Project Management Theory & Practice - Lecture 2

Project Objectives, Rationale & Ideas

Dr Vessela Warren

Project Management Theory and Practice - BMGT4314 1

Module Schedule
1. Introduction & Project Initiation Laurence
2. Project Objectives, Rationale & Ideas Vessela
3. Project Business Case Vessela
4. Product & Time Planning Laurence
5. Planning for Increasing Complexity Laurence
6. Risk & Opportunity Management Laurence
7. Project Control & Progress Management Laurence
8. Stakeholders & Team Management Vessela
9. Network, Critical Path & Crashing Vessela
10.Professional Project Management Vessela
11.Group Presentation Laurence & Vessela
12.Project Termination, Review & Improvement Laurence

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Learning Objectives
 Project initiation – Setting objectives
 Project objectives vs. Project ideas
 Confirm your teams & start creating your project
plan

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Project rationale
 Projects are vehicles through which
organisations achieve their strategic objectives
 Any project should be justified based on its
contribution to achieving the organisations’ goals
 Projects should benefit the organisation and
accommodate the desires/concerns of the
various stakeholders
 Project justification is the starting point of the
project!

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Project start-up process
Review project
context

Get
Management Create Project
approval based Management
on Project Plan Team

Planning and Define the

development project’s
phase objectives

Draft Business Identify a

Case solution

Project Management Theory and Practice - BMGT4314 5

Project start-up process
Review project
context

Get
Management Create Project
approval based Management
on Project Plan Team

Planning and Define the

development project’s
phase objectives

Draft Business Identify a

Case solution

Project Management Theory and Practice - BMGT4314 6

Project start-up process
Review project
context

Get
Management Create Project
approval based Management
on Project Plan Team

SMART Objectives!
Specific,
Planning and
Measurable, Define the
development
phase Achievable, project’s
objectives

Relevant, & Time

bound.
Draft Business Identify a
Case solution

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What makes a good objective?
 The SMART objectives writing principle is a great
tool to assist in developing objectives.
 Specific: clear, well defined and unambiguous.
 Each objective should be focused on one key
outcome.
 Measurable: You can demonstrate it has been
achieved.
 If an objective is not measurable, it is not possible to
know whether you are on track and have achieved the
objective at project completion.

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What makes a good objective?
 Achievable: Realistic and attainable.
 The objective is realistic and attainable given the
available resources, time, and constraints.
 Relevant: Aligned with the overall goals.
 The objective aligns with the project's purpose and
overall goals.
 Time bound: Achieved within a certain
timeframe.
 This ensures commitment to a deadline so you know
where you want to get to and by when.

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Discussion
 Example:
 "Within the next six months, reduce customer support
response times for email inquiries by 20% to improve
overall customer satisfaction.“
 Identify in this example the key characteristics of
a good project objective following the SMART
criteria.

 (10 minutes discussion)

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Setting Project Objectives
 Cost, time and quality - The iron triangle

Q C

 But which are the most important aofbthese e tter

y m e a n to
three?
im e m a s lik e ly
o r e t ti m e i
 Need Mto ‘trade-off’
u t o r e
- Allows
m the prioritisation of
e s u lt, b o r e !
r
the objectives cos t m

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Setting Objectives
 The most important TCQ objective are usually
determined by the organisation’s strategy
 If the strategy is to deliver the fastest time-to-
market product
 time is the performance objective
 cost and quality are conformance objectives
 As a minimum we must hit the conformance
objectives (as budgeted and as specified)
 Whilst focusing on improving the performance
objective (in the shortest time possible)

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Discussion

 Why is challenging setting up project

objectives?
 Identify at least 3 reasons.

 (10 minutes discussion)

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Challenges to Setting Objectives
 While cost and time constraints are easily
specified, defining quality can be elusive.
 Is it conformance to specification....is it more?
 How does a stakeholder view quality?
 Is that view fixed or will it change over time?

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Strategic Choices
 Most projects have diverse stakeholders with diverse
requirements at various stages during & beyond the PLC
 T,C,Q are incomplete statement of requirements
 Cannot assume that these objectives are fixed or known in
advance or can be reduced to just three measures
 Additional objectives may be
 Environmental, ethical, legal, health and safety
 Customers do not always know what they want or are
able to communicate this at the outset of a project
 Customer requirements may change as the project
progresses

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Benefits Analysis &
Project Justification
 Projects should yield value: value to someone at
some point in time
 A social project may not yield any return on the
investment, yet may deliver perceived value to
those that it tries to help
 Business projects usually have to be justified in
hard financial terms

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Project start-up process
Review project
context

Get
Management Create Project
approval based Management
on Project Plan Team

Planning and Define the

development project’s
phase objectives

Draft Business Identify a

Case solution

Project Management Theory and Practice - BMGT4314 17

Discussion

 Project objectives vs. Project Ideas?

 What is the difference between the two?

 (10 minutes discussion)

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Project objectives vs. Project Ideas
 Remember that your project idea, the project
plan and all the work you do in your project aim
to achieve your specific objectives!

i s a v e hi c le f or
The project c t i v e s !
i ng a s e t o f ob je
ac hiev

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Project start-up process
Review project
context

Get
Management Create Project
approval based Management
on Project Plan Team

Planning and Define the

development project’s
phase objectives

Draft Business Identify a

Case solution

Project Management Theory and Practice - BMGT4314 20

Project start-up process
Review project
context

Get
Management Create Project
approval based Management
on Project Plan Team

Planning and Define the

development project’s
phase objectives

Draft Business Identify a

Case solution

Project Management Theory and Practice - BMGT4314

Project start-up process
 All the details, including the business case and
the need to be captured in a project plan.
 A plan of how the following stage will be
conducted is also to be included.
 Management approval will then be sought to
move forward to the next stage based on the
soundness of the case made in the project plan.

 Justification.. Justification.. Justification..!

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Seminar
 Finalize your Project Management team
structure!
 Agree on Team Contract
 Start developing the Project Plan
 Setting Objectives
 Identifying a solution
 Considering business cases
 Time planning
 Discuss Kick-off Meeting Agenda and set a date
for the next Project Team meeting.

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Reference & Further Reading
 Useful reading:
 Maylor, H., (2010). Project management. FT Prentice
Hall. (Chapter 2 and 3)

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