Project Management: History and Theories

• La Gestion de Project by Sébastien Toulouze provides project management study notes.

Evolution of "Project"

• 1470: In old medieval French, pourget means the idea that is put forward.
• 1529: The word referred to a drawing representing a plan.
• 1545: It meant architectural elements thrown forward.
• 1789: Application to law and politics, such as a bill or decree.
• 1950: The word covers both the plan and the execution of the plan.
• Until the 18th century, dessin (drawing) and dessein (design) overlapped.

Introduction to Project Notion and Organization Theories

• Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776 relates to the division of labor and describes the "invisible hand" and specialization of actors, which allows for increased productivity.
• Late 19th century: Taylor's Scientific Organization of Work led to specialization and increased productivity.
• Early 20th century: Ford's assembly line work resulted in lower costs and mass production.
• From the 1950s, project management was observed through mathematical approaches that helped with decision-making.
• 1950: There was a single person at the head of a project.
• 1954: Dupont de Nemours developed the "critical path" method (CPM).
• 1957: The US Navy introduced PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique).
• 1960: Matrix organization was introduced, accounting for project and functional components.
• 1960-1970: The concept of total quality and quality circles developed from Japan to Europe.
• 1980: Planning, scheduling, documentation management, and task breakdown software were developed.

Project Links and Enterprise Types

• Relation Projet-Entreprise:
  • Relation is strong in a Leader enterprise, weak in a conglomerate enterprise, strong in a federative project, existential in a company project, and structural in a project company..
  • Number of Projects is low in a Leader enterprise, numerous in a conglomerate enterprise, unique in a federative project or company project, and specific in a project enterprise
  • Stakes
    • Lead firm: maintain a dominant position.
    • Conglomerate: coordination of projects.
    • Federative: coordination of companies.
    • Company: innovation.
    • Project company: internal engagement of employees.

What is a Project?

• Progression from Need to Desire to Intention to Pre-project to Project.
• A project is not just a simple intention but also requires feasibility.
• Project Management Institute Definition:
  • Projects are temporary endeavors to create a unique product, service, or result.
• AFNOR (French Standards Association) Description:
  • It is a set of activities undertaken within a specified period, with limited resources, by designated individuals to achieve defined objectives.

Project Characteristics

• Each project is delivered with:
  • A unique objective.
  • Defined deadlines.
  • Allocated resources.
  • Temporary organization.
  • Foreseen risks.
  • A degree of feasibility.

What is Project Management?

• Project management is a collection of management tools that facilitate project execution in the context of:
  • Technical performance.
  • Cost control.
  • Quality.
  • Schedule management.

Project Management Constraints

• Costs: represented by the budget.
• Time: refers to deadlines.
• Performance: indicative of quality.

Project Stakeholders

• Project Owner/Promoter: conceives the idea and defines project parameters.
• Project Manager: represents the Project Owner, executes the project, and receives a mandate.
• Execution Team: led by a project leader.

Stakeholder Decision-making

• Decision Levels
  • Responsible party makes decisions and is accountable to the board, CODIR.
  • The Committee of pilotage coordinates with the chef de projet
  • The execution team is responsible for delivering results.

Project Lifecycle

• The project life cycle includes the following stages (with feasibility study):
  • Definition.
  • Planning.
  • Execution.
  • Shutdown

Definition Phase

• During phase two an organization is expected to:
  • Define objectives.
  • Establish a budget.
  • Set deadlines.
  • Define performance criteria.
  • Identify risks.
• The definition phase ends with a feasibility study.

Methods for Duration and Cost Evaluation

• Bottom-Up Approach: involves evaluating the duration and cost of each task and then calculating the total duration and cost of the overall project.
• Top-Down Approach: includes a global assessment of the duration and cost of the project, followed by allocating it to specific project tasks.
• Ratio Method: use a known ratio to estimate the project globally.
  • Example: Building renovation costs €1,000/m².
• Proportional Method: calculate a proportion based on an estimate and the cost of a similar pre-existing project.
  • Example: Creating a 105 m2 store already achieved: €112,000 and 7 weeks.
• Three-Scenario Method: evaluation based on 3 scenarios (optimistic, realistic, pessimistic) by several specialists and then averaging their results.

Expenditure Curve Phases

• Phase 1: Launch, set up teams.
• Phase 2: Growth, reach maximum resources.
• Phase 3: Deceleration, reduce resources

Performance Criteria

• Serves key interests.
• Allows the client to understand expectations.
• Monitor deliverable quality, example rates include:
  • Pass.
  • Rejects and failures.
  • Uptime.
  • Reliability.
  • Availability.

Project Risks

• Risks are events that can affect the project.
• Risks are subject to:
  • Identification, which can include: finances, human capital, and legal obligations.
  • Classification, retain significant probabilities of occurrence of which to account.
  • Limits, as risks are controlled.

