Project

Management
EMBA
Strategy Implementation

Overview
Morning

Introduction to project management

Work Breakdown Structure
Building the Project Plan
Implementing the Project Plan

Afternoon
Two advanced exercises

What is a project?
A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken
to create a unique result

Projects have a beginning and end

A project has specific deliverables
Teams are usually disbanded at the end
Operations are repetitive and on-going

Projects are an increasingly important means

of implementing strategy
Project goals can be progressively elaborated
over time

What is PM?
Project management is the application of
knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to
meet project requirements.
Now an IEEE Standard (IEEE1490)
Project Management Institute
Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK)

PM is seen in a broad context

Management of team, risk, quality & external
stakeholders as well as cost and time

Why adopt PM?

Most projects are over time and over
budget (often significantly)
On average only 25% of projects meet all of
their goals, around 25% fail completely
According to the CHAOS report the average
project in 2001 was:
163% over time
145% over budget

Benefits
PM can:

Justify work and changes

Improve tracking of critical variables
Identify tasks at differing levels of complexity
Decrease project costs
Let everyone know how they fit in
Improve client reporting
Decrease development time/costs and increase
productivity and reusability
If you fail to plan then plan to fail

Critical Variables
Scop
e

Time

Cost

Qualit
y/
Risk

Stages of PM

Initiating
Planning
Executing
Controlling
Closing

Initiating: Scope and Charter

Project scope management
Defining and controlling what is, or is not,
included in the project deliverables

Project charter
A written statement of project scope that is
formally agreed with stakeholders and
shared with the team

Project Charter

Problem/opportunity
Project name, sponsor, manager
Singular Project Goal
Objectives that are Specific, Measurable,
Assignable, Realistic, Time based (SMART)
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Success criteria
Assumptions, risks, obstacles

Issues in Scope Mgt

Scope Verification
A process should be defined for how the
stakeholder will formally accept that
deliverables have been achieved
Can verify at various stages or phases
Verification may be conditional

Scope Change
A process should also be defined for how scope
can be adjusted and the resulting impacts on
cost, time, and risk quantified.

Work Breakdown Structure

A WBS is a categorization and decomposition
of project deliverables
Work packages are the lowest level of the
structure
They are the smallest deliverables
8-80 hours of work (1 day-2 weeks per person/team)

Can be further decomposed into activities or tasks

The WBS is the input to all other project plans

Work that is not in the WBS is not in the project !

WBS Process
Ideally a team-based activity (offline with
whiteboard)
Break the project into phases
By lifecycle, milestones, or obligations

Decompose the phases into discrete

deliverables
Decompose the deliverables into work
packages using the 8/80 rule
Must be able to assign time and resources
Create WBS diagram


Screen clipping taken: 10/29/2007, 12:43 PM

WBS by Output


Screen clipping taken: 10/29/2007, 12:56 PM

WBS by Phase

WBS Process ctd.

Next steps
Include milestones to mark end of each
phase
Convert WBS to MS Project to create
timeline (see Donaldson example)
Present to project sponsor and key project
stakeholders
Get formal approval

Gantt Chart of WBS

Geoff Choo on WBS

Begins with a lifecycle of major phases
I work the WBS in iterative cycles
Start with high level activities
Add sub-activities
(note that activities are not really part of WBS)
Decompose as deeply as you need

Down to one individual working 1-10 days

The lowest level should have one individual
A list of assignments and accountabilities
Let the team fill in low-level activities

Length of time predicted from personal experience,

historical data and team

Exercise
In your teams, create a WBS for the EMBA
trip next year
Use MS Project to determine how early the
planning needs to start if the trip must start no
later than December 4, 2008

MS Project Skills

Enter phases, tasks, and durations

Link phases (create dependencies)
Set milestones
Set start date

Building the Project Plan

By now, we have the project charter,
scope, and WBS
We need to add:

Schedule and cost estimates

Performance measurement baselines
Milestones and target dates
Required staff

Extras
Risk, quality, staffing, communications

Note on Activities
Technically, the WBS contains only
deliverables not activities
The work packages need to be
decomposed into activities (even subactivities)
Choos advice is useful 1 person for 1
to 10 days

Activity Sequencing 1
Once the activities have been defined
they need to be sequenced

Activity Sequencing 2
Constraints (see advanced tab)
Do what? Start/Finish
When? No earlier than/ No later than/ On
this date / As Soon as Possible /As Late as
Possible
Lag time is also possible
Double click on a task to set all task
information

Activity Duration
Once sequencing has been done, the
work required for each activity has to
be estimated
Estimates based on experience/history
Time units m, h, d, w, mo
Work is the total number of actual, physical,
hands-on time required to complete an
activity or task

MS Project
By default,
One day equals 8 hours, one week equals 40
hours, and one month equals 20 working days.
8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. is the default work day.
Change Tools:Options:Schedule
Default task type: Fixed work
Show assignment units as: Decimal

Change Gantt chart/entry table

Hide start/finish dates, add Work column
Window: Split, View: Task Details Form

Calculating Duration
Duration = Work/Resource Units
If a resources workday is eight hours and he or she is
assigned to work on a task at 100% Units (for eight hours of
work), then the Duration is eight hours (one day by default).
Now lets say you change the Units to 50%. Then the
Duration becomes 16 hours or two days, because if a
person is working half of an eight-hour day on this task,
then it will take them 16 hours (two days) to complete eight
hours of work.

