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Qualification Module:Project Management

Dr. Afroditi Papadaki-Klavdianou Professor

Dr. Anastasios Michailidis Lecturer

ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKIGREECE

Unused potentials of senior migrants – experts for life

WP7 – Deliverable Number 7

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Key of success or just a question mark?

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Fear of change

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It’s time for change

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Structure

All about Project and Project Management

Why is important the Project Management?

Planning steps

How to formulate indicators?

Project Planning Matrix (PPM)

Methodologies

Risk Management

Project Manager - Everybody has Project Management Skills?

Project Failure

Additional bibliography

A methodological guide for Project Management

and a manual of competitiveness

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Definition

Project management is the science (and art) of

organizing the components of a project, whether the

project is development of a new product, the launch of

a new service, a marketing campaign, or a wedding.

A project isn't something that's part of normal

business operations. It's typically created once, it's

temporary, and it's specific.

As one expert notes, "It has a beginning and an end."

A project consumes resources (whether people, cash,

materials, or time), and it has funding limits.

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Definition

Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to

accomplish a successful project.

Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing,

securing and managing resources to bring about the successful

completion of specific project goals and objectives.

It is sometimes conflated with program management

Program management is the process of managing several related

projects. In practice and in its aims it is often closely related to

systems engineering and industrial engineering.

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Project what is this?A project is an one-time effort that produces a specific result, for example, a building or a

major new computer system.

This is in contrast to a program, which is 1) an ongoing process, such as a quality control program, or

2) an activity to manage a series of multiple projects together (In some countries, the term

"program" refers to a software tool and the term "programme" can mean a TV or radio show).

Using other words a project is a temporary attempt, having a defined beginning and end

(usually constrained by date, but can be by funding or deliverables), undertaken to meet

unique goals and objectives, usually to bring about beneficial change or added value.

The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast to business as usual (or operations),

which are repetitive, permanent or semi-permanent functional work to produce products

or services.

In practice, the management of these two systems is often found to be quite different,

and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and the adoption of

separate management.

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Project Management and Projects

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Project Management what is includes?

Project management includes developing a project plan, which

includes defining and confirming the project goals and objectives,

identifying tasks and how goals will be achieved, quantifying the

resources needed, and determining budgets and timelines for

completion.

It also includes managing the implementation of the project plan,

along with operating regular 'controls' to ensure that there is

accurate and objective information on 'performance' relative to

the plan, and the mechanisms to implement recovery actions

where necessary.

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Project Management Cycle

Projects usually follow major phases or stages (with various titles for these),

including identification, preparation and design, project planning, monitoring,

evaluation, assessment and sometimes support/maintenance.

NOTE: There are many software tools that make project management much more effective and efficient.

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Why is important the Project Management?

Some of the prime advantages of having a good

project management as well as of having a good

project management team for any company or

organization are as follows:Excellent product quality

Adequate communication

Reducing risks

Strategic objectives and goals

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Excellent product quality

Consumers generally look for low cost and high quality, while

purchasing a product.

Maintaining a high standard of excellence in developing quality

products earns the company goodwill amongst its customers.

How can a project management team help in improving the quality

of a product?

The project management plans the allocated budget, resources and

testing methods that keep the pace of production high, both

qualitatively and quantitatively.

The project management team can also undertake six sigma training

programs that enhance the quality of the products.

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Six Sigma Training Program

The Six Sigma Training Program believes in

three primary principles for creating success:

Business success is highly reliant upon

reducing the amount of variation that you have

in your business process.

Manufacturing and business processes have

characteristics that can be clearly measured,

analyzed, controlled and improved upon.

Achieving sustained quality improvement is the

result of the entire organization working

together for a common goal, especially

onboard need to be the members of top level

management.

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Adequate communication

Improper communication among employees can lead to misunderstandings and

negatively impact the performance of the firm.

A project manager can be a bridge among the diversified branches of project

undertaking.

And why only employees? Stakeholders also form a part of the company. They

prefer investing in those companies that deliver projects on time and keep them

informed about updates and progress of the projects.

If a client is satisfied with the performance of the firm, it is likely that it will return

with much bigger projects, not to mention huge investments.

A project leader can hold meetings on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and can

make sure that everyone is aware about the project plan and his/her

responsibilities, both as an individual and as a team.

With the help of human resource management department, project managers can

be more effective in communicating the expectations of the clients.

