SST 101 - Summary Principles of Project Management PDF

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Summary

Unit 1 (PROJECT) Project It is a temporary endeavour with a beginning and an end and undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. It is different from operations. Operational work is ongoing work to support the business of the organisation. Characteristics of a project 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. An...

Description

Unit 1 (PROJECT) Project It is a temporary endeavour with a beginning and an end and undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. It is different from operations. Operational work is ongoing work to support the business of the organisation. Characteristics of a project 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

An establish objective A defined lifespan with a beginning and an end Involves several department and professional Doing something that have never done before Specific time, cost and performance requirements

Triple Constraint It is useful to help analyse the project goals and prevent biases. Scope, Time, Cost Scope Creep It refers to the uncontrollable changes or continuous growth of project scope. It happens when a project is not defined, documented or controlled. More time and cost would be invested in a project without providing benefit to the client. Program Management Project  Program  Portfolio Why projects have definite lifespan? A project has distinctive attributes that distinguishes them from business operations. Project are temporary in nature. Projects are not a daily process and it has a definite beginning to an end. Large part of the project effort is dedicated to ensure that project is completed at a specified time. Project Lifecycle Defining Goals Specification Task Responsibility

Planning

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Schedules Budgets Resources Risk Staffing

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Executing Status Report Changes

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Closure

Train Customer

Quality

Transfer Documents

Forecast

Evaluate Lesson Learnt

Strategy A plan of action designed to achieve long term or overall aim. It is fundamentally guide the company on how to compete. Organisation leverage projects to convert business strategy into new products, solutions, services and processes to ensure business success.

Project Managers and Understanding Strategy 

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To ensure the alignment between strategy and projects, the project manager must be able to integrate project and organisation business strategy plans. Assume company strategy blueprint and develop process to prioritise project. To make appropriate decisions and adjustment. Understand the company’s strategic concerns. Steer project towards meeting the strategic objectives of the company. To be an effective project advocates. Show the company how the project contributes to the company mission. Ensure continual support with management via projects.

Strategy Management The process of making an assessment of the organisations current state and decide a future state. Then deciding and implementing plans to get this current state. Strategy Management Process    

Review and define organisational mission Analyse and formulate strategies Set objective to achieve strategy Execute strategies through projects

Projects linked to strategic plan It represents how strategy is implement. Some projects are important so need to find best way to maximise organisation scarce resources. Prioritising which project contribute the most to the strategic plans SWOT Strength and Weaknesses: Within the organisation Opportunity and Threats: Outside the organisation

Unit 2 (INITIATION) Project Initiation Group formally start a new project. It sets the stage for developing a project plan and helps to define the end goal or end result of the project. Define the project scope as clearly as possible. Project Charter It is a statement of objectives in a project that includes the detailed problem statement, the need for the project, project goals, and risks to the project, roles and responsibilities, funding, level of authority of project manager, stakeholders. Creating the charter involves planning the project at high level to access the feasible within the given constraints but detailed planning happens after charter is signed. It formally recognises the existence of the project. Organisation: Structure Functional: PM no little or none authority Projectized: Total authority Matrix: Weak, Balanced, and Strong: Low to High authority Weak Matrix Structure It is similar to functional approach. A project manager coordinates the project activities. Functional managers are responsible for their segment and makes the most project related decision. Project manager act as coordinator or expediter. Balanced Matrix Structure Project manager defines what needed to be done. The power shared between functional and project manager. Project manager will establish plans, integrate contributions from various disciplines, monitors progress. Functional managers will assign personnel and execute their segment of the project. Strong Matrix Structure Opposite of a weak matrix structure. Project managers controls all aspect of the project. He has the final say on the major project decisions and functional managers are consulted on a need basis

Advantage Efficient: Resources are shared across projects Easier Post-Project Transition: specialist can return to their former functional groups once project ends. Flexible: the use of resources and expertise within the organisation Strong Project Focus: PM can lead, coordinate and integrate input by stakeholders

Disadvantage Dysfunctional conflict: Tension between functional and project managers. Infighting: Equipment and manpower are shared across projects and functions Stressful: Two or more reporting officer for participants Slow: Decision making

Work Breakdown Structure It breaks down scope or deliverable into smaller and manageable pieces called the work packages. It is a framework to help PM track cost and work performance. PM can assign work packages based on the WBS. Responsibility Matrices It is a tool which summarises the tasks to be accomplished and who is responsible for what on the project. It also clarifies to what extent and type of authority exercised by each stakeholder. Responsible, Approver, Consultant, Informed

Unit 3 (PLANNING) Project Network It depicts the sequence, interdependencies and start and finish times of the activities. It is a standard tool for planning, scheduling and monitoring project progress. 2 methods for project network: Activity on Node (AON) or Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) and Activity on Arrow. Merge: More than one activity immediately preceding it Parallel: Take place at the same time Critical Path: longest duration through the network. If an activity is delay, the project is delayed at the same amount of time. Burst Activity: more than one activity immediately following it. Schedule Compression It is a method to compress the project schedule without changing the scope work. By: Fast Tracking Crashing Laddering: Activities are broken into segments so that the following activities can begin sooner and not delay work. Methods to estimate project times and costs 1. Top Down estimates (Generic Approach) It focuses on the overall development process. Analogous method Parametric method Experience Based. 2. Bottom Up estimates (Tasked based approach) It focuses on individual project process. Add up WBS task Detailed Estimation More definitive estimates 3. Phase estimation Phase estimation over product life cycle. The approach starts with top-down estimates. Then it refines estimates for phase of the project. It is useful when an unusual amount of uncertainty surrounds the projects. Why are accurate estimate critical to effective project management? Without accurate time and cost estimation, project control is ineffective. Inaccurate estimates make a difference between lost and profit. The absence of estimates can result in time and cost under/overruns.

