INTRODUCTION:

Challenges in Projects under Uncertain Environment

& Strategic Project Management

Do We Need It?????
Are the projects driving you crazy?
 Time to Have Formal
Inputs In
Project Management …
What do we want from Project Management?
• Reliable on time in full to budget delivery performance
More revenue, more Profit, happy customers
• A stable plan
More Productive use of resources
• Simple, objective measures of Project progress
Shorter meetings, better informed
stakeholders - less waste, more productivity
• Simple, objective measures of Project health status
Shorter meetings, better informed
stakeholders - less waste, more productivity
• Clear signals for when corrective action is - and is not - necessary
Better directed recovery efforts - less waste,
more productivity
• Direction for ongoing improvement efforts
The future brings more revenue, more profit, happier
customers than the present
 And what we normally get!!

• Reliable on time in full to budget delivery performance ?

• Or A continuous struggle with time, cost and scope ?
• A stable plan
• Or Repeated rescheduling ?
• Simple, objective measures of Project progress ?
• Or Clarity at the start and end, thick fog in between ?
• Simple, objective measures of Project health status ?
• Or Subjective assessments compounded by human factors ?
• Clear signals for when corrective action is - and is not -
necessary ?
• Or Intervening too much too early, and too little too late ?
• Direction for ongoing improvement efforts ?
• Or "We'll improve our methods when things get better"
 What is a Project?
A project is a:
• Complex,
• non-routine and
• one time effort
• limited by time, budget, resources & performance spec.

PURPOSE
• To accomplish some objective or goal

STRUCTURE
• A set of interrelated jobs whose accomplishment leads to the completion
of the project
• Jobs or activities consume time and resources and are governed by
precedence relations
 What is a project?
“A Project is an agreed upon set of
resources and activities that have
been designed to produce
predetermined outputs within a
given budget and time limit”
A Temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service
(Project Management Institute, 2000)
Te r m M e ans tha t a PFixed
Specific r o jeLife
ct Huge but
temporary Has a beginningSpan
objective(s) and end limited Budget
endeavor Involves effort, work
to create Has an intention to produce something (project
Scope
"deliverables" Due Date Budget (Cost)
unique (Time) than a collection of identical items
One of a kind, rather

“A Project Tangible
product is an agreed uponbut
objects, set could
of resources
includeand activities
things like that
computer software, film or stage works
have
service been designed to produce
Might include predetermined
the establishment of outputs within
a day-care a
center,
given budgetforand time limit”
instance, but not its daily operations.
 Complexity vs Uncertainty

• Deployment vs Development project

• Structured Vs Flexible project management

 Features of Projects
• Part of programs
• Multi-disciplinary
• Well defined collection of jobs
• Generally non-repetitive, one time effort
• Jobs interrelated through precedence
• Jobs consume time and resources
• Constant pressure of conformance to
time/cost /performance goals
• Conflicts
• Coordination needed between individuals,
groups & organizations
 What is true with most projects?

• Around ____% of projects face Mgmt.

problems
• Time over run
• Scope creep
• Premature closure
• Poor quality (post project evaluation)
• Cost escalation
• Challenges of resource mismatch & utilisation
 Let us now do small Exercise

List down 2 positive and 2 negative factors

affecting you carrying out your project
during internship.
 Course Outline
Session Module

1-2 Introduction to Project Management, Strategic Project Management, PLC

vs SDLC
3 Project Selection and project structure

4 Defining Projects

5-6 Developing Project plan

7-9 Project Time and cost estimation

10 -12 Developing Project Schedule

13 Scheduling Resources

14-15 Reducing Project duration and CCPM

16-17 Project Risk Management

18 Project Risk Management

Teams & leadership (self-study)

19 Project control systems

20-21 Project Stakeholder Management & International PM

 C1: Handstar case
22 Project monitoring and evaluation
 C2: A&D High Tech Case
23-24 Project Procurement Management
 C3: Jet Propulsion Case
25-26 Adaptive Project Management  C4: Video analysis of NTPC boiler blast , BP Oil Spill, Chernobyl nuclear disaster,
Project Audit & closure (Self Study)  C5: Turner Construction Co Project Management Control Systems
27-28 Project Management Simulation
 C6: Dhabol Power Project Case
 C7: Video analysis Boeing DreamLiner and L&T- T3 Airport project
29-30 Simulation Debriefing & Project Presentation
C8: Teradyne Corp.: The Jaguar Project
Nov 23, 2018 (for India Government Project)
Source: Moneycontrol.com
 Project Performance (Chaos Report-2016)

