Chapter 10 Project Management

1
Chapter 10Project Management

• If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.
• --Anonymous

2
Work Breakdown Schedule

• A hierarchical breakdown of the tasks and
  deliverables that need to be completed in order
  to accomplish the project objectives
• Typically created as the first step in project
  planning

3
Work Breakdown Schedule

• An ordered set of activities required to complete
  the project
• Activity a combination of a task and its
  associated deliverables
• Task actions that accomplish a job
• Deliverables entities that are delivered to the
  project based upon completion of tasks

4
Work Breakdown Schedule
5
Network Diagrams

• A directed graph representation of the activities
  and dependencies between them for a project.

6
Network Diagram

• The duration of each path is determined by
  summing the duration of all activities on that
  path
• Critical path the path with the longest
  duration, i.e. the minimum time required to
  complete the project
• Slippage falling behind schedule
• Float the amount of time an activity can slip
  without extending the overall completion time of
  the project

7
Gantt Charts

• A bar graph representation of activities on a
  timeline.
• Effectively shows the WBS and the timeline for
  completion.

8
Gantt Charts
9
Break-Even Analysis

• Aims to determine the number of units that must
  be sold for costs and revenues to be equal
• Fixed costs constant, regardless of number of
  units produced and cannot be directly charged to
  a process or activity
• Variable costs vary depending upon the process
  or items being produced, and fluctuate directly
  with the number of units being produced.

10
Project Manager

• Responsible for planning and organizing the
  project in addition to completing project
  deliverables
• Not necessarily a Boss, more like a member of
  the team

11
Guidance

• Build the plan after the design architecture is
  complete
• Take the initial time estimates for activities
  and double them
• Assign a lot of time for testing and integration
• Factor in lead times for part ordering

12
Guidance

• Assign a project manager
• Do not assign all team members to all tasks
• Track the progress versus the plan
• Dont become a slave to the plan
• Experience counts