We can fix duration, work or units

I prefer fixed work so duration and resources float

Network Diagrams
Working with units of time rather than
specific dates allows more flexibility
We have used Gantt charts, a project
network diagram is an alternative way of
representing a project.
Establishes the critical path
Contingency planning
Allows the team to tinker with alternate
dependencies and constraints
Network Diagram Example

Critical Path Analysis

The critical path is the longest duration from project
start to finish
If any activity on the critical path is delayed the project is
going to be late

Slack is the limit an activity not on the critical path

can be delayed
Free slack the time a single activity can be delayed
without delaying successors
Total slack the time an activity can be delayed without
delaying the entire project
Project slack the time the project can be delayed before
missing the customer deadline

Adjusting the critical path

Fast tracking
Parallel rather than sequential (FS to SS)
Can add some lag to second task to create
a partial overlap
Can be risky if first task delayed

Crashing
More resources but not all tasks can be
shortened with more resources

Management Reserve
Always reflect the accurate amount of time it
should take to complete a task
Dont inflate time to allow for mistakes, rework,
and late activities
Parkinsons law work will expand to fill the time
available

A management reserve is an artificial task at

the end of a project
10-15% of total time
Overruns are applied to the reserve

Assigning Resources
A resource is defined as any people, equipment,
or materials
View Resource Sheet, Table: Entry

Key variables
Type work (per hour), material (per unit), or cost (per
activity)
Max Units: 50% or 3 engineers
Rates per time period (m, d, mo, y) or per use
Double click for resource information
Flexible availability, costs, calendar
Accrual methods start, prorated, end

Interview with Niral Modi

Insights
Includes 12-15% variance for unknowns
Assessing time required and assigning
resources with no slack (or over-allocation) are
the toughest tasks
Consult team members so you dont create a
schedule you cant deliver
Dont be too generous though

On going deliverables and communication with

client can make a difficult project easier

Exercise
Take your WBS from the first exercise
and convert it to a project schedule by
adding activities using the 8/80 rule
Assign resources
Keong, Dean Jarley, Jan, Bob, Travel Agent,
Other Internal & External Parties

Find the critical path and then try shortening

What risks does this entail?

Implementing the Project Plan

Team has to be motivated and monitored
Project status meetings (usually weekly)
Reporting,
Generating a sense of responsibility &
ownership (peer pressure helps the former)
Acknowledgements and thank yous
Review of status and risks
Remediation (if necessary)

Tracking
Tools to track include:
E-mail, spreadsheets, web forms, MS project
direct, MS project server

Each report should include costs and % of

total work completed
If work is getting off schedule
Add additional resources
Invoke the management reserve (reduce the
reserve and add time to late task)
Reassign the work unit

Tracking Finances
Term

Definition

Sample
Value

Budget at Completion
(BAC)

Estimated total cost of

project

$100,000

Percent actual complete

(%A)

Actual reported amount

of work completed

20%

Percent planned complete Planned proportion of

(%P)
work that should have
been completed

25%

Earned Value (EV)

%A x BAC

$20,000

Planned Value (PV)

%P x BAC

$25,000

Actual Costs (AC)

Funds actually expended

$15,000

Tracking Finances
Term

Definition

Sample Value

Cost Variance

EV-AC

+$5000

Schedule Variance

EV-PV

-$5000

Cost performance index

(CPI)

EV/AC

20/15 = 1.33

Schedule performance
index (SPI)

EV/PV

20/25=0.8

Estimate at completion
(EAC)

BAC/CPI

100/1.33=75.19

Estimated time

Total Est
time/SPI

6 mths/.8=7.5mths

Interview with Jason Duigou

Lack of supervision is fatal
Coming in on time and budget is bloody
difficult
Try using dynamic digital dashboards for
feedback (especially when team is dispersed)

Throttle resources up and down as needed

Ongoing reward and recognition
Communication and feedback is the key
Learn from lessons learned after action

Exercise
Complete Exercise 3b on page 310

AFTERNOON ACTIVITIES
In your teams, complete
the Blue Zuma Project Parts 1-5
The Conveyor Belt Project

You are free to leave when the exercises

are completed!
I will for consultation on all issues (except
the answers)
Baseline, tracking, leveling