Project Management

The way the Others do it.....

Team 12, September 2005

Peter Busch
 Schedule
• Day 1
– 09.00 - 12.30 Lecture
– 12.30 - 13.30 Lunch
– 13.30 - 16.00 Group project
• Day 2
– 09.00 - 12.00 Group project
– 12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
– 13.00 - 16.00 Presentation and feedback
Fail to Plan

Plan to Fail
 Notion

Project Issuer
Customer
Contract Results
Reference Group
Control Forecast
Advisory Board
PM Advice
Perspective
Sanity-check

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5

Partners/Resources/Sub contractors
Different kinds of Projects
 Project Environment
• Internal projects
– Inside the organisation
– Within a group of partners
– Economy and requirements from organisation
• Cultural/change projects
– External ”customer”
– Project participants decide what they want to
do
– Result is ”an offer” to community
 The Project
• Focus on the task/assignment
• Work to understand
– the borders and aim of the task
– The connection between the task and the
solution
– Plan the project’s workflow and methods
• Projects are solved in a project
organisation
• Be aware of the “political environment”
 Project
Types
• Development Projects. Make the o-series
of the product, the documentation and the
facilities for the organisation to reproduce
the product (or service)
• Delivery Projects. Produce and deliver the
product (service)
 Development Projects
• Product development
– It seems like a technical task, but the real focus is to
create business opportunities
– Implication for various functional areas
– Often a combination of different disciplines,
technologies, etc.
• More than one stakeholder – internal/external
• Internal competition for resources/specialists
 Delivery Projects
• Contract
• Deadlines for delivery
• Payment
• Sanctions
• Repetition of earlier assignments
 Central Issues
• Problem formulation – Problem
Description
– Gets clearer during the project
– The business, product and service concepts
are important to consider
• Structure and flow
– Break down project into parallel paths with
coordinated phases and decision-making
points
 Central Issues
• Communication
– The group’s ability to cooperate is paramount
for quality and speed
• Management
– Quality management (control, assurance) and
management of deadlines are important
– Resource management is mandatory
 Project
Elements
Project-
task

Method
Stake Environment
Holders

Resources
 The assignment
• Need and Purpose – Outcome
• Idea – vision for the solution
• The project result – solution, use, business
result
• The borders – time, resources, budget
• Documentation, plans, the road to results
 Stakeholders
• Scope of use, ownership, acceptance
• Will and drive – enthusiasm, support, priority
• Resources – knowledge, abilities, contribution
• Formal acceptance – principles and methods
• Social acceptance – effects, issues concerning
use
• Positive/negative influence
 Environment
• Market – needs, competition, etc
• Technology – possibilities and limitations
• Related systems – the results
interdependence with other systems
• Physical environment – space, rooms,
location, etc.
• Rules – norms, culture, etc.
 Resources
• Knowledge
• Abilities
• Persons
• Facilities
• Material
• Money
• Etc.
 Project method
• Project formulation – specification
– Contract, idea, assignment
• Structure – the Project flow and the borders
– Problem, methods, decision process
• Organisation
– Responsibility, Authority, management, resources
• Communication
– Enthusiasm, cooperation, culture, participants
• Management – handling exceptions
Organisation
 Project organisation
• The standard model
• Organisation/communication diagram
• Task/Responsibility
• Stakeholders
 Standard Project model
• Project issuer
• Project manager
• Project employees
• Reference group
• Project administration
• Ad Hoc Specialists
• External resources
• …
 Organisation - Communication
• More than one way to organise a project
– Hierarchical – power to the manager
– Equal – common group decisions
– Subgroups – distributed responsibility
– Project manager + ad hoc participation
• The communication structure depends on
the organisation
 Networ
k
• Project Manager as the core and the driver
• Persons are involved on a needs basis
• Communication is bi-lateral
 The
Team
• Small group, everybody is involved during
the full project
• Range of functions and tasks per person
• Management via group meetings
• Intensive work
 Amoeb
a
• Lots of different participants during the
project lifecycle
• Project group changes over time
• Project Manager + key personnel are the
core – the driver (continuity)
• Management via Project Manager
Project phases
 Model
s
• Standard development models
– Focus on liniar product development
– Precise requirement specification
• V-Model
– Focus on Measurability
– Quality control
– Documentation
• Spiral model
– Iterativ Development
• Prototyping
– Rapid development of prototype/model
– Iterativ development, step-wise progress
 Traditional development
models
• Idea
• Analysis
• Design
• Implementation/construction
• Test
• Running/Production/Standard merchandise
• Maintenance - Updating
 Waterfall
model
Idea
Analysis

