Lecture 1 - The Project Context Flashcards
What are the four key aspects a project requires?
- Uniqueness
- Temporary
- Focused
- Constraints
Define ‘uniqueness’:
Exactly the same project has not been done before.
Define ‘temporary’:
- Projects have a beginning and an end.
- Temporary team move on after the project has finished.
Define ‘focused’:
The task is to deliver a specific benefit.
Give examples of constraints which can be applied to projects:
- Time
- Cost
- Quality
What are the three factors which suggest Project Management is important?
- Projects are ubiquitous and are replacing traditional organisational structures.
- Projects impact the bottom line (majority of income for companies comes from projects).
- There are disastrous consequences from poor project management (e.g. Heathrow Terminal 5 and Olympic Games 2012).
Name the 7 common project characteristics:
- Change
- Mission focused
- Temporary
- Integrating.
- Social Construction
- Emergence / uncertainty
- Aspects of uniqueness.
What are the two variables which define the common type of project?
- Volume; ‘how many tasks per unit time?’.
- Variety; ‘degree by which the tasks vary’.
These variables are typically related to the uncertainty and risk involved.
What are the three common types of projects?
- First-timers
- As but’s
- Painting by numbers
Define ‘first-timers’:
No comparable projects undertaken before.
Define ‘as buts’:
As last jobs, but with these differences.
Define ‘painting by numbers’:
Projects which are extremely similar to ones performed before thus a system to conduct them can be established.
What is the case study for Project Environment?
Nintendo Wii.
What were the major problems which occurred at the launch of the Nintendo Wii?
- Supply was unable to keep up with demand.
- Serious injuries because customers were not used to exercise.
- Large numbers of insurance claims.
What are the two models which relate to the different project environments?
- The PESTEL model; refers to the external environment.
- The MODEST model; refers to the internal environment.
What is the PESTEL model?
What in the external environment can affect the project?
- POLITICAL
- ECONOMICAL
- SOCIAL
- TECHNOLOGICAL
- ENVIRONMENTAL
- LEGAL
What is the MODEST model?
What in the internal environment can affect the project?
- MISSION
- ORGANISATION
- DELIVERY
- STAKEHOLDERS
- TEAM
Draw out the ‘conventional hierarchies’ in projects:
This is the traditional and inefficient way of managing projects
…
Define ‘general management’:
“Maintenance”
- Manages status quo, improvements through optimisation.
- Permanent organisational structures, authority well defined.
Define ‘project management’:
“Innovation”
- Overseeing change, involves resolution of conflicts.
- Works om temporary structure; fuzzy lines of authority.
Write out the flow chart of projects within an organisation (V,O,P,P,P,P):
- VISION
- ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY
- PORTFOLIOS
- PROGRAMMES
- PROJECT STRATEGY
- PROJECT TASKS
What should the vision of a project be?
- Narrow focus (don’t try to be good at everything).
- It is expressed through a mission statement.
What tools are used in the process of organisational strategy? And what does organisational strategy provide?
- Porter’s Five Forces
- SWOT Analysis
Organisational strategy provides focus on where to invest resources.
What is the role of portfolio management?
- Vision and strategy shows that one company cannot be good at everything.
- Portfolio management focuses the company on what they are good at and pushes them in the direction of choosing appropriate projects for their skill set.
- Implement financial selection criteria (payback period, discounted cash flow, internal rate of return).
- Use scoring methods to help focus choice of projects.
What is programme management and what is it used for?
Programme management is an organised framework which has two main uses:
- Grouping existing projects
- Defining new projects
Under programme management, all projects are managed in a coordinated way to:
- Reach a common goal
- Extract benefits which would not be realised if the projects were managed independently.
Projects can have three different timings, what are they and what are the names of the time frameworks they construct?
- Sequentially (chain)
- In parallel (portfolio)
- Simultaneously (possible mutual dependencies; network).
What is project management and how is it broken down?
Project management is the management of an individual project.
Overall, project management consists of a project board, technical advisory group, project assurance, a project manager, project management office and the project teams which carry out the work.
What is a ‘project board’?
- Senior users: Provide input on behalf of end-users.
- Executive: Want the result, is the sponsor (budget).
- Senior suppliers: Representatives of suppliers.
What is the ‘technical advisory group?
An external group of technical experts that advises the project board (e.g. technicality, feasibility, safety…)
What is ‘project assurance’?
An external group which provides the project board with objective oversight (project status, finances, risks etc…)
What is a Project Management Office (PMO) and what is its purpose?
- A centralised line function to assist project managers.
- Its purpose is to define and maintain standards for projects.
- There is one per organisation, not one per project.
- The use of one means the success/failure of a project relies less on the experience of the project manager involved.
Project Office –> Project Process
- Monitor and control project performance
- Develop PM capabilities
- Programme and portfolio management
- Organisational learning
Project Process –> Project Office
- Information about project status (finance, % complete).
- Knowledge and experience gained from project.
What are the tasks of the PMO?
Monitoring and controlling project performance:
- Status reports to upper management
Development of PM capabilities:
- Development of standardised methodology
- Training project staff, mentoring project managers
Programme and portfolio management:
- Coordination between projects, resource allocation
- Identifying, selecting and prioritising new projects
Organisational learning:
- Project reviews/audits, documentation; “lessons learnt”
What are the advantages of a PMO?
- Develop standard method to increase the success of projects.
- Documentation of the process and outcomes of the project.
- Facilitate transparent resource allocation.
- Improve performance with respect to time and cost (in the long term).
- Will help prioritise projects; help and organisation cut out useless ones - save C, T, Q.
What are the disadvantages of a PMO?
- Adds another bureaucracy with burdens on both time and cost (initially).
- Hard to measure benefit / performance of PMO (benefit only shown in long run, not all projects are directly comparable).
- If variety of projects is higher, a standardised method from PMO would not be useful.
- Company culture?
When should a PMO be implemented?
- Variety of projects / company culture (should you use a virtual PMO?)
- Size of firm / volume of projects; initial economic strain.
- Intermediate impact vs. long term effect.
