The document discusses the theoretical foundations of two project management methods: Last Planner and Scrum. It finds that the conventional project management theory is deficient and proposes alternative theories that provide a more robust foundation.
Last Planner rejects key assumptions of conventional planning, execution, and control. It incorporates theories of planning as organizing, language/action perspectives in execution, and scientific experimentation in control. Last Planner has been shown to improve productivity in construction projects.
Scrum similarly departs from conventional methods in software development, implicitly or explicitly drawing from alternative management theories. Both methods emerged in response to failures of traditional approaches.
The document discusses synchronization and a focused approach as key to managing complex projects. It describes three precepts of critical chain project management: pipelining to limit work streams, buffering by using aggregate buffers rather than individual task schedules, and buffer management by prioritizing tasks consuming buffers the fastest. An oil and gas project in India applied these concepts successfully by prioritizing critical shutdown tasks to complete the project on time despite initial delays. Synchronization and focus are seen as critical success factors for complex projects.
Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) provides an improvement over traditional project management techniques by incorporating both resource and task dependencies. CCPM schedules tasks as late as possible, pools buffers as project resources rather than including them in individual tasks, and uses a "relay race" approach where the next task is ready to start immediately after the previous one finishes. This case study demonstrates scheduling two similar satellite projects using CCPM, showing a 26-29% reduction in project duration compared to traditional scheduling. While effective for multi-project environments, CCPM has limitations in clearly defining the critical chain and distinguishing uncertainty from resource availability delays.
This document discusses the application of root cause analysis techniques from Six Sigma's DMAIC methodology to identify factors causing schedule slippage in spacecraft projects. It introduces Six Sigma and DMAIC, which includes defining problems, measuring performance, analyzing root causes, improving processes, and controlling future performance. Specifically, it demonstrates using why-why analysis, cause-and-effect diagrams, and Pareto analysis to uncover root causes of delays. Identifying root causes allows project teams to proactively address issues and prevent future schedule variance.
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The difference between project planning stages or phases and project life cycle is very thin. The project stages are just the stages through which every project has to pass. On the other hand, the project life cycle is a continuous set of activities that have to be performed in a logical sequence in order to best achieve the business objectives
This document proposes the EVA (Earned Value Analysis) model and performance dashboard to help track the relative performance of modules or projects within a large, complex program. The EVA model breaks down work into detailed tasks with planned start/end dates. Actual progress is tracked by binary questions on task completion. This rolls up to expected and actual percentage completions at the module level, addressing issues with subjective status updates. The performance dashboard then ranks modules based on their performance against schedule and cost targets using EVA data. This provides program managers and sponsors with an objective tool to monitor performance and take corrective actions.
This document provides an overview of complexity theory and how it relates to project management. It discusses projects as temporary knowledge organizations (TKOs) and the project team as a social network. Some key points:
- Complexity theory helps understand social behaviors within teams and networks surrounding projects. It views projects as complex adaptive systems rather than things that can be fully planned and controlled.
- Projects are TKOs that transform inputs into deliverables through knowledge gathering, processing, and creation by team members. Success relies on generating new knowledge within a complex environment.
- The project team forms a social network, and exists within the larger network of stakeholders. Success depends on effectively transferring knowledge through these networks.
This document discusses project dynamics, an emerging approach to understanding the complex dynamics of projects over time. It discusses how project dynamics can be applied to (1) understand features of projects like activities, phases and interdependencies, (2) model rework cycles and their compounding effects, and (3) evaluate the intended and unintended consequences of project control strategies. The document argues that applying a project dynamics approach can provide new insights to improve project management practices.
The document provides a complete evaluation plan for an IS project to design and develop a serious game-based learning solution incorporating augmented reality over 24 months. Key tools used in the evaluation include a work breakdown structure (WBS), resource calendar, network diagram, crashing analysis, what-if scenarios, and risk assessment. The WBS identified that crashing methods were needed to reduce the project duration to 24 months. The resource calendar assessed total cost and duration impacts. The network diagram showed all activities as critical. Crashing reduced the duration to 23 months but placed all activities on the critical path. What-if scenarios evaluated risks around communication issues. Risk assessment is important to consider project costs, schedule, and success.
The document discusses synchronization and a focused approach as key to managing complex projects. It describes three precepts of critical chain project management: pipelining to limit work streams, buffering by using aggregate buffers rather than individual task schedules, and buffer management by prioritizing tasks consuming buffers the fastest. An oil and gas project in India applied these concepts successfully by prioritizing critical shutdown tasks to complete the project on time despite initial delays. Synchronization and focus are seen as critical success factors for complex projects.
Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) provides an improvement over traditional project management techniques by incorporating both resource and task dependencies. CCPM schedules tasks as late as possible, pools buffers as project resources rather than including them in individual tasks, and uses a "relay race" approach where the next task is ready to start immediately after the previous one finishes. This case study demonstrates scheduling two similar satellite projects using CCPM, showing a 26-29% reduction in project duration compared to traditional scheduling. While effective for multi-project environments, CCPM has limitations in clearly defining the critical chain and distinguishing uncertainty from resource availability delays.
This document discusses the application of root cause analysis techniques from Six Sigma's DMAIC methodology to identify factors causing schedule slippage in spacecraft projects. It introduces Six Sigma and DMAIC, which includes defining problems, measuring performance, analyzing root causes, improving processes, and controlling future performance. Specifically, it demonstrates using why-why analysis, cause-and-effect diagrams, and Pareto analysis to uncover root causes of delays. Identifying root causes allows project teams to proactively address issues and prevent future schedule variance.
Thesis writer, Dissertation writer, Plagiarism Free Dissertation writing services.
The difference between project planning stages or phases and project life cycle is very thin. The project stages are just the stages through which every project has to pass. On the other hand, the project life cycle is a continuous set of activities that have to be performed in a logical sequence in order to best achieve the business objectives
This document proposes the EVA (Earned Value Analysis) model and performance dashboard to help track the relative performance of modules or projects within a large, complex program. The EVA model breaks down work into detailed tasks with planned start/end dates. Actual progress is tracked by binary questions on task completion. This rolls up to expected and actual percentage completions at the module level, addressing issues with subjective status updates. The performance dashboard then ranks modules based on their performance against schedule and cost targets using EVA data. This provides program managers and sponsors with an objective tool to monitor performance and take corrective actions.
This document provides an overview of complexity theory and how it relates to project management. It discusses projects as temporary knowledge organizations (TKOs) and the project team as a social network. Some key points:
- Complexity theory helps understand social behaviors within teams and networks surrounding projects. It views projects as complex adaptive systems rather than things that can be fully planned and controlled.
- Projects are TKOs that transform inputs into deliverables through knowledge gathering, processing, and creation by team members. Success relies on generating new knowledge within a complex environment.
- The project team forms a social network, and exists within the larger network of stakeholders. Success depends on effectively transferring knowledge through these networks.
