If you were to hire a

project manager, what

quality would you look for?
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Welcome to
Project Planning and
Management in Public Sector
Instructor: Maheen Ahmad
13 September, 2022
maheen.ahmad@ipripak.org

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Today’s Agenda
I. Course Basics: Setting the stage for the semester
II. Icebreaker
III. Introduction to the world of project management

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Course Basics

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Who am I?
• Maheen Ahmad
• Postgraduate studies in International
Public Policy and Public Management

• Currently work at Islamabad Policy

Research Institute

• Teaching at NUST

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What is the content of the course?

I Project Designing
II Project Execution
III Project Close

Public Sector Project Planning

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 Week Lecture Topic
1
Introduction to the World of Project Management
(Sep 13)
2
(Sep 20)
Project Initiation WEEK 1 TO 5:
3
Project Initiation
PART I
(Sep 27)
4 Project Planning
(PROJECT
(Oct 4) DESIGN)
5
Project Planning
(Oct 11)
6
Managing Project Human Resources
(Oct 18) WEEK 6 –
7
(Oct 25)
Project Communications 13: PART II
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Project Procurement (PROJECT
(Nov 1)
9 EXECUTION)
Revision Week
(Nov 8)
 Week Lecture Topic
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Project Planning & Control
(Nov 22)

12
Project Planning & Control
(Nov 20)

13
Project Risk Management
(Dec 6)

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Managing Project Quality WEEK 14 TO
(Dec 13)
17: PART III
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(Dec 20)
Final steps of Closeout + Project Evaluation
(PROJECT
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Project Sector Project Planning
CLOSE)
(Dec 27)

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Public Sector Project Planning
(Jan 3)
18 Final – Term Exam Week
Why are we studying this course?
 Understand what projects are and their value in the public sector
 Obtain insight into various tools and techniques used by project
managers on real projects
 Overview challenges of project management in the public sector
 Learn various standards, methods, key performance metrics for
project success
 Study how to manage project cost, time, quality as well as delivery
 Appreciate good strategy and planning

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What resources do you need?
 A pen, a notebook: take notes in class. No laptop policy (unless discussed
beforehand with me).
 Slides will be uploaded on LMS.
 Textbooks can be consulted.
 Public-Sector Project Management by David Wirick
 A Survival Guide for Project Managers by James Taylor
 Managing Public Sector Projects: A Strategic Framework for Success in an Era of
Downsized Government by David S. Kassel
 Digital copies of abovementioned textbooks will be made available
 Supplementary material will also be made available in due course

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What is expected of you?
Embrace the role of a Public Administrator.

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MAX WEBER

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Public The term bureaucracy refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group.
Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected officials.

administrators
operate in Instructor
bureaucracy.
Respect the
hierarchy. Class Representative
Rule of thumb: all
communication via the
Class Representative.
Student If you want to send
me a personal request,
or you have a
question: email me.
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What is expected of you?
Public administrator core values:
i. Professionalism
ii. Ethics
iii. Accountability
iv. Objectivity

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Be professional
 Proper salutations and greetings.
 When contacting the instructor via email, please ensure the following:
 Ensure your subject line is relevant (“Hello” is not acceptable).
 Ensure your mail includes both your name and student number.
 If necessary, you may wish to CC the Class Representative in the email.
 Most importantly, re-read your mail before hitting send.

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Be accountable
Class will be scheduled weekly on Tuesdays
If you are going to be absent from class, I expect you to inform me well
in advance. CR must be kept in the loop at all times.
 Standard policy: you have 5-15 minutes of grace period if you are late.
If you are late, don’t interrupt the class. Quietly take a seat (preferably
in the front), come to me afterwards to explain why you were late.
I f you make a habit of being late – I will no longer allow you to sit in
the class. 3 strikes.

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Be ethical and respectful
No derogatory comments
Academic honesty
No cross-talk in class
No personal attacks
No gender bias
No sectarian, ethnic or religious commenting
Proper salutations

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Be objective
 This means come to class with an open mind, critical approach to
complex issues
 Demonstrate you are diligent, attentive and focused
Put 100% effort in your assignments
Engage with your readings. If you have any question regarding the
readings, email me. Will try my best to reply within 24 hours, or will
cover the questions in the next class and/or revision week.

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How will you be assessed?
 Final (40%)
 Midterm (25%)
 Quiz (10%)
 Class participation (5%)
 Assignments (20%)
1 group project

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20
Icebreaker

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What quality of YOURS do
you think would make you
a good project manager?
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Introduction to the
World of Project
Management

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YOU

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A project is any temporary,
organized effort that creates a
unique product, service,
process, or plan

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“Public management is the
management of men and
materials in the accomplishment
of the purpose of the state”

Leonard White
He wrote the first textbook on public administration, Introduction to the Study of Public Administration

Introduction to the Study of Public

Administration (1926) The administration is defined as an act of administering the whole organization by a group of people. Management is
an activity of business and functional level, whereas Administration is a high-level activity. While management
focuses on policy implementation, policy formulation is performed by the administration.

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Role of a project manager
The Project Manager is responsible for delivering the project.

Initiating
Planning
Executing
Monitoring
Closing
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extremely large or great

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It’s not always easy…
 Multiple stakeholders
 Unprecedented technology entering the scene
 Shifting the goalpost
 Constrained resources
 Rigidity of operations
 Organized political opposition
Little tolerance to failure

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WHERE ARE THE GOOD
PROJECT MANAGERS?

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What’s the
toolkit needed
to create a
good project?
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Project management is one of the best tools for
those who work in government or with
government and public-sector projects

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 CAN YOU DRAW OUT THE BOX?
 MOST LIKELY, NO. BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS
INTUITIVELY THINK WITHIN THE BOX…
 OTHERWISE, IT ALMOST FEELS LIKE
CHEATING…

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FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS
You have a certain belief about what is going on
and its hard to overcome that to solve it in a novel
way
 A cognitive bias where you brain is used to
thinking of a particular thing in a specific way, and
in turn, this limits the ability to approach the
problem from a fresher or more innovative
manner
 Roots from cognitive bias of having the tendency
to see objects as only working in a particular way.

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  One of the most remarkable minds in history
Albert Revolutionized physics
Einstein  We know him as the man who:
 correctly reasoned that light waves are bent
when they pass near a strong source of gravity (like
a star)
 that time isn’t constant
 and that mass and energy are different facets of
the same thing, we know him for his Special
Theory of Relativity

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 We don’t consider him in his younger years:
rebellious, someone who thought of his schooling
Albert days as rigid. Teachers shunned him.
 Worked at the patent office for 7 years at the age
Einstein of 23, where he studied the scientific models Swiss
inventors provided him and would prepare patents
for them, to protect them from law
 He claimed that his thinking wasn’t like a
supercomputer. Describing his method of thought,
he claimed “the gift of fantasy has meant more…
than… talent for absorbing positive knowledge”
 In general, Einstein’s work was marked by ‘out of
the box’ thinking, by enormous intellectual
flexibility. He did not accept the common wisdom
of the day, but instead was comfortable with
breaking the rules.
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Embrace the role of a project manager.

Think out of the box.

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