Project Management Concepts & Definitions PDF

CONCEPTS & DEFINITIONS MAPC 114 The growth of project management can be traced through topics such as roles and responsibilities, organizational structures, delegation of authority and decision-making, and especially corporate profitability. Twenty years ago, companies had the...

CONCEPTS & DEFINITIONS MAPC 114 The growth of project management can be traced through topics such as roles and responsibilities, organizational structures, delegation of authority and decision-making, and especially corporate profitability. Twenty years ago, companies had the choice of whether or not to accept the project management approach. Today, some companies foolishly think that they still have a choice. Nothing could be further from the truth. The firm's survival may very well rest upon how well project management is implemented, and how quickly. Defined by the Association of Project Management (APM) as the process of defining, planning, and delivering projects to realize agreed benefits. Uses a staged approach to reduce complexity and ensure efficiency.  Over-the-fence management is used to manage projects, where each manager performs work and throws the "ball" over the fence. This approach was problematic as it lacked a single point of contact for customers, wasting time and resources. Private industry saw no practical value in project management.  Project management's growth was driven by necessity rather than desire. Slow growth was due to a lack of acceptance of new management techniques and fear of the unknown. The majority of companies in the 1960s maintained an informal project management method, minimizing project manager authority. By the 1970s and early 1980s, more companies formalized project management due to the growing size and complexity of activities.  Project management requires organizational restructuring, which can be achieved with minimal departure from the existing structure. It allows companies to accomplish tasks that could not be effectively handled by the traditional structure and accomplish one-time activities with minimal disruption of routine business.  Project priorities and competition for talent may interrupt the stability of the organization and interfere with its long-range interests. Long-range planning may suffer as the company gets more involved in meeting schedules and fulfilling the requirements of temporary projects. Shifting people from project to project may disrupt the training of new employees and specialists, hindering their growth and development within their fields of specialization.  Project management provides a single person with total accountability. It emphasizes project over functional dedication. It requires coordination across functional interfaces. It ensures proper utilization of integrated planning and control. Without project management, executives may not perform their roles to their best abilities. After project management, executives expect to push decision- making down, eliminate committee solutions, and trust peers' decisions.  Capital projects: Large capital projects or simultaneous projects can lead to cash flow issues and worker idling. Customer expectations: Companies selling products or services to customers need good project management practices. Competitiveness: Internal and external projects can drive competitiveness.  Executive understanding: Traditional organizations resist change unless driven by executives. New product development: Organizations heavily invested in R&D activities need project management for commercialization and early project cancellation. Efficiency and effectiveness: Small companies experiencing growth need project management to remain competitive and determine capacity constraints.  Because of the interrelatedness of these driving forces, some people contend that the only true driving force is survival. This is illustrated in Figure 2–2. When the company recognizes that the survival of the firm is at stake, the implementation of project management becomes easier. The speed by which companies reach some degree of maturity in project management is most often based on how important they perceive the driving forces to be. Non–project-driven and hybrid organizations move quickly to maturity if increased internal efficiencies and effectiveness are needed. Competitiveness is the slowest path because these types of organizations do not recognize that project management affects their competitive position directly. For project-driven organizations, the path is reversed. Competitiveness is the name of the game and the vehicle used is project management.  Line Management Acceptance: Recognizes and supports project management implementation. Even minimal support can hinder its success. Growth Phase: Commitment to developing corporate project management tools. This includes planning, scheduling, controlling, and software selection. Maturity Phase: Use of developed tools, complete dedication to project management, and development of a project management curriculum. This includes training and education for tools and expected organizational behavior. Past View Present View Project management allows us to Project management will require more accomplish more work in less time, with people and add to the overhead costs. fewer people. Profitability may decrease. Profitability will increase. Project management will increase the Project management will provide better amount of scope changes. control of scope changes. Project management makes the Project management creates organizational organization more efficient and effective instability and increases conflicts. through better organizational