This document discusses project dynamics, an emerging approach to understanding the complex dynamics of projects over time. It discusses how project dynamics can be applied to (1) understand features of projects like activities, phases and interdependencies, (2) model rework cycles and their compounding effects, and (3) evaluate the intended and unintended consequences of project control strategies. The document argues that applying a project dynamics approach can provide new insights to improve project management practices.
The document provides a complete evaluation plan for an IS project to design and develop a serious game-based learning solution incorporating augmented reality over 24 months. Key tools used in the evaluation include a work breakdown structure (WBS), resource calendar, network diagram, crashing analysis, what-if scenarios, and risk assessment. The WBS identified that crashing methods were needed to reduce the project duration to 24 months. The resource calendar assessed total cost and duration impacts. The network diagram showed all activities as critical. Crashing reduced the duration to 23 months but placed all activities on the critical path. What-if scenarios evaluated risks around communication issues. Risk assessment is important to consider project costs, schedule, and success.
This document discusses project management and outlines key concepts. It defines a project as a temporary, unique activity with a defined scope and timeline. Project management focuses on planning, monitoring progress, and problem-solving. Planning involves identifying tasks, scheduling tasks, and assessing risks. Tasks should have a limited duration and scope, measurable progress, and a responsible individual. Project management structures are focused on deliverables, while operations management focuses on ongoing roles.
The document discusses project scheduling and some key concepts related to it. It defines project scheduling as the process of converting a general project plan into a time-based graphic presentation given information on available resources and time constraints. It outlines the basic principles of project scheduling such as compartmentalizing tasks, determining interdependencies, allocating time, and defining responsibilities, outcomes and milestones. It also discusses some basic scheduling terminology like tasks, activities, work products, and events. Finally, it explains common scheduling techniques like network diagrams and bar charts, as well as objectives and applications of network analysis in project scheduling.
This document discusses complexity in projects and how planning strategies can address uncertainty arising from complexity. It develops a classification of project complexity based on theoretical insights about complexity. It identifies strategies used in project planning to address complexity-related uncertainties, such as knowledge production processes and organizational forms. The document theorizes how these strategies interact with complexity factors to impact project performance, and tests these relationships using survey data from 81 complex projects. The results indicate that complexity does not have a straightforward influence on performance, and that some planning strategies can interact with complexity factors to positively impact project completion, innovation, and operational performance when matched to the specific complexities.
The key steps in the PERT planning process are:
1) Identifying the specific activities and milestones of the project.
2) Determining the proper sequence of activities by constructing a network diagram that shows the interdependencies.
3) Estimating the time required to complete each activity.
4) Identifying the critical path which is the longest sequence of activities that determines the minimum time to complete the project.
Software project management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling software projects. It includes defining phases, activities, methods, processes, and competencies. Estimating costs, efforts, risks and scheduling are important skills. Software engineering is the application of scientific knowledge to design, construct, and maintain computer programs and documentation. There are different types of processes, technologies, maturity levels, and standards involved in software project management.
This document discusses activity planning and scheduling for projects. It covers defining activities, identifying activities using different approaches, sequencing activities based on dependencies, and scheduling activities while considering resource availability and allocation. The key steps in developing a project schedule are deciding on activities and their order, creating an ideal activity plan, risk analysis to identify potential issues, and allocating resources which could impact the schedule.
New approach for solving software project scheduling problem using differenti...ijfcstjournal
Software Project Scheduling Problem (SPSP) is one of the most critical issues in developing software. The
major factor in completing the software project consistent with planned cost and schedule is implementing
accurate and true scheduling. The subject of SPSP is an important topic which in software projects
development and management should be considered over other topics and software project development
must be done on it. SPSP usually includes resources planning, cost estimates, staffing and cost control.
Therefore, it is necessary for SPSP use an algorithmic that with considering of costs and limited resources
can estimate optimal time for completion of the project. Simultaneously reduce of time and cost in software
projects development is very vital and necessary. The meta-heuristic algorithms has good performance in
SPSP in recent years. When software projects factors are vague and incomplete, cost based scheduling
models based on meta-heuristic algorithms can look better at scheduling. This algorithm works based on
the Collective Intelligence and using the fitness function, it has more accurate ability for SPSP. In this
paper, Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm is used to optimize SPSP. Experimental results show that the
proposed model has better performance than Genetic Algorithm (GA).
The document discusses project management based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). It defines a project as a temporary undertaking to create a unique product or service. Project management involves planning and guiding a project through initiation, planning, execution, control, and closing phases. Key aspects of project management include the project environment, stakeholder management, scheduling techniques like the critical path method, and ensuring projects are completed on time and on budget. The document also outlines the ten knowledge areas of project management.
Does Better Scheduling Drive Execution Success?Acumen
This white paper outlines the statistics that support the relationship between better schedules and better execution. Based on an ongoing research study conducted by Acumen, this paper is the hard proof of a need for better planning across all industries.
Immutable principles of project management (fw pmi)(v4)Glen Alleman
This document discusses the key principles of project management that are applicable across domains. It begins by thanking the audience for the opportunity to speak and introducing the speaker's background in aerospace software project controls management. The talk objectives are then outlined as: 1) distinguishing between software development and project management, 2) identifying five irreducible principles for managing projects, and 3) emphasizing the importance of addressing questions related to these principles to avoid jeopardizing projects. The document goes on to provide context on common project failures before delving into a discussion of the five immutable principles of project management.
A Greedy Heuristic Approach for Sprint Planning in Agile Software DevelopmentIJTET Journal
Abstract— With tremendous growth in electronic commerce, the e-shopping users are facing more and more problems in their day to day life. Most important of them are identity theft and spear phishing attacks. In this paper, we will be addressing those issues by the combined use of Hierarchical Visual Cryptography and keyless image steganography techniques. Firstly, we recommend the use of a certified third party payment gateway, which involves generating image shares using HVCS and secondly we recommend the use of image steganography technique to hide the user’s passphrase or ATM Pin or password in the image share to achieve cheating prevention from malicious insiders of both merchant as well as third party payment gateway. Further, we propose the use of image share as secure SiteKey which prevents spear phishing attack targeting high profile customers.
Electronic Document Management Systems ArchitectureGlen Alleman
How good system architecture can be used to improve the chances of success for an EDM/PDM/ERP project.
Architecture is the set of decisions about any system that keeps is implementers and maintainers from exercising needless creativity.
The architecture of a system consists of the structure(s) of its parts, the nature and relevant externally visible properties of those parts, and the relationships and constraints between them.
This document discusses what makes a good project schedule. It explains that a good schedule is predictive by showing relationships between activities, reflective by accurately tracking progress against the plan, and dynamic by adjusting when changes occur. Characteristics of a predictive schedule include predecessors/successors for tasks and minimal constrained dates. Reflective schedules include expected work streams and milestones to check progress. Dynamic schedules have an up-to-date baseline and status dates, without past start/finish dates and incomplete work. The key reasons for having a good schedule are to map out the work, forecast completion, measure progress against plans, and assess impacts of changes.