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Reducing risks

The probability of getting hit by an unwanted or unexpected event

has increased manifold in today's competitive business

environment.

Why is project management so important?

The project management team can identify the potential risks, take

their time to rectify them and help the company save valuable

resources.

In case of worst crisis, the project management team can opt for

change management method to attain the desired goals.

Team work is a must, when it comes to visualizing the dangers ahead.

Risk management principles can be applied by the project managers

to eliminate risks to a larger extent.

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Strategic objectives and goals

Strategic goals are the blueprint of the task undertaken by a

company.

For instance, a software company aims to prepare software and

related programing codes, whereas an infrastructure company has

a target of constructing dams, bridges and other construction

works.

A project management team helps the company in achieving the

strategic goals, as it streamlines the task of a company in taking

many important decisions.

Strategic planning and strategic thinking are vital management

tools for a project management team.

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Why is important the Project Management?

• Once the task is allotted, the project team is responsible for the goal to be finished in the dedicated time. Innovation is an area in which the project team can invest more and come out with new ideas that can increase the sale and reputation of the firm. Human resource, financial planning, corporate social responsibility and physical resources are other facets of strategic goals.

• Project management is an essential segment in every organization. Be it, the small scale enterprises or corporate giants, project management has the power to transform the market standing of a company and help it soar high in the sky.

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Planning steps

• There are several steps before developing a project.

• Traditionally, these are derived from the ZOPP methodology (ZOPP = zielorientierte Projektplanung or goal- oriented planning) and are listed below:– Participation Analysis – Problem Analysis– Objective Analysis – Alternative Analysis – Project Description– Assumptions– Indicators and Means of Verification

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Participation Analysis

• As a first step, a comprehensive picture of the stakeholders (interest groups, institutions, individuals, etc.) affected by the project/problem context is developed.

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Problem Analysis

• On the basis of available information, the existing project/problem context is analysed, i.e. the major problems are identified and the main causal relationships between these are visualized (problem tree).

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Objectives Analysis

• In the objective analysis the problem tree is transformed into a tree of objectives (future solutions of the problem), and the objective tree is analysed.

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Alternative Analysis

• the purpose of the alternative analysis is to identify possible alternative options, assess the feasibility of these and to agree upon one project strategy.

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Project Description

• Once the project strategy has been chosen, the main project elements (overall goal, objective, expected results, activities) are derived from the objectives tree and transferred to the project planning matrix.

27Project Description

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Assumptions

• For each level of the causal hierarchy of design elements (from input to overall goal) external conditions and factors are defined that will have to be in place for the project to succeed.

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Indicators and Means of

Verification • Quantitative and qualitative performance

and impact indicators are defined that provide a simple and reliable means to measure the achievements and results, to reflect the processes that led to them, and to observe the changes in the project context.

NOTE: A crucial element is the participatory approach to project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation involving

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How to formulate indicators?

• All the objectives and indicators that are formulated should follow the SMART method (SMART = specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely).– Specific– Measurable – Achievable – Relevant– Timely

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Specific

• Key indicators need to be specific and must relate to the conditions the project seeks to change.

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Measurable

• Quantifiable indicators are preferred because they are precise, can be aggregated and allow further statistical analysis of data. However, development process indicators may be difficult to quantify, and qualitative indicators have to be used in these cases. .

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Achievable

• The indicator (or information) must be achievable at reasonable costs using an appropriate collection method. Accurate and reliable information on such things as household incomes, for example, is notoriously difficult and expensive to actually collect.

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Relevant

• Indicators should be relevant to the management needs of the people who will use the data. Field staff may need particular indicators that are of no relevance for senior managers, and vice-versa.

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Timely

• An indicator needs to be collected and reported at the right time to influence management decisions. There is no point choosing (performance) indicators that can only tell you at the end of a project whether you succeeded or failed in meeting the objectives. They may be lessons learnt but the information comes too late for project personnel to act on.

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Project Planning Matrix (PPM) • The result of any project management approach is a Project Planning

Matrix (PPM), which shows the interrelation of the four hierarchical levels – overall goal, objective, expected result, and activities – in a logical fashion. For each level, indicators and external factors have to be identified. The PPM provides a summary on:– Why a project is carried out (= overall goal)– What the project is expected to achieve (= objective)– How the project is going to achieve its results (= expected results)– Which external factors are crucial for the success of the project (= risks and

assumptions)– How we can assess the success (= indicators)– Where we will find the data required to assess the success (= means of

verification)

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Project Planning Matrix (PPM)

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Methodologies

• It has become very crucial that a project manager has to be aware of the various project management methodologies, their pros and cons before restricting himself to one particular methodology.

