Notes on Project Management

Prepared for the entrepreneurship

course at WIU, Feb. 23, 2006

by Brian M. Davies, Physics Dept.

Characteristics of Projects

• Goal: something not done before

• Product: a specific accomplishment

• Resources: people and things

• Size: program > project > tasks > jobs

• Marketplace: personal or family, organization-sponsored, customer-sponsored, subcontracted, or government.

Project Management Process- has 5 major stages:

• Defining the project’s goals

• Planning - how to satisfy Triple Constraint

• Leading - guidance to human resources, subordinates, subcontractors

• Monitoring - measure, control, correct plan

• Completing - meet goals, documentation

The Triple Constraint on Projects

• Project manager must consider 3 constraints

• Performance specifications (technical folks may focus too heavily on this)

• Time schedule (due dates)

• Money budget - dollars for materials, supplies, internal support, subcontracts, etc., and for labor hours (equivalent to dollars !)

Obstacles to satisfying the constraint on performance

• performance problems - fail to meet specs !

• poor communication between customer and contractor (definitions, culture, detail)

• overly optimistic assumptions (ambition)

• poor design, mistakes in carrying out the contract, errors by workers and managers, accidents.

Obstacles to satisfying the constraint on time schedule

• overemphasis on performance vs. meeting time and budget constraints (engineers may try to achieve breakthroughs and ignore time and budget required by customer)

• resources not available when needed

• performance specs changed mid-project

• subordinates fail to give proper priority

Obstacles to satisfying the constraint on cost and budget

• Failure to meet time constraint usually costs more because of lack of efficiency.

• Reducing cost estimates to win bid causes a built-in cost overrun from the start.

• Initial cost estimates are often too optimistic.

• Mistakes, bad cost management, cash flow.

Stage 1: defining project goals

• Framework - reject losing projects

• Requirements, feasibility, value of project

• Proposal - winning the competition

• Proposal process - S.O.W, plan, checklists

• Negotiations and contracts

• Legal issues and regulations

Stage 2: planning the project

• a. Where are you now?

• b. Where do you want to go?

• c. Define the way to get from here to there.

• Plans will include:

• Resource requirements: people, things, $$$

• Timing: scheduling these resources

Coordinate and communicate!

• People who will do the work know more about it than others; get them to help plan!

• Plan to make it their task as well as yours.

• Money, commodities, and some internal support may be easy to obtain.

• Human resources may not be available at any reasonable cost (hiring is not easy).

Establish a basis for control

• Sufficient authority needed for resource allocation, not based on “mutual favors”.

• Methods of monitoring progress of project are needed to allow adjustment when deviations from plan are recognized.

• Plan better - to avoid continual crises and the need for constant “firefighting”.

Some planning issues

• Uncertainty and risk: checklists, contingencies, participant assumptions.

• Choices between options during project performance, early ordering of supplies, (example of assigning subordinate tasks).

• Planning is a way of simulating the project.

Work Breakdown Structure

• SOW - Statement of Work: contains the three constraint topics: deliverables (with specs if needed), schedule, and budget.

• WBS: divide project into tasks or activities.

• The WBS should be divided into tangible deliverable items (hardware items, software packages, interim reports in R & D).

Scheduling Tools

• Bar charts (Gantt charts)

• Milestones (based on key events)

• - but both of these are useless for specifying interdependencies and clarifying activities.

• Network diagrams - PERT, CPM, etc. show interdependencies and precedence.

Example of a Gantt chart from a proposal

TaskNo. Task Description

Period fromCommencement First Year Second Year

I II III IV I II III IV

Modeling and design ofthe axial GRIN lenses

Optimization of axial GRINlens fabrication steps

Optimization of wavelengthadjustment algorithms

Development of techniques forroutine grating design and fabrication

Optimization of efficiency in eachchannel of multiplexed holograms

Optimization of coupling betweenAxial GRIN lens and fiber optic array

Demonstration of ruggedizedpackaging

Environmental tests of completeddevices

Measurement and optimization ofWDM and axial GRIN parts

Analysis of methods for optimizingdevice performance, stability, andreproducibility

Reporting and presentation.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

A shorter Gantt chartNote how it fails to indicate dependencies.

No task assignments are shown. Milestones might be inferred from the endpoint of the timeline for each task.

TABLE 1: PHASE I PROJECT SCHEDULETask Description Month: 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 Modeling and design of HOE devices for

existing optical fiber chemical sensors.x x

2 Development of techniques for routinegrating design and fabrication.

x x

3 Optimization of HOE fabrication steps. x x 4 Optimization of efficiency in each channel

of multiplexed holograms.x x

5 Optimization of coupling between opticalfiber and HOE.

x x x

6 Optimization of coupling between HOEand photodiode array.

x x x

7 Measurement of device performance,stability, and reproducibility.

x x

8 Reporting and presentation. x

• Bar charts can show percentage completion and can be used to estimate schedule performance, but fail to indicate dependencies that could cause project to be late.

now 6 months

Task A

Task B

Task C

PERT diagrams

• “Program Evaluation and Review Technique”• Event-oriented - events labels go in the nodes of

the diagram, surrounded by boxes, ovals, or other closed curve.

• Often used in R & D where time needed for an activity is uncertain (aerospace, science, leading-edge engineering projects)

PERT/CPM diagram conventions

• Event labels go in the nodes of the diagram, surrounded by boxes, ovals, or other closed curve.

• Activities are labeled on the arrows of the diagram, with nodes to delimit start and finish.

Start activity Finish activityActivity

CPM - Critical Path Method

• Activity-oriented (activity labels go on the paths between nodes)

• Often used in construction where the time needed for an activity can be controlled.

• Dummy activity labels can indicate precedence requirements.

• The critical path is often highlighted: it is a path through the network which contains activities which must stay on schedule.

Critical path is shown as the thickest line.

A1

B

A2

H

C D1

E1

FG

E2

Critical path method (without time-base).

Slack is shownas dotted lines.

Precedence condition is indicated by a dummyactivity (long-dash).

D2

Further reading

• Rosenau, Milton D., Project management for engineers

• (Belmont, Calif. : Lifetime Learning Publications, c1984).

• WIU Library Main Collection - Malpass Library TA190 .R531984

• Kerzner, Harold., Project management : a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling , 6th ed

• (New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold, c1998).

• WIU Libraries Regional Center REGIONAL HD69.P75 K471998

• and many more, even … for Dummies.

• Programs are available: Micro$oft Project ($$$) or IMSI TurboProject ($$)(the last resort – always try to do planning by hand first)