Project Management

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Project Management

• A Guide for Undergraduates at The University of
  Manchester
• 26th November 2007

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Agenda

• Introductions
• Discussion What is Project Management?
• Discussion Project Success or Failure?
• What is a Project?
• The Project Roadmap
• Case Study
• Summary

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Introductions

• Asif Manzoor, Commercial Project Manager in the
  consulting arm of BT Global Services
• Joined BT Graduate Scheme in 1999
• University of Liverpool
• BEng Civil Engineering
• MSc Information Systems
• Experience
• Cutting edge communications technology projects
  for Ministry of Defence / Armed Services
• I.T Infrastructure projects for BT Wholesale

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What does BT do?

• A truly global operation serving over 170
  countries
• 106,000 employees
• 2.5 Billion profit
• We work with world class organisations as diverse
  as Unilever, Reuters, Microsoft, BMW, NATO the
  NHS
• Traditional business, the landline
• New Wave business
• Thanks to investment from BT more homes in
  Britain now have access to broadband than have
  access to water!

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Discussion What is Project Management?

• Projects exist in all walks of life, and need to
  be managed

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Continued

• Lord Coe was recently on the radio and television
  talking about the Olympics in 2012 in the context
  of what it is a big project.
• A further example of this could be The
  Apprentice where all tasks were defined as
  projects and each task had a declared project
  manager who had to take responsibility.

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Discussion Project Success or Failure?

• Delivers on time, to cost and quality
• Meets the agreed objectives
• Satisfies the needs of stakeholders

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What is a Project?

• A temporary organisation that is needed to
  produce a unique and predefined outcome or result
  at a prespecified time using predetermined
  resourcesnote the emphasis on pre
• Has a defined set of objectives or scope
• A finite and defined lifespan
• Defined and measurable requirements
• A defined amount of resources

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The Project Roadmap
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Project Planning

• Those who fail to plan, plan to fail!
• The planning process is the most important
  strategic activity a project manager undertakes
• The project plan provides the foundation of a
  successful project by identifying what has to be
  produced, how, by whom, when and how much it will
  cost

• Where is the plan?

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Project Definition

• A high level description of the project scope is
  expressed through the project objective or goals
• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Timed
• Objectives describe outcomes, not actions. Be in
  Paris at 8 pm this evening is an objective. To
  travel to Paris by 8pm is an action not an
  objective.

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Critical Success Factors

• Critical Success Factors (CSFs) determine what
  the project must achieve, or what has to have
  been resolved before the project can be deemed a
  success
• CSF 1 My luggage will be available for
  collection and not delayed or lost, when I arrive
  in Paris
• CSF 2 I arrive in time for my connecting train
  journey to Lyon

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Projects a Risky Business

• A risk is a possible future event that will have
  a negative impact on the success of the project

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Continued
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Communications Plan

• Define the parties with an interest in the
  project and the means and frequency of
  communication between them and the project
• Interested parties (i.e. stakeholders, users,
  customers)
• Information required
• Information provider
• Frequency of communication
• Method of communication (newsletter, flyer,
  email, road show, seminar, team meeting, video
  conference)

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Schedule

• This is a detailed line by line breakdown of
  tasks needed to achieve the original objective
• Typically illustrated via a Gantt chart
• Who does what and when

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Case Study Graduation Ball
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Continued

• Scope you are the student committee for the
  Maths Department and are charged with planning a
  graduation ball for 500 people, to include a
  dinner and entertainment (i.e. live band or DJ)
• Schedule you have 5 months to organise the event
• Budget the Maths Department has allocated 8000
  for the event

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Graduation Ball -Your Tasks

• Define the SMART objective of the project, along
  with 2 Critical Success Factors -10 minutes
• Create a basic schedule using the post-it notes,
  write down one task per note with up to 30 tasks
  maximum. Once this is done, assign a role to each
  task i.e. who is going to do it. The tasks should
  be sequential
• Identify 3 risks for your project along with a
  strategy for each one -10 minutes

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Summary

• PLANNING
• PROJECT DEFINITION
• RISK
• COMMUNICATING

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