behavior principles. Project management is really “eye wash” for Project management will allow us to work the customer’s benefit more closely with our customers. Project management provides a means for Project Management will create problems. solving problems. Past View Present View Only large projects need project All projects will benefit from project management. management. Project management will increase quality Project management increases quality. problems. Project management will create power and Project management will reduce power authority problems. struggles. Projects management focuses on Project management allows people to make suboptimization by looking at only the good company decisions. project. Project management delivers products to a Project management delivers solutions. customer. The cost of project management may make Project management will increase our business. us noncompetitive. SYSTEMS - A group of elements, either human or nonhuman, that is organized and arranged so that the elements can act as a whole toward achieving some common goal or objective. (Business Practitioners) Systems are interacting subsystems that can produce beneficial output when properly organized. Their boundaries or interface conditions categorize them, with closed systems being isolated from the environment, open systems reacting with the environment, and extended systems dependent on other systems for survival. Extended systems can be ever-changing and impose hardships. PROGRAMS Air Force Definition: The integrated, time-phased tasks necessary to accomplish a particular purpose. NASA Definition: A relative series of undertakings that continue over a period of time (normally years) and that are designed to accomplish a broad, scientific, or technical goal in the NASA long-range plan (lunar and planetary exploration, manned spacecraft systems). Programs can be regarded as subsystems. However, programs are generally defined as time-phased efforts, whereas systems exist continuously. Projects are also time-phased efforts (much shorter than programs) and are the first level of breakdown of a program. TABLE 2-4. DEFINITION SUMMARY Level Sector Title System* Program Government Program Managers Project Industry Project Managers  Individual projects: These are short-duration projects normally assigned to a single individual who may be acting as both a project manager and a functional manager. Staff projects: These are projects that can be accomplished by one organizational unit, say a department. A staff or task force is developed from each section involved. This works best if only one functional unit is involved.  Special projects: Often special projects occur that require certain primary functions and/or authority to be assigned temporarily to other individuals or units. This works best for short-duration projects. Long-term projects can lead to severe con- flicts under this arrangement. Matrix or aggregate projects: These require input from a large number of functional units and usually control vast resources. Projects are also time-phased efforts (much shorter than programs) and are the first level of breakdown of a program. A typical definition would be: NASA/Air Force Definition: A project is within a program as an undertaking that has a scheduled beginning and end, and that normally involves some primary purpose. Project management - defined as the process of achieving project objectives through the traditional organizational structure and over the specialties of the individuals concerned. Project management is applicable for any ad hoc (unique, one-time, one-of-a-kind) undertaking concerned with a specific end objective. - The basic principles of planning, scheduling, and controlling work. Projects are part of an organization that is endorsed with limited resources only. We speak about organizational constraints. It is the purpose of project management to deliver projects on time, within budget, and to scope, with an agreed quality level. This is also called the ‘Magic Triangle’. The constraints emerge because, on one hand, only limited resources in terms of time, financial, and human resources are available. On the other hand, a pre-defined scope has to be delivered with an acceptable quality level. Project management should ensure that a project is carried out effectively (that the result of the project ‘works’) and efficiently (that the work is done with minimum effort and cost). Maturity - in project management it is the implementation of a standard methodology and accompanying processes such that there exists a high likelihood of repeated successes. Excellence - Organizations excellent in project management are those that create an environment in which there exists a continuous stream of successfully managed projects and where success is measured by what is in the best interest of both the company and the project (i.e., customer). Informal project management does have some degree of formality but emphasizes managing the project with a minimum amount of paperwork. Furthermore, informal project management is based upon guidelines rather than the policies and procedures that are the basis for formal project management. This was shown previously to be a characteristic of a good project management methodology. Informal project management mandates: · Effective communications · Effective cooperation · Effective teamwork · Trust Project Stakeholders are individuals, groups, or organizations that are either actively involved in a project, or whose interests may be affected positively or negatively as a result of a project completion. Stakeholders may have different interests and perspectives. For the sake