Project Management

BSB20315-7

Lecture 2
Structures and
Frameworks in Project
Management
 Learning Outcomes

• Describing the project context: high-level

frameworks
• Describing the project process: activity models
• Describing the projects management challenge:
managerial complexity

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 Structures & Frameworks –
An Introduction
Project: Launching a product
• Inherent complexity
– Technical challenges
– Customer buying patterns and usage
• Managing stakeholders a significant PM role
• Sense making of the complexity is vital
– without this process project activities may be too
difficult

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 Structures & Frameworks –
An Introduction (Continued)
This lecture examines
• A model of the project environment
• Issues that may be faced using the 7S framework
• The project context, the PESTEL model
• A systems model
• Continuous improvement
• Project complexity

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 The Project Environment
The project environment
• Work can be done anywhere
• Increasing competition
• Requirement for meeting performance objectives
• Falling trade barriers
• Numbers of international collaborations have
increased
• Globalisation has impacted on the nature of work
• Increased organisation complexity

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 The Project Environment (Continued)

• Projects have become more complex

– Easiest ideas exploited first
– Businesses provide package to meet entire need
– Turnkey contracts from a single supplier
– Complex financing arrangements (public private
partnerships)
– Effective quality management leads to competitive
advantage

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 The Project Environment (Continued)
The project environment
• Changes in the competitive environment have
effected projects
– Time (to market, to deliver) is a major source of
competitive advantage
– Human resource management has changed
• Anonymous cogs to harnessing individual’s
creativity
– Changes in technology and methods are increasing
in rate
– Organisations need to be customer focused
• Need to aspire to exceed customer requirements
• Customers’ expectations are increasing
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 The Project Environment (Continued)

– Integration and openness between customers and

suppliers is trendy
• Move towards partnerships, information is shared
– Changes in management philosophy
– Growth in service sector with huge employment and
growth
– Repetitive operations have improved, further
improvement without significant investment is in
decline

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 5C Model
(Describing the project context)(Continued)

Figure 2.1 Describing the

project environment:
the 5-C model
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 The Project Environment (Continued)

Project context – PESTEL – external influences

• Political Influence
– Changes in policy or government
• Economic – general and local
– Challenges of boom and bust
• Social
– Social changes, communication
• Technical
– Technology changes challenge viability and
process
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 The Project Environment (Continued)

• Environmental
– Assessment of environmental impact
– Emerging corporate social responsibility
• Legal
– Legislation
– E.g. intellectual property, anti-trust, government
procurement, etc.

Project structure – 7S framework – internal

• Assist in making sense of the complexity
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 7-S of Project Management

Table 2.1 The 7-S of project management

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 Describing the project process:
Activity models – ICOM Model
The basic model of an operating system is the ‘input–output’
model
A project can be viewed as
• the conversion or transformation
• of the inputs (including the want or need)
• to the outputs (deliverable and benefit that satisfy the
need)
• under a set of constraints or controls (including
assumptions or limitations)
• utilising a set of mechanisms (resources that make the
transformation possible)
The major role of the project manager is the integrator of the
elements
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 Conversion Process

Figure 2.2 The project as a conversion process

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 4-D Model

The hedgehog syndrome: People (contract staff)

leave once the project is completed, no feedback
occurs, knowledge is lost, the same mistakes
happen.
Need for continuous improvement of the system:
• Previous project reviews can be used as the
starting point for new projects
• ‘Lessons identified’ review
• The 4-D model

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 4-D Model

Hedgehog syndrome

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 4-D Model (Continued)

Worth noting:
• Work is required prior to a project to justify
resources, prepare documents, evaluate options;
should this be included in the project?
• Projects may be terminated before completion, the
need becomes unnecessary
• There may be many stages within each phase
– Each phase becomes a mini project
– There are cycles of activity rather than linear
progress
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 Phases of Project Lifecycle

Figure 2.3 Four phases of project lifecycle

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 Phases of Project Management

Table 2.2 The four phases of project management

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 Level of activity vs Time

Figure 2.4 Graph showing how level of activity varies with time
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 Cumulative expenditure vs Time

Figure 2.5 Graph of cumulative expenditure against time

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 4-D Model (Continued)

• The ‘develop it’ phase is vital for investment in

future projects
– The project team can benefit from lessons
learnt, but, as 98%+ of expenditure will already
have occurred, there is often little budget left to
do so

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 4-D Model (Continued)

• Further development of the lifecycle (Table 2.3)

– Explicit analysis during ‘define it’
– Business case prepared as justification in ‘design it’
– Four phases have different characteristics and
different management requirements
– Many project managers will not be involved in early
stages; they are handed a brief after ‘define or
design it’ and are therefore not involved in problem
avoidance
• Gates are decision points
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 Development of Project Lifecycle

Table 2.3 Development of the project lifecycle

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 Project & Product Lifecycle

Figure 2.6 Project and product lifecycle in UK MoD procurement

Source: Ministry of Defence (MOD), www.mod.uk. Reproduced with permission

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 Eg. Supply of a MIS

Table 2.4 Supply of a management information system to a hospital project

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 Eg. Supply of a MIS (Continued)

Table 2.4 Supply of a management information system to a hospital project (Continued)

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 Describing the project management
challenge: Managerial complexity
Not all tools, techniques and management ideas
are universally applicable across the range of
projects.
- Eg. Between a book launch project and a scientific research
project.
We need to understand complexity and
managerial challenge
– Mission, organisation, delivery, stakeholders and team
(MODeST)
– Projects have different orders of complexity
– Interaction and interdependency with other projects
– Diversity of requirements
– Elements are dynamic
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 MODeST Framework

Table 2.5 The MODeST framework

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 Assessing Project Complexity

Table 2.6 Assessing project complexity

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 Assessing Project Complexity (Continued)

Table 2.6 Assessing project complexity (Continued)

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 Summary

• The world in which projects operate continues to

grow in complexity
– Adds to the challenges on project managers in
delivering
– As well as increased expectation about delivery

• Frameworks and mental models aid making sense

of complexity
– But ‘All models are wrong. Some are useful’ (Dr W
Edwards Deming)
– Need to ‘get the thinking right’
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