The Three Important Learnings Relating to Project Management - Essay Example

Running Head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT Project Management Service In APA Style Your School Executive Summary A columnist and a professor, Dr. Hasan Yahya, defines project management as "the discipline of planning, organizing and managing resources [human professional skills and natural] to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives" (Yahya, 2010). It is this discipline that we particularly look at in this paper through the lenses of project management experts: Jon Smith and Terry Williams. The paper is a comparison of two projects: their weaknesses and strengths, their strategies and tools, and most especially the role of people in its completion. We will look at two real projects that the mentioned have discussed in comparison to project management theories. Over-all, this paper is a peep into the theories and its application in the real world, so that in the end we can scrape the best lessons that can be learned from this exercise. Table of Contents I. Introduction Many of the world's famous events, structures and facilities have been completed with rigorous and scientific project management. No large scale project has ever been successfully delivered without the use of management tools and strategic planning. Project management therefore is a very essential field, not only in terms of carrying out world renown events such as the Olympics but in ushering technological developments that countries are so much in need of. The purpose of this paper is to move a notch higher from the classroom theories of project management into a look at and examination of real-world projects where we can dig valuable lessons in project management. How we go about this endeavor necessitates the minds of two management experts, Mr. Jon Smith and Mr. Terry Williams whose decades of expertise make them worthy of our inquiry. Particularly, we look at the projects that the two speakers have provided as an example. These projects are real world examples and therefore take into accounts variables that theories may have failed to account for. This makes the study more interesting, but down-to-earth. The main body is composed of the following: the background of the projects, the people (client/contractor, supporters, stakeholders) involved in the project, the selection of the project team, the stages within the project life cycle, the definition of the success of the projects, the planning phase, the problems met and how they were overcame, the project management tools and methodologies employed and lastly, the characteristics that made the projects different, exciting and challenging. The analysis also contains comparison and contrast of the two projects, particularly highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. In the end, I will discuss the three important learnings relating to project management. II. Main Body i. Project synopses (very brief overview of the projects) The first project discussed is the design of a telecom equipment when Jon Smith has worked for Teltrend in 1999 (Smith, 2010). To provide us a background of the products, "Teltrend Inc. designs, manufactures and markets products that interpret and translate translation signals. These products are used by telephone companies to provide voice and data services over the telephone network. The products can be categorized into high capacity products, channelized products and conversion products" (Business.com, Inc. , 2010). Smith worked as a technical director in which the primary roles are to take the technology forward and sort out the project management (Smith, 2010). The project was done in a small company of around 60 people. This particular projects is made possible by technology opportunity, especially with the advancement in communication. These projects were primarily carried out for business purposes. The second featured project is the Eurotunnel. The idea of this project can be traced to as early as 1802, when Albert Mathiue, a French mining engineer introduced the first design for the Channel Tunnel (Williams). The first formal proposal for a rail network was made in the 1830, with the "advent of steam trains" (Williams). The Eurotunnel project is composed of Europont, Euroroute, Channel Expressway and finally the Eurotunnel (Williams). The Europont is a bridge that spans 500- metres and suspended by means of Kevlar cable, the Euroroute is both a drive-through bridge and tunnel system, the channel system is "a last minute submission consisting of both road and rail tunnels" and finally the Eurotunnel which has a "twin rail channel and a third service channel" (Williams). The project has started construction in 1987, when "boring of the service tunnel started on the UK side" and began its operation in May 1994 (Williams). Over-all, the Eurotunnel project has not been easy. The design underwent major changes and there was long delay in the completion of the project. Worse, an accident occurred during the construction . ii. Comparison of the Two Projects The design of the telecommunication equipment is composed of team of technical and management experts. There was not much external people involved in the project. The clients and other stakeholders were considered in the production but were not personally involved. The project was headed by the Board of Director and the Technical Director, with the help of team leaders, the development team, the project administration and the testing group (Smith, 2010). On the other hand, the second project involves a vast number of people. The government was involved in the planning and construction since it was a large-scale production. Specifically, famous personalities such as Margaret Thatcher and Francois Mitterand were involved in the ratification of the treaty that made the construction possible (Williams). The contractors also had a huge role in the construction as they were the ones who built the Shuttle Wagons. One of the important lessons that Jon Smith has learned from the project is that project management is not just about processes but more importantly it is about people. The project team is very important in the success of the project. The team is composed of the Board of the Directors as head, with the technical director working under them. In this case, Jon Smith is the technical director. The board of directors directly oversees the function of the project administration, the testing group and the team leaders. The team leaders are people who are adept in the technical aspect of the project thus they are tasked to oversee the entire team (Smith, 2010). The project team was basically organized according to the needs of the project, specifically the need for more team leaders since the entire projects is composed of multiple tasks, which makes it more complicated. The Eurotunnel team started with a Channel Tunnel Study Group in 1957, but it was only in 1973 that the project was formally launched, "by Edward Heath, British Prime Minister and by George Pompidou, French President" (Williams). The