INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT

MANAGEMENT

Syed Momin Ali Shah

Project Manager
Project Management Unit
M/O E,LG&RD
What is a Project?
A project is a sequence of unique, complex
and connected activities having one goal or
purpose and that must be completed by a
specific time, within budget, and according to
specification

Projects are the Building Blocks of an

Invest Plan”
What is a Project? (Contd)
 Unique Activities

The Project has never happened before and will never
happen again under the same conditions
 Complex Activities

Not simple, repetitive acts, such as mowing the lawn,
running the weekly payroll, washing the car, or loading
the delivery tuck.
 Connected Activities

There is some order to the sequence in which the activities
that make up the project must be completed. Connected-
ness follows from the fact that the output from one
activity is input to another.
What is a Project? (Contd)
 One Goal

Project must have a single goal as compared to a
programme.
 Specified Time

Projects have a specified completion date.
 Within Budget

Project also have resources limits (people, money,
machines).
What is a Project? (Contd)
 According to Specification

The customer or recipient of the deliverables from the
project expects a certain level of functionality and
quality from the project. These may be self-imposed or
customer-specified, and are fixed as far as the project
manager is concerned.
 What is a Program?

A programme is different from a project, Programmes
are larger in scope and comprise multiple projects.
Project Parameters

 Cost

 Time

 Resources
What is a Project? (Contd)
 The Scope Triangle: Time, Cost, Resources

Cost Time
Scope
and
Quality

Resources
Classification of Project Types
Projects can be classified as social sector and infrastructure.
Some examples are:
Transportation Highways, mass transit, airports
Utilities Electric, power, gas, telephones
Education Schools, colleges, dormitories
Public Safety Police, fire, National guard
Recreation Parks, playgrounds, historic sites
Development Harbors, dams, irrigation
Research Health, space, agriculture.
Defense Military equipment and systems
Conservation Forests, shorelines, pollution.
Project Management
Project Management is an organized venture for
managing projects. It involves scientific
application of modern tools and techniques in
planning, financing, implementing, monitoring,
controlling and coordinating unique activities or
tasks to produce desirable outputs in
consonance with predetermined objectives,
within the constraints of time, cost and quality.
Modern Tools - Technique
 PERT/CPM (Program Eval & Review Tech)
 VERT/GERT (Venture/Graphical)
 Linear Responsibility Charts
 Gantt Charts
 Milestone Charts
 Work Breakdown Structures
 Project Action Plans
 Computers
Project Life Cycle
 Conception/selection
 Planning
 Implementation
 Control
 Evaluation
 Termination
Project Selection Models
 Non-numeric Models

The sacred cow

The Operating necessity

The competitive necessity

The product line extension

Comparative benefit model
 Numeric Models

Payback period

IRR

Discounted cash flow, NPV

Benefit Cost
What is Project Planning?
 It is complete road map to go from point A to B.
 Project planning is a rational determination of how
to initiate, sustain, and terminate a project.
 Project planning starts with the development of a
vision - the ability to see something that is
invisible to others.
Why Plan a Project?
 To eliminate of reduce uncertainty.
 To improve efficiency of the operation.
 To obtain a better understanding of the objectives.
 To provide basis for monitoring and controlling
work
Project Management Processes
Initiating Planning
Processes Processes

Controlling
Processes Executing
Processes

Controlling
Processes

•Planning provides executing documented plans early on and

the updates as the project progresses.
Project Planning Considerations
 Too often people perceive project planning as only
techniques or concepts such as PET, CPM, and
GANTT charts. However, project planning is much
wider activity with following key considerations.

Cost estimating and budgeting.

Technology strategies scheduling.

Specification of deliverables.

Resource usage estimating.

Delineation of organizational structure.