44% 45%
Small 11%

7% 68% 25%
Medium

3% 55% 42%
Large

11% 60% 29%

All Size

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Succesful Challenged Failed

Does Size of Project Play

any role in success rate??
Critical success factors for software projects: A comparative study
Mohd Hairul Nizam Nasir and Shamsul Sahibuddin
Scientific Research and Essays Vol. 6(10), pp. 2174-2186, 18 May,
2011
 Major Reasons for Failure

(Standish Group)

.. What has become clear… people and process have

greater effect on project outcome than technology !
 Challenges and Constraints in Projects
(Indian Scenario)

Adapted from: Project Management in India: Insights from Six Key Sectors
Times of India,NewDelhi, April 8, 2010
 Establishing Project Priorities
• Shifts in the relative importance of criterions
related to cost, time, and performance Scope
parameters
• Budget–Cost
• Schedule–Time
• Performance–Scope

Quality
Managing the Priorities of Project Trade-offs
• Constrain: the parameter is a fixed Cost Time
requirement.
Project Trade-offs
• Enhance: optimizing that parameter over
others.
Better
• Accept: reducing (or not meeting) a parameter
requirement.
• Which criterion can be relaxed?
• is it okay for schedule to slip/ reduce scope/ Faster Cheaper
have cost overruns?
Project Priority Matrix

Performance is
critical
It has to be
attained

Try as much as
possible to quickly
finish the project
Going over budget
though not
desirable is
 Don’t have to have 1 in each, but is the most typical. acceptable
 Don’t make mistake of having all be enhance.
 Typically we have at least 1 accept.
 Should a Project Manager be
worried about the Projects’
impact on long term
perspective of an organization?
Kaveri Engine for LCA is running late by 16 years and the cost has
escalated by around 800 per cent

Does this help organization achieve

long term success??
 The Key drivers for growth:
 Commodity driven trade market from China, India, & shifting of production base
 Super Sizing of fleet
 Replacement of Aging Fleet
 Conversion of Single hull Tanker (due to risk of environmental damage) by
Double Hull Tankers or very large ore carriers
Do your projects make you crazy?

How many times we feel it affects

organization’s vision/mission statement?
• Introduction of private players
• Revolution in IT and tele-communications
• High customer expectation of responsiveness, service and
satisfaction
• Changing Government policies due to external environment
• Short product cycle due to technology changes
Reduced lead-time from concept to materialization of the
product
• And many more..

Is Project Management Becoming very

important to you under this context???
 Project Management & External Env.

Do you feel that there are dynamic

changes in external world over a
period of time in any industry?

If Yes, then who should plan (atleast

take responsibility) for dealing with
the dynamic changes in the external
world?
 IMPACT ON PROJECT MANAGER

Did he understanding Project &

Project Management Process ????

Is Strategic Project Management Becoming

very important under this context???
Should Project Manager Worry About
External world?
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
– Steve Jobs, Pioneer of the personal computer revolution, co-
founder and CEO of Apple Inc.
 Need for Strategic Project Management

• Since the 1950s, project management focus on the

development of tools, techniques, procedures that would
assist in managing projects effectively.
• It is realized that even when conventional project
management approach :
• have been carefully followed, a project’s business outcomes
could still be disappointing (Williams, 2005).

• emphasis only on meeting time, budget, and scope is no longer

sufficient to guarantee the achievement of organizational
objectives (Shenhar & Dvir, 2007).
 Why Strategic Project Management????
• Most modern projects are executed in a
competitive environment. Typically, the project
outcome—a product, a process, or service—is
likely to face competition in the market. The
project objective is not just to build the product
or service, but also to build it in a form that will
create competitive advantage.

