EE97 Lectures

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EE97 Lectures

• Senior Project Design
• Fall 2006
• Lecture 9
• Planning Project Management Milestones,
  Schedule, and Making the Commitment
• 11-03-06

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Quote for the Day
When I do talk with students, my goal is to help
them develop what I consider to be two of the
most important forms of intelligence the ability
to read other people, and the ability to
understand oneself. Those are the two kinds of
intelligence that you need to succeed at chess
and in life Bruce Pandolfini National Chess
Master Teacher and Author
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My Senior Project

• Our project is to create an subsystem to a home
  entertainment system to show videos, play music,
  an operate the television
• Our part is to build the controller platform
  which consists of several hardware module with
  associated software and a main software
  application
• The subsystem parts
• Overall controller platform
• Several hardware modules
• Software for the hardware modules
• Software application
• How do we do this?

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Tasks
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John Lennon

• Life is what happens to you while youre busy
  making other plans
• Meaning inevitably something bad will happen to
  the plan
• This does NOT mean you should not make a plan in
  the first place!

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Lee Marvin

• Improve. Adapt. Overcome
• From The Dirty Dozen (movie)
• Meaning just make a plan, stuff will happen,
  then you make a new plan

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Dwight D. Eisenhower

• The plan is nothing. Planning is everything.
• Meaning something will happen and the plan will
  have to change
• Since you have a strong skill and competency in
  planning, you can readily make a new plan

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The moral to the story is

• No matter how thorough you plan is
• The project will always turn out differently from
  you initial thoughts and design
• Writing a thorough plan and design focuses your
  thoughts and actions
• It saves time, money, and effort!

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Three Approaches to Planning

• Approach 1 project is designed in advance to
  facilitate planning
• Know what to do before your are doing it
• Approach 2 well make it up as we go along
• Allows maximum flexibility
• Allows for fun and spontaneity
• Approach 3 plan the project, build consensus,
  implement
• Focuses all stakeholders, oversight to all
  activities, and commitment to make it happen

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The Three Approaches

• Approach 1
• Full Design
• PROS
• Makes planning easier
• CONS
• Costs money
• Consumes time
• Limits vision breakthrough
• Reduces flexibility

• Approach 2
• Open-ended
• PROS
• Follow the fun
• CONS
• Finish date unknown
• Costs are unknown
• It may not be so much fun after all
• Nobody knows what is next

• Approach 3
• Planned
• PROS
• Reduces risk
• Shortens cycle time
• Predictable manageable
• Include stakeholders
• Known commitments
• CONS
• Takes effort

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Product Development Planning (1)

• Identify the tasks and milestones of the project
• Build on the tasks you identified while scoping
  the project in your proposal
• For each major task
• A milestone is created to monitor progress
• Each milestone has a clearly defined deliverable
• E.g., Prototype complete -gt working prototype
• E.g., Experimental results -gt raw data
• E.g., Computer simulation -gt computer model

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Product Development Planning (2)

• Tasks Subtasks
• Major tasks are decomposed into sub tasks
• Subtasks specific activities for a specific
  project module
• Define start end of tasks and subtasks
• Durations are in weeks or days, not months
• Significant to the project
• Not Develop concepts, but e.g.,
• Create alternative concepts for power supplies
• Fabricate plastic housing
• Generate assembly code for sorting algorithm

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Project Plan (A Guideline)

• Introduction
• System overview
• System Engineering description and diagram
• Project assumptions
• Risks and contingencies
• Architecture
• Key specifications
• Functional description
• Design description
• Organization who is responsible for what and by
  when
• Detailed plan dates and durations
• Tasks subtasks resources associated with each
• Milestones
• Acceptance test criteria and plan
• Bibliography

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How to Plan

• Its a cycle, not a straight path
• Identify success
• Create the plan, then evaluate for success
• Analyze time, risk, capabilities at each step
• Modify the plan as you implement
• Update and keep it current

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A Planning Cycle (A Guideline)
Use SWOT Risk Analysis At Each Step
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Step 1 Identify Opportunities

• Identify what needs to be done
• Use creativity and brainstorming techniques to
  work out the unknowns

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Step 2 Define Success

• What is the end state?
• What benefit will be derived at the end state?
• Is there a tangible deliverable that is required?
• What is the quality of the end state need to be?