Design

Construction

Test

Production

Maintenance
 V-Model

Idea, Analysis Standard merchandise

Product- Accept-
requirement Test

Overall Integration
Design test

Component Module/component
Design Test - QA

Component
production
 Spiral Model

Analysis

Design Requirement specification

Version 1
Version 2
Implementation
Version 3

Integration/test
 Prototyping

Prototyping
Requirement
Specification
Quick-
Design
Make
Prototype
Refine
Requirement spec.
New
development
cycle
 Project target

… And what to focus on

 Targets
• Use target
• Product target
• Project target
• Abilities
– Positioning Target
– Need to have
– Nice to have
• CSF – Critical Success Factors
 Use target
• Usefulness and effect of the project results
• In-use situation
• The stakeholders’ future revenue and
possibilities of the project results
• Find the use targets by asking:
– Why…
– What do we want to achieve by having or using the
product
• Use targets are linked to “value”: use, attraction,
quality, etc.
 Product target
• Specific requirements for the project results and
solutions:
– Functional abilities
– Economy
– Deadlines, timing
• Find the product targets by asking:
– How…
– The wanted/expected product (=solution)
• Product target is linked to abilities and solution
 Project target
• The optimal and maximal target fulfillment
– The best result we are aiming at
• Acceptable and minimal target fulfillment
– On the border of the unacceptable
• Project targets are defined within that
scope
• Prioritise sub-targets
 Abilities
• Positioning
– What is unique compared to competition
(product/service)
• Need to have
– Abilities stakeholders expect as minimum
• Nice to have
– Abilities that can be questioned and prioritised
• Time, price, conflicts with other abilities, etc.
 CSF
• Critical Success Factors
– Sub-targets and abilities that determine each
stakeholder’s experience of a successful project
– Make a list for each stakeholder with critical and non-
critical targets
– Sum up all stakeholders’ critical targets – these are
the CSFs
• A thorough analysis of each stakeholder’s power
and influence can help to differentiate the picture
of critical and non-critical
Approval
 Approval during phases
• Most projects live in a GO/NO GO world
– Needs approval several times during project lifecycle
• Idea and how to get there
• Budgets
• Results
• Timing
• Etc.
– The culture, history and development model
determines when, who and where the GO/NO GO
points are
 Gate Model
• Project splits into four to five main phases
• A “Gate” between each phase
• The rules of the Gate have to be fulfilled
(full compliance) before project can enter
next phase
• Gate controlled by committee (internal or
external = project issuer/project owner)
 Fixed time reviews
• Monthly, Half-year or yearly review
• Review cycle is dependent on time
frames, not the project life-cycle
– Typical EU-project
– Project planning tends to submit/comply to the
time frame requirements
 Milestones
• Review of specific milestones
• GO/NO GO meetings scheduled based on
the Project Plan and specified milestones
• The Project Lifecycle determines the
review cycle
The Toolbox
Description and specification
 Description
• Projects need descriptions and
specifications for stakeholders to be able
to accept and evaluate them
– Elevator pitch
– Executive summary
– Detailed project plan
– Documentation of results, analysis and use
 Elevator Pitch
• Short and precise
• Give the listener a clear picture of what
and why
• 2-3 sentences describing the main idea
and the outcome
• Avoid technical language and detailed
stuff
• Think: Target group shall understand this !
 Executive Summary
• Short description of the project and main
issues
• Maximum of 2 A4 pages
• For those who want to know “all about the
project” but don’t want to spend the time
• Often copy-paste from the detailed
descriptions
 Detailed Project plan
• The Project “blue print” – all about the
project
– Concept and idea
– How to get there
• Timeline, milestones, resources, budget, etc.
– Effects – analysis
• Market, competition, SWOT, Stakeholder, RoI, etc.
– How to know we got there
• Measurement, methods and evaluation criteria
 Documentation
• Documented results and Project status and forecast
– At each phase / Gate
– At each milestone
• Test results
– Module tests
– Integration tests
– Acceptance tests
• Project planning
– Revised P-Plan
• Product documentation
– Technical specification
– Production specification
– User documentation
– Maintenance documentation
– Sale, marketing, Etc.
Timelines
 Timeline - Overview
• Standard language for projects
– Overview of time
• Calendar time
• Hours/Weeks/Months
• Resources and load
• Critical path
– GANTT Chart (Often the official P-plan)
– PERT Chart
 GANTT
Chart
• GANTT
– Time planning
– Overview of project activities and mutual dependencies
• Planning AND Revision/Update
• GANTT chart shows
– Connection and dependencies between activities and sub
activities
– Milestones
– Planned time and activity load (either average or specified e.g.
per week)
– Planned time and the status for each started/finished activity (like
80% finished **!!!)
 Finished ?
• What is 80% finished ?
– We spend 80% of the time
– We spend 80% of the resources
– We spend 80% of the money
• We only need to do 20% more work

• Be aware of the notion “Finished”