This chapter discusses project integration management, which involves coordinating all aspects of a project throughout its life cycle. It describes developing a project charter, preliminary scope statement, and project management plan. It also covers executing the project according to the plan, monitoring progress, and making any necessary changes. Project selection methods like financial analysis and weighted scoring are presented to help organizations choose the right projects to implement.
The management of software development is fraught with risk: technical risk, market risk, requirements risk, and financial risk. This paper describes nine (9) key management principles for
guiding the development of a software project. These principles are not original. They are taken directly from the work of Norm Brown, the founder and executive Director of the Software Program Managers Network (SPMN).
5 immutable principles and 5 processes in 60 secondsGlen Alleman
This document outlines five principles, five practices, and five processes for project success according to Niwot Ridge Consulting. The principles focus on defining what success looks like, how to achieve it, ensuring adequate resources, identifying impediments, and measuring progress. The practices involve identifying capabilities and requirements, establishing and executing a performance baseline, and performing continuous risk management. The processes are organizing work, budgeting and scheduling, project accounting, performance analysis, and change control.
IRJET- The Impact of Effective Planning on Project Success – A Literature ReviewIRJET Journal
This document is a literature review that examines the relationship between project planning and project success. It summarizes several studies that show a consistent positive correlation between higher quality project planning and better project outcomes related to cost, schedule and efficiency. Specifically, the literature review finds that:
1) Studies in the construction industry show that higher levels of pre-project planning, as measured by completeness scores, are correlated with a higher probability of projects meeting financial goals, schedule goals, and design goals.
2) One study found that construction projects with a planning completeness score above 200 (on a 1000 point scale) were more likely to meet budget, schedule and quality targets compared to projects with scores below 200.
3) The literature
In this presentation we will talk about effective ways, overview and concept of “Managing IT Projects”.
To know more about Welingkar School’s Distance Learning Program and courses offered, visit:
http://www.welingkaronline.org/distance-learning/online-mba.html
The document outlines the history of banking sector reforms in India. It discusses the nationalization of State Bank of India in 1955 and several other banks between 1960 and 1980 which brought 80% of banking under government ownership. Subsequently, banking reforms introduced many new products and facilities, and liberalized practices with the Narasimham committee in 1991. Foreign banks also entered India, improving services through technologies like ATMs, phone and internet banking.
This document discusses project management and outlines key concepts. It defines a project as a temporary, unique activity with a defined scope and timeline. Project management focuses on planning, monitoring progress, and problem-solving. Planning involves identifying tasks, scheduling tasks, and assessing risks. Tasks should have a limited duration and scope, measurable progress, and a responsible individual. Project management structures are focused on deliverables, while operations management focuses on ongoing roles.
The document discusses project scheduling and some key concepts related to it. It defines project scheduling as the process of converting a general project plan into a time-based graphic presentation given information on available resources and time constraints. It outlines the basic principles of project scheduling such as compartmentalizing tasks, determining interdependencies, allocating time, and defining responsibilities, outcomes and milestones. It also discusses some basic scheduling terminology like tasks, activities, work products, and events. Finally, it explains common scheduling techniques like network diagrams and bar charts, as well as objectives and applications of network analysis in project scheduling.
This document discusses complexity in projects and how planning strategies can address uncertainty arising from complexity. It develops a classification of project complexity based on theoretical insights about complexity. It identifies strategies used in project planning to address complexity-related uncertainties, such as knowledge production processes and organizational forms. The document theorizes how these strategies interact with complexity factors to impact project performance, and tests these relationships using survey data from 81 complex projects. The results indicate that complexity does not have a straightforward influence on performance, and that some planning strategies can interact with complexity factors to positively impact project completion, innovation, and operational performance when matched to the specific complexities.
The key steps in the PERT planning process are:
1) Identifying the specific activities and milestones of the project.
2) Determining the proper sequence of activities by constructing a network diagram that shows the interdependencies.
3) Estimating the time required to complete each activity.
4) Identifying the critical path which is the longest sequence of activities that determines the minimum time to complete the project.
Software project management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling software projects. It includes defining phases, activities, methods, processes, and competencies. Estimating costs, efforts, risks and scheduling are important skills. Software engineering is the application of scientific knowledge to design, construct, and maintain computer programs and documentation. There are different types of processes, technologies, maturity levels, and standards involved in software project management.
This document discusses activity planning and scheduling for projects. It covers defining activities, identifying activities using different approaches, sequencing activities based on dependencies, and scheduling activities while considering resource availability and allocation. The key steps in developing a project schedule are deciding on activities and their order, creating an ideal activity plan, risk analysis to identify potential issues, and allocating resources which could impact the schedule.
New approach for solving software project scheduling problem using differenti...ijfcstjournal
Software Project Scheduling Problem (SPSP) is one of the most critical issues in developing software. The
major factor in completing the software project consistent with planned cost and schedule is implementing
accurate and true scheduling. The subject of SPSP is an important topic which in software projects
development and management should be considered over other topics and software project development
must be done on it. SPSP usually includes resources planning, cost estimates, staffing and cost control.
Therefore, it is necessary for SPSP use an algorithmic that with considering of costs and limited resources
can estimate optimal time for completion of the project. Simultaneously reduce of time and cost in software
projects development is very vital and necessary. The meta-heuristic algorithms has good performance in
SPSP in recent years. When software projects factors are vague and incomplete, cost based scheduling
models based on meta-heuristic algorithms can look better at scheduling. This algorithm works based on
the Collective Intelligence and using the fitness function, it has more accurate ability for SPSP. In this
paper, Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm is used to optimize SPSP. Experimental results show that the
proposed model has better performance than Genetic Algorithm (GA).
The document discusses project management based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). It defines a project as a temporary undertaking to create a unique product or service. Project management involves planning and guiding a project through initiation, planning, execution, control, and closing phases. Key aspects of project management include the project environment, stakeholder management, scheduling techniques like the critical path method, and ensuring projects are completed on time and on budget. The document also outlines the ten knowledge areas of project management.
Does Better Scheduling Drive Execution Success?Acumen
This white paper outlines the statistics that support the relationship between better schedules and better execution. Based on an ongoing research study conducted by Acumen, this paper is the hard proof of a need for better planning across all industries.
Immutable principles of project management (fw pmi)(v4)Glen Alleman
This document discusses the key principles of project management that are applicable across domains. It begins by thanking the audience for the opportunity to speak and introducing the speaker's background in aerospace software project controls management. The talk objectives are then outlined as: 1) distinguishing between software development and project management, 2) identifying five irreducible principles for managing projects, and 3) emphasizing the importance of addressing questions related to these principles to avoid jeopardizing projects. The document goes on to provide context on common project failures before delving into a discussion of the five immutable principles of project management.
