Chapter 19 PROJECT MANAGEMENT SUMMARY AND TRENDS Project Management is increasingly being used in companies, with companies developing better maturity in understanding and using the pr
Trang 1Chapter 19
PROJECT MANAGEMENT SUMMARY AND
TRENDS
Project Management is increasingly being used in companies, with companies developing better maturity in understanding and using the processes In this final chapter we look at the trends in project management, and also consider models for project management maturity Trends in project management in telecommunications companies are impacted both by general project management trends and also by trends in the telecommunications industry in general
In this age of computers, software and cheaper communications rates, many companies are working much differently from the way they did in the past Telecom companies are no exception Records kept in binders and cabinets in the past are now kept digitally Of course this also applies on projects, where the use of servers, and application software enable teams to share project records not only with each other but also with the an external customer, management, and even suppliers, of access is provided Current project management tools allow optimal organization of project records, from tools such as the Charter, WBS, Project Network, etc, to minutes of meetings, budget tracking and lessons learned Today’s network and server technologies allow anyone with authorization to enter data, while those with lower levels of authorization can read the stored information These tools make not only save time by allowing records to be created only once, but they enhance communication, and improve the probability that project records will be created and communicated
With the lower cost communications, many companies are farming out work to other countries where either they can find exactly the skills they
Trang 2262 Project Management Summary and Trends
need, or they can pay lower rates This means that many projects have to deal with issues such as international law, international bids in the procurement cycle, significant time zone differences when calling project meetings, cultural differences, differences in ethical codes, etc This presents challenges for the project manager far beyond those presented in the past
With the many mergers and alliances in the telecommunications industry today, many projects have teams that are not co-located These teams might not be international, and might even be in the same city, but different office locations However the different locations present communications issues Using the technologies available can help the teams considerably – they can hold web meetings, and post discussions in non-real time But this requires people to learn to work with others who are not physically present, and this
is a new skill for most project teams However it is a fact of life today in high tech companies
Another factor that impacts today’s projects is the speed of service development and technology change With the move from a regulated environment to a competitive one, and the rapid changes in technology capabilities the expectations for delivery times on projects are becoming more and more challenging Not so many years ago a service development time of 3-5 years was the norm Today many project managers are being pushed to complete development of much more complex services, using less familiar technologies, in 6-8 months This obviously requires much more effective project management skills
Another issue in telecommunications today is the lack of funds All businesses believe that they do not have enough money to do the things that they really want to do However over the past few years the bottom has fallen out of the telecommunications market completely, creating a situation
in which free cash is a significant problem Companies have significantly downsized if they have not collapsed altogether, leaving fewer people to work on projects, and less funding as well
Another change which has been working it’s way into operating companies for over 5 years now is a change from an internal focus on projects to a customer focus This is consistent with all the PM recommendations – but still presents a challenge within the companies as people must work to change attitudes and working methods to make the change
Trang 3263 Project Management Summary and Trends
These changes are specific to the environment, as opposed to being PM specific What the overall picture adds up to is a need more professional PM
to allow for success Project Management offices are being created in many telecom companies This trend is also occurring in other industries, which is hastening the overall understanding of PM concepts, and appreciation of the need to use the tools and processes discussed in this book Telcos always used PM extensively, but today Project Management process disciplines are being applied more ubiquitously, which is enhancing the PM maturity within the organization, and raising the overall probability of project success The use of decision sciences is increasing in Project Management
Management of stakeholders and formal risk assessment are becoming more common in project management Given the environment described above, it is clear that both of these changes are much needed in the telecom environment
