Week 5 Project Time Management JB.pptx PDF

MGMT 8225 – Project Management Week 5: Project Time Management  Week 4 Journal Article Review Exploring the factors behind project scope creep – stakeholders’ perspective Discussion: What did stakeholders say was the leading cause of scope creep? Were there other contributing fact...

MGMT 8225 – Project Management Week 5: Project Time Management  Week 4 Journal Article Review Exploring the factors behind project scope creep – stakeholders’ perspective Discussion: What did stakeholders say was the leading cause of scope creep? Were there other contributing factors? Based on these findings, how do you suggest that project managers prevent scope creep? THE PROJECT SCHEDULE  Today’s Project: Build a House You have been given a plot of land on which to build a house. As a class, develop a list of 20 of the steps required to build a house. I will get you started with 2 examples: - Electrical installation - Plumbing Make a list of other activities that have to happen for the house to be built and then put them in chronological order. For example, the walls cannot be painted until they are framed and drywalled. Image reprinted with permission from Pixabay.com  The class worked as a team to create a project schedule In real life, the project manager would schedule meetings with the project team and the project partners to understand the individual activities (the WBS) and the estimated duration of each activity The team would then work together to schedule the activities  Complex Scheduling For projects with complex schedules: The project manager can facilitate scheduling meetings. Set aside a half day or a full day. Place markers and post-it notes on the tables. Assign each table a different phase of the project. Be sure to match subject matter experts with their phase. Image reprinted with permission from Pixabay.com  Complex Scheduling Instruct the team to write down all of the activities for each phase onto a post-it note. One activity per note. This is the WBS. Assign a duration to each activity. As a large group, review the activities. Fill in any gaps that are identified. Work together to place the notes/activities in a timeline on one wall of the room. Arrange and re- arrange as the conversation Image reprinted with permission from pexels.com progresses. Take pictures!  Team Engagement The project scheduling meeting is a great opportunity to gather momentum for the project and to foster a sense of team and team engagement. Consider having the sponsor, a VP, or the CEO speak at the beginning of the session to Image reprinted with permission from Pixabay.com promote excitement.  Predecessors In today’s project, the concept of placing one activity before another one identified predecessors In projects these are activities that must be completed before another one can begin. There is a dependency of one activity on another being completed. For example, the foundation must be poured and completed before the framing can begin. Some activities, however, can happen at the same time without an impact to one another. They can happen in parallel. For example, we could lay sod outside without impacting the activities inside the house.  Useful Definition Critical Path: The longest path of the project. It often determines the length of the project. Not all activities are on the critical path. Some activities might be of critical importance to the project, but because of where they fall on the schedule, they are not on the critical path.  Refer to the schedule on Sample Schedule the right Identify the activities that Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 have predecessors Activity Identify the activities that A Activity do not have B predecessors Activity C Can you spot the critical Activity D path? Activity E Which activities are not Activity on the critical path? F  Practice Using the results of today’s project: Estimate durations in weeks for each of the activities that you listed, based on your best guess. Remember, this is just an example. There will be some activities that must be completed before another can be finished There will be other activities that can happen at any time or in parallel with other activities Working together as a class, create a basic draft schedule This will be your baseline project schedule  Useful Definition Baseline Project Schedule: The original project schedule which is established at the beginning of the project. The project manager will use this schedule to assess project scope, schedule, and cost over the course of the project. All future schedules will be compared to this baseline version.  Reflection What is the critical path for the house? Are there any activities that are not on the critical path? What would happen to the critical path if one of the predecessors was delayed by 2 months?  Delays Delays are a realistic project risk in healthcare Delays often come with consequences. For example, hospital projects that are funded by the Ministry of Health could encounter significant financial penalties for being late. It is important to identify these potential delays on the project risk register at the beginning of the project and to develop a mitigation plan to reduce the risk wherever possible. (We will discuss project risk and mitigations more in week 10)  Sample Schedule Would the critical path Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 be impacted if activity E Activity was delayed by 2 A Activity weeks? B What if it was delayed by Activity C 6 weeks? Activity D Activity E Activity F  Analysis Activity E has float. When The critical path can change The project manager needs The project manager is an activity has float, it means throughout the project to maintain a close eye on always on the lookout for that it has a certain amount project progress and slippage in the project. of buffer or wiggle room compare it regularly to the When an activity starts to before it impacts the critical project schedule slip, the project manager has path. Activity E has 5 weeks to meet with the team of float. members responsible for the activity to get a better understanding of the issues. A TIMELINE TOOL  The project schedule is often too complex to be shared with organizational leadership in a meaningful way. A simple project timeline can provide the key points, in a visually pleasing way. It is the project manager’s job to take complex concepts and turn them into a simplified, digestible format that can be easily appreciated by a variety of partners. The following 2 diagrams are sample timelines taken from 2 separate hospital redevelopment projects. Image reprinted with permission from the Project Manager Image reprinted with permission from the Project Manager PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT  The project manager must make sure that the project team is clear about: The project schedule The project deliverables The project scope The work breakdown structure and their specific responsibilities The expectations of the project team i.e. to complete their work on time, to report to the project manager if there are barriers or if they run into an issue, to attend team meetings, to report updates on time using the tracking methods provided and so on  Get organized and Stay Organized The project manager should set up regular project meetings with the project team and then schedule the meeting series for the duration of the project. Consider the length of the meetings, the frequency of the meetings, the venue (in-person vs virtual)  Meeting Etiquette The healthcare environment is busy and the project manager wants to make good use of everyone’s time. The meeting series should have a clear subject line and an agenda. Team members often have conflicting meetings. Clear subject lines and agendas help team members to review content and determine how to prioritize their meetings. If the agenda changes or has a specific focus requiring fewer team members, consider reducing the invitation list to the required members for that meeting. A project manager needs to have excellent time management skills of their own. Set the tone for the team by demonstrating organization and efficiency. Image reprinted with permission from Pixabay.com  Week 5 Asynchronous Refer to the online course shell for MGMT8225 for this week’s asynchronous learning