project management course for communications &...
TRANSCRIPT
Research Project Management Basic principles
9 July 2012
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1) What is a project?
2) What is project management?
3) What is research?
4) Why manage research projects?
What is a Project?
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Some definitions:
– “ A project is an activity that has a defined start and a defined finish, produces some measurable result and requires time, money and resources to reach completion”
– “A group of resources, with at least one possessing a desire for change, striving to achieve a goal within a limited time scale”
– “A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service”
– “Any combination of a noun and verb together constitute a project”
– “Any required result that requires more than one action step”
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Key characteristics of a project
• It is a unique task/instrument of change
• It has a clearly identifiable beginning and end
• It is designed to attain a specific result/to deliver a specific “product”
• It involves cost, a variety of resources/skills, and time
• It is planned and controlled
• Involves some degree of risk
• All not evident at outset
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Tension!
Source: “Successful Project Management – 2nd edition – Mark Brown
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What is Project Management?
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Definitions:
– “The application of Knowledge, Skills, Tools and Techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project” [ PMI – Project Management Institute ]
– “A structured way to perform tasks”
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Methodologies:
– JPACE
– Prince II
– “Agile” project management
– Critical chain
– Stage-gate
– Etc.
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What is Research?
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– A careful search or inquiry; an endeavour to discover new facts by scientific study of a subject, or a course of critical investigation (a systematic investigation to establish facts)
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The (research) process
- Conceptual phase (thinking/planning phase)
- Empirical Phase /implementation (doing phase)
- Analytical Phase
- Dissemination Phase (communication phase)
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Research process as part of the grant writing process
Define the project
Match prospective grant
Develop project proposal
Submit Review
Award letter
Agreement
Carry out project
Reporting
Study guidelines, plan
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Why Manage Research
Projects?
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.
British educational research association
(http://www.bera.ac.uk/commissioning-and-consuming-research-in-education/conducting-
and-managing-commissioned-research/#7)
“Sometimes the crucial difference between a
successful and an unsuccessful piece of research lies
in the quality of project management rather than in
intellectual excellence.”
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Consequences of not doing so !
• Inflexible
• Alternatives not considered
• Over-optimistic
• Inappropriate level of detail
• Unwieldy
• Inappropriate structure
• Responsibility not defined
• Key resources unavailable
• Lack of Motivation
• Lack of commitment
• Poor communication
• Manager lacks authority
• Lack of communication by manager
• No action taken
• Progress towards goals not measured
• Individual performance not measured
• Activities not completed
• Changes uncontrolled
• Complexity underestimated
• Unbalanced targets
• Unqualified / untrained people
Poor Planning
Poor Implementation
Lack of Organising
Lack of Control
ProjectDisaster
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The Project Manager
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Project Manager’s Tasks – illustrative, not detailed
• Plan
– managing the process of milestone planning and activity scheduling
• Organise and coordinate
– making roles and responsibility charts
– coordinating the work
– supervision
• Control
– monitoring roles and responsibilities
– monitoring project progress
– evaluating reports and acting when necessary
– generating milestone reports
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Characteristics of the “perfect” Project Manager
• Intelligent
• Proactive
• A helicopter-thinker
• A helicopter-communicator
• Persuasive
• Good interpersonal skills
• Able to maintain aims and clear focus
• Problem solver
• Flexibility
• Understands own responsibilities and strengths
• High energy
• Sense of humour
The JPACE methodology for
Project Management (as a
framework)
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What is JPACE
• Justify, Plan, Activate, Control and End.
• A full life-cycle project management process is
the essential connective tissue that holds every
project together.
Justify Plan Activate Control End
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The “Justify” phase
Aim
and
objectives
Business
Case
Justify
Concept
Proposal
Benefits
Case
Justify Plan Activate Control End
• Output:
– Formal concept proposal for a specific project
Committee orIndividual
Scientific
Case
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Planning is more than high level timelines
• Output:
– Approved Project Plan
Project Definition
WorkshopPlanning
Phase
Plan
Obtain Project
Plan approval
Define the project:
– Stakeholder analysis
– Objectives
– Scope
– Deliverables
– Critical success factors
– Constraints
– Approach
– Risks
Make the Project Plan:
– Identify Critical Periods
– Define Work Breakdown Structure
– Define Milestones
– Schedule Activities
– Collaboration
– Resources
– Develop Budget
Project Plan
Justify Plan Activate Control End
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Setting and evaluating objectives
Specific
Measurable
Agreed
Realistic
Time limited
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Milestones
• The use of milestones implies a clear focus on delivery and decision, rather than simply on activities
• Road markers to denote progress
• Define milestones so that they are either complete or incomplete and clearly identify how you are going to measure or recognise their completion
• Treat milestones as learning experiences
• Elements of a milestone:
– The state to be achieved
– The criteria necessary to achieve this desired state
– An estimated target date
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Milestones and Deliverables
• All deliverables will be reflected in milestones, for example:
– where the deliverable is a research paper …..
– the associated milestone could be “When the paper has been accepted for publication” (not when it is first submitted for publication!)
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Milestones and time
• One of the key benefits of milestones is that they allow you to track progress towards the desired objective
• If milestones are too far apart in time, then they will not assist in tracking progress to the extent necessary
• This implies that you may need to define some milestones in addition to those that are directly linked to deliverables
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Gantt Charts
• Henry Gantt, an American engineer, created the Gantt chart in 1917. He developed the chart to help in managing production flow.
