IT 3301

Lecture 2

About me...

This session
Attendance - are you registered for this class?
Book Effective Project Management 3rd
Edition by Wysocki. PLEASE READ CH 1 - 3
Projects, project ideas for next time
Todays topics

Why plan? Building a house as a case study

Planning class exercise for Kitchen Remodeling
Example of project scoping and planning
Discussion of the readings Wysocki Chapters 1,2, 3

Why should we plan?

Example case study building a house

What is the fastest anyone can build a house?

What are the parameters under our control?
How would you approach it?
Lets look at an example (how fast do you think
they were able to complete a fully functional
house?
Assumptions? Risks? Cost?

Benefits of planning
Example of building a house
How long do you think it would take?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2HqWAAb20

Chapter 1 - What is a Project?

Objectives:
define a project, it's characteristics,
distinguish project from program, activity and
task,
three constraints, classification basis
scope + hope + feature creep

Chapter

1 - What is a Project?

Defining a project :

Sequence of activities
Unique Activities
Complex Activities
Connected Activities
One Goal
Specified Time Within Budget According to
specification

Chapter 1 - What is a
Project?
What is a Program :
Projects organized for a unified common goal;
Often managed as a Portfolio

Chapter 1 - What is a Project?

Project Parameters :
Scope: Functional specification; statement of
work;
Cost: Total cost of resources, including human
effort;
Time: Based on time required to do the work as
well as imposed limits
Quality: Product quality; Project quality;
Resources: People, equipment, facilities,
inventory, etc

Chapter 1 - What is a Project?

The scope triangle (Scope, Cost, Time):
Scope: Functional specification; statement of work;
Cost: Total cost of resources, including human effort;
Time: Based on time required to do the work as well
as imposed limits
Assumes other parameters are under control
Quality: Product quality; Project quality;
Resources: People, equipment, facilities, inventory,
etc

Chapter 2 - What is traditional project

management
Objectives:

people vs project mgmt;

importance of project planning;
characteristics of project failure;
five phases of pm lifecycle;
project plan as a model;
quality management

Chapter 2 - What is traditional project

management
Objectives, understand:

people vs project management;

importance of project planning;
characteristics of project failure;
five phases of pm lifecycle;
project plan as a model;
quality management

Chapter 2 - What is traditional project

management
Principles of traditional Project
Management
method and set of techniques used for
defining, planning, executing, controlling
and closing a project

Chapter 2 - What is traditional project

management

Defining

sets the scope of the project:

opportunity, goal, objectives,
success criteria,
assumptions,
risks

Planning - project plan defines

The Project Lifecycle every project needs one

how work will be performed

facilitates decision making,
alternative approaches,
how to handle risk,
How to deal with communication and
resources

Executing

identify resources,
assign activities,
schedule activities and
launch the plan

Controlling

schedule defines: what needs to be

accomplished,
when tasks are to be done,
who is responsible,
what are the deliverables

Closing

formally ending the project:

deliverables meet expectations?
plan completed?
lessons learned?

Chapter 2 - What is traditional project

management
Quality Management
Product vs project quality
Continuous quality management model (p31)
Feedback loops to continually assess quality
KPIs

Process quality management model (p32)

Identify Business Process and Critical Success Factors

Chapter 2 - What is traditional project

management
Risk Management
Based on the product of Probability vs Severity or
Impact
Identifying risk: Entire team participates in identifying
risks
Assessing risk: Identify probability of occurrence and
impact if it does occur
Planning risk response: Develop plan based on
combination of probability and impact
Risk monitoring and control: Keep track of risks and
monitor periodically
Risk Assessment example

Chapter 2 - What is traditional project

management
Procurement management

Planning procurement
Soliciting requests for proposals
Managing RFP questions and responses
Selecting vendors
Managing contracts
Closing out the contract

Chapter 3 - Scoping the project

Defining the project
Managing client expectations
Sorting wants and needs
Developing conditions for satisfaction
Conducting milestone reviews

Chapter 3 - Scoping the project

Creating the Project Overview Statement
Parts of the POS
Attachments
Using a Joint Project Planning Session to
develop the POS

Chapter 3 - Scoping the project

Submitting a project for approval
Participants in the approval process
Approval criteria
Project approval status

Project definition statement

Agenda

Introductions

Lets try to figure out a product based on a naive approach

As an exercise, lets come up with the Next Gen Learning Management

System

Next, lets look at the intersection of

Agile Methodologies and
Product development

Lets look at an Agile model for Product Development

Now lets go through another pass in defining our product using an agile
product development cycle

Lessons Learned?

