Project Management for
Maximum Effectiveness
Ike C. Ehie
Department of Management
Kansas State University
Presented at the Leadership Institute, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506
July 20, 2010
Agenda
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What is a project
What is project management
Project scope statement
Effective tools for managing a project
Project planning and schedule –The Albion
Sugar Company
• Project management in public sector
• Conclusion
Project Definition
• A Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a
unique product or service.
– Temporary
– Unique
“Projects, rather than repetitive tasks, are now the basis for most valueadded in business”
-Tom Peters
Project characteristics
• Endeavors of any size may be a project
– Large and small projects demand different handling
• Temporary
– Distinguishes project from process
• Unique
– Not the same old thing
Project Management
• Management of the work involved in a project in terms of:
– Competing demands for scope, time, cost, risk, and quality
– Stakeholders with different needs and expectations
– Identified requirements
Project Management Triple Constraints
FIGURE 4.1
Quadruple Constraints of Project Success
Client
Budget
Acceptance
Success
Schedule
Performance
Project Scope Statement
• Project Scope
– A definition of the end result or mission of the project—a
product or service for the client/customer—in specific,
tangible, and measurable terms. Also called a statement of
work (SOW)
• Purpose of the Scope Statement
– To clearly define the deliverable(s) for the end user.
– To focus the project on successful completion of its goals.
– To be used by the project owner and participants as a
planning tool and for measuring project success.
Project Scope Checklist
1. Objective/s – answers the questions of what, when,
and how much
2. Deliverables – the expected outcomes/outputs over
the life of the project
3. Milestones- a significant event in a project that
occurs at a point in time
4. Technical requirements - project specifications
needed to meet a specified performance
5. Limits and exclusions – defines the boundary of the
project by stating what is not included
Exercise #1
• Describe a project that you have been
involved with in the past one year
• Define the project scope statement
– Objective/s, deliverables, milestone, requirements
& restrictions
• Discuss this with your partner
Exercise #2
• Think of the project you will undertake in the
next year
• Define the project scope statement
• Discuss your project scope statement with
your partner
Why are Projects Important?
1. Budgeting
2. Staff allocation
3. Schedule development
4. Schedule credibility
5. Sanity retention
6. Increasingly complex and technical products
7. Emergence of global markets
Project Life Cycles
Man Hours
Conceptualization Planning
Execution
Termination
Fig 1.3 Project Life Cycle Stages
Project Life Cycles
• Conceptualization - the development of the initial
goal and technical specifications.
• Planning – all detailed specifications, schedules,
schematics, and plans are developed
• Execution – the actual “work” of the project is
performed
• Termination – project is transferred to the
customer, resources reassigned, project is closed
out.
Project Life Cycles and Their Effects
Client Interest
Project Stake
Resources
Creativity
Uncertainty
Conceptualization Planning
Execution
Termination
Fig 1.4
Effective Project Management Tools
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
– An hierarchical outline (map) that identifies the
products and work elements involved in a project
– Defines the relationship of the final deliverable (the
project) to its subdeliverables, and in turn, their
relationships to work packages
– Best suited for design and build projects that have
tangible outcomes rather than process-oriented
projects
How WBS Helps the Project Manager
• WBS
– Facilitates evaluation of cost, time, and technical
performance of the organization on a project
– Provides management with information appropriate to
each organizational level
– Helps in the development of the organization
breakdown structure (OBS), which assigns project
responsibilities to organizational units and individuals
– Helps manage plan, schedule, and budget
– Defines communication channels and assists in
coordinating the various project elements
Work Breakdown Structure
FIGURE 4.4
WBS Coding
Work Packages
• A Work Package Is the Lowest Level of the
WBS.
– It is output-oriented in that it:
• Defines work (what)
• Identifies time to complete a work package (how long)
• Identifies a time-phased budget to complete a work package
(cost)
• Identifies resources needed to complete a work package
(how much)
• Identifies a single person responsible for units of work (who)
Effective Project Management Tools
• Responsibility Matrix (RM)
– Also called a linear responsibility chart
– Summarizes the tasks to be accomplished and who is
responsible for what on the project
• Lists project activities and participants
• Clarifies critical interfaces between units and individuals that
need coordination
• Provide an means for all participants to view their
responsibilities and agree on their assignments
• Clarifies the extent or type of authority that can be exercised
by each participant
Responsibility Matrix for a Market Research Project
FIGURE 4.7
Responsibility Matrix for the Conveyor Belt
Project
FIGURE 4.8
Effective Project Management Tools
• Project Communication Plan
– What information needs to be collected?
– Who will receive information?
– What information methods will be used?
– What are the access restrictions?
– When will information be communicated?
– How will information be communicated?
Communication Plan:
FIGURE 4.9
Effective Project Management Tool
Gantt Chart
FIGURE A8.2B
Effective Project Management Tools
• The Project Network
– A flow chart that graphically depicts the sequence,
interdependencies, and start and finish times of the
project job plan of activities that is the critical path
through the network
• Provides the basis for scheduling labor and equipment
• Provides an estimate of the project’s duration
• Provides a basis for budgeting cash flow
• Highlights activities that are “critical” and should not be
delayed
• Help managers get and stay on plan
Basic Rules to Follow in Developing
Project Networks
• Networks typically flow from left to right.
• An activity cannot begin until all of its activities are
complete.
• Arrows indicate precedence and flow and can cross over
each other.
• Identify each activity with a unique number; this number
must be greater than its predecessors.
• Looping is not allowed.
• Conditional statements are not allowed.
• Use common start and stop nodes.
Koll Business Center—Complete Network
FIGURE 6.4
Determining Slack (or Float)
• The critical path is the network path(s) that has
(have) the least slack in common.
• The critical path is the longest path and
determines the completion of the project
• Free Slack (or Float)
– The amount of time an activity can be delayed
without delaying connected successor activities
• Total Slack
– The amount of time an activity can be delayed
without delaying the entire project
Sensitivity of a Network
• The likelihood the original critical path(s) will
change once the project is initiated.
– Function of:
• The number of critical paths
• The amount of slack across near critical
activities
Rationale for Reducing Project Duration
• Time Is Money: Cost-Time Tradeoffs
– Reducing the time of a critical activity usually incurs
additional direct costs.
• Cost-time solutions focus on reducing (crashing) activities on
the critical path to shorten overall duration of the project.
– Reasons for imposed project duration dates:
• Customer requirements and contract commitments
• Time-to-market pressures
• Incentive contracts (bonuses for early completion)
• Unforeseen delays
• Overhead and goodwill costs
• Pressure to move resources to other projects
Managing Public Sector Projects
• Operating under overlapping and often conflicting set
of rules and procedures
• Rules are in place to ensure consistent standard of
behaviors and a project must adhere to those rules
• The political process inherently hands you a built-in
adversity; other parties may not necessarily be
interested in the success of the project
• More stakeholders to please with less authority
• May not have full control of the budget
• Project scope can change with little or no notice
Skills Needed for Managing Public
Project
• Softer or people skills
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Conflict management
Negotiation
Diplomacy
Managing stakeholders expectations
Emotional maturity
With less authority, the key is to induce behaviors
rather than order it