Project Management Techniques

PROJECT MANAGEMENT FUNDAMENTALS

• Project deliverable – any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result, or item that is produced to complete a project
• Project milestone – represents key dates when a certain group of activities must be performed
• Project manager – an individual who is an expert in project planning and management
• Project management office (PMO) – an internal department that oversees all organizational projects

18-*

*

What is the relationship between project deliverables, project milestones, and project managers?

Project deliverables are usually project milestones

Project milestones and project deliverables defined and monitored by the project manager

*

ADDITIONAL CASE INFORMATION

E-espionage

This is a very scary scenario for the United States.

CNN: Staged Cyber Attack Reveals Vulnerability in Power Grid

Researchers who launched an experimental cyber attack caused a generator to self-destruct, alarming the federal government and electrical industry about what might happen if such an attack were carried out on a larger scale, CNN has learned. Sources familiar with the experiment said the same attack scenario could be used against huge generators that produce the country's electric power. Some experts fear bigger, coordinated attacks could cause widespread damage to electric infrastructure that could take months to fix. CNN has honored a request from the Department of Homeland Security not to divulge certain details about the experiment, dubbed "Aurora," and conducted in March at the Department of Energy's Idaho lab. In a previously classified video of the test CNN obtained, the generator shakes and smokes, and then stops. DHS acknowledged the experiment involved controlled hacking into a replica of a power plant's control system. Sources familiar with the test said researchers changed the operating cycle of the generator, sending it out of control.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/26/power.at.risk/index.html

*

*

CLASSROOM OPENER

GREAT BUSINESS DECISIONS – Rupert Murdoch Builds a Printing Plant without a Union

Rupert Murdoch built a new printing plant in the East of London that, for the first time, did not require union labor. On January 28, 1986, four million newspapers were produced at the plant. Thousands of picketers, from the print unions and others, attempted to close the plant and end nonunionized printing. The violent protests raged throughout most of the 1990s. Eventually, Murdoch paid the union $96 million to disappear and was left with a highly efficient and effective printing plant, which substantially reduced costs. Valuations of his company soared from $300 million to $1 billion. Murdoch’s confrontation with the union is a defining moment in his career and in the history of British unions. Murdoch’s win over the unions changed the face of the British newspaper industry and catapulted his empire.

Regardless of what you are outsourcing, where you are outsourcing, or how you are outsourcing, there are advantages and disadvantages.

*

A detailed review of the learning outcomes can be found at the end of the chapter in the textbook

Analysts predict investment in IT projects worldwide through 2010 will be over $1 trillion. This is a staggering amount, and even more staggering is that nearly 70 percent of it will be merely washed down the drain as a result of failed projects!

In addition to lost earnings, companies from Nestlé to Nike have experienced additional consequences of failed projects—a damaged brand, lost goodwill, the dissolution of partnerships, lost investment opportunities, and the effects of low morale.

According to the Standish Group, just 29 percent of IT projects were completed on time, within budget, and with features and functions originally specified by the customer to deliver business value.

With so many skilled and knowledgeable IT professionals at the helm of IT projects, how can this happen?

Every day, organizations adopt projects that do not align with mission-critical initiatives; they overcommit financial and human capital; they sign off on low-value projects that consume valuable and scarce resources; and they agree to support projects that are poorly defined from requirements to planning.

*

*

These three variables are interdependent

You cannot change one without changing the others

For example, decreasing a project’s timeframe means either increasing the cost of the project or decreasing the scope of the project to meet the new deadline

Increasing a project’s scope means either increasing the project’s timeframe or increasing the project’s cost – or both – to meet the increased scope changes

Project management is the science of making intelligent trade-offs among time, cost, and scope

*

A successful project is typically on time, within budget, meets the business’s requirements, and fulfills the customer’s needs.

The Hackett Group, an Atlanta-based consultancy, analyzed its client database, which includes 2,000 companies, including 81 Fortune 100 companies, and discovered:

Three in 10 major IT projects fail

21 percent of the companies state that they cannot adjust rapidly to market changes

One in four validates a business case for IT projects after completion

*

A recent survey concluded that the failure rate of IT projects is much higher in organizations that do not exercise disciplined project management

A successful project is typically on time, within budget, meets the business’s requirements, and fulfills the customer’s needs

*

Project management offers a strategic framework for coordinating the numerous activities associated with organizational projects

Have you ever worked on a project?

What worked well

What went wrong

What could you have done to ensure the success of the project?

Project management

*

Ask your students how many of them are currently involved in projects or are project mangers

Ask them which types of technologies they use to manage projects

Microsoft Project

Primavera

Excel

*

What is the relationship between project deliverables, project milestones, and project managers?

Project deliverables are usually project milestones

Project milestones and project deliverables defined and monitored by the project manager

*

Organize the top five successful project management strategies from greatest factor for success to least factor for success

Be sure to justify why

This makes for an excellent class debate

Top Five Successful Project Management Strategies

1. Define project success criteria. At the beginning of the project, make sure the stakeholders share a common understanding of how they will determine whether the project is successful. Too often, meeting a predetermined schedule is the only apparent success factor, but there are certainly others. Some examples are increasing market share, reaching a specified sales volume or revenue, achieving specific customer satisfaction measures, retiring a high maintenance legacy system, and achieving a particular transaction processing volume and correctness.

2. Develop a solid project plan. The hard part of developing a plan is the thinking, negotiating, balancing, and communication project managers will have to do to develop a solid and realistic plan. The time they spend analyzing what it will take to solve the business problem will reduce the number of changes later in the project.

3. Divide and conquer. Break all large tasks into multiple small tasks to provide more accurate estimates, reveal hidden work activities, and allow for more accurate, fine-grained status tracking.

4. Plan for change. Things never go precisely as planned on a project; therefore, the budget and schedule should include some contingency buffers at the end of major phases to accommodate change.

5. Manage project risk. Failure to identify and control risks will allow the risks to control the project. Be sure to spend significant time during project planning to brainstorm possible risk factors, evaluate their potential threat, and determine the best way to mitigate or prevent them.

Be sure to review the learning outcomes included in the end-of-chapter material

*