Murray_Sittsamer_Notes

A discussion of projects and project management by

Murray Sittsamer,President

The Luminous Group LLC

31700 Thirteen Mile Road,Suite 200

Farmington Hills, MI 48334,U.S.A.

office: 248.538.8677

email: murray@luminousgroup.com

URL: www.luminousgroup.com

- A project is a trade-off between quality, schedule, resources

- Elements of project management

• • Goal Achievement

  • Risk Reduction

  • Planning and Execution

  • People Working Together

  • Evaluating and Correcting

  • Effective Meetings

  • Time Management

  • Cost Management

- Multiple groups involved from business, suppliers, customers, production, engineering, quality, etc.

- A combination/trade-off between targets of i) Required Performance/Quality, ii) Cost/budget limit, iii) due date/time

- Common failures of projects

• • Time or Schedule

    • Lack of decisions

    • Delayed responses

    • perfectionism

    • no resources

    • low motivation

    • requirement creep/changes

    • no urgency

  • Cost or Budget

    • increase time requirements

    • poor original cost estimates

    • no cost control

    • delays

    • expecting ideal conditions

    • lost learning curve

  • Performance or Quality

    • Poorly defined or unrealistic goals

    • Inadequate design

    • Poor execution

    • late changes

    • supplier issues

    • poor prioritization

- Schedule increase is tied to cost increase

- Project management is valuable because it,

• • provides structure to the design process

  • saves time and money

  • provides common language

  • help predict problems sooner

  • prioritizes and focuses energy and attention

  • makes projects more regular and predictable

- Project managers need many skills. They have some, but compensate for others

• • Responsible, positive/enthusiastic, leads, standards, achiever, discipline, listener, presenter, writer, detail/process oriented, managed, calm in pressure, factual, fast thinker, takes criticism, diplomat, reliable, delegates, motivates, creative, flexible, follows-up, educator, shares, knowledgeable, resilient, etc.

- Current industry issues

• • Outsourcing - low cost labor markets, other businesses

  • system integration

  • New technologies

  • Global Marketplace

  • increased quality

  • speed expectations

  • downsizing

- Fundamentals of project management i) structure, ii) behaviors, iii) tools and methods

- Anticipate problems before they become reality. The reflective questions are,

• • What are we trying to accomplish for the customer?

  • What functions and individuals are needed for the project?

  • What needs to happen, by when, and who will do it?

  • What is the best way to carry out?

  • How do we begin?

  • How do we keep things on track?

  • How well did we meet customers requirements?

- 8 step project management process

• 1. Define the desired outcomes : What are we trying to accomplish for the customer?

  2. Identify team members: What functions and individuals are needed?

  3. Determine the tasks required: What needs to happen, by when and who will do it?

  4. Optimize the schedule: What is the best way to carry out the work?

  5. Optimize work performance: Who needs what from whom?

  6. Execute the plan: How do we begin?

  7. Review the Work: How do we keep the project on track?

  8. Complete the work: Did we meet the customers requirements?

- Project outcome worksheet

• • define the customer needs concisely

  • how will the outcomes be measured

  • what are key constraints - e.g., schedule, cost, resources

  • What assumptions have been made - what does the customer expect that has not been stated

  • How will the customer measure satisfaction

- Had the students complete a project outcome worksheet.

- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• • WBS is a breakdown of all tasks

  • Logical outline that conveys the organization of the project - e.g., phases, tasks, sub-tasks

  • Numerical task identification will help when updating durations, start dates, completion dates

- General Procedure

• • Break the project into major concurrent tasks

  • do planning for each major component

  • interweave the project tasks

  • draw a network diagram

- general rules

• • Task sequence must be managed

  • Tasks in parallel can be completed in a shorter time

  • Pick a suitable level of detail

  • Select tasks and identify the sequence

- task relationships

• • finish to start

  • start to start

  • finish to finish

- Schedule the work,

• • Estimate duration and cost for each task

  • Determine the "critical Path"

  • Schedule each task using a Gantt chart

  • Determine the overall project schedule and total cost.

- Critical path is the set of tasks that sets to project schedule - if it is delayed, the project is delayed - it is the longest possible time sequence of tasks through the network diagram

- Three ways to find the CP i) eyeballing, ii) forward and backward pass, iii) scheduling software

- The network diagram can be used to calculate the Early Start/Finish and Late Start/Finish for each task.

- Use a forward pass of delays to find Early Starts/Finishes - the latest delay is propagated forwards

- Use a backward pass of delays to find Last Starts/Finishes - the smallest delay is propagated backwards

- Use a Gantt chart to show relationships between tasks and illustrate task and project duration

- Dates on Gantt charts are the outcomes of planning/sequencing/time requirements.

- Reducing project time can be done by

• • Try to break tasks off the critical path on the Gantt chart - requires re-examination of tasks and assumptions.

  • Revisit the duration of tasks - other people/resources/methods can speed it up.

  • Add more resources to speed the critical path.

  • Sometimes working ahead on critical path tasks can be done, but by assuming risk.

- Getting on top of the situation

• • Control is part of Influence is part of the hard/impossible to control

  • Focus on things that can be changed

  • Do not put time into the uncontrollable

  • Be able to tell the difference

- Things that are risks for the tasks

• • People

  • Information

  • Resources

  • Time

- Anticipate and mitigate risks

• • identify high risk activities - new tech/knowledge/methods, complex interactions, critical path events

  • evaluate relative risk - impact vs. probability

  • work to prevent causes or implement contingencies

  • identify and manage long lead-time activities

- Evaluate risks

• • Look at the i) risky event, ii) the probability, and iii) possible effect - a combination of high probability and negative effect requires attention.

  • For major risks consider i) event trigger, ii) preventive action, iii) cost to avoid, iv) contingent actions, v) impact recovery costs.

- Maintain urgency

• • Maintain a high degree of focus from the start

  • Keep plans visible and meaningful

  • Look at both the big picture and the detail

  • Focus on getting ahead of schedule, not on catching up

  • Demonstrate importance at meetings

  • Set deadlines for resolution of problems.