Fifteen Project Management Job Functions*

Define scope of project
Identify stakeholders,
decision-makers, and
escalation procedures
Develop detailed task list
(work breakdown structures)
Estimate time
requirements
Develop initial project
management flow chart
Identify required resources
and budget
Evaluate project
requirements

Identify and evaluate

risks
Prepare contingency plan
Identify
interdependencies
Identify and track critical
milestones
Participate in project
phase review
Secure needed resources
Manage the change
control process
Report project status

Overlap of Process Groups in a Phase (PMBOK

Guide, 2000)

Relationships Among Process Groups and Knowledge

Areas (PMBOK Guide 2000, p. 38)

Relationships Among Process Groups and

Knowledge Areas (PMBOK Guide)

Project Planning

The main purpose of project planning is to

guide execution
Every knowledge area includes planning
information
Key outputs include:
A team contract
A scope statement/project charter
A work breakdown structure (WBS)
A project schedule, in the form of a Gantt chart with
all dependencies and resources entered
A list of prioritized risks

PMI Process Project Gantt Chart

Scope Planning and the

Scope Statement
A scope statement is a document used
to develop and confirm a common
understanding of the project scope. It
should include
a project justification
a brief description of the projects products
a summary of all project deliverables
a statement of what determines project
success

Scope Planning and the Work Breakdown Structure

After completing scope planning, the next

step is to further define the work by breaking it
into manageable pieces
Good scope definition
helps improve the accuracy of time, cost, and resource estimates
defines a baseline for performance measurement and project control
aids in communicating clear work responsibilities

List of Prioritized Risks

The Work Breakdown Structure

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a deliverable-oriented grouping of the work
involved in a project that defines the total scope of the project
It is a foundation document in project management because it provides the basis
for planning and managing project schedules, costs, and changes

Approaches to Developing WBSs

Using guidelines: Some organizations, like the

DoD, provide guidelines for preparing WBSs
The analogy approach: Review WBSs of similar
projects and tailor to your project
The top-down approach: Start with the largest
items of the project and break them down
The bottom-up approach: Start with the detailed
tasks and roll them up
Mind-mapping approach: Write down tasks in a
non-linear format and then create the WBS structure

Basic Principles for Creating WBSs*

1. A unit of work should appear at only one place in the
WBS.
2. The work content of a WBS item is the sum of the WBS
items below it.
3. A WBS item is the responsibility of only one individual,
even though many people may be working on it.
4. The WBS must be consistent with the way in which
work is actually going to be performed; it should serve the
project team first and other purposes only if practical.
5. Project team members should be involved in
developing the WBS to ensure consistency and buy-in.
6. Each WBS item must be documented to ensure
accurate understanding of the scope of work included and
not included in that item.
7. The WBS must be a flexible tool to accommodate
inevitable changes while properly maintaining control of the
work content in the project according to the scope
statement.

Sample Intranet WBS

Organized by Product

Sample Intranet
Organized by Phase

Intranet WBS in Tabular Form

1.0 Concept
1.1 Evaluate current systems
1.2 Define Requirements
1.2.1 Define user requirements
1.2.2 Define content requirements
1.2.3 Define system requirements
1.2.4 Define server owner requirements
1.3 Define specific functionality
1.4 Define risks and risk management approach
1.5 Develop project plan
1.6 Brief Web development team
2.0 Web Site Design
3.0 Web Site Development
4.0 Roll Out
5.0 Support

Intranet Project with Gantt Chart

Intranet WBS and Gantt Chart Organized by Project Management

Process Groups

Sample Mind-Mapping Approach

Sample Gantt Chart

The WBS is on the left, and each tasks start and finish
date are shown on the right using a calendar timescale.
Early Gantt Charts, first used in 1917, were drawn by
hand.