A Greedy Heuristic Approach for Sprint Planning in Agile Software DevelopmentIJTET Journal
Abstract— With tremendous growth in electronic commerce, the e-shopping users are facing more and more problems in their day to day life. Most important of them are identity theft and spear phishing attacks. In this paper, we will be addressing those issues by the combined use of Hierarchical Visual Cryptography and keyless image steganography techniques. Firstly, we recommend the use of a certified third party payment gateway, which involves generating image shares using HVCS and secondly we recommend the use of image steganography technique to hide the user’s passphrase or ATM Pin or password in the image share to achieve cheating prevention from malicious insiders of both merchant as well as third party payment gateway. Further, we propose the use of image share as secure SiteKey which prevents spear phishing attack targeting high profile customers.
Electronic Document Management Systems ArchitectureGlen Alleman
How good system architecture can be used to improve the chances of success for an EDM/PDM/ERP project.
Architecture is the set of decisions about any system that keeps is implementers and maintainers from exercising needless creativity.
The architecture of a system consists of the structure(s) of its parts, the nature and relevant externally visible properties of those parts, and the relationships and constraints between them.
This document discusses what makes a good project schedule. It explains that a good schedule is predictive by showing relationships between activities, reflective by accurately tracking progress against the plan, and dynamic by adjusting when changes occur. Characteristics of a predictive schedule include predecessors/successors for tasks and minimal constrained dates. Reflective schedules include expected work streams and milestones to check progress. Dynamic schedules have an up-to-date baseline and status dates, without past start/finish dates and incomplete work. The key reasons for having a good schedule are to map out the work, forecast completion, measure progress against plans, and assess impacts of changes.
This chapter discusses project integration management, which involves coordinating all aspects of a project throughout its life cycle. It describes developing a project charter, preliminary scope statement, and project management plan. It also covers executing the project according to the plan, monitoring progress, and making any necessary changes. Project selection methods like financial analysis and weighted scoring are presented to help organizations choose the right projects to implement.
The management of software development is fraught with risk: technical risk, market risk, requirements risk, and financial risk. This paper describes nine (9) key management principles for
guiding the development of a software project. These principles are not original. They are taken directly from the work of Norm Brown, the founder and executive Director of the Software Program Managers Network (SPMN).
5 immutable principles and 5 processes in 60 secondsGlen Alleman
This document outlines five principles, five practices, and five processes for project success according to Niwot Ridge Consulting. The principles focus on defining what success looks like, how to achieve it, ensuring adequate resources, identifying impediments, and measuring progress. The practices involve identifying capabilities and requirements, establishing and executing a performance baseline, and performing continuous risk management. The processes are organizing work, budgeting and scheduling, project accounting, performance analysis, and change control.
IRJET- The Impact of Effective Planning on Project Success – A Literature ReviewIRJET Journal
This document is a literature review that examines the relationship between project planning and project success. It summarizes several studies that show a consistent positive correlation between higher quality project planning and better project outcomes related to cost, schedule and efficiency. Specifically, the literature review finds that:
1) Studies in the construction industry show that higher levels of pre-project planning, as measured by completeness scores, are correlated with a higher probability of projects meeting financial goals, schedule goals, and design goals.
2) One study found that construction projects with a planning completeness score above 200 (on a 1000 point scale) were more likely to meet budget, schedule and quality targets compared to projects with scores below 200.
3) The literature
In this presentation we will talk about effective ways, overview and concept of “Managing IT Projects”.
To know more about Welingkar School’s Distance Learning Program and courses offered, visit:
http://www.welingkaronline.org/distance-learning/online-mba.html
The document outlines the history of banking sector reforms in India. It discusses the nationalization of State Bank of India in 1955 and several other banks between 1960 and 1980 which brought 80% of banking under government ownership. Subsequently, banking reforms introduced many new products and facilities, and liberalized practices with the Narasimham committee in 1991. Foreign banks also entered India, improving services through technologies like ATMs, phone and internet banking.
This document discusses the total project management of complex projects. It begins by emphasizing the importance of effective project management as projects increase in size and complexity. It then covers understanding and running a successful project through discussing traditional corporate management, the project manager's organizational environment, project phases, executive control points, the project brief, project management functions, and the prerequisites for a successful project.
Reuters: Pictures of the Year 2016 (Part 2)maditabalnco
This document contains 20 photos from news events around the world between January and November 2016. The photos show international events like the US presidential election, the conflict in Ukraine, the migrant crisis in Europe, the Rio Olympics, and more. They also depict human interest stories and natural phenomena from various countries.
The Six Highest Performing B2B Blog Post FormatsBarry Feldman
If your B2B blogging goals include earning social media shares and backlinks to boost your search rankings, this infographic lists the size best approaches.
1) The document discusses the opportunity for technology to improve organizational efficiency and transition economies into a "smart and clean world."
2) It argues that aggregate efficiency has stalled at around 22% for 30 years due to limitations of the Second Industrial Revolution, but that digitizing transport, energy, and communication through technologies like blockchain can help manage resources and increase efficiency.
3) Technologies like precision agriculture, cloud computing, robotics, and autonomous vehicles may allow for "dematerialization" and do more with fewer physical resources through effects like reduced waste and need for transportation/logistics infrastructure.
The document defines a project as a sequence of unique, complex, and connected activities that must be completed by a specific time, within budget, and according to specifications to achieve a single goal. It discusses the key elements of a project including activities that must be completed in a certain order, have one goal, occur within a set timeframe and budget, and meet defined specifications. The document also summarizes the main phases of project management: defining, planning, executing, controlling, and closing a project.
Advanced concept of project risk management project reportramesh roy
1. The document summarizes advanced concepts in project management that could be applied to projects in Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), including maintaining a high consciousness quotient for project teams, strategic project risk management using methods like AHP, and using critical chain management.
2. It discusses these concepts in detail, explaining how maintaining consciousness of unique project attributes, using AHP for project selection weighting attributes, and removing safety buffers from tasks to pool into project buffers in critical chain management can improve on-time and on-budget project delivery.
3. The document concludes that while these advanced concepts are equally applicable to oil and gas projects, their implementation in IOCL would require further organization and project-based study to develop internal
Theory of Management of Large Complex Projects - Chapter 7Bob Prieto
The world of large complex projects is challenging to say the least with a majority of these projects significantly under performing. It is this weak performance regime that underpins the key premise of "Theory of Management of Large Complex Projects" – project management theory as it currently exists and is applied to large complex projects falls short, significantly short, of what these projects require.
I have decided to serialize this book for the benefit of those interested in better understanding and improving project performance. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the 400 page paperback you may click on http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/bob-prieto/theory-of-management-of-large-complex-projects/paperback/product-22342232.html
This document discusses applying project management techniques to research and innovation projects. It argues that while project management is seen as hindering creativity in such projects, not using it can lead to delays. It proposes tailoring common project management approaches to the needs of research projects. This includes focusing on planning, using quality tools to identify risks, considering multiple options simultaneously, and promoting "out of the box" thinking in project managers. A case study on reducing bicycle weight illustrates these customized project management techniques.
