Cover

Table of Contents

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Preface

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

THIS BOOK’S APPROACH TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CHANGES IN THIS FOURTH EDITION

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS A DISCIPLINE

About the Authors

1 Projects, Project Management, and Program Management

PROJECTS ARE A TYPE OF WORK

PROJECTS DISTINGUISHED FROM TASKS AND FROM PROCESSES

PROGRAMS ARE COLLECTIONS OF PROJECTS

PROJECT MANAGEMENT MATURITY

INTEGRATED PROJECT MANAGEMENT

THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT “HAT” IS DIFFERENT FROM THE TECHNICAL OR PRODUCT MANAGEMENT “HAT”

EFFECTIVE PROJECT MANAGERS MANAGE EXPECTATIONS OF STAKEHOLDERS

A ROADMAP OF FIVE IMPORTANT PROGRAM MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

HIGHLIGHTS

Part 1: Defining the Goals of a Project

2 Linking the Project to the Product

STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF PROJECTS

THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE AND THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

PROJECT COMPLETION INCLUDES DELIVERING A RESULT THAT MEETS THE REQUIREMENTS

THE DELIVERING ORGANIZATION AND THE CONSUMING ORGANIZATION

ALL PROJECTS INVOLVE AGREEMENTS

GOOD BOUNDARIES

TAKING ACTION

HIGHLIGHTS

3 Balancing Competing Demands with the Triple Constraint

MANY WAYS TO MEASURE PROJECT PERFORMANCE

THE TRIPLE CONSTRAINT

A MODEL TO HELP EVALUATE COMPETING DEMANDS

ADJUSTING THE BASELINE FOR RISK

HOW THE TRIPLE CONSTRAINT HELPS TO EXPLAIN THREE COMMON TRADEOFFS

THE TRIPLE CONSTRAINT DURING CONTROL

OTHER EXAMPLES OF BALANCING COMPETING DEMANDS: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS A DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

HIGHLIGHTS

4 Contracts, Negotiations, and Proposals

CONTRACTS

NEGOTIATING THE CONTRACT

PROPOSALS: A SPECIAL KIND OF PROJECT

THE PROPOSAL PROCESS

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

HIGHLIGHTS

Part 2: Planning a Project

5 Planning the Project

INTEGRATED PROJECT PLANNING

USING COMPUTER SOFTWARE DURING PROJECT PLANNING

“THE PLAN”

APPLYING PROJECT PLANS DURING EXECUTION

PROJECT PLANNING IS AN INVESTMENT, NOT AN EXPENSE

HIGHLIGHTS

6 The Work Breakdown Structure

THE WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

THE WORK PACKAGE AND THE WBS DICTIONARY

TOP-DOWN PLANNING APPROACH FOR DEVELOPING THE WBS

ORGANIZING THE WBS FOR COMPLETENESS AND CONTROL

BOTTOM-UP PLANNING APPROACH FOR DEVELOPING THE WBS

VALIDATING THE WORK SCOPE

WORK SCOPE IS FUNDAMENTAL TO PROJECT INTEGRATION

HIGHLIGHTS

7 Scheduling

OVERVIEW OF SCHEDULING FORMATS

BAR CHARTS

MILESTONES

NETWORK DIAGRAMS

THE NETWORK LOGIC DIAGRAM

WHY USE A NETWORK DIAGRAM?

