Power points: Project Management GR 1
Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK):
"Knowledge within the profession of project management"
Project Management
"The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet project requirements."
process groups are __________ and may align with phases of a project or system developement.
"lifecycle life"; will have iteration, and each of the process groups will also usally apply within each phase of a project (similiar to SE lifecycle processes and iterations)
Project management institute (PMI)
- " the leading not-for-profit professional membership association for the project management profession" - PMI is the leading institute for Project Management. Conferences, published material, workshops, certifications, etc. - PMI manages the PMBoK, a consolidated guide to Project Management best practices, knowledge, techniques, etc. - Multiple areas of certification, 2 for PM: CAPM and PMP
PM process groups key duties
-Initiating -Planning -Executing -Monitoring and Controlling -Closing
PM knowledge areas
-Integration Management -Scope Management -Schedule Management -Cost Management -Quality Management -Resource Management -Communications Management -Risk Management -Procurement Management -Stakeholder Management Knowledge areas describe specialty areas of knowledge that PMs must understand and leverage.
responsibilities of the PM
-acquiring resources -fighting fires and obstacles -leadership -negotiation, conflict resolution, and persuasion
Roles of the PM
-manage trade-offs -manage risks -facilitator, communicator, virtual PM, meeting chair
two ways for certification (PMI):
1. Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) -23 hours of PM education OR secondary degree plus 1500 hours of project experience 2. Project Management Professional (PMP) -Four-year degree, 35 hours of PM education, and 4500 hours leading and directing projects OR secondary degree, 35 hours of PM education, and 7500 hours leading and directing projects
project lifecycle: what to curves does one follow?
1. s-shaped 2. J-shaped
Why should a project manager know about project selection?
A PM should know about the project selection, even if the project has been pre-determined when he/she is made project manager. The project was selected for good reason, with particular goals in mind, and these 'whys' and goals may impact subsequent decisions by the PM. The reason for selection may impact trade-offs made by the PM down the road. For instance, if a survey conducted by the PM determined that an on-tap beer cooler and dispenser are much more valued by the squadron members than the aviation wall art, the PM may reallocate the wall art funds to the beer cooler, albeit assuming some risk that the Squadron Commander or Wing Commander may disapprove and order deconstruction. (Perhaps some risk mitigation action is warranted early on, expending some time and human resources to collect intel on the commanders' [and the AF] policies in such matters.)
Project management process groups
A logical grouping of project management processes to achieve specific project objectives. Process Groups are independent of project phases.
Example for differences between project and general management:
A news organization may have a web site functional department responsible for day-to-day updates of news stories, features, video streams, etc. The web site functional department will have a General Manager to oversee the continuous, day-to-day operations of the web site. What stories will be posted, with what priority? What graphics and videos will accompany stories? How long will each story run? Who will be assigned to follow each story? Etc. The same news organization may decide to initiate a PROJECT to re-design, or re-structure its web site. This is a one-time endeavor that has a finite duration. It needs a Project Manager to facilitate the re-design, and to coordinate it across all of the interfacing news departments, such as Political News, Sports News, Technology News, Entertainment News, etc. The PM may form a Project Team consisting of members from each of those "functional areas" of the news organization, as well as technical experts from the web site functional area, and possibly graphic design experts (contracted support), and others. Consider that the PM is NOT the primary (functional) manager of these team members, and these team members have other duties and responsibilities within their primary functional area besides the web site project. What are the challenges of this structure for the PM? Is it efficient and effective? What other alternatives are there?
What is a project?
A project is a "temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result."
portfolio
collection of projects, programs, subsidiary portfolios, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives.
project management knowledge areas
An identified area of project management defined by its knowledge requirements and described in terms of its component processes, practices, inputs, outputs, tools, and techniques.
sources of conflict: Four common threads for reducing or preventing these conflicts
Careful project planning - Duh. No brainer, right? No plan, no chance of avoiding conflict. Plan, and you might avoid some of it. Participative management - Allowing team members to participate in decision making gives them a stake in the game, establishes buy-in for them to the decisions, and makes them feel more of an important part of the team. This applies to the other functional managers as well. You also get some great ideas from the most unexpected players sometimes! Interaction and negotiation between the project manager and the functional manager. This is absolutely necessary, as conflict WILL arise, and you've got to be able to handle it gracefully and effectively. Having these interactions BEFORE conflict arises, for the purpose of avoiding conflict, is the best policy. For instance, having an advanced meeting to discuss the time utilization of the functional manager's personnel on a matrix team can go a long way to reducing future scraps over work schedules and priorities. Communication between the project manager and all project stakeholders. This is also absolutely necessary for a successful project and to avoid conflicts. A huge part of the PMs job is simply talking to other players in the game, explaining rationale for decisions, asking for favors, giving favors, and generally being social with the key functionaries in the organization. This overlaps tremendously with 'interaction and negotiation,' as well as the PM's role as a 'facilitator.'
