Project Management Methods - Report Example

Project Management Methods Name Course Lecturer Date Table of Contents Part 1 3 AOA (Activity on Arrow) Network Diagram 3 Network Diagram and the Critical Path 3 Shortest Time for Project Completion 4 PDM Network Diagram 4 Microsoft Project 5 Part II 5 Magazine Production Project 5 Definition of Project Scope 8 Definition of key Milestones 8 Building a Work Breakdown Structure 9 Developing Network Diagram 9 Identification of the Critical Path 10 Allocation of Resources 10 Conducting Stakeholder Analysis 11 Documenting Performance Standards 11 References 13 Part 1 AOA (Activity on Arrow) Network Diagram a. AOA (Activity on Arrow) network diagram Network Diagram and the Critical Path b. Identify all the paths on the network diagram and determine the critical path for this project. Briefly explain why it is important to monitor the critical path. Path 1=A-B-D-G-J-K=21 Path 2=A-B-D-E-I-J-K=22 Path 3=A-B-D-E-H-K=16 Path 4=A-B-C-F-I-J-K=22 Path 5=A-B-C-F-H-K=16 In this case, we have two critical paths, which are path 2 and path 4. It is important to monitor the critical path since it shows the shortest time for completing the project. This is because if one activity or more activities on the particular critical path takes longer time as planned, it or they will delay the project completion. Therefore, with a critical path, the manager is able to be cautious so that all activities are completed within the longest available time as stated in the critical path. Shortest Time for Project Completion c. What is the shortest possible time it will take to complete this project? 22 days PDM Network Diagram d. PDM network diagram Slack float is determined by using the formula of late start-early start or late finish- early finish E1 = 0 (assuming we start at time zero) E2 = E1 + T1 = 0 + 2 = 2 E3 = E2 + T2 = 2 + 3 = 5 E4 = E3 + T3 = 5 + 4 = 9 E5 = E3 + T3=5 + 5=10 E6 = max [E4 + T4, E5 + T5] = max [9 + 3, 10 + 2] = 12 E7 = max [E5 + T5, E6 + T6] = =10 + 6, 12 + 5=17 E8=max [E6 + T6, E7 + T7]=12 + 2, 17 + 3=20 E9 = E8 + T8 = 20 + 2 = 22 Comparison From chart A, the paths used in chart B were obtained. Consequently, from these charts, the time that it will take the project implementers to finish all the activities in the project is 22 working days. Similarly, from the PDM network diagram, it also takes 22 working days for the last activity to be finished. Microsoft Project e. Microsoft Project The output for the maximum amount of time needed to complete the project is 22 days in the Microsoft Project, steps (b) to step (d) above. Part II Magazine Production Project Together with my colleagues at work place, we once planned a project of starting a monthly magazine. However, like many other projects, our magazine project did not make it to the completion. We encountered a lot of challenges along the way, which led to the failure. This is therefore an analysis of why most of these projects get started only to fail. The argument is that for every project plan to be successful, the project manager should use ten important project milestones. Consequently, when there is no detailed, complete and documented plan, chances of almost all projects going dangerously off track are high. Once the project has gone off track, the consequences are not impressive. The project either fails to meet expectations or is shut down. There are different circumstances under which a project fails. First, a blown budget can make a project fail. Second, a project can fail if the project implementers fail to meet the set timeline. Third, a project will also fail if the project deliverables fail to achieve the anticipated standards. Consequently, there are 10 key milestones that the project implementers need to ensure correct planning of a project. Once the documents illustrating these milestones have been assembled, they create a project plan that is complete. This completed project plan is used for gaining approval to begin the project, to control, and to execute as well as adjust the project as it progresses (Kliem Ludin & Robertson, 1997). The planning process is as visualized below: Our project of starting a magazine in the work place failed because we did not stick to the requirements of the different steps of project management. Among the different steps and requirements that we failed to comply with to the latter are definition of the scope of the project, definition of milestones, building of a work breakdown structure, developing of a network diagram, identifying the critical path, allocating resources, developing budget, conducting stakeholder analysis, and documenting performance standards (Kliem Ludin & Robertson, 1997). Definition of Project Scope In this case, the resources and the work that are needed for the creation of the service or product make up the things necessary for framing the project’s scope. Consequently, the project scope not only brings out the objectives of the particular project but it also outlines the goals that ought to be met for achieving a satisfactory outcome. It is therefore, the duty of every project manager to understand the way to define the scope of the project. In order to do this, the project manager needs to follow some steps. These steps include the identification of project objectives, the project goals, the sub-phases of the project, the project tasks, the project resources, budget and the schedule (Spiess & Felding, 2008). We managed to succeed in defining the scope of our project since some of us had been involved in the print media before. Definition of key Milestones A milestone in this case refers to a task whose duration is zero and which indicates a key achievement or accomplishment of a project. Milestones present a way of knowing the way the project is progressing if a person has no idea on the tasks being executed. Milestones have zero duration since they symbolize a point of time in a project or an achievement. For example, if a person is constructing a house, everyone in the