Chapter Summary
PART 1: THE LIFE OF A PROJECT (Chapter 1-4)
This chapter emphasizes the basic characteristics and factors that influence the concept of project management. The concept of project management is important to understand and take note of because it serves to be an effective guide for managing and organizing the resources of organizations in order to address the problems regarding production and operations. This summary highlights the important aspects of project management, and will be used in order to realize the importance of the topic to the whole chapter.
The brief explanation and definition of a project must be taken note of, as it serves to be the reason for the need of managing it. The chapter defines a project to be an endeavor in accomplishing specific objectives through a unique set of interrelated tasks, along with the effective utilization of resources. Given this definition of a project, it can be understood that it serves to be the core of the whole project management concept, and thus, all the other aspects of the concept relies upon. A certain project has several attributes, and in this chapter, seven attributes were discussed. The following include: 1) having a well-defined objective or expected result of the product; 2) carried out through a series of non-repetitive and interdependent tasks; 3) utilizes various resources to carry out the tasks, such as physical and human resources; 4) has a specific timeframe or life span; 5) can be a unique or one-time endeavor; 6) has a customer or entity that provides the funds necessary to its accomplishment; and 7) involves a degree of uncertainty, which include assumptions on the project that may serve to influence its development. These attributes or characteristics of a project must be taken note of because they influence the success and the management of a certain project. However, these attributes are not enough to ensure the success of a project. As such, the constraints of a project must also be given emphasis, as these constraints may serve to become the problems or the restrictions of individuals involved in project management. Four constraints in project management are involved in the process, namely, scope, cost, schedule and customer satisfaction. The project or work scope refers to the work that must be done to satisfy the customers; the cost refers to the amount the customer has agreed to pay the project; the schedule is the timeframe or timetable that specifies the start and finish of the project; and customer satisfaction means the involvement of the customer through active participation during the project. In this regard, all these constraints, along with the attributes of the project intertwine in order to get the project done effectively and efficiently.
The use of these attributes and constraints would not be useful without the actual application, and its application is involved in the four phases of the project life cycle, which include identifying the need, developing a proposed solution, performing the project, and terminating the project. The first phase involves identifying the need, the problem, or the opportunity for the project, which can result to the requesting proposals of customers. In this phase, the customer specifies his or her request in the Request for Proposal or the RFP, given that the need or the problem has already been determined. Specifying the needs in the RFP is important because this helps project management to be more efficient and effective, basing decisions and situations on the costs and availability of materials, and many others. The RFP or Request for Proposal must be complete and substantial, and include twelve important aspects, such as statement of work the requirements, the deliverables, the customer-supplied items, the approvals required by the customer, the type of contract the customer intends to use, the payment terms, the schedule for completion, the instructions for the format and content of proposal, the due date, the evaluation criteria, and the available funds of the customer. Given the specific project in mind and the available resources that it requires, listing assumptions on the project and gathering relevant information must be done next. This must be done in order to effectively evaluate the needs and the changes that must be done in the project, based on the requirements of the customer. As such, this process involves careful planning before presenting the proposal, to ensure that all aspects and angles of the project have already been explored, in assumption of future changes and risks. In addition, as the initial stage or phase involves planning, it requires to gather information regarding the persons involved in doing the project, the objectives of the project, the resources needed to accomplish the project, the timeframe set by the customer, and the specifications required by the customer. In addition, the attributes of a project previously discussed fall under this phase, and the attributes become the basis for the substantial and potential project that can be done.
The second phase of the project life cycle is the development of the proposed solution to the need or the problem. Identifying the problem in the initial stage will lead to this stage, as the different important elements of the project have already been identified, thereby, a proposal must be shown to the customer, showing the strategy or the solution on how to answer the problem in the first phase. The contractors interested in providing a solution to the RFP of the customer would show a proposal, and if the customer approved this proposal, then they will sign a contract, stating their agreements on the project. However, this is not as easy as it seems because the interested contractors would have to extensively and tediously gather relevant information on the needs, problems, and decision-making process of its customers. After gathering relevant information, the contractor can develop a pre-proposal, and then consult and clarify this information with the customer in order to further address the needs and requirements of the project. In this regard, the process seems to be a trial and error process first before determining and targeting the specific problem or need of the project. With this process, the contractor would be able to present a variety of ideas and solutions, which may be opted for by the customer. Moreover, preparing the proposed solution for the problem or need of the customer is a tedious task, as it involves close competition from other contractors. However, it would be helpful to remember that being realistic regarding the proposal, along with its good quality would help in winning the proposal. Good quality means that the proposal must be simple, brief, concise, and optimistic, thus, it must involve the accurate and complete cost estimates of the whole project.
