4E1 Project Management

1
4E1 Project Management

• Running the Project

2
Key Concepts

• Day-to-day running of projects
• Problems of project management
• Communicating
• Project Office
• Earned value analysis
• Qualities of a good project manager

3
Closed Loop Control in Projects
Perform the Task
Issue fresh instructions
Monitor progress against plan
Identify variances in performance
Decide corrective action
Lock p. 471
4
The Art of Project Management
5
What Could Go Wrong?

• Routine problems
• Small delays, minor technical hitches, inaccurate
  estimates
• Large problems/major delays
• Serious technical or legal problems, changes in
  project scope
• Showstoppers
• Problems fall into three groups levels
• Self-generated (i.e. my fault)
• PM-controlled or owned (i.e. not my fault but my
  responsibility)
• Outside PMs control (not my fault, not my
  responsibility)

6
Self-Inflicted Problems

• Scope creep and minor design changes
• Impact time and/or cost
• Options
• Fit in (use available slack)
• Refer up
• Revise plan
• No changes (the N word)
• Detection
• Project Management Information Systems
• Traffic light systems
• Earned value analysis

7
Traffic Light System for a Programme
Behind budget
On time and budget
- 500 - 400 - 300 - 200 - 100
100 200
7
4
16
15
13
10
Behind Schedule
Ahead of Schedule (weeks)
12
8
12 10 8 7 4 2 -2
-4 -6 -8 -10 -12
2
9
14
6
11
3
1
Ahead of budget
5
8
Dealing with Major Problems
9
The Project Management Office

• Two concepts
• (General) project management office
• Site project office
• Goals
• Promote/spread good PM practice
• Knowledge management
• Improve success rate
• Reduce lead times
• Consolidate and simplify data
• The PMs PM

10
PM Office Tasks

• Champion excellence in project management
• Establish good practice
• Assess and improve PM maturity
• Develop an enterprise approach
• Provide training
• Develop and mentor managers
• Help with administration
• Procedures, filing system
• Tracking
• Analyses
• Report preparation
• Maintaining archives, resources database/pool

11
PM Office Tasks (cont.)

• Provide technical support
• Assist with new project set-up and launch
• Advise on cost-benefit analysis
• Assist in estimating
• Assist in management of risks
• Conduct quality checks
• Assist in project termination
• General functions
• Provide a centre of expertise
• Offer consulting services
• Conduct audits
• Assess implications of changes
• Collect and disseminate information on PM
  generally

12
Example Dublin City Council

• DCC has a highly developed procedures manual
• Amongst other procedures it contains
• Statement of confidentiality
• Performance reviews
• Making a change request
• Cost management planning
• Project organisation and roles
• Requests for proposal
• Bidders conference management
• Reporting on works
• Quality management planning
• Risk response planning

13
The Site Project Office
14
Communication
Management
Partners/other managers
Users/customer
Project Team
15
Communication

• Up to 80 of PMs time can be spent communicating
• A two-way process
• Communicating upwards (with senior management)
• Reporting
• Communicating downwards (with subordinates)
• Meetings (formal, informal)
• Instructions
• Sideways (with other project managers)
• Liaison, coordination

16
Good Communication

• Characteristics of good communication
• Regular
• Open
• Honest/accurate
• Full
• Two-way
• Timely
• Avoids conflict
• Appropriate
• Problems
• Putting off the evil day
• Games
• Unnecessary confrontation
• Greatest problem assumption that communication
  has happened

17
Project Team Meetings

• Basics
• Regular
• Attendance is important
• Agenda, action lists/minutes
• Dont get into fights or personalise issues
• Do
• Control the process
• Firmness
• Ownership
• Clarity
• Fast follow-up
• Take problems off-line