• Though there are a handful of methodologies proposed, we present the ones that have been widely accepted.

• These methodologies are the basic methodologies as well and the project manager is supposed to have a good knowledge of these by default.

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Waterfall model

•In software engineering, the waterfall model is the traditional method used in the development life cycle of a system.

•As the name suggests, in the waterfall model, there is a flow from one phase to another, where, in each phase a desired outcome is achieved.

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Waterfall model

• Though this method is rigid, it is simple to implement. • This model allows for modularization and promises the delivery of

the project on time. • However, once started there is no backtracking possible. • This proves to be disadvantageous in situations where a possible

fault is detected during the testing stage. • This model is best suited for small, simple and inexpensive

projects. • Most of the people nowadays prefer the alternate available

methodologies to the waterfall model.

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Spiral model

The spiral model was defined by Barry Boehm in his article A Spiral Model of Software Development and Enhancement from 1986. This model was not the first model to discuss iteration, but it was the first model to explain why the iteration matters. As originally envisioned, the iterations were typically 6 months to 2 years long. The spiral model (Boehm, 1988) aims at risk reduction by any means in any phase. The spiral model is often referred to as a risk-driven model.

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Spiral model

• The spiral model is seen as an extension of the waterfall model. • It is best suited for projects that are relatively complex and expensive. • This method introduces the concept of prototyping. • The steps involved in this model are presented briefly:

– Upon the definition of the new system requirements, an initial design is created for the system. This is said to be the first prototype of the system and usually provides an approximate picture of what the product might look like.

– The second prototype is evolved by evaluating the first prototype for its strengths and weaknesses, defining the requirements, planning and designing the prototype, and finally, constructing and testing the same.

– This prototype is subjected to evaluation as the first prototype and this process is iterated until we arrive at a final refined prototype.

– The actual system is built upon this refined prototype.

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Rapid Application Development model

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Rapid Application Development model • The RAD model adopts the concept of object oriented

programming that facilitates software reuse. • This model aims at the rapid delivery of the product which is

of a higher quality. • The steps involved include gathering requirements using

focus groups, designing the prototypes and testing the same, reusing the component thus created and have a maintenance team to periodically check the accuracy of the product.

• Java and C++ are the programming languages employed that help in the development of this model.

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Dynamic Systems Development

Model

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Dynamic Systems Development

Model • The DSDM is perceived as the evolution of the preceding Rapid

Application Development model. • It believes that no software component can be flawless the first

time it is built. • The principles of this approach include giving high importance to

the user requirement, making the user actively participate in the development process, on-time delivery of products frequently, employing recursive development strategies to narrow the accuracy of the solution provided, testing the components independently and in cooperation, and maintaining a healthy relation with the stakeholder.

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Adaptive Project model

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Adaptive Project model

• The Adaptive Project model believes in the philosophy that the scope of the project is subjective to variations and the client could capitalize on this by changing the project toward a direction that provides him the maximum benefit upon examining the conditions in various iterations. This approach promises a healthy client involvement, frequent incremental outcomes and a continuous process of introspection and questioning.

• There are numerous other methodologies most of which are an extension of the methodologies explained above. As a project manager, a person has to be well informed about the various techniques involved and possess a knowledge good enough to decide what methodology to adopt and where in the project.

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Risk Management

RISK RISK MANAGEMENT

Question: What is a risk factor?

Answer: A risk factor is something that increases your chances of getting a disease. Sometimes, this risk comes from something you do. For example, smoking increases your chances of developing colon cancer. Therefore, smoking is a risk factor for colon cancer.Other times, there's nothing you can do about the risk. It just exists. For example, people 50 and older are more likely to develop colon cancer than people under 50. So, age is a risk factor for colon cancer. (In fact, it's the number one risk factor.)

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Risk Management

• In many projects, risks are identified and analysed in a random, brainstorming, fashion.

• This is often fatal to the success of the project, as unexpected risks arise, which have not been assessed or planned for, and have to be dealt with on an emergency basis, rather than be prepared for and defended against in a planned, measured, manner.

• Very early in the preparation and planning stage, it is essential that potential risks are identified, categorized and evaluated.

