Introduction

Project Management for Business,

Engineering, and Technology

Projects are everywhere…

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 Evidence of projects is everywhere…

From: blog.lib.umn.edu/muwah005/architecture/

From: www.educ.uvic.ca/.../438/CHINA/CHINA-WALL.HTML

Evidence of projects is everywhere…

From: http://www.aggieathletics.com/

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Construction Started: 1931
Opened: 1936

Project Started: early 90s / First Launched: 1998 / NASA Cost = +$30M

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Evidence of projects is everywhere…

?
?
From: http://www.jsf.mil/images/gallery/cdp/lockheed

Summarizing with Q&A

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What is a project?

What is a project?
◼ Project Management Institute: “A project can
be defined as a temporary endeavor
undertaken to create a unique product or
service.”
◼ Software Engineering Institute: “A project is
managed set of interrelated resources that
delivers one or more products to a customer
or end user. The set of resources has a
definite beginning and end and operates
according to a plan.”

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 What’s a Project?

◼ Goal-oriented
◼ Time and resource-constrained
◼ Cross-functional
◼ Somewhat unfamiliar and risky
◼ Something is at stake
◼ Follows logical sequence or progression of
phases or stages
◼ Unique

What’s a Project?
◼ Goal-oriented
❑ Aims at a specific end result or deliverables
◼ Example (Hoover Dam): control floods, provide irrigation water
(1,000,000 acres of land) and produce hydroelectric power
(4.2 billion kWh/year)

◼ Time- and resource-constrained

❑ Temporary; has target completion date and target
cost
◼ Construction began: 1931
◼ Opening date: 1936
◼ Construction cost $49 million

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 What’s a Project?
◼ Cross-functional
❑ Cross-disciplinary
❑ Cross-organizational

Example (Hoover Dam Construction by Six Companies, Inc.):

1. Henry J. Kaiser Co. of Oakland, California and Bechtel
Corporation of San Francisco (Bechtel-Kaiser)
2. MacDonald and Kahn of Los Angeles, California
3. Utah Construction Company of Ogden, Utah
4. Morrison-Knudsen of Boise, Idaho
5. Pacific Bridge Company of Portland, Oregon
6. J.F. Shea of Portland, Oregon

What’s a Project? (cont’d)

Mulberry harbor example

◼ Somewhat unfamiliar and risky

❑ Involves something new or different

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 What’s a Project? (cont’d)
◼ Somewhat unfamiliar and risky
❑ Involves something new or different

What’s a Project? (cont’d)

Mulberry harbor example
◼ Something is at stake
❑ Stakeholders: persons or organizations who are actively involved
in the project or whose interests may be positively or negatively
affected by the performance or completion of the project (PMBOK 2013).

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 What’s a Project? (cont’d)
Mulberry harbor example

◼ Follows logical sequence or

progression of phases or stages

What’s a Project? (cont’d)

◼ Follows logical sequence or progression of
phases or stages

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 What’s a Project? (cont’d)
Mulberry harbor example
◼ Unique
❑ Non-routine, non-repetitive

From: http://www.jsf.mil/images/gallery/cdp/lockheed

Examples of projects?

◼ New product development

◼ Home remodeling
◼ Weddings
◼ Corporate relocation
◼ Military campaigns
◼ Chernobyl accident clean-up
◼ Earthquake/Tsunami rescue and recovery
◼ Daily supply to Antarctic bases?

