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Many people think in very traditional lines when they are asked to make a diagram of their
organisation. It may be valuable to introduce different ways of seeing organisations in order that
candidates can gain a more differentiated or balanced view of their organisation, e.g. the following
·
·
·
·
mechanical / bureaucratic / traditional – organisations seen as machines
organic / a set of sub-systems – organisations seen as organisms
learning organisations / learning loops – organisations seen as brains
political / interests / power – organisations seen as political systems
(Gareth Morgan: ‘Images of organisations’ provides illustrations of a number of different perceptions
of organisations. Edgar H. Schein: ‘Organisational Psychology’ gives an insight of organisations’
structures and dynamics and people’s interaction in and with organisations.)
Exercise
Most organisations have a diagrammatic representation of how they look at themselves and perhaps
the way they would like others to look at them. Study the representation of your home organisation
and consider carefully whether it provides a satisfactory picture of the organisation as a sponsor
organisation for your project. Draw a diagram which will illustrate your sponsor organisation as you
expect it to interact with your project organisation and Project Team. Make comments on the
differences as they appear from the diagrams.
Exercise
Make a traditional tree diagram of your home organisation. A tree diagram focuses on hierarchies.
Comment on important features of the organisation which will not be apparent in the diagram.
Exercise
Use circles or other kinds of relevant shapes to draw a diagram of your home organisation. Choose
your own way of illustrating structures. Comment on advantages and disadvantages of this kind of
presentation.
The aim of this exercise is to highlight the characteristics of an organisation which cannot be made
visible in a traditional and hierarchical tree diagram. Overlapping circles may be used to illustrate
double functions for managers or the fact that several managers or specialists are operating within the
same field.
In a traditional tree diagram, the links between components are important since they will show
interaction between people. Reflect on how people relations are best illustrated in a diagram or a
drawing.
Three B
Exercise
The project management structure diagram should focus specifically on management aspects. There
might be differences between diagrams illustrating the client’s perception of the project management
structure, the sponsor’s perception of project management structures, and the Project Manager’s
perception of the same issue. If there are differences, they will illustrate conditions for the project
which should be observed in meetings, reports, and other interactions between the project parties.
Draw the diagrams and comment on your findings.
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om
.c
Three A
s
er
Notes, Comments and Exercises for Unit Three
Examples:
This management diagram is the project organisation of a given project as seen from the Client
perspective
Client
General Manager
Production Manager
Sales Manager
Project Manager
Project Team
The diagram below is an illustration of the same project organisation from the Project Sponsor point of
view.
Client
Sales Manager
Production Manager
Project Manager
Project Team
Finally, the following diagram is a representation of how the Project Manager’s perception of the
project organisation is:
General Manager
Project Manager
Sales Manager
Client
Project Team
The examples have been designed to show differences in the way that core representatives of the
organisations involved in the project may think about a project organisation. Obviously, there will
always be differences – but it will be useful for the Project Manager to think about how the project
organisation is looked at from other positions since this will influence the way people act.
Note
In their assignment, candidates should be allowed to merge their diagrams as they find relevant and
illustrative. A diagram of organisational management structures can be combined with a diagram of
project management structures and a diagram of Project Team structures.
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Three C
Candidates must be able to write job descriptions for all positions and all team members recruited for
the Project Team. As in all organisations, project jobs develop once people start working and interact.
Thus, it might be useful to concentrate on the links between the boxes or the circles constituting
individuals and groups of people in the project organisation diagram. The links represent the relations
between people. These relations are the basis for transferring project tasks into deliveries to the
client.
Project
Manager
Specialist
1
Support
Worker 1
Chief
Technician
Specialist
2
Support
Worker 2
In the diagram above, a Chief Technician manages a team of Specialists and Support Workers in
order to deliver a project result to the Project Manager. For the Project Manager, it is important that
the Chief Technician is aware that he is responsible for the outcome of the work of his team and that it
is clear what delivery terms and constraints the team will operate under. Moreover, the Chief
Technician will have to know what to report upwards and what to report to his team. Together with the
Chief Technician, the Project Manager should identify potential bottlenecks, e.g. a work overload for
the Support Workers due to other job obligations and assignments.