s-shaped curve
start slowly, develop momentum, and then finish slowly -A typical construction project is a good example of the S-curve. Permits and plans develop slowly, require much customer input, and little progress is evident. Subsequently, construction begins and progress on-site mushrooms quickly with foundations, infrastructure elements, exteriors, etc. Then, finishing details require extended time, slowing the quick momentum that had been.
j shaped curve
start slowly, proceed slowly, finish rapidly -A typical engineering test program is an example. Planning, permitting, coordination, prototyping, and scheduling proceed slowly, but gain momentum over time. The actual tests of an article proceeds quickly once all the plans and resources are in place, rapidly completing the project.
Matrix project organization (MPO)
Description: The matrix structure combines both the functional and project-ized structures. •Examples: companies with divisional and geographical managers •Advantages: Flexibility in way it can interface with parent organization, Strong focus on the project itself, Contact with functional groups minimizes projectitis, Ability to manage fundamental trade-offs across several projects •Challenges: Increased organizational complexity, Multiple bosses, Increased conflict, Team members often must balance multiple projects
pure project organization (PPO)
Description: separate independent organization specifically for accomplishing a particular goal •Examples: a task force within an organization, large construction projects •Advantages: Effective and efficient for large projects, Resources available as needed, Broad range of specialists, Short lines of communication •Challenges: Limited Depth, Duplication/increased cost, Continuity at project closure
functional project organization (FPO)
Description: the organization is broken into different sections based upon specialty, and the project manager's role is to ensure smooth execution of processes and projects •Examples: a traditional business with a marketing, sales, and customer service department •Advantages: Continuity for team members, Maintaining professional competency, Deep technical expertise •Challenges: "Cylinders of excellence", Loyalty to functional manager, Accountability, Gaps between functions •Functional Departmentation is a good choice when the operating environment is extremely stable and efficiency outweighs responsiveness.
Operating/Competitive Necessity
Frequently, a project is an obvious necessity simply to keep the organization operating, or to help it maintain a competitive edge in the market place. Currently, Apple is probably in need of a big project to produce the "next big thing" in the cell phone market, else it is going to price itself out of the cell phone market and go the way of the WalkMan. The flying squadron, after suffering multiple safety incidents, must initiate a safety-enhancing project to avoid operational stoppages or down days. These kinds of obvious necessities are often the "selection method" for a project.
Any project should align with the organization's objectives, or the project should likely not be undertaken. give example
If one of the flying squadron's goals is to improve morale, it should probably not initiate a project to adopt a local segment of highway and keep it free of litter, thereby requiring airmen to pick up trash along a busy highway on down days. Select the social area renovation instead.
why is the project lifecycle shape important
It helps the PM to focus attention on appropriate matters to ensure successful project completion. The allocation of resources of the appropriate type at the appropriate time helps to control costs, avoid waste, and ensure on-time schedule completion.
discounted cash flow
It is referred to as the computation of "discounted cash flow" because the cash flow in future years is worth less, in real purchasing power, than today's dollars due to inflation and other factors. Hence, future dollars are "discounted" relative to today's dollars. Consider: If you have a $50 bill in your pocket, you can buy a fare amount of groceries with it today. If you stick that $50 in your pocket at the start of your first assignment and then find it in that pocket four years later when you PCS, you can buy perhaps only 80% of the same amount of groceries at that time. So, four years into the future the $50 is worth only 80% of its value today.
Fires & Obstacles:
One critical obstacle encountered in Orion display development was the rapid rotation of astronaut representatives cycling through the display teams, as Shuttle was winding down and crew members were training for the last remaining missions. As a result, the feedback and recommendations obtained on display designs was inconsistent, as each rotating astronaut wished to "put their stamp" on the designs. A new "fire" was lit to "do over" the designs with each newly arriving crew member. My schedule began to slide longer and longer. Ultimately, I had to meet with LM and NASA upper management to impose a single point of authority from the NASA Crew Office for design decisions, along with a coordinating process for the various astronaut representatives to use. This "obstacle" of repeating "fires" was quickly snuffed out, allowing the completion of preliminary designs to be achieved within nine months (on time for the fiscal year goal).
differences between project and general management
Projects (requiring Project Management) are usually "one offs" while general operations (requiring General Management) go on continuously day-to-day. Note: The managerial hierarchy is often informal for the Project Manager due to the common use of such "cross functional" or "matrix" team organizations. The General Manager benefits from a well-defined, long-term, "functional" managerial structure.
