Project Management 101
Yes, it really is fun!
What is Project
Management (PM)?
• The discipline of planning, organizing,
and managing resources to bring about
the successful completion of specific
project goals and objectives. It is often
closely related to and sometimes
conflated with program management.
Cleland, and Gareis (2006).
Let’s Look Closer
• How is does a project differ from the usual
day to day business/institutional operations?
• If you answered that a project has a scope
limited by time or deliverables, you’d be
correct.
• Projects, as opposed to normal operations,
have a discernable starting and stopping
point.
Projects in Libraries
• What are some examples of projects in
a library?
• Building a piece of a digital collection;
• Creating a new website for your
department (of course there is an
ongoing component as well);
• Choosing and implementing a new ILS.
Your Projects?
• What are some projects you have been
involved in?
• Was there a definite beginning and
ending?
• What kind of deliverables were there?
• What were the biggest problems?
references
• Cleland, D.I. and Gareis, R. (2006).
Global project management handbook.
McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006.
History
• PM developed in several fields: defense
(particularly in WWII, engineering, and
construction.
• Frederick W.Taylor (1856-1919) , a
mechanical engineer, known as the father of
scientific management carried out time
/work studies. His work led to such PM tools
as work breakdown structre (wbs0 and
resources allocation.
History, cont’d
• Taylor’s students
• Henry Gantt (1861-1919)- a mechanical
engineer known for the Gantt Chart, a
planning tool used on the Hoover Dam,
among others;
• Henry Fayol (1841-1925)- a French minig
engineer, who is know from creating the 5
management which have been modernized
as follows:
• planning
• organizing
History, cont’d
• Modern Project Managemt
• 1950s recogniaed as a discipline
• Tow mathematical project-schduling models
were developed: the Critical path Method
(CPM) developed by DuPornt and Remington
Rand
• Program Evaluation and Review Technique
(PERT) developed y Booz-Allen & Hamilton.
As part of the Nav and Lockheeds Polaris
missle submarine program
History, cont’d
• Project managemtn Institute waas formed in
1969 to service the PM industry
• “the tools and techniques of PM are common
among widepread application of projects
form the software indutry to the
construction indutry.
• An international PMA was developmed in
Europe in 1967.
PM and how it works
• There are several approaches:
• Traditional; All of the other methods are
derivatives, to some extent of the
traditional approach. If you want to read
about them, I can give you a cite.
• Critical Chain
• Extremem Project
• PRINCE2
• Process-based management
Traditional Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•
Phased approach consiting of:
Initiation
Planning and design
Executing
Monitoring and Controlling
Closing
Traditional PM cont’d
• Not all projects include every step
• Sometimes there is reiteration among
steps 2,3,4.
• Some projects are never completed.
Stages of Project
Development
• Initiation: determines nature and scops of
the development. if this stage is not done
well - the project will ikely fail.Requires
excellent communication. .
• Study the busienss needs/requirements in
measurable goals
• Review current operatons
• Conceptual design of final produc ot the
poject.
• Assessment of llong lead times, equipment
and contracting requirment
Initiation
• Nature and Scope
– Deliverables
– People
• Project Documents
• Risk Management
Initiation: Nature and
Scope
• Assumption: that you have already chosen
the project or it has been assigned to you.
• What is the nature of the project? Can you
briefly describe it? (Elevator speech)
• What is the scope of the project? The detail,
extent, what it will cover and not cover.
• What are the end results expected? Are
there deliverables?
Initiation: Deliverables*
Tangible or non-tangible items that are the
desired outcomes or products resulting from
a project.
May also be products that are needed along
the way to completion of the project
*Warning: While a much-used term, this is business jargon. Such terms
generally make me ill and will suggest that your IQ was hampered by
watching too many FSU football games..or that you have an MBA.
Initiation: Deliverables,
cont’d
• Outcomes of projects
–
–
–
–
Completed building
A complete course on Digital Libraries
Completed term paper
Assessment and buy recommendation for
new software.
Initiation: Deliverables,
cont’d
• Products along the way
– Architectural drawings for a building
– Powerpoint presentations as part of the
Digital Libraries course
– A list of potential references for you term
paper
– A brief detailing the assessment results.
Initiation: People
•
•
•
•
1. Project Sponsor
2. Stakeholders *
3. Customers - internal and external
4. Suppliers (materials, computer systems,
services)
• 5. Management
• 6. Contractors
• 7. Government - regulators, politicians,
compliance
Initiation: Stakeholders
- definition
• People or groups that have some or all
of these qualities: participate in the
project, win or lose or are affected by
the outcome of the project, have
invested (money, time, resources) in
the project, is somehow accountable
for an aspect of the project.
Initiiation: Project
Documents
•
•
•
•
•
1. Project Requirements
2. Project Definition
3. Statement of Work
4. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
5. Project Schedule (Gantt format popular
for display of timeline and tasks)
• 6. Budget
• 7. Design Document (blueprint, systems
design, or other)
• 8. Deliverables
Intiation: Risk
Management
Mistakes will be made, be proactive and plan for them
• Identify risks, uncertainties, potential problems,
threats.
• Quantify risks, what are the possible results ?
• Prioritize : Consider the most likely problems: rank
them and then asses the significance of a problem in
each.
• Construct Action Plans - determine appropriate
responses in the even to most likely occur.
Risk Management
Example: Paper
Step
Description
Problem
Likelihood
Significance
Preventive
Action
Topic
Selection of
good topic
Professor
hates topic
Moderate
Crucial to
success
Check topic
with professor
(in writing)
Reference
list
Selection of
good
reference
list
Takes too
long, can’t
stop looking
Likelihood
Very high
(for me)
Moderate to Limit the
high (time
number I need.
sink)
What is
enough? Check
with librarian:)
Writing
the draft
Timely,
wellorganized
Poor
organization,
rushed
Low to
Moderate
Crucial
Set time
schedule and
follow, modify
other plans
Planning and Design
• Build prototype and test on end users.
• Plut controls in place to be sure end product
meets the original speciications
• Output of this step is a design that
• Satistices project sponso, end user and
business requirements
• Funtions as intended
Can be produced within
quality standards
can be produced within
time and budget
constraints.
Executing
• Coordinate people and resources
• Integrate and erform the acitigites of
the project in accordance with the PM
plan.
• Delierables are prduced as aoutputs .
Monitoring and
Controlling
• Measuring the ongoing project acitities
• (where are we?)
• Monitor project variables (ost, effort, scope)
against the managemtn plan and project
performance baseline (where should we be?)
• Identify corrective action to addresse issues
and risk (How do we get back on track”)
• Influceing the factors that could circumvent
integrated change so only approved changes
are made. There may be feedback between
Changes
• Changes during a porject are nromal
• Results of deisng modifications. Site
conditions, material availability and the like
• Chane must be documentedto show what
was actualy done. This is called Change
Management
• Owners will inst on knowing what changes
were made.
• As-built (modifications shown) drawings are
made.
Closing
• Formal acceptance of the project and the
ending.
• Archingin files and documenting the lessons
learned.
• Finalize all activities acreoos all process
groups
• Complete and settle each contract and close
each contract applicatble to the project.