Influence is power, especially in today's flatter organizations With the extensive downsizing telecom companies have also significantly restructures, becoming much flatter while becoming leaner PM’s are left more to their own resources to get things done, without the hierarchy to back them up With their standard positions disappearing, middle managers becoming project managers, bringing some excellent skills and some bigger picture views to the projects Project management is being used as training for senior management, probably bringing more value to the senior positions than some of the previous middle management experience In this new environment there is also a trend to structure as matrix and projectized organizations
Academics are becoming involved with Project Management, which indicates a level of maturity of the discipline Research in PM solutions and processes are advancing the knowledge base and the development of the field Project management is emerging as a discipline and Project standards are emerging
Trang 4264 Project Management Summary and Trends
Most organizations are applying PM in a multi-project management, and some of the available PM tools can now handle multiple projects Computer software for PM is becoming more sophisticated, taking advantage of the advanced environment with complex applications interconnected in a multi-site environment
Given all the turmoil in the industry and the problems with lack of personnel, changes in management structure, and much more limited finds, the telecom environment is benefiting from the general PM increased focus
on soft skills
enior management must buy in and visibly support project management
as a separate function within the organization Project management training must be provided to ensure that the project managers understand and can use all the concepts that are covered in this book, since these are not just common sense in many cases Project leaders must be carefully selected, trained and allowed to build experience This means that the company must define and build a career path towards project management, and support the function In addition, Project sponsors must be defined and trained so that they can effectively assist the project teams and the business The company must help the PM to emphasize “team approach”, and help people to understand and appreciate the need to record “lessons learned” The company should decide which methodologies to support to allow transition
of knowledge from one project team to another The PMO can issue guidelines, and ensure that PM tools are available to all projects Central procedures and systems need to be developed for tracking project accounting and status information And finally, the functional managers need to understand and buy in to the need for the more structured project management
The culture must be in place to ensure successful projects Learning must
be part of the culture
Any of these responsibilities can logically fall into the Project Management Office
Set standards for project management Standardize PM policies and procedures Support the project managers in their ongoing work, and their development
Provide training and support Act as a PM reporting center
Trang 5265 Project Management Summary and Trends
Provide assistance to Project Managers Establish processes for the company in project management Implement project control systems, and establish project control
Support project managers, team members and management
in the PM discipline
The PM and the core team are responsible for planning and executing all project activities The core team should include all functional skills required
to complete the project In thinking back through the concepts covered in this book, the following concise list of PM concepts provides a backdrop for good PM within the company
A project starts and finishes with the stakeholders
identify their requirements and design to meet them Ensure that you build a WBS
for definition and control of scope, cost, time Have a clearly defined and understood process for change control Start risk management early in the project and continue it throughout the project
Implement early and continued identification, analysis and response
to risksInclude contingency in milestones rather than as a percentage across all activitiesPrepare a hand-off checklist early in the project, and get buy-in early from the recipients of the product as well as the team
Use earned value analysis in addition to standard progress tracking Adopt and use a technique for network diagramming and CPM Encourage team involvement in project planningEmphasize clear and complete communication
Emphasize estimate (commitments) to complete
Every estimate to be accompanied by accuracy, range, schedule Pre-qualify your bidders
Be aware of legal implications of procurement processes, such as RFP, RFQ
Place some priority on contract administration
Plan your communications
Take time and include funding to enable team building
Encourage situational leadership
Ensure that PM’s and team members can use influence vs authority Train team members and PM’s in conflict management techniques
Trang 6266 Project Management Summary and Trends