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

HELPFUL HINTS

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

8 Time Estimating and Compressing the Schedule

TYPES OF TIME ESTIMATES

EARLIEST AND LATEST START AND FINISH TIMES

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

9 Cost Estimating and Budgeting

RESOURCE PLANNING

COST ESTIMATING

PROJECT COST SYSTEM

BUDGETING COST

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

10 The Impact of Limited Resources

RESOURCES

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

TIME-VERSUS-COST TRADEOFF

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

11 Project Risk and Issues Management

TEN STEPS FOR TEAM-BASED RISK MANAGEMENT

BUILDING A CULTURE FOR GOOD DECISION MAKING

HIGHLIGHTS

Part 3: Leading the People Who Work on a Project

12 Organizational Design for Delivering Projects

THREE ORGANIZATIONAL FORMS

OTHER ORGANIZATIONAL FORMS

THE INFORMAL ORGANIZATION

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

13 Building the Project Team

CORE TEAM AND EXTENDED TEAM

STAFFING STARTS WITH PROJECT SCOPE

FORMAL PROJECT AUTHORITY

ASSIGNING PERSONNEL TO THE PROJECT

SOURCES OF PERSONNEL

COMPROMISE

CONTROL

TASK ASSIGNMENTS

THE VIRTUAL PROJECT TEAM

TURNING A GROUP INTO A TRUE TEAM

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

14 Organizing the Support Team

INVOLVEMENT AND COMMITMENT

COORDINATION

INTERACTION WITH SUPPORT GROUPS

SUBCONTRACTORS

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

15 The Role of the Project Manager

PROJECT MANAGER COMPETENCIES

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAREER PATH

WHAT A PROJECT MANAGER DOES

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

THREE USEFUL TECHNIQUES

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

16 Practical Tips for Project Managers

COMMUNICATION

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

EFFICIENT TIME MANAGEMENT

TIPS

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

Part 4: Controlling the Project

17 Essentials of Project Control

DEVELOP A BASELINE

DEVELOP A PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

MEASURE PERFORMANCE AGAINST BASELINE AND DETERMINE VARIANCES

FORECASTS

CORRECTIVE ACTIONS

MULTIPLE PROJECTS

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

18 Project Reviews

THE NECESSITY FOR REVIEWS

THE CONDUCT OF REVIEWS

PERIODIC REVIEWS

FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS

TOPICAL REVIEWS

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

19 Project Cost Reports

COST MONITORING

COMPUTER COST REPORTS

COST MONITORING PROBLEMS

EARNED-VALUE MANAGEMENT

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

20 Handling Project Changes

A PROJECT PERFORMANCE TRACK RECORD: GOOD OR BAD?

THE PROCESS OF MANAGING CHANGES

UNMANAGED RISKS AND ISSUES

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

21 Solving the Inevitable Problems

THE GENERAL APPROACH

DECISION TREES

MATRIX ARRAY

PROBLEM-SOLVING STYLES

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

Part 5: Completing a Project

22 Closing the Contract

WINDING DOWN THE PROJECT

ACCEPTANCE

MANAGING SCOPE CHANGE

DOCUMENTATION

INCREASING THE ODDS OF SUCCESS

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

23 Final Wrap-Up

PEOPLE ISSUES

LESSONS LEARNED AND AUDITS

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND OTHER OWNERSHIP RIGHTS

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

Part 6: Other Issues in Project Management

24 Small Projects

SIMPLIFIED MANAGEMENT

PROBLEMS

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

25 New Product Development Projects

WHY NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS ARE UNIQUE

A GENERAL FRAMEWORK

RESOURCE OVERLOADING

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

26 Project Management Software

WHEN AND WHERE TO USE COMPUTER PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

CAUTIONS WITH COMPUTER PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

OTHER SOFTWARE

TYPICAL PROBLEMS

HIGHLIGHTS

27 Where Do You Go from Here?

SUMMARY

CONTINUING PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILL DEVELOPMENT

THE FUTURE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

A FINAL THOUGHT

Appendix 1 Abbreviations Used in Project Management

Appendix 2 Glossary of Project Management Terms

Appendix 3 Examples of Planning Checklists for Project Managers

Index

Title page

Preface

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

This book is for anyone interested in a pragmatic approach to managing projects and programs. We have found that the material is valuable as a refresher for the experienced manager and as a primer for the person who wants an introduction. The factors that lead to project success are known and knowable regardless of the industry, the size of the project, or its technology. Good project performance can be ensured with the skillful application of the processes, tools, techniques, and concepts of project management.

A natural and primary audience for this book is the person named as “project manager.” (In some cases, the label may be “project leader,” “project engineer,” or similar variants.) It is common to find individuals who have been trained in a technical skill (e.g., engineering, science, accounting, and programming) thrust into management roles with little training, coaching, or mentoring. We often will address the reader as “you” in recognition of this important audience.