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Step 3 Evaluate Possibilities

• Use creativity methods and brainstorming tools
• Bring in experts to help secure the details and
  subtleties
• Generate many alternatives as possible
• Combine and recombine to optimize
• Define an acceptance criteria

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Step 4 Select Most Viable Alternative

• Select the best option
• Make sure you have the capabilities, skills,
  time, budget, and resources to carry it to
  completion
• Improve on your best option if possible

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Step 5 Plan the Details

• Make sure you a good picture of the current
  situation
• Work out the details (the tactics) of the most
  efficient and most effective method of achieving
  the end state
• Answer the questions who, what, when, where,
  how, why, and at what cost in time, money, and
  effort

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Step 6 Analyze Risk/Capabilities

• Identify the possible dreaded outcomes that may
  impact the detail task or subtasks
• Evaluate possible mitigation path
• Decide on a contingency plan if the dreaded
  outcome occurs

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Step 7 Implement/Modify

• March down the intended path
• Analyze, synthesize, and evaluate new information
  as it becomes available
• Modify plan by reviewing all process steps

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Step 8 Update

• Review the opportunities and confirm you the path
  to success remains the same
• Make changes to your plan
• Update all documentation
• Communicate all changes and impacts to
  stakeholders

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Gantt Chart

• Useful tool for analyzing and planning a complex
  projects
• Visualize the relationship of tasks to each
  other duration and completion
• Form a baseline to scheduling when the tasks need
  to be started and completed
• Assist in the allocation of resources required to
  complete the project
• Determine the critical path the tasks that must
  be completed in a specific amount of time by a
  certain date

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Gantt Chart (2)
Source http//www.ee.umanitoba.ca/programs/under
graduate/courses/coursehome/c24400/24_400/Pages/20
03.html
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Gantt Chart (3)
Source http//www.ee.umanitoba.ca/programs/under
graduate/courses/coursehome/c24400/24_400/Pages/20
03.html
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Critical Path Analysis

• Tool to assist in schedule management of complex
  projects
• Identifies tasks which must be completed on time
  in order for the entire project to be completed
  on time
• Gantt chart may not make the immediate time
  constraints obvious
• Identifies the minimum time required by the
  project

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Types of Tasks

• Serial
• Parallel
• Interdependent

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Linking the Tasks

• Circles represent events
• Arrows represent activities
• Numbers over the arrows represent durations
• Numbers in the circle represent specific events
  or accomplishments
• Red denotes the critical path is the longest path
• Slack time is gaps in time between activities

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1
1
1
1
2
2
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Constructing a Critical Path (1)

• List all activities

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Constructing a Critical Path (2)

• Plot the activities using circle/bar format

5 days
High level design
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Stakeholder Analysis

• Identify stakeholder
• Prioritize
• High Power, High Interest you must fully engage
  and make the greatest efforts to satisfy
• High Power, Low Interest keep satisfied, but
  dont make them bored what you say
• Low Power, High Interest keep adequately
  informed make sure no issue is brewing these
  people can help with the details
• Low Power, Low Interest monitor, do not harass,
  watch for any danger

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The Project Proposal Criteria
Topic Sub-Topic Maximum Grade
Mission What For Whom When 3
Problem Statement Value/Reason Expected Outcome 3
Theory History Critical Items 2
Schedule Task Milestones 2
R/C Risks Contingencies 2
Bibliography 1

• Maximum grade is 13
• Criteria was based upon minimum from guideline
  and topics presented in class
• Revision is allowed and expected

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The Project Proposal Outcome

• If you are thinking grades
• A 12, 13
• B 10, 11
• C 8, 9
• D 6, 7
• F 5 and under
• High was 13
• Low was 1

Topic Average Std Dev
Mission 2.48 1.00
Problem 2.32 1.09
Theory 1.5 0.82
Schedule 1.68 0.72
R/C 1.06 0.79
Bibliography 0.9 0.31
Total 9.86 2.93