Session 1

Managing Projects

Outline
Introduction What is Project Management? Types of project Examples of Projects The Role of the Project Manager and the Team

What is Project Management?

Project management is a structured approach to planning and controlling projects. It is a set of principles, methods and techniques that managers use to effectively plan and control project work.

 It is important to note that in todays business world project management is not just about managing a new building or managing a civil engineering project.
Today the focus is on high quality, quick to market and first class customer satisfaction. During the last 15 years there has been a shift from mass production to custom production of goods and services. To respond to this managers have turned to project management to ensure highly responsive management style. Companies are changing from hierarchical management to project management. Organizational charts are changing from vertical structures to team- centred structures.

 Jobs that do the same tasks every day are disappearing. Middle management are also disappearing. The new focus is on projects and teams assigned to specific tasks or problems. Teams might be set up to launch a new project or re-engineer a process. Projects are conceived, staffed up, implemented and then shut down.

 Companies offer less job security than before. They outsource non-core activities. People define themselves less by the companies they work for, more by their profession. Pay is determined by skill level and the marketability of the persons services rather than by management hierarchy.

What is a Project?
Def 1 : A unique venture with a beginning and an end; conducted by people to meet established goals, schedule and quality. Def 2: An endeavour in which human (or machine), material and financial resources are organised in a novel way, to undertake a unique scope of work, of given specification, within constraints of cost and time, so as to deliver beneficial change defined by quantitative and qualitative objectives.

 Def 2: Any new work if it lasts for a limited period, involves different groups of workers, and has penalties for late completion. The project manager is responsible for first planning, then controlling the allocation of time, money, people and other resources. Def 3: A unique set of coordinated activities, with a definite start and finishing point, undertaken by an individual or organization to meet specific objectives within defined, scheduled cost and performance parameters.

Another way of looking at a project is as:

An event or thing that with a start and a finish and clear objectives covering time, cost and quality. The most efficient way of introducing changes. Defining what has to be done in terms of time, cost and quality. Using a plan to do these, and working to this plan, ensuring that progress is maintained. Using appropriate project management techniques to plan, monitor and maintain progress. Employing persons skilled in project management including a project manager who is responsible for introducing change and its successful accomplishment.

Types of project
Change driven: the need to change operations to match the environment. Market driven: producing a new product in response to market needs. For example, BMW uses project management techniques to deliver its new models. Crisis driven: Usually in response to an urgent situation. A pharmaceutical company may start a project to manage the re-call of a defective product, and introduce the replacement and the following public relations campaign.

 Sometimes a number of related projects are done together. This is usually called a programme. Programme management is often a very large project that will be broken down into a number of smaller projects. Sometimes the work needed to achieve a major organisational objective will be far greater than can easily be organized and carried out in a single project. This may mean that the organisation will undertake a programme that consists of a number of interrelated projects

 Successful projects have clear deliverables and objectives fromthe start; they also have time, cost and quality objectives. Projects must also meet the customers requirement

Examples of Projects
The research and development department of a pharmaceutical company bringing new drugs to market will use project management techniques. The marketing department of a household products company will use project management to help with market research, arranging promotional events and press releases. A telecommunications company wishes to improve its Customer Services by rationalising its customer repair and maintenance offices by creating a more flexible structure able to cope with future growth, and move to Enquiry Desks dealing with all customer needs.

 Six key people who are critical to the success of all projects:
Sponsor: The person who ensures that the project is successful at the company level. Champion: The chief promoter of the project. Client: The person who pays for contractual services. For intercompany projects, the contract may be an informal one. Customer: Very similar to the client; could be the person who buys or pays for the projects, but more normally it is the person whom one is concerned with. Owner: Again very similar to client and customer. Think of it more in the sense of someone with a strong attachment to the project. Stakeholder: Everyone who has an interest in the project success.

 Activity
Think of a business project that you have been involved in and apply the concepts you have learnt so far. If you have not been involved in any projects at work think of a personal/home project that you have been involved with.