of efficiency and to ensure accountability, it is important to identify clearly the responsibilities and authorities of each stakeholder. Who are the main Project Stakeholders? The project owner provides the resources to deliver the project results, the project sponsor has the responsibility to channel the resources to a project on the owner’s behalf. However, there is no standardized definition in the literature. Both terms are frequently used synonymously. According to the Project Management Institute (2004), the project sponsor is the person who provides the financial resources. Kerzner (2006) portrays a project sponsor as a senior executive of the organization who champions and supports the project. Who are the main Project Stakeholders? The contractor is the group (or individual) using the capital of the owner in order to produce the product/service or result the owner wants to have. In the case of an internal project, the contractors can become the users. Often, the term is used for organizations in a consortium working together to deliver a product or service for another organization, the project owner, or the customer. Who are the main Project Stakeholders? Another role is the customer who takes advantage of the project outcome. The customer also provides the resources for the project (project owner). The users are the individuals benefiting from the project result without directly providing resources for the project. Project manager: This is the individual responsible for planning, organizing, implementing, and controlling the work to ensure that the customer (owner) gets the intended benefits of the project. Who are the main Project Stakeholders? In a consortium or in complex projects, there are usually sub- project managers, like team leaders with dedicated areas they manage on behalf of the project manager. However, they report to the project manager who is responsible to the customer. Who are the main Project Stakeholders? The members of the project team who are directly involved in the project and who contribute to its completion. Program is a bundle of projects pursuing the same purpose. A program has the same main characteristics as a project. However, it usually has a longer duration and requires more resources. Apart from coordination benefits, programs allow for the realization of synergy effects between projects. Portfolio. A portfolio in project management refers to a grouping of projects, and programs. It can also include other project-related activities and responsibilities. The purpose of a portfolio is to establish centralized management and oversight for many projects and programs. A portfolio also helps establish standardized governance across the organization. The purpose of creating and managing a portfolio is to ensure the business takes on the right projects and that they align with the company’s values, strategies, and goals. Every program, project, or product has certain phases of development known as life-cycle phases. A clear understanding of these phases permits managers and executives to better control resources to achieve goals. During the past few years, there has been at least partial agreement about the life-cycle phases of a product. They include: - Research and development - Maturity - Market introduction - Growth - Deterioration - Death The theoretical definitions of the life-cycle phases of a system can be applied to a project. These phases include: Conceptual - includes the preliminary evaluation of an idea. Most important in this phase is a preliminary analysis of risk and the resulting impact on the time, cost, and performance requirements, together with the potential impact on company resources. Planning - refinement of the elements in the conceptual phase and requires a firm identification of the resources Testing - is predominantly a testing and final standardization effort so that operations can begin. Almost all documentation must be completed in this phase.  Implementation - which integrates the project’s product or services into the existing organization. This phase could include the product life-cycle phases of market introduction, growth, maturity, and a portion of deterioration. Closure - includes the reallocation of resources. The closure phase evaluates the efforts of the total system and serves as input to the conceptual phases for new projects and systems. This final phase also has an impact on other ongoing projects with regard to identifying priorities. INITIATING The initiating phase is also often called the front-end or kick-off phase. The need or the opportunity is confirmed. The project concept is developed after the overall feasibility of the project has been carefully considered and determined. In this phase, the business case for the project is developed. PLANNING The essence of project planning is to decide what needs to be done in order to deliver the project objectives within the given organizational constraints. As a result of this phase, the so-called project management plan or project master plan is delivered, along with the identification of resources required for the implementation of the project. EXECUTING/CONTROLLING During the execution or implementation phase, the project plan is implemented, monitored, and controlled. In the case of a product, the product design is finalized in this phase and used to build the deliverables of the project. COMPLETION The completion, termination or closeout phase consists of the handover of the product or service to the internal or external customer. Moreover, a final review of the whole project is done in order to learn from past mistakes and successes.  