If you really want to run your projects properly you have to use all of the techniques that we have covered consistently However, if you are not already using many of them, you’re not going to be able to just read a book, and start using all of them The best approach is to determine which ones are most applicable to your projects, start with those and then increase your repertoire as you go develop the initial skills
When teams begin implementing these techniques, the project success rate should rise The projects will not all be perfect In the real world, many things do go wrong But the techniques are designed to enable teams to anticipate and deal with the problems The techniques can be used to improve the overall probability of success on projects
Trang 7Acknowledgments
Many people contributed greatly to the preparation of this book I am extremely grateful to each of these people, so I take the opportunity here to acknowledge each of them My husband, John Desmond, reviewed every version of the manuscript, offering numerous suggestions and editing every chapter at two stages I thank him for all the suggestions and the time Keith Farndale, Procept Associates also reviewed each chapter and offered many suggestions In fact, some of the diagrams, and even portions of the material
in some chapters are based on Keith’s course “Comprehensive Project Management” Thanks to Keith for his support Steve Kendall also reviewed portions of the material and offered some useful comments Thanks also to Darya Duma from Procept Associates for also reviewing some chapters Thanks also to Cathie Lowell for assistance with most of the diagrams and figures Even more thanks go to Kim Bell, who read every chapter, offering comments, assisted in the formatting and then prepared the camera-ready copy Kim spent numerous hours working the material, and the book would not exist without her
Trang 8This page intentionally left blank
Trang 9ACWP – Actual Cost of Work Performed ADSL – Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line ADM – Arrow Diagram Method
ADR – Asset Depreciation Range
ASAP – As soon as possible
ATM – Asynchronous Transfer Mode
BAC – Budget at Completion
BCWP- Budgeted Cost of Work Performed BCWS – Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled CATV – Cable Television
CPE – Customer Provided Equipment
CPFF – Cost Plus Fixed Fee
CPI – Cost Performance Index
CPIF – Cost Plus Incentive Fee
CPPF – Cost Plus Performance Fee
CTC – Cost To Complete
CV – Cost Variance
DSL – Digital Subscriber Line
EAC – Estimate at Completion
EMV – Expected Monetary Value
ETC – Estimate to Complete
EV – Earned Value
FF – Finish Finish
FFP – Firm Fixed Price
FNET – Finish No Earlier Than
FNLT – Finish No Later Than
Trang 10270
FS – Finish Start
ICC – International Conference on Communications
LAN – Local Area Network
MFO – Must Finish On
MSO – Must Start On
NPAT – Net Profit After Taxes
PDM – Precedence Diagram Method
PERT – Program Evaluation and Review
PM – Project Manager
PMBOK - A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge PMI – Project Management Institute
PMP – Project Management Professional
PV – Planned Value
RFI – Request for Information
RFP – Request for Proposal
RFQ – Request for Quote
SF – Start Finish
SNET – Start No Earlier Than
SNLT – Start No Later Than
SPI – Schedule Performance Index
TCPI –To Complete Performance Index
TQM – Total Quality Management
VAC – Variance at Completion
WBS – Work Breakdown Structure
Trang 11References
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBOK®.Guide, 2000 Edition Project Management Institute
Project Management, A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling, Sixth Edition, Harold Kerzner, Ph D., John Wiley and Sons, Inc
Project Management, A Managerial Approach, Fifth Edition, Jack R Meredith and Samuel J Mantel Jr., John Wiley and Sons, Inc
The Software Project Managers Handbook, Principles that Work at Work, Dwayne Phillips, IEEE Computer Society
Trang 12This page intentionally left blank
Trang 14274 Index
Cost variance, 219
Critical Path, 103
Crosby, 204
Decision trees, 61
Definition of a project, 3
Deming, 203
Dependencies, 90
Depreciation, 141
Estimate at completion, 152
Estimate to Complete, 273
Examples of telecommunications projects, xv
Exclusions, 35
Expected monetary value, 63
Expert judgment, 60
Firm fixed price, 126
Float, 103, 104
Functional Organization, 175
Herzberg, 192
Histogram, 210
Implementation, 253
Internal Rate of Return, 139
Juran, 203
Leadership, 184
Learning, 199
logic diagram, 85, 87, 88, 99
Logic flow, 97
Logic Network, 88
Management Reserves, 151
Marketing, xvii, xviii, xix, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 33, 35, 113, 187, 227, 228, 229, 230, 241, 242,
245
Maslow, 191
Matrix Organization, 179
Meeting planning, 166
Motivation, 191
Net Present Value, 138
Net Profit after Taxes, 140
Opportunity cost, 137
Pareto, 209
Payback Period, 137
PMBOK, xi, 3, 9, 10, 18, 25, 37, 53, 71, 85, 104, 114, 116, 118, 128, 135, 159, 174, 187, 219,
232, 244, 274, 275
Precedence Diagram Method, 97
Process areas, 10
Procurement planning, 116
Product Description, 38
Project Charter, 19, 25, 27, 29, 34, 232
Project closure, 244
Project Deliverables, 34, 39, 45
Project initiation, 25