Skill Development at its Best Project Management BBA

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Skill Development at it’s Best Managing Project Definition: What does “success” mean? • Many projects succeed or fail at the very beginning, before any technical work is done. • Fundamental requirement: identifying who has the right to declare “success” — owner, shareholder, etc. • Fundamental elements of “success” – – – finishing on time staying within budget delivering the required functionality providing “good enough” level of quality getting the next round of VC funding, or launching the IPO • The combination of these constraints may prove impossible to achieve — so the pragmatic aspect of success often depends on agreement as to which areas can be compromised or satisfied. • Biggest risk: lack of realistic triage at beginning of project Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Conflict • Conflict: the process which begins when one

Skill Development at it’s Best Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Three Fundamental Categories of Conflict 1. Groups may have different goals and expectations 2. Considerable uncertainty about the authority to make decisions 3. Interpersonal conflicts between parties-atinterest • Differ in objectives and technical judgment expectation, costs and rewards, schedules, priorities • Project manager vs. functional manager Chapter 6 Conflict & Negotiation 6 Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Categories of Conflict • Conflicts regarding – Schedule – Priorities – Human resource (labour) – Technical matters – Administrative procedures – Costs – Personality Chapter 6 Conflict & Negotiation 7 Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Conflict Areas in Project Management Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Conflict and Project Life Cycle • Four stage model – project formation, buildup, main program and phase out • Conceptualization, planning, execution and termination • First stage (initial planning) – adopt objectives, set scope • Second stage – detailed planning, budgeting, scheduling and aggregation of resources Chapter 6 Conflict & Negotiation 9 Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Project Formation • Conflict centers around the confusion of starting a new project – Many of the policies and procedures have not yet been formed – The objectives of the project are not yet finalized • Conflict cannot be avoided at this phase • In fact, much of this conflict is good conflict 4 -10 Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Handling Project Formation Conflict • • Technical objectives must be set Senior management and line managers must commit to the project The priority for the project must be set Organizational structure of the project must be established 4 -11 Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Project Buildup • Conflicts tend to be technical in

Skill Development at it’s Best Main Program • Schedules are a major source of conflict • Some tasks will be late and the schedule should be adjusted or the time made up • The more complex the project, the more difficult it is to trace the sources of conflict • There also technical conflicts 4 -13 Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Project Phase-Out • Deadlines are a major source of conflict • Technical problems are rare • Personality conflicts will be a big deal due to time pressures 4 -14 Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Chapter 6 Conflict & Negotiation 15 Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Conflict Management in Projects Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Negotiations Mutual discussions for the purpose of arriving at

Skill Development at it’s Best The Nature of Negotiation • The process through which two or more parties seek an acceptable rate of exchange for items they own or control • Parties to a negotiation often see themselves as opponents • “If they win, I lose” • Project manager must avoid this on projects as all stakeholders are interrelated 4 -20 Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Project Negotiations • Beware the temptation to give up. . . e. g. , • “We have no idea how long this project will really take, and it doesn’t matter, since they’ve already told us the deadline. . . • . . . so we’ll just work 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, until we drop from exhaustion. They can whip us and beat us, but we can’t do any more than that. . . ” Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best • • • Negotiating strategies Don’t get tricked into making an “instant estimate” — ask for time to think about (a week, a day, even an hour) State the estimate in terms of confidence levels, or ± ranges, etc. Jim Mc. Carthy (formerly of Microsoft, author of Dynamics of Software Development): make the customer, or other members of the organization, share some of the uncertainty. Project manager: “I don’t know precisely when we’ll finish — but I’m more likely to be able to figure it out than anyone else in the organization. I promise that as soon as I have a more precise estimate, I’ll tell you right away. ” Do some reading and research to become better at this area, e. g. : Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiating Strategies for Reasonable People, by G. Richard Shell (reissue edition, Penguin Books, June 2000) – Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation, by William Ury (Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1993) – Copyright 2017@MIRS

Skill Development at it’s Best Win - Win Negotiations “Negotiations in which both parties come away winners and both parties are committed to upholding their ends of the agreement” (The Win-Win Negotiator) • Copyright 2017@MIRS