Project Management

Projects versus Operations

Organizations perform work - either
Operations, or
Projects

An Introduction

Shared characteristics of projects and

operations
Performed by people
Constrained by limited resources
Planned, executed and controlled

Project Management

Operations and projects

differ:

Operations are ongoing and repetitive

Projects are temporary and unique

A project is a temporary endeavor
undertaken to create a unique product or
service.
temporary - definite beginning and end
unique - different in some distinguishing
characteristic
Project Management

Project Management

Examples of projects

Developing a new product or service

Effecting a change in structure, staffing,
or style of an organization

Designing a new transportation vehicle

Constructing a building or facility

Running a campaign for political office

Implementing a new business procedure
or process
Project Management

What is Project
Management

The Project Management

Challenge

Project management is the application of

knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to
project activities in order to meet or
exceed stakeholder needs and
expectations from a project.

Meeting or exceeding stakeholder needs and

expectations invariably involves balancing
competing demands among:

Scope, time, cost, and quality

Stakeholders with differing needs and
expectations

Identified needs and unidentified
expectations - client relations challenge

Project Management

Project Management

Project Management
Knowledge Areas (PMBOK)

Scope Management

Cost Management

Communications
Management

Human Resources
Management

Time Management

Quality Management

Risk Management

Procurement
Management

Relationship to other
disciplines - similarities

General management encompasses
Planning
Organizing
Staffing
Directing
Controlling

PM management functions overlap

Project Management

Project Management

Function overlap

Planning the work, schedule and budget

Organizing and staffing a team to
implement the work

Controlling the project through tracking
and monitoring progress against the plan

Directing people and resources so the
plan is adjusted and implemented as
smoothly as possible
Project Management

Relationship to other
disciplines

Relationship to other
disciplines - differences

Much of the knowledge needed to
manage projects is unique or nearly
unique to project management, e.g.
Critical path analysis, and
Work breakdown structures

Primary differences between general

management and PM found in the use of
specialized tools and techniques.
Project Management

Why do you need project

management techniques?

The reason for organizing an assignment
as a project is to FOCUS the
responsibility, authority, and scheduling of
the project in order to meet defined
goals.
schedule
cost
performance (quality)

Project Management

Project Management

Other major reasons to use

PM techniques

The two types of project

management activities

Clear work descriptions minimize surprises

and conflicts

Responsibilities and assignments for
specific tasks are easily identified

Reduces need for continuous reporting

Progress can be measured against a plan

Time limits for task completion are more
easily specified

Project planning and definition activities

Project implementation and control
activities

More simply

Project Management

Deciding, and
Doing

Project Management

Planning and definition

activities

Implementation and
control activities

Definition of project goals and objectives

Definition of work requirements

Definition of quantity of work

Definition of quality of work

Definition of required resources

Definition of organization structure

Planning of task sequencing and schedule

Planning of the budget

Initiating work

Monitoring and tracking progress

Comparing schedules and budgets to plans

Analyzing impact of changes and progress

Coordinating activities and people

Making adjustments to the plan as required

Completing the project

Assessing project results

Project Management

Project Management

Success factors in project

management

Appropriately skilled project manager

Clear authority for the PM to act

Commitment to the PM methodology

A skilled PM team agreed to the project goals

A complete project plan that is understood by all
participants

Objectives that contribute to the larger goals of
the organization

Workable tracking and monitoring methods
Project Management

Bottom line

What project management will do is
provide a system for planning,
documenting, organizing, and
communicating.

It provides a basis for better decisions

Ultimately, it is the people who will make
things happen and make things work, not
the methodology
Project Management

Management theory
history

Industrial revolution (prior

to 1875)

switch from small to large

agrarian to industrial

no methods or standards for measuring
work

psychological and physical aspects had
not been studied
boredom, monotony, and fatigue

Project Management

Project Management

Captains of Industry (18751900)

Classical Management
Theory (1895-1920)

Formation of corporate giants

There is one best way to manage

John D. Rockefeller
Andrew Carnegie
Cornelius Vanderbilt

dictated by a set of universal bureaucratic

and scientific management principles to be
applied in all situations

New organizations required new methods

of management
Businesses could no longer be run out of the
home or on an informal basis
Project Management

Project Management

Scientific Management

1886 Henry Towne
ASME paper, The Engineer as Economist,
stressed engineers should be concerned with
financial and profit orientation as well as their
traditional technical responsibilities.

1895-1911 Frederick W. Taylor

Principles of Scientific Management
piece work standards scientifically define a
full and fair days standard
Project Management

Period of Solidification
(1920 to early 30s)

Founding of professional management
societies
Management recognized as a respectable
discipline
Universities and colleges began to
acknowledge the subject of management
Previously, ASME presented most
management studies

1923 American Management Association

Project Management

Behavioral Theory - (1931late 40s)

Systems Approach (1940s)

Hawthorne Studies (1924-1932)

the manager must understand the system

and the environment

Hawthorne Plant of Western Electric in

Cicero, IL
Relationship between working conditions and
productivity
Responsiveness to group norms

Emphasis shifted from jobs to the human

and social aspects of organizations
Project Management

no longer placed reliance on rote approaches

to solving problems

a way of thinking about the job of

managing which provides a framework for
visualizing internal and external
environmental factors as an integrated
whole
Project Management

Contingency Theory (1970s to date)

Current Management
Trends

different situations and conditions require

different management approaches

shift toward Project Management thinking

leaner organizations - downsizing

larger span of control - flatter, more
horizontal organization

more technology

synthesizes classical, behavioral, and

systems approaches

situational leadership

the contingency approach to
management
Project Management

History of Project
Management

Project Management

Historical legacy

Pyramids

Roman aqueducts

Great Wall

Inca/Mayan temples and cities

Project Management

Project Management

Late 1800s Industrialization

1900s - Large-scale plants

and organizations

conversion from agrarian to industrial

organizations

evolving management concepts

Taylors Scientific Management

established basis for work measurement
and production scheduling

Project Management

Project Management

1917 - World War I

logistics

1940s World War II

Henry Gantt

Manhattan Project

production scheduling and monitoring

Gantt chart

Project Management

reinforced importance of critical scheduling

process flow diagrams

Project Management

1950s - Scheduling tools

1957 CPM (Critical Path Method)
Dupont - set up a group in Newark, DE to
study scheduling
combined with Remington Rand UNIVAC
team
no fundamental changes to date

Project Management

Scheduling tools
(continued)

1958 PERT (Program Evaluation and
Review Technique)
U.S. Navy Polaris missile program
Booz Allen & Hamilton (management
consulting firm) working as ORSA team for
Lockheed Missile System

Project Management

1960s - Large scale

applications

1970 - Earned Value

concept

Massive government contracts (Vietnam,

nuclear power plants, NASA Apollo)

developed for monitoring schedule and

cost

required widespread computer aided

planning and control

Government added PERT/COST in

contracts to track schedule/cost elements

1961 - IBM first to use PM commercially,
PMs looked across functional lines
Project Management

Project Management

1980s - Computerization

1990s

hardware/software proliferation makes PM

tools accessible to smaller firms

technological sophistication adds
complexity to projects

Demand for better, faster, cheaper

frequent paradigm shifts - must turn on
a dime

Downsizing to leaner, quicker, more
responsive organizations

clients want it On time, on budget

Project Management

Project Management