
Critical Path

Network Diagramming
B 1
2 4
Pack up office
Task
description
(optional)
Task ID
ES
(early start)
Duration
LS
(late start)
EF
(early finish)
3 5 LF
(late finish)

• Task IDs
• Duration
A
Task Desc.
4 C
Task Desc.
3
B
Task Desc.
1 F
Task Desc.
10
E
Task Desc.
12 H
Task Desc.
2 I
Task Desc.
1
D
Task Desc.
7 G
Task Desc.
8
ID
ES LS
EF LF
Task Desc.
Dur.
Network Diagramming

A
Task Desc.
4 C
Task Desc.
3
B
Task Desc.
1 F
Task Desc.
10
E
Task Desc.
12 H
Task Desc.
2 I
Task Desc.
1
D
Task Desc.
7 G
Task Desc.
8
ID
ES LS
EF LF
Task Desc.
Dur.
Calculate:
• ES (early start) &
• EF (early finish)
Network Diagramming

A
0
4
Task Desc.
4 C
4
7
Task Desc.
3
B
4
5
Task Desc.
1 F
5
15
Task Desc.
10
E
7
19
Task Desc.
12 H
19
21
Task Desc.
2 I
22
23
Task Desc.
1
D
7
14
Task Desc.
7 G
14
22
Task Desc.
8
ID
ES LS
EF LF
Task Desc.
Dur.
Calculate:
• ES (early start) &
• EF (early finish)
Network Diagramming

A
0
4
Task Desc.
4 C
4
7
Task Desc.
3
B
4
5
Task Desc.
1 F
5
15
Task Desc.
10
E
7
19
Task Desc.
12 H
19
21
Task Desc.
2 I
22
23
Task Desc.
1
D
7
14
Task Desc.
7 G
14
22
Task Desc.
8
ID
ES LS
EF LF
Task Desc.
Dur.
Calculate:
• LS (late start) &
• LF (late finish)
Network Diagramming

Calculate:
• LS (late start) &
• LF (late finish)
A
0 0
4 4
Task Desc.
4 C
4 4
7 7
Task Desc.
3
B
4 9
5 10
Task Desc.
1 F
5 10
15 20
Task Desc.
10
E
7 8
19 20
Task Desc.
12 H
19 20
21 22
Task Desc.
2 I
22 22
23 23
Task Desc.
1
D
7 7
14 14
Task Desc.
7 G
14 14
22 22
Task Desc.
8
ID
ES LS
EF LF
Task Desc.
Dur.
Network Diagramming

A
0 0
4 4
Task Desc.
4 C
4 4
7 7
Task Desc.
3
B
4 9
5 10
Task Desc.
1 F
5 10
15 20
Task Desc.
10
E
7 8
19 20
Task Desc.
12 H
19 20
21 22
Task Desc.
2 I
22 22
23 23
Task Desc.
1
D
7 7
14 14
Task Desc.
7 G
14 14
22 22
Task Desc.
8
ID
ES LS
EF LF
Task Desc.
Dur.
Calculate:
• Float
Network Diagramming

A
0 0
4 4
Task Desc.
4 C
4 4
7 7
Task Desc.
3
B
4 9
5 10
Task Desc.
1 F
5 10
15 20
Task Desc.
10
E
7 8
19 20
Task Desc.
12 H
19 20
21 22
Task Desc.
2 I
22 22
23 23
Task Desc.
1
D
7 7
14 14
Task Desc.
7 G
14 14
22 22
Task Desc.
8
ID
ES LS
EF LF
Task Desc.
Dur.
0
5
0
5
1 1
0 0
0
Calculate:
• Float
Network Diagramming

A
0 0
4 4
Task Desc.
4 C
4 4
7 7
Task Desc.
3
B
4 9
5 10
Task Desc.
1 F
5 10
15 20
Task Desc.
10
E
7 8
19 20
Task Desc.
12 H
19 20
21 22
Task Desc.
2 I
22 22
23 23
Task Desc.
1
D
7 7
14 14
Task Desc.
7 G
14 14
22 22
Task Desc.
8
ID
ES LS
EF LF
Task Desc.
Dur.
0
5
0
5
1 1
0 0
0
23
Network Diagramming

 Flexible
 Well rounded
 Good at ensuring goals are met as soon as possible
 Applies knowledge, skills, and techniques
 Good at balancing competing demands
 Able to work with a mixture of people and technology
 Good at multi-tasking
 Able to define the scope of the project
 Able to define goals the team can meet and keep them
 Time management skills
 Strong project management identity
 Good at documenting steps
Project Manager Skills

Understanding Project Management

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