Module A, Project and Process Management

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Project and Process Management Techniques

Introduction

The chapter will address the following questions: What is a a project and why do you need project management? What is project management and what are the consequences of

mismanagement? What is the difference between project and process management? How do you develop or modify a work breakdown structure for a

project? How do you read Gantt charts as a model of project activities,

schedules, and progress? How do you read PERT charts as a model of project activities,

schedules, and progress? What is a typical software approach to project modeling and

management?

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What is Project Management?

Introduction A definition for project:

“A project is a sequence of unique, complex, and connected activities having one goal or purpose and that must be completed by specific time, within budget, and according to specification.” Wysocki, Beck, and Crane

As applied to information systems, note the following:• A system development methodology, such as FAST, defines a

sequence of activities, mandatory and optional.

• Every system development project is unique; that is, it is different from every system development project which preceded it.

• The activities that comprise systems development are relatively complex.

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Introduction As applied to information systems, note the following:

(continued)• While some tasks may overlap, many tasks are dependent on the

completion of other tasks.

• The development of an information system represents a goal.

• Although many information system development projects do not have absolute deadlines or specified times (there are exceptions), they are notoriously completed later than originally projected.

• Few information systems are completed within budget.

• Information system must satisfy the business, user, and management expectations and specifications.

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Introduction For any systems development project, effective project

management is necessary to ensure that the project meets the deadline, is developed within an acceptable budget, and fulfills expectations and specifications. Project management is the process of defining, planning,

directing, monitoring, and controlling the development of an acceptable system at a minimum cost within a specified time frame.

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Introduction Different organizations take different approaches to project

management. One approach is to appoint a project manager from the ranks of

the team (once it has been formed). • This approach is a result of the self-directed team paradigm.

But many organizations have found that successful project managers apply a unique body of knowledge and skills that must be learned.

• These organizations tend to hire and/or develop professional project managers who are assigned to one or more projects at any given time.

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Project Management Causes of Failed Projects Failures and limited successes far outnumber successful

information systems. Why? Many systems analysts and information technologists are

unfamiliar with or undisciplined in the tools and techniques of systems analysis and design.

Many projects suffer from poor leadership and management.• Project mismanagement can sabotage the best application of the

systems analysis and design methods.

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Project Management Causes of Failed Projects One of the most common causes of project failure is taking

shortcuts through or around the methodology.• Project teams often take shortcuts for one or more of the following

reasons:

– The project gets behind schedule and the team wants to ‘catch up.’

– The project is over budget and the team wants to make up costs by skipping methodology steps.

– The team is not trained or skilled in some of the methodologies activities and requirements, so they skip them.

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Project Management Causes of Failed Projects Another common cause of project failures is poor expectations

management. • All users and managers have expectations of the project.

• Over time, these expectations change and takes the form of scope creep.

– Scope creep is the unexpected growth of user expectations and business requirements for an information system as the project progresses.

• Unfortunately, the schedule and budget are rarely modified at the same time.

– The project manager is ultimately held accountable for the inevitable and unavoidable schedule and budget overruns.

– The users' expectations of schedule and budget did not change as the scope changed.

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Project Management Causes of Failed Projects A similar problem is caused by feature creep.

• Feature creep is the uncontrolled addition of technical features to a system under development without regards to schedule and budget.

– Each unplanned feature, however impressive, adds time and costs to the overall schedule.

Cost overrun problems:• Many methodologies or project plans call for an unreasonably

precise estimate of costs before the project begins.

• Poor estimating techniques.

• Schedule delays.

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Project Management Causes of Failed Projects Poor people management can also cause projects to fail. Another cause of project failure is that the business is in a

constant state of change. • If the project’s importance changes, or if the management and

business reorganizes, all projects should be reassessed for compatibility with changes, and importance to the business.

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The Basic Functions of the Project Manager These functions include planning, staffing, organizing, scheduling,

directing, and controlling. Scoping the Project:

At a minimum, a complete project definition should include the following:• A project champion and executive sponsor.

• A brief statement the problem or opportunity to be addressed by the project.

• The project goal.

• The project objectives.

• Project assumptions and constraints. Failure to achieve consensus on the above dooms a project before

it starts.