The Project Team should be actively involved in the description of links between Project Team
members and Project Team groups. Their contributions will help the Project Manager to plan
efficiently.
When describing the links, the following items and issues should be included:
·
what will be delivered between the two parties linked - and how, when and where would it have to
be delivered in order to achieve optimal flow and outcomes?
·
what are the potential bottleneck risks, i.e. dependencies on contributions from others and work
overload?
·
how and how often should exchange of information take place and what kind of information would
be needed?
A useful exercise for a Project Manager to practise would be to let all Project Team members describe
their own position and tasks in the project organisation in terms of leadership and specialist services.
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Taking the stand that all members of an organisation deliver both kinds of contributions - leadership is
delivered downwards, specialist services are delivered upwards in an organisational hierarchy Project Team members will have to be aware of and inform others about their perception of this kind
of responsibility in terms of delivery.
Specialist Services
Leadership
Leadership corresponds to responsibility and specialist services to accountability.
Exercise
List the overall responsibilities and the overall accountabilities of all Project Team members/Project
Team groups. The two lists should not be described in activities, but rather as something which has
been delegated from Project Management.
Three D
Unit One and Two focus on the project idea, the objectives, the risks and listing of the organisational
parties involved, i.e. the initial, overall and relatively obligation-free project planning.
Unit Three and Four focus on the big question which has caused nightmares among Project
Managers: ‘How to create something out of nothing?’ i.e. how to transform overall statements into
coherent reliable and binding time schedules, job descriptions, detailed budgets, lists of resources,
etc. the quality of which will be crucial for the outcome and success of the project.
The project management IT software programmes are intended to support the Project Manager in this
task. Provided that the correct data is fed into the PC, ready-to-use plans are generated for printing
and distribution.
It is important to know how the thinking behind developing IT software has influenced the programmes
and predetermined opportunities and limitations. Instead of taking over the IT software approaches, it
is recommended that candidates (probably in consultation with the Project Sponsor) establish their
own platform of requirements for the software.
Issues which should be clarified by the Project Manager and his associates before entering data into a
management software programme comprise:
·
·
·
who will use the software to design, plan, manage and monitor the project?
what kind of documentation will be needed for project tasks?
what level of information is required by Team, Client, Sponsor, Stakeholders?
IT software should be considered a project management tool and not a tool for the Project Manager
exclusively.
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IT software for project management, in particular the latest versions, allows and facilitates files and
information to be shared among individuals and groups of people. Most versions also allow all people
involved to actively contribute to the planning online. Thus, when designing or when managing the
design of a project, the Project Manager should seek to actively involve the Project Team in
developing the detailed activities and in monitoring and controlling progress during implementation.
The considerations about which software to use will form part of Assignment Three where candidates
must state what IT facilities they use for planning and managing their project and give a brief
justification for this.
The exercises outlined are equally relevant without the direct application of an IT management
software.
Exercise
Produce a statement clarifying which IT software will be used when planning and implementing the
project. It should be emphasised that these two aspects of the project are equally important.
The statement should comprise at least the following elements:
·
to what degree is there a sufficiently developed and shared language on project management
which will allow contributions towards design, planning and monitoring from all parties involved?
·
what administrative procedures have to be negotiated between the project organisation and the
sponsor organisation in order to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings during project
implementation?
·
how well equipped are the Project Team and other groups contributing to the project to exploit the
opportunities of IT-based design, planning and monitoring?
·
describe the roles and responsibilities of the groups/individuals involved in the project in relation
to entering data in the project IT-based files and to monitoring?
Exercise
From examples of IT based project planning files, determine which one shows the best suitable
approach to invite the Project Team, the client, and administrative functions related to the sponsor to
participate actively in design and monitoring.
Exercise
Facilitating contributions from several parties in project planning and monitoring is one of the most
interesting and challenging aspects of current IT software for project management. The candidate
should develop the table below from an example project or from his own project.
