Project Management Hochschule Bremen IMBA Instructor: E-Mail: Web Site: L. Drew Rosen, Ph.D. Rosenl@uncw.edu http://www.csb.uncw.edu/people/rosenl/ (All cases, readings and other materials may be found on this site) Summary of Module Content The purpose of this course is to develop skills in the use of Project Management. Today the successful implementation of projects is essential for corporate success. This course will focus on the key issues of project management. Projects are ubiquitous, they are everywhere and everyone does them. Project Management in a way helps to improve the change efforts of society. As the pace of change has been increasing at an ever faster rate, effectively and efficiently managing change efforts is the only way organizations can survive in this modern world. In other words those organizations who take the lead in implementing project management capabilities consistently perform their projects better and are more competitive in general. Following this argument, future young professionals have to be able to understand and to some extend apply the basic principles of project management. Therefore this course is designed to help our students to start their career in business once they have finished their degree. Module Objectives: Build awareness of what the basic principles of traditional project management look like. Acquire a set of key methods to manage a small or medium sized project. Build awareness of the scope of modern project management. Development of sensitivity for the human dimension of a project and the need for teamwork to ensure success. Development of an ability to manage and integrate around interfaces in both the people and product dimensions of the enterprise. Learning Outcomes Define project management, quality management, and continuous improvement terms. Identify and resolve problems associated with project management. Build and maintain an effective project management team. Communicate more effectively in written and oral forms. Apply win-win project management negotiation techniques. Define types of project organizations and organizational relationships. Discuss network based planning and scheduling. Grading As this is a graduate course, there will numerous assignments in a short amount of time. There will be numerous readings available, we will most likely not have time to discuss all of them directly in class; they are there for your knowledge and future development as project managers. We will have one or 2 cases due per day, all students are expected to prepare the cases assigned in assigned groups, student groups will present some of the cases. Since this is a graduate class, participation is mandatory, we can learn from each other, therefore your final grade for this module will be based on the following: Final Exam 50% Cases Presentation 25% Case write-ups 25% (Final grades will determined 50% Dr. Meyer, 50% Dr. Rosen) Guideline for Case Write Ups: Case write-ups cannot be longer than 5 pages (double-spaced) long using a 12 pitch font (i.e., typed) and appropriate margins. There is a ten-point penalty for not following the length and font guidelines. Case write-ups must strictly follow the following format. Other formats will not be accepted. The student must identify and address the most important issues in the case. Then the student should fill out the following information for each issue. Complete your discussion of one issue before starting the next issue. 1. Identification of the issue - Clearly and precisely identify the issue. Be sure to look at the section below to determine the scope of the write-up. 2. Give an example (or examples if possible) of the issue - The examples must be from the text of the case. I do not want a real-life example from your experience here. 3. Why is the issue important? - There are many issues in most of the cases, the student must make the case that this is one of the top three. 4. Recommendations - What do you recommend be done. Write your recommendations for each issue separately. Make sure that your recommendation is focused on the issue that you identify in step 1. Questions at the end of each case are just a starting point. As you will see, most cases are short and will not require anywhere near five pages of text, the important point is to analyze the cases according to the knowledge you have gained in the class thus far and your acquired graduate education knowledge! Course Outline: These are approximate dates; I will do my best to stay as close to this outline as possible, it is your responsibility to know what topic we are currently covering (i.e. come to class). Date Topic March 1 Cases etc. What is Project Mgmt? Project Leadership Course Review Expectations Group assignments, etc Introduction to Project Management Definition of a ‘Project” Why Project Management? The Project Life Cycle Project Selection Models P.M. Career Paths Project leadership Project leadership skills and techniques Characteristics of effective leadership Case: Quantum Bank Project Integration Management Project life cycle Process groups Stage gates Project charters Project scope statements Managing project scope Project master plan Project plans Project Definition and Scheduling The work breakdown structure Integrating the WBS with the organization Coding the WBS for the Information system Process breakdown structure Resource allocation methods Project constraints Classification of the scheduling problem Multi-project resource schedules Project time management PERT and CPM networks Project uncertainty Gantt charts Case: St. Dismiss Hospital Project Human Resource Management Fitting projects into the parent organization Project management structures The project team Organizational culture Motivating and guiding work teams Conflict resolution Rejuvenating the project Case: Bathtub Period March 2 March 3 March 4 Discussion Qu. (DQ) see questions listed Discussion Qu. (DQ) see questions listed Discussion Qu. (DQ) see questions listed Discussion Qu. (DQ) see questions listed March 5 Project Communication Effective communication Effective Listening Communication methods Negotiating