Sample Network Diagram

Each box is a project task from the WBS. Arrows show dependencies
between tasks. The bolded tasks are on the critical path. If any tasks on the
critical path take longer than planned, the whole project will slip
unless something is done. Network diagrams were first used in 1958 on the
Navy Polaris project, before project management software was available.

Sample Enterprise Project Management Tool

In recent years, organizations have been taking advantage of software

to help manage their projects throughout the enterprise.

Project Time Management Processes

Project time management involves the processes required to ensure

timely completion of a project. Processes include:
Activity definition
Activity sequencing
Activity duration estimating
Schedule development
Schedule control

Activity Definition

Project schedules grow out of the basic

document that initiate a project
Project charter includes start and end
dates and budget information
Scope statement and WBS help
define what will be done
Activity definition involves developing a
more detailed WBS and supporting
explanations to understand all the work to
be done so you can develop realistic
duration estimates

Activity Sequencing

Involves reviewing activities and determining dependencies

Mandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of the work; hard
logic
Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project team; soft logic
External dependencies: involve relationships between project and
non-project activities
You must determine dependencies in order to use critical path analysis

Project Network Diagrams

Project network diagrams are the preferred technique for showing activity
sequencing
A project network diagram is a schematic display of the logical relationships
among, or sequencing of, project activities

Sample Activity-on-Arrow (AOA) Network Diagram

for Project X

Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

Activities are represented by boxes

Arrows show relationships between activities
Better at showing different types of dependencies

Task Dependency Types

Sample PDM Network Diagram

Activity Duration Estimating

After defining activities and determining

their sequence, the next step in time
management is duration estimating
Duration includes the actual amount of
time worked on an activity plus elapsed
time
Effort is the number of workdays or work
hours required to complete a task. Effort
does not equal duration
People doing the work should help create
estimates, and an expert should review
them

Schedule Development

Schedule development uses results of the

other time management processes to
determine the start and end date of the
project and its activities
Ultimate goal is to create a realistic
project schedule that provides a basis for
monitoring project progress for the time
dimension of the project
Important tools and techniques include
Gantt charts, PERT analysis, critical path
analysis, and critical chain scheduling

Gantt Charts

Gantt charts provide a standard format for

displaying project schedule information by
listing project activities and their corresponding
start and finish dates in a calendar format
Symbols include:
A black diamond: milestones or significant events on a project with zero
duration
Thick black bars: summary tasks
Lighter horizontal bars: tasks
Arrows: dependencies between tasks

Gantt Chart for Project X

Gantt Chart for Software Launch Project

Milestones

Milestones are significant events on a project

that normally have zero duration
You can follow the SMART criteria in
developing milestones that are:
Specific
Measurable
Assignable
Realistic
Time-framed

Sample Tracking Gantt Chart

Critical Path Method (CPM)

CPM is a project network analysis technique used to predict total project

duration
A critical path for a project is the series of activities that determines the
earliest time by which the project can be completed
The critical path is the longest path through the network diagram and has
the least amount of slack or float

Finding the Critical Path

First develop a good project network diagram

Add the durations for all activities on each path through the project network
diagram
The longest path is the critical path

Simple Example of Determining the Critical Path

Consider the following project network

diagram. Assume all times are in days.

a. How many paths are on this network diagram?

b. How long is each path?
c. Which is the critical path?
d. What is the shortest amount of time needed to
complete this project?

Determining the Critical Path for

Project X

More on the Critical Path

If one or more activities on the critical path takes longer than planned, the whole
project schedule will slip unless corrective action is taken
Misconceptions:
The critical path is not the one with all the critical activities; it only accounts
for time.
There can be more than one critical path if the lengths of two or more paths
are the same
The critical path can change as the project progresses

Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule Trade-offs

Knowing the critical path helps you make

schedule trade-offs
Free slack or free float is the amount of
time an activity can be delayed without
delaying the early start of any immediately
following activities
Total slack or total float is the amount of
time an activity may be delayed from its early
start without delaying the planned project
finish date
A forward pass through the network
diagram determines the early start and finish
dates
A backward pass determines the late start
and finish dates

Calculating Early and Late Start and Finish Dates

Project Schedule Table View Showing Free

and Total Slack

Rational Choices
This is additional material used to quantifiably
select options for a project when there are
limited resources