Introduction

Introduction to Projects

  • Definition: Project

    • A temporary endeavor to create a unique product, service or outcome.

  • Key elements/characteristics:

    • Introduce CHANGE to the organisation

    • TEMPORARY, it has a defined beginning and end

    • CROSS-FUNCTIONAL, cuts across organisational boundaries

    • Deals with the UNKNOWN

    • UNIQUE

    • They all vary in SIZE

      • person
      • money
      • time

  • why use them

    • Provides strategic alignment of key activities and visibility at the appropriate levels

    • Mechanism to prioritise activities

      • (Benefits, Regulatory, HW Refresh)

    • deliver change

    • Effective and efficient management of organisations

    • Establish ownership and accountability

    • Provide clarity, buy-in and agreement

Introduction to Project Management

  • Definition: Project Management

    • Project Management is the planning, delegating, monitoring and controlling of all aspects of a project, and motivating those involved to achieve the project objectives within the expected targets for time, costs, quality, scope, benefits and risks.

  • Value lies in:

    • Organising and structuring scarce resources
    • Managing risk
    • Identifying and clearing issues
    • Managing and implementing change
    • Retaining and re-using knowledge
    • Organisational wide learning from past success and failures

Introduction to Project Manager

  • Definition: Project Manager

    • Project managers are highly skilled knowledge workers and change agents. They take accountability, make project goals their own and use their skills and expertise to inspire a sense of shared purpose across the project team. They enjoy the organised adrenaline of new challenges and the responsibility of driving business results.

  • Core Skills / Attributes:

    • Work well under pressure
    • Comfortable with change and complexity in changing environments
    • Use / have the right people skills
    • Adapt, resolve issues and deal with problems
    • Effective communicators regardless of hierarchy
    • Action orientated and leave nothing for tomorrow
    • Command & Control
    • Good ones are in demand, hard to find and get paid a lot

  • Project Manager Key Activities

    • Traditional

      • Planning

        • Define and clarify project scope
        • Develop the project management plan(PMP)
        • Develop the project schedule
        • Develop policies and procedures to
          support the achievement of the project objectives

      • Organising

        • Determine the project team structure
        • Identify roles and responsibilities
        • Identify services to be provided by
          external companies
        • Staff all project positions and on-going
          management

      • Leading

        • Setting team direction
        • Owning & coordinating activities across
          different organisational functions
        • Motivating team members
        • Assigning work

      • Controlling

        • Defining project baselines
        • Tracking project progress
        • Project status reporting
        • Determining and taking corrective
          actions

    • Agile: Scrum Master

      • Move from Command and Control to Servant Leadership

        • Coaches and facilitates teams to deliver
        • Emphasises objectives
        • Is invested in the program’s overall performance
        • Asks the teams for answers
        • Allows the teams to self-organise and hit their stride(进步，进展)
        • Assists others with fixing issues

    • Project Manager key requirement: knowledge of

      • multiple models

        • agile and running sprints

        • formal project management

          • setting and achieving deadlines on timing and scope

Introduction to (some) Project Management Methodologies/Standards

  • waterfall

    • Key elements

      • Traditional approach used for over 40 years(mature model)
      • Requirements must be defined at the start
      • Little / no alternations
      • Sequential - Complete 1 task and then the next
      • Used in large scale SW development where thorough planning and predictability is required

    • Pros

      • Extensive planning, this thoroughness often results in more accurate timelines and budgets

    • Cons

      • Difficult to apply changes or modify / correct previous steps (water can’t run backwards), need to be proactive in anticipating problems

  • agile

    • Key elements

      • Focuses on adapting to changing situations
      • Reliant on constant and regular feedback
      • Focuses on iterative outcomes delivering value as quickly as possible & collaboratively
      • Small manageable actions and activities
      • Involvement & ownership across the team – Team members self select work
      • Customer focus over formalised sign-offs

    • Pros

      • Retains flexibility while continually producing outcomes – less rework
      • Greater communication & engagement – increased buy in across the team of the
        end outcome

    • Cons

      • Difficult to do without experience – especially an experienced Scrum Master
      • Large projects co-location a problem
      • Difficult to contract(承诺) suppliers

  • Structured Project Management Methodologies

    • e.g. PRICNE 2 etc

    • key elements

      • Widely used and accepted - Consulting, Private and Government
      • Process orientated approach
      • Divides projects into multiple stages
      • Detailed and thorough
      • Must have a clear need, a target customer, realistic benefits, and a thorough cost analysis

    • Pros

      • Extensive documentation is helpful with corporate planning & tracking

    • Cons

      • Difficult and untimely to adapt changes and apply these to all documentation

  • How to choose?

    • Clarity and stability of scope
    • Timelines
    • Tools to support / drive the process
    • People / knowledge
    • Organisational maturity
    • Stakeholder buy-in
    • Experience in the various approaches

key drivers of why projects fail / succeed

  • software projects

    • successful

      • on-time, on-budget with all features and functions as initially specified.

    • challenged

      • completed and operational but over-budget, over time estimate or offers fewer features and functions than planned.

    • failed

      • project is cancelled at some point during the development cycle.

Project screening

  • Organisations need a formal, structured approach to:

    • Select
    • Prioritise
    • Have oversight
    • Drive accountability(责任，义务) across all projects.

  • project screening

    • initial

      • Transformational
      • Regulatory
      • RIsk
      • Refresh
      • BAU

    • Business Planning Selection

    • Concept Phase Selection Filter

    • Planning & Execution

Project Initialization

  • Methodologies

    • PRINCE2
    • PMBOK
    • Agile

  • Business Case

    • Purpose: establish mechanisms to judge whether the project is (and remains) desirable, viable and achievable as a means to support decision making in its initial and continued investment.

      • Provides a factual base for key decisions makers to decide if the project should be undertaken
      • Demonstrates how the project adds value to the organisation
      • Has a set of pre-defined standard organisational characteristics (costs, benefits, risk, etc.)
      • It is not all about size - size depends on the cost / benefit
      • It is a living document throughout the project that should be reviewed and signed off at key stages

    • contains

      • Executive(执行的，管理的) summary
      • Reasons / explanation of why it is required
      • Business options
      • Expected benefits
      • Expected dis-benefits
      • Timescale
      • Costs
      • Investment appraisal(评价，估价)
      • Major risks

    • Roles & Responsibilities

Investment

  • Techniques

    • ROI = return on investment

      • ROI is income divided by investment

        • ROI = (total discounted benefits – total discounted costs) / total discounted costs

      • The higher the ROI % or higher the ratio of benefits to costs, the better it is

      • Many organisations have a required rate of return or minimum acceptable rate of return on investment for projects (11% to 14%)

    • NPV = Net Present Value

      • NPV is one of the most often used quantitative/financial models for project selection

      • calculating the expected net monetary gain or loss from an investment (project)

        • discounting all future costs and benefits to the present time

          • Projects with a positive NPV should be considered if financial value is a key criterion

      • the higher the NPV, the more favourable a project is

    • Payback period

      • the amount of time it takes a project before the accrued benefits surpass(胜过) accrued costs or how much time an investment takes to recover its initial cost

        • time: accrued benefits - accrued costs > 0

      • Based on tracking the net cash flow across each year to determine the year that net benefits overtake net costs (not discounted cash flows)

      • Many organizations want IT projects to have a fairly short payback period (< 1 year) due to the changing nature of technology

  • Project Estimation: Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM)

    • The Cone of Uncertainty for cost estimates
    • Limited accuracy

Project Planning

  • Start with: Project Charter