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Architecture

Project Management

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Three Key Constraints in Project Management

  • Scope
  • Time
  • Cost

A change to any one of these will affect the other constraints.

Terminology

  • Identified risks: Known risks. Risks must be identified and addressed.
  • Project Charter
  • Project sponsor
  • Project Manager

Phases

  • Initiation phase
  • Planning phase
  • Execution phase
  • Monitoring & Controlling phase
  • Closure phase

Initiation phase

  • Feasibility study
  • Assign PM and Project team
  • Risk assessment

Planning phase

  • Things the PM knows and can control
    • Create to-do lists
    • Order items
    • Assign the best people to do the tasks
  • Things the PM doesn't know and can NOT control
    • Need to think creatively
    • Risk, Estimations, Forecast
    • The more plans (options) you create, the greater the chance of success

The later changes are made, the more expensive they become.

What to Do Before Making a Plan

  1. Evaluate whether the PM's own knowledge is sufficient for planning
  2. Identify all stakeholders
  3. Is there similar knowledge from past projects? Is there someone who has that knowledge?
  4. Identify your own weaknesses and find the right people to compensate for them

Workshop Preparation

  • Clear Agenda
  • Distinct Goal
  • Comprehensive list of topics

Tips

Be prepared for the fact that "until all planning is complete, parts of the plan will frequently change."

If the PM lacks sufficient knowledge in a certain area, it is likely that effort estimates will be off and the plan may need to change.

Scope

Converting Goals into Deliverables, and breaking Deliverables down into multiple Tasks. This is called Scope.

GOAL: Build a world-class showroom where trained staff introduce the latest vehicles.

Deliverable: Construction of the showroom.

Task: Build foundation, erect walls, paint.

  • Product Scope: Build the showroom
  • Project Scope: Everything needed to achieve the Product Scope (including, for example, acquiring the land)

Oversights and mistakes will happen, but the fewer the better.

The more information you can extract from stakeholders, the less likely major mistakes will occur.

Activity List Creation Flow

Scope Statement → Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) → Activity List

All contain the same content but expressed in different formats.

The Scope Statement is formal, the WBS breaks things down by work type, and the Activity List forms the backbone of the project plan.

NSF

Non-straight-forward tasks (NSF)

  • Information is not readily available and PM may need to work with people multiple times — e.g. PM needs to obtain approval by the IT manager of their estimate of hours needed to develop specific software

Schedule planning

  1. Estimate durations of each task
  2. Add buffers
  3. Sequence tasks

It is best to ask experts for effort estimates, but be aware that there may be cognitive biases (Planning fallacy).

Planning fallacy

  • Optimism bias
  • Illusion of control

T = (O + 4M + P)/6

T: Expected time O: Optimistic time estimate M: Most likely or normal time estimate P: Pessimistic time estimate

Buffers

The higher the uncertainty, the larger the buffer needed.

The more critical the task, the larger the buffer needed.

If you tell people there is a buffer, they may slack off, so present it as a "Validation period" or "Safety check."

Causes of Dependencies

  1. Logical dependency
  2. Resource constraints
  3. External dependencies (e.g., can't do it if the weather is bad)
  4. Soft dependencies (set by the PM)

Types of Dependencies

  1. Finish to start (can't start the next task until the first is complete)
  2. Finish to finish (the next task can't finish until the first task finishes)
  3. Start to start (the next task can't start until the first task starts)
  4. Start to finish (the next task must start before the first task ends)

Identify Critical Path

Gantt chart

Use tools such as MS Project?

Procurement external vendor

Must be aware of:

  • Timelines
  • Due dates
  • Quality levels of all resources they are procuring

Contract types

  • Fixed price contract
    • Vendor commits to doing the work for a set amount within a certain timeframe
    • Pro: Any additional spending will be taken on by the vendor
    • Con: Cost would be higher since vendor may add the buffer.
  • Cost plus contract
    • Buyer agrees to pay any cost incurred by the vendor performing the work
    • Con: Vendor is going to make the work go on longer.
  • Time & Materials contract
    • Vendor charges the buyer an hourly or daily rate
    • Con: Vendor is going to make the work go on longer.

Procuring non-financial resource (Human resource)

  • Define the type of resources
    • PM must identify the experts PM needs
  • Estimate how much time you will need
  • Validate the availability of the people you need
    • Do not forget holidays and vacations
    • Mark the days the person is not available to work
  • Assign roles and responsibility to them
    • RACI matrix
      • Responsible: directly responsible for doing work
      • Accountable: responsible for meeting the overall goal of the activity
      • Consulted: Provides information expertise or support for an activity
      • Informed: Needs to be informed on the progress of an activity

Quality assurance

  • Define quality standards and requirements
  • Setting actual and actionable targets for the criteria (e.g., software bugs?)
  • Plan how, when and who will do it (Frequency, How to report)
  • Finalizing quality plan
  • Make adjustments to project constraints

Quality plan

The following should be documented:

  • Quality standards
  • Target result
  • Sample size of audits
  • Frequency of reports
  • Owners

EAR

Expectations

  • Getting everyone on the same page is done most likely when defining the scope with stakeholders in a WORKSHOP
  • Share the expectations in order to identify a gap
  • Questions to identify a gap
    • How do you think the final product of the project will be useful to the organization?
    • Do you believe something can be added to significantly improve the result?
    • Do you agree with the way the scope is described in the project documents?
  • Keep all stakeholders up to date to eliminate stakeholder disappointments

Assumptions

  • Review the assumptions
  • How much buffer is needed

Risks

  • Identify all risks in Risk log
  • Analyze the severity of the events (Impact to Scope, Time, Costs) and the probability of occurrence
  • Eliminate risks or mitigate risks

Change process

  • PM needs to limit the potential for change through comprehensive planning
  • PM must convince the Project sponsor that change will benefit the project with a Change request form
  • Project sponsor determines if the additional needs are worth it
  • Reassess schedule, budget, scope, resources, quality once the change is approved

Deliverables

  • Scope
    • Scope Statement
    • WBS
    • Activity List
  • Time
    • Critical Path
    • Gantt Chart
    • Milestone
  • Cost
    • Budget template
  • Others
    • Resource Availability
    • RACI matrix
    • Risk log
    • Quality plan
    • Change request

Rules of project

  • How will the deliverable be approved?
  • By whom?
  • How often will the PM send project reports?
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