Project

Management
1st lecture. By: Serwan Talabani
Project

 A project is a special kind of activity. It involves something that is

both unique and important and thereby requires unusual attention.
 It has boundaries with other activities.
 Has beginning and an end and objectives.
 It is not a never-ending functions, such as the accounting function,
the manufacturing function.
 Projects are also different from activities that have beginnings and
ends but no specific goal, such as having dinner, playing the violin.
 projects differ from programs, whose conclusion is diffuse, and
from other activities that have no bounds.
I. PROJECT LIFE CYCLES

 Because a project has a beginning and an end, it has

a life cycle.
 The life cycle consist of 6 phases, ( See fig 1.1).

A. Concept Phase
B. Project definition or proposal preparation phase.
C. Planning and organizing phase.
D. Plan validation phase.
E. Performance or work accomplishment phase
F. Post-accomplishment phase.
 A. Concept Phase

 The concept phase begins with the initial notion or "gleam in the
eye" of someone who imagines accomplishing some objective. The
objective may be to provide a bridge, to develop a manufacturing
capability, to obtain information, to make arrangements to
accomplish some task or goal.
 the objectives can be defined as a succinct set of individual
requirements, which will make the project more manageable.
 Each requirement in a well-formulated set has the following
characteristics, as appropriate:
1. Defines what, but not how, to the maximum extent possible, to
allow the project team to select the most appropriate approach.
2. Is expressed as "shall" or "shall not," to enable quick recognition of
a requirement.
3. Is simple or "atomic," not compound, to provide clarity and to
facilitate change control.
4. Can be validated by testing.
5. Identifies whether the situation to which it applies is of nominal (most
likely), worst case, or expected values, to guide those whose products
must satisfy the requirement.
6. Identifies when the requirement shall first be met and when it shall no
longer be needed
7. Identifies the conditions or mode to which it applies, e.g., always or
sometimes (when), also to guide those whose products must satisfy the
requirement.
8. Identifies related requirements, to help evaluate the impacts of proposed
changes.
9. Identifies its source, including whether it serves end-users or just
intermediate developments, to indicate who must be consulted if changes
to it are contemplated.
10. Can be satisfied by its due date with available or attainable resources.
11. Has a unique label, to enable its bookkeeping.
12. Has a custodian, to localize information about it and its implementation
status
Things Should Be taking into
consideration at the concept
Phase
 The concept phase should not include how to
accomplish the objectives.
 Project's objectives need to be fully explored and
developed.
 Identification of relevant constraints, such as budget
and time .
B. Project Definition Phase

 the project definition phase represents a beginning- to-end

thinking-through of the project but does not accomplish
the project in and of itself.
This phase has two parts.
 The first part comprises :characterizing the project in
terms of assumptions about the situation, alternative ways
of achieving the objectives, decision criteria and models
for choosing among viable alternatives, practical
constraints, significant potential obstacles, and resource
budgets and schedules needed to implement the viable
alternatives.
 The second part consists of tentatively selecting the overall
approach that will be used to achieve the objectives.
At Project Definition Phase

 choices are found to be unsatisfactory. Because not everything that

eventually needs to be known in order to accomplish the project is
known at this early stage.
 If the amount of uncertainty is so great that the contingency
allowances are unacceptably high. There will be two solution.
 First, the project can be divided into two sequential
 Subprojects. The objective of the first subproject is to obtain
information that will reduce the amount of uncertainty. This
information is then incorporated in a second subproject directed
toward achieving the main objective.
 Second, pursue the several alternatives in parallel until it becomes
clear which to continue and which to abandon.
 Note: This second approach will generally be more expensive but it
may take less elapsed time to reach the ultimate objective.
What should be addressed in
this phase
1. How the work will be done
2. How the project will be organized
3. Who the key personnel are
4. A tentative schedule
5. A tentative budget
The aim of this phase

 convince the customer that the doers know what to do

and are qualified to do it.
 Give the customer, undetailed map of the project.
C. Planning and Organizing
Phase
In this phase:
 Assuming that the customer accepts the project proposal
and authorizes the project.
 detailed plans are prepared and tasks identified, with
appropriate milestones, budgets, and resource
requirements established for each task.
 project managers try to do this work during the project
definition phase, partly to demonstrate that they know how
to manage the project, and then they skip lightly over it
once the project is authorized.(it is not always effective).
 it behooves project managers to develop their
organizations and their plans simultaneously, in order to
have each enhance the other.
C. Planning and Organizing
Phase (continue)
 This phase also includes building the organization that
will execute the project.
 To organize the project team, the project manager
must identify the nature, number, and timing of the
different skills and traits needed and arrange for them
to be available as required.
 These requirements include not only various sorts of
technical expertise, but also skills and traits in such
areas as communication, leadership, "followership,“
conceptualization, analysis, ext.
 D. Plan Validation Phase

