INTRODUCTION TO:

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
OVERVIEW
Lecture 1: 13 January 2010

by: Megat Zainurul Anuar bin Megat Johari

www.thedreamsoft.com
megat@thedreamsoft.com
Introduction to Project Management

• Background Scenario
• What is Project
• Projects vs. Operational Work
• What is Project Management
• Project Life Cycle & Project Task
• Story: Why project fail?
– Exercise 1
Project Management
Statistics

• In 2003, the average senior project manager in

the U.S. earned almost $90,000 per year, and the
average Project Management Office (PMO)
Director earned more than the average Chief
Information Officer ($118,633 vs. $103,925).**
• The Apprentice, the number-one U.S. reality
television show in 2004, portrayed the important
role of project managers.(Video)
Motivation for Studying
Information Technology (IT)
Project Management
• IT projects have a terrible track record.
– A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS)
found that only 16.2 % of IT projects were
successful in meeting scope, time, and cost
goals.
– Over 31% of IT projects were canceled
before completion, costing over $81 billion
in the U.S. alone.*
• “In preparing for
battle, I have
always found that
plans are useless,
but planning is
indispensable”
– Eisenhower
Introduction
• The world as a whole spends nearly $10trillion on
projects every year.
• U.S. spends $2.3 trillion on projects every year, on
projects of all kinds.*
• Malaysia ? ..................
– "Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer Project“ ,Cost: $9 billion
- by Federal Government
– Malaysia new budget airline terminal by 2011, Cost: $813
million
– 1 Malaysia F1 Team …?
What is Project

Project Characteristics
• Temporary: means that every project has
a definite beginning and a definite end.
• Unique Products, Services or Results: A
projects creates unique output, which are
products, services or results.
• Progressive Elaboration: means
developing in stages and continuing by
increments.
Project Attributes
• A project:
– Has a unique purpose.
– Is temporary.
– Is developed using progressive elaboration.
– Requires resources, often from various areas.
– + Should have a primary customer or sponsor.
• The project sponsor usually provides the direction and
funding for the project.
– + Involves uncertainty.
Projects vs. Operational Work

• Projects and operations differ

primarily in that operations are
ongoing and repetitive, while
projects are temporary and unique
What is Project Management

• Project Management is the

application of: Knowledge, skills,
tools and technique to project
activities.
What is Project Management..+

Project activities is a process of :

• initiation,
• planning,
• executing,
• monitoring and controlling and
• closing.
Advantages of Project Management
• Better control of financial, physical, and human
resources.
• Improved customer relations.
• Shorter development times.
• Lower costs.
• Higher quality and increased reliability.
• Higher profit margins.
• Improved productivity.
• Better internal coordination.
• Higher worker morale (less stress).
The Triple Constrain
• Every project is constrained in different
ways by its:
– Scope goal: What work will be done?
– Time goals: How long should it take to
complete?
– Cost goals: how much should it cost?

• It is the project manager’s duty to balance

these three often-competing goals.
21st Project Management [Triple
Constraint]

scope cost

time
Project Management
Framework
Project Stakeholders
• Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected
by project activities.
• Stakeholders include:
– Project sponsor
– Project manager
– Project team
– Support staff
– Customers
– Users
– Suppliers
– Opponents to the project
9 Project Management
Knowledge Areas
• Knowledge areas describe the key competencies
that project managers must develop.
– Four core knowledge areas lead to specific project
objectives (scope, time, cost, and quality).
– Four facilitating knowledge areas are the means
through which the project objectives are achieved
(human resources, communication, risk, and
procurement management).
– One knowledge area (project integration management)
affects and is affected by all of the other knowledge
areas.
– All knowledge areas are important!
Project Management Tools &
Techniques
• Project management tools and techniques
assist project managers and their teams in
various aspects of project management.
• Specific tools and techniques include:
– Project charters, scope statements and WBS
(scope).
– Gantt charts, network diagrams, critical path
analyses, critical chain scheduling (time).
– Cost estimates and earned value management
(cost).
Project Life Cycle

• Project Life Cycle defines the phases

that connect the beginning of a
project to its end.
• PLC inputs:
– what technical work to do in each phase
– when the output are to be generated in
each phase
– who is involved in each phases
– how to control and approve each phases
Understanding Project Life
Cycle
Project
Initiation

Project Project
Review Definition

Planning
Closing

Project
Project

Monitoring Detailed
& Control Planning

Project
Execution
Basic PM Lifecycle

Initiating Planning

Closing

Controlling Executing
Associated Outputs
• Initiating – Project Feasibility, Project
Initiation/Kick-off Document
• Planning – Gantt Charts, WBS, Schedules,
Task Lists, Resource Levelling Charts
• Executing/Controlling – Task Lists, Issue
Lists, Bug Lists, Deliverables
• Closing – Close-out Documents, Customer
Satisfaction Assessments, Payment (!)
Initiation – Project
Objective
• The most powerful tool for initiation
is a very simple statement of the
objective of the project:
– Strategy: WHAT – you are going to do
– Tactics: HOW – you are going to do it,
including parameters
– Objective/Goal: WHY - Measurable
business benefit.
Initiation – Project Objective

• Why use it?

– Focuses your mind
– Gives a platform for upfront
disagreements about the point of the
project
– Lets you have the discussion BEFORE
anything has been built
– Gets agreement from stakeholders
– Won’t stop scope creep, but gives you a
GREAT way to explain cost/push back
Planning

• Do not need a detailed task list in a

full-on Gantt chart

• All you need to do a plan and

schedule for is to
– Call out external/internal dependencies
– Track progress
Planning – Tracking Progress

• “Percent complete” is the most

dangerous measure in planning
• Why?
– People lie
– People don’t know/are over-optimistic
– Work expands to fill the available time
Planning – Tracking Progress
• The solution is not to plan tasks and
not to measure progress in %
complete.
• Instead, only plan milestones – just
plan them small enough that it gives
you visibility of progress
• Binary completion (is it done? Y or N) is
MUCH more successful as a measure
of progress .
Controlling/Executing – Scope
Management
• You can’t stop the stakeholders changing their
minds, or requirements changing
• You CAN make them aware of the impact
• Let the customer prioritise – show them the cost
of making the scope change
• Go back to the project initiation document –
does the change help towards objective?
Closing – Closure Document

• Customer/client/management knows
the exact scope of the project
• Closing is just a matter of
acknowledging that everything
agreed has been delivered -- WRITE
IT DOWN! (incl future support
agreement, etc)
Closing – Closure Document

• What if they still want more?

exercise 1

wedding planner

• rules (30 minutes)

• prepare the wedding plan from start
to end.
• Write down the detail programme
Story: Why project fail?
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