 Project -> activities
• Structured overview of the full project
– List all problems and goals
– List all Choices and decisions
• Break project down into main phases
• Break phases down into sub-phases
• Break sub-phases down into activities
• Break activities down into sub-activities
(single person or group activities)
 Black Box
• Use Black Box for break-down
• Black Box principle
– Knowledge about the input
– Knowledge about the output
– Don’t care about what’s going on inside the
box – it doesn’t matter for now!
• Isolate the problem – postpone the
decisions
• Keep the perspective and overview
 GANTT
chart
Activity 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ...
1. XXX

1.1 zzz

1.2 fff

2. YYY

2.1 rrr

2.2 eee

2.3 ttt

2.4 kkk

3. HHH

4. DDD
 PERT
•
Chart
Use PERT Chart to track the Critical Path through the project
– PERT Diagram means: “Program Evaluation and Review Technique”
– CPM means “Critical Path Method”, CPM is used together with PERT
Charts
• The PERT chart shows activities
– Logical connection between activities
– Activities immediately before this activity
– Activities immediately after this activity
– Activities parallel to this activity
– Earliest Start and End date
– Latest Start and End date
– Optional: Resources, workload, duration in days, etc.
 PERT
chart
10/05/06 20/05/06

3 days JP

13/05/06 25/05/06 25/05/06 01/06/06

10/05/06 20/05/06 4 days JP 6 days JP

10 days JP

20/05/06 24/05/06

2 days KL
 GANTT/PERT Charts
• Mac/PC based tools for project planning with
GANTT/PERT functionality
– Can switch between GANTT, PERT, Resource load,
etc. based on the same information
– Maintenance of Project Plan
• Percent finished, etc.
• Various reports, including financial reports
– VERY Time consuming stuff !
– Examples:
• Microsoft Project
• FastTrack
• 1stmanager.com
 Milestones
• A Milestone is somewhere in a project, where
you can check whether you are on track
– Delivery of a sub product, e.g. the design, a
prototype, ready for user “test”, etc.
– A date where different dependencies and activities
join
• You have to set clear (and measurable) criteria
for a milestone
– You should be able to “hurt your knee” on a milestone
• A Milestone is NOT JUST “Friday before Easter”
 Milestones
• A milestone can “cast a shadow”
• A milestone is clearly definable – before you reach it
• A milestone is measurable
• The purpose of a milestone is to verify whether the
project is on track
• Typical Milestones
– Decision points (Go/No Go)
– Coordination (parallel activities are finished and joined)
– Approval points
– Sub results
– Transfer of responsibility
Budgets
 Project needs budgets
• For the “Customer” to give a GO
• To know the expenses and the financing
• To know the resource load and timing
• Budgets
– Overall budget – total cost
• Resources – Manhours/Manmonth – time and expenses
• Other expenses - materials and tools
• Travel, meetings, accommodation and food, etc.
• Offices, renting, equipment, communication, etc.
• External consultants, experts, etc
• Marketing, print, pictures, etc..
– Cash-flow (projects are often paid in three phases, Up-front, on
major milestones, after receipt/acceptance)
 Budget tool
• SpreadSheet model
– Various connected sheets with
• Resource load and price per resource
• Other expenses
• Travel budgets
• Etc
– Think – Updateable, maintainable
– Brainstorm ALL possible expenses for the project
– Be aware that connections and formulas are correct
– Be aware that the spreadsheet ONLY tells you a
result based on the presumptions you laid down in the
formulas !
• New presumptions = Different result
 Budget reality
• Start budgeting the project as you would
love it
• Asses the costs compared to “will they
pay”
• Often the answer is NO
– Project plan and budget are revised to cut
down expenses and or timeframe
– What can we remove or do cheaper to meet a
realistic goal and expenditures (Quality-kill)
 Resource budget
• Make an activity list
• Assign resources to each activity
(remember administrative staff too)
• Make estimated use of time per resource
per activity
• Calculate (hours*price per resource) for
each activity
• Calculate activity totals and project totals
 Other costs
• Make a list of other costs
• Assign price per unit for each cost
• Estimate actual use for each cost category
• Calculate cost category * estimated use
• Calculate cost category totals and Project
totals
Analysis
 Market / Competition
• Market
– What are the needs and wishes from the market
– What are the expected sales – amount of products/services
bought
– How big is our expected share of the market
– Do our project results “change the game” / make existing
solutions obsolete
• Competition
– Who are the competitors/competition
– Which products/services do they have that compete with our
project
– What are the competitors heading for (product ideas, not
released ideas, etc.)
 Stakeholder analysis
• Analyse
– Who are the stakeholders
– What position and influence does the
individual stakeholder have on the project
– What are the critical success factors for each
stakeholder (the required results and
effects/non-effects of the project)
– Which coinciding or opposite interests are
there between stakeholders
 Stakeholder analysis
• Make list of stakeholders
• Make list of CSF for each stakeholder
• Rate each CSF (i.e. from -5 to 5)
– Is it for or against the project/project result
– Is the stakeholder strong or weak in influence
• Plot the rated CSF’ in the chart
• Evaluate the chart
 Stakeholder analysis chart
Strong

