Project planning m des_2011

Managing Design Projects

Fraser Bruce

MDes, DJCAD University of Dundee, Scotland, UK

DJCAD, University of Dundee 2

Urgent Important

Non - Urgent Important

Urgent Non- Important

Non - Urgent Non - Important


Problems & Crises Non Effective

Where we want to

operate – good time-

management

Meeting others needs (interruptions

- emails, phone calls…)

Watching TV Stay out of this

quadrant


Understanding time-management

Help identify problem areas: •  Do you have trouble completing work within allocated deadlines?

•  How many interruptions are there each day?

•  Do you have a procedure for handling disruptions?

•  Do you have a block of interrupted time available?

•  How do you handle drop-in visitors and phone calls?

•  Do you find it difficult to say no?

•  Do you make a list of things to do?

•  Does your work have a degree of flexibility?

Kerzner, H. (2006) Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Understanding project management

A project can be described as an undertaking that encompasses a set of tasks and activities that: •  Have defined objectives to be completed within certain specifications

•  Have defined start and completion dates

•  Have funded limits

•  Have assigned resources (both human and non-human)

•  Are multi-functional (Stage-Gate System)



Understanding project management

‘Project management is the planning, monitoring, and control of all aspects of a project and the motivation of all those involved in it to achieve the project objectives on time and to the specified cost, quality, and performance’

British Standards (BS)6079-1, 2000:5

Two key words: •  Management – planning, monitoring, controlling and motivating

•  Successfully – time, cost, quality and performance


PM Triangle (triple constraint)

•  Within time

•  Within budget

•  Desired level of performance

•  Utilizing the assigned resources

effectively and efficiently

•  Accepted by all key stakeholders

Resources

Performance

Good stakeholder relationships


IPD, University of Dundee 7

Project proposals

•  Stages/Tasks

•  Timeframes

•  Resources

•  Project costs

•  Deliverables


Research Proposals

•  Research Significance

•  Research question

•  Aims and objectives

•  Research Context

•  Research Outputs

•  Endnotes and References


Project planning

Key questions: •  What needs to be achieved and why?

•  When should it be done by?

•  How will it be done?

•  What will be the cost?

Planning documents: •  Activity plan – phases, activities, timescales,

deliverables

•  Resource plan – skills required, who will be involved

•  Budget plan – costs for all resources


Project planning

•  Defining the goal to be achieved in a certain time

•  Actions to be taken to achieve the objectives

•  Allocating resources (both human and non human)

•  Defining the quality of work

•  Planning budgets to achieve objectives

•  Forecasting (a projection of what might happen)

•  Identifying key stakeholders

Systematic, flexible, disciplined, multi-functional:


Project monitoring

Key questions: •  Are we still going about the project in the right way? Are we within schedule?

•  Is the project still cost effective? Are we within budget?

•  Are we still going to get what we want?

•  Is the scope still the same?

Project monitoring: •  Tracking and reporting progress

•  Comparing actual outcome to predicted outcome

•  Analyzing impact

•  Making adjustments


•  Critical factors for product innovation (or development) success: –  Doing the right project –  Doing the project right

•  Stage-Gate system (pioneered by Robert Cooper 1980’s): –  Systematic idea-to-launch process –  Stages/Concurrently/Multi-functional –  Gates/ “go” versus “no go” decisions/criteria

New Product Development (NPD)


Leading and motivating

Leadership and team-building: •  Shaping goals

•  Obtaining resources

•  Building roles

•  Building organisational structures

•  Establishing good relationships

•  Seeing the whole picture

•  Moving things forward









•  Moving things forward Systems Thinking – Steve Brogan (2010)









•  Moving things forward Hassle Factor – Speculative Diagram









•  Moving things forward


Leadership Characteristics

•  Understands the environment

•  Visionary and flexible to change

•  Creates management options

•  Encourages teamwork

•  Encourages open channels of communication

•  Builds a coalition of supporters

•  Determination and perseverance


Paradoxical characteristics of creative groups

Watkins, M. (2003) Managing for Creativity and Innovation. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press, 85.

