G E N E R AL E D U C AT I O N D E PAR TM E N T

U N I V E R S I T Y O F S C I E N C E AN D T E C H N O L O G Y O F H AN O I ( U S TH )

Course on Project Management – Lecture 1

Overview of Project and Project Management

Academic Year 2021-2022 1

Course Outline
1. Lectures
2. Discussion
3. Homework
4. Mid-evaluation
5. Final report

Reading material:
1. Harold R. Kerzner: Project Management - Best Practices: Achieving Global Excellence,
Publisher: Wiley; 2nd edition (February 8, 2010)
2. Lory Mitchell Wingate: Project Management for Research and Development (Best
Practices in Portfolio, Program, and Project Management), Publisher: Auerbach; 1st
edition (August 4, 2014)

2
 What is a project?
PMI Definition:
“A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result”

Project Management Institute, 2000

J.M.Juran’s definition:
“A project is a problem scheduled for solution”.
 Definitions

A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product

or service.

It is
• performed by people
• constrained by limited resources
• planned, executed and controlled
Why project management?
Today’s complex environments require ongoing implementations

Project management is a method and a mindset… a disciplined approach to managing chaos

Project management provides a framework for working amidst persistent change

 Why project management? – more personally
1. Alignment of projects to organizational mission, goals and objectives
2. Resource conflicts; being spread too thin
3. Organization: traditional vs. a matrix, and how to get things done when you are not in control
4. PM role; supervisor of many but manager of none
5. Managing smaller projects and keeping tracks of them
6. Being organized when organization is not your greatest strengths
Advantages of Using Formal Project Management

Better control of financial, physical, and human resources

Improved customer relations
Shorter development times
Lower costs
Higher quality and increased reliability
Higher profit margins
Improved productivity
Better internal coordination
Higher worker morale

7
Maintaining the balance …

TIME

COST QUALITY
 “Trade Off ” Triangle”

PROJECT
RISK

SCOPE (Requirements)
How are Scope, Schedule, and Budget linked?

Which Comes First?

SCOPE

Prioritize, Optimize, Accept

 Possible evolutions in Product scope

Customer needs simple,

Customer needs : description : red,
robust, What the architect
with understands
wheels

What the architect finally

What is the
described
What is finally developed manufacturer
expected to do
Why the emphasis on project management?
Many tasks do not fit neatly into business-as-usual.
Need to assign responsibility and authority for achievement of organizational goals.
Characteristics of Projects
Unique specifications
A budget
Specific deliverable
A specific timeframe
Working across organizational boundaries
Other Common Characteristics of Projects
Multidisciplinary
Complex
Conflict
Part of Programs
This is not a project
Work/activities are repetitive
Too small-scaled (Some companies specify a minimum budget with
which an activity cannot be seen as “a project”, e.g., US$50,000 or
US$250,000; but some others do not have such constraints)
Examples of projects
From now till December, to increase sales of product A by 15% in South East Asia.
Within 8 months, to cut down 20% of defective products returned after sales.
Before the end of the year, to replace all domestic printers by high-quality printers.
…???
BASIC PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS BASIC IMPLICATIONS

PROBLEM ORIENTED
CREATIVITY
Change, innovation, newness…..
GOAL DIRECTED PURPOSE
Problem identification, goal clearity..…
ORDER
UNIQUE Planning, organizing,steering, control…
DECISIONS
Giving priority, leading, managing…
TIME LIMITED BEHAVIOUR
Motivation, inspiration, attitude,….
CONFLICTS
FINANCIALLY LIMITED Disagreements, aggresion, fight…
COMMUNICATION
Information, understanding, interaction
PERSONNEL LIMITED
……………………………………
Origin of a project
A problem/issue: e.g., users are not satisfied with the mudguard of the new automobile in the
first batch of production – it has been badly designed.
A need/demand: e.g., drivers want their cars to be installed with a global positioning system.
Project Stakeholders
”…are individuals and organisations who are actively involved in the project, or whose interests
may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful project
completion”
 Project stakeholders
CEO
Project manager First contractor