Contract Types: Cost-Plus
•Government covers all contractor costs plus adds an award fee (typically 8-15%) •Government has insight to all costs and technology •Government [should] own all intellectual property developed with its money •Government determines fee based on metrics (schedule, cost, performance, etc.) •Custom products -High-risk, new technology •Traditional defense contractors -Example: When space was new, Made sense so that companies taking risk would not fail
PMBOK Framework
Project management process groups and project management knowledge areas
contract types: fixed price
•Proven technology •With or without fee •Company assumes all risk •Fly-before-buy (you know what you're getting) •Provider owns intellectual property (just like the Wrights) •Military production (not R&D): SBIRS 5 & 6, Ammunition, Howitzers •Commercial companies: Dell (laptops!!), Exxon, SpaceX, Software, STK, Microsoft!!, Pencils
project selection: why does an organization need to do projects?
Some organizations do projects regularly as part of a business model or 'way of doing things.' Project completions may be tied directly to the means of making profit or realizing the purpose of the organization. For instance, an app development company may develop and subsequently upgrade each of its product apps as projects. A non-profit organization may collect monetary donations as a regular operating practice, but then expend those funds only via specific projects that it selects to fulfill the purpose of the non-profit organization, such as sponsoring a 4th of July Parade, providing scholarships to local students, or purchasing & donating body armor to local law enforcement agencies. - Some projects may be undertaken by an organization to improve day-to-day operations. The example of the news organization revamping their news web site fits this reason. A flying squadron remodeling its social space to add a pool table (crud table), modern aviation wall art, and non-DoD WiFi access is an example of a project to improve morale in the squadron.
project portfolio process
•Purpose: link the organization's projects directly to the goals and strategy of the organization •Output: a deliberately selected project mix to support an organization's long-term success •Portfolio Process should be executed periodically
Build: (1)budget, (2)schedule, & (3)decision points for each phase
•Requirements (from warfighter) •Market research (commercial or build?) •Build or buy? (analysis of alternatives) •Technology development (if necessary) •Full scale development (if build) •Production •Operations (seek feedback from users)
project selection: non-Numeric
•Sacred Cow •Operating/Competitive Necessity •Comparative Benefits
sacred crow
The "sacred cow" is the boss's pet. If the CEO or Wing Commander has an idea for a project, it will often amazingly come out on top of any analysis or evaluation. Nobody wants to tell the boss he/she is wrong. On the other hand, an experienced manager with keen business sense sometimes has good intuition about such things and may have good ideas. Any concepts put forth by the boss should be equally, fairly, and objectively assessed for merit. Still, the sacred cow is often a "method" of selecting projects. For instance, perhaps the Wing Commander stated offhand one day that she believes morale would be improved by renovating the flying squadron social areas...
MPO continued
The Matrix Departmentation is a good choice when the organization faces multiple, short term (less than 3 years), complex projects. Many large companies, with functional or general managers assigned by corporate division or by geographical location, use the MPO structure to maintain focus on work accomplishment. The MPO can interface with the parent organization(s) via the PM, or via an assigned representative to a functional area manager, or by committee to other managers in the parent organization, or by other methods Interfacing may include working meetings, various types of reports, formal requests, specification reviews, and other forms of interaction. The MPO has great flexibility in this function. Like the Pure Project Organization, the MPO also maintains a strong focus on the project, while also allowing for maintenance of members' functional group contact. This minimizes the "foot dragging" and concern with post-project transitions (projectitis). As MPO members may be members of multiple project teams, trade-offs may be conceived and made across multiple projects. This is a distinct advantage for the MPO relative to the other team structures. Example: On the Orion space capsule program, members of a Flight Software MPO were able to communicate to the Wiring MPO (and other related teams) an integrated software method of confirming the activation state of various switches, valves, and other actuators in the system design. This led to a reduction in the quantity of state-confirming hardware (wires & sensors), resulting is a vehicle weight reduction and wiring simplification. The MPO is a complex organization, sometimes difficult to work within. It can be painful, with the various pulls on an individual's time to multiple projects and to the functional area, and to multiple "bosses." The MPO can dramatically ramp up conflict, as these pulls add stress to everyone and the structure naturally leads to confounds in the use of resources, in scheduling meetings and work time, and it establishing priorities among various organizations. However, if these difficulties can be managed, the MPO can be very efficient, cost effective, and successful. A lot depends on how the overall organization is managed and coordinated, and how skilled the individual PMs are at leading their teams, negotiating, communicating, scheduling, and performing other PM functions.