Given the approval and the contract for the winning proposal, the third phase of the project life cycle is now involved, which is the implementation of the proposed solution or performing the project. In performing the actual project, a number of resources would be utilized, including financial, human, and physical resources. In this regard, resource allocation is important, for when resources are limited, the project would be affected. Aside from the amount of resources, this phase or stage involves the length of time to complete the project. The length of time to complete the project is directly proportional to the amount of money spent, so the increase in the timeframe would result to the increase for the money spent. Every company wishes to lessen its expenditures, so following the project’s specified timeframe would enable the company to allocate enough resources for the project. In addition, the four constraints previously discussed are all integrated in this phase of the project cycle, as they may become the source of the problems or difficulties of the project. In this stage or phase, the contractors must be able to follow the requirements specified under the contract between the contractor and the customer. The hardest part in dealing with this stage is the presence of changes or alterations, which may also lead to the increase of use of resources, amount of time to allocate for the project, and increase in costs.
The last or final phase is the termination or the completion of the project. However, this just not end in this phase because close-out activities must still be performed, such as confirming the deliverables provided and accepted by the customer, clarifying the payments collected, and paying all the invoices. In this regard, all other activities related to the project must be cleared out. In addition, the evaluation of the performance of the project must be done, as this would enable both parties to obtain feedback from one another, which may serve to be suggestions or comments for future endeavors.
From the discussion, it can be understood that the aspects discussed are crucial in building the larger concept of project management. This is because the aspects discussed are the specific details that make the whole concept of project management to be substantial. Without the important details and aspects, the process of project management would not be as useful and comprehensive as it is now.
PART 2: PROJECT PLANNING AND CONTROL (Chapter 5-9)
The sections for this summary discuss the important elements involved in the third phase of the project cycle, including activities such as planning, scheduling, schedule control, resource considerations, and cost planning and performance. As discussed in the first chapter summary, the third phase of the project life cycle involves the actual performance of the project being proposed by the contractor to the customer. However, the implementation of the project is not only as simple as saying that the actual project would be performed, but it involves a tedious and extensive process of planning and scheduling activities, and proper and effective allocation of resources and time for the project at hand. In this particular phase, planning is the most important part of the task and involves the determination of what needs to be done, the persons who will execute the plan, the time or period involved, and the expenses to be spent. This results to the baseline plan, which can be changed depending on the situation, the flow of the project, and the satisfaction of the customer. Once the plan has been worked out, the project is now ready to be performed, and thus, needed to be controlled. The control or the monitor of the project must be done effectively and properly to measure the progress of the project and keep track of the activities for completion. Proper control of the project also involves its comparison with the planned progress to take corrective action if necessary. As such, gathering relevant data through reporting of the events and progress of the project must be done, thus, collecting two kinds of data, namely, the data on actual performance, which includes the actual time the activities started and finished and the actual cost spent, and the information on any changes to the project, which may be initiated by the customer or the project team. In addition, in this phase or stage of the project life cycle, planning of the project must involve the work breakdown structure or the WBS, which easily enable the individuals involved in the process to manage each component of the project to ensure that all elements of the project can be completed. This involves the proper scheduling of activities based on the planned progress of the actual project, thus, making network planning useful in the process, which helps in communicating relevant information regarding the project.
Another important element in implementing the project or the third phase of the project life cycle is scheduling. In scheduling the activities of the actual project, the planning done previously through the technique of network planning would be used, as the schedule depends on the plan made by the contractors. A schedule is a timetable for a plan, and cannot be established until the plan has been developed. Basically, scheduling involves the time allotted for every activity in the progress of the project. Most of the time, the amount of time allotted for every activity depends upon the resources available for the accomplishment of the project. In this regard, scheduling involves the estimation of the start and the finish of the project, which is based on the available resources and the needs or satisfaction of the customer. Determining the schedule of the project involves the determination of the earliest start and finish and the latest start and finish of the project. All estimated times are calculated to be able to determine the estimated start and finish of the actual project. This determines the path of the project through network planning, with which is the most time-consuming of all activities and represents a series of activities that cannot be delayed. Moreover, scheduling of the project would be done most effectively with the help of an information system, which helps the project to come up with realistic estimated durations. Scheduling the actual performance of the project would be done most appropriately with its effective and proper control. As stated earlier, the implementation of a specific project must be controlled or monitored in order to ensure that every objective of the project is achieved and that every activity is done according or based on the plan. Effective and proper control of the project involves the measurement of the actual progress and comparing it to the planned progress on a timely basis. This is also to ensure that corrective action would be done in needed. In addition, schedule control involves addressing the negative paths or slack values as identified during the process, as this may contribute to the problems, such an in the cost and scope, or the delay of the entire project. Correcting the negative path can be done through the time-cost trade-off method, which can be through the increase of costs or the reduction of the project scope. For this to be prevented, regular reporting of activities must be done to ensure that the problems would be identified at hand and solutions would be provided immediately, thus, lessening the changes and impact to the scope, costs, and schedule of the actual project. Moreover, the control of the schedule in the completion of the project can be done using a project management software. Through this software, the current, done and future activities are entered in the system, thus, properly monitoring the project schedule. In this regard, making the reports and updates regarding the activity can be accomplished efficiently.