18
Action Lists
Date Action Responsibility Status Deadline
19
Work To Lists
ID Description Orig Sched. Sched. Rem.
Progress expected by next
review durn Start Finish durn. 100
Com. 1 Project start 0 13MAY07 12MAY07 0
0 2 Make/prime door 1 13MAY07 13MAY07 1 0 3 D
ig foundations 4 13MAY07 16MAY07 4 0 7 Position
door frame 1 14MAY07 16MAY07 1 0 4 Make
doors 3 15MAY07 17MAY07 3 0 8 Concrete
foundations 2 17MAY07 20MAY07 2 0 9 Prime
doors 1 20MAY07 20MAY07 1 0 11 Lay bricks for
walls 10 21MAY07 03JUN07 10 0 13 Fit RSJ
Lintel 1 04JUN07 04JUN07 1 0 18 Case lintel/
parapet 2 05JUN07 06JUN07 2 0 12 Lay floor
base 2 07JUN02 10JUN02 2 0 6 Cut roof
timbers 1 07JUN07 07JUN07 1 0 17 Screed
floor 1 11JUN07 11JUN07 1 0 21 Hang
doors 1 12JUN07 12JUN07 1 0
20
Cost Management

• Key concepts
• Budget
• Actual
• Variance
• Forecast
• Current period
• Cumulative
• Commitment accounting
• Financial management is important
• For costs, need to know where and why

21
Cost Profile
Budgeted
Cumulative Cost
Time
Limitations of this information
22
Commitment Accounting
Task Status Budget Spent
Balance Expected to Expected
to date completion
variance _________________________________________
__________________________ 0244H Ongoing
30,000 22,000 8,000 8,000 0 0246H Complete
45,000 50,000 (5,000) 0 (5,000) 0347J Ongoing
7,000 3,000 4,000 6,500 (2,500) 1488C NS 1
7,250 0 17,250 17,250 0 4601H Ongoing 8,300
7,000 1,300 4,300 (4,000) 3122J Ongoing 12,0
00 6,000 6,000 2,500 3,500 .
There are several variations on this
23
Earned Value Analysis

• Links cost reporting with cost control
• Starts from the WBS and cost coding
• Terminology
• ACWP Actual Cost of Work Performed
• BCWP Budgeted Cost of Work Performed
• BCWS Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled
• CPI Cost Performance Index
• SPI Schedule Performance Index
• We have

24
Example

• Plan
• Build a wall of 1,000 metres (estimate 40,000)
• Time estimate 50 days (10 weeks _at_ 5 days)
• Linear rate of progress
• Implied budget
• 800/20 metres per day, 40 per metre
• At the end of day 20, 360 metres completed
• ACWP 18,000
• BCWS 16,000
• BCWP 14,400

25
EVA Example
14,400

0.9
16,000

• What does this tell us?
• Using a pro-rata approach we might
• forecast that the cost will rise by 10,000
• forecast that the time will rise to 56 days
• This must be done for each task
• Progress may not be linear
• Activity may be interrupted or completed
• Tasks may be modified

26
Cost-Profit Graph
Commissioning snags cause unexpected cost
Overspend Predicted
Too early to detect any clear trend
Management vigilance improves performance
Expd.
1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100
0
Selling price
Projected cost
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Cost budget
Step caused by price variation
Actual cost
8 16 24 32 40 48
56 64 72 80 88
96 104 112 120 128
Weeks
27
Project Managers Roles

• Management by
• Exception
• Walking about
• Example (leadership and motivation)
• Delegation
• The iron fist in the velvet glove
• Clarity and determination
• Starting new tasks
• Closing tasks and projects
• The 95 complete syndrome
• Taking hard decisions

28
Summary Key Points

• Project managers need to be
• good communicators
• strong personalities
• firm, but fair
• able to take hard decisions
• capable of keeping focus in complex situations
• able to work on their own
• Running a project is about
• Knowing what is happening at all times
• Communicating with all relevant parties
• Making sure that information gets to the right
  people
• Taking appropriate actions quickly
• Top class project managers are special