Project Management Overview

Measuring Benefits

• Project completion is relatively easy except for expectations, time constraints, cost limitations, and the need for a significant financial return.
• Complex expectations can make project management challenging.
• Project management isn't simple; it involves more than just completing tasks.

Project Justification - Business Cases

• What is desired (goals & objectives)
• Costs involved
• Timeline for project
• Expectations set

Financial Implications

• Increased turnover / reduced costs are financial implications.
• Performance and productivity improvements.
• Reduced employee costs.
• Efficiency improvements (e.g., mergers & acquisitions (M&As)).
• Innovation and R&D investment.
• Training and staff development.
• Mix of variable and fixed costs.
• Other benefits potentially have financial implications.

The Executive View - PM as a Career Path

• Project management (PM) is crucial for company growth and survival.
• Understanding project management and corporate issues is essential.
• Involvement in strategic planning, project selection, and capacity planning is required.
• Bridging strategy and implementation is a core PM function.
• PMs make vital decisions affecting both projects and the business.

Different Types of Project

• Mini or Minor Projects: Less than three months.
• Traditional Projects: 6 to 18 months.
• Complex Projects: 18 months or longer.
• Examples include AUKUS submarines (started as standard project, then expanded).

What Is the Difference Between Project Types?

• Minor projects: Technical, design, administrative tasks. Operational and strategic changes are not needed.
• Traditional projects: Business implications (crises, new products, etc.) and productivity are anticipated. Assumptions are generally clear.
• Complex projects: Long-term projects with substantial implications; expectations and everything can change.

Projects Less Than 18 Months? - Assumptions

• Technology will remain stable; minimal change.
• Assumed conditions remain constant.
• Project team composition will be consistent.
• Objectives are well-defined.
• Target metrics remain unchanged.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are known.

18 Months or More - Faulty Assumptions

• Cost of borrowing may shift.
• Procurement costs may increase.
• Timing of innovation is unknown.
• Necessary skills might not be available.
• Market dynamics may change.
• Customer loyalty may wane.
• Disruptive changes may occur.
• Risks may fluctuate or not be manageable.
• Political conditions may shift.

As Business Needs Shift

• KPIs are needed for those critical issues that influence project success.
• Flexibility in project processes needs corresponding changes in KPIs.

What Creates Complexity?

• Interacting functional units.
• Various factors leading to "complexity."
• Possibility of changes.
• Large/Complex projects tend to lead to cost overruns and schedule slippages.
• Global perspectives and cultural differences.
• Degree of technology involved.
• Size/length of project.

Tips Measuring Benefits

• A few simple KPIs may be inadequate for measuring comprehensive project success.
• Including factors such as time, cost, and performance with a missing value from stakeholders can reduce project success.
• Complex projects demand more careful consideration of KPIs.
• Long projects are more complex to create universally applicable KPIs.
• Global competition requires different perspectives for project managers.

Who Judges Success?

• Success is evaluated by various stakeholders:
  • Other stakeholders
  • Client
  • Business vs. organization
  • Employees
  • Company

Quote from Kerzner

• The definition of success often involves meeting profitability targets.
• The company's definition of success may not line up with the client's definition.

'New' Thinking

• Success metrics must be agreed upon.
• Governance involving supervisory decisions for changes during the project.
• Individual dashboards with relevant KPIs and updated real-time data by project managers.
• Project managers are responsible for ensuring team members understand the H2 measures.

What Does This Tell About Motivation and Judging Success

• Motivation and judging success are linked to the information presented.

Do You Need to Restrict "Scope" to Find Benefits?

• Seeking benefits from outside traditional scope might be beneficial.
• Projects can generate benefits beyond initial scope.

A New Look at Defining Project Success

• A perspective on defining and measuring project success that extends beyond traditional approaches.

Triple Constraints

• Time, cost, and performance are essential project constraints.
• Even with timely and within-budget completion, deliverables may fail to meet desired outcomes, requiring further evaluation.

Customer Satisfaction

• Addressing the triple constraints and ensuring customer satisfaction are essential to project success.
• Assessing customer satisfaction can vary based on business cases, additional work, ROI, hot buttons (client concerns), and overall agreement.

Other (Secondary/Internal) Factors

• Additional factors like references, reputation, strategic alignment, technical excellence, ethical behavior, "buying" projects, and the "foot in the door" approach should be considered.

Example of a 'Business Component'

• Deliverables (time, scope, budget, and quality), change management, team management, and meeting product criteria (ROI and adoption rates) during project initiation can be components of success.

Success Must Include Value

• Authentic value is crucial for successful projects.
• Value involves aspects beyond time and costs, possibly qualitative in nature.
• Agreeing on a success definition with sponsors and project leaders is essential.

'Triple' to 'Competing' Constraints

• Traditional projects emphasizing time, cost, and scope constraints compared to complex projects with competing constraints featuring value, quality, image, and reputation.
• Consider additional factors beyond the basic triple constraints in complex projects.

So What of the Future?

• Adapting project management to better meet clients' needs and expectations.
• Agreement on metrics to assess initial project success.

Meeting Stakeholders, KPIs, Dashboards

• Meeting with stakeholders and agreeing on metrics.
• Using real-time KPIs for monitoring and project improvement.
• Learning from completed projects for future improvements.

8 Postulates

• Project success depends on working on the right project, regardless of meeting the initial criteria.
• Timeliness and budgeting don't guarantee value if the project is wrong.
• Triple constraints do not automatically lead to project success.
• Effective project management does not guarantee attaining positive value.

Postulates (continued)

• Customers are motivated by paying for deliverables—a focus on value.
• Customer value includes the perceived worth of the product/service.
• Achievement of business value is crucial for project success.
• Success isn't assured by blindly following a plan if needed changes are not implemented despite necessary adjustments.

2 Considerations

• Managers manage, and leaders lead.
• Leaders and managers face difficulties balancing these roles.
• Modern organizations struggle with applying the Peter Principle—the idea that employees rise to their level of incompetence.

Leadership & Values

• Contrast ineffective and effective values regarding factors like trust, competency, teamwork, flexibility, innovation, collaboration, strategic thinking, commitment, continuous improvement, job descriptions, power, authority, conformity, predictability, and internal competition.

Measuring Value

• Ranking value metrics based on difficulty (easy to very hard) in measuring. Includes factors like performance, productivity, profitability, customer satisfaction, goodwill, penetrating new markets, innovation, technology transfer, reputation, workforce motivation, and capacity utilization.

Measuring Value Metrics Issues

• Subjectivity in business assumptions impacting decisions.
• Subjectivity inherent to value measurements.
• Difficulty identifying/capturing meaningful data.
• Subjective attributes influencing value.
• Measurement biases introduced by the person measuring value.
• Attribute relevance changes over time.
• Circumstantial influences on value.
• Value judgment influenced by unrelated factors.

Business Model Format

• Framework for visualizing a business, explaining components like key business partners, key activities, key resources, value propositions, customer relationships, channels, and customer segments to understand revenue generation.

Growing Importance of Value

• The importance of value-based aspects has increased from traditional focus on cost and quality.
• Customer perception of quality and value, Total Quality Management (TQM), ISO 9000 standards, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are all relevant to achieving quality and value-based criteria.

This quiz explores the essential aspects of project management, including project justification, financial implications, and the career path within project management. Learn about the challenges and considerations that come with managing projects effectively.