Negative Positive

Weak
 SWOT
• SWOT
– Strength
– Weakness
– Opportunities
– Threats
• A picture of the Project’s/Product’s ability to “survive”
• High score on Strength – A good and marketable
product
• High score on Opportunities – A good Concept/Prototype
that needs refinement
• Focus the SWOT on the project result (product/service)
– Optional - also a SWOT of the project
 Cost/Benefit
• Cost/benefit analysis and comparison of the
– Costs of the project
– The revenue and advantages
• The analysis reveals the results from a cost
perspective
– Costs
– Time/Resources
– Quality
– Environment
 RoI
• Decision about Project Go/NoGo often
made on RoI (Return of Investment)
– How much do we have to pay to get this result
– What’s in it for us
– When will we get the economical benefit
• Return of Investment calculates the
investment and the return, and states the
percentage gained compared to time:
-i.e. “30% return within 18 month”
Specifications
 Specifications
• Some projects requires a lot of specification
– Software and hardware projects
– Projects with external “issuer”/customer
– Projects with external suppliers/subcontractors
• Various specifications
– Requirement specification
– Design specification
– Test specification
– Acceptance specification
 Measurability
• Meaningful specifications HAVE to have
measurable measures !
– The devil is in the detail
– Be very precise in your language
– Be sure you can measure critical
specifications
– Be aware of the tolerance on each measure
• It is not enough to specify
– Fast, beautiful, small, light, good quality, etc…
 Measures ?
• You can only measure things you can
describe precisely !
• In day-to-day life we talk about things, that
we all know about and can’t describe!
– A lot of tacit knowledge
– What is good leadership?
– What is quality?
– What is a chair?
 Specifications
• Requirement-, test- and acceptance
specifications are often part of the contract
– Effect on will you get paid
– Do you have to pay for sub products that are foul
– Can you get out of the contract (end the project)
• Give all specifications (both the ones you sign
and the ones you issue) a sanity check
 Teamicide

How NOT to make the team jell

7 ways to destroy your team

 Defensive Management
• People who feel mistrust don’t make a
team
• If the group lacks the right qualifications –
then fight to get them
• Defensive acts to secure success in spite
of the group, guarantee that the group will
never work together again
 Bureaucracy
• Avoid “paper-work” that is only “paper-work”
• The team needs a goal they believe in
• The team needs a goal management believes in
• “Paper-work” for the sake of the paper destroys
the individuals’ belief in management and team
goals
• In SW development, up to 30% of the work can
be just “pushing paper” (paper-work not directly
connected to the goals of the project, Casper
Jones 1981)
 Physical Absence
• Team members need to interact
• Team members need to interact informally
• Teams who are in different/several physical
locations only interact informally under great
strain
• People who are not part of the team disturb the
thought processes and the work (flow)
• People who work on the same task in the same
place will synchronise their flow
 Fragmented time
• A person can be part of only a certain amount of
social relations at any given period
• If the person is a member of several project
teams, a lot of time will be used “shifting gear”
• Fragmentation of time is bad for
– The team’s “jell factor”
– Efficiency
 Quality Reduction
• Nobody talks about “Quality Reduced” products, they call
it “Cost Reduced” products
• To deliver faster or cheaper we reduce
– Time
– Resources
– Materials
– Quality
• Team members’ self esteem and joy are reduced when
they are forced to deliver less quality than they are
capable of
– They feel relief when the project stops
– They do everything they can to create distance to the team and
to involve themselves in other activities
 Fake Deadlines
• Harsh but obtainable deadlines can tie the team
together
• Fake and impossible deadlines de-motivate the
team and signal:
– Lack of respect towards the team
– “Employees only work their best when under
pressure”
• People oppose fake deadlines to show they are
right (and the deadlines are wrong)
• Fake deadlines ruin cooperation
 Clique control
• Some companies avoid cliques
– Others don’t do anything

• Very few companies gets the best out of

cliques

• Cliques – teams with a very strong sense

of unity can create (abnormal) synergy
 More Teamicide
• Tom DeMarco: Peopleware

• www.tomdemarco.com
Project Management
 The Map is the World
• When the Project Plan is approved, it
becomes the “real world”
• The notion is
– The Project Plan shows how the project will
evolve
– Things that do not follow or disturb the Project
Plan shall be avoided
– Project Management shall bring the project
“back on track”
 Project Management
• Keep your eyes on the plan
• Observe the team and actions
• Manage to keep up with deadlines and
milestones

• After approval of plan, Project

Management turns to be
– Exception handling
– “Corrective actions”