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The Basic Functions of the Project Manager Planning Project Tasks and Staffing the Project Team:

A good manager always has a plan. • Each task required to complete the project must be planned.

• The following are other planning issues.

– How much time will be required?

– How many people will be needed?

– How much will the task cost?

– What tasks must be completed before other tasks are started?

– Can some of the tasks overlap?

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The Basic Functions of the Project Manager Planning Project Tasks and Staffing the Project Team:

The project manager should carefully consider the business and technical expertise that may be needed to successfully finish the project.

The key is to match the personnel to the required tasks that have been identified as part of project planning.

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The Basic Functions of the Project Manager Organizing and Scheduling the Project Effort:

Members of the project team should understand their own individual roles and responsibilities as well as their reporting relationship to the project manager.

The project schedule should be developed with an understanding of task time requirements, personnel assignments, and inter-task dependencies.

Many projects present a deadline or requested delivery date.• The project manager must determine whether a workable schedule

can be built around such deadlines.

– If not, the deadlines must be delayed or the project scope must be trimmed.

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The Basic Functions of the Project Manager Directing and Controlling the Project:

Once the project has begun, the project manager becomes a supervisor.

• As a supervisor, the project manager directs the team's activities and evaluates progress.

• Every project manager must demonstrate such people management skills as motivating, rewarding, advising, coordinating, delegating, and appraising team members.

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The Basic Functions of the Project Manager Directing and Controlling the Project:

Perhaps the manager's most difficult and important function is controlling the project.

• The project manager's job is to monitor tasks, schedules, costs, and expectations in order to control those elements.

• The project manager must be able to present the alternatives and their implications for the budget and schedule in order to manage expectations.

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Project Management Software Today, project management software is routinely used to help

project managers plan projects, develop schedules, develop budgets, monitor progress and costs, generate management reports, and affect change.

This software greatly simplify the preparation of the project management models such as Gantt and PERT charts. The models and techniques would be difficult to apply without

software assistance.

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Process Management

Introduction Information system development and maintenance are business

processes — very complex business processes. Like most business processes, information system development

processes must be managed. Process management is a prerequisite to systems development

project management. Process management is the planning, selection, deployment,

and consistent application of standard system development methods, tools, techniques, and technologies to all information system projects.

For most information system organizations, process management is built around a system development methodology.

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Process Management

Management of the Methodology Once a methodology has been selected (or developed), it must be

implemented. This can be an enormous undertaking that requires the following:

Establishing visibility for the methodology by educating all developers, managers, and technical support staff in the basic development process, tools, and techniques to be used.

Providing just-in-time detailed training to development teams as each team begins its first project.

Providing consultation to project teams as they apply the methodology.

Improving the methodology.

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Process Management

Management of the Methodology Methodologies are notorious for becoming ‘shelfware’, that is, not

used at all. Methodology management is the key to avoiding the following

common consequences. No consistency in the processes used to develop systems — even

successes cannot be reliably repeated. No flexibility in the process used to develop systems — project

teams are unable to adapt the methodology to new or unique situations.

Failure to follow the methodology — either because management doesn’t expect it, or project managers inappropriately skip or accelerate activities in response to schedule or budget problems.

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Process Management

Management of System Development Technology Development technology must be carefully evaluated and selected

based on the technology architecture and vision of the business, and compatibility with (or adaptability to) the chosen methodology.

Once a technology has been chosen, developers must be trained in its correct use. The most effective training occurs just-in-time (JIT) for the

project team.

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Process Management

Total Quality Management A development process (methodology) does not ensure quality. Quality must be managed and quality management begins with

establishing quality standards. Internal standards applicable to system development may

include the following:• Standards for project deliverables such as reports and

documentation.

• Modeling techniques and standards.

• Naming standards for models, objects, programs, databases, etc.

• Quality checkpoints, deliverables, and signoffs at various stages of the projects.

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Process Management

Total Quality Management Internal standards applicable to system development may include

the following: (continued)• Technology standards such as approved graphical user interface

components and placement.

• Testing procedures and tolerances.

• Acceptance criteria for system implementation.

