Introduction to Project Management
WEEK 5
Agenda

Phase 2: Planning
◦ Compressing the Schedule
◦ Risk Analysis

Phase 3: Executing
COMPRESSING THE
SCHEDULE
Methods of Compressing
1.
CRASHING
◦ Look at ALTERNATIVES that provide the
maximum compression for the least cost
2.
FAST TRACKING
◦ Compressing the project schedule by
OVERLAPPING activities that would
normally be done in sequence
INCREASES RISK
COMPRESSING
1)CRASHING:
INCREASING RESOURCES
 Decreasing the time it takes to perform
individual activities by increasing the
number of people working on the
activity

◦ Example:
 If it takes Joe 4 hours to complete
 Logically it would take Joe & Mary 2 hours to complete
COMPRESSING
1)CRASHING: cont.
Increasing Resources - CONS

Consider the following
◦ New sources are not familiar with the tasks .:
less productive than current team members
◦ Who will guide the new member along the
“learning curve”?
◦ “Being available” is not equal to being qualified
◦ May increase costs
COMPRESSING cont.
2) FAST TRACKING
TASK SPLITTING
 Aim to take a large task and split it into 2 or more
smaller tasks,
◦ Each of which could start ahead of the
completion of the previous one.


Considerations:
◦ Task must be on “Critical Path”
◦ Can NOT use same resources
◦ May cause new “Critical Path”
 Because may decrease amt. of days required
RISK MANAGEMENT
Risk Management
1) Identifies threats that can affect the
project and
2) The planning to proactively deal with the
threats

Risks should be considered for:
◦ Health & Safety
◦ Environmental
◦ Legal
◦ Financial
Examples of: “Risk Categories”

Health & Safety—some organizations will do
planning for pandemics in other words what
resources would be available if a pandemic
broke out

Environmental-if there is a snowstorm and
people can’t come to work

Legal you can’t get certain patents or
governmental approval

Financial your funding did not get approval
Risk Identification Techniques
Interview with SME’s (Subject Matter
Experts)
 Brainstorming
 Delphi Technique
 Nominal Group Technique
 Crawford Slip
 Analogy
 Checklist, forms, and templates
 SWOT
 Cause & Effect Diagram

Interview with SME’s

SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) Technique used
to inquire about issues related to doubts and
other technical characteristics

Process
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Define the SCOPE
Use a facilitator
List of INTERVIEWEES (subject matter experts)
Develop the questions
Send and receive answers
CONSOLIDATE responses
Brainstorming
Identification of many Risks
 Team must be available
 Highly creative
 Encourages TEAMWORK
 If NOT adequately executed, it can lead
to “chaos”

Brainstorming Process
Define the scope
 Get a facilitator
 Get a list of PARTICIPANTS
 Conduct brainstorming session
 CONSOLIDATE responses
 Fill up the list with the identified
risks

Delphi Technique

A way to reach a CONSENSUS of
experts (Interview SME’s (Subject Matter
Experts)
◦ A facilitator uses a QUESTIONNAIRE to
get ideas about important risks
◦ Responses are summarized, &
RECIRCULATED to experts for further
comment

Helps reduce bias, & having 1 person have
undue influence on the outcome
Delphi Technique cont.

Interviews are ANONYMOUS

Used when there may be conflicts or when
brainstorming is not recommended

Used to get comments from competitors

SLOW PROCESS
Nominal Group Technique
Used in problem solving sessions to encourage
creative thinking
 INDIVIDUAL brainstorming
 Get the info IN ADVANCE
 Mix of individual and group participation
 Fast and effective
 Lessens the “chaos” of brainstorming
 Each member of the group writes down
his or her ideas, which are then discussed
and prioritized one by one by the group

Crawford Slip
1920’s, with PIECES OF PAPER
 Used to identify many risks in a short period
of time
 Use it when you do not have TIME or
ABILITY to discuss ideas, and just want to
collect people's thoughts.
 Uses a “slip” or “post-it”
 Individual brainstorming
 Group consolidation

Analogy

Based on previous history
◦ What risks other similar projects had
Reference is needed
 Available information must be adjusted
to the current scenario

SWOT

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,
Threats
SWOT cont.
A method used for controlling areas of
planning and risk and highlight areas of
the project that could be maximized to
the benefit of the whole project
◦ or individual areas where some
competitive advantage may be gained.

It is used to evaluate particular
activities of the project in order to
optimize their potential as well as to
evaluate risks

SWOT cont.
Normally performed during the initial
project start-up phase so that the
elements of the analysis can form the
basis of the project plan

Also can be used later in the project IF
the project is running into difficulties
with scheduling, deliverables or budget
and needs to be brought back on track.

Cause & Effect Diagram
(Explanation: Next 2 slides)

Aka Fishbone Diagram
Cause & Effect Diagram cont.
Graphically illustrates the relationship
between a given OUTCOME and all the
FACTORS that influence this outcome.
 Specify the effect to be analyzed. The
effect can be positive (objectives) or negative
(problems). Place it in a box on the right side
of the diagram.