Coordinator Competitors

Mid manager Suppliers

Experts
Consultants Creditors

PROJECT Government bodies

Technical manager

Sub-Contractors
Others that might intervene
Contract manager
Local community
Users
Designer Public
Shareholders
Why projects fail?
Failure to align projects with organizational objectives
Poor scope
Unrealistic expectations
Lack of executive sponsorship
Lack of project management
Inability to move beyond individual and personality conflicts
Politics
Why projects succeed?
Project sponsorship at executive level
Good project charter
Strong project management
The right mix of team players
Good decision making structure
Good communications
Team members are working toward common goals
The Waterfall Model Concept - How to prepare -
Step 1: The Project Scope
a) Project Mission and Goal
b) Goal and Terms of Reference

Step 2: Project Planning

a) Project Milestones
b) Project Organisation

Step 3: Project Execution

a) Taking Decisions
b) Doing Activities

Step 4: Project Control

a) Quantitative Control
b) Qualitative Control

Step 5: Project Communication

a) Internally
b) Externally
 The 5 Phase Project Life Cycle
DEFINE PLAN ORGANISE CONTROL CLOSE

Define
State the Identify Determine
management Obtain
problem activities personnel
style client
needs
acceptance
Identify Estimate
Establish
project goals time & cost Recruit
control tools Install
Project
deliverables
List the Sequence Manager
Prepare
objectives activities
status report Document
Recruit
the project
Determine Identify Project Team
Review
preliminary critical
project Issue final
resources activities Organise
schedule report
team
Identify Write
Issue Conduct
assumptions project Assign work
change project audit
and risks proposal packages
orders

PLANNING IMPLEMENTATION
 Project Management Process
Plan Endorse
Initiate the Work the Plan •Project Team Commitment
& Align
•Management Endorsement

•Project
Description •Work Breakdown
•Team Mission/ Structure (WBS) / Work Transition
Assignment Master Deliverables the Plan & Closure
List (MDL)
•Major Milestones
•Task Planning &
•Boundaries Scheduling
•Team •Managing Scope, •Implement
•Budget Schedule & Budget Transition Plan
Identification
•Risk Planning •Manage Risks •Review Lessons
•Roles &
Responsibilities •Communication •Manage Change Learned
Plan •Reward &
•Measures of •Communicate
Success •Change Recognize
Management Plan • Progress
•Operating •Archive
•Quality (QA/QC) • Issues
Guidelines
Plan • Lessons
•Transition & Learned
Closure Plan

Continuous Communication
 Project Rewards
Money
Status
Recognition
Responsibility
Job satisfaction
Challenge
Appreciation
Activities / tasks

Ideally these should :

Be short
Be measurable
Deliver something
Be able to be carried out by one type of resource
Milestones

Milestones are key points for the project.

They have no duration – they are just target dates.

e.g
Obtain planning approval
Roof on
Wiring complete
Piping complete COMPLETE 14/10/2008
Resources
What is required for an activity
Deliverables

Outputs for activities / tasks

e.g.
Preliminary drawings
Working drawings
Bill of quantities
Shell of house
Gantt Charts
Shows activities/ tasks and milestones
Can show resources
Clear indication of timescales

Task Task DO Res. PE AE M T W T F M T W T F

Number Name

1 Design Prog. SH 2 2

2 Code Prog. 1 DC 4 5

3 Document Prog. 2 NJ 2 1

4 User Acc. Test. 3 ME 1 1

Planned Elapsed
Actual Elapsed
 Project management – unofficial definition
PM is about organization
PM is about decision making
PM is about changing people’s behavior
PM is about creating an environment conducive to getting critical projects done!
Project management
Project management is application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities
to achieve project requirements.

Project management is accomplished through the application and integration of the project
management processes of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and
closing.
Project management
The process of establishing and implementing a set of processes, tools and
capabilities to optimally use the resources to bring a project to a “happy ending”

◦ Project identification
◦ Planning, setting schedules
◦ Implementing
◦ Control/monitoring, evaluating
◦ Completing
Indicators to ensure the success of a project

Completing the amounts of tasks/work shown by quantitative criteria for evaluation

Meeting the deadline
Within the budget
Laws of Project Management
Projects progress quickly until they are 90% complete. Then they remain at 90% complete forever.

When things are going well, something will go wrong. When things just can’t get worse, they will.
When things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.

If project content is allowed to change freely, the rate of change will exceed the rate of progress.

Project teams detest progress reporting because it manifests their lack of progress.