Another important audience is project team members. Over the years, we have seen many situations where the project manager was well trained in the tools and principles of project management but became frustrated when he or she tried to engage the project team to help them apply the tools. Projects are a collaborative activity. This book will help team members understand their roles and responsibilities in supporting the development and execution of project plans.

In recent years, the “process view” of the enterprise has shown the value of improving performance of complex work activities. It is the job of senior management to help create the system that allows for the consistent and systematic development and delivery of projects. We wrote this book so that people with only limited time but with a need for a strategic perspective can identify the success factors for delivering projects. Thus, another important audience for this book is executive sponsors and customers as well as functional managers.

Many organizations now have adopted the concept of a project office. This book will provide important insights to those people who are organizing or operating a project management office.

THIS BOOK’S APPROACH TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT

This book is useful for any type of project, regardless of size, technology, or industry. In addition, we address portfolio management and program management of integrated collections of projects.

We organized this book to provide a simple model of the fundamentals of project management. Our straightforward approach is based on a combined 70 years of experience with new product development for consumer and industrial markets, chemical formulation, engineering, government contracts, research, management consulting, and volunteer organization projects.

This book divides the management of projects into five general managerial functions and emphasizes the importance of integration, as illustrated in Figure P-1.

1. Defining. Defining the project’s goals.

2. Planning. Planning how you and your team will satisfy the Triple Constraint (goal) of performance specification, time schedule, and money budget. The plan depends on the mix of human and physical resources to be used.

3. Leading. Providing managerial guidance to human resources, subordinates, and others (including subcontractors) that will result in their doing effective, timely work.

4. Controlling. Measuring the project work to find out how progress differs from plan in time to initiate corrective action. This often leads to replanning, which may force a goal (definition) change, with a consequent need to change resources.

5. Completing. Making sure that the job that is finally done conforms to the current definition of what was to be done, and wrapping up all the loose ends, such as documentation.

FIGURE P-1. The five activities are different but interdependent.

fpreff01

Although these are distinct, they are interrelated, as shown by the arrows in Figures P-2, P-3, and P-4.

FIGURE P-2. Defining, planning, and leading activities often must be considered simultaneously.

fpreff02

FIGURE P-3. Controlling (or monitoring) is carried out to detect deviations from planning.

fpreff03

FIGURE P-4. Completing depends on the current defining basis.

fpreff04

The first two steps are not necessarily separate and sequential, except when the project initiator issues a firm, complete, and unambiguous statement of the desired project output, in which case the organization that will carry out the project may start to plan how to achieve it. It is more common to start with a proposed work definition, which is then jointly renegotiated after preliminary planning elucidates some consequences of the initially proposed work definition. The definition must be measurable (specific, tangible, and verifiable) and attainable (in the opinion of the people who will do the work) if you want to be successful. Being successful also requires that management agrees that the project is justified and that the resources the project team needs will be available.

Thus, in fact, the resources to be dealt with in the leading phase often must be considered before planning can be finished (Figure P-2). For instance, you might need engineers familiar with carbon fibers if the plan for a materials study project includes the study of that kind of material, whereas you would use a metallurgist if the project were to study only metals.

No project goes in accordance with your plan. What you don’t know when you start is where it will go awry. Consequently, as you will see in later chapters, replanning is almost always required, thus frequently amending the negotiated definition (Figure P-3). Ultimately, the project can be completed when the work that is done satisfies the current requirement (Figure P-4).

Nevertheless, the five-step managerial activity process covers each required action and is a useful conceptual sequence in which to consider all project management. Thus, this book is organized according to it.

Each chapter is short and can be absorbed in 1 to 2 hours. The chapter sequence is a good match for the chronological concerns during a typical project. We caution you, however, that there is no single “cookbook” or template to follow. We encourage you to scan the chapter highlights and use the index.

logoBecause projects are complex and strategic, they require an appropriately sophisticated set of managerial tools. A tool icon is inserted at points where we describe what we consider to be a particularly useful tool that you may want to use. Some of these are simple to use, and some will require practice. Perhaps a few will never be right for your management style. Because not all these tools will be useful for you in specific situations that you encounter, you will have to pick and choose which tools to use when.