Policy Design @ HSREPP 2010 Conference the HagueMaria Kapsali
1. The document examines why some healthcare innovation projects succeed while others fail, focusing on the role of policy implementation instruments.
2. It finds that projects following a closed systems approach with rigid rules and tight control over processes often fail due to lack of flexibility, while those using an open systems approach with outcome-focused metrics and boundary management are more likely to succeed.
3. The research concludes that implementation instruments should be designed around minimum critical outcomes rather than tightly controlling project activities, and allow flexibility for managers to adapt plans, in order to better support complex innovation projects.
Principles of the project management
Project and development life cycles
Project phase
Phase gate
Project management processes
Project management process groups
Project management knowledge areas
In the world of physics, classical theory breaks down at
scale. Conventional project management theory similarly
seems to break down at scale. The theoretical construct I
have been building to in this book is very much focused on this
project realm where scale and complexity rule.
In developing this theoretical construct I have essentially
considered three simple hypotheses, the first of which is:
Large complex projects are not well served by
conventional project management theory and
practice.
This hypothesis was demonstrated at the outset of this
book and the differential behavior between large and
traditionally scaled projects has been previously noted.
The second hypothesis considered relates to the Theory of
Management as applied to the management of projects. In
simplest terms this hypothesis says:
- The Theory of Project Management does not draw
fully on the richness of the Theory of Management
This hypothesis is demonstrated as we explored the
extensions of the Theory of Management to address chaos and
complexity and the more limited extensions of project
management theory.
The third and final hypothesis we considered focused on
the Theory of Projects, positing:
Large complex projects have significantly different
attributes than the more traditional projects which
comprise the basis for classical project management
theory
The document provides an overview of the roles and qualifications of a project manager, describing the key responsibilities of a project manager in leading a large IT project, and the skills and experience needed to successfully manage projects, including strong communication, planning, and interpersonal skills.
This document introduces key project management concepts, including defining a project as a temporary endeavor to create a unique product or service. It describes project management as applying processes to meet project requirements, including initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling, and closing a project. It also defines a project manager's role in leading the project team to deliver the project on time and on budget. Finally, it discusses that a project management plan is a document that guides how the project will be executed and monitored to achieve its objectives.
Project management involves planning, directing, and controlling resources to complete projects on time and within budget. A key part of project management is work breakdown structure (WBS), which divides work into smaller tasks assigned to organizational units. Critical path method (CPM) and program evaluation and review technique (PERT) are used to schedule projects by identifying the longest sequence of tasks on the critical path that determine the project's duration.
1. Project management involves coordinating resources to achieve objectives within constraints like scope, cost, time and quality. It applies management techniques from general business to specialized projects.
2. Construction project management encompasses setting objectives and plans, efficiently using resources, implementing operations, and developing communications. It focuses on integration, scope, time, cost, quality, resources, communications, risk and procurement.
3. Strategic planning and project prioritization consider market demands and resource constraints. Owners influence construction costs most during early planning and feasibility studies.
Project management involves planning, organizing, and managing resources to complete projects on time, within budget, and according to specifications. Common project management techniques include work breakdown structures, Gantt charts, critical path method, program evaluation and review technique, and critical chain project management. Various approaches have been developed over time, including more traditional sequential models as well as more adaptive agile and iterative frameworks.
Project Management Msc. 7Pjmn009W Project Management Project.Renee Jones
Project success can be defined in different ways and depends on meeting objectives. Key factors that contribute to project success include having clear objectives, managing scope, schedule and budget, effective communication and stakeholder management, competent project team, and support from senior management. A project manager can help ensure success by focusing on these critical success factors throughout the project life cycle from planning to execution to closure.
BPP Training on Project Management - Day 1Imoh Etuk
This training was about exposing the employees of the Lagos State Public Service to the Contemporary Project Management Practices they can adopt to Enhance Project Delivery in the Pandemic Era for the Lagos State Public Service.
Upon successful completion of the training, participants s were to apply the generally recognized practices of project management acknowledged by the Project Management Institute (PMI) to successfully manage projects by:
• Getting started with project management fundamentals.
• Identifying organizational influences and project life cycle.
• Working with project management processes.
• Initiating a project.
• Planning a project.
• Planning for project time management.
• Planning project budget, quality, and communications.
• Planning for risk, procurements, and stakeholder management.
• Executing a project.
• Managing project work, scope, schedules, and cost.
• Controlling a project.
• Closing a project.
This document provides an overview of project management concepts and frameworks. It discusses:
- The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which defines knowledge areas and process groups for managing projects. The nine knowledge areas are project integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, risk, and procurement management.
- The five process groups in PMBOK are initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.
- The Project Management Institute's (PMI) framework, which includes stakeholders' needs, knowledge areas, tools/techniques, and project portfolios.
- The differences between portfolio management, which focuses on strategic alignment of projects, and project management,
The document discusses modern project management approaches and analyzes their application to the Sydney Opera House construction project. It provides definitions of a project and the five key processes in traditional project management: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. It then introduces the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) as a modern standardized approach. Finally, it analyzes factors in the Sydney Opera House construction, noting issues around cost overruns, delays, and inability to forecast problems that impacted achieving goals for cost, time and quality.
This document discusses the principles and processes of project management. It begins with an introduction to the field and defines what constitutes a project. There are typically five main processes: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. The document then goes into further detail on each of these processes and their components. It also discusses the history of project management and some of the important organizations in its development. In addition, it covers project controlling and different methods that can be used.
2 Peer Reviewed Academic Articles Related To Reducing IT Project Management -...Scott Donald
The document summarizes two research articles about reducing failures in IT project management. The first article recommends adopting Value Driven Change Leadership (VDCL) to focus on value added over budget/schedule, business solutions over frameworks, and learning from mistakes. The second emphasizes the importance of scope management in specifying requirements and boundaries to address common failure factors. Both recognize high rates of IT project failure and identify factors like leadership, resources, objectives, and personnel that affect success or failure.
Success in information technology (IT) projects remains elusive even after decades of efforts to improve it. Most of these efforts have focused on variations of the traditional project management paradigm as promulgated by Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). We suspected that a potential cause of high IT project failure is with the paradigm, which focuses on the project itself and on meeting time and cost targets. A new paradigm called Value-Driven Change Leadership (VDCL) originated from discussions of a panel of project management experts. This paper briefly describes the principles of that new paradigm. It also reports the results from a survey of four project managers on the association between project success and management principles from VDCL and PMBOK.
Developing-Monitoring-And-Evaluation-Framework-for-Budget-Work-ProjectsNIDHI SEN
This document provides guidance on developing monitoring and evaluation frameworks for budget work projects. It discusses key concepts like the project cycle, results-based management, and developing a theory of change. The document outlines a step-by-step process for designing a performance measurement framework, including defining objectives, indicators, and data collection methods. It aims to help practitioners design simple and robust M&E systems for budget work projects through a collaborative approach.