Play A team needs fresh, inexperienced perspectives as well as skilled expertise. Bringing in outsiders is often a useful way to provide the necessary balance of perspective.

Experience

Freedom Your team must work well within the confines of real business needs – and in alignment with your company’s strategy. But it also needs latitude – some degree of freedom to determine how it will achieve the strategy and address the business needs.

Discipline

Play Creativity thrives on playfulness, but business must be conducted professionally. Provide time and space for play, but clarify the appropriate times and places.

Professionalism

Improvisation Plan your project carefully, but remember that projects do not always go as planned. Encourage team members to look for ways to turn unexpected events into opportunities. Keep plans flexible enough to incorporate new or improved ideas.

Planning


Completing a task

Project managers role is to: •  Set the aims and objectives

•  Establish detailed plans

•  Organize resources

•  Provide staffing

•  Set up controls

•  Issue directives

•  Motivate personnel

•  Remain flexible


Project objectives

Formulated as SMART: •  Specific – what the objectives must achieve

•  Measurable – meeting the objectives

•  Achievable – are the objectives achievable and attainable (e.g. time, budget…)

•  Realistic – against resources

•  Time – when do you want to achieve the objectives

Examples: •  Market share objective – To gain 35% of the market for game consoles by August 2011

•  Profitability objectives – To achieve a 15% return on capital employed by April 2011


Potential benefits

•  Identification of functional responsibilities/all activities are accounted for

•  Minimizing the need for continuous reporting

•  Identification of time limits for scheduling

•  Measurement of accomplishment against plans

•  Early identification of problems/corrective action to follow

•  Improved estimating capability for future planning

•  Knowing when objectives cannot be made



Project Management Tools

Visual methods for representing activities: •  Gantt or bar charts

–  Displaying simple activities against time and money

•  Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

–  Displaying the pathway for a project

–  A network diagram/nodes representing events/labelled vectors representing tasks

–  Time needed to complete each task/identify minimum time

•  Critical Path Method (CPM)

–  Construct a model/time duration for each activity/dependencies

–  Longest/Minimum time needed to complete a project

–  Critical/float

•  Graphical Evaluation and Review Techniques (GERT)

–  Similar to PERT but has the advantage of allowing looping, branching, and multiple project end results


Project Management Software

Benefits: •  Schedule calculations

•  Critical path identification

•  Cost tracking

•  Planned and actual data comparisons

•  Report and chart generation

•  History tracking

•  Hypothetical simulations

•  Trouble spot identification

Gardiner, P-D. (2005) Project management: a strategic planning approach. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

The PM still has to: •  Define the work breakdown structure

•  Analyse activities

•  Assign resources to activities

•  Estimate manpower requirements

•  Estimate activity duration

•  Monitor progress

•  Evaluate trade-offs

•  Make decisions


Microsoft Project Management


GroupWise


Post-It Notes


Wunderlist (http://www.6wunderkinder.com/wunderlist-iphone/)


Design Blog


Things to remember….


•  If you fail to plan you are planning to fail

•  Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine

•  All project managers face problems on Monday mornings – good project managers are working on next Monday’s problems

•  It is about working smarter a not harder

Literature Sources

•  Boyle, G. (2003) Design project management. London: Ashgate Publishing Limited.

•  Kerzner, H. (2006) Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

•  Gardiner, P-D. (2005) Project management: a strategic planning approach. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

•  Carrol, T. (2006) Project delivery in business-as-usual organizations. Aldershot: Gower Publishing Ltd.

•  Young, T-L. (2000) Successful project management. London: Kogan Page.


Managing Design Projects

Fraser Bruce

MDes, DJCAD University of Dundee, Scotland, UK

Project planning m des_2011

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