effective project management skills

EFFECTIVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

SKILLSCHARLES COTTER

BEACH HOTEL, PORT ELIZABETH

17-18 JULY 2014

TRAINING PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

• Introduction

• Defining the fundamental concepts

• Diagnosis and Evaluation of current Project Management processes and practices

• 4-step Project Management life-cycle/process

Project Initiation Project Planning (and Scheduling) Project Implementation Project Closure

• Summary and Closing

DEFINING THE FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

• Project

• Project characteristics

• Project Management

• The Triple Constraint

DEFINING PROJECTS• A project is a temporary and one-time endeavour

undertaken to create a unique product or service that brings about beneficial change or added value

 • A project is a temporary piece of work with a finite

starting and ending date undertaken to create a unique product or service

• A project is a carefully defined set of activities that use resources to meet the pre-defined objectives

 • Projects bring form or function to ideas or needs.

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS• Temporary

• Unique

• Involve new processes

• Undertaken to achieve a particular aim (deliverables)

• Value-adding driver of change and improvement

DEFINING PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of the particular project.

• Project management is concerned with the overall planning and co-ordination of a project from inception to completion aimed at meeting the client's requirements and ensuring completion on time, within cost and to the required quality standards.

• These three (3) project management variables as often referred to as the eternal triangle of project management.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT ETERNAL TRIANGLE

DEFINING PROJECT SUCCESS CRITERIA

• Projects completed on time

• Projects completed within budget

• Projects completed according to quality standards and performance measures

• Projects completed within defined scope

• Projects completed by achieving all deliverables

• Projects completed to the satisfaction of all key stakeholders and beneficiaries

PROJECTS NOT MEETING THE MARK

CAUSES OF PROJECT FAILURE (DISTRESSED PROJECTS)

• The wrong business requirements have been addressed

• It's not possible to deliver on the original business case

• Poor project governance and management

• Project managers don't usually have any influence over who their project sponsor is

• Poor project execution/implementation

• People lose focus on the project's benefits

• The environment changes

WHY DO PROJECTS FAIL?

INTRODUCTORY LEARNING ACTIVITY

• Evaluate and rate your current project management practices against the six (6) project success criteria

• Identify performance gaps

• Recommend project improvement interventions

ILLUSTRATION: PROJECT MANAGEMENT LIFE-CYCLE

PROJECT MANAGEMENT LIFE-CYCLE

• Phase 1: Project Initiation

• Phase 2: Project Planning (and Scheduling)

• Phase 3: Project Implementation

• Phase 4: Project Closure

PHASE ONE: PROJECT INITIATION – PROCESS

STEPS/FLOW • Identification of a business problem,

opportunity and/or need

• Generation of prospective project proposal/s

• Evaluation and building of a business case for the prospective project proposal/s

• Selection and approval of most value-adding project/s

• Compilation of Terms of Reference (ToR) document, defining and scoping of the project

IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEM, NEED OF OPPORTUNITY

• Conduct an Environmental scan:

Micro Market Stakeholder Analysis Macro

• Perform a SWOT Analysis:

Strengths Weaknesses Resources Capabilities Capacity Opportunities Threats

EVALUATION OF PROJECT PROPOSAL/S

• Financial and numerical metrics:

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Payback period

Return-on-Investment (ROI)

Net Present Value (NPV)

Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

PROJECT EVALUATION CRITERIA

• Viability

• Feasibility

• Sustainability

ProfitsPeoplePlanet

SUSTAINABILITY (TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE)

PURPOSE OF THE ToR• Defines your project and its scope

• Justifies the project

• Secures funding for the project, if necessary

• Defines the roles and responsibilities of project participants

• Gives people the information they need to be productive and effective right from the start

CONTENTS OF A ToR• Section 1: What?

Background Project Definition

• Section 2: Why?

Purpose Business Case

• Section 3: Who?

Roles and Responsibilities

• Section 4: How and When?

Defined milestones and target dates Initial/head-line project plan

LEARNING ACTIVITY • Complete Learning Activity 2 (pages 30-31)

• Syndicate group discussion

• Present a summary of key discussion points

PHASE TWO: PROJECT PLANNING

• Project planning defines project activities that will be performed, the deliverables and describes how these activities will be accomplished and managed

• A Project Plan sets out the phases, activities and tasks needed to deliver a project

• The timeframes required to deliver the project, along with the resources and milestones are also shown in the Project Plan

• The project plan establishes a baseline which identifies and documents project scope, tasks, schedules, cost, risk, quality and staffing needs throughout the entire project life-cycle

COMPONENTS OF PROJECT PLANNING

• Resource plan

• Financial plan (project budget)

• Quality plan

• Risk management plan

• Communications plan

• Procurement plan

PROJECT ACTION PLAN TEMPLATE

• Objective (What?)

• Tasks (How?)

• Responsible (Who?)

• Time (When?)

• KPI (Weight?)

