1. What is project management?

1. What is project management?

Features of Project Management

1. A single person, called a project manager, heads the project organisation.

2. A project requires a variety of skills and resources.

3. The project manager integrates people from different areas and disciplines.

4. Project Manager negotiates with Functional Managers for personnel

5. Project Manager focuses on delivering end-item, and functional manager maintains pool of resources to support organisational goals; sometimes conflict arise over allocation of resource to project.

6. A project might have two chains-of-command, one functional and one project. Workers might report to both the project and functional manager.

7. Decision making, accountability, outcomes and rewards are shared among members of the project team and supporting functional units.

8. Each project organisation is temporary. When project ends, the organisation disbands and people return to their functional or subcontracting units, or are reassigned to new project.

Characteristics of a project

1. A project has a defined goal - a purpose with well-defined end items, deliverables, or results to achieve specific benefit.
2. It is unique. A one-time activity.
3. It is temporary.
4. It utilises people and resources from different organisation and functions.
5. Project carries unfamiliarity and risk.

Differentiating Projects

To illustrate the diversity in projects, we use the NTCP or Diamond model, which classifies projects and their end results or products into 4 dimensions with three or four possible levels.

NTCP model dimensions

• Novelty: represents how new the project end-item or product is to customers.

  • Derivative - if the project end-item/product is an extension or improvement of an existing project for example, new features to an existing car model.

  • Platform - if the project end-item/product is a new generation of an existing product for example, a new car model.

  • Breakthrough - if the project end-item/product is completely new for example, the first automobile.

• Technology: addresses the question of how much new technology is required to create, build, manufacture, enable the completion of the end-item/product and how much technical competency is needed by the team.

  • Low-tech - involves only the use of well-established technologies.

  • Medium-tech - uses mainly existing technologies with some highly technical derivatives for example, automotive industries manufacturing mass-produced vehicles.

  • High-tech - majority use of new technology available at project initiation, typical of many defence and computer projects, is synonymous with “high-risk”.

  • Super-high tech - relies on new technology not yet available at project initiation. The project goal is well-defined, but the solution is not; synonymous with “very high-risk”, for example, landing on mars.

• Complexity: represents the complexity of the product.

  • Assembly - project involves combining a collection of elements and a single unit performing a single function e.g a coffee-machine, a department managing a single function (payroll).

  • System - involves a complex collection of interactive elements and subsystems that jointly perform multiple functions to meet specific operational needs e.g building a multi-functional computer or business

  • Array - involves a wide variety of dispersed systems (a system of systems/“super-system”) that function together to achieve a common purpose e.g. communication networks, power generation and distribution networks, transportation networks.

• Pace: refers to the time available - the urgency of meeting the project’s completion targets.

  • Regular - no urgency

  • Fast/competitive - complete project in adequate time to address market opportunity e.g launching a new phone.

  • Time-critical - complete project by a specific deadline. Missing the deadline means project failure e.g construction of facilities for the Olympic Games.

  • Blitz - a crisis project e.g rescue survivors, develop a vaccine in a pandemic.

Diamond Model

A visual representation of the NTCP model dimensions.

Where is project management appropriate?

1. Unfamiliarity: when the job is different from the ordinary and routine; when the job requires that different things be done, that the same things be done differently, or both. e.g modernising an automotive plant calls for non-routine efforts such as revising the layout of the facilities, replacing equipment, retraining employees, altering procedures.
2. Magnitude of the effort: When a job requires substantially more resources (people, capital, equipment, etc.) than are normally employed by a department or organisation. Examples include relocating a facility, merging two corporations, or developing a new product and placing it on the market.
3. Dynamic/Changing environment: the organisation exists in highly competitive and dynamic environments (computers, electronics, chemicals, biotechnology, aerospace, or communications). Changing environments present new opportunities and new challenges. Organisations must be creative, innovative, flexible, and capable of rapid response. Project management provides the flexibility needed to deal with turbulence, ambiguity, and new opportunities in the environment.
4. Multifunctional effort: When the effort requires that teams work together and reconcile conflicts. Project management links together and coordinates the efforts of multiple functional areas, outside subcontractors, vendors, and customers.
5. Reputation of organization: failure of the job will result in financial ruin, loss of market share, damaged reputation, or loss of contracts. The project manager, with the assistance of a support group and project team, can do much to reduce the problems in large, complex undertakings.

Where is project management NOT appropriate?

When the:

• undertaking is familiar and routine
• environment is stable and ordinary
• end-item is standard
• stake is low