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Summarizing with Q&A

Project vs. Non-Project Activities

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Project vs. Non-Project Activities

Mass-Production Delivery of Services Project-Type Activities

Non-Project Activities
▪ Repetitive activities
▪ Performed by the same people
▪ Short time period

Project vs. Non-Project Activities

Mass-Production Delivery of Services Project-Type Activities

Non-Project Activities

◼ Similarities
❑ Limited by resource constrains
❑ Planned and controlled
❑ Performed to achieve organizational objectives

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Projects in Non-Project Activities
(example)

Managing supplier integration in new product development

http://www.iaccm.com/news/contractingexcellence/?storyid=905

Summarizing with Q&A

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 Project Complexity and
Uncertainty

Project Complexity and Uncertainty

◼ Goal-oriented Complexity
◼ Time and resource-constrained
◼ Cross-functional
◼ Somewhat unfamiliar and risky
◼ Something is at stake
◼ Follows logical sequence or
progression of phases or
stages
◼ Unique Uncertainty

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Project Complexity and Uncertainty

Complexity
Magnitude of efforts
Number of groups

Uncertainty
Difficulty in predicting the final
outcome
Gehry Bandshell
Estimated cost: $10.8 million
Actual Cost: $60.3 million

Project Complexity and Uncertainty

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Project Complexity and Uncertainty

Mass-Production Delivery of Services Project-Type Activities

Non-Project Activities
▪ Repetitive activities
- Lower Complexity
▪ Performed by the same people
▪ Short time period
- Less Uncertainty

…and in the news. Examples:

◼ Millennium Park, Chicago

❑ Ground breaking targets, 1998:
◼ Total cost: $150 million
◼ Gehry band shell: $10.8 million
◼ Completion: 2000 (millennium!)

❑ Actual
◼ Total Cost: $475 million
◼ Gehry band shell: $60.3 million
◼ Completion date: Summer 2004

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 Examples

◼ Boston Big Dig

❑ Cost estimate for total project: From: www.cegltd.com/story.asp?story=8751&headline=...

Circa 1989, seeking federal funding $ 2.5B

❑ 1991, ground-breaking $5B

❑ 1997 $10.8 B
❑ Summer 2004, 92% complete $14.6 B

❑ Cost at completion (2006) $ 22 B

From: www.roadtraffic-technology.com/.../big_dig1.html

Summarizing with Q&A

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Why do projects fail?

IT Projects Performance

◼ Performance of IT Projects:
❑ Average cost overrun, 43%
❑ Projects with schedule overrun, 82%
❑ Required features/functions not included in
released system, 48%

Source: 2012 “Chaos” Report, Standish Consulting Group

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 Why Do Projects Fail or Suffer Overruns?
◼ Typical reasons
❑ Weather
❑ Inadequate requirements definition
❑ Insufficient resources
❑ Changing priorities of customer or management
❑ Intractable technical problems
❑ Resistance from stakeholders
❑ Wrong project for the stated needs
❑ Inadequate tracking and control
❑ Inexperienced project manager and/or team

Project Failure, Sources and Solutions

Internal to Project External to Project

Reasons Organizational Environmental

Poor definition Inadequate resources Weather
Poor tracking Changing priorities Competitors
Technical barriers Wrong project Legal barriers

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 Project Failure, Sources and Solutions
Internal to Project External to Project

Reasons Organizational Environmental

Poor definition Inadequate resources Weather
Poor tracking Changing priorities Competitors
Technical barriers Wrong project Legal barriers

Possible Solutions:
Planning / control Portfolio mgt Stakeholder mgt
Risk mgt Risk mgt Risk mgt
PMO

PROJECT MANAGEMENT!

Summarizing with Q&A

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What is Project Management?

What is Project Management?

Simple Definition

◼ Management to accomplish project goals.

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Three Dimensions of Projects:
Requirements, Schedule, and Budget

What is Project Management?

Longer Definition
Management to:
◼ Achieve project end results (unique and
unfamiliar)
◼ Define and execute everything necessary to
complete a complex system of tasks
◼ Do it
❑ by target completion date
❑ with constrained resources
❑ with an organization that is cross-functional and
newly-formed

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Key Elements of Project Management

People

Tools Processes

PMBOK, Ten Areas of Knowledge

◼ Project Integration Management
◼ Project Scope Management
◼ Project Time Management
◼ Project Cost Management
◼ Project Quality Management
◼ Project Human Resource Management
◼ Project Communications Management
◼ Project Risk Management
◼ Project Procurement Management
◼ Project Stakeholder Management

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Summarizing with Q&A

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