family will be talking about milestones since no one is familiar with the particular tasks (Kliem Ludin & Robertson, 1997). People will be talking about,” The roofs will be completed on Monday.” Because of the exposure that some of us had in the print media, we did manage to come up with the milestones for our project. We identified them easily. Building a Work Breakdown Structure By building a work breakdown structure, it is possible for the project implementer to be both specific and comprehensive when managing or implementing a project. Work breakdown structure involves thinking about the project in detail. This detailed thinking is important during the planning of a project. Apart from thinking in detail, work breakdown structure is about considering the big picture. A failure to identify the major part of a project’s work limits the chances of detailing it. Consequently, a project that has no details can easily fail since most parts can easily be skipped. Unfortunately, for our case, we had no idea on how to go about this. We therefore, came up with a structure in which some steps were skipped. The consequence of this is that the time allocated for other activities were affected by this skipped and some activities were not finished at the end of the project because time was already gone. Developing Network Diagram The network diagram gives a picture of the needed sequence of activities and events for the project. It makes the implementers to clearly see the logic rules that affect activities. For instance, it ensures that the implementers do not start building the house foundation before they prepare the ground first. The project team needs to be included in the network diagram development so as to come up with a consensus of knowing the way the project needs to be implemented. The project team also provides a platform for challenging the conventional ways of doing things (Spiess & Felding, 2008). Some of the needs overlapped in our project leading to failure of some of such needs to be implemented. The cause of the overlap was the failure to set up a clear sequence of activities. Identification of the Critical Path It is important to monitor the critical path since it shows the shortest time for completing the project. This is because if one activity or more activities on the particular critical path takes longer time as planned, it or they will delay the project completion. Therefore, with a critical path, the manager is able to be cautious so that all activities are completed within the longest available time as stated in the critical path (Charvat, 2003). Some of the activities in the project like designing of the magazine and collection of articles took longer time than expected, because we had not scheduled them well. Allocation of Resources The resources needed in the implementation of any given project include human resources, natural resources, and financial resources. Allocation of resources is about planning of the different resources needed for the project. Because of the tough economic situation, project managers are expected to work in tight or limited budgets. Efficient allocation of resources in a project is like completing half of the project since this milestone is paramount yet the hardest part of the management of a project. Consequently, efficient allocation of resources can be done by listing all the required resources, and then selecting only the most important. As far as this step is concerned, we were well versed with different areas of the project as well as the resource-demand for each area (Kliem Ludin & Robertson, 1997). We therefore, managed to allocate the resources accordingly. We did well in this step. Budget Development The project budget is very important in ensuring the success of a project. It contains the detailed estimation of all the costs necessary for completing project tasks. It specifies the cost for ongoing operations, materials procurement, and staff labor as well as other direct costs like training and traveling. A budget plays a crucial role by helping the project manager to manage expectations and ensure that money is sufficient to run all the activities in the project (Charvat, 2003). Insufficient budget was allocated to the printing section. This led to the failure of this section. Conducting Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder analysis is conducted in order to identify the important people that need to be won over for the success of the project. Once these people have been won, they can support the implementation of the project through different ways. Without the input of stakeholders, most of the projects fail to attain their targeted goals. When we were starting the project, we were well aware of the right people to approach for sponsorship, advertisement and technical support. This enabled us to succeed in the accomplishment of this step. Documenting Performance Standards Following the maturity of a project management, confusing array of certifications and standards come in. skills and knowledge expertise, performance criteria or on-job-training could be missing. In this case the project manager needs to know the necessary skills so that as a project develops, these skills or expertise may not be lacking. If these skills and knowledge are not documented, they can lead to the failure of the project at later stages (Charvat, 2003). Because we did not document all the necessary skills, our project ended up lacking people with specialized skills like those for designing an attractive magazine. References Charvat, J. (2003). Project management methodologies: selecting, implementing, and supporting methodologies and processes for projects. Hoboken, NJ, Wiley. Kliem, R. L., Ludin, I. S., & Robertson, K. L. (1997). Project management methodology: a practical guide for the next millennium. New York, N.Y., M. Dekker. Spiess, W., & Felding, F. (2008). Conflict prevention in project management: strategies, methods, checklists and case studies. Berlin, Springer. Read More