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Process Management

Metrics and Measurement This is a relatively new dimension of process management. According to the SEI Capability Maturity Model sophisticated

development organizations measure their productivity and quality with formal metrics, and adjust the development process to affect continuous improvement.

System and software metrics is a relatively new, and rapidly changing discipline. The interest in that discipline is being increasingly driven by

upper management’s desire to improve the accountability of developers and the entire information system unit to the overall organization.

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Process Management

The Development Center The ultimate process management infrastructure is a development

center. A development center is a central group of information

system development consultants and managers who plan, implement, and support all aspects of process management including, methodology, technology, quality, and measurement.

Development Center staff does not develop information systems. They provide consulting services to those who do develop

information systems (including systems analysts and programmers).

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Director of

Systems Development

DevelopmentTeam

Manager

DevelopmentCenter

Manager

InformationCenter

Manager

DevelopmentTeam

Manager

QualityAnalyst

CASE ToolsAnalyst(s)

MethodologyCoordinator

MeasurementAnalyst(s)

CentralRepository

DataAdministrator

CentralRepositoryDatabaseAnalyst(s)

MethodologySteering

Committee

InternalCASE Tool

User GroupsDevelopment

StandardsCommittee

ProjectQuality

Referees

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Project Management Tools and Techniques

Gantt Charts The Gantt chart was first conceived by Henry L. Gantt in 1917. It is the most commonly used project scheduling and progress

evaluation tool in use. A Gantt chart is a simple horizontal bar chart that depicts

project tasks against a calendar. Each bar represents a named project task. The tasks are listed vertically in the left-hand column. On a Gantt chart, the horizontal axis is a calendar timeline.

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Gantt Charts Forward and Reverse Scheduling:

Initially, you must determine the scheduling strategy to be used.

There are two basic scheduling approaches supported by most project management software tools.

• Forward scheduling establishes a project start-date and then schedules forward from that date. Based on the planned duration of required tasks, and the allocation of resources to complete those tasks, a projected project completion date is calculated.

• Reverse scheduling establishes a project deadline and then schedules backward from that date. Essentially, tasks, their duration, and resources must be chosen to ensure that the project can be completed by the deadline.

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Gantt Charts Calendars:

Every business operates on a calendar. In project management software a base calendar can be

established to identify the work week (e.g., Monday through Friday), work day (e.g., 8 AM -Noon; 1 PM - 5 PM), and holidays and conflict days.

After the project team has been identified, personal calendars can also be established to block out individual vacations and commitments.

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Gantt Charts Work Breakdown Structures:

Most projects can be defined by a hierarchical breakdown of the required work.

• A work breakdown structure is a hierarchical decomposition of the project into phases, activities, and tasks.

Those work units which are broken down into more detailed work units are called summary tasks.

• They are not scheduled, per se.

• The duration of summary tasks will be automatically be calculated based on the duration of those tasks that will not be broken down into more granular work units.

– These are called primitive tasks.

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Gantt Charts Work Breakdown Structures:

Another type of entry in a work breakdown structure is a milestone.

• Milestones are events that signify major accomplishments or events during a project.

• Milestones do not represent actual work, per se.

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Gantt Charts Effort and Duration:

For each primitive task, the duration needs to be estimated.• This will determine the length of the bars in the Gantt Chart.

Sample estimating technique:• Estimate the minimum amount of time it would take to perform

the task - called the optimistic time (OT).

– The optimistic time estimate assumes that even the most likely interruptions or delays — such as occasional employee illnesses — will not happen.

• Estimate the maximum amount of time it would take to perform the task - called the pessimistic time (PT).

– The pessimistic time estimate assumes that anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

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Gantt Charts Effort and Duration:

Sample estimating technique: (continued)• Calculate the most likely time (MLT) that will be needed to

perform the task.

– Don't take the median of the optimistic and pessimistic times.

– Attempt to identify interruptions or delays that are likely to occur, such as occasional employee illnesses, inexperienced personnel, and occasional training.

• Calculate the expected duration (ED) as follows:ED = OT + (4 x MLT) + PT

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– This formula provides a weighted average of the various estimates.