Negotiation, Conflict Resolution, Persuasion:
The instance above is representative of negotiation, as I negotiated with LM and NASA management to impose the restrictions I needed. Persuasion was required when negotiating with functional managers to allocate some of their engineers time and effort to my displays project (see Resources above). Conflict resolution was a daily activity, as each team member had strong opinions about how to implement a display concept, and my role was often that of mediator among these various opinions, seeking compromise or logical conclusion.
difference between systems engineering and project management
The overlap in PM and SE activities for the PM is variable, and this overlap is partly a function of the project scope.
basic elements of a project charter
•Scope overview (customer requirements and project boundaries) •Business need for the project and background •Risks, assumptions, constraints •Key project milestones •Spending approvals/high-level budget estimates •Identification of key stakeholders •Lessons learned from previous projects •PM, key team members, and team operating principles •Signatures and commitment
Comparative Benefit:
This is rank ordering, or prioritizing, to select projects. A small number of project concepts may be easily rank ordered. A large number of project ideas (20+) may use the method of "Q-sort." In Q-sort, organize the concepts into groups of "good, fair, or poor." Then separate the 'goods' into "good+" and "good -". Do this with each of the initial categories. Continue separating in this manner until you achieve a rank ordering. Review and tweak. Then skim the top projects, within resource feasibility, to accomplish.
Stakeholder Engagement: The Bottom Line
•Stakeholder engagement occurs throughout the project •Communication and documentation are critical •Good stakeholder engagement often requires sound expert judgement •Stakeholders can help or hinder the project—engage them wisely!
exploration
•Totally new technology •Starts from square one •High risk of total failure •High rewards if successful (usually) ex: landing rocket launcher
Portfolio -> program -> project
This structure is analogous to the physical or functional hierarchy of the SE Lifecycle Process, but it defines the relationship among objectives for an organization. You can think of the US Air Force as an example of the top level organization. The AF has "portfolios" of efforts or goals, such as "Maintain Air Superiority" and "Advance orbital-based intelligence and imagery capabilities." Each of those portfolios may be comprised of several Programs, such as aircraft systems development (F-35, KC-47, etc.), and satellite development, launch, and operations programs. Each program may be thought of as a set of Projects, each of which is manageable by a single entity or officer, the PM. A project may be the development of the cockpit for a new aircraft, or the development of the operational plans and scenarios for a new constellation of intelligence-gathering satellites. Consider how this organization of organizational efforts aligns with the Systems Engineering lifecycle process.
Identify your stakeholders by thinking about factors such as:
Who is funding or commissioning the project? Who will use or benefit from the end result of the project? Who is participating in the project? Who is responsible for the project? Who is evaluating the project? Who has some concern with the project outcome? A stakeholder register is a tool for maintaining key information about your stakeholders. It should include contact information, their requirements and expectations for the project, the stage of the project to which they are critical or have elevated interest, and other relevant information as listed in this slide. The register should be updated as stakeholders or information about them changes. The register forms the foundation for a stakeholder engagement plan and management actions. Power-Interest Grid: As the name implies, this characterizes stakeholders' power in the project and interest in the project. Each of these two dimensions can be plotted on a 2D grid, as on page 38 of your textbook. Stakeholders can then be 'categorized' within the grid for power and interest factors. These factors will help determine where to focus stakeholder engagement and management efforts by your team. For example, the exert ham radio licensee may have little power, and only moderate interest in your project to make FCC licensing videos. Take advice, but don't burn a lot of time schmoozing him or making him happy (unless he is also your instructor evaluating the project - ahem). He is probably in the "monitor" category. On the other hand, the "customer" cadets will tell you if your videos are clear, interesting, informative, and concise enough. They have moderate power to impact the project, and I'm sure many of them will be highly interested in it so they can earn their ham radio license! Yep. Right. So they are probably in the Keep Informed or Manage Closely categories. Iterate / Update: Your stakeholder information should be updated regularly, especially as stakeholders change, project goals change, or new information comes to light.
non-numeric project selection examples
Why is the F35 "Too big to fail"? Why did we need to get a human to the moon? Why can't we let China nuke us? Why did we need to win the COLD WAR? Do we have to have military academies?