Success is defined as meeting customer expectations, regardless of customer type. It involves completing tasks within time, cost, and quality constraints. However, many projects, especially those requiring innovation, don't reach this singular point. Success could occur without exacting this singular point. Primary Secondary Within Time Follow-on work from this customer Using the customer's name as a reference on your Within Cost literature Within Quality Limits Commercialization of a product With minimum or mutually agreed upon scope Accepted by the customer changes Without disturbing the main flow of work Without changing the corporate culture Without violating safety requirements Providing efficiency and effectiveness of operations Statisfying OSHA/EPA requirements Maintaining ethical conduct Providing a strategic alignment Maintaining a corporate reputation Maintaining regulatory agency relations Success can be seen as a range, not a single point. Missing the exact target within this range isn't necessarily a failure. Failure occurs when results don't meet expectations, which might be unrealistic from the start. If expectations are unachievable, failure is inevitable due to unmet expectations, known as planning failure. True failure also includes poor performance, where the results fall short of what was realistically achievable. We now believe that the existence of this term is largely due to the project manager’s inability to perform effective risk management. In the 1980s, we believed that the failure of a project was largely a quantitative failure due to: Ineffective planning Ineffective scheduling Ineffective estimating Ineffective cost control Project objectives being “moving targets” During the 1990s, we changed our view of failure from being quantitatively oriented to qualitatively oriented. A failure in the 1990s was largely attributed to: Poor morale Poor motivation Poor human relations Poor productivity No employee commitment No functional commitment Delays in problem-solving Too many unresolved policy issues Conflicting priorities between executives, line managers, and project management Traditionally, companies treated each customer as a one- time opportunity, focusing on finding new customers once needs were met. However, project-driven organizations are now adopting "engagement project management," where the goal is to build long-term relationships rather than just completing a single project. This involves soliciting client feedback to improve future project management practices. While this approach can enhance customer satisfaction, it can also create challenges, as clients might influence the contractor's project management methodology, leading to conflicts if different clients have varying requirements. Managing these relationships effectively requires understanding the client's business environment and sometimes involves assigning both an engagement manager and a project manager to ensure successful, ongoing partnerships. Achieving excellence in project management is more likely when a consistent, repeatable process is used for every project, known as the project management methodology. Ideally, companies should maintain a single, well-supported methodology that integrates other processes to ensure consistency and effectiveness across all projects. During the 1990s, the following processes were integrated into a single methodology: 1.Project Management: The basic principles of planning, scheduling, and controlling work. 2.Total Quality Management: The process of ensuring that the end result will meet the quality expectations of the customer. 3.Concurrent Engineering: The process of performing work in parallel rather than series in order to compress the schedule without incurring serious risks. 4.Scope Change Control: The process of controlling the configuration of the end result such that value added is provided to the customer. Risk Management: The process of identifying, quantifying, and responding to the risks of the project without any material impact on the project’s objectives. The characteristics of a good methodology based upon integrated processes include: A recommended level of detail Use of templates Standardized planning, scheduling, and cost-control techniques Standardized reporting format for both in-house and customer use Flexibility for application to all projects Flexibility for rapid improvements Easy for the customer to understand and follow Readily accepted and used throughout the entire company Use of standardized life-cycle phases (which can overlap) and end-of- phase reviews (Section 2.13) Based upon guidelines rather than policies and procedures (Section 2.9) Based upon a good work ethic Methodologies alone don't manage projects; people do, guided by the corporate culture. Senior management must foster a culture that supports and trusts the project management methodology. When done successfully, it can lead to strong customer relationships, where customers see the contractor as a partner rather than just a supplier. Benefits: Faster “time to market” through better control of the project’s scope Lower overall project risk Better decision-making process Greater customer satisfaction, which leads to increased business More time available for value-added efforts, rather than internal politics and internal competition REFERENCES: eBooks.com. (n.d.). Project Management (11th ed.). https://www.ebooks.com/en- us/book/1113482/project- management/harold-kerzner/ Köster, K. (2009). International Project Management. SAGE Publications Limited. Understanding the Project Management life Cycle | Project Management Guide. (n.d.). https://www.wrike.com/project- management-guide/project-lifecycle/