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Contributions to ITbased planning and
monitoring
Project
resources
and stakeholders
Expected interest
in active participation
Expected
inputs
during
planning/implementation
PM initiatives to promote participation of
the group(s)
Project Team
Project Sponsor
Project Client
Administrative
tions
func-
Project stakeholders
Three E
IT software can take care of task planning in the sense that it can assist in creating overviews. It
cannot identify tasks and activities to be undertaken or determine how different tasks depend on each
other; this has to be done by the Project Manager.
A good starting point is to look at each operational objective and break it down into specified pieces of
work which will be needed to achieve the result or deliverable from that objective.
Tasks should be identified as logically rounded off groups of activities. Tasks should not be too big in
terms of duration, number of people involved or number of activities involved. On the other hand, the
breakdown should not be too detailed.
Exercise
List all the tasks that need to be carried out to produce a defined deliverable of an operational
objective.
Sort out the tasks in terms of logical sequence, which ones need to have been carried out for others
to be done?
Read through the list of tasks and assess whether this will work. Fill in tasks if necessary.
Where the assessment is ‘this will work if…’ and if these conditions can not be taken care of by the
task planning, they should be listed as constraints to the tasks.
Do this for all major deliverables in the project.
Exercise
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Imagine that a specific deliverable is situated at the top of a staircase and consider what steps need
to be taken in order to produce the deliverable. It can be done from the top by asking questions like:
‘What needs to have been done at the previous step in order for this one to be carried out?’
Or it can be done from the bottom by asking questions like ‘What will be the first step towards this
deliverable?’, What needs to be done next?’ etc. Use this method to produce a list of tasks.
Exercise
Placing the deliverable in the top box of the diagram identifies a hierarchical structure of tasks which
need to be completed in order to produce the deliverable. Diagrams should be developed individually
for each deliverable. Depending on the type of deliverables, diagrams can be very simple or very
complex.
This diagram is known as a work breakdown structure (WBS) and is usually organised
chronologically.
Deliver IT Software
Test IT Software
Produce Prototype
Clear copyrights
Produce Software
Agree principles with
client
Identify material
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Investigate
copyrights
Once tasks are identified and sorted in terms of sequence they can be entered in a Gantt chart where
they can still be moved around and interchanged.
A Gantt chart shows a list of project tasks on the left side and the relevant time scale across the top.
Tasks are illustrated by bars whose length indicates the duration of the task. Start and finish dates
correspond to the beginning and end of each bar.
Three F
IT-based project management programmes have undergone a rapid development and offer a large
number of new facilities. It can be questioned if this is an advantage for the individual Project
Manager. It certainly adds to the complexity of his job - while potentially easing the workload. Project
calendars are increasingly networks of calendars which can be combined and offer an abundance of
information. Project calendars, base calendars, resource calendars, events calendars are examples of
organisational tools.
For the Project Manager this implies that decisions have to be made before designing and personalising the IT tools. To what extent should the project calendar be integrated with other calendars of the
organisation? Is it feasible, convenient, necessary from a management perspective? Does it
constitute an efficient tool for optimising resources for the project? Is data reliable and updated? In
order to make the right decisions an insight of the organisational habits, traditions, and ways of doing
things is necessary.
Note
Project planning software calculates planning on the basis of calendars. Thus, the calendar functions
can be of vital importance and must be attended to before IT task and resource planning takes place.
Exercise
Candidates could investigate the traditions and habits of their home organisation in order to make a
list of conditions which determine whether it is feasible or non-feasible for the Project Team to share
their project calendar with relevant persons of the organisation - and estimate to what degree a
shared calendar could promote project efficiency or serve other purposes.
Three G
The project management task is usually considered a 24-hour job. It has been called an outpost in the
wilderness. If that is true – then changes are needed. The challenges of the project management task
not only concern innovation, development and exploring technology. First and foremost, it is about
delegating problem-solving, identification of feasible and optimal solutions to a committed Project
Team within an environment of innovation and development. A Project Manager should not be
available and accessible around the clock. This would be counter to effective delegation.
Thus, it is important for the Project Manager to plan his own time during the Project period. A large
proportion of his time could be allocated to preparation of the Project Team for delegated
assignments, making agreements, confirming these agreements, expanding them, redefining
assignments, training Project Team members in problem-solving, exploring and identifying tools to
make their jobs easier.
