EMBA Strategy Implementation

Morning Introduction to project management Work Breakdown Structure Building the Project Plan Implementing the Project Plan Afternoon Two advanced exercises

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique result Projects have a beginning and end A project has specific deliverables Teams are usually disbanded at the end Operations are repetitive and on-going Projects are an increasingly important means of implementing strategy Project goals can be progressively elaborated over time

Project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet project requirements”. Now an IEEE Standard (IEEE1490) Project Management Institute Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) PM is seen in a broad context Management of team, risk, quality & external stakeholders as well as cost and time

Most projects are over time and over budget (often significantly) On average only 25% of projects meet all of their goals, around 25% fail completely According to the CHAOS report the average project in 2001 was: 163% over time 145% over budget

PM can: Justify work and changes Improve tracking of critical variables Identify tasks at differing levels of complexity Decrease project costs Let everyone know how they fit in Improve client reporting Decrease development time/costs and increase productivity and reusability “If you fail to plan then plan to fail”

ScopeTime Cost Quality/ Risk

Initiating Planning Executing Controlling Closing

Project scope management Defining and controlling what is, or is not, included in the project deliverables Project charter A written statement of project scope that is formally agreed with stakeholders and shared with the team

Problem/opportunity Project name, sponsor, manager Singular Project Goal Objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time based (SMART) Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Success criteria Assumptions, risks, obstacles

Scope Verification A process should be defined for how the stakeholder will formally accept that deliverables have been achieved Can verify at various stages or phases Verification may be conditional Scope Change A process should also be defined for how scope can be adjusted and the resulting impacts on cost, time, and risk quantified.

A WBS is a categorization and decomposition of project deliverables Work packages are the lowest level of the structure They are the smallest deliverables 8-80 hours of work (1 day-2 weeks per person/team) Can be further decomposed into activities or tasks The WBS is the input to all other project plans Work that is not in the WBS is not in the project !

Ideally a team-based activity (offline with whiteboard) Break the project into phases By lifecycle, milestones, or obligations Decompose the phases into discrete deliverables Decompose the deliverables into work packages using the 8/80 rule Must be able to assign time and resources Create WBS diagram

Screen clipping taken: 10/29/2007, 12:43 PM

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Next steps Include milestones to mark end of each phase Convert WBS to MS Project to create timeline (see Donaldson example) Present to project sponsor and key project stakeholders Get formal approval

Begins with a lifecycle of major phases I work the WBS in iterative cycles Start with high level activities Add sub-activities (note that activities are not really part of WBS) Decompose as deeply as you need Down to one individual working 1-10 days The lowest level should have one individual A list of assignments and accountabilities Let the team fill in low-level activities Length of time predicted from personal experience, historical data and team

In your teams, create a WBS for the EMBA trip next year Use MS Project to determine how early the planning needs to start if the trip must start no later than December 4, 2008 MS Project Skills Enter phases, tasks, and durations Link phases (create dependencies) Set milestones Set start date

By now, we have the project charter, scope, and WBS We need to add: Schedule and cost estimates Performance measurement baselines Milestones and target dates Required staff Extras Risk, quality, staffing, communications

Technically, the WBS contains only deliverables not activities The work packages need to be decomposed into activities (even sub- activities) Choo’s advice is useful – 1 person for 1 to 10 days

Once the activities have been defined they need to be sequenced

Constraints (see advanced tab) Do what? Start/Finish When? No earlier than/ No later than/ On this date / As Soon as Possible /As Late as Possible Lag time is also possible Double click on a task to set all task information

Once sequencing has been done, the “work” required for each activity has to be estimated Estimates based on experience/history Time units –m, h, d, w, mo Work is the total number of actual, physical, hands-on time required to complete an activity or task

By default, One day equals 8 hours, one week equals 40 hours, and one month equals 20 working days. 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. is the default work day. Change Tools:Options:Schedule Default task type: Fixed work Show assignment units as: Decimal Change Gantt chart/entry table Hide start/finish dates, add “Work” column Window: Split, View: Task Details Form

