| HOME Software Testing Data Mining and Warehousing |
|
What Is a Project? A project is a nonrepetitive enterprise, characterized by a clear and logical sequence of events, with a beginning, middle, and end, focused on the accomplishment of a clear and defined objective on deadline, with costs, resources, and quality parameters specified. The following can be mentioned as project examples:
Projects can be implemented in practically all areas of human activity, including administrative, strategic, and operational works, as well as in personal life. The following can be mentioned as the main areas for the application of project management techniques:
Project Characteristics The main project characteristics are temporariness, individuality of the product or service to be developed by the project, complexity, and uncertainty. Temporariness means that all projects present a defined start and end; they are events with a limited duration, established in their purpose. The life cycle of the project is characterized by its temporariness, beginning with an initial strategic work process and continuing through the execution work that precedes its completion. The individuality of the product or service turned out by a project means the accomplishing of something not done before. As the outcome of each project is unique, its constituent parts have to be worked in a progressive way to ensure that the product or service are developed according to specifications. Based on these two main characteristics, the others can be described as follows: _ Nonrepetitive enterprise - A project is an event that is not part of the company's routine. It’s something new for the people who work on it. _ Clear and logical sequence of events - Projects are characterized by logically linked activities so as to allow accurate tracking and control during their execution. _ Beginning, middle, and end - Every project follows a certain life cycle, which means it has a temporary nature. Many times, the completion of one project coincides with the beginning of another. However, a project without completion is not a project, but a routine activity. _ Clear and defined objective - Every project has well-defined targets and results to be achieved on its completion. _ Conducted by people - The fundamental core of any project consists of people. Without them, the project does not exist, even when modern management control tools are available. _ Projects use resources - Every project uses resources specifically allocated to certain works. _ Predefined parameters - Every project requires the establishment of rates for time, costs, personnel, material, and equipment involved, as well as the desired quality of the project. It’s impossible to establish such parameters with total accuracy, in advance. All of them will be clearly identified and quantified in the project plan. However, the initial parameters will act as reference points for the project and its evaluation. Project Management Benefits Among the main benefits of project management, the following can be mentioned: _ Avoids surprises during the execution works _ Allows the development of competitive advantages and new techniques, because the entire methodology is structured _ Anticipates problematic situations that may be found, so preventive and corrective actions can be taken before such situations become actual issues _ Adapts the work to the consumer market and to the client _ Makes the budget available before the expenditures start _ Expedites decisions, as the information is structured and made available _ Increases management control on all phases to be implemented, thanks to previous detailing _ Facilitates and guides project framework reviews arising from changes in the market or in the competitive environment, thus enhancing the project's adaptation capabilities _ Optimizes the allocation of necessary people, capital equipment, and material _ Documents and expedites future project budgets Causes of Project Failure Another important aspect of project management is the appropriate identification of the causes of project failure. A project fails mainly because of the following reasons: _ Targets and objectives are poorly defined or are not understood by the lower ranks. _ There is little acknowledgment of the project's complexity. _ The project includes many activities with not enough time to accomplish them. _ Financial estimates are poor and incomplete. _ The project is based on insufficient or inadequate data. _ The control system is inadequate. _ The project lacks a project manager or has too many, thus creating power circles parallel to those previously established. _ There is excessive dependency on project management software. _ The project estimates are based on the intuitive experience, or gut feeling, of the people involved, with little importance given to the historical data of similar projects or statistical analyses. _ Training and development are inadequate. _ The project manager lacks leadership. _ No time is spent on revising and improving the estimates. _ The needs for personnel, equipment, and material have not been evaluated. _ Integration of the key elements of the project scope has failed. _ The client and project team have different, often opposite expectations. _ The key areas of the project are unknown. _ Nobody has checked whether the people involved in the activities have the necessary knowledge to perform them. _ People are not working to the same standards, or work standards have not been established. Project Life Cycle All projects can be split into certain development phases. An understanding of these phases allows better control of the total resources spent to achieve the established targets. This set of phases is known as the life cycle. The life cycle allows the evaluation of a series of similarities that can be found in all projects, regardless of context, applicability, or area of activity. Knowledge of the life-cycle phases provides several benefits for any type of project. Among them, the following can be mentioned: _ A correct life-cycle review determines what has, or has not, been executed for the project. _ The life cycle helps evaluate project development until a certain point in time. _ It allows the determination of exact project status at a certain point in time. In a life cycle review, several questions can be considered, particularly the following: _ Whether the project characteristics are prone to changes on completion of each project phase _ Whether the uncertainty regarding time and costs has a decreasing trend on completion of each phase The project's life cycle description can be generic, represented by a single chart, or detailed, including several charts, flowcharts and tables, specific to each activity. The main issue to be analyzed in the project's life cycle is the effort level. The effort applied to the project starts practically at zero level and grows until it reaches a peak, and, soon after this point, reduces steeply until it reaches zero again, which means the project has been completed. The effort is understood as the number of people involved in the project, the application of work and funds on the project, the concerns, problems, overtime, etc. The position of the chart's maximum rate may vary from project to project. The Project Life-Cycle Phases The project life-cycle phases depend significantly on the project nature. A project is developed from an idea and progresses toward a plan, which in turn is performed and completed. Each project phase is characterized by the handoff, or completion, of a certain work. Every handoff must be tangible and easy to identify - For example, a report prepared, a schedule established, or a set of activities completed. Generically, the project life cycle can be split into typical phases described in the following text: +=+=+1 Effort variation over time during the project. +=+=+2 The project life cycle split into typical phases. Initiating phase - A certain need is identified and transformed into a structured issue to be solved. In this phase, the project's mission and purpose are defined, and the best strategies are identified and selected. Planning phase - Everything that will be performed by the project is detailed, with schedules, interdependencies among activities, allocation of the resources involved, cost reviews, etc., so, at the end of this phase, the project will be sufficiently detailed to be executed without difficulties and obstacles. In this phase, the auxiliary communication, quality, risk, procurement, and human resources plans are also developed. Executing phase - Everything planned is carried out. Any error in the previous phases will be evident during this phase. A large part of the project's estimate and effort is consumed in this phase. Monitoring and controlling phase - Parallel to the operational planning and project executing, is tracking and controlling everything being carried out by the project, so as to propose corrective and preventive actions in the least time possible after the detection of an abnormality. The purpose of control is to compare the present project status with that foreseen by planning and to take corrective actions in case of deviation. Closing phase - Execution of work is evaluated through internal or external (third parties) auditing, the books and project documents are closed, and all the failures during the project are discussed and analyzed to prevent similar errors from occurring in new projects (learning). The following are usually defined for each phase: _ The technical work that must be performed _ Who must be involved A direct view of the previously mentioned chart does not suggest the interdependency of the project phases or their overlapping during execution. Actually, during the development of the project, practically all phases are carried out almost simultaneously within a dynamic action cycle. |
| Top of Page | More PM Articles | Prev: | Next: Project Planning via the PMBOK | Info-Source.us |