From the project plan, the Project Manager should be able to plan his own time and make his plans
known to the Project Team.
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Exercise
Candidates could plan Project Management time from a detailed Gantt chart representing an example
project and comment on their allocation of Project Manager resources.
Three H
There are four types of task relationship which can be applied in a Gantt chart:
Finish-to-Start
Start-to-Start
Finish-to-Finish
Start-to-Finish
These relationships are called dependencies since they indicate how tasks influence and affect each
other from a planning point of view. Dependencies must be handled carefully and fully analyzed in
theory and from examples before being applied to actual project planning. The four types of
dependency each have special characteristics which should be observed. As an example, the Startto-Start dependency does not necessarily imply that the successor task must start when the
predecessor starts. Rather, it indicates that the successor cannot start until the predecessor has
started. Simple examples are useful for illustrations.
The Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish and Start-to-Finish links between project tasks
which can be illustrated by arrows between tasks in a Gantt chart, are so-called task dependencies.
These dependencies are limitations on the time of execution of the tasks which are linked.
The limitations are all concerned with the latter of two tasks. Thus:
Finish-to-Start: Task Y cannot start until task X finishes. This is the most frequently used dependency
and the default setting in most IT programmes for project management. If all project tasks are linked
to each other in a long line of FS-dependencies, the project duration is dependent on the duration of
each individual task.
Example: Removal of the construction scaffold cannot take place until the roof has been put on the
building.
Start-to-Start: Task Y cannot start until task X starts.
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Example: A symphony orchestra is preparing a concert. The musicians cannot start playing until the
conductor has started his task of conducting.
Finish-to-Finish: Task Y cannot finish until task X finishes.
Example: You may have a task of monitoring the process of baking bread. Monitoring of the process
cannot finish until bread has been baked.
The SS dependency and the FF dependency often appear together. In the two examples above, the
activities involved have to start at the same time and finish at the same time.
Start-to-Finish: Task Y cannot finish until task X starts.
Example: Imagine two ferries servicing two destinations. Each of the destinations only has one quay
berth. The ferry arriving at a destination cannot finish its journey until the other ferry has started its
next trip.
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Dependencies are by nature constraints. Once introduced, they will remain constraints between tasks,
if one of the tasks is re-scheduled. All tasks involved in the dependency will be affected. Likewise, all
tasks involved in the dependency will move along together, if one of them is rescheduled or otherwise
changed. A good principle could be not to introduce dependencies unless they cannot be avoided as
tools to facilitate planning.
The four types of task relationship will each in their own characteristic way influence the critical path.
Example
The most frequently used relationship is the Finish-to-Start dependency. If a project is designed to
have only this kind of relationship, and all tasks are linked one-to-one by Finish-to-Start – then the
critical path will contain all project tasks and be identical to the Gantt chart, since all tasks by definition
will be critical. If one project task is delayed, the whole project will be delayed:
Exercise
Discuss how the other three kinds of dependencies will influence the critical path.
Three I
It is worthwhile keeping in mind that planning is often subject to change. No project, no project plan,
no project activity will ever go exactly as planned. The triangular partners of the prioritising game:
time, quality and resources play important roles from the strategic level down to the smallest activity.
Priorities have to be negotiated with people involved. Thus, time and duration will have to be
negotiated with the Project Team members responsible for the individual tasks.
There seems to be a tendency among Project Managers to optimise time and duration when initiating
planning - perhaps combined with the introduction of relatively long lag periods in order to cope with
the risk of spending more time and resources. At the planning table, it is relatively easy for the Project
Manager to optimise budgets. Candidates should be advised to enter negotiations with Project Team
members on the time issues as soon as possible and seek opportunities to engage these staff
members in common efforts to achieve efficient time tables.
Exercise
Lag time should only be introduced when necessary. Too often it appears as something which the
Project Manager has reluctantly agreed with the Project Team, still hoping to save expenses once the
project has started. From an example project - and their own project - candidates could be asked to
explain introduction of lag time on individual task level.