1. 1
THE THEORY OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
EXPLANATION TO NOVEL METHODS
Lauri Koskela1 and Greg Howell2
ABSTRACT
In a series of prior papers, the authors have explored the theoretical foundation of project
management. In this paper, this theoretical foundation is consolidated and used for
explaining the novel features of two project management methods, which radically
deviate from the conventional doctrine of project management: Last Planner and Scrum.
Both methods have emerged since mid-nineties as practical responses to the failure of
conventional project management methods, Scrum in the field of software projects, Last
Planner in the field of construction projects. It is shown that both methods reject the
underlying theoretical foundation of conventional project management and instead
subscribe, implicitly or explicitly, to alternative theories, which better match the situation
in question.
KEY WORDS
Project management, lean construction, agile programming, theory.
1
Senior Researcher, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O.Box 1800, FIN-02044 VTT,
Finland, Phone +358 9 4564556, Fax +358 9 4566251, E-mail lauri.koskela@vtt.fi
2
Director, Lean Construction Institute. Box 1003, Ketchum, Id. 83340, U.S.A., Phone 208/726-9989,
Fax 707/248-1369, e-mail ghowell@leanconstruction.org
Proceedings IGLC-10, Aug. 2002, Gramado, Brazil
2. 2 Lauri Koskela and Greg Howell
INTRODUCTION
In a series of prior papers (Howell and Koskela 2000; Koskela and Howell 2001; Koskela
and Howell 2002a; Koskela and Howell 2002b) the authors have explored the theoretical
foundation of project management. In this paper, the theoretical foundation emerging
from this work is summarized and used for explaining the novel features of two project
management methods, which radically deviate from the conventional doctrine of project
management: Last Planner and Scrum.
THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PRESENT UNDERLYING THEORY
In prior literature, it has been generally seen that there is no explicit theory of project
management. We argue that it is possible to precisely point out the underlying theoretical
foundation of project management as espoused in the PMBOK by PMI and mostly
applied in practice (2002b). This foundation can be divided into a theory of project and a
theory of management.
The theory of project3 is provided by the transformation view on operations. In the
transformation view, a project is conceptualized as a transformation of inputs to outputs.
There are a number of principles, by means of which a project is managed. These
principles suggest, for example, decomposing the total transformation hierarchically into
smaller transformations, tasks, and minimizing the cost of each task independently.
We contend that understanding of management is based on three theories:
management-as-planning, the dispatching model and the thermostat model. In
management-as-planning, management at the operations level is seen to consist of the
creation, revision and implementation of plans. This approach to management views a
strong causal connection between the actions of management and outcomes of the
organization. The dispatching model assumes that planned tasks can be executed by a
notification of the start of the task to the executor. The thermostat model is the cybernetic
model of management control that consists of the following elements: there is a standard
of performance; performance is measured at the output; the possible variance between the
standard and the measured value is used for correcting the process so that the standard
can be reached.
Table 1: The underlying theory of project management
Subject of theory Theory
Project Transformation
Management Planning Management-as-planning
Execution Classical communication theory
Control Thermostat model
3
The theories of project presented in this paper are the same as presented previously as theories of
production (Koskela 2000). The reason for this is that projects can be seen as a special type of
production. This is evident from the definition of a project according to Project Management Institute
(2000): "A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service".
Proceedings IGLC-10, Aug. 2002, Gramado, Brazil
3. The Theory of Project Management: explanation to novel methods 3
This underlying theoretical foundation of project management (Table 1) has been
evaluated through four sources of evidence: (1) the plausibility and consistency of the
theory in itself; (2) empirical validity; (3) competing theories; and (4) alternative methods
based on competing theories (Koskela and Howell 2002b). The evidences from these four
sources turn out to be strikingly consonant, indicating that the underlying theoretical
foundation of project management is deficient.
Based on the understanding provided by competing theories and on the empirical
evidence, the hidden assumptions of the underlying theory of project management can be
revealed (Table 2). Unfortunately, many of these assumptions are valid only in
exceptional situations. These wrong assumptions lead directly to several kinds of
problems in practical project management. Those problems are thus self-inflicted, caused
by the very theories and methods we are relying on.
Table 2: The underlying theories and assumptions of project management (Koskela and
Howell 2002b).
Theory of project Conceptualization: Project is a transformation of inputs to outputs
Principles:
1 The total transformation of a project can be decomposed into manageable and
well-understood sub-transformations, tasks
2 A project can be realized in a optimal manner by realizing each task in an optimal
manner and the tasks in optimal sequence
Corollary: Project performance can be performed by improving the tasks
Assumptions:
1 Tasks are independent, except sequential relationships
2 Tasks are discrete and bounded
3 Uncertainty as to requirements and tasks is low
4 All work is captured by top-down decomposition of the total transformation
5 Requirements exist at the outset and they can be decomposed along with work
Theory of Theory of Conceptualization: There is a managerial part and an effector part in the project;
management planning the primary function of the managerial part is planning, and the primary function of
the effector part is to translate the resultant plan into action.
Principles:
1 Knowing the current state of the world, the desired goal state, and the allowable
transformations of state that can be achieved by actions, a series of actions, the
plan, can be deduced.
2 The plan is translated into reality by the effector part of the organization.
Assumptions:
1 Translating a plan into action is a simple process, by following directions.
2 The internal planning of a task is a matter of the person to whom the task has been
assigned
Theory of Conceptualization: Managerially, execution is about dispatching tasks to work
execution stations.
Principle: When, according to the plan, the time has arrived to begin task execution,
it is authorized to start, in speech or in writing.
Assumptions:
1 The inputs to the task and the resources to execute it are ready at the time of
authorization.
2 The task is fully understood, started and completed according to the plan once
authorized.
Theory of Conceptualization: There is a process to be controlled, a unit for performance
control measurement, a standard of performance and a controlling unit (thermostat control).
Principle: The possible variance between the standard and the measured value is
used for correcting the process so that the standard can be reached
Assumptions:
1 The process is of continuous flow type, the performance of which is measured at
aggregate terms
2 The process can easily be corrected by the control available.
Based on this evidence, it is argued that the present underlying foundation is obsolete and
has to be substituted by a wider and more powerful theoretical foundation: a paradigmatic
transformation of the discipline of project management is needed.
Proceedings IGLC-10, Aug. 2002, Gramado, Brazil
4. 4 Lauri Koskela and Greg Howell
TOWARDS A NEW THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
What then would be the wider and more powerful theoretical foundation for project
management? Based on analysis of the weaknesses of the present foundation and
consideration of competing theories and methods (Koskela and Howell 2002b), we
propose – as a starting point - to include the theories indicated in Table 3 into the new
foundation.