The fourth important element in the actual implementation of the project is the allocation of resources in the project. Proper allocation of the needed resources for the project must be done to enable the smooth running and progress of the actual project. In this regard, all the types and needed resources of the project must be first identified and included in the baseline plan for proper estimated cost of the project. As such, both technical and non-technical resources must be determined, including the type of information system to be used, time estimates, and physical, human, and financial resources needed in the project. This is because resources serve as constraints to the project schedule, as the amount of resources available to the project entirely affects the time and the activities involved. In this regard, it is important to include the resources to be used in the initial planning process to ensure that proper allocation and schedule of the activity can be done. As such, both resource leveling or smoothing, and resource-limited scheduling must be incorporated in the process. Resource leveling or smoothing is the technique in resource allocation, which is used to minimize the fluctuations in requirements for resources, and done through applying the resources evenly to every activity without extending the project schedule. The other method or technique used is the resource-limited scheduling, which is employed given the limited resources available for the project. In addition to these two methods is the use of the project management software in the proper allocation of resources. This allows the contractors to have a list of the resources available to the project, thus, allowing more time for inventories and monitoring of expenses, time and progress of activities. With its use, the contractors and the customers would easily monitor the progress of the project and would easily provide solutions to problems regarding the available resources in relation to time and cost of the project.
The last aspect to consider in the actual implementation of the project is the cost estimates and performance. Project cost estimates are done along with the baseline schedule and plan, and involves important aspects, such as the labor, or the costs for the various people or manpower expected to work for the project; the materials including the paint, lumber, computers, and many others; the subcontractors and the consultants who are involved in the designing and developing of the manual or software; the equipment and facilities rental, which may be done when equipments are too expensive when bought; and travel expenses. As stated earlier, the cost or the budget of the project is regarded as an important resource, thereby must be appropriately allocated to ensure the effective completion of the project. Similar to the schedule and actual project, the cost and work schedule must also be monitored through regular reporting of the cumulative budgeted cost, cumulative actual cost, cumulative earned value, and total budgeted cost. The cost performance can also be monitored using the cost performance index or CPI, which can be calculated by dividing the cumulative earned value by the cumulative actual cost. The cost variance or CV can also be used, which is the difference between the cumulative earned value and the cumulative actual cost. Moreover, monitoring the cost performance of the project can be done using the project management software, which efficiently and timely records the costs of the project, with relevance to the time, schedule and resources used. This also enables the project to monitor and manage cash flow, which involves the payments received from the customer and serve to be the source of budget for the expenses of the project. All of these aspects or elements are important in the completion of a particular project, as these are considered the constraints, which limit or restrict the accomplishment of the project. In this regard, these elements must be given significant attention and regard to ensure the smooth operation of the entire project.
PART 3: THE KEY TO THE PROJECT (Chapter 10-13)
The sections in this summary discuss the important elements involved in the completion of the entire project, and include the project manager, the project team, project communication and documentation, and types of project organizations. Primarily, the entire project would not be complete without the leadership and supervisory tasks of the project manager. The project manager is responsible in planning, organizing and controlling the activities involved in the project, and with these responsibilities, the project manager must have a number of excellent skills. Skills of the project manager must include a strong leadership ability, the ability to develop people, excellent communication skills, good interpersonal skills, the ability to handle stress, problem-solving skills, and time management skills. Strong leadership ability means inspiring the people assigned to the project and requires the involvement and empowerment of the project team. As such, the project manager must exhibit a participative and consultative leadership style, thus, providing guidance and coaching to the project team. The ability to develop people means that the project manager has the commitment in training and developing the people working on the project, thus, establishing an environment where people can learn from the tasks and experiences in the project. Third, project managers must be good communicators, establishing effective and frequent communication for sharing information and problems in the project. Interpersonal skills must also be developed in a project manager, and involves good oral and written communication skills in order to establish clear expectations of members of the project team. This is particularly important in empathizing with individuals when special circumstances arise. The ability to handle stress is also important for the project manager must be able to act as a buffer between the project team and the customer or upper management. In this regard, good communication and interpersonal skills must be given emphasis. A good project manager must be an excellent problem solver, becoming critical on the problems that arise in the accomplishment of the project. In this sense, the team members must also be keen and deeply involved in the completion of the project to be able to effectively provide solutions to problems. Lastly, time management skills are important for project managers, thus, involving self-discipline and willingness to delegate tasks. In terms of the delegation of tasks, this involves the empowerment of the team in achieving the objectives of the project. Thus, it involves the proper skills in order to lead and delegate responsibilities to the project team. More importantly, the responsibilities of the project manager include the management and control of changes in his or her aim to lessen the negative impacts of the problems or constraints in the project accomplishment. As such, the skill of the project manager count a lot, which are further developed through continuous self-assessment, feedbacks, learning, exposure, and training programs.
