STARTING A PROJECT. Sergey V. Nesterov MD, PhD, PMP

Transcription

1 STARTING A PROJECT Sergey V. Nesterov MD, PhD, PMP

2 QUESTIONS to ask at the start 1. What is the situation? 2. What do you need to do? 3. Why do you need to do it? 4. What will you do? 5. How will you do it? 6. How will you know you did it? January 23,

3 Understand your GOAL "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don t much care where " said Alice. "Then it doesn t matter which way you go," said the Cat. so long as I get SOMEWHERE, Alice added as an explanation. "Oh, you re sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough." January 23,

4 Understand YOUR goal But why so? Vronsky mentioned a few men who were in power. Why aren t they independent men? <...>They can be bought either by money or by favor. And they have to find a support for themselves in inventing a trend. And they bring forward some notion, some trend that they don t believe in, that does harm; and the whole policy [the trend] is really only a means to a house at the expense of the crown and so much income. Cela n est pas plus fin que ça, when you get a peep at their cards. Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy ( ) January 23,

5 Objectives should be SMART SPECIFIC: be specific in targeting an objective MEASURABLE: establish measurable indicators of progress ASSIGNABLE: make the object assignable to one person REALISTIC: state what can realistically be done TIME-RELATED: state when the objective can be achieved. (DORAN 1981) 5

6 WHY do projects FAIL? The project was not actually sensible No clear objectives Unclear scope Poor planning Unrealistic finance Unrealistic staffing Poor communications No effective process monitoring No change control No risk management 6

7 FAILING TO PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL January 23,

8 A closer look at the PLC 1. DEFINITION: define goals, objectives, critical success factors 2. INITIATION: do everything needed to set-up the project 3. PLANNING: prepare plans of how the work will be carried out 4. EXECUTION: do the work to deliver the desired outcome 5. MONITORING & CONTROL: ensure a project is on track 6. CLOSURE: get acceptance of the deliverables, disband the elements 8

9 COST and STAFFING LEVELS across a generic PLC (PMBOK 2013, p.39) January 23,

10 IMPACT OF project VARIABLES based on project time (PMBOK 2013, p.40) January 23,

11 Basic REASONS FOR project PLANNING To REDUCE UNCERTAINTY To IMPROVE EFFICIENCY of the operation To OBTAIN a better UNDERSTANDING of the objectives To PROVIDE a BASIS for monitoring and controlling work (mod. KERZNER 2009, p.412) January 23,

12 HIGHLIGHTS: 1. BE INQUISITIVE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING 2. DEVELOP SMART OBJECTIVES 3. YOU NEED PLANNING TO REDUCE UNCERTAINTY (RISKS OF FAILURE)

13 The DOCUMENTS to INITIATE a project BUSINESS CASE. A documented economic feasibility study used to establish validity of the benefits of a selected component lacking sufficient definition and that is used as a basis for the authorization of further project management activities. STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW). A narrative description of products, services, or results to be delivered by the project. (PMBOK 2013, p.530, p.564) January 23,

14 (Business) CASE is created as a result of Market demand Organizational need Customer request Technological Legal requirement Ecological impacts Social need (PMBOK 2013, p.69) January 23,

15 STATEMENT OF WORK refers to (Business) need Product scope description Strategic plan January 23,

16 GET AUTHORITY to do the job PROJECT CHARTER. A document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities (PMBOK 2013, p. 553) January 23,

17 PROJECT CHARTER includes (PMBOK 2013, p.72) January 23,

18 KNOW THOSE WHO MATTER STAKEHOLDER. An individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project. STAKEHOLDER REGISTER. A project document including the identification, assessment, and classification of project stakeholders. (PMBOK 2013, p.562, 563) January 23,

19 PRIORITIZE stakeholders: the POWER-INTEREST GRID The senior stakeholders who usually only need to be kept satisfied and watched The KEY STAKEHOLDERS: need to be managed actively, kept informed of each step in the project, whose views need to be taken into account. Need to be kept informed, and, if possible, kept on side (Mod. CADLE et al., 2010, p.66-70)

20 To START PLANNING you must have 1. PROJECT CHARTER 2. STAKEHOLDERS REGISTER January 23,

21 HIGHLIGHTS: 4. TO INITIATE A PROJECT YOU NEED A CASE AND A SOW 5. TO START PLANNING YOU MUST HAVE A PROJECT CHARTER 6. GET AS MUCH AUTHORITY AS YOU CAN 7. KNOW AND REGISTER YOUR PROJECT S STAKEHOLDERS

22 PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT (PMBOK) 1. PLAN Scope Management: create a scope management plan (the how) 2. COLLECT REQUIREMENTS: determine, document, and manage stakeholder needs and requirements to meet project objectives 3. DEFINE SCOPE: develop a detailed description of the project/product. 4. CREATE WBS: subdivide project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components. 5. VALIDATE Scope: formalize acceptance of the completed deliverables. 6. CONTROL Scope: monitoring the status of the project and product scope and manage changes to the scope baseline. January 23,