The Role of the Project Manager and the Team

The project manager is the person assigned to manage a specific project and is expected to meet the approved objectives of a project, including project scope, budget and schedule. The project manger leads the project and provides vision, direction and encouragement. The project manager takes lead in project planning to determine the schedule and budgets necessary to meet the project objectives. The project manager is responsible for delivering the project once the project has been approved by senior management.

 The PM is responsible for the project support team. On small projects people and resources are not normally assigned directly to the project manager. People in other departments work on the project, and for the project, but usually stay in their functional department reporting to their normal manager. On large projects a dedicated team will be assigned to the project, with everyone reporting to the project manager, or to functional managers, who in turn report to the project manager.

 Activity
What do you consider to be the basic skills required for successful projects and why do you think these are important ?

 Basic Project Management Skills

People skills. Project management skills. Technical skills. Integration Skills.

Other skills: Accountability Authority Responsibility

 The best project manager is both a specialist and a generalist. He succeeds because of the way he understands the requirements, operations and problems of clients and the project team.

 Role of Team Members

It is vital that for each project to identify all the team members and clearly define their roles and responsibilities. Team members can have various roles; roles such as engineers, technicians, planners or software specialists. Just as each project is unique so are the roles of the people performing the work.

Planning and Monitoring Tools and Techniques

Project Feasibility
A feasibility study will look at whether the company has the expertise and experience to handle the project successfully. It will also look at whether your company has the ability to make the best use of its resources. Other areas that will be reviewed include:
How realistic are the project budget and time requirements? Have enough resources been assigned to the project to successfully complete the project? Are the objectives realistic? A feasibility study will also look at the financial issues associated with the project. Is it worth doing financially and will there be a return on our investment?

A feasibility study looks at the following questions:

How realistic is it to expect that the project can meet the stated objectives? How realistic are the project scope, budget and time requirements? Are sufficient funds available to complete the project? Does the organisation have the technical expertise to accomplish the project?

 Whichever way your projects develop there should at some time point be a feasibility study to not only ensure the project is feasible, but also ensure it is making the best use of your companys resources. Project stakeholders are people and organisations (both internal and external) who are either actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be affected by the project being implemented. It is the project managers responsibility to identify all the stakeholders and determine their needs and expectations. These needs and expectations should then be managed, influenced and balanced, to ensure project success. The project manager should create an environment where the stakeholders are encouraged to contribute their skills and knowledge as this may influence the success of the project

The feasibility study will also have its own project life cycle.

Issues that should be covered in the feasibility study: Stakeholder Analysis: The people and organisations who are actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be affected by the project being implemented. Stakeholders include: customers, project team, senior management, suppliers, subcontractors, regulatory authorities, lobby groups and individual citizens

 Define the Clients Needs: The evolution of something quite vague to something tangible. The clarification of the problem, need or business opportunity. Evaluate Constraints: Any internal or external restrictions that may affect the achievable scope of the project. These may be broken down into
(a) Internal Project Constraints (such things as: Can the product be made? Does the company have the technology? Can the product be made within budget?) (b) Internal Corporate Constraints (such things as: Can the financial objectives be met?) (c) External Constraints (such things as national laws and international laws and regulations; material and component delivery lead times).

 A cost benefit analysis should also be carried out to establish the financial feasibility of the project. Here a report should be produced that looks at the costs and benefits in financial terms. In general terms if the financial benefits exceed the costs then the project should go ahead

 The Pareto improvement criteria is expressed as the project should make some people better off without making anyone worse off. As you can imagine justifying the project in simple economic terms is fairly straightforward, justifying it otherways (social, environmental or to the wider community) can be difficult.

Technical feasibility
Not only do we need to assess whether a technology is mature, sound and applicable, we also need to assess a variety of technical aspects of any proposal. These vary enormously and often require experienced or expert people to evaluate them properly. Even the building of a house by an experienced building contractor requires this sort of assessment.

 If the feasibility study shows the project is not feasible this should be shown in the tracking reports before you get to the end of the feasibility stage and the project should be stopped before anymore time is wasted on the project proposal