In this phase
 Plan should be validated, plan validation consist of (literature
searches, field reconnaissance's, experiments, interviews, and
other forms of gathering data and information that (1) validate or
rectify any assumptions made in the plan and (2) identify and
characterize critical aspects of the project so that it can go
forward smoothly.
 Flaws in assumptions that are revealed during plan validation.
 Assumptions and adverse consequences that could arise from
assumptions with hidden flaws should be examined validated.
 If validation and risk-planning activities confirm the team's fears
about being successful, the team should revisit the concept,
definition, and planning phases in consultation with its customer.
 If validation indicates, however, that success is within reach, then
it is time to proceed to the performance phase.
 E. Performance Phase

It consists
 doing the work and reporting the results. Doing the
work includes directing and coordinating other people
and controlling their accomplishments so that their
collective efforts achieve the project’s objectives
F. Post-Accomplishment Phase

This phase consists of

1. Confirming that the customer is satisfied with the work and
performing any small adjustments and answering any
questions necessary to achieve satisfaction.
2. Putting project files in good order so that they will be
useful for future reference.
3. Restoring equipment and facilities to appropriate status for
later use or decommissioning them.
4. Assuring that project accounts are brought up-to-date,
appropriately audited, and closed out.
5. Assisting project staff in being reassigned.
6. Paying any outstanding charges.
7. Collecting any fees or payments due.
Phase-to-Phase Relationships
(fig 1.2)
II. PROJECT BOUNDARIES,
INPUTS, OUTPUTS, AND
INTERFACES
 A. Project Boundaries

 Project managers should recognize the boundaries of their domains

 Elements that lie within a project's boundaries are clearly the
responsibility of the project manager, who has some measure of
authority over them.
 Elements that lie outside the project's, they are not the manager's
responsibility.
 Information and resources, generally flow back and forth across
project boundaries in order for the project to succeed.
 PM. must use their insight and diplomatic and persuasive powers to
ensure that their projects are not strangled by inappropriate flows.
 PM. must cause flows to happen without being able to command
that they happen.
 PM. Should know how to negotiate with their counterparts on the
other side of these boundaries.
 B. Project Inputs

Any information, materials, and resources that flow

into a project are called inputs. Such as:
1. Scope of Work, which is a statement of project
objectives and major constraints, including schedule and
budget. Sometimes it is quite detailed; other times it is so
poorly stated that the project cannot proceed until it is
refined. In any event, the scope of work is a major input to
the project
 A scope of work may originate with the customer or it
may originate with the organization that will perform
the project.
 the scope of work can not be changed without obtaining
the customer prior approval.
 PMs. Should read, and study, their 'scopes of work
before beginning their projects. And they should keep
them handy for future reference (or memorize them).
Otherwise, they are prone to working on their projects
under false conceptions.
 2. The Marketer

 Some project organizations ( customers) are part of

larger entities that have marketers who call regularly
on their customers
 PMs. should communicate regularly with their marketers
in order to keep abreast of changes in customer feelings
long before they surface formally in change orders or
suspensions.
 3. Contract Terms
 They may be either innocuous or consequential, depending
upon how well they describe how the project must proceed
and the mutual responsibilities of the customer and project
organization.
 Often they are written in a standard format by the
customer and applied indiscriminately.
 Any revised or removed should be done by negotiation
between customer and project organization before the
contract is signed.
 certain projects need contract terms that are nonstandard
and that will appear in the contract only if the project
manager sees that they do.
 Project managers should study the terms of their contracts
for the work they will do in order to ensure (1) that
contract terms will not so hinder them that they cannot
perform their projects and (2) that contract terms will
induce the other parties to behave in ways that will aid
them in performing their work.
The following contract clauses are usually of concern to
project managers when their projects are done under contract
for other organizations:
 Deliverables and delivery arrangements.
 Warranty requirements.
 Allowable costs.
 Changes.
 Subcontracts.
 Vendor approvals.
 Security requirements.
 Excusable delays.
 Customer-furnished information and property.
 Inventions, patents, and copyrightable materials.
 Key personnel.
 Overtime and shift premiums.
 Not-to-exceed figure.
 Deficiencies and defaults.
 Terminations.
 Disputes.
 4. organization Policies