Cause & Effect Diagram cont.

List the major categories of the factors that influence the
effect being studied.
◦ The “4 Ms” (Methods, Manpower, Materials, Machinery) or
the:
◦ “4 Ps” (Policies, Procedures, People, Plant) are commonly
used as a starting point.
Project Risk Review
Type of Review
Questions
Stakeholders
What could upset them?
Communication Plan
Where could poor communication cause
trouble?
Schedule
What milestones might be troublesome?
Resource Demand
At what point are people overloaded?
Peers
Can your peers identify any additional risks?
Management
Can management identify any additional risks?
Plan Risk Management
Specific Project Stakeholder Priorities
Improve
Scope
Sacrifice
X
Quality
X
Time
Cost
Keep
<= 1 month to
save $5,000
Want to
save
TRIPLE CONSTRAINTS : balance out 1) performance, 2) cost and 3) time ,
WHILE MAINTANING QUALITY, QUALITY IS PARAMOUNT, requiring the
balancing of Performance, Cost & time
Do you want them to improve, keep, or sacrifice?
Risk Identification
Identify the risk event(s)
 Keep them realistic
 Example:
 Resources may be constrained due to
team members working on other projects

 Significant schedule delays may occur
due to team being unfamiliar with the
new application or process
Qualitative Risk Analysis
Risk Description
A
B
•
•
•
Resources may be
constrained due to team
members working on
other projects
Significant schedule delays
may occur due to team
being unfamiliar with the
new application or process
Probability
(10% - 90%)
Impact
Severity
(H 3, M 2, L 1) = P * I
70%
2
1.4
80%
3
2.4
MULTIPLY “PROBABLILITY” times “IMPACT”=“SEVERITY”
Use the information from 2 preceding charts: “Project Risk Review”
& “Plan Risk Management” to chart “Qualitative Risk Analysis”
Use SEVERITY to identify the risks worth planning
Risk Response Planning
Risk Response Plan
A
Schedule bi-weekly meetings with
Senior management to provide
status updates and resolve any
resource conflict
Send Senior team member on
training (before implementation)
B
Contract with vendor for consulting
services during the 1st week of
planning
Schedule
Adjustment
Cost
Adjustment
+ 20 hrs
0
+ 40 hrs
$2,000
+ 0 hrs
$9,000
PROJECT EXECUTION
Executing Projects
“Time to get to business and ‘just get it
done’ “
Initiating
Planning
Executing
Controlling
Closing
Executing
 The
process of coordinating the people
and other resources to carry out the
PLAN.
 Project executing efforts
◦ Participating
◦ Observing
◦ Analyzing the work done
are now:
Executing Processes

The process includes
◦ Team development
 Establish communication
rules
 Ensure your team knows documentation
needs and conventions like naming, (MS
Sharepoint)
 (because everyone is storing everything
in same location-make sure that everyone
can access it),
Executing Processes cont.
 Storage, (i.e. “MS Sharepoint”)
 Retrieval (read-only, or edited by certain individuals) and
control (SECURITY)
◦ Performance Monitoring-watching to make sure
everyone is doing the job they’re saying they’re doing
◦ Status reports
 After each milestone, make sure you get “sign offs”
◦ Procurement (if applicable)
 RFI: Request for Information,
 RFQ: Request for Quotes,
 RFP: Request for Proposal
DELIVERABLES


the “quantifiable” goods or services that will
be provided upon the completion of a project
may be an object, used in the greater scheme of
the project.
◦ For example, in a project meant to upgrade a firm's
technology, a deliverable may be a dozen new
computers.

may be a function or aspect of the “overall
project”.
◦ For example, a software project may have a deliverable
specifying that the computer program must be able
to compute a company's accounts receivable.
MILESTONE vs. DELIVERABLES
A deliverable differs from a milestone in that
a milestone is a measurement of PROGRESS
toward an output
 whereas the deliverable is the RESULT of
the PROCESS.


For a typical project, a milestone might be
the:
 “completion of a product DESIGN”
 While the deliverable might be the:
 “technical diagram of the product.”
STATUS REPORT EXAMPLES

STATUS REPORT EXAMPLE 1

STATUS REPORT EXAMPLE 2 (MS
WORD TEMPLATE)

STATUS REPORT EXAMPLE 3 (MS
WORD TEMPLATE)
EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATIONS
Meetings

Prepare agendas
◦ Send out agendas to allow for preparation time
◦ Be careful with agendas that have GRAPHICS, for people with
hand-held devices—can’t read it
◦ AGENDA EXAMPLE 1
◦ AGENDA EXAMPLE 2
◦ AGENDA EXAMPLE 3

Minutes/action items

Establish communication rules (at the beginning
of the project)
Emails
 Create
standardized email
distribution lists
◦ Cc’s to team members (especially on client
emails)

Use “Out of Office” option
◦ Make sure you let people know you’re
out of the office, and not ignoring them
(that you will get back to them)!!
Instant Messaging
 Good
for client calls
 Good for “Out of office” team
members