EE5960: Project Management - Fundamentals

Definition of Terms Project:

A group of related tasks, or activities, which together satisfy one or more objectives. Project Management.:

The planning, directing and controlling of tasks and activities and resources with the objective of completing a specific project with predetermined parameters of quality, time and money. Two Related Definitions: Programme:

A group of related projects which are managed in a co-ordinated way to gain benefits which would not be possible were they managed independently. Programme Management:

The co-ordinated support, planning, prioritisation and monitoring of related projects to meet the clients stated time, cost and specification requirements.

Some Relationships

1. Projects, Programmes, Business Objectives.

2. Cost, Time and Quality. A project must always be defined with these in mind. A balance between all three is maintained throughout the project. A change in any one will effect the other two.
Time

3. People, Organisation and Systems. Project management depends on (a) Getting the right organisation in place. (b) Ensuring people understand their roles and responsibilities and are suitably skilled to deliver. (c) Have at the disposal the systems they need to create and control the project.
Organisation

Top Down Construction Cost People

Bottom Up Construction

Business Objectives

Programmes

Projects

Quality

Systems

Documents Generated During The Project

1. Clients Requirements Definition (CRD). A clear and concise statement from the clients to the project manager and team of what is required and why. Should contain objectives in measurable terms. The CRD is used during the inception phase of the life cycle (see below). 2. The Project Requirements Definition (PRD) A statement produced by the project manager and team and sent to the client. It outlines what is to be delivered how it is to be achieved and when it is to be delivered. The PRD must be complete and definitive. The PRD is used during the planning and definition section of the project and also during the monitoring and control stage.

Some Ways of Looking at Project Life Cycle The project passes through a number of phases collectively known as the life cycle.

Life Cycle Inception Feasibility Definition Development Installation Test Post Implementation

Activities
Specify Requirements Planning & Definition Monitoring & Control Closure

Inception Feasibility Definition Development Installation Test Closure.

The capture of the ideas Demonstrate that the idea can be achieved Define in more detail what work is required Make the items required by the client Put in place, test the deliverables Longer term test, familiarisation, fine tuning

The Roles of the Project Manager

Identifying what is needed to deliver the requirements Produce the project plans Build and monitor the project team Monitor progress Interface to contractors Communicating with everyone involved Reporting back to client Obtaining authorisation Monitoring, controlling and reviewing the project.

Team and Group Working In almost all-engineering project undertaken today team working is very important, all large engineering companies look for team players in their staff. Humans are not classified, however, very roughly most team members fall into three types (or a mixture of the three) (1) Task Orientated This person is motivated by the work itself. In engineering they are typically motivated by the technical challenge. (2) Self Orientated Motivated by personal success. They are typically interested in the success of the project so that they can further their own goals, eg move into management. (3) Interaction Motivated This type is motivated by the presence and actions of co-workers. These persons are often classified into different personality types: 1. Task Orientated Self sufficient, resourceful, aloof, introverted, aggressive, competitive and independent. 2. Self Orientated Disagreeable, dogmatic, aggressive, competitive, introverted and jealous 3. Interaction Orientated Unaggressive, low needs of autonomy and achievement, considerate, helpful. Research has shown that men tend to be task orientated and women interaction orientated, whether this is a genuine tendency or a role of stereotype is not clear. Most engineers (but not all) are task orientated. It is important that management pay attention to group composition, teams wholly made up of task orientated and self-orientated people are seldom successful. The most successful teams are made up of a mixture of different types with the group leader being task orientated.

Because in engineering, there are a large number of task orientated individuals, all of whom have their own ideas about how the project should proceed; strict management control therefore needs to be exercised. Control is easier to achieve if you allow all group members to participate at each stage of the project. Because involvement of all group members at each stage is more difficult for large groups; they are less likely to be successful than small groups (there are other reasons for this also). It is worth remembering that sometimes, even with careful consideration, group members sometimes clash so dramatically that little or no productive work is possible.

The Qualities of the Project Manager Good leadership skills Good interpersonal skills Enthusiasm, openness and honesty Good organisational skills A relationship builder Assertiveness and commitment Leading by example a proactive approach Good listening and presentational skills A good judge. Management, Monitoring and control
Compare Information in the Plan Measure Collect Data Evaluate Look For Trends

MONITOR

Act To Keep Project On Target

CONTROL

Predict Outcome of Project

Controlling a project needs a systematic approach often referred to as a systems approach. The project manager must measure how the project is proceeding and compare this with the plan. He must then evaluate the best course of action to keep the plan on course, try and predict how it is affected and act to keep it on target.

The Project Plan Tools

The project plan is the single most important document in the project. There are three basic systems used to prepare the plan, others exist but are normally a mixture of elements from two or more of the basic systems. The systems are: 1) CPM 2) PERT 3) GANTT Critical Path Method Program Evaluation and Review Technique A Bar Chart Technique

These systems were evolved for controlling large projects during the 1950s. The GANTT (Bar Chart) This shows each activity as a bar plotted against a time line.

Activity
Today

E D C B A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Time Period

Each bar is an activity, for example, bar A might mean Electronics Design, which in this case runs from 0 to time 1.5. Bar E might be Systems Testing, which in this case runs from time 7 to time 9. Time might be measured in hours, days, weeks, months or even years. Bar charts are simple and easy to construct, however, they offer little in the way of information about the project. A good project manager uses them only as a rough indicator of progress.

The PERT Chart PERT and CPM charts are known as network diagrams for reasons which will become obvious. PERT is known as event labelled because the start and finish are noted in the diagram.
Start To Build Amplifier Finish Building Amplifier

A PERT chart is constructed from a series of start and end elements like the ones shown above.
D G A A2 F

Start

E B1 B2

Finish

C C2

C3

In the diagram above each node (a, b, c, etc) designates the completion of a task. The CPM Chart Like PERT, CPM is also a network chart, many people prefer it because it is an activity labelled chart, see below.

Build Amplifier

Notice this time how it is the arrow (activity) which is important.

C A B D

E F

A, B, C, etc are activities. There is also a bar chart form of CPM chart. CPM times are often labelled earliest and latest start and finish times.