23 PROJECT SCOPE. The work performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions. (PMBOK 2013, p.554) PROJECT SCOPE is a definition of the end result or mission of your project a product or service for your client/customer. The primary purpose is to define as clearly as possible the deliverable(s) for the end user and to focus project plans. (Larson 2011, p.102) January 23,

24 PROJECT vs. PRODUCT scopes PROJECT scope. The work that must be performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions. PRODUCT scope. The features and functions that characterize a product, service, or result January 23,

25 REQUIREMENT. A condition or capability that is required to be present in a product, service, or result to satisfy a contract or other formally imposed specification. (PMBOK 2013, p.558). January 23,

26 Techniques to COLLECT REQUIREMENTS Interviews Focus groups Facilitated workshops Group creativity techniques Observations Prototypes Questionnaires and Surveys January 23,

27 GROUP CREATIVITY TECHNIQUES Brainstorming Nominal group technique The Delphi Technique Idea/mind mapping Affinity diagram January 23,

28 PROBLEMS OF BRAINSTORMING Social pressure Vocal majority/dominant individual Agreement bias/premature solution focus Hidden agendas (SAGE & ARMSTRONG, 2000)

29 DELPHI IS A BETTER TECHNIQUE 1. FORM THE TEAM to undertake and monitor the session 2. SELECT one or more panels of EXPERTS to participate 3. DEVELOP the FIRST round QUESTIONNAIRE 4. SUBMIT the first questionnaire to the panelists 5. ANALYZE the first round responses 6. PREPARE the SECOND round QUESTIONNAIRE. 7. SUBMIT the second questionnaire. 8. ANALYZE REPEAT steps 7 through 9 as necessary. 9. PREPARE THE REPORT on the findings. (FOWLES 1978)

30 OUTPUTS of the collecting REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENTATION. A description of how individual requirements meet the business need for the project REQUIREMENTS TRACEABILITY MATRIX. A grid that links product requirements from their origin to the deliverables that satisfy them. (PMBOK 2013, p.558) January 23,

31 An example of a generic RTM (PMBOK 2013, p.119) January 23,

32 Tools to DEFINE SCOPE Expert judgment Product analysis Alternatives generation Facilitated workshops November 9,

33 PROJECT SCOPE STATEMENT. The description of the project scope, major deliverables, assumptions, and constraints. (PMBOK 2013, p.556) November 9,

34 WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS). A hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables. (PMBOK 2013, p.567) Basically, the WBS is an outline of the project with different levels of detail. (LARSON 2011, p.108) January 23,

35 An example of WBS January 23,

36 Tools to create the WBS Decomposition Expert judgment January 23,

37 WBS is complete if 1. Status and completion are measurable 2. The activity is bounded 3. The activity has a deliverable 4. Time and cost are easily estimated 5. Activity duration is within acceptable limits 6. Work assignments are independent January 23,

38 PROJECT SCOPE CHECKLIST 1. Project objective 2. Deliverables 3. Milestones 4. Technical requirements 5. Limits and exclusions 6. Reviews with customer January 23,

39 The PROJECT CREEPS CREEPS minute changes in the project due to the obscure, and for awhile unnoticeable, actions of team members. Many of these go undetected until it might be too late. Scope creep Hope creep Effort creep Feature creep (WYSOCKI 2009, p.13-14) January 23,

40 SCOPE CREEP. The uncontrolled expansion to product or project scope without adjustments to time, cost, and resources (PMBOK 2013, p. 562) January 23,

41 The other CREEPS HOPE CREEP happens when a project team member falls behind schedule but reports that he or she is on schedule, hoping to get back on schedule by the next report date. EFFORT CREEP is the result of the team member working but not making progress proportionate to the work expended (the 99.9% complete thing). FEATURE CREEP results when team members arbitrarily add features and functions to the deliverable that they think the client would want to have. January 23,

42 A good project manager is the one who can quickly adapt when a project does not meet the exact requirements of the approach being used or a surprise arises during the course of doing the project. (mod. WYSOCKI 2009, p.23) January 23,

43 This January 23,

44 happens January 23,

45 often January 23,

46 The project as the WAY TO DISCOVER NEEDS The root cause of many problems that come up in the course of a project can originate from disconnects between what the client says they want and what they really need. The disconnect can also come about because the client does not really know what they need. In many cases, they can t know. What they need can be discovered only through doing the project. (WYSOCKI 2009, p.52) January 23,

47 HIGHLIGHTS: 8. MANAGING THE SCOPE IS THE FIRST REAL PLANNING IN A PROJECT 9. THE SCOPE DEPENDS ON REQUIREMENTS BE CREATIVE. 10. BEWARE OF THE SCOPE CREEP IT CAN LEAD TO A FAILURE 11. PROJECT CAN BE A WAY TO DISCOVER YOU REAL NEEDS