Project Management Tool Kit

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Project Management Tool Kit

• Nuts and Bolts of Successful Project Management

Source PMBOK Guide
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What is a Project?

• A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a
  unique product, service, or result.
• Endeavors of any size may be a project
• Large and small projects demand different handling

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What is NOT a Project?

• Emergency response to an operations problem
• Routine operations support
• Maintenance of equipment
• Minor modifications and tuning of equipment

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What is Project Management?

• The management of projects, right?
• A more useful definition
• The application of knowledge, tools, skill, and
  techniques to project activities in order to meet
  project requirements

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Tool Kit - 3 Compartments
Time
Cost

• Scope

Triple Constraint
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Triple Constraint

• Cost

Time
Customer Satisfaction Quality
Scope
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What is Scope Management?

• Ensuring that the project includes all the work
  and only the work required to complete the
  project successfully.
• Controlling what is and what is not in the
  project.

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Scope Essential Tools

• Project Charter
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

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What is a Project Charter?

• Document that formally authorizes the project.
• Issued by a manager external to the project
• Provides the project manager with the authority
  to apply organizational resources to project
  activities.

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5 Sections of a Project Charter

• Project Title and Description
• What is the project?
• Project Manager Assigned and Authority Level
• Who is given authority to lead the project and
  can s/he determine budget, schedule, staffing,
  etc.
• Objectives
• What numerical criteria related to the triple
  constraint will be used to measure project
  success?

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5 Sections of a Project Charter

• Business Case
• Why is the project being done?
• Product Description/Deliverables
• What are the specific deliverables wanted and
  what will be the end result of the project?

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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Organizes and defines the total scope of the
  project
• Breaks project into smaller and more manageable
  pieces
• Smart project managers understand they cannot
  manage a project, they manage the pieces.

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WBS 5 Golden Rules

• Created with help of the team
• First level is completed before project is broken
  down further
• Work toward project deliverables
• Work not in the WBS is not part of the project
• Break project down into work packages

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WBS 5 Golden Rules

• Break down project into work packages that
• Can be realistically and confidently estimated
• Cannot be logically subdivided further
• Can be completed quickly and without interruption
• Have a meaningful conclusion and deliverable

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WBS - Example
XYZ Scholarship
Apply
Process
Funds
Renewal
Announcement
Accept
Receipt from agency
Application
Application
Reject
Payment to student
Program requirements
Procedures
Reconciliation
Notification
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Triple Constraint

• Cost

Time
Customer Satisfaction Quality
Scope
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Time Management Deliverables

• Activity definition
• Activity sequencing
• Activity duration estimating
• Schedule development

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Activity Definition

• Identify the specific activities that must be
  performed to produce the various project
  deliverables
• Activity list
• Must include ALL activities that will be
  performed on the project.
• Should not include any activities that are not
  part of project scope.
• Organized as an extension to the WBS

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Activity Definition - Tools

• Work Breakdown Structure
• Project team members
• Past projects of a similar nature
• Industry knowledge/experts

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Activity Sequencing

• Identify and document interactivity logical
  relationships.
• Look at activity dependencies
• Mandatory, Discretionary, External
• Activities must be sequenced accurately to
  support later development of a realistic and
  achievable schedule

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Activity Sequencing - Tools

• Activity List
• Project team members
• Past projects of a similar nature
• Industry knowledge/experts
• Diagramming Methods
• Precedence Diagramming Method
• Arrow Diagramming Method

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Activity Sequencing Tools

• Precedence Diagramming Method

B
D
A
Begin
End
C
E
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Activity Sequencing Tools

• Types of Dependencies for
• Precedence
  Diagramming
• Finish to Start
• Finish to Finish
• Start to Start
• Start to Finish

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Activity Sequencing Tools

• Arrow Diagramming Method

B
C
A
Begin
End
D
F
E
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Activity Duration Estimating

• Estimating the number of work periods that will
  be needed to complete individual activities
• Results in Activity List and Activity Sequencing
  Diagram with estimates

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Activity Duration Estimating - Tools