• Even if a project is conducted in non-competitive

environment, its owners still want it to bring in
value.
 Strategic
Project ManageMent –
“A project is complete when it starts working for
client, rather than you stop working for it.”
 What is Strategic Project Management????
Creates the best competitive advantage
and value from the project by providing:

• a “perspective” (the background, the reason, and the general

idea), --WHY???

• a “position” (what do we want to achieve, and how will we know

that we have achieved it)-- WHAT???, and

• a “plan” (guidelines for what we need to do in order to achieve

those outcomes). --HOW???
The three parts are expanded into eight
implementable components:
Perspective—WHY?
Position—WHAT?
Guidelines —HOW?
 Do you see any benefits in Strategic Project
Management Approach????
Strategic project management has not yet become
an widely used approach in the practice of project
implementation. So Mind Set Changes required:

• Project Strategy drives the Project plan.

• Strategic project management is based on the

realization that projects are initiated to achieve
business results (Pennypacker & Dye, 2002) and
that implementation should be better aligned
with the higher-level enterprise strategy.
 Changes Needed in Strategic Project
Management Approach????

• Project teams must learn how to deal with the business

aspects of their projects, as well as better support their
company’s business strategy and sustainability, rather than
just focus on meeting traditional time, budget, and scope
goals.
• organizations, project teams, project managers, and
executives must better learn how to focus project execution
on achieving the business results of the mother
organization—more profits, additional growth, and
improved market position
• Strategic project management will not discard the
traditional mind-set; instead, it will expand it.
Development Project
vs
Deployment Project
Project in r&D environMent
What Is Most Likely to Happen ?
 Characteristics of an R&D Project
• complex,

• interdependent,

• responsive to sudden research environment changes (e.g.,

breakthroughs, new barriers, and collaboration changes), and

• heavily reliant on expert judgment to maintain quality,

relevance, and performance.

• The technical excellence of R&D activities is largely assessed

through peer review of projects and the use of review of
programs by advisory committees (or other outside expert
panels).
 R&D Project Environment

• In R&D organization, the project customers may prioritize which

of the triple constraints are most critical to their efforts (i.e., scope
– specifications and capabilities; cost – in various units of
resources; or schedule – both interim milestones and completion
of final deliverables).

• Funding is fixed annually at the beginning of each fiscal year and

customers require deliverables by a certain date.

• R&D projects frequently are required to offer maximum scope

flexibility for a negotiated cost and schedule.
 Development Projects

End Goals Known Methods for

(Milestone, deliverables) achieving them
YES NO

NO YES

NO NO
 Deployment Projects

• Deployment projects are conducted on fixed scope

projects using established knowledge. It may have any
of the following feature:
• Goals (e.g., scope, cost, and schedule baseline) are well known
• Methods (execution process) for achieving those goals are well
known
• Methods for quantitatively measuring progress against the
goals (e.g., unit rates, volumes of materials, and length of
installed materials) are well known.

Plan the work and work the plan.

 Deployment Projects

• Deployment projects are conducted on fixed scope

projects using established knowledge. It may have any
of the following feature:
• Goals (e.g., scope, cost, and schedule baseline) are well known
• Methods (execution process) for achieving those goals are well
known
• Methods for quantitatively measuring progress against the
goals (e.g., unit rates, volumes of materials, and length of
installed materials) are well known.

Plan the work and work the plan.

Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
 Progressive Scope/ Baseline

Unlike fixed-scope deployment projects:

• scope baseline for R&D projects may never be frozen early in the
project life cycle because there is insufficient information to do so.
• Artificially freezing the scope before the results of research are
known would inhibit the usefulness of the project’s final result.
Deployment Vs Development Project Life Cycle
If Project Management Process were followed
then why still are delayed cost overrun?
• Uncertainty: Difficulty in planning
• High Level of Complexity
• Multi Disciplinary resources Client

• Conflicts: Organisational structure

Sr.
• External Stakeholders: Project Mgmt.
cross organizational boundaries Project
Team
• Management skills
• In projects “nothing” is routine
• Management by Exception is Management
Of everything

Traditional Project Management Approach Takes care????

What is Managed in Project Management?
 What is Managed in Project Management?

STRUCTURED
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
• Performance Targets,
• Cost Targets,
METHODOLOGY
• Time Project Targets
Questions