Table 3: Ingredients of a new theoretical foundation of project management
Subject of theory Relevant theories
Project Transformation
Flow
Value generation
Planning Management-as-planning
Management
Management-as-organizing
Execution Classical communication theory
Language/action perspective
Control Thermostat model
Scientific experimentation model
Regarding the theory of project, the (partial) models of operations as flow and value
generation add the consideration of time, variability and customer to the
conceptualization provided by the transformation model (Koskela 2000). Similarly, the
theoretical foundation of management has to be extended. Regarding planning, the
approach of management-as-organizing adds the idea of human activity as inherently
situated (Johnston and Brennan 1996). Thus, planning should also focus on structuring
the environment to contribute to purposeful acting. Concerning managerial execution, the
language/action perspective, originated by Winograd and Flores (1986), conceptualizes
two-way communication and commitment, instead of the mere one-way communication
of the classical communication theory. The scientific experimentation model of control of
Shewhart (Shewhart and Deming 1939) focuses on finding causes of deviations and
acting on those causes, instead of only changing the performance level for achieving a
predetermined goal in case of a deviation. The scientific experimentation model adds thus
the aspect of learning to control.
It is clear that what has been presented does not yet provide a unified and complete
theoretical foundation for project management. However, this foundation shows
manifestly that a better theoretical foundation can be created for project management.
Future research will extend and unify the ingredients found until now.
In the following, we show that the ingredients of the new foundation are being used in
two novel project management methods, which radically deviate from the conventional
doctrine of project management: Last Planner and Scrum4. Both methods have emerged
since mid-nineties as practical responses to the failure of conventional project
4
In this presentation, the new foundation is used for explaining these two novel project management
methods. This - with minor reservations - also corresponds to the logic of the underlying research
process. Even if we knew the Last Planner method already at the start of the research, we tried to
systematically explain it only after the formulation of the new foundation - however, the Last Planner
method has probably implicitly influenced our search. We learned about Scrum only after the
formulation of the new foundation.
Proceedings IGLC-10, Aug. 2002, Gramado, Brazil
5. The Theory of Project Management: explanation to novel methods 5
management methods, Scrum in the field of software projects, Last Planner in the field of
construction projects.
LAST PLANNER
A new method, often called Last Planner, to cope with the situation met in construction
production control, has been developed by Ballard (2000) since 1992. The method has
emerged in an inductive manner from a series of industrial experiments (Ballard and
Howell 1998).
At first sight, Last Planner deviates from the conventional project management
doctrine in terms of planning, execution and control. These differences are described in
the following detailed analysis.
Industrial experiments have shown that the introduction of Last Planner leads to clear
benefits. A productivity increase of 10 % is reported by an American (Teston 1998) and a
Danish (Baadsgaard 2001) company. Ballard (2000) has measured productivity increases
from 10 % to 40 %, with 30 % as a median. In addition, benefits regarding lead time
reduction and safety are reported (Baadsgaard 2001).
Let us analyze Last Planner from the point of view of its theoretical foundation,
especially on the management side.
THEORY OF PLANNING
The term Last Planner refers to the hierarchical chain of planners, where the last planner
acts at the interface to execution. Thus, this method concentrates on the detailed planning
just before execution, rather than the whole planning process.
The method of Last Planner distinguishes planned tasks according to Can, Should and
Will modalities. The tasks pushed from the higher planning levels belong to the Should
category.
In lookahead planning (with a time horizon of 3-4 weeks), the prerequisites of
upcoming assignments are actively made ready, in other words, they are transferred to the
Can category. This, in fact, is a pull system (Ballard 1999) that is instrumental in
ensuring that all the prerequisites are available for the assignments. In conventional
project management, the plan pushes tasks to execution; only the Should category is
recognized.
Another principle is to maintain a buffer of tasks, which are sound for each crew.
Thus, if the assigned task turns out to be impossible to carry out, the crew can switch to
another task. This principle is instrumental in avoiding lost production (due to starving or
suboptimal conditions).
Theoretically interpreted, lookahead planning aims at alignment of plan and situation.
“Should” represents the tasks in the plan, and “Can” represents those tasks that
realistically will be possible to start in the situation. Thus, lookahead planning subscribes
to the view of human action as situated - a foundational assumption of managing-as-
organizing, while also acknowledging the significance of plans for action - as advocated
by managing-as-planning.
THEORY OF EXECUTION
There is a structured weekly dispatching procedure, where the site manager together with
subcontractors and crews decides about the tasks to be carried out in the next week. Here
the principle is that the assignments should be sound regarding their prerequisites. This
Proceedings IGLC-10, Aug. 2002, Gramado, Brazil
6. 6 Lauri Koskela and Greg Howell
means that work should not start until all the items required for its completion are
available. Only tasks in the Can category are transferred to the Will category. After the
week in question has gone, the crews inform whether they have realized the assigned
tasks or not.
This procedure contrasts to the conventional project management, where execution
just consists of task authorization: the site manager notifies the subcontractor or the crew
that the task should be started.
Theoretically interpreting, the execution phase in Last Planner is similar to the
language/action perspective model in that communication is a two-way process, and
commitment is created for the realization of the tasks within the planning conversation
where plans prepared by one crew are understood as promises to others and through the
obligation to report on the completion of the task.
THEORY OF CONTROL
Control consists of measurement of the realization rate of assignments, investigation of
causes for non-realization and elimination of those causes. Here a metrics called Percent
Plan Complete (PPC) is used. In conventional project management, main control consists
of comparing progress with the performance baseline, expressed in money or hours.
Theoretically interpreting, Last Planner is using the scientific experimentation model
of control.
THEORY OF PROJECT
Tasks are the central unit of analysis in Last Planner. Even though flows are not directly
represented in Last Planner, the principles used contribute to the generic principles of
flow management. Last Planner facilitates avoiding both variability propagation and
unnecessary penalties of variability. The focus on plan realization diminishes the risk of
variability propagation to downstream flows and tasks reducing the need for large
material buffers on site. Last Planner effectively combines control and improvement to
fight back against variability and the waste caused by it. Thus, Last Planner combines the
flow and the transformation view in short term planning, execution and control5.
CONCLUSIONS
An overview of the underlying theories of Last Planner is given in Table 4. Regarding
management theories, Last Planner is based on the alternative theories of planning,
execution and control, as identified above. For planning, the conventional approach of
management-as-planning is also used. Regarding project theories, flow and
transformation models are used, but not the value generation model6.
Note that Last Planner can be used besides a conventional project management
system, and thus control through the thermostat model can be realized concurrently, if
required.
5
This has been analyzed at more length in Koskela (1999).
6
However, it can be argued that Last Planner indirectly supports value generation by increasing
production system capability, which can be broadly defined as the capability of the production system
to produce products as and when required by customers.
Proceedings IGLC-10, Aug. 2002, Gramado, Brazil
7. The Theory of Project Management: explanation to novel methods 7
The success of Last Planner provides added support for the view that the competing
theories make up a better foundation for project management than the conventional
theory.