• Expert judgment
• Analogous estimating
• Top-down estimating
• Quantitatively based durations
• Multiply the effort by the unit rate
• Reserve time (contingency)
• May be added in recognition of schedule risk

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Schedule Development

• Analyze activity sequences, activity durations
  and resource requirements to create the project
  schedule

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Schedule Development Tools

• Mathematical analysis
• Duration compression
• Simulation
• Resource leveling heuristics
• Project management software

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Mathematical Analysis

• Critical Path Method
• Which activities have the least scheduling
  flexibility
• GERT (Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique)
• Network diagram drawing method that allows loops
  between tasks
• PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique)
• 3 estimates per activity (optimistic,
  pessimistic, most likely)

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Duration Compression

• Crashing
• Cost and schedule tradeoffs to obtain the
  greatest amount of compression for the least cost
• Fast tracking
• Activities performed in parallel that normally
  would be done in sequence

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Schedule Development Tools

• Simulation
• Calculate multiple project durations with
  different sets of activity assumptions
• Resource leveling heuristics
• Allocate scarce resources to critical path
  activities first.
• Project management software
• Automates the calculation of the mathematical
  analysis and resource leveling.

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Time Management Deliverables

• Activity definition
• Activity sequencing
• Activity duration estimating
• Schedule development

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Triple Constraint

• Cost

Time
Customer Satisfaction Quality
Scope
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Cost Management

• Resource Planning
• Cost Estimating
• Cost Budgeting

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Resource Planning

• Determining what resources (people, equipment,
  materials) and what quantities of each should be
  used to perform project activities

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Resource Planning - Tools

• Activity List
• Quantify resource requirement by task
• Solicit expert judgment on what resources are
  needed and available
• Project team members, Past projects of a similar
  nature, Industry knowledge/experts
• Project Schedule
• What types of resources are needed, in what
  numbers, when

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Resource Planning - Tools

• Organizational policies on resource use
• Alternatives identification (brainstorming)

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Cost Estimating

• Developing an approximation of the costs of the
  resources required to complete project activities

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Cost Estimating - Tools

• Analogous estimating (top down)
• Top or middle managers use expert judgment or
  actual time and cost of previous, similar project
  as basis for estimating current project
• Bottom-up Estimating
• People doing the work create cost and schedule
  estimates. Estimates, based on WBS, are rolled up
  to get a project total.

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Analogous Estimating

• Advantages
• Quick
• Tasks need not be identified
• Less costly to create
• Overall project costs will be capped

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Analogous Estimating

• Disadvantages
• Less accurate
• Estimates prepared with a limited amount of
  detailed information and understanding of the
  project
• Requires considerable experience to do well
• Extremely difficult for projects with uncertainty

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Bottom-Up Estimating

• Advantages
• More accurate
• Gains buy-in from the team
• Based on a detailed analysis of the project
• Provides a basis for monitoring and control

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Bottom-Up Estimating

• Disadvantages
• Takes time and expense to do
• Tendency for team to pad estimates
• Requires project be defined and understood
• Team infighting to gain biggest piece of pie

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Cost Budgeting

• Allocating the overall cost estimate to
  individual work activities

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Cost Budgeting Tools

• Analogous estimating (top down)
• Top or middle managers use expert judgment or
  actual time and cost of previous, similar project
  as basis for estimating current project
• Bottom-up Estimating
• People doing the work create cost and schedule
  estimates. Estimates, based on WBS, are rolled up
  to get a project total.

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Estimation Tips

• Estimating should be based on a WBS to improve
  accuracy
• Estimating should be done by the person doing the
  work
• Historical information is a key to improving
  estimates
• Costs, time, scope and resources should be
  managed to estimates

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More Estimation Tips

• A cost, time, scope and resource) baseline should
  be kept and not changed except for approved
  project changes.
• Plans should be revised, as necessary, during
  completion of the work
• Corrective action should be taken when cost,
  time, scope or resource problems occur

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Project Management Tool Kit
Cost
Time
Customer Satisfaction Quality
Scope
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Questions?

• Nuts and Bolts for Successful Project Management