Cost 1. Direct Cost It can be charged to a specific work package. Labour, Material, Equipment. Cost that is directly affecting the product 2. Direct Project Overhead Cost Closely pinpoint which resources of the organisation are being used in the project. It can be the salary of the project manager or temporary rental space for the project team. Project related office expenses, Staff salary, assets. Cost that contributes to product 3. General & Administrative Overhead Cost The cost does not directly linked to the project.. Advertising, Accounting, HR. General office expenses. Health insurance, expense of the employee Which costs are controllable by the project manager? Direct cost. Direct overhead and general and administrative cost are controllable if the resource or project is finish end early or late, the cost will continue for the duration of the project.

Unit 4 (Executing and Risk Management) Resource Smoothing and Resource Constrained Scheduling   

1. Resources are adequate but the demand varies. Apply resource smoothing Even out resource demands Increase utilisation of resources

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2. Resources are not adequate but project duration can be increased Delay some of the activities Apply resource-constrained scheduling

Resource Allocation Methods Levelling is performed to the scheduling process for time-constrained projects. It is to minimize the fluctuation of resource demands over the course of the project implementation. Parallel Method is performed to the scheduling process for resource-constraint projects. It is by prioritising and allocating resources to minimize project delays without exceeding the resource limit Risk Management It is a proactive and preventive process designed to help minimize the occurrences of risk event and the consequences posed by the risk in the event it happens. Step 1: Risk Identification Analyse the project to identify sources of risk. Form a team consist of PM and stakeholder who is able to make judgement on risks based on their experience and expertise. To focus on event that produce negative consequences or impact on the project as a whole and not in segments. Risk Profile is useful tool to list the questions addressing uncertainties in the project. Step 2: Risk Assessment Access risk in terms of Severity of impact, Likelihood of occurring Two manner of accessing risk: Likelihood or Probability, Impact or Severity Risk Severity Matrix is risk heat-map that allows classifying risk event based on their probability and impact. This help to give a clear visualisation of where focus should be in the risk response action

Step 3: Risk Response Development

Develop a strategy to reduce possible damage, contingency plans. Example: Raining    

Mitigating Risk – Use an umbrella Avoiding Risk – Don’t go out and don’t get wet Transferring Risk – Take taxi to school Accepting Risk – Get wet from rain

A Contingency Plan to respond the risk that happens. The key difference between a risk response and a contingency plan is that a response is part of the actual implementation and action that is undertaken before the risk can materialise, while a contingency plan is not part of the initial implementation plan and only comes into effect after the risk is materialised. Step 4: Risk Response Control Implement Strategy, Monitor and adjust. To develop a risk register to capture all the identified risk and its associated information such as descriptions, category, likelihood of occurrence, impacts, responses, contingency plans, risk owners as well as the current status

Unit 5 (Monitoring & Controlling)

Monitoring Performance 1. Gantt Chart This is to view the baseline schedule against the actual schedule. This allows monitoring and tracking performance of a project schedule. It is useful to help access how long a project should take, determine the resources needed and plan the order in which you will need to complete the tasks. 2. Control Chart It is used to plot the differences between the scheduled times on the critical path at the report date with the actual point on the critical path. It allows seeing the effects of corrective actions in bringing the project back on track. 3. Earned Value Planned Value Earned Value (Completed Job) Actual Value (Completed Job + Spending) Cost Variance (CV) = EV-AC Cost Performance Index (CPI) = EV/AC Schedule Variance (SV) = EV-PV Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = EV/PV If index more than 1: on time OR under budget If index less than 1: delay OR over budget Effective Project Manager In order to be able to deal with contradictions (Innovate and maintain stability, See big picture, encourage team but stress them too, flexible but firm):  

1. Finesse Skilful movement between opposing behavioural pattern Sometimes, seeking consensus while at times making autocratic decisions

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2. Balance Recognising danger of extremes Being able to find the right mix or balance between extremely for the greatest effect

Key Characteristic of High Performance Project Team 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Share a common purpose Identifies individual talents and expertise Roles are balanced and shared to facilitate cohesion Team exerts energy towards problem solving Differences of opinions are encouraged and freely expressed Mistakes is an opportunity for learning Member set high personal standards Members identify with the team

Five Stage Team Development Model

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Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning

Virtual Team Challenges Developing Trust

Develop effective communication patterns

Solution Orchestrate the exchange of social information and set clear roles for each team Member Define when to email, use online forum, video conference or meet in person

Managing Conflicts Functional Team disagreements. Marketing need money for advertising but accounts says no money. Hence fighting

Unit 6 (PROJECT CLOSURE)

Dysfunctional Personal Attacks

Retrospective It is a Lesson learnt. It helps analyse a project that was implemented in the past, to define what worked well and what did not work well. It will allow to develop an action plan to these lessons learned. Agile PM (Software, Phone Development) Rolling wave planning and scheduling project methodology. The final project design is not known but the design is continuously developed through a series of incremental iterations over time. Advantage Continuous integration, verification, and validation of the evolving product Frequent demonstration of progress to increase likelihood that the end product meets customers’ needs Early detection of defects and problem

Disadvantage Scope Creep It’s more difficult to measure progress than in waterfall because progress happens across several cycles Clients who work on a specified budget or schedule can’t know how much the project will actually cost

Traditional (Waterfall) Vs Agile Traditional Designed up-front Fixed scope Deliverables Freeze design ASAP Low uncertainity Low customer interaction Conventional project team

Agile Continuous design Flexible scope Features/requirements Freeze design as late as possible High uncertainty High customer interaction Self-organised team...