The Customer Requirements by Completing the Project with the Available Resources: The Woody 2000 Project - Coursework Example

MP3703 – Project Management Assignment Mini-Project Report Post Implementation Review Group Stakeholders Khalaf ID Number X Table of Contents Executive report 1. Introduction 2. Woody project failures 3. Recommendations 4. Conclusions 5. Annexes and supporting documents Executive report This first part of the project aims to identify the stakeholders, their roles, needs and expectations, and describe their inter-relationship in the project failure. Once these are correctly identified, we can be more effective in applying the necessary skills, knowledge, tools and techniques to complete the project. The overall project aim is to satisfy the customer requirements by completing the project with the available resources and within the allocated time frame and budget. The process of Project Scope Management will ensure that the work required (and not anything that is irrelevant) in included i.e. it will specify exactly what is to be included and exclude what is not. To know who the stakeholders are, the following criterion will be used: “Stakeholders are affected either directly or indirectly by the activities and achievements of an organisation, association, partnership or project.” (lecture notes) This includes those with an influence or power over the project, or an interest in it (whether positive or negative). After identifying and mapping the stakeholders, they were prioritised as shown in the interest and influence chart. This will help to recognise what information we need to convey, our project updating policy, and shape our communication strategy with them. Also, based on this, we shall avoid the traditional passive approach of simply informing stakeholders of important decisions and instead promote a multi-way incorporative approach of managing stakeholders at all stages of the project – because this encourages and hopefully ensures “wider, more positive acceptance of the project outcomes or results.” (lecture notes) Involvement of stakeholders will be extended to the following: Confirmation of stakeholder needs Research, testing and review stages Design and creation of relevant solutions Acceptance and take-up of results The stakeholder management sheet summarises the stakeholder information as well as specifying the required action. 1. Introduction The Woody 2000 project involves numerous internal and external stakeholders. These were not correctly identified by the original project manager and hence resulted in the failure of the project. Some of these failures are mentioned and discussed. This follows recommendations based on what could and should have constituted a proper stakeholder analysis. 2. Woody project failures 3.1. Project Concept and Strategy The Woody 2000 project may have been well conceived with good intentions, but there was a lack of advance planning and forethought that led to the many unexpected outcomes, which were later regretted. For a start, no clear objectives were articulated. The real objective could and should have focused on improving the company’s production efficiency and adding to its production capacity. Instead, this was overlooked and the main focus became the design, taking the opportunity to install extras such as air-conditioning and renovating the president and executive vice president’s offices. The strategy also lacked any assessment of the market conditions, trends and pressures. The market conditions were not analysed adequately if at all beforehand i.e. there were not only delays in completing the project but also a slowing down of construction activity in the region. The latter should have been anticipated so that the project timing and scale could have been reconsidered accordingly. Bruce Sharp’s expensive efforts to regain some lost customer loyalty were insufficient to recuperate the diminished demand. Besides lack of focus and analysis, the strategy also lacked proper management and direction. For example, when Faster and Leadbetter were on vacation, the manufacturing drawings of the production train “sat in a junior clerk’s in-tray awaiting approval” (case study). 3.2. Project Scope Amongst the basic reasons for project failures are incorrectly identifying the scope creep and poor gathering of requirements. It is essential that we identify these properly before proceeding with the remainder of the project otherwise it will not be possible to build upon a deficient foundation. In terms of the identification of stakeholders, this case study is a good example of the fundamental mistakes in stakeholder analysis i.e. some stakeholders were not identified and some of those that were, were not involved in the project until it was too late. An example of each is given below. 1. Stakeholders involved in the project too late: The VP Production and VP Sales and Estimating were important stakeholders who got involved in the project much later than they should have been. They were initially in favour of relocation to another site but when the chosen project was being planned they should have been consulted from the beginning. This would have avoided for example the need to drastically revise the production train specification that caused the setback in the software development due to needing to be rewritten. 2. Stakeholders not even identified: The local inspection authority’s important environmental standards were not taken into consideration earlier and this caused difficulties later on. 3.3-5. Project Planning, Quality and Scheduling Responsibilities of certain project tasks were not so clear-cut. If they had been, there would not need to be many changes to the project planning. The planning management report of group 4 identifies design related changes that led to delays and extra costs. For example, the production line control software had to be rewritten and the building had to be lengthened to accommodate the change in the production train specification. This displays lack of responsibility and coordination. 3.6/10. Cost Estimating and Control Kim Cashman cash flow chart “was locked away and the details were not divulged to the people concerned” (Group 3). This displays irresponsibility of a key stakeholder. Moneysworth was the overall project manager but he too made rough estimates of costs. He also mistakenly assumed that the hourly rate was the better option because “the hours could be monitored effectively but this proved not to be the case.” Furthermore, group 3 reports that income opportunities were missed as a result of losing customer orders and contracts. It begs to wonder which stakeholder was responsible for ensuring the continuation of work so that the project expenditure could also be funded from new income. 