Reasons to include lag time when planning project tasks might be:
·
·
·
periods with no expected project activities and no direct need for keeping the project
organisation fully alive. In this case, lag time could indicate: Opportunities may initiate these
activities but they are not crucial for project progress.
compensating for a risk implying delay in project progress, thus accommodating conditions in
the project environment. In this case, lag time indicates: ‘We are aware of the risk, but we can
do nothing about it except for minimising the impact by allowing lag time’
important project resources with relatively short-term inputs are available for these inputs over
a longer period – but other assignments for these resources during this period prevent a
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precise schedule to be entered in the project plan. Lag time will indicate: ‘We regard these
resources as crucial for project progress – and we respect their commitments elsewhere by
introducing a lag period’
Like all kinds of modification of project activities and schedules, lag time represents messages to the
Project Team and other parties involved.
From an existing project plan, ask a group of candidates to identify tasks for which the introduction of
lag time would be relevant – and to give reasons why. Further, ask the group to imagine what kind of
responses this would imply from different parties involved in the project.
Three J
The critical path determines the project period. By definition, the critical path consists of a number of
tasks which share the characteristic that the whole project will be delayed if just one of them slips. In
case one of these tasks is completed earlier than planned, the critical path and the project period will
be shorter. If there is a need to shorten the project period for any reason, e.g. to produce results faster
or to save money, the critical path will have to be studied and changed. Most IT programmes will
create a critical path automatically i.e. on the basis of task dependencies entered in the Gantt chart by
the Project Manager. Some programmes will allow several critical paths to be created. However,
decisions on project changes are made dramatically more difficult if there is more than one critical
path.
Exercise
Candidates could plan a project only including tasks determining the project period, thus focusing
exclusively on time. When all project tasks have been entered into the project plan, the critical path
generated could be compared to the initial time-based plan.
By a traditional definition, critical tasks are simply the tasks which together constitute the critical path.
Critical, then, is meant to imply threats against the project finishing date. However important the
aspect is, it seems to be equally important to identify other kinds of critical tasks and critical paths.
Two other critical paths can be useful:
·
·
the critical path on quality
the critical path on resources
Exercise
For each of these two paths, tasks must be identified as critical for achieving the project results and
success criteria. Establishing the critical paths provide opportunities to review the risk analysis from
another angle. It should be agreed with and communicated to all members of the Project Team who is
in charge of and who will be monitoring the critical paths.
From an example project plan, the candidates could identify the two critical paths not generated by
the IT programme and comment on their findings.
See also Three H.
Three K
Milestones can be defined as results achieved at specific stages of the project without which the
project can not move forward as planned.
Exercise
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From a list of project tasks candidates should individually identify a number of milestones and discuss
them. The discussion should focus on what the criteria have been for identifying milestones. There
may be varying conceptions of what milestones are and the point of the exercise is that each
candidate considers how they should identify milestones in their own projects.
Three L
There is no one way to plan a project. Many choices will have to be made before the actual planning
starts. And these choices will determine important elements in the project identity and profile. There
are two ways of assigning resources to a project:
·
identify and decide the main resources first
·
identify and decide the main activities first
The specific project conditions and environment will indicate which one is best suited.
Identifying resources first will perhaps put a limit to the Project Team capacity to identify alternative
ways of handling the objectives and the project will be heavily dependent on the availability of these
resources. The advantages are that the Project Team can contribute actively to the planning of the
project already from the very start and that teamwork will be an easier task since focus has been on
the composition of the resources.
When identifying the activities first, Project Managers will have a large degree of freedom to create
the project. They can unfold their imaginative abilities without restrictions or constraints. However,
they will often be left with a jigsaw puzzle to be solved when allocating available resources.
All successful projects draw heavily on ‘hidden resources’ and ‘tacit knowledge’ during planning and
implementation. The Project Manager should give special attention to the ‘hidden resources’ in
administration, other Project Managers and key resource persons of the organisations and take care
that they are available to the extent needed and at the relevant time.
