Project Management

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Project Management

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• Martha Grabowski
• LeMoyne College

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Project

• Sequence of unique, complex and interconnected
  activities with a goal or purpose that must be
  completed by a specified time, within budget, and
  according to specifications.
• Projects involve
• complex activities
• interconnected, sequential events
• defined milestones, deliverables, expectations
• deliverables that must meet specification(s)

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Project Management

• Process of scoping, planning, staffing,
  organizing, directing and controlling the
  development of an acceptable system at acceptable
  cost (minimum?) within a specified time frame.
• Tiger teams
• temporary, flexible, interdepartmental teams
• responsibility and authority for firefighting
• accountable for organizational success

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Process Management

• Ongoing activity that documents, manages the use
  of, and improves an organizations chosen
  methodology for systems development.
• Process management
• concerned with all projects
• activities, deliverables, and quality standards

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Successful Projects

• System is acceptable to the customer.
• System is delivered on time.
• System is delivered within budget.
• System development process had minimal impact on
  ongoing business operations!

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Why Do Projects Fail?

• Failure to establish upper management commitment
  to project.
• commitments change?
• Lack of organizational commitment to system
  development process
• Taking shortcuts through or around the system
  development process.
• Project team behind schedule, wants to catch up
• Project is over budget and team wants to make up
  
• Team is not trained or skilled in methodology
  and requiremts

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Why Do Projects Fail?

• Poor expectations management
• Project expectations change?
• Scope creep--unexpected growth of user
  expectations and business requirements as the
  project progresses. Adversely impacts schedule
  and budget
• Feature creep--uncontrolled addition of
  technical features to a system under development
  without regard to schedule and budget.

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Why Do Projects Fail?

• Premature commitment to a fixed budget and
  schedule.
• Firm fixed cost
• Cost plus fixed fee
• Creeping commitment?
• Poor estimating techniques
• Overoptimism
• Task dependencies influence completion
• Lost time in time-critical activities compounds

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Why Do Projects Fail?

• Mythical man month (Brooks, 1975)
• Work hours estimates with unreasonable
  assumptions
• As project gets further behind, more people
  assigned to the team
• Addition of more people adds communication
  problems, etc.
• Inadequate people management skills

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Why Do Projects Fail?

• Failure to adapt to business change
• Overtaken by events (OBE)
• Management reorganization or business needs
  change
• Projects importance changes over time
• Project should be reassessed for viability,
  importance to the business
• Insufficient resources
• Failure to manage to the plan

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Project Management Competencies

• Business acumen
• Problem-solving skills
• Leadership and influence skills
• People management skills
• Self-management, self-direction

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Project Management Activities

• Scoping
• Planning
• Estimating
• Scheduling
• Organizing
• Directing
• Controlling
• Closing

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Project Management Tools

• PERT charts--graphical network model that
  depicts a projects tasks and the relationships
  between those tasks.

Task
Task
Intertask Dependency
Scheduled Start
Scheduled Finish
Scheduled Start
Scheduled Finish
Actual Start
Actual Finish
Actual Start
Actual Finish
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Project Management Tools

• Statement of work--narrative description of work
  to be performed as part of a project. Also called
  project definition.

Task
Task
Intertask Dependency
Scheduled Start
Scheduled Finish
Scheduled Start
Scheduled Finish
Actual Start
Actual Finish
Actual Start
Actual Finish
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Project Management Tools

• Gantt charts--horizontal bar chart that depicts
  project tasks against a calendar. Each bar is a
  task. Tasks are listed vertically in a column.

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Project Management Tools

• Statement of work--narrative description of work
  to be performed as part of a project. Also called
  project definition.

• 1. Purpose
• 2. Background
• Problem Opportunity or Directive Statement
• History, leading to project request
• Project goal and objectives
• Product description
• 3. Scope
• Stakeholders
• Data
• Processes
• Locations
• 4. Project Approach
• Route
• Deliverables

• 5. Managerial Approach
• Team building considerations
• Manager and experience
• Training requirements
• Meeting schedules
• Reporting methods and frequency
• Conflict management
• Scope management
• 6. Constraints
• Start Date
• Deadlines
• Budget
• Technology

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Project Management Tools, continued

• Statement of work--narrative description of work
  to be performed as part of a project. Also called
  project definition.

• 7. Ballpark Estimates
• Schedule
• Budget
• 8. Conditions of Satisfaction
• Success criteria
• Assumptions
• Risk
• 9. Appendices

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Project Management Tools

• Work breakdown structure--hierarchical
  decomposition of a project into phases,
  activities and tasks.

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Project Management Life Cycle

• 1. Negotiate scope
• 2. Identify tasks
• 3. Estimate Task Durations
• 4. Specify Intertask Dependencies
• 5. Assign Resources
• 6. Direct the Team Effort

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Project Management Life Cycle

• 7. Monitor and control progress
• 8. Assess project results and experiences
• 9. Document lessons learned
• 10. Institutionalize process improvements