Duration = Work/Resource Units If a resource’s workday is eight hours and he or she is assigned to work on a task at 100% Units (for eight hours of work), then the Duration is eight hours (one day by default). Now let’s say you change the Units to 50%. Then the Duration becomes 16 hours or two days, because if a person is working half of an eight-hour day on this task, then it will take them 16 hours (two days) to complete eight hours of work. We can fix duration, work or units I prefer fixed work – so duration and resources float

Working with units of time rather than specific dates allows more flexibility We have used Gantt charts, a project network diagram is an alternative way of representing a project. Establishes the “critical path” Contingency planning Allows the team to “tinker” with alternate dependencies and constraints Network Diagram Example

The critical path is the longest duration from project start to finish If any activity on the critical path is delayed the project is going to be late Slack is the limit an activity not on the critical path can be delayed Free slack – the time a single activity can be delayed without delaying successors Total slack – the time an activity can be delayed without delaying the entire project Project slack – the time the project can be delayed before missing the customer deadline

Fast tracking Parallel rather than sequential (FS to SS) Can add some lag to second task to create a partial overlap Can be risky if first task delayed Crashing More resources – but not all tasks can be shortened with more resources

Always reflect the accurate amount of time it should take to complete a task Don’t inflate time to allow for mistakes, rework, and late activities Parkinson’s law – work will expand to fill the time available A management reserve is an artificial task at the end of a project 10-15% of total time Overruns are applied to the reserve

A resource is defined as any people, equipment, or materials View Resource Sheet, Table: Entry Key variables Type – work (per hour), material (per unit), or cost (per activity) Max Units: 50% or 3 engineers Rates –per time period (m, d, mo, y) or per use Double click for resource information Flexible availability, costs, calendar Accrual methods – start, prorated, end

Insights Includes 12-15% variance for unknowns Assessing time required and assigning resources with no slack (or over-allocation) are the toughest tasks Consult team members so you don’t create a schedule you can’t deliver Don’t be too generous though On going deliverables and communication with client can make a difficult project easier

Take your WBS from the first exercise and convert it to a project schedule by adding activities using the 8/80 rule Assign resources Keong, Dean Jarley, Jan, Bob, Travel Agent, Other Internal & External Parties Find the critical path and then try shortening What risks does this entail?

Team has to be motivated and monitored Project status meetings (usually weekly) Reporting, Generating a sense of responsibility & ownership (peer pressure helps the former) Acknowledgements and thank yous Review of status and risks Remediation (if necessary)

Tools to track include: , spreadsheets, web forms, MS project direct, MS project server Each report should include costs and % of total work completed If work is getting off schedule Add additional resources Invoke the management reserve (reduce the reserve and add time to late task) Reassign the work unit

TermDefinitionSample Value Budget at Completion (BAC)Estimated total cost of project$100,000 Percent actual complete (%A)Actual reported amount of work completed 20% Percent planned complete (%P)Planned proportion of work that should have been completed 25% Earned Value (EV)%A x BAC$20,000 Planned Value (PV)%P x BAC$25,000 Actual Costs (AC)Funds actually expended$15,000

TermDefinitionSample Value Cost VarianceEV-AC+$5000 Schedule VarianceEV-PV-$5000 Cost performance index (CPI)EV/AC20/15 = 1.33 Schedule performance index (SPI)EV/PV20/25=0.8 Estimate at completion (EAC)BAC/CPI100/1.33=75.19 Estimated timeTotal Est time/SPI6 mths/.8=7.5mths

Lack of supervision is fatal Coming in on time and budget is bloody difficult Try using dynamic digital dashboards for feedback (especially when team is dispersed) Throttle resources up and down as needed Ongoing reward and recognition Communication and feedback is the key Learn from lessons learned – after action

Complete Exercise 3b on page 310

In your teams, complete the Blue Zuma Project Parts 1-5 The Conveyor Belt Project You are free to leave when the exercises are completed! I will for consultation on all issues (except the answers) Baseline, tracking, leveling