The PPO is characterized by:
Work structured and organized on the basis of projects, with very little or no day-to-day functional area operational concerns. A separate, independent organization specifically for accomplishing a defined goal in a finite time. Usually has members with different specialty skills and knowledge from across the organization(s) involved in the project. Typically, each team member is dedicated to, and works full-time on, the assigned project. When the project is complete, each member moves on to a new project team assignment. The PPO may have breadth of expertise due to the various members, but each of those members is only one person who cannot usually have all sub-area skills and knowledge of their domain. This structure does not provide for efficient use of additional expertise from a functional area since most individuals are assigned full-time to a dedicated project. As such, the team may have limited depth in some technological areas of expertise. Because individual expert personnel are not "matrixed out" to multiple projects at once in a "time share" agreement, duplicative effort among various projects can lead to increase salary expenses. Individuals dedicated to a single project can become strongly attached to the project and team, seeking perfection and fearing their fate when the project is completed. A management challenge is to avoid "foot dragging" as the project closes, and also to ensure continuity or smooth transitions of personnel at the project close.
Evaluating and choosing projects is often accomplished by...
a committee of senior managers or organizational leaders. They should consider the common questions in this slide when making project selections. Generally, these questions (and others) may be categorized along the lines of CAN we do this project? Or... SHOULD we do this project? Surely, the flying squadron CAN adopt a segment of highway to keep clean, but SHOULD it be selected? Why or why not? [Should not, as it does not align with any of the squadron's objectives of (1) effective flying operations, (2) safe flying operations, (3) aviator development, or (4) high morale.]
program
a group of related projects...focuses on the interdependencies between projects to determine the optimal approach to managing them.
Breakthrough projects
can be 'disruptive'
plan stakeholder engagement
describes understanding which stakeholders are relevant to the change, what business analysts need from them, what they need from business analysts, and the best way to collaborate.
Risks
imply uncertainty. Uncertainty about how a new technology or new technique will perform can result in greater costs to help mitigate the risk (such as R&D efforts, prototyping, thorough testing, etc.). This uncertainty can also cause schedules to be extended due to these mitigating activities, or due to an unexpected failure of the new technology or technique that was insufficiently tested in advance of implementation in the system. Sometimes you must "roll the bones" and take your chances, but the PM should endeavor to minimize risks or at least mitigate them by trading off cost and schedule. Example: Lockheed Martin undertook an expensive risk mitigation trade-off very early in the Orion space capsule development by prototyping a re-entry heat shield for the vehicle using new, light-weight ceramic materials that had never been used in this way before. The cost of this prototype, its testing, and the associated schedule extension paid off in technical performance, dramatically reducing the weight of the heat shield and overall Orion vehicle, thereby increasing its payload capacity to meet NASA primary requirements.
Resources definition and example
include human resources among other physical items. In my Orion flight deck displays project I had to form teams of knowledgeable personnel for each subsystem of the vehicle. I had to negotiate with functional managers of each subsystem to allocate engineering personnel to this project. I had to negotiate with NASA to assign astronauts and mission operations personnel to these teams. Additionally, I was responsible for leveraging access for these teams to NASA rapid prototyping facilities wherein flight displays were mocked-up, and later prototyped and tested by human factors experts and representative operators (astronauts).
Platform projects
major departures from existing
Small scope projects
may see a Systems Engineer performing a large amount of the Project Management tasks, such as schedule management, process management, communications management, stakeholder analysis & management, project charter, and more.
NPV review: what does this mena?
money has a time value; now money is worth more than money later, it is important to know how much ex: if you buy a home and have a morgage, you can calculate the present value of your home given the mortgage rate -USE =npv function
R&D projects
new technologies - visionary
Derivative projects
only incrementally different from existing
Large scope
projects will typically have less overlap of function between these two domains, with dedicated Project Management personnel committed to the effort. In these cases the Systems Engineer will focus more on classical SE responsibilities within the engineering development and SE lifecycle processes. But, such projects still require close coordination between the SE and PM. The SE will often be required to provide reports to the PM regarding project progress, changes, risks, and numerous other topics that impact the cost, schedule, and performance of the system under development.
project selection: Numeric
•Financial assessment methods •Net Present Value •Payback Period •Measure of non-monetary advantage •Unweighted factor method •Weighted Scoring Approach
Two Extreme Approaches to Planning:
•"Ready, fire, aim" •"Paralysis by analysis" Avoid either of these two extremes of planning: Ready, fire, aim! Too little analysis and planning can be hazardous to your career, as well as to the project of the moment. Make sure you have a sound, fundamental plan for the project that balances cost, schedule, and performance/scope, while also addressing significant risks. Paralysis by Analysis. Too much analysis can waste valuable time and cause missed opportunities. We are engineers who often seek to plan to the 14th decimal place! Avoid this tendency with project planning and try to reasonably determine when analysis and planning is "good enough." Use your team members and experienced advisors to help you ascertain the necessary level of planning, technical analysis, and early risk mitigation efforts that lead to forward project planning decisions.