Table 4: The underlying theoretical foundation of Last Planner
Subject of theory Theories
Project Transformation
Flow
Management Planning Management-as-planning
Management-as-organizing
Execution Language/action perspective
Control Scientific experimentation model
SCRUM
Scrum has emerged in the last half of the 1990’s as an alternative project management
methodology for software projects where unpredictability accentuates due to uncertainties
in both requirements and technology (Schwaber and Beedle 2002). It is a result of
evolution rather than of a deliberate design based on a new theoretical foundation7. The
use of Scrum has turned out to lead to clear benefits in terms of productivity, duration and
customer satisfaction (Schwaber and Beedle 2002).
Scrum deviates starkly from the conventional project management doctrine. Two
outstanding differences are that there is no Work Breakdown Structure, and that
dispatching decisions have been totally decentralized.
Let us analyze Scrum from the point of view of its theoretical foundation, especially
on the management side. An overview on Scrum is presented in Figure 1. The analysis is
based on the description of Scrum in (Schwaber and Beedle 2002).
Sprint
Daily
Backlog
Scrum Executable
Business
Product
Conditions &
Sprint Increment
Requirements
Product Sprint Standards,
Backlog Planning Conventions
Meeting Guidelines
Figure 1: Overview on Scrum (Schwaber and Beedle 2002).
THEORY OF PLANNING
The starting point in Scrum is a list of software functionalities required by the customer,
called Product Backlog. Due to technological uncertainties, it is not possible to prepare an
accurate work breakdown structure based on this. Rather, performance baselines (called
7
Schwaber and Beedle (2002) present a number of theoretical perspectives on Scrum, but they do not
present a perspective related to basic concepts of operations management.
Proceedings IGLC-10, Aug. 2002, Gramado, Brazil
8. 8 Lauri Koskela and Greg Howell
forecasts) in terms of costs and time are estimated directly based on the functionalities
required.
Without an overall WBS, it is not possible to carry out planning and scheduling as
prescribed by the doctrine of project management. However, the conditions of project
work have been standardized, and certain planning takes place in this framework. Two
work cycles have been defined. One, with duration of one month, is called Sprint. The
other has duration of one day.
The project is started with the first Sprint Planning Meeting, where the functionalities
to be achieved during the first Sprint are determined.
From a theoretical point of view, the question is clearly about management-as-
organizing. Management is addressing the structuring of the setting of action, in terms of
predetermined work cycles and associated, routinized conversations. There is no central
representation of action. Instead, action follows essentially from the situation, created
through prior action. Coordination takes place directly among team members, rather than
directed centrally. The world acts as its own representation in the sense that all team
members announce their daily tasks, which creates visibility on action on short term.
THEORY OF EXECUTION
In the daily Scrum meetings, standardized regarding their agenda, time and place, each
person in the project team tells what he intends to do next (obviously based on
negotiations with the rest of the team). In case of impediments, he announces them in the
following day’s meeting.
In the classical dispatching model, a controller decides an assignment for a work
station (here: team member) and communicates the assignment to the work station. Here,
the roles of controllers and work stations have been merged. Every team member decides
his task, however in interaction with the rest of the team. Of course, in this kind of self-
dispatching, there is no need to communicate with oneself about the task one has decided
to realize. However, the whole team is the direct customer of each task. Thus, it matches
with the language/action perspective that there is a public declaration of the daily task
each team member has interpreted to be appropriate and is committed to realize. There is
no formal declaration of completed tasks, but it is assumed that impediments to any task
are announced in a daily Scrum. Without such an announcement, it is implicitly
understood that the task is completed. Thus, a two-way discussion, as prescribed by the
language/action perspective, is carried out (even if all aspects are not explicit or well-
developed).
THEORY OF CONTROL
There are three levels of control. At the lowest level, each team member reports on
impediments to progress in daily Scrum meetings. It is then the management’s task to
eliminate those impediments.
At the next level, there is control after each Sprint period. The team presents its
achievements to the management and the client. The progress is compared to planned
achievements. Also the executable code is demonstrated, and the customer can get a
better insight into the functionalities desired.
The uppermost level concerns the whole project. After each Sprint, the Product
Backlog is revised, as well as the performance baseline, that is, the estimation of project
cost and duration.
Proceedings IGLC-10, Aug. 2002, Gramado, Brazil
9. The Theory of Project Management: explanation to novel methods 9
Theoretically interpreted, the uppermost level of control is based on the thermostat
model, whereas the two lower levels are based on the scientific experimentation model.
These two lower levels are geared towards learning and knowledge-creation, whereas the
uppermost level takes care of the time-cost issues of the whole project.
THEORY OF PROJECT
The transformation model is used very little in Scrum. Tasks are never defined in writing,
but are described only orally just before they will be realized. Through the daily Scrum
meetings, the daily tasks are visible to all stakeholders.
Instead, the principles of the flow model are supported in many ways. Feedback
cycles are created both on the daily level and the monthly level for tackling with the
associated uncertainty and variability. The organizational solution, a self-organizing team,
allows for dense information flows among the tasks or specialists as needed.
Also the principles of the value generation model are applied in many ways. Firstly,
value is explicitly modeled through the Product Backlog, consisting of prioritized items.
Secondly, it is acknowledged that the customer has difficulties in the determination of
requirements – rather it can be characterized as a constant process of sense-making. The
inclusion of the customer to the process ensures that such sense-making can effectively
take place and is directly influencing the work in the project. Thirdly, through the daily
and monthly feedback cycles, the customer can readily ensure that the requirements are
correctly understood by the team.
CONCLUSIONS
An overview of the underlying theories of Scrum is given in Table 5. Regarding
management theories, Scrum is based on the alternative theories of planning, execution
and control, as identified above. Regarding project theories, flow and value generation
models are used, but not the transformation model.
Table 5: The underlying theoretical foundation of Scrum
Subject of theory Theories
Project Flow
Value generation
Management Planning Management-as-organizing
Management-as-planning
Execution Language/action perspective
Control Scientific experimentation model
Thermostat model
Scrum is a comprehensive project management method that totally substitutes the
prescription derived from the conventional doctrine. The success of Scrum provides
added support for the view that the competing theories make up a better foundation for
project management than the conventional theory. It also makes evident that the central
starting point of the conventional doctrine, the WBS, must be totally rejected in certain
project situations.
Proceedings IGLC-10, Aug. 2002, Gramado, Brazil
10. 10 Lauri Koskela and Greg Howell
CONCLUSIONS
We have argued that the present underlying foundation is obsolete and has to be
substituted by a wider and more powerful theoretical foundation. We have proposed such
a new foundation and we have shown that two novel, demonstratedly successful project
management methods can be explained by means of it. Based on the arguments and
evidences forwarded, we conclude that a paradigmatic transformation of the discipline of
project management is needed. Such a transformation requires that a more intimate
relation between theory and practice is created in project management.
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