Project Management

Karen J Kirkby DJ 18 01

School of Electronics & Physical Sciences

Contents
2 Lectures + 1 Assignment
Why Plan?
What Plan
Project Manager/ Leader
Network Analysis
Critical Path
Gantt charts
PERT
Assignment
Week 6

Friday Lab groups

Tuesday 15:00 - 17:00

Tuesday Lab groups

Friday 15:00 - 17:00
(see timetable)
WHY PLAN?

Why do projects fail?

Failing to plan is planning to fail

What Plan?
Aims
Spec Define
DefineProject
Project
Feasibility
Subprojects
Define
DefineTasks
Tasks
Dependencies Redefine
Redefine
Project
Project
Time
Resources Define
DefinePlan
Plan Reappraise
Reappraise
Facilities
Project
Project
Commence
Commence
Work
Work

Monitor Corrective
Corrective
Monitor
Progress Action
Action
Progress

Reviews
Targets Complete
Complete
Costs Project
Project
The Project Manager
Abilities
* Organise & plan
* People Management
* Communication skills
* Problem solving
* Technical knowledge
* Enthusiasm & ability to motivate
* Focussed
* Ability to change
Network Analysis
* Project objectives clearly defined

* Break project down into manageable sub-groups

* Define tasks in sub-group

* Establish linkages & dependencies between tasks

* Establish order in which tasks undertaken

* Establish sequential and parallel tasks

* Determine time & resources for each task

Network Analysis
Activity on node diagrams
activity - rectangular box
linked by arrows - order
NETWORK ANALYSIS
Simple example - Breakfast
1. open cereal box

2. put cereal in bowl

3. fetch milk from fridge

4. add milk to cereal EAT

1 2 3 4
Network Analysis
OK that was a simple example
Now move on to a more realistic case
Same principles
Break down problem into activities
What is the activity
What has to precede that activity
How long does the activity take
Don’t panic
 Network Analysis
ACTIVITY DURATION PRECURSORS
A 4 -
B 3 -
C 6 A,B
D 1 B
E 7 D
F 2 C
G 5 C,E
H 8 E
J 4 G
K 5 F,G
L 6 J,H
M 3 L,K
A F K
4 2 5

C
6 G J
START
5 4
0

B D E
3 1 7 H L M FINISH
8 6 3 0

DURATION
 NETWORK ANALYSIS
Earliest Earliest Earliest Start, Earliest Finish
Start Finish

0 4 10 12 16 21
A F K
4 2 5

4 10
C 11 16 16 20
0 0
6 G J
START
5 4
0

0 3 3 4 4 11
B D E 11 19 20 26 26 29 29 29
3 1 7 H L M FINISH
8 6 3 0
 NETWORK ANALYSIS
Latest Start, Latest Finish
0 4 10 12 16 21
A F K
1 4 5 19 2 21 21 5 26

4 10
C 11 16 16 20
0 0
5 6 11 G J
START
11 5 16 16 4 20
0 0 0

0 3 3 4 4 11
B D E 11 19 20 26 26 29 29 29
0 3 3 3 1 4 4 7 11 H L M FINISH
12 8 20 20 6 26 26 3 29 29 0 29

Latest Latest
Start Finish
 Project Management

Karen J Kirkby DJ 18 01

School of Electronics & Physical Sciences

Contents
2 Lectures + 1 Assignment
Why Plan?
What Plan
Project Manager/ Leader
Network Analysis
Critical Path
Gantt charts
PERT
 NETWORK ANALYSIS
Critical Path
0 4 10 12 16 21
A F K
1 4 5 19 2 21 21 5 26

4 10
C 11 16 16 20
0 0
5 6 11 G J
START
11 5 16 16 4 20
0 0 0

0 3 3 4 4 11
B D E 11 19 20 26 26 29 29 29
0 3 3 3 1 4 4 7 11 H L M FINISH
12 8 20 20 6 26 26 3 29 29 0 29
Critical Path ES =LS EF=LF
shown as a thick line
FLOAT = LF-duration-ES
If duration of activities on critical path increases then
time required for project increases
 NETWORK ANALYSIS
Float 0 4 10 12 16 21
A F K
1 4 5 19 2 21 21 5 26

4 10
C 11 16 16 20
0 0
5 6 11 G J
START
11 5 16 16 4 20
0 0 0

0 3 3 4 4 11
B D E 11 19 20 26 26 29 29 29
0 3 3 3 1 4 4 7 11 H L M FINISH
12 8 20 20 6 26 26 3 29 29 0 29
FLOAT = LF-duration-ES
ACTIVITY H 20-8-11 = 1 = FLOAT
ACTIVITY A B C D E F G H J K L M
FLOAT 1 0 1 0 0 9 0 1 0 5 0 0
Critical path when float = 0
 NETWORK ANALYSIS
Activity on node diagrams in which finish to start
(F-S) links have a duration will now be considered
Nature and duration of link shown on arrow
(F-S) Activity 2 cannot start until 1 week after
completion of activity 1.
Activity 3 cannot start until 2 weeks after completion of
activity 2
1 F-S (1) 2 F-S (2) 3
 NETWORK ANALYSIS
Activity Duration Precursor Link L duration
A 4 -
B 24 A F-S 0
C start 6 weeks
Can 12 after the startBof B 4+6
S-S= 106
F-F 3
0 4 F-S (0) 4 28 F-F (3) Critical Path
A B
0 4 4 4 24 28
10 31
S-S (6)
C
19 12 31

Has to finish 3 weeks after the end of B 28+3 = 31

 Gantt Charts
Developed by Henry Gantt during the first world war
Activities drawn as bars across a time map
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
M
Critical path Non critical activity
 PERT
Programme Evaluation & Review Technique
Developed by US Navy 58-60 for Polaris submarine
construction programme

PERT takes into account the difficulty of estimating duration

of activity
So uses:
most optimistic duration
most pessimistic duration
most likely duration
 PERT
uses a  frequency distribution
calculates the expected mean duration and the
standard deviation as follows:
a  4m  b
te 
6
ba
s 
6
te = expected mean duration
a = most optimistic duration b = most pessimistic
duration
m = most likely duration s = standard deviation
 PERT
ACTIVITY a m b PRECURSORS ACTIVITY te s
A 3 5 9 - A 5.3 1
B 4 6 8 - B 6 0.67
C 5 8 10 A,B C 7.8 0.83
D 3 6 9 B D 6 1
E 6 9 15 D E 9.5 1.5
F 3 4 5 C F 4 0.33
G 8 12 15 C,E G 11.8 1.17
H 2 6 8 E H 5.7 1
J 4 7 9 G J 6.8 0.83
K 3 5 10 F,G K 5.5 1.17
L 7 9 11 J,H L 9 0.67
M 10 12 15 L,K M 12.2 0.83
 PERT
The variance for the project duration is the sum of
the variances of the activities along the critical path

The standard deviation for the duration of

the project is the square root of the variance
Conclusions

Why Plan? 
What Plan 
Project Manager/ Leader

Network Analysis
Critical Path 
Gantt charts 
PERT 