We tried to use graphics and examples liberally. This book contains several illustrations of computer project management and other software outputs, most from the widely used shrink-wrap project software package Microsoft Project. We are not endorsing this product, nor are we discouraging its use. There are other widely used and effective single user and enterprise computing systems. Our goal is to explain a few of the key useful aspects of this class of software. Employing such software will not make a person a successful project manager, and using it is not the same as being a project manager. Software is a tool to help but not a solution, especially to “people” problems. Nevertheless, you can be a more effective project manager if you employ such software in situations where it will be helpful to you.

CHANGES IN THIS FOURTH EDITION

The first three editions of Successful Project Management proved the value of the book’s approach to helping readers improve project management skills. In the two decades that followed the publication of the book’s first edition, people have increasingly come to regard project management as a “profession” instead of a “job.” A short list of developments in the field of project management would include the process view, virtual teams, new theories and practices of motivation, the quality view, project management offices, and so on. Practitioners have developed and documented a recognized body of knowledge and an ability to certify individuals and to recognize organizational capability (also called maturity) in the process of project management.

Reflecting the explosion of documented project management knowledge and standards, we have made extensive changes to this fourth edition. This edition clarifies some of the previous material, brings it up to date, and eliminates some material made obsolete or irrelevant by the growing sophistication and professionalization of the project management field.

We rewrote a number of chapters to bring these up to date with contemporary concepts, standards, and practices of project management. We have incorporated and reflected the standards that groups such as the Project Management Institute (PMI) have publicized. Throughout this book, we have used standard language, enhanced and corrected the graphics, and recognized the use of enterprise computing, networks, and the World Wide Web.

Readers familiar with the earlier editions of this book will notice that there have been substantial changes to the book. Five of the first six chapters have been rewritten to better describe the role of integration in project planning. Chapter 11 on risk and issues management is also completely rewritten. Moreover, all the remaining chapters have been augmented to reflect contemporary thinking and practices in the project management field.

Greg Githens joins Mickey Rosenau as coauthor for this fourth edition of Successful Project Management. He brings a substantial background as a project management practitioner, consultant, trainer, and professional contributor to the project management field.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS A DISCIPLINE

It is an exciting time to be in project management. There has been an explosion of knowledge and tools for the field and increasing recognition of “good” and “bad” practices. Organizations who have embraced it are achieving outstanding results. Yet, successful project management has been and will be based on people. Project management is a discipline, a word that has its semantic roots in the ideas of teaching and learning. As an individual and organizational competency, project management discipline involves leadership from individuals who have the personal backbone to withstand the criticism of undisciplined, impatient people. It requires an organizational commitment to investing sufficient up-front time and to involving other people, recognizing that different points of view result in more creative, optimal outcomes.

Milton D. Rosenau, Jr., CMC, FIMC

Certified Management Consultant

Rosenau Consulting Company

Bellaire (Houston), Texas

mrosenau@houston.rr.com

Gregory D. Githens, PMP, NPDP

Managing Partner

Catalyst Management Consulting, LLC

Findlay, Ohio

GDG@CatalystPM.com

About the Authors

Milton D. (“Mickey”) Rosenau, Jr., CMC, FIMC, heads Rosenau Consulting Company, which he founded in 1978 following a 21-year career with industrial and consumer products companies. He is the author of dozens of publications and nine books, including Successful Project Management (3d edition, Wiley, 1998) and Successful Product Development: Speeding from Opportunity to Profit (Wiley, 1999). He was a past president of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and was editor-in-chief of the PDMA Handbook of New Product Development (Wiley, 1996).

Gregory D. Githens, PMP, NPDP, is managing partner with Catalyst Management Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in project management and new product development. His clients have achieved improved time to market, better metrics, better strategic alignment, and improved risk management, among other benefits. Mr. Githens has been a frequent contributor to the profession, including developing professional standards, writing over 30 articles, and public speaking.