scope: overview:
•A high-level description of what needs to be accomplished and how it will be done •The project in a nutshell •Used to help prevent scope creep •Considered to be the project boundaries Scope, in the Charter, should be a general description of all that the project entails. An early scope definition should typically include information such as: A description of the expected project outcomes or products. Example: "The project will produce five videos averaging 6 minutes in length that describe the characteristics of creeps in the Colorado Springs metro area. The project will educate cadets on creep identification, creep avoidance, and creep effects mitigation." A clear description of the project boundaries ("project includes ________, but does not include _________"). Example: "The project will include video and photographic illustrations of creep characteristics and behaviors, but actual creeps will not be provided by, nor enlisted in, the project." Note: Your actual project Scope Definition may require a bit more elaboration. The early definition of scope is important because it helps the PM clearly define the limits of the project, establishes much of the expectations for the sponsor and stakeholders, and thereby helps to avoid scope creep! Remember, in a SE project (such as a lifecycle process activity or a component design effort), scope creep will usually come in the form of requirements creep - the customer / sponsor / stakeholders (and weak management) will add (or allow) requirements to be added to the system specification that creep into your project and impact its scope. Get agreement on scope (via requirements) early, thereby avoiding scope creep to the extent possible.
Budget Estimates & Spending Approvals
•A preliminary budget should include the level of confidence in the estimate (+ or - 5%?) •Some internal projects do not develop formal budgets •Identify expenses the project manager can authorize and expenses the sponsor needs to control
project charter
•An informal contract between the project team and the sponsor •A contract •Serves as the transition between Project Initiation and Project Planning
purpose of a project charter
•Authorize the project manager to proceed •Help the project team and sponsor develop a common understanding •Gain commitment from the project team and sponsor •Quickly screen out obviously poor projects • Project charter "formally authorizes the project ... documents initial requirements that satisfy the stakeholders' needs and expectations ... and provides the project manager the authority to apply resources to project activities." -- PMBOK Guide Since the Charter establishes agreement among involved parties, it essentially authorizes the PM to proceed with the project as defined. Inherent in a well-structured and approved Charter is a common understanding between the Project Team and the sponsor. The Charter can help to screen out poor projects since the process of garnering agreements about scope, budgets, schedules, and other factors will highlight problems or infeasibilities early.
exploitation
•Based on old technology •Tweeks older technologies to improve •Low risk of total failure •"Build a better mouse trap" -rocket launcher
business need and background
•Business Case: •Why do this? •The project purpose or justification statement •Used to justify the necessity of the project •Clearly tie the project to the organization's strategy •May be just the rationale •Background: •Used to provide more detail to support the scope statement and business case statements •The background statement is optional, but often very informative and useful. The Business Need and Background provide the answer to the question, "Why are we doing this project?" Different from the scope description, the Business Need defines the problem, the need, or the opportunity that the project addresses. Although your project is an academic requirement, that should NOT be included in your Project Charter in this section. Instead, leverage other rationale for the project. Example: A recent increase in the number of creeps around the Colorado Springs metropolitan area has highlighted a deficiency in cadet creep-handling skills. A recent survey of cadets indicates that 42% of cadets have been creeped out while visiting the downtown Colorado Springs area in the past year, an increase of 29% in one year! Cadets need enhanced creep-handling skills to avoid excessive creep out experiences that may stunt or lessen their metro area visitation enjoyment. The US Air Force Academy is a dedicated anti-creep institution, with explicit goals of developing leaders of character and not creeps. This project will help correct cadet creep out by providing fundamental creep identification and avoidance training. Note: Your actual project Business Need and Background may require a bit more elaboration.
manage stakeholder engagement
•Communicate and work with stakeholders to meet their needs and expectations •Address issues with stakeholders •Foster appropriate stakeholder involvement Management of stakeholder engagement essentially means execute your stakeholder engagement plan to the benefit of the project, adapting and revising as needed along the way. Communicate with stakeholders at the appropriate time by the appropriate means. Keep their issues, interests, and pet peeves in mind, and seek to address any conflicts, concerns, or issues as early as possible. Seek their council when prudent. Help them to feel important to the project effort.
Identify Stakeholders
•Create stakeholder register •Consider using tools such as Power-Interest Grid and Commitment Assessment Matrix •Document relevant information: •Assumptions •Interests •Involvement •Interdependencies •Influence •Potential impact on project success •Should occur periodically, not just at the beginning of the project
what is FAR?