The job and responsibilities of the project manager would not be successful and meaningful without the support and contributions of the project team. In this regard, the survival of the project team lies on their teamwork, which is their cooperative effort in achieving a common goal. Teamwork, trust, cooperation, and coordination are then achieved depending on its development, which involves four stages, namely, forming, storming, norming, and performing. In the forming stage, the group begins to establish an identity and attempts to define and plan the tasks that need to be done. In the second stage, the storming stage, the team members start to apply their skills to work on the assigned tasks, thus, leading to the slow progression of the work. In the norming stage, conflicts between individuals have been settled, and these conflicts are brought about by a number of factors, such as the work scope, resource assignments, schedule, cost, priorities, organizational issues, and personal differences. However, because conflicts have been resolved, trust is developed at this stage, thus, increasing sharing of information, ideas and feelings. In the last stage or the performing stage, the team is now highly committed to achieve the project objectives. At this stage, each member becomes interdependent from one another, thus, become fully delegated and empowered by the responsibilities and authority of the project manager. At this stage, the whole team works effectively and efficiently with the project manager at all costs. In this regard, the project team is now described as being effective, with characteristics as having a clear understanding of the project objective, clear expectations of roles and responsibilities, and high degree of cooperation, collaboration and trust. In addition, the project team undergoes brainstorming and team building, which further develops the team through socialization and problem solving. As such, the time management skills of the team are being developed, making the team more effective in managing their time and resources efficiently.
Project communication and documentation is also important in the completion of a project because communication serves to be the key in dissipating relevant information to all the individuals involved in the accomplishment of the project. In this regard, effective and frequent personal communication is important, and includes oral and written communication. Oral communication can be done in different means, such as through telephone, personally, video, or voice mail. This provides a forum for discussion, clarification, and immediate feedback. This also includes the expression of body language or non-verbal communication, which also becomes the basis for understanding and feedback, and is dependent on the culture or practice of a particular individual. On the other hand, written communication can be carried out through letters, memos, and other written documents, and expresses sentiments or information regarding the project. Despite the availability of both forms of communication, the key in effective communication is listening and understanding. As such, good listening skills are important for it enables the project manager and his or her project team to effectively communicate with one another. In project management, meetings are good venues where the project manager and the project team can effectively communicate with one another. Three types of meetings are recognized, namely, status review meetings, which aims to inform, identify problems, and establish action items; problem-solving meetings, which are used to develop a problem statement, identify potential causes, gather data, and evaluate possible solutions; and technical design meetings, which are used for gaining customer approval before proceeding with the remainder of the project effort. In all these types of meetings, presentations and reports are being given, and in order to properly give reports and presentations, it is crucial to determine the purpose of the presentation, the target audience, make visual aids and handout materials, and practice. Along with presentation is the documentation of the report, which takes the form of either a progress or a final report, which should be both clear and concise.
These elements would be useful depending on the type of project organization thus; it would be helpful and beneficial to identify its type to be able to effectively and efficiently assess the approach and type of management that needs to be applied. Three type of project organizations are determined, namely, functional, project, and matrix type of project organizations. The functional-type of project organization develops new products, designs information systems, and redesign and updates company policies and procedure manual. The project manager in this regard has no control or authority over his or her project team because the members of the team work for their functional managers. In this regard, this type of project organization is appropriate for internal company projects. Its advantages include the lack of duplication of activities, and the target of functional excellence. However, disadvantages include insularity, slow response time, and lack of customer focus. The second type of organization is the project-type organization, where all resources are assigned full time, where full time means that the project manager has complete project and administrative authority over his or her project team. In addition, this type of project organization is present in companies that are involved in very large projects, being multimillion dollar and with long durations. Its advantages include efficient control over its resources and responsiveness to customers, while its disadvantages include low level of knowledge transfer and cost-inefficiency. Third and last type is the matrix-type project organization, a hybrid or the combination or mix of both the functional and the project-type organization. This type of project organization is appropriate for companies working on multiple projects at the same time and with projects that vary in size and complexity. Advantages include effective utilization of resources, functional expertise, increased learning, and knowledge transfer, improved communication and customer focus. However, disadvantages include dual reporting relationships and need for the balance of power.
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