Managing cline relations Meeting management Responsibility matrices Project communication plans Performance reporting Project Quality Definitions Quality characteristics Quality processes Quality planning tools Cost of quality Case: Soccer Club Discussion Qu. (DQ) see questions listed Questions for Class Discussion You are the project manager of a team of software specialists working on a project to produce a piece of application software in the field of project management. Give some examples of things that might go wrong on such a project and the sorts of trade-offs you might have to make. Give several examples of projects found in your city, region, or country – avoiding those used as examples in the chapter. Construct a list of factors, conditions, and circumstances you think might be important for a manufacturing firm to evaluate during the project selection process. Do the same for a computer repair shop. How might you use project management for doing a major school work assignment? There is danger in letting the client “visit” the project operation too frequently, not the least of which is “scope creep” or informal change to the project’s performance specifications. What other dangers might arise? How might the danger of scope creep be monitored and controlled? How should a PM decide which problems (or potential problems) deserve being reported to management and which are not worth the trouble when attempting to “never surprise the boss?” Discuss how you would go about getting competent staff from a functional department. Give an example of a case in which project management could be important in your personal life. Explain why, as well as how and why you might organize such a project. For each one of the nine components of a project master plan, discuss the problems that might be raised if the element was incomplete. What causes so much conflict on multidisciplinary teams? As a PM what would you try to do to prevent or reduce such conflict? You and your family and friends are planning to host a graduation party at the end of the school year. Construct an action plan for this party. Consider one or more projects (from this course or elsewhere) that you understand reasonably well. Identify situations where information learned from a later task of the project becomes important to an earlier task. Given the tendency of accountants to allocate a project’s estimated costs evenly over the duration the task, what danger might this pose for a project manager who faces the following situation? The major task for a $5 million project is budgeted at $3 million, mostly for highly complex and expensive equipment. The task has a sixmonth duration, and requires the purchase of the equipment at the beginning of the task to enable the equipment at the beginning of the task to enable the project team to conduct the activities required to complete the task. The task begins December 1. As a senior manager, you oversee a project with a total estimated cost of 245 engineer-months of effort. Three months ago, however, the project had fallen behind by about 25 engineer-months so your authorized the hiring of three additional engineers, which you felt should more than make up for the delay in the remaining year of the project (3 X 12 months = 36 engineer-months) You have just received the latest quarterly project status report and are surprised to learn that the project is now 40 engineer-months behind schedule! Your first reaction is to calculate how many more engineers need to be hired to make up for the increased delay. Using Brooks’s concept of the “mythical man month,” explain what might be happening here. When would it be accurate to determine the probabilities of all the paths through the network together? When would it not be accurate? Given all the estimating done to determine the duration of project activities, what does it mean to say that “only after the fact do we know which path was actually the critical path? It was noted that “the PM must manage the project team as well as the project.” Explain why. Describe the fundamental trade-offs made when deciding whether or not to crash a project. If the decision is made to crash, what additional trade-offs must be made? Describe in your own words what is meant by Goldratt’s critical chain. How does it work? Goldratt suggested that to avoid the “student syndrome,” it is a good idea to set activity durations so short that there is a high probability that the task will not be finished on time. On the other hand, it has long been known that setting people up for failure is strongly demotivating. What should the PM do? How can the PM circumvent the problem that the monitoring system can only report on activities that have passed, thus telling the PM what has already gone wrong but not what will go wrong in the future? “In order to manage for overall project success, control must be exercised at the detailed work level for each aspect of project performance or no significant change will occur.” Does this mean that the PM should micromanage the project? If not, what does it mean? Of all the rules for conducting meetings, the most difficult to enforce is the injunction against the weekly (or daily) standard project progress report (the “show and tell” meeting). Why is this, and under what circumstances do you think that such meetings are justified? Readings Lessons for an accidental Profession PM as a Profession The new project Manager How to pick a project team Influence Methods of project manager’s perceptions of… Negotiating techniques Team The Virtual project Understanding your project organizations Character We want you What did you say? Where project managers are king From experience linking projects to strategy Early warning signs of IT project failure The amoebic growth of project costs Three perceptions of project costs A critical look at critical chain project management Planning for crises in project management The fall of the firefly an assessment of a failed project Project management in the age of complexity and change Success of projects in different organizational conditions Why choose project management