A very useful explanation of the principles of project planning and control is given
in 'Operations. Management' by Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers and Robert ...
A typical project showing the main planning tools To ensure that you have a sound grasp of the basic principles of project management we will now review some key issues. Firstly, a project is a time bounded activity which is usually a one-off rather than an ongoing continuous process. The project environment in which the project takes place includes such factors as geography, the economy, government, resources, sub-contractors, suppliers, national culture, organisational strategy, other projects, competitors, customers and users. All these factors have a bearing on the likely success or otherwise of the project. The project definition involves identifying the end state that project management is trying to achieve, the range of the responsibilities taken on by the project and the strategy of how the objectives are going to be met. The objectives need to be clear, measurable and quantifiable. The scope of the project is a boundary setting exercise which attempts to define the dividing line between what the project will do and what it won’t do. The scope of the project is formalized in the project specification and the strategy defines the general approach to the project. Finally key milestones must be identified to enable reviews of quality, cost and time issues to be identified. Study questions: Did you consider all the project environment issues when you initiated the current project in which you are working? How well defined was your project definition? Were the project objectives SMART – specific, objective, attainable, realistic and time-bounded? Was the scope of the project clearly identified? Was a detailed specification produced? Was a project strategy created? Were important milestones identified?
Project planning •
Identify activities
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Estimate times and resources
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Identify relationships and dependencies
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Identify schedule restraints
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Create the schedule
A very useful explanation of the principles of project planning and control is given in ‘Operations Management’ by Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers and Robert Johnson and the full reference to this book is given in the bibliography slide at the end of this session. We will outline some of the issues presented by these authors during the rest of this session. However the main emphasis of this module of ten sessions is the human aspect of project management and leadership. One of the reasons for the shift in emphasis from planning to the human issues is that computer software packages have been created
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during the past few decades which handle most of the technical aspects of project planning and control. In reality most of the problems that occur today tend to be in the area of the human aspects. Study questions: How effective have you been at the project planning process with your current projects? How effective were you at working through the five stage process of identifying activities, estimating times and resources, identifying relationships and dependencies, identifying schedule restraints and creating a workable schedule?
Project control is an important issue we have to factor into our project management processes. We need monitoring tools which are appropriate to the particular project and gain and maintaining commitment of all stakeholders to the monitoring process. This involves discussion, planning, doing and reviewing cycles as a continuous process. We need to use targets and milestones effectively and it is useful to create achievement graphs to show in a visual format the progress being made with the project. On the human side we need to work towards creating a high performing team and one of the ways of doing this is to create the Superteam Charter which we will discuss in the next slide. However, before moving on, please give some thought to the following study questions. Study questions: Do the monitoring tools you use for your current project work as well as you would wish? Are all stakeholders committed to the use of these tools? Is there an ongoing continuous process of discussion, planning, doing, and reviewing cycles? Do you use targets and milestones effectively? Are achievement graphs created? Are you creating a high performance team? One very helpful process in creating a high performing project team is the idea of the Superteam Charter – a declared way of working together on the project. High performing teams need to be almost obsessive in the pursuit of success and have high expectations of themselves and of others. They need to demonstrate respect for all stakeholders and give early warning of possible problems regardless of the ‘political’ implications which may exist. Team members need to work hard to keep each other up to date with progress. When things go wrong each member needs to move from blame frame to outcome frame. The members need to represent the project and its team positively both inside and outside the organisation The visible team members need to be engaged in valuing, involving and being open with invisible team members. It is important that each team member understands how their own role fit in with others Finally it is important that each team member is open about the situation where performance does not match aspiration and ensuring that appropriate action is taken to get things back on track
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Study questions: How would your team respond to the idea of creating their own Superteam Charter? What factors would make the Charter specific to that team? Are there any additional factors you would suggest would be useful in the Superteam Charter created for your team?
This is a complex process which involves identifying all tasks and estimates together with being aware of restrictions on start and completion dates. Part of the planning process involves identifying parallel activity, identifying the critical path and taking into account resource issues. Pages 524 to 530 in ‘Operations Management’ by Slack, Chambers and Johnson gives a comprehensive account of network planning. Study assignment: Work through pages 524 to 530 of ‘Operations Management by Slack, Chambers and Johnson.
This identifies the shortest time for project completion An excellent example is shown on page 84 of project leadership by Briner, Geddes and Hastings. This network diagram shows the key issues of events numbers, earliest start and latest finish times The critical path is clearly defined in this network diagram. Another excellent description with examples of critical path method is shown in ‘Operations Management’ pages 536 to 539 and includes a section on calculating float, which relates to the ability to change the timings of activities in various parts of the project to accommodate resource and other issues. Study assignments: Work through the example on page 84 of Project Leadership by Briner, Geddes and Hastings. Work through pages 536-539 in Operations Management by Slack, Chambers and Johnson (see bibliography).
Time estimates is an area in which we can involve statistical analysis techniques. There are many types of estimates including………..Programme evaluation and review technique (PERT) recognises that activity durations and costs in project management are not fixed and that probability theory can be applied to estimates. In this approach the duration of each activity is estimated on an optimistic, most likely and pessimistic basis. The various mathematical approaches are covered in detail in in ‘Operations Management’ by Slack, Chambers and Johnson on pages 541-543. Study assignment: Work through pages 541-543 of ‘Operations Management’ by Slack, Chambers and Johnson to develop your awareness of the statistical processes which can be used for the estimate process. 3
The project leader and manager does not need to be an accountant. However a sound grasp of the basics of finance is useful and there are two possible strands to this issue. Detailed financial controls need to be organised with the finance department in order to draw on their expertise. However a growing area of training and development is Finance for non-Financial Managers and the project leader and manager with high aspirations would do well to take part in one of these course programmes which are widely available. An internet search will provide a number of possibilities. An awareness of financial issues is very useful both in project working and in normal operational management Capital investment in the project is important and there are many ways that capital can be raised including from within the organisation, from public funds, from joint ventures, from external sponsorship and from venture capitalists. It is worth assessing all possible sources of funds for projects if internal resources are limited. PFI (Private Finance Initiative) has become a key issue in many areas on the basis that involvement of the private sector with the public sector will promote innovation and service quality. It also can promote whole life costing meaning that the contractor is responsible for creating an optimal solution in terms of cost, quality and time As in all areas of business, cashflow management is important and monitoring of all financial aspects is fundamentally important to ensure that the project is sustainable. It is suggested that the project leader and manager looks at finance books focusing on the application to project working rather than in its widest sense. Study questions: How competent do you feel you are at handling the finance of your project? How tightly do you manage cashflow? Is each member of your project team aware of the financial picture?
As in Slack, Chambers and Johnson suggest in ‘Operations Management’ (pages 543 to 546) the logic which governs network relationships is primarily derived from the technical details of the project and its specification issues such as quality, cost and time. However, the availability of resources may impose its own constraints which can materially affect the relationships between activities. For example using float and restructuring a network diagram may result in a reduction of individuals involved in a particular phase of a project from say eight people to two people, simply by rescheduling the activities slightly. in ‘Operations Management’ by Slack, Chambers and Johnson pages 543 to 546 gives some useful examples of the process of handling resource constraints. In particular the process of ‘crashing networks’ is discussed which a process of reducing time spans on critical path activities so that the project is completed in less than the planned time. (See Operations Management Page 545). Study assignments: Work through pages 543 to 546 of Operations Management to gain a sound foundation awareness of the process of handling constraints. Then continue to look at the process of crashing networks on page 545 of Operations Management 4
