Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Managerial Approach
Chapter 1 – Projects in
Contemporary Organizations
Overview
• Project Management Growth Factors
• Project Aspects
• Project Criteria
• Project Life Cycle
• Project Management Profession
Introduction
• Much of project management developed by the military
– Navy’s Polaris program
– NASA’s space program
– Strategic defense initiative
• Project management has found wide acceptance in industry
• It has many applications outside of construction
– Managing legal cases
– Managing new product releases
Forces Of Project Management
• Forces driving Project Management:
– 1. exponential expansion of human knowledge
– 2. growing demand for a broad range of complex,
sophisticated, customized goods and services
– 3. evolution of worldwide competitive markets for the
production and consumption of goods and services
- 4. Expansion of global markets
• Team-based problem solving v. individual
• All of these contribute to the need for organizations to do more and to do
it faster
• Project management is one way to do more faster
Projects Tend to be Large
• Projects tend to be large
– The Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel
– Denver International Airport
– Panama Canal expansion project
– Three Gorges Dam, China
• Projects are getting larger over time
– Flying: balloons planes jets rockets reusable
rockets
• The more we can do, the more we try to do
Project Management Also Getting
Smaller
1. More people are seeing the advantages of project
management techniques
2. The tools are become cheaper
3. The techniques are becoming more widely taught
and written about
The Professionalism of Project
Management
• Complexity of problems facing the project manager
• Growth in number of project oriented organizations
– The Project Management Institute (PMI) was established in
1969
– By 1990 it had 7,500 members
– 1995, over 17,000 members
– 1998--exploded to over 44,000 members
• This exponential growth is indicative of the rapid growth in the
use of projects
• Importance of PMI as a force in the development of project
management as a profession
Project Manager
• Project manager is the key individual on a project
• Project manager is like a mini-CEO
• While project manager always has responsibility, may
not have necessary authority
Trends in Project Management
• Achieving strategic goals
• Achieving routine goals
• Improving project effectiveness
• Virtual projects
• Quasi-projects
Organizational Imperatives
• Traditional hierarchical management declining
• Consensual management increasing
• Increasing reliance on systems engineering
• Projects integral to organizational strategy
The Definition of a “Project”
• Must make a distinction between terms:
– Program - an exceptionally large, long-range
objective that is broken down into a set of projects
– Task - set of activities comprising a project
– Work Packages - division of tasks
– Work Units - division of work packages
• A specific, finite task to be accomplished
The Definition of a “Project”
• Definition used by
PMI:
High
Project Manager Roles and Responsibilities
Level Change Management System
of
Value
of Closed-Loop Planning-Monitor-Control System
Effort
Project Evaluation (Audit) Process
Low
Define Plan Implement Delivery
Scope WBS/OBS/Schedule Resource (Re)allocation “Learn Curve”
Tradeoffs Detailed Budget Cost Containment Final Report
The Project Life Cycle
• Projects also exist which do not follow the
conventional project life cycle
• Comprised of subunits that have little use as a
stand alone unit, yet become useful when put
together
The Project Life Cycle
• Unlike the more conventional life cycle, continued inputs of effort at the
end of the project produce significant gains in returns
The
The Project Life Cycle
• Risk during project life cycle
– With most projects there is some uncertainty
about the ability to meet project goals
– Uncertainty of outcome is greatest at the start
of a project
– Uncertainty decreases as the project moves
toward completion
Ch 1.3: Project Life Cycle:
Reduce Uncertainty of Cost Estimate
Figure 1.6
END