• Rather than look at each risk independently, and randomly, it is much more effective to identify risks, and then group them into categories, or, to draw up a list of categories and then to identify potential risks within each category.

• This way, common influences, factors, causes, potential impacts, and potential preventative and or corrective actions, can be discussed and agreed on.

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Categorising Risks

• Categorising risks is a way to systematically identify the risks and provide a foundation for awareness, understanding, and action.

• Each project will have its own structure and differences, but here are some categories that are common to most projects (to which you can add your own local, sector, or project specific, categories).

• I have not given deep detail here, but your project team and sponsors should be able to relate to these categories and use them in the risk assessment process.

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Risk Examples

• For example, with "Operational Resources" your team can discuss issues such as, availability, delivery timing, cost, capability, necessary conditions for operation (eg. ground, weather, light); with "Stakeholder Resources" your team can identify all stakeholders and list potential risks that these stakeholders may generate, such as bad publicity from the media, delays caused by community or environmental groups, delays caused by utility companies, problems with trade unions.

• Related risks and potential actions, must then be documented in the risk management plan, and discussed at all the key stages as the project progresses.

• All the details, and the actual action taken, and the outcomes, must then be recorded and reviewed during the closure and review stage, for lessons to be learned and applied to future projects.

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how do we know if we can manage the risk, if it arises?

• Often, sadly, no evaluation is carried out to determine the expertise, experience, capabilities of the team, individuals, organisations that would be required to deal with, manage that risk, if it occurred.

• As a result, if it did, the team may not be able to deal with it effectively, even though the initial forecast was that the risk could be managed.

• This happens frequently when the planning team is not the project team that manages the project, and/or when key individuals in the original project team leave the team during the project, and are replaced by individuals with different skills, experience, and capabilities.

• The clear message here is that setting a Risk Tolerance level is a dangerous business. Each potential risk needs to be carefully, rigorously, analysed, and the project team, the supporting teams and individuals, the organisation(s) involved in managing the project, all need to be evaluated to determine whether there is the capability to manage that risk successfully, should it arise.

• Where gaps in capability are identified, then appropriate corrective action must be taken. During the project itself, this capability must be constantly monitored and, where necessary, action taken to return the level of capability to the required level.

Here the question that most project managers ask

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how do we know if we can manage the risk, if it arises?

• Conflict over resources often arise during the middle to later stages of a project, because, often unexpected other, newer demands arise which are seen as being of higher priority.

• This can lead to resources that were originally allocated to the project being taken away, or reduced in quantity or quality, almost certainly to the detriment of the project.

• The answer to this dilemma is not easy, but in essence, the project management team must include "conflict over resources during the life of the project" as a major potential risk, and plan for it accordingly by securing agreements and then monitoring the situation continuously.

• If a dispute does arise, there is a role here for the project Champion, and or the Client to ensure that the allocated resources are not taken away.

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who should be responsible for risk assessment and management?

• Fundamental to many of the issues that we discuss here is the question of who should be responsible for risk assessment and management. Too often the responsibility for risk identification, assessment, and management, are left to the project team, especially once the project has started. But there are other individuals and groups, including some external stakeholders, who should be continuously monitoring particular activity and feeding back regularly to the project team leader. Some are easy to identify. They include of course, the Client, the Sponsor, key specialists in the project team’s organisation, or organisations, the major external participants, such as emergency services, local authorities and contractors.

• The easy way to identify other individuals and groups is to look at your list of Stakeholders. Each one has a responsibility, to a greater or lesser degree, to help identify potential risk and give information on this to the project team. Again, the answer to managing the question of Risk Responsibility is to build discussion, planning, and action, on this into the project planning and operational activity.

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Project Manager - Everybody has Project Management Skills?

• Project management is simply managing – what has to be done– when it needs to be done by– within certain cost constraints

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Project Manager - Everybody has Project Management Skills?

• Did you know that a lot of what we do in our everyday lives is very similar to project management? Can you answer YES to any of these questions: – have you arranged a holiday? – have you hosted a dinner party?– have you built or purchased a house or done renovations to

your home?– have you organised a surprise party for someone?– have you arranged a picnic with a group of friends

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Project Manager - Everybody has Project Management Skills?

• All of the tasks listed above require you to use project management skills.

• You need to work out what you want to achieve, put together a plan of how you're going to achieve it, work out whose help you need to pull it off, and you set a budget.

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Project Manager - Everybody has Project Management Skills?

• For a holiday - you might delegate a lot of this work to your travel agent, and similarly to your Builder for building a house.