Information and control system sign.
Control and Evaluation
 Discrepancies are called variances.
 The acceptable levels of variance should be determined at
the outset of the project.
 Control entails continual monitoring of project progress,
while evaluation involves periodic stock--taking.
 Control focuses on the details of what is occurring in the
project, whereas evaluation is more concerned with the big
picture.
 Control activities are the responsibility of the project
manager, while evaluation are typically carried out by an
individual or group not directly working on the project (so
as to maintain objectively)
Project Manager
 Project is responsible for the project for cradle to
grave.
 This person will take responsibility for planning,
implementing, and completing the project.
 The PM can be chosen and installed as soon as the
project is selected for funding or at any earlier
point.
 PM is chosen late in the project life cycle, usually
to replace another PM
Project Manager (Contd)
 The PM’s first set of tasks is typically to
prepare a preliminary budget and schedule, to
help select people to serve in the project
team, to get to know the client, to make sure
that the proper facilities are available, to
ensure that any supplies required early in the
project life are available when needed, and to
take care of the routine details necessary to
get the project moving.
 Responsibilities of
Project Manager
 To complete the project within time, within
budget and according to specifications.
 To act as an intermediary between top
management and project team.
 To obtain feedback for learning lessons.
 To train and educate the project staff.
FM Vs PM
 Functional Manager is in charge of one of a
firm’s functional departments such as marketing,
engineering, or finance.
 Such department heads are usually specialists in
the areas they manage.
 They are analytically oriented and they know
something of the details of each operation for
which they are responsible.
 They know how to analyze and attack a problem.
FM Vs PM (Contd)
 A PM, by contrast, is usually a generalist with a
wide background of experience and knowledge. A
PM must oversee many functional areas.
 PM has an ability to put many pieces of a task
together to form a coherent whole.
 Project manager must be more skilled at synthesis.
 Functional manager must be more skilled at
analysis.
 Functional manager uses the analytical approach
and the PM uses the systems approach.
Project Organization
Functional Organization
 Project is made a part of one of the functional
divisions of the firm.
 Major Advantages

Maximum flexibility in the use of staff.

Individual experts can be utilized by many different
projects.

Specialists in the division can be grouped to share
knowledge and experience.
Functional Organization (Contd)

Occasionally is functionally organized projects, no
individual is given full responsibility for the project.

Response to client needs is slow and arduous.

Project issues that are directly within the interest are of
the functional home may be dealt with carefully, but
those outside normal interest areas may be given short
shrift, if not totally ignored.

Motivation of people assigned to the project tends to be
weak.

Such an organization arrangement does not facilitate a
holistic approach to the project.
Project Organization (Contd)
Pure Project Organization
 The Project is separated from the rest of the parent
system. It becomes a self-contained unit within its
own technical staff, its own administration, tied to
the parent firm by the tenuous strands of periodic
progress reports and oversight
 Advantages

The project manager has full line authority over the
project. All members of the project work force are
directly responsible to the PM.
Pure Project Organization

The lines of communication are shortened and
PM communicates directly with senior
corporate management.

The project team has a strong and separate
identity of its own tends to develop a high level
of commitment from its members.

Because authority is centralized, the ability to
make swift decisions is greatly enhanced.

Unity of command exists.
Pure Project Organization (Contd)

Pure project organizations are structurally
simple and flexible which makes them
relatively easy to understand and to implement.
 Disadvantages

When the parent organization takes on several
projects, it is common for each one to be fully
staffed. This can lead to considerable
duplication of effort.

PM may stockpile equipment and technical
assistance in order to be certain that it will be
available when needed.
Pure Project Organization
P r e s id e n t

P ro g ra m M a n a g e r V . P . M a r k e t in g V . P . M a n u fa c t u r in g V .O R & D

M a n a g e r , P r o je c t A M a n a g e r , P r o je c t B

M a r k e t in g M a r k e t in g

M a n u fa c t u r in g M a n u fa c t u r in g

R &D R &D

F in a n c e F in a n c e

P e rs o n n e l P e rs o n n e l
Pure Project Organization (Contd)

Pure project groups seem to foster
inconsistency in the way in which policies and
procedures are carried out.

In pure project organizations, the project takes
on a life of its own. Team members form strong
attachments to the project and to each other.

Worry about “life after the project ends.”
Causes of Project Failure
 Projects that have failed generally display
several of the following characteristics:

The customer’s conditions of satisfaction have
not been negotiated.

The project no longer has a high priority.

No one seems to be in charge.

The schedule is too optimistic

The project plan is not used to manage the
project.

Sufficient resources have not been committed.