Slide 1 1 Chapter 1 Introduction Basic definitions

Slide 1. 1 Chapter 1 Introduction • Basic definitions • Importance of successful project management to an organisation and to you • Project management past and present • Summary Project Management in Practice: Three project managers with distinctly different roles Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 2 Introduction ‘Life is one big project. ’ The trick is managing it. • There are many successful projects – Fixed duration, array of interlinking activities, definable benefits, achieve change – Managing them is an art and science – Gleeful press pick up on the project failures and their consequences • Vital we start by defining projects (what is and what is not a project) and project management (a profession with a career path) • Projects represent significant parts of all economic activity, they are important to individuals, organisations and society Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 3 1. 1 Basic definitions • Projects are unique, transient endeavours undertaken to achieve a desired outcome. [Association for Project Management, 2004] • A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service. [Project Management Institute, 2004] • A unique set of coordinated activities, with definite starting and finishing points, undertaken by an individual or organisation to meet specific performance objectives with defined schedule, cost and performance parameters. [British Standard 6079, 2000] Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 4 1. 1 Basic definitions (Continued) • A management environment that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified business case. [Prince 2, 2009] • A temporary organisation that is needed to produce a unique and predefined outcome or result at a given time using predetermined resources. [Prince 2, 2009] • A project refers to a value creation undertaking based on a specific mission, which is completed in a given or agreed timeframe and under constraints, including resources and external circumstances. [Project Management Association of Japan, 2005] Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 5 1. 1 Basic definitions (Continued) Common themes: • Unique – Or aspects of uniqueness • Temporary – Organisation, finances • Focused – Delivering a result (product or service • Business case (Prince 2) – Or at least a mission to deliver benefits • Emergence – High level benefits known – Exact objective and means to achieve them evolve after a certain amount of work has been done • Uncertainty – The future is unpredictable – Unknowns : achievable objective, costs, durations • Change – Any new system (deliverable) will impact on the way people work • Social construction – People and systems of people have complex and dynamic interactions • Integration – People (staff and end users; training and media coverage), systems, technology, knowledge Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 6 1. 1 Basic definitions (Continued) Figure 1. 1 Project characteristics Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 7 1. 1 Basic definitions (Continued) Organising to deliver a project as a process: • Low volume/high variety process • First-timers – Unique – Allure of the complex, difficult and risky – Need highly skilled project managers • ‘as…buts’ – Similar to previous work in terms of either process followed or product delivered – Decrease in risk and uncertainty • Painting by numbers – Process and outcomes are well known – Even less risk and uncertainty Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 8 1. 1 Basic definitions (Continued) Figure 1. 2 Volume versus variety and projects Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 9 1. 2 Importance of successful project management to an organisation and to you Projects are central to our economy – Siemens estimate 50% of revenue is from projects – Management consultants earn 90% revenue from projects Whole sectors of industry are project based organisations – Engineering – Construction – IT Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 10 1. 2 Importance of successful project management to an organisation and to you Projects and you – Accidental: e. g. festival organisers, politicians launching new policy – Professional with the title of project manager • Used to be a transition from a technical role • Today formal training available • Formal qualifications not always mandated Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 11 1. 2 Importance of successful project management to an organisation and to you (Continued) Table 1. 1 Accidental profession or profession of choice? Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 12 1. 2 Importance of successful project management to an organisation and to you (Continued) PM and line management Figure 1. 3 Project organisational structure (for project of medium complexity) Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 13 1. 2 Importance of successful project management to an organisation and to you (Continued) PM and line management • Functional/line managers – Responsibility for people who work in the organisation – Maintenance, maintaining the status quo • Project managers – Responsible for projects that may run across several functions – Innovation • • PM’s may be line managers for a proportion of their time Career paths Project office Project manager Programme manager Project or programme support office manager Project director Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 14 1. 2 Importance of successful project management to an organisation and to you (Continued) Figure 1. 4 Innovation and maintenance activities in project and line management Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 15 1. 3 Project management past and present Table 1. 3 Historical development of project management Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 16 1. 3 Project management past and present (Continued) Current issues • ‘Ready, aim, fire’ • ‘It’s all in my head’ • ‘We work in a nanosecond environment, we don’t have time to do this stuff’ • ‘Project management – we have a procedure for that’ • ‘It’s all just common sense, isn’t it? ’ • ‘I’ve got the badge, therefore I am a project manager’ • ‘We’ve done this lots of times before. It never worked then, why should it this time? ’ • ‘It won’t work here!’ Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 17 1. 3 Project management past and present (Continued) Academic subject • Project management taught extensively in management, engineering and science schools • Growth of research, writing, teaching, consultancy • Academic and practitioner journals Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 18 Summary • Projects are important to individuals and organisations – Limited view if we think in terms of large scale constructions, projects and associated basic tools and techniques – Project management is live, going on around us all the time – A profession, growing recognition, covers the entire spectrum of management knowledge, not confined to tools and techniques Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 1. 19 Summary (Continued) • Projects are on going in every organisation – Vital for organisations: execution of vision, mission and objectives – Vital in personal life: pursuing study, buying a house – Complexity varies, delivers a result at a point in time, can provide competitive advantage • The first steps to understanding projects are the definitions – Diversity in characteristics which require different approaches to management – High profile bodies of knowledge at the core of the professional discipline Maylor, Project Management, 4 th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011