Project planning and organization module PDF

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UWEZO ACCELERATED AND TECH HUB Entrepreneurship Incubation Lab

SIMPLIFIED PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT MODULE FOR ACCELERATED ICT WITH ENTREPRENEURSHIP COURSE

BY: ANDREW HABEL ODONGO Lead trainer/mentor and Chief Executive Officer, Uwezo Hub

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TABLE OF CONTENTS LESSON ONE: INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT ................................................. 4 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 4 PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS ....................................................................................................... 4 CHARACTERISTICS A GOOD PROJECT MANAGER ................................................................................ 6 REASONS WHY PROJECTS GO WRONG................................................................................................. 7 PROJECT LIFE CYCLE ........................................................................................................................... 9 REVISION EXERCISE ..................................................................................................................... 13 LESSON TWO: PROJECT IDENTIFICATION AND...................................................................... 14 FORMULATION ................................................................................................................................. 14 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 14 PROJECT PREPARATION ...................................................................................................................... 15 PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES ................................................................................................ 18 REVISION EXERCISE ............................................................................................................................ 20 LESSON THREE: PROJECT APPRAISAL ....................................................................................... 21 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 21 TECHNICAL APPRAISAL ...................................................................................................................... 21 COMMERCIAL APPRAISAL ................................................................................................................... 22 ECONOMIC APPRAISAL ....................................................................................................................... 23 FINANCIAL APPRAISAL ....................................................................................................................... 23 MANAGEMENT APPRAISAL ................................................................................................................. 23 SOCIAL COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................ 24 ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS...................................................................................................................... 24 REVISION EXERCISE ............................................................................................................................ 24 LESSON FOUR: PROJECT ORGANIZATION............................................................................ 25 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 25 FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION .............................................................................................................. 25 PRODUCT ORGANIZATION ................................................................................................................... 26 MATRIX ORGANIZATION ..................................................................................................................... 27 MODIFIED MATRIX STRUCTURES ........................................................................................................ 29 PURE PROJECT ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE ......................................................................................... 30 SELECTION OF PROJECT ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE ........................................................................... 31 BREAKDOWN STRUCTURES ................................................................................................................. 33 LESSON FIVE: PROJECT PLANNING AND SCHEDULING ......................................................... 39 DEVELOPING PROJECT NETWORK ........................................................................................................ 39 OBJECTIVES OF NETWORK ANALYSIS ................................................................................................... 39 CRITICAL PATH METHOD .................................................................................................................... 46 REVISION QUESTIONS ......................................................................................................................... 49 LESSON SIX: PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT............................................................................. 52 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 52 TYPES OF PROJECT RISK ..................................................................................................................... 52 APPROACHES TO RISK MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................. 54 REVISION QUESTIONS ......................................................................................................................... 59 LESSON SEVEN: PROJECT TEAM MANAGEMENT .................................................................... 60 MANAGING A PROJECT TEAM .............................................................................................................. 60 DEVELOPING A PROJECT TEAM............................................................................................................ 62 THE KEY TO TEAM SUCCESS, CREATING A TEAM CHARTER ................................................................. 63 STEPS TO TEAM SUCCESS .................................................................................................................... 64 REVISION QUESTIONS .................................................................................................................. 67 LESSON EIGHT: CONFLICT MANAGEMENT .............................................................................. 68

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INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 68 MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT CONFLICT.................................................................................................... 68 PHASES OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT .................................................................................................. 69 STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH CONFLICT .......................................................................................... 69 CREATIVE WAYS TO MANAGE CONFLICT ............................................................................................ 71 ACTIVITY ........................................................................................................................................... 72 LESSON NINE: PROJECT EVALUATION AND POST................................................................... 73 PROJECT EVALUATION (POST AUDIT)........................................................................................ 73 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 73 PROJECT EVALUATION OBJECTIVES..................................................................................................... 73 POST PROJECT E VALUATION (POST AUDIT) .......................................................................................... 74 PHASES OF POST AUDIT ...................................................................................................................... 75 TYPES OF POST AUDIT .....................................................................................................................................76 DEVELOPING AN EVALUATION PLAN .................................................................................................... 77 REVISION QUESTIONS ......................................................................................................................... 79

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LESSON ONE: INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT Lesson Objectives By the end of this lesson, the learners should be able to: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii.

Define a project Identify the characteristics of a project; State the responsibilities of a Project Manager Explain why projects would go wrong Explain the major constraints on a project Discuss the major issues in the project life cycle Identify the tools and techniques for project management.

Introduction A project is an interrelated set of activities that has a definite starting and ending point and results in the accomplishment of a unique often major outcome. Project management is the planning and control of events that together comprise the project. Project management aims to ensure the effective use of resources and delivery of the project objectives on time and within cost constraints. An activity or task is the smallest unit of work effort within the project and consumes both time and resources which are under the control of the project manage. A project is a sequence of activities that has a definite start and finish, an identifiable goal and an integrated system of complex but interdependent relationships. The purpose of project management is to achieve successful project completion with the resources available. A successful project is one where:

Has been finished on time

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Is within its cost budget

 end user

Performs to a technical/ performance standard which satisfy the

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS 

Objectives: A project has a set of objectives or missions once the objectives are achieved the project is treated as completed.

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Life cycle: A project has a life cycle where it consist of the following

Conception stage: where project ideas are conceived 4

Design stage: where detailed design of different project are worked out Implementation stage: where the project is implemented as per the design Commissioning stage; where the project is commissioned after implementation commissioning of the project indicates the end of its life cycle. 

