Project Management - the art and science

1. Project Management - the art and science By Ron Hopkins, Ph.D. Associate Professor University of Houston College of Technology

2. Ron Hopkins • Ron Hopkins, Ph.D. • Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Psychology) – University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) – 1984 • 17 years in Healthcare – Owned and managed a psychiatric hospital management company • 14 Years with Royal Dutch Shell • Project Manager • Programme Director Downstream • Global Business Systems Manager (Supply Chain) • Global Business Change Manager • Taught in the UH TPM College of Technology in 2001 – 2002. • Currently Associate Professor and Director of TPM Program

3. Objectives • To provide participants with: • An awareness of the importance of applying good practice of Project Management in projects of any size. • An understanding of essential elements, including the Leadership Role of the Project Manager, Project Planning, and Stakeholder Engagement. • An understanding of the principle elements of design control to be applied within projects

4. Advantages of 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

5. What is a Project? “Unique process consisting of a set of coordinated and controlled activities with start and finish dates, undertaken to achieve an objective conforming to specific requirements, including constraints of time, cost, quality and resources” • A Project is a planned set of activities • A Project has a scope • A Project has time, cost, quality and resource constraints • Projects have a clear lifecycle

6. What is Project Management? • The art of organising, leading, reporting and completing a project through people

7. What is Project Management? • A project is a planned undertaking • A project manager is a person who causes things to happen • Therefore, project management is causing a planned undertaking to happen.

8. Project Manager’s Role • A Good Project Manager • Takes ownership of the whole project • Is proactive not reactive • Adequately plans the project • Is Authoritative (NOT Authoritarian) • Is Decisive • Is a Good Communicator • Manages by data and facts not uniformed optimism • Leads by example • Has sound Judgement • Is a Motivator • Is Diplomatic • Can Delegate

9. Getting Started

10. How to Set Up a Project • Start with a Charter Every project needs to start somewhere. Someone in the organization identifies a new idea, a problem to be solved, or a business need to be fulfilled, and initiates the project through some form of communication to the group that manages the project initiation process. Depending on the organization and the type of project request, the initial communication has different names–project charter, business case, enhancement request, service request, or investment proposal (to name a few).

11. Components of a Project Charter • Project Background • Business Case • Project Scope • Project Objectives • Sponsorship and Owner • Project Deliverables and Quality Objectives • Dependencies • Risk Management • Methodology • Budget (High Level) • Schedule (High Level) • Project Controls

12. Project Scope • A well-written scope statement is crucial to a project manager's ability to make intelligent decisions during the life cycle of a project. As a project manager, the more information you can gather in the early stages of a project, the more adaptable you can be if you should have to deal with obstacles that might appear during the project. • You create a project scope statement to establish a solid agreement between the project team and the customer by clarifying, identifying, and relating the work of the project to the business owner's objectives. The two parties reach an agreement by explaining the need or issue to be resolved by the project, what the product or deliverables will include, and what potential costs, gains, and success measures are involved.

13. Project Scope • The project team and stakeholders must have the same understanding of what products will be produced as a result of a project and what processes will be used in producing them • Writing a successful scope statement means that you include directly, or by reference, other documents, including your: • Project justification • Project product • Project deliverables • Project objectives

14. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) • Dividing complex projects to simpler and manageable tasks is the process identified as Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). • Usually, project managers use this method for simplifying the project execution. In WBS, much larger tasks are broken-down to manageable chunks of work. These chunks can be easily supervised and estimated.

15. WBS • In project management the WBS is a deliverable oriented decomposition of a project into smaller components. • A work breakdown structure element may be a product, data, a service, or any combination. A WBS also provides the necessary framework for detailed cost estimating and control along with providing guidance for schedule development and control

16. WBS

17. Building the Project Management Plan

18. Project Management Plan • Project Objectives, Scope, Deliverables • Stakeholders (Internal & External) • Work to be done (WBS) • Project Organisation and Resources (OBS) • Project Costings (CBS) • Project Schedule • Procurement/Contract Strategy • Risk Management • Quality management • Change Management

19. Triple Constraints Schedule Scope Quality Budget

20. Project Managers Trilemma Fast Pick 2 Scope Good Cheap

21. On Leadership

22. Top10 Skills of a Project Manager • People skills • Leadership • Listening • Integrity, ethical behavior, consistent • Strong at building trust • Verbal communication • Strong at building teams • Conflict resolution, conflict management • Critical thinking, problem solving • Understands, balances priorities

23. Robert Greenleaf Adapted from “The Servant as Leader”: • The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first… • The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?"

24. The 10 Characteristics of a Servant Leader Listening Empathy Healing Awareness Persuasion Conceptualization Foresight Stewardship Commitment to the Growth of People Building Community

25. The Servant Leader Characteristics in 3 Dimensions

26. The Servant Dimension

27. The Servant Dimension Listening • Active, not just passive • 360°, top to bottom • Listen completely before deciding Empathy • Separate person from their work • Walk a mile in their shoes • Personable with appropriate individuals Healing • Help your staff become whole • Consider their history • Build a future together

28. The Leader Dimension

29. The Leader Dimension • Awareness • Self & Organization • “Sharply awake and reasonably disturbed” (Greenleaf) • Persuasion • Opposite of positional authority • Convince and build consensus – quickly • Conceptualization • Building Shared Vision • Make time for strategy • Foresight • Consequences of present decisions on future outcomes

30. Combined Characteristics of the Servant Leader

31. Combined Characteristics of the Servant Leader Stewardship • Entrusted with resources of others • Return on investments Commitment to the Growth of People • “Green and growing or ripe and dying” • Not just your favorites Building Community • Effectiveness • Camaraderie

32. I want to leave you with this gift

33. ParadoxesServant Leadership, itself a paradox requires constant balance….