•Federal Acquisition Regulations •Process that has grown for the past century into a huge document •Slows down acquisition •In theory, it has a system of "checks and balances" that keeps risk low •In reality, risk is higher by not getting cutting edge equipment to the warfighter in a timely manner
Stakeholder Engagement:Key Processes
•Identify Stakeholders •Plan Stakeholder Engagement •Manage Stakeholder Engagement •Monitor Stakeholder Engagement These are the important steps you should take in stakeholder engagement. Once you ID your stakeholders you should form a written plan for engagement. This will require that you record information about your stakeholders' roles, interests, concerns, commitment or support to the project, neediness, and other factors. This will likely require you to communicate with your stakeholders in order to get to know them better. This can be done with questionnaires, personal interviews, telephone interviews, email, etc. But you MUST have information about your stakeholders' relationship to the project in order to properly plan, manage, and monitor stakeholder engagement.
integration management
•Integration management can be considered the task of bringing the work of all project groups together to make a harmonious whole •Independent and sequential tasks are difficult to optimize at the system level •Parallel tasking (concurrent engineering) solves sequential problem •Parallel tasking requires good communication and cooperation among team members
5 important characteristics of project team members
•Members must be technically competent •Senior members of the project team must be politically sensitive •Members of the project team need a strong problem orientation •Team members need a strong goal orientation •Project workers need high self-esteem Be aware that you will not always have these characteristics in full strength among your team when you are PM. How can you handle such deficiencies among your team members, other than firing them or kicking them off the team? What's the better answer? Leadership! Exercise leadership - get to know your team members' strengths and weaknesses. Task them in ways that play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. Discuss these factors with them one-on-one and facilitate means of improving where there are weaknesses - training classes, mentorship, observation of others (pairing team members for some tasks), practice opportunities, etc.
The FPO is characterized by:
•Members under the management of a singular functional area. (Ex: A marketing research project within the Marketing functional department of a company. A project to optimize the training schedule within a single flying squadron.) •Housed within the functional areas where the project outcome will be used. •Typically has great depth of expertise in the specific functional domain, and this promotes maintenance of specialized professional competencies. Since the FPO is within a single functional area, communication lines are short and efficient, unless they extend across functional area barriers where they become slower and more difficult due to lack of common understanding or common backgrounds. PM and Functional Management is well aligned in the FPO, helping to ease the continuity or transitions for team members from project to project. Still, loyalty to the Functional Manager over the PM may cause friction and conflict, and strain the need for accountability. If the FPO is one phase of a multi-phase program in which the project, when completed, will be "thrown over the fence" to the next phase team, gaps between these functions can arise and some responsibilities may "fall through the cracks." For instance, suppose that the R&D FPO has come up with a new product that is handed off to a unique Manufacturing FPO. The Manufacturing FPO finds that in the handoff, no Type D specs (process specifications) were provided for producing some parts of the product. The R&D FPO claims that is the responsibility of the Manufacturing FPO, and the Manufacturing FPO claims they need to be told how to produce the parts because they don't know.
monitor stakeholder engagement
•Monitor stakeholder relationships •Tailor strategies for engaging stakeholders by modifying plans •Update issues logs, lessons learned register, risk register, and stakeholder register as necessary The PM should monitor how well the stakeholder engagement plan is going and direct changes to stay on course. Monitoring will usually be accomplished either directly through personal engagement with the stakeholders, or by structured or informal reports from team members. It is a good idea to hold regular, brief project team meetings to discuss the stakeholder engagement management effort and to modify the plan accordingly.
virtual project manager
•More and more often, project teams are geographically dispersed - really true in large organizations like the Air Force!!! •Often referred to as "virtual projects •Much of the communication is conducted via email, through websites, by telephone, or video conferencing •To succeed, communication between project manager and project team must be frequent, open, and two-way
Goals of Managing Stakeholder Engagement
•Obtaining and confirming stakeholders' commitment to the project's success at the appropriate stages in the project •Communicating with stakeholders to manage their expectations •Proactively addressing stakeholder concerns before they become major issues •Resolving issues in a timely fashion once they have been identified Different stakeholders will have different levels of interest or critical participation in the project at different times. The PM and project team must identify for each stakeholder WHEN their critical involvement or engagement is necessary. For instance, if your project this semester is to create informative videos about how cadets can earn a ham radio license, you may want to engage a knowledgeable, licensed, ham radio operator stakeholder early in the project to learn about the FCC licensing process. But, you may need to wait until you have some video to show before engaging sample cadet stakeholder to obtain feedback on the videos. Your project team should record and track various stakeholder expectations and, as necessary, manage those expectations by communicating openly and honestly with the stakeholder, just as Dilbert is doing here with Liz. PM and team should identify any concerns of the stakeholder (via effective communication) and mitigate concerns well before they blow up into show-stopping issues. The mitigating actions will often be simply additional communication, explanations or rationale for decisions, or presenting alternative options that are feasible. In other cases the mitigating actions may mean reassigning team members to different roles, changing the project goals, reshuffling project priorities or schedules, and other practical trade-offs or actions. For instance, suppose the knowledgeable ham radio operator has the concern, "You haven't been through the licensing process yourself, so I am not sure you are qualified to make informative videos about it." You could mitigate this concern by going through the licensing process and earning your ham radio license yourself, and having ALL of your team members do the same.