3.11. Risk Identification and Management Exposure to risk was examined by group 2. They report the following examples of mistakes by key stakeholders: The owners’ inspection and acceptance of the building did not take place. (Business risk) The marketing effort to regain customer loyalty was expensive but too late. (Business risk) Important stakeholders were not involved in the project from the outset such as the production team. For example, this caused the software to be rewritten due to Faster’s late involvement in the project. (Technical risk) The local inspection authority’s latest environmental standards were not considered. (Technical risk) Customer delivery dates were missed. This was a big risk that resulted in loss of income. (Project risk) 3. Recommendations 4.1. Project Concept and Strategy Starting a project so that it culminates in a successful completion requires the following: A correct identification of the relevant stakeholders An identification of their relative influence and interest An informed assessment of the appropriate action in the case of each stakeholder Consultation with relevant stakeholders according to their interest, influence and support indicators Establishment of the project aims and objectives Forming a successful strategy to achieve those aims and objectives 4.2. Project Scope The stakeholders have been identified as shown in the stakeholder chart below. They are divided into internal and external stakeholders. During the project concept and strategy phase, stakeholders should be consulted and based on their input as well as the project manager’s own analysis and the director’s vision, devise clear objectives to be achieved. This will ensure that the strategy successfully implements the initial concepts. Stakeholder needs should be taken into consideration based on their relative influence and interest as indicated in the chart above. Stakeholder Code Contact Stakeholder type Influence level Interest level Support level Required action Directors I3 Carpenter family and Kim Qualey Management (internal) High High Positive Manage VP Production and Sales I2 Bruce Sharp and Miles Faster Key Personnel (internal) High Medium Neutral Manage (Need to be convinced) VP Finance and Controller I1 Cashman and Moneysworth Key Personnel (internal) High High Positive Manage VP Personnel I4 Molly Bussell Key Personnel (internal) Medium Medium Neutral Keep satisfied Software Project Manager I6 Ian Leadbetter Project Manager High High Positive Manage (Other) Company staff I5 Spokesperson Company Low Medium Neutral Keep informed Piecemeal Corporation E1 Eddie Forgot Supplier Medium Medium Positive Manage Expert Industrial Developers E2 Alfred Fowler (Director); Ivar Kontrak (Proj. Man.) Contractor Medium High Positive Manage Schemers and Plotters E3 Randy Schemers Consultants Medium Medium Positive Manage I. Beam Construction Ltd E4 Dave Rivette (Beam); Suppliers Low Medium Neutral Keep informed I.C. Rain Ltd. E5 Charlie Droppe Contractor Low Medium Neutral Keep informed Tinknockers Associates E6 Amos Dent Sub-contractor High Medium Positive Manage PM Consultants E7 Win Easley Consultants High High Positive Manage Local inspection authority E8 Local inspection authority Authorities High Low Neutral Keep satisfied Power and utility companies E9 Power and utility companies Power and utility Medium Low Neutral Keep satisfied General Customers E10 Public Customers Low Medium Neutral Keep satisfied Other general contractors E11 Various companies Contractors Low Medium Neutral Monitor Wholesalers & Retailers E12 Various companies Companies Low Medium Neutral Monitor Construction industry E13 Industry bodies Industry Low Medium Neutral Monitor 4.3-5. Project Planning, Quality and Scheduling Group 4 reports a number of important factors that should be managed effectively and have constructed a sample precedence diagram. The latter shows how scheduling was very important to get the stakeholders working in coordination with each other. The group identifies various activities. Some of these needed to be performed sequentially whilst some could be done in parallel. They have also identified some of the activities that may have been critical to the success of the project. “An important part of people management is assigning appropriate responsibilities, and a Work Breakdown Structure makes the project manageable.” (Group 4) 4.6/10. Cost Estimating and Control Group 3 recommends a proper and guided estimation of costs i.e. not based on guesswork, a proper budgeting to allocate money appropriately, and a strict control of finances instead of irresponsible expenditure. They state, “After identifying the items of income and expenditure it should also have been a prerequisite before commencing the project to understand the budget clearly and by prioritising these expenses, assigning budget responsibilities, identifying additional sources of income, seeking help and obtaining an up-to-date credit report etc.” (Group 3) This again highlights the importance of assigning responsibilities to appropriate stakeholders to control the various costs. 4.11. Risk Identification and Management Group 2 says that important stakeholders should be involved “from the outset not during the later stages of the project life cycle when intervention is more likely to be disruptive.” (Group 2) This would for example, minimise interruption to production while relocating equipment, prevent the budget overrun that occurred, and prevented disruption to customer delivery dates etc. 4. Conclusions The failure of the Woody 2000 project was a consequence of not conducting a proper stakeholder analysis. This has now been done. The stakeholders have been identified both internal and external ones, and plotted on an interest and influence chart. The stakeholder sheet summarises all the stakeholder information including their support level and the required action in the case of each of them. If this had been done in the beginning, the mistakes would have been avoided and a successful completion could have been possible. 5. Annexes My role as project management consultant is fraught with some difficulties but I have the distinct advantage of being able to conduct a proper stakeholder analysis, which can bring the project to a successful completion. For example, some members of staff are not too keen to divulge and reveal their mistakes even though no specific individual is to blame. Rather it was a project management failure. Some records are scanty, nonetheless, I have managed to elicit considerable information, which helped in conducting the detailed stakeholder analysis. References Lecture notes. Project Governance - Role of Project Managers & Stakeholders. Lecture 2. Dr Nathalie Renevier. Read More