PROJECT ACTION PLAN TEMPLATE

LEARNING ACTIVITY • Complete Learning Activity 3 (pages 38-39)

• Syndicate group discussion

• Present a summary of key discussion points

PROJECT SCHEDULING• Project scheduling means detailing what activities

have to be done, the order (sequence) in which they are to be completed, who is to do each, and how they are to be completed.

• Project scheduling entails the planning and plotting the following project variables:

Tasks (e.g. Work Breakdown Structure) Time (e.g. Gantt chart and PERT/network diagramme) Resources (e.g. Resource Allocation Matrix and

Resource Histogram) Responsibility (e.g. Load Chart and Responsibility

Matrix)

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS)

• A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a detailed list of all of the things that need to be delivered and the activities that need to be carried out to complete the project.

• A WBS is a chart in which the critical work elements, called tasks, of a project are illustrated to portray their relationships to each other and to the project as a whole.

• It's represented as a tree-structure, with each deliverable or activity broken down into further components. When completed, a well-structured WBS resembles a flowchart in which all elements are logically connected, redundancy is avoided and no critical elements are left out. 

• The graphical nature of the WBS can help a project manager predict outcomes based on various scenarios, which can ensure that optimum decisions are made about whether or not to adopt suggested procedures or changes.

ILLUSTRATION: WBS

GANTT CHARTS (SCHEDULING TIME)

• Project Managers need to estimate time accurately if they’re going to deliver their project on time (and on budget)

• Without this skill, PM’s won't know how long your project will take, and won't be able to get commitment from the people required to help achieve the project objectives

• Gantt Charts are useful tools for analyzing and planning more complex projects. It plots scheduled projects tasks/activities on a time-line.

• When a project is under way, Gantt Charts help PM’s to monitor whether the project is on schedule. If it is not, it allows PM’s to pinpoint the remedial action necessary to put it back on schedule.

ILLUSTRATION: GANTT CHART

LEARNING ACTIVITY • Complete Learning Activity 4 (page 45)

• Syndicate group discussion

• Present a summary of key discussion points

ILLUSTRATION: PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS

PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS

• Step 1: Risk Identification

• Step 2: Risk Analysis

• Step 3: Risk Prioritization

• Step 4: Risk Response

• Step 5: Risk Evaluation

PROJECT RISK MATRIX

PROJECT RISK RESPONSE STRATEGIES

LEARNING ACTIVITY • Complete Learning Activity 6 (pages 60-61)

• Syndicate group discussion

• Present a summary of key discussion points

PHASE THREE: PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

• The most important issue in this phase is to ensure project activities are properly executed and controlled

• This phase involves the execution of each activity and task listed in the project plan.

• While the activities and tasks are being executed, a series of project management and quality assurance processes are undertaken by the Project Manager to observe, monitor, analyze and control the project deliverables to ensure that the key project objectives are achieved.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION ACTIONS

• Resource mobilization and deployment

• Organizing and delegating tasks

• Performance Management

Project (time, cost, quality and scope) Project team members Contractors and sub-contractors (SLA) Earned Value Management

• Leading and motivating project team

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION ACTIONSS

• Problem-solving/Trouble-shooting

• Conflict Management/Resolution

• Change and Scope Management

• Communication

Project (progress/status) meetings Stakeholder engagement and liaising

PROJECT CONTROL• The purpose of the control process is to ensure that the

project work can be carried out as scheduled.

• Checkpoints are held throughout the project at weekly intervals and provide the mechanism for monitoring and controlling the day to day work on the project.

• Performance information is captured and plans are updated prior to the Project Status meeting. This enables the meeting to concentrate on determining what to do next.

• Defining the control procedures includes the setting of tolerance levels for project performance.

ILLUSTRATION: PROJECT CONTROL PROCESS

LEARNING ACTIVITY • Complete Learning Activity 5 (page 54)

• Syndicate group discussion

• Present a summary of key discussion points

PHASE FOUR: PROJECT CLOSURE

• This process verifies that the project has delivered the required outcomes and that stakeholder expectations have been met.

• It also makes sure that everyone involved in the project knows how to move forward.

• Project closeout is a fairly routine process, but it remains an important process.

• By properly completing the project closeout, organizations can benefit from lessons learned and information compiled at closure.

PROJECT CLOSURE ACTIVITIES

• Releasing the final deliverables to the customer

• Handing over project documentation and administration and terminating contracts

• Communicating the closure to all stakeholders

• Releasing staff

• Closing the Project Office

PROJECT CLOSURE ACTIVITIES

• Perform a Post Implementation Review of the project

• Close-out report:

Assessment of the project against actual performance

Quality of management (focusing on quality and risk management)

The lessons learnt that can be applied to future projects

LEARNING ACTIVITY • Complete Learning Activity 7 (page 65)

• Syndicate group discussion

• Present a summary of key discussion points

CONCLUSION

• Key points

• Summary

• Questions

CONTACT DETAILS

• Charles Cotter

• (+27) 84 562 9446

• charlescot@polka.co.za

• LinkedIn

• Twitter: Charles_Cotter