a few notes on Project managers
•Project manager usually selected after project is selected •It is job of project manager to make sure that the project is properly planned, implemented, and completed •Project manager then recruits qualified people for the project •Learning project tools and techniques is easy, succeeding as a project manager is hard
questions for Selecting Projects To Meet Organizational Objectives
•Project selection is process of evaluating projects and choosing them so firm objectives are met •Ensure that several conditions are considered •Is the project potentially profitable? •Is the project required? •Does firm have the skills to complete the project? •Does the project involve building strategic competencies? •Does it have capacity to carry out the project? •Can project be economically successful?
risks, assumptions, and constraints: project charter
•What could prevent successful completion of a project? •The more comprehensive, the more likely to discover problems before they occur •A false assumption becomes a risk •A constraint that limits money, time, or resources is a risk •Risks are preliminary—further risk analysis will be conducted during planning In the Project Charter, risks need be only very high level considerations, not detailed or technical risk assessments. However, you may be able to identify problems by making these considerations. False assumptions are closely related, becoming risks if you have not accurately considered the assumptions. Example: An assumption for the Creep ID Project is that creeps will be visible in the Colorado Springs area at the times team members have to video or photograph them. However, given limits on cadet time off base during late night and wee-early-hours, this assumption may not be valid. The absence of creeps during cadet video/photo time becomes a risk that should be considered up front in the Charter. Is this risk significant enough to warrant deselecting the project and going with something else? The example also ties into the consideration of constraints. Cadets are constrained on time, so the consideration should assess whether enough time is available, given cadet constraints, to actually succeed in making the video / photo shoots needed for the project schedule. You could instead hire a videographer to go out late and night to image creeps for you, but you are constrained in budget. This constraint may exacerbate the risk assessment.
Based upon the Power-Interest category of a stakeholder, and based upon other relevant information collected in the stakeholder register, your team should develop an overt plan or approach to "handling" a stakeholder. The plan may address items such as:
•When (what project phase) and how frequently to communicate with the stakeholder. •What method of communication is preferred or most effective for the stakeholder, and should be used. •What specific issues the stakeholder has interest in (costs, technical performance, schedule, a particular subsystem or component, other stakeholder's views, etc.) and should therefore be contacted about when significant events occur. •Who is the primary interface to the stakeholder (consistency is usually good). Topical areas that the stakeholder should be consulted on.
contract
•is an agreement entered into freely by two or more parties. •cannot arbitrarily be changed •offers something of value for each party •is a living document that can evolve with changing conditions While the Project Charter is a preliminary version of the more detailed Project Plan, it may also be considered like a contract between your team and the project sponsor and/or other stakeholders. As PM you should treat it as a contract and use it wisely to garner agreement. Why? Once you begin detailed planning of your project, you do not want tons of changes to crop up! As you learned in SE310 and SE311, changes imposed later in the development process drive up costs and extend schedules. Cost & Time! A good charter helps to avoid changes, effectively "holding feet to the fire" among all parties. You want to establish solid expectations with your sponsor and stakeholders early in the project. If the expectations are not agreed upon early, you may have to change the scope of the project to satisfy the expectations for all who have an interest in the project. The earlier these expectations and outcomes are established, the fewer changes you should have to manage along the way, and the more accurate your Project Plan will be. An accurate Project Plan that comes to fruition as expected will make you a hero and a folk legend in your organization! (And give you good OPR bullets, too!) The Project Charter identifies the value provided to each party involved. These valued items may be listed as project outcomes, fees or costs to be paid, work agreements among involved organizations, and other valued products, services, or arrangements. Living Document: Yes, the Project Charter may be changed as conditions dictate, but the goal of the charter is to identify problem areas early enough that changes are minimized in scope and number. Once the Project Charter is approved (by all parties), the more detailed Project Plan can be initiated. As such, the Project Charter represents a transition point from initiation to planning.