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Gantt Charts Predecessors and Constraints:

The start of any given task may be dependent on the start or completion of another previous task.

Additionally, the completion of a task is frequently dependent on the completion of a prior task.

Milestones almost always have several predecessors that signify those tasks that must be completed before you can say that the milestone has been achieved.

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Gantt Charts Critical Path and Slack Resources:

The critical path is a sequence of dependent project tasks that have the largest sum of estimated durations.

• It is the path that has no slack time built in. • If any of these tasks fall behind schedule, the project’s completion

date will be delayed. The slack time available for any task is equal to the difference

between the earliest and latest completion times. • Tasks that have slack time can get behind schedule by an amount

less than or equal to that slack time without having any impact on the project’s final completion date.

Understanding the critical path and slack resources in a project are indispensable to the project manager.

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Gantt Charts Resource Assignment and Management:

Resources are people, material, and tools that you assign to the completion of a task.

Resources may be constrained by the following:• Resources available to the project manager.

• Competition with other managers and project for a resource’s time.

• Calendars of resources. Costs can be assigned to resources to assist in budgeting the

project. • If actual time spent on tasks is also recorded, budgets can be

compared to actual expenses.

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Gantt Charts Using Gantt Charts to Evaluate Progress:

One of the project manager's frequent responsibilities is to report project progress to superiors.

Gantt charts frequently find their way into progress reports because they can conveniently compare the original schedule with actual performance.

• If a task has been completed, the bar corresponding to that task is completely shaded.

• If a task is partially completed, the bar corresponding to that task is partially shaded.

– The percentage of the bar that is shaded should correspond to the percentage of the task completed.

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Gantt Charts Using Gantt Charts to Evaluate Progress:

Gantt charts frequently find their way into progress reports because they can conveniently compare the original schedule with actual performance. (continued)

• Unshaded bars represent tasks that have not begun.

• A bold vertical line that is perpendicular to the horizontal axis and that intersects the current date assists in evaluating project progress.

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PERT Charts PERT stands for Project Evaluation and Review Technique. Was developed in the late 1950s to plan and control large weapons

development projects for the U.S. Navy. It was developed to make clear the interdependence of project

tasks when projects are being scheduled. PERT is a graphic networking technique.

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PERT Charts PERT Definitions and Symbols:

Like Gantt Charts, PERT charts projects are organized in terms of tasks and milestones.

A variety of symbols — circles, squares, and the like — have been used to depict tasks and milestones on PERT charts.

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PERT Charts The Critical Path in a PERT Network:

The critical path is a sequence of dependent project tasks that have the largest sum of estimated durations.

Each task appearing on the critical path is referred to as a critical task.

• Critical tasks must be monitored closely by the project manager because any delays in those tasks will delay the entire project.

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PERT Charts The Critical Path in a PERT Network:

Critical path example:Path 1: A(3) B(2) C(2) D(7) H(5)

Path 2: A(3) B(2) C(2) E(6) H(5)

Path 3: A(3) B(2) C(2) F(3) H(5)

Path 4: A(3) B(2) C(2) G(2) H(5)

• The total expected duration time for a path is equivalent to the sum of the expected duration times for each task in the path.

Path 1: 3 + 2 + 2 + 7 + 0 + 5 = 19

Path 2: 3 + 2 + 2 + 6 + 0 + 5 = 18

Path 3: 3 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 0 + 5 = 15

Path 4: 3 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 5 = 14

• Path 1 is the critical path. It indicates that the expected time for completing the programming project is 19 days.

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PERT Charts Using PERT for Planning and Control:

The primary uses and advantages of the PERT chart lie in its ability to assist in the planning and controlling of projects.

• In planning, the PERT chart aids in determining the estimated time required to complete a given project, in deriving actual project dates, and in allocating resources.

• As a control tool, the PERT chart helps the manager identify current and potential problems.

– Particular attention should be paid to the critical path of a project.

– When a project manager identifies a critical task that is running behind schedule and that is in danger of upsetting the entire project schedule, alternative courses of action are examined.

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PERT Charts PERT versus Gantt Charting:

PERT is usually recommended for larger projects with high intertask dependency.

