Topic 8 – Project Management

In the exam you are expected to:

• Understand why projects are often sub-divided into tasks and allocated to teams.
• Describe the characteristics of a good team, e.g. leadership; appropriate allocation of tasks; adherence to standards; monitoring; costs; control.

A project is a short-term task, consisting of several steps, that leads to a defined goal.  You have done precisely that in your Module 3 project, and will do the same in Module 6.  While you do your project on your own, in industry most projects bring together people of different skills.  There may also be different equipment and resources.

In these notes, we will talk of projects being to introduce new ICT systems.

Projects have the following characteristics:

• They have a specific objective;
• There is a deadline for the objective to be met;
• There is a budget;
• There is a team of people brought together form different areas to work on the project.  The team will be disbanded at completion.

The decision to go ahead with a project is usually made at high-level, often the Board.  Then a project manager is appointed who will have the following characteristics:

• Necessary technical skills;
• Good managerial skills to ensure that the team is well motivated;
• Good organisational skills to make sure that each deadline is met.

For any good project manager, good interpersonal skills and business experience are essential.

The manager will have the following tasks:

• Plan and staff the project;
• Analyse risks;
• Monitor progress and adjust schedules;
• Report project status;
• Control the budgets;
• Appraise performance of the team and its members;
• Interact with users, management, and the team.

Training for project management is a big money-earner for training establishments.

The Project Team

The ideal team size is between 5 and 7.  Above that, the likelihood is that there will be “passengers”, those who do not do their part of the work.  Other problems may arise:

• Job satisfaction decreases;
• Absenteeism and turnover rise;
• The project misses deadlines.

Some projects are so big and complex that a larger team is needed.

A good team will have in its make-up:

• Theoreticians who have a good academic understanding of the background to the projects;
• Practitioners, who are good at getting the job done;
• Idealists who have a clear idea of what the job will achieve if everything is right;
• Realists who know what will happen if it isn’t;
• Technical specialists who know a great deal about the hardware and software;
• Business specialists who know about the business implications of the project.

There are five principles of software staffing (Böhm):

1. Principle of Top Talent – Employ few but better people;
2. Principle of job matching  - match skills and motivation to the task in hand;
3. Principle of team balance – needs to be a balance between technical skills, knowledge and personalities;
4. Principle of phase-out – there may well be a misfit in the team who needs to eased out, not always easy.
5. Principle of career progression – bringing out the best in people by getting them to work on tasks that help them to progress.

Good teams require:

·      Leadership – someone who knows the goals and is an inspirational motivator;

·      Task allocation – best person for a job;

·      Adherence to standards – proper procedures, and documentation;

·      Progress to be monitored;

·      Costs to be controlled.

Project Planning and Scheduling

The project manager will

• Divide up the project into phases and the phases into tasks;
• Identify milestones which represent significant progress towards completion;
• For each task, match skills and time required to staff availability;
• Appoint a team leader for each task;
• Calculate the cost of completion of each task.

Overlooking tasks is a common cause of cost and time overruns, such as training, production of reports, project reviews, correction of errors and omissions.

A good project manager will keep a day-to-day log of the progress and difficulties encountered in the project.  This can help in the planning of future projects.

Software is available to help in project planning.

Project Reviews

It is rare for a project to go entirely to the schedule first suggested.  So it is important to review progress regularly, and in a formal way to:

• Compare progress against the project schedule;
• Keep management informed and involved in the progress of the project;
• Reconfirm that current task lists and schedules are correct and on target;
• Identify any problems or slippage and come up with solutions;
• Encourage team spirit and communication between team members.

How Projects Slip

Many projects fail to make the deadlines and come in grossly over budget.  One (non-ICT related but high-profile) was the Edinburgh Parliament Building, ten times over budget and three years late (and a hideous building as well).  The pages of the popular press are full of ICT projects that have gone seriously or even scandalously wrong.   Failings can arise from:

• Projects that are innovative as a result of which it’s impossible to make accurate estimates of the time needed;
• Excessive pressure that makes team members reluctant to report problems;
• Project requirements get changed.

The larger and more complex a project, the more room there is for error.  One manager has stated that any task requiring more than 10 people cannot be done.

Teamwork

There were four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it.

Everybody was sure Somebody would do it.  Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.  Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job.  Everybody thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

 

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

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