Feasibility Study

• Goals during phase 3 are to determine:
  • Whether the the detected need is justified.
  • If continuing is possible and advised.
  • Whether the project can be produced as it was designed to be.
  • If risks can be controlled.

Factors in a Feasability study

• Market research
• Profitably assessment
• Financial analysis
• Risk analysis

SWOT and PESTEL Analysis

• SWOT analysis reviews:
  • Strengths.
  • Weaknesses.
  • Opportunities.
  • Threats.
• PESTEL analysis reviews:
  • Politics.
  • Economics.
  • Social.
  • Technology.
  • Environment.
  • Legal.

Planning Phase

• The planning phase determines:
  • What steps must be taken.
  • The order of steps.
  • Which resources can be assigned when.

Technical Structure

• OT is the project reference tool, an org chart or task (WBS).
• The technical org chart is a structural decomposition allowing task analysis relying on:
  • Temporal criteria.
  • Structural criteria.

Time Management tools

• Planning can be done through a framework that will allow for provision and control.
• A Gantt chart is a work breakdown structure that is a planning tool that visualizes the project's lifespan.
• PERT Charts display a graphic of dependent tasks as a function to project milestones.
• Shared Calendars promote collaborative task management, as well as meetings and event timelines

Project Resources

• Resources should be defined by:
  • Material.
  • Human capital.
  • Cost
• Human resources incorporate:
  • Teamwork.
  • Experience.
  • Motivation.
  • Availability.
  • Competence

Provisional Budget

• Structured presentation of expenditures in the form of a table.
• The goal is to estimate the costing for each action, where expenses and revenue should be balanced with:
  • Aid or decision-making power.
  • Oversight and control
• Creating an budget that is cost-effective should consider:
  • Reflection.
  • Selection.
  • Negotiation.

The Budget Categories Include

• Investment (capital, durable assets).
• Operational, project-related services (diverse sourcing.).
• Project related that can measure a lack of invoicing or partner assistance.
• Expenses include grants and private funding such as bank loans.
• Expenses must balance with revenue in charitable allocations.

Execution Phase

• Requires planning alongside competencies in:
  • Communication.
  • Organization.
  • Management.
  • Leadership.
  • Adaptability.
  • Technological integration.

Team Management

• A team comprises a small group of people, with competencies that supplement members to achieve goals.
• Development requires that teams progress through:
  • Formation.
  • Conflict resolution.
  • Team-member cohesion.
  • Function as a team.
  • Adjourning or disbanding.

Meeting Management

• Driving project tasks will involve creating meetings so that team members can share work, inform each other, and delegate tasks.
• Types of meetings include:
  • Launching.
  • Progressing.
  • Goals and objective-oriented meetings.
  • Pilot.
  • Closing.

Meetings

• A kickoff meeting marks the start of a successful project to synchronize with all members, and covers:
  • Technical data.
  • Organizational data.
  • Pilot data.
• A committee sets the success and direction of projects which are managed with:
  • Data and objectives.
  • Agendas.
• A pilot should also:
  • Encourage working relations.
  • Follow the mandate.

Key Meeting Elements

• Objectives.
• Participant lists.
• Agenda.
• Dates and locations.
• Necessary materials or support.
• The budget allowance.

Meeting Checklist

• To create a productive meeting:
  • Review the agenda item.
  • List the elements of the document.

Steps to Creating an Effective Meeting

• The meetings team should establish the scope, topic, and objective while following the proposed agenda

Leading During a Meeting

• Facilitation: encourages and structures meeting segments, such as conflict resolution.
• Production: the meeting should remain on track to meet assigned timelines.
• Production: the animator should respect all attending parties.

Meeting Animation Techniques:

• The table read allows each guest to speak candidly to encourage feedback and transparency with the project.
• Formal: the attendees take turns explaining the project and its goal.
• Review: the group can brainstorm and encourage innovative ideas.

Communication Strategy

• The ability to control and be aware of the communications in and around the project is key.
• Take into account social cues, culture, communication breakdowns, and internal and external conflict.

Identifying Group Phenomenon

• Sentiment is important to promote the identity and goal throughout the work.
• Create conformity that establishes the group.

Managing Member Behavior

• In all meetings, facilitators must adapt to personalities to encourage individuals through transparency and conflict resolution.

Completion/Shutdown Phase

• Criteria to consider include:
  • Technical performance.
  • Execution efficiency.
  • User satisfaction.

Evaluate Performance

• Evaluate deliverable produced to expectations.
• Client to developer relationships are vital to maintaining standards that measure performance throughout.
• Report status using:
  • Presentations.
  • Financial records.
  • Execution reports.
• Then redistribute assets.