• A Gantt chart is a graphical representation of the duration of tasks against the progression of time
• When applied to projects, it has a horizontal axis based on time and a vertical axis based on the activities or tasks within a project
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Example
• Tasks 2 and 4 are “dependent” on Task 1, i.e. they can only start after Task 1 is complete
• Task 3 is dependent on Task 2
• Task 6 is dependent on Task 5
• Milestone 2 occurs after all of Tasks 1-6 are complete
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Why are Gantt Charts useful?
• Gantt charts are useful tools for planning and scheduling projects:– They allow you to assess how long a project should take
– They show the order in which tasks need to be carried out
– They help manage the dependencies between tasks
– They assist in determining the resources needed for a project
• Gantt charts are useful tools when a project is in progress:– They show you what should have been achieved at a
point in time
– They allow you to see how remedial action may bring a project back on course
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The “Critical Path” in a Project Plan
The critical path is the series of tasks (or even a single task) that dictates the calculated finish date of the project. That is, when the last task in the critical path is completed, the project is completed.
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The purpose of a project budget
• Key element of project plan
• Estimated budget vs real cost…
• Management tool
• Evaluation tool
• Guiding staff working on the project
• Client/sponsor uses it as measure of success
Source: “Successful Project Management – 2nd edition – Mark Brown
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• Direct costs
• Indirect costs
The components of a project budget
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Important components - proposal
5 W’s & 2 H’s
Who (are you, will help, will use)
what (about, will you do, impact expected, do with results)
where (are you, will do research)
when (will you do and for how long)
why (is it important)
how (will you do and evaluate)
how much (cost)
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The Activate stage acquires and develops the project resources
• PM Components:
– Inform the stakeholders
– Hold the kick-off meeting (launch)
– Set expectations
– Train the team
– Equip the project
– Structure meetings
Publicize
Project
Train the
Project team
Activate
Equip the
project
• Inform Stakeholders
• Brief participants
• Set expectations
• Acquire facilities
• Install equipment
• Output:
– Mobilised Project Resources
The individuals, materials,
equipment, and other
resources that participate or
are used in the project.
Justify Plan Activate Control End
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What is roles and responsibilities charting?
• A technique used to identify activities or decisions and the individuals or groups involved in these activities or decisions, answering the questions:
– What has to be done?
– Who must do it?
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What does RACI mean?
Responsible
Accountable
Consult
Inform
Position/person working on the activity;The “Doer”
Position/person with yes/no authority;“The Buck Stops Here”
Position/person involved prior to decision or action; “In the loop”
Position/person that needs to know of the decision or action; “Keep in the Picture”
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Managing control needs a multi-faceted approach
Assign project tasks
Obtain resources
Assign resources to activities
Resolve resource conflicts
Monitor issues
Assign tasks Motivate
Control
Revise planTrack
Motivate participants
• Promote individual development
• Create incentives for teamwork
• Monitor performance
• Acknowledge performance
Track project progress
• Assess project state
• Diagnose the situation
• Determine corrective action
• Report status to sponsor
Revise project plan
• Evaluate alternatives
• Assess project risks
• Prepare plan revisions
• Obtain approval for revisions
• Output:
– Project results
Justify Plan Activate Control End
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Controlling is managing & tracking
• PM Components:
– Managing activities
– Tracking issues
– Managing change
– Managing scope
– Managing expectations
– Monitoring status
– Managing risk
– Managing resources
Assign tasks Motivate
Control
Revise
planTrack
Justify Plan Activate Control End
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JPACE and the PDR cycle of Project Management
Executework
Monitorprogress
Evaluateprogress
Decidecorrective
action
Takecorrective
action
Preparedetailed plans
Justify
End
PlanActivateControl
Plan
Do
Review
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Time management
Researchers often identify the following reasons for their poor time management.
• lack of objectives and deadlines
• disorganisation
• poor communication
• lack of information or clarity about the task
• procrastination
• can't say 'No'
• never finishing tasks
• lack of self-discipline
• unforeseen crisis or difficulty juggling multiple commitments
• excessive socialising
Effective time managers are not workaholics, the task is not to
put in more hours, but rather to use your time more efficiently.
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Principles
• have clear objectives.
• devise a project plan.
• classify tasks by urgency and importance.
• use a diary and timetable key activities
• don't get bogged down by others.
• focus on one thing at a time
• review an activity before you leave it
• reward yourself
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The End stage brings the project to an orderly conclusion….
• PM Components:
– Conduct a post mortem to ensure learnings from what worked and what didn’t
– Review resource performance
– Suggest follow-up in successor projects
Prepare completion
report
Release the
resources
End
Hand over
results
• Summarize results
• Lessons learned
• Project Metrics
• Archive deliverables
• Hand over
• Gain acceptance for
project results
• Sign Off
Justify Plan Activate Control End
• Outputs:
– Project Results, i.epapers published (major product)
– Project Completion Report (key product)
– Project Resource Release
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JPACE – source of information
The JPACE methodology is described in detail (with many tools) on the website:
http://www.gantthead.com/Gantthead/default/
Justify Plan Activate Control End