 Organization policies are important inputs in most

projects because they guide the way work is performed.
For example, they may mandate certain types of
reviews and approvals before work proceeds from one
stage to the next.
 Sometimes they are written down; often they are not.
They are nevertheless important influences on project
managers' behavior, and they need to know how to
succeed in their presence.
 5. Project Personnel

 Among the most important inputs for project managers

are the personnel who are assigned to their projects.
They bring technical knowledge and skills, interests,
aptitudes, and temperaments.
 projects need a mix of these characteristics, PMs.
should try first to identify the kinds of talents needed
and then to secure them, not just tell the personnel
department that the project needs two X-ologists, one
Y-ologist, and four Zologists.
 6. Material Resources

 Material resources comprise the facilities and

equipment that can or must be applied to the project.
Often they limit how the project can be achieved.
 project managers should understand how the material
resources available to them are likely to affect or
facilitate their projects. They should be identified as to
a. What the customer shall furnish
b. What can be obtained from within the project
manager’s own organization
c. What shall have to be obtained elsewhere, including
likely sources
 7. Information
 Available information is a project input and influences
how a project is planned and executed. Information
may be technical, economic, political, sociological,
environmental, and so forth.
 It can come from other members of the organization,
from customers, from subcontractors and vendors, from
third parties. Ext.
 The quality and quantity of information obtained will
have major impact on the amount and type of work that
can be and must be done.
 PMs and their teams should cultivate their information
sources and use them advantageously.
 8. Upper Management
 PM. Should have a very good connection management.
 project managers find that their upper managements
and their bona fide customers have conflicting
objectives or constraints. These conflicts are untenable
for project managers, and they must then negotiate
changes that will result in compatible. objectives and
constraints
 C. Project Outputs

 The information, materials, and resources that flow

from a project are called outputs, and they are:
1. Deliverables
2. Internal information
3. Experienced personnel
4. Working relationships
 1. Deliverables

 Deliverables are the visible products of the project, the

items that the project is supposed to produce. They
may include tangible items such as hardware or a
structure, or information such as instructions, an
analysis, a report, drawings and specifications, a design,
contract documents, or a plan.
 2. Internal Information
 Internal information consists of the increased knowledge
base that the project staff generate as a result of doing the
project.
 This information can be invaluable to the organization in a
future project, whether for the existing customer or
another customer.
 it includes the actual durations and resource costs of the
individual pieces of the project, which can be used in
estimating durations and costs on future projects.
 Internal information may also be about the customer, about
subcontractors, about production conditions, and about the
environment as well as about the project itself.
 The information may be in the form of memoranda, report
drafts, project instructions, project standards, check
prints, and so forth.
 Astute project managers, however, will retain such
information whenever they can in order to build their
knowledge base for future assignments.
3. Experienced Personnel
 A major output of every project is experienced
personnel. Whether the experience is in fact beneficial
or harmful depends of course on how well the project is
conducted.
 If the project is conducted satisfactorily or even
outstandingly, project staff will grow and develop and
generally enjoy their experience. They will be both
more skillful and willing to work with the project
manager in the future, which is a plus for the project
manager.
 if the project is conducted poorly, project staff will
probably not enjoy their experience even if they do
grow and develop.
 D. Project Interfaces

 A typical project has literally dozens of interfaces

across which information and deliverables flow.
 A major duty of every project manager is to ensure that
all project interfaces function so that necessary
information and materials are properly transmitted.
 The first step in managing these many interfaces is
simply to list them and to assign each one to a project
staff member who will keep it functioning. To help in
this regard.
 The next step is for all project staff members to
establish face-to-face or telephone contacts with their
interface counterparts and to make their existence
known.