project was temporarily abandoned until 1986, when "a concession agreement was awarded to the two concessionaires - The Channel Tunnel Group Ltd and France-Manche SA for a period of 55 years" (Williams). In the construction, "Eurotunnel had contracted TML to build the Channel Tunnel, and TML had subcontracted a consortium of rolling-stock manufacturers to build the Shuttle Wagons" (Williams). Jon Smith relayed that there are at least 6 steps in the completion of the project. First is the consideration of the requirements of the project, it is followed by the analysis of the project, the design of the project, then the code of the project, then what follows is the integration of the entire project which is necessary if a project is composed of multiple tasks and lastly to test the success of the project (Smith, 2010). Smith describes this as the waterfall project management. In the setting up of the project, Smith identifed development teams and marketing teams. He mentioned that the marketing team is very essential as the project manager should always consider the return on investment. The comparison of the cost and the return to the project is necessary. On the other hand, the development team is needed to get a better idea of the project and better time scale.The complete run of the project is four weeks, which begins with the planning, followed by the mid-month check, updating of the individual project timescale, the project consolidation and the project review. The construction of the tunnel started with the banks, and then with the Eurotunnel and the TML (Williams). The TML then hired the services of the civil subcontractors, the Eurp Shuttle Consortium Wagon (ESCW) and others. The problem with the Shuttle Wagon is the very tight timescale, thus delays were inevitable. These civil subcontractors then received the responsibility to meet the deadlines givent he tight time scale. So basically, for the Shuttle Wagon project, there is no wisely planned project life cycle. There were changes in the design to meet strict safety guidelines but these created delays in the construction. There were efforts to rush the project due to start earnign revenues in order to repay the banks but these has sacrificed quality (Williams). Jon Smith planned the project well when he set up the development and the marketing teams. He made sure that the project had a good start and that returns on investment is certain so that no financial resource is put into waste. Particularly, he rejected tight time scale especially that running multiple projects is complicated. He had to pass the planned project to the scrutiny of the Board of Directors for the review. On the opposite, the Shuttle Wagon project ahd a very tight time scale. "Eurotunnel's plan depended on the Tunnel being finished and ready for business at the start of a particular season, otherwise interest payments would start to overwhelm the profit from the operation. This tight timescale and LDs was passed down to all sub-contractors" (Williams). Over-all Jon Smith identified 3 mistakes that he made durign the project. These created enormous problems during the project duration. He mentioned problems such as accepting silly time scales from those below his rank, trusting progress reports from inferiors who are not realiable and lastly, he also committed the mistake of thinking that the bulk of the project relies on the processes rather than on people. He however learned to value the people more as he learned this lesson. The first problem of the Shuttle Wagon project is the tight time scale and the sudden changes. Together this brought delays in the cosntruction which transkated into financial cost. There were also cultural issues that the project managers faced. The financial planning for the project was also not excellent. "The contractor who built the Shuttle Wagons had a very large over-spend" (Williams). Worst among all this is the accident that happened where "at least 27 people have died after a fire at King's Cross station in central London" (BBC). The fire began in one of the five underground trains (BBC). The success of Jon Smith's project can be attributed to the use of relevant project management tools particularly the waterfall management strategy and the Gantt chart. The systems provided by this methods and tools have paved the way for a more smooth completion of the project. On the other hand, the Shuttle wagon construction did not make use of relevant project management tools, so that in the end, it was chaotic: suffered delays and financial costs. The Jon Smith project is more exciting as success can be foreseen. The strategic planning, processes and employment of people make it more exciting especially when the time scale of being followed. On the other hand, the poor planning of Eurotunnel makes the entire process long and challenging. iii. Three key learnings relating to project management: Relating to Theory and Actual Practice Hasan Yahya cites three important elements that project managers should consider: Time, space, and technology (Yahya, 2010). According to him, "time is necessary for a project which is a finite endeavor where specific start and completion dates are needed to be assigned to a project undertaken to create a unique product or service which brings about beneficial change or added value. This finite characteristic of projects stands in contrast to processes, however, or operations, which are permanent or semi-permanent functional work to repetitively produce the same product or service" (Yahya, 2010). In relation to the projects that we have discussed, we again realize that time is valuable. The problem with the shuttle wagon is the poor planning in terms of the time involved in the project and it resulted to waste of resources. The first thing that project managers should carry then is time-consciousness as waste of time translates to waste of other resources especially financial resources. Cooperation and open communication between and among the people involves is also very important. This necessitates an excellent project who will coordinate all the functions as Jon Smith has realized, think people not process. Synchronization of jobs can be and should be achieved. Dr. Yahya says that challenges may come along and there are a lot of them (Yahya, 2010). Therefore, flexibility and wise judgment is very important on the part of the project manager. This calls for both knowledge and experience. References BBC. (n.d.). Retrieved May 14, 2010, from http://news.bbc.co.uk: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_2519000/2519675.stm Business.com, Inc. . (2010). Retrieved May 14, 2010, from http://www.business.com: http://www.business.com/directory/telecommunications/telephone_networking/teltrend_inc/profile/ Smith, J. (2010). The trials and tribulations of Project Management. Williams, T. The Channel Tunnel "Shuttle Wagons". Yahya, H. (2010). Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://www.articlesbase.com: http://www.articlesbase.com/project-management-articles/project-management-theory-and-practice-869584.html Read More