Definite time limit: A project has a definite time limit it cannot continue forever . what represents the end would normally be spelt out in the set of objectives.

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Uniqueness : every project is unique and no two project are similar even if the plants are exactly identical or are merely duplicated the location the infrastructure the agencies and the people make each project unique.

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Team work : A project normally consists of delivered areas there will be personnel specialized in their respective areas any project calls for the services of experts from a host of disciplines. Co-ordination among the diversed areas calls for team work. Hence a project can be implemented only with a team work.

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Complexity: A project is a complex set of thousands of varieties. The varieties are in terms of technology of equipment and materials , machinery and people work culture and ethics but they remain interrelated and unless this is so they either do not belong to the project or will never allow the project to be completed.

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Sub- contracting: some of the activities may be entrusted to subcontractors to reduce the complexity of the project. Sub contracting will be advantageous if it reduces the complexity of the project so that the project manager can co-ordinate the remaining activities of the project more effectively. The greater the complexity of the project, the larger will be the extent to which sub- contracting will be resorted to.

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Risk and uncertainty: Every project has risks and uncertainty associated with it. The degree of risk and uncertainty

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Customer specific nature: A project is always customer specific this is because the products produced on services offered by the project are necessarily to be customer oriented. It is the customer who decides upon the product to be produced or services to be offered and hence it is responsibility of any organization to go for projects / services that are suited to customer needs.

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Change: Changes occur throughout the lifespan of a project as a natural out come of many environmental factors. The changes may vary from minor changes to major changes which may have a big impact or ever change the very nature of the project. 5

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Forecasting: Forecasting the demand for any product/services that the project is going to produce is an important aspect. All projects involve forecasting and in view of the importance attached to forecasting they must be accurate and based on sound fundamentals.

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Optimality: A project is always aimed at optimum utilization of resources for the overall development of the organization economy . This is because resources are scarce and have a cost.

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Control mechanism: All projects will have pre-designed control mechanism in order to ensure completion of projects within the time schedule, within estimated cost and the save time achieve the desired level of quality and reliability.

Characteristics A Good Project Manager 

Planning and organization skills

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Personnel management skills

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Communication skills

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Change orientation

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Ability to solve problems in their totality

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High energy i.e levels work under pressure

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Ambition for achievements

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Ability to take suggestions

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Understanding the views of the project team members

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Ability to develop alternative actions quickly

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Knowledge of project management methods and tools

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Ability to make self evaluation

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Effective time management

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Capacity to relate current events to project management

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Ability to handle project management software tools /packages

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Flair for sense of humour

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Solving issues /problems immediately without postponing them

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Initiative and risk taking ability

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Familiarity with the organization

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Tolerance for difference of opinion , delay ambiguity

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Knowledge of technology

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Conflict resolving capacity 6

1.3.1 Responsibilities of A Project Manager 1. To plan thoroughly all aspects of the project involving the active involvement of all functional areas involved in order to obtain and maintain a realistic plan that satisfies their commitment for performance. 2. To control the organ of manpower needed by the project 3. To control the basic technical definition of the project ensuring that “technical” versus “cost” trade –offs determine the specific areas where optimization is necessary . 4. To lead the people and organs assigned to the project at any given point in time 5.

To monitor performance, cost and efficiency of all elements of the project and the project as a whole, exercising judgment and leadership in determining the causes of problems and facilitating solutions.

6. To complete the project on schedule and within costs, these being the overall standard by which performance of the project manager is evaluated.

Reasons Why Projects Go Wrong 1.

Project goals are not clearly defined

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complaints arising from:  short time scale  resource availability  quality factors  human factors 1. Problems With Project goals 

Project sponsor or client has an inadequate idea of what the project is about at the start .

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There may be failure of communication between the client and the project manager.

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Specification may be subject to constant changer due to problems with individual clients, environmental changes etc.

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Project goals may be unrealistic and unachievable and it may be that this is only realized once the project is underway. 7

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The client may become carried away with the idea of the project and may be unable to see clearly what can be achieved.

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Projects may be highly complex and may have a number of objectives that actually contradict each other.

Solutions 

Ensure that the clients specifications is clear and understandable

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Preparation of project brief should take the objectives set out in the previous exercise and translate them into targets and goals. This brief shoud be agreed by the sponsor /clients and communicated to the project manager.

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Establishment of success criteria: Success criteria can be described as being hard or soft

Hard criteria Are tangible and measureable and can be expressed in quantitative terms. This poses the question “what” should be achieved, it includes the following. 

performance specification: these may be set out in terms of the ability to deal with certain demands

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specific quality standards:- This could relate to achievement favorable report from an outside inspection agency.

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Meeting dead lines

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Cost of budget constraints : completing the project within cost limit or budget which has been determined.

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Resources constraints: eg making use of existing premises or labour force.

of

a

Soft criteria: are often intangible and qualitative and difficult to measure they would tend to ask the question “how” they include the following: 

demonstrative co-operation : This would be about showing that the project team could work together effectively and without a degree of conflict . it could be an important consideration to develop and implement solutions for the organization which have an element of consensus and stem from co-operative attitude

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presenting a positive image: This important though difficult to quantify

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Achieving total quality approach: This would be more about adoption of a philosophy of continuous improvement than achievement of specific performance target on quality.

the the

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Gaining total project commitment : This is about how the project managed and the attitude of the project team to it.

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Ensuring that ethical standards are maintained

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Showing an a appreciation of risk: This would ensure that no unacceptable risks were taken in the pursuit of other project objectives.

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2. Constraints on the Completion of Project 

Time: there is a relationship between the time taken for the project and its cost. A tra...