‘Hidden resources’ may be administrators who have experience in project management and perhaps
in handling cases involving the project client. Very often, administrators have developed systems for
their own use in order to make their tasks easier or to gain an overview which the organisation’s daily
procedures and IT systems do not allow. These resources should be explored and cherished since
many shortcuts to Project Management planning may have been developed undetected.
The IT programmes designed to support Project Managers operate on the basis of a default concept
of what a working day is, how long you are expected to work in a single day, etc. In order to avoid
problems of non-intended work overloads and to save time, candidates should consider the relevant
working day, week and month concept and enter this information before allocating specific resources.
Three M
Optimisation of a project plan should, in general, not be understood as something which is done at
one specific point when the planning has been completed, but rather something which is done
throughout the planning process. Optimisation potentially comprises adjustment of resources for
better utilisation, review of dependency links and critical path. It is strongly advisable that candidates
using an automatic optimisation facility in an IT-tool will save their data-file before they optimise it.
Sometimes automatic optimisation can bring some changes to the planning which do not fit with the
candidate’s intentions and they may wish to return to the non-optimised plan and maybe undertake
manual optimisation.
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Notes, Comments and Exercises for Unit Four
Four A
The budget developed at this stage of the project planning must be much more specific and
well documented than the one made at the appraisal stage as this one will form the basis for
approval of project implementation.
Budgets generated by IT project planning tools will usually comprise only expenses which will
be generated from registered cost and allocation of resources. Thus, IT generated budgets
may form only part of the budget proposal and may mainly serve as a documentation of
budgeted expenses.
The format used for the budget estimate stated in the project appraisal may comprise other
information apart from expenses e.g. income and contingency costs, and this information
should be presented and substantiated in the project proposal. Also, candidates should
consider what type of costs they enter in their software: the actual cost or the client’s cost?
Exercise
After entering costs and resources in the IT project planning, print a report and compare
budget figures with the ones stated in the first budget estimate. Identify discrepancies by
examining the following points:
·
·
·
·
·
·
are the total expenses approximately the same?
do the two versions comprise the same categories of costs?
are the figures for each category approximately the same?
what costs are not included in the IT generated budget?
how does expected income occur in the two budgets?
are contingencies included in both?
Four B
Changes to the project plan are most often introduced in order to get a project back on track,
to prevent risks from materialising, to optimise the project budget – or to accommodate
changes in top management priorities.
A Project Manager should have the right and obligation to act according to agreed procedures
for introducing project change. The Project Manager may have an agreement with the Project
Sponsor to authorise project change.
This agreement should clarify items such as:
·
·
·
·
·
which factors have been identified as the most probable causes of project change?
how long a will be given to plan and introduce project change?
who has the authority to order project change?
who should be informed – and by whom – about project changes?
who will handle staff issues: reallocation within the project or reallocation to other tasks in
the organisation?
The agreement should cover changes proposed or initiated by the Project Manager as well as
by the Project Sponsor.
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Four C
When writing their assignments, candidates should not make a baseline in their project plans
in Assignment Two. This is based on the concept that Assignment Two must show the project
at the stage where it is ready for presentation for approval. The baseline should be drawn
only when the planning has been agreed and approved and no further adjustment will take
place. In principle, any changes made after the baseline has been drawn will have to be dealt
with as ongoing changes since they have not been approved as part of the proposal.
Four D
For the Project Manager, there should be no doubt who will have the authority to approve a
project proposal, i.e. in practical terms to allow the project budget to be spent in accordance
with the project plan. No ambivalence should prevail, even if it would seem to have
immediate, but temporary, advantages for the Project Manager in terms of freedom and
independence. The Project Manager should seek to clarify approval procedures if the Project
Sponsor does not take the initiative.
When clarifying approval procedures, the Project Manager should focus on the following
issues:
·
·
·
·
·
is the approval of the proposal in any way conditional?
what kind of comments were put forward by the approving authority (board of directors,
top management, line management or others) when discussing the approval?
how is the Project Manager expected to respond to the approval? Is additional
information required immediately or at a later stage? When is the first report due?
is the project expected to have a low profile status or a high profile status in the organisation?
are all supporting staff informed and available?
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