• But for things like organising a surprise party, you need to: – work out who's invited – select a time and location – send out the invitations – organise catering (or bring a plate) – arrange music – organise where everyone will park to keep the party a surprise – work out a cover story for the guest of honour

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Project Manager - Everybody has Project Management Skills?

• If you think that doesn't take project management skills - think again! • And do you know what skill I think is the most critical? Common

sense (or pragmatism). • If I had a dollar for every Project Manager who "talks the talk" at the

start of a project, I'd be a very rich woman/man. • And if I had a dollar for every Project Manager who successfully

delivers what they set out to (who "walks the walk"), I'd be a very poor woman/man.

• And why is that? Because most people get lazy and take their eye off the ball.

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Project Manager - Everybody has Project Management Skills?

• It's easy to start a project, create a nice looking Project Management Plan, and set up lots of important meetings. But when things start to go wrong, many people go to pieces, overreact, or focus on the really non important stuff (like whether their status report makes them look bad).

• Common sense, especially when it comes to being able to prioritise effectively, and knowing when to compromise, is a key skill for a project manager. I’d take this over a university degree any day!

• Give me someone who can sort the wheat from the chaff; who knows not to sweat the small stuff; who knows when they can afford to compromise and when not to, rather than standing their ground just for the sake of it.

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Project Manager - Everybody has Project Management Skills?

The skills used in Project Management aren't that rare – most people use these skills during their lifetime.

So why do so many projects fail?

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Project Failure

• If good project management procedures are established, there is still potential for failures and pitfalls in project management. The main reasons for such failures are the following:– The overall context is not analysed and considered systematically enough.– The interests and ideas of the relevant stakeholders are not sufficiently

enough included or examined.– The objectives and expected results / outputs in combination with the

foreseen time frame are too ambitious.– The planning process and implementation of the project are not executed

by the same partners.– Underestimation of unexpected and therefore ‘unplanable’ events (no ‘air

left to breathe’), no space left for flexibility.

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Myths

• Considering all these myths and facts one can say that a recipe which guarantees the success of a project does not exist. But there are many ways to identify myths and risks which cause failures. Even the most perfect project planner cannot give a 100 percent guarantee that the project is successful because of unexpected events like natural disasters which could destroy the whole infrastructure of a company and could make the execution of the project impossible.

• The easiest way to minimize risks and to identify myths is to animate all of the members within a project to think critically about everything they do. It should be common in a team that suggestions are mentioned and discussed in order to improve the quality. The project leader has to explain the importance of success and a well-planned project is in the interest of the whole group. But it is also important to make them aware of the possible risks of failure and that they know the principle: If you do things well, it does not necessarily mean a good result.

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Additional Bibliography

• Armstrong, Miranda et al. (2004): Piloting Methods for the Evaluation of Psychosocial Programme Impact in Eastern Sri Lanka, Final Report for USAID, Terre des Hommes / Lausanne & Refugee Studies Centre / University of Oxford.

• European Commission (2001): Manual Project Cycle Management Foundation Strategy Group LLC (2003): Future Direction of the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development.

• Gosling, Louisa et al. (2003): Toolkits, A Practical Guide to Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment, Save the children, London.

• GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft fόr Technische Zusammenarbeit (1993): Partizipative Erhebungs- und Planungsmethoden in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, Universum Verlagsanstalt, Wiesbaden.

• GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft fόr Technische Zusammenarbeit (1997): Die Begriffswelt der GTZ, Eschborn.• GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft fόr Technische Zusammenarbeit (1998): Project Cycle Management of the GTZ.• GTZ and Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) (2002): Impact Monitoring and Assessment.• Helvetas Swiss Association for International Cooperation (2000): Helvetas Project Planning Tool, Zόrich.• Herweg, Karl / Steiner, Kurt (2002): Impact Monitoring & Assessment, Instruments for Use in Rural Development Projects

with a Focus on Sustainable Land Management, Volume 1+2, CDE & GTZ, Wabern.• Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development: Report 2003/2004, Zόrich Roche, Chris (1999): Learning to Value

Change, Impact Assessment for Development NGOs, Oxfam.• SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (1997): Monitoring, Bern.• SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (1999): Indicators and key questions, Bern.• SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (2000): External Evaluation, Bern.

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…Thank you!

Unused potentials of senior migrants – experts for lifeWP7 – Deliverable Number 7

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