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project management
Project management –
basic concepts
What is a project?
“Series of actions to achieve a result”
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Project management: History
Already the Egyptians… (Crucifixion raids or east
India trips were organized as projects, but without
any management philosophy)
1911 Taylorism/Scientific Management: Henry L
Gantt invents the Gantt scheme
1931: Karol Adamiecki creates the first network
diagram, the so called Harmonogram
1942-45: The Manhattan project (USA). 2 billion
dollar turnover, at most 120.000 employees. Goal
control, parallel activities
1950ies: Operations analysis, RAND Corporation
1957: The Sputnik chock, initiating the Polaris project

The Polaris project: 250 main suppliers and 9000
secondary suppliers coordinated to perform ca
70.000 different activities using PERT (Program
Evaluation and Review Technique).
1956-59: CPM (Critical Path Method) is created at
DuPont, independent of PERT.
PERT and CPM are very similar and are both examples of
network planning of projects
1959: The concept of ”project manager” is coined in
Harvard Business Review.
1960ies: Great interest in matrix organizations
1967: INTERNET (IPMA) and PMI is established.
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1968 The Nätplan interest group is created in
Sverige (later to be named Svenskt Projektforum).
1980ies: Increasing interest in organizational and
project management issues in projects. The project
philosophy spreads to other fields, to smaller
activities and to internal activities.
1987: PMBOK (Project Management Body of
Knowledge) presents its first issue by PMI. The
ambition to create certified project management, so
called PMPs (Project Management Professionals).
1990ies: Management by projects (the project based
company)
Project: Definition
”Series of actions to achieve a result”
Single occurrence – a unique, non-repetitive
assignment
Time limitations – with a pre-defined date of delivery
Clear purpose – specified from one or more goals (well
defined, measurable and realistic), do not mix project
goals and effect goals
Unpredictable structure – it consists of a number of
complex activities with mutual interdependencies
Own organisation – e.g. Not in the original line of work
Procurer – internal or external acquirer that has
expectations on the result
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What is a project plan?
The aim of a project plan is to go through,
document and agree upon important issues
that define the work in the project.
Project organisation
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Project Management: concepts
System theory Time
Project triangle
Cost Quality
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Gantt-scheme
Gantt schedule
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Positive and negative things
about a Gantt diagrams
Disadvantages
Advantages:
Things never turn out
the way we think
Good for planning.
Time
Good overview
Difficult to maintain
Sequence of activities
Easy to know who does

what
Better picture of project

status
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How do you calculate time?
Have a good guess?
Calculate?
Guess at minimum (A),

probably(B) and maximum
(C)
Calculate
(A + 3B + C)/5
Information and
communication
Common problem in projects
Lack of communication and structure is often a problem in
projects
Difficulty in involving the project members, the customer, the
procurer and other stakeholders.
10
Meeting and meeting
techniques
To succeed it is necessary
to have a goal with the
meeting and an agenda.
Meeting are necessary, but

need to be efficient. A
good way of organising is
an agenda.
Different meetings
Steer group meetings
At milestones or when needed
Protocol written by PM
Project Management Meetings

Every Friday
Protocol written by PM
Project Meetings
Every second Monday
Protocol written by PM.
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Information – reports at meetings
Agenda
Summary
What has happened

since last time?
What happens next?
Time plan
Risks and options
Project risks
The only thing we

truly know about
the future is that
we do not know
anything about it.
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Results from a risk analysis
A list of risks in
prioritized order
Suggestions of how to
eliminate, reduce or
meet risks
Workflow in a Risk Analysis
Use project idea and goal as starting point

Make a list of risks and threats individually
Make a common list
Look for reasons for risk
Make a risk calculation
1) Likeliness that the risk might occur
2) Effect of risk
Make suggestions of ways to deal with the risk.
Write a report
Decide about what to do
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Aspects not included in project
management perspective
Motivation
Joy to work together
Group dynamics
Creativity
Spontaneity
Standardized project
management models
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Example 1: PROPS
80% of Ericsson employees are involved in
projects on a daily basis
Three main project based processes:
- Product development projects (Time to
market)
- Customer delivery projects (Time to
customer)
- Internal project (supporting processes)
PROPS
Ericsson’s general model for all types of
projects in the entire organization
Are also used in organizations such as Saab,
Telia, Statoil, etc.
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PROPS: A success story
Based on best practices (internal and
external)
Is continuously being developed
Has a special unit for support, development
and training
Information distribution among its users
Strong management support
3500 project managers, 150 project office
managers, 100 PROPS coaches
And what is PROPS?

Traditional project management method based on
milestones/tollgates:
TG 0. Initiating a pre study?

TG 1. Shall a feasibility study be initiated?
TG 2. Should the project be performed?
TG 3. Shall the project continue with original or revised plans?
TG 4. Shall the result be reported to the client?
TG 5. Can the project be approved and a project summary report be
made?
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Project Work
model model
PROPS
Pre
End
study
phase
phase
Analysis
phase
Toll
gates
Performance
phase
Mile
stones
Four perspectives in PROPS

The business perspective
The human perspective
The project organization perspective
Project flow perspective
All perspectives must be considered in all

decision points/tollgates!
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The business perspective
Focus all efforts in the organization towards

the same business goals,
focus on the client,
Focus on business profits
Effective resource allocation
The human perspective
The individuals in an organization are the

organization’s most important resources. A
mutual project culture with an understanding
of team work and management, can liberate
creativity and make use of the knowledge
and experiences of all individuals.
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The project organization
perspective
Identifies the project stakeholders and participants
and identifies their functions and roles in the project
organization as well as each responsibilities. In
addition to the project participants and the project
manager PROPS identifies which role higher
management in the line organization should have in
a certain project.
The project flow perspective

To be able to fulfil the project and reach the goals
that have been set, PROPS identifies a general
work model that defines what should be done and
when. Different phases in the project and control
functions, as well as advice on how the project
manager should coach the project participants is
described
19

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project management

Project management: History

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Easy to know who does

Better picture of project

Guess at minimum (A),

Meeting are necessary, but

Project Management Meetings

What has happened

What happens next?

Risks and options

The only thing we

Workflow in a Risk Analysis

Use project idea and goal as starting point

And what is PROPS?

TG 0. Initiating a pre study?

Four perspectives in PROPS

All perspectives must be considered in all

Focus all efforts in the organization towards

The human perspective

The individuals in an organization are the

The project flow perspective

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