Gantt is recommended for simpler projects. PERT and Gantt charts can be used in a complementary

manner to plan, schedule, evaluate, and control systems development projects.

Most information systems project managers seem to prefer Gantt charts because of their simplicity and ability to show the schedule of a project.

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Expectations Management

The Expectations Management Matrix Every project has goals and constraints when it comes to cost,

schedule, scope, and quality. Often you must strike a balance that is both feasible and

acceptable to management. That is the purpose of the expectations management matrix.

• An expectations management matrix is a rule-driven tool for helping management appreciate the dynamics of changing project parameters. The parameters include cost, schedule, scope, and quality.

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The Expectations Management Matrix The basic matrix consists of three rows and three columns (plus

headings). The rows correspond to the measures of success in any project:

cost, schedule, and scope and/or quality. The columns correspond to priorities: first, second, and third.

• For purposes of establishing expectations, we assign names to the priorities as follows:

– Maximize or minimize -- The most important of the three measures in a given project.

– Constrain -- The second most important of the three measures in a project.

– Accept -- The least important of the three measures in a project.

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The Expectations Management Matrix The management expectations matrix helps (forces) management

to understand this through three simple rules: For any project, you must record three Xs within the nine

available cells. No row may contain more than one X. In other words, a single

measure of success must have one and only one priority. No column may contain more than one X. In other words, there

must be a first, second, and third priority.

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Priorities Measures of Success

Max or Min Constraint Accept

CostScheduleScope and/or Quality

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CostEstimated at $20 billion X

ScheduleDeadline = December 31,1969 X

Scope and/or Quality1. Land a man on the moon.2. Get him back Safely.

X

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The Expectations Management Matrix At the beginning of any project, the project manager should

consider introducing the system owner to the matrix concept and should work with the system owner to complete the matrix.

The project manager must never establish the priorities or even suggest those priorities. The project manager merely enforces the rules.

A system owner who refuses to set priorities is an owner who may be setting the project manager up for a no-win performance review.

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Using the Expectations Management Matrix During the course of the average systems development project,

priorities are not stable. Various factors such as the economy, government, and politics

can change the priorities.

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Cost XSchedule XScope and/or Quality X

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Cost(Record New Budget) X

Schedule(Record New Deadlines) X

Scope and/or Quality(Revise attachment thatdescribes scope and quality.Be sure to date all newrequirements to distinguish themfrom original requirements.)

X

-

+

+Increasebudget

Extenddeadline

Acceptexpanded

requirements

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Cost XSchedule XScope and/or Quality X Step 2

Step 1

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Using the Expectations Management Matrix There are three final comments about priority migration.

Priorities may migrate more than once during a project.• Expectations can be managed through any number of changes as

long as the matrix is balanced (meaning it conforms to our rules). Expectation management can be achieved through any

combination of priority migrations and resource adjustments. It should be noted that system owners can initiate priority

migration even if the project is on schedule.

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People Management

Introduction The management or supervision of project team members is

equally important to planning and controlling the project schedule, budget, and expectations.

The One Minute Manager The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer

Johnson is an indispensable aid to anyone managing people for the first time. The book highlights three basic management secrets:

• One-minute goal setting.

• One-minute praisings.

• One-minute reprimands.

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People Management

The Subtle Art of Delegation and Accountability Most young and many experienced managers have difficulty

delegating responsibilities. Worse still, they let subordinates reverse-delegate tasks back to the

manager. This leads to poor time management and manager frustration.

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People Management

The Subtle Art of Delegation and Accountability In The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey, Kenneth

Blanchard teams with William Oncken and Hal Burrows to help managers overcome this problem. The solution is based on Oncken's classic principle of ``the

care and feeding of monkeys.'' • Monkeys refer to problems that managers delegate to their

subordinates who, in turn, attempt to reverse-delegate back to the manager.

• This book the authors teach managers how to keep the monkeys on the subordinates' backs.

• Doing so increases the manager's available work time, accelerates task accomplishment by subordinates, and teaches subordinates how to solve their own problems.

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Summary

Introduction What is Project Management? Process Management Expectations Management People Management

Module A, Project and Process Management

Business

Transcript of Module A, Project and Process Management