PROJECT MANAGEMENT US. $19.95 AI essa sd of project managment is importation “people problems” that derail even the most meticulously planned of projects, A Survival Guide for Project Managers gives you a complete understanding of what it takes to successfully finish a project, giving you not only valuable tools ike Work Breakdown Schedule, Gantt Charts, and Network Analysis, but also tools to communicate, negoti ate listen, and lead. This practical, user-friendly guide walks you through the entire project lifecycle, and shows you how to: + Develop the managerial and busines skills required of a project manager. + Resolve conflicts and improve negotiation capabilites. + Understand and apply the technical tool of project management. + Establish project teams, and foster collaboration among team members, and more. ‘Now in its second edition, the book has been revised to reflect the latest version of the PMBOK® Guide, and includes new material on topics including project risk, cost. Schedule index, the project management office, and emotional intelligence a it applies to project management. Packed with useful forms, charts, and other tools, this is the ultimate resource for project managers. Praise forthe frst edition of A SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR PROJECT MANAGERS: “Fim Taylor has provided the working project manager with an invaluable toolkit for effectiveness in challenging work environments” — Thomas 5. Myerchin, Nationel Director of Education, Department ofthe Treasury, Internal Revenve Service “This book provides a refreshingly ely and personal presentation of what could be 4 dull topic. t provides an excelent presentation ofthe technical aspects of project ‘management, and, more important, it provides an equally excellent and much needed description of the human qualities required in management — George W. Menzer, Ph.D, Vice President ~ Training Systems, Frontier Applied Sdences JAMES TAYLOR isa PMI-certfied projet manager with mote than 37 Years of experience in project and program management in both the Public and private sectors. He's cuezently a project management consultant and trainer living in Peachtree City, Georgia. He isthe author of Managing Information Technology Projects and The Project ‘Management Workshop. :AMACOM 7 i 5 19 9 New York, NY 10019 . Thictteamnmntetn HAM Y Jeans ¥ Inc Qu) o = wu 2 So no m oO 4 = tT. = => qa m wa wnA Survival Guide <> Project Managers Second EditionA Survival Guide gp Project Managers Second Edition James Taylor lanagement Association ‘Gity «San Francisco De.Special discounts on bulk quantities of AMACOM books are available 10 corporations, professional association, and other ‘organizations, For details, contact Special Sales Department, AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Tels 212-908-8816. Fax: 212-903-8083 Web site: www.amacomboaks.org ‘This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. Its sold with ‘the understanding that the publisher ie not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services ofa competent professional person should be sought. “PMI” and the PMI logo are service and trademarks registered in the United States and other nations; PMP” and the PMP logo are certification marks registered in the United States and other nations; “PMBOK," ‘PM Network,” and “PMI Today” are trademarks registered inthe United States and other nations; and "Projet ‘Management Journal” and ‘Building professionalism in project ‘management”are trademarks ofthe Project Management Institute, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Taylor, James A survival guide for project managers James Taylor.~2nd ed. pom ‘Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10: 0-8144-0877-X ISBN-13: 978-0-8144-0877-3 1, Project management, I, Tite HD69.P7ST39 2006 658.4'05—de22 © 2006 James Taylor. All rights reserve. Printed inthe United States of America This publication may not be reproduced, stored ina retrieval sytem, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a dvision of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, Printing Hole Number w9s765 4321 2005030962 Contents luman Skills and Technical Tools Introduction to Part One Section I: The Human Skills 1. Project Management Skills 2. Communication Skills 3. Negotiation Skills 4. Leadership Skills Section II: The Technical Tools 5. The Work Breakdown Structure 6. Network Analysis 7. Earned Value Part Two: Managing a Project Introduction to Part Two 8. Project and Project Manager Selection 9. The Conceptual Phase: Defining the Project 10. Project Management in Different Organizational Environments 11. The Project Management Office 12. The Developmental Phase 13. The Implementation Phase 14, The Termination Phase Endnotes Additional Resources of Interest Index Soran 61 77 79 a1 115 131 133 135 157 179 193 215 237 275 289 293 295A Survival Guide ap Project Managers Second EditionHuman Skills and Technical ToolsIntroduction to Part One Project management is a specialized approach to managing today's business, yet most project managers are people who have never had any training, other than on-the-job training, about the art and science of project management. So mistakes are perpetuated, and ‘ concept that came into being specifically to solve the problems of inefficient management itself becomes just another inefficient management concept. This book is intended to provide the new project managers or project team members with a fundamental understanding of proj- ect management essentials. These essentials are explained and dis- cussed in Part One. Part Two discusses the phases of a project's life, and how and when to apply the skill sets of Part One. With a solid base of knowledge about the technical and human tools of project management, and when and how to use them, you can then confidently manage a project to successful conclusion. What is Project Management? Project management is the art and science of managing relatively short-term efforts having finite beginning and ending points, usu- ally with a specific budget, and with customer-specified perform- ance criteria. "Short-term" in the context of project duration is dependent upon the industry. For example, in the construction in- dustry, a house might be built in three months while a hospital might take two years. In the aerospace industry, a new airplane4 Hwan Stats ano Tecnwieat Toots might take eight to ten years to design and build. In the Depart- ment of Defense's training environment, it is usual practice to award a contract for fifteen years for a contractor to manage, oper. ate, and maintain a training complex. The longer and more com. plex a project is, the more it will benefit from the application of Project management tools, The concept of project management is relatively new. It was in the 1950s that a conscious effort was made to devise specialized tools for managing the complex weapon systems being built for the Department of Defense. These tools are in widespread use today in all industries, public and private. The tools of project management make it a science. However, there is much, much more to manag- ing projects than just applying analytical tools to help monitor, track, and control them. The bigger problems for project managers are those associated with the human element: conflict resolution, team building, coaching, mentoring, and negotiating. The applica: tion of the skills necessary to cope with this element constitutes the art part of project management. Why Project Management? The last forty years have witnessed a rapid and staggering change in technology and global competition. With these changes, the na- ture of business has become more complex and more dynamic. Companies have become more diverse in the products or services they offer, and increasing, or even maintaining, market share has become more competitive. In his book on project management, Harold Kerzner lists five questions:! Are the jobs complex? . Are there dynamic environmental considerations? Are the constraints tight? } Are there several activities to be integrated? ReEe 5. Are there several functional boundaries to be crossed? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, there may be a need for some form of formalized project management. When a i Ienopuerion ro Pant One 5 company decides to approach its business from a project manage- ment perspective, the project manager is going to need two distinct classes of skills: technical, which deals with monitoring, tracking, and controlling a project, and human or relational skills, which deals with the problems that invariably arise from the interaction of people with the project. Technical Skill Requirements Project managers do not have to be specialists in the project's tech- nology. Some authorities indeed argue that project managers should be generalists because they thus have a better chance of understanding the project from a holistic point of reference. The more complex a project is—that is, the more subsystems to be inte- grated, the more tasks to be accomplished, the more technically challenging the components—the better suited a generalist will be as the project manager. Regardless of the project manager's level of technical expertise, this person must have a good understanding of and facility using several tools designed specifically for monitor- ing, tracking, and controlling the project. These tools are explained in Part One. ‘The increase in global competition and the extraordinary growth in information technology have created other problems for project managers—problems that have more to do with human re- lations than with the technical skills. Management Skill Requirements There is much more demand on the project manager's interper- sonal and negotiating skills today than there was even twenty years ago. The traditional, vertical organizational hierarchy, which has been the model for all organizational structures since it was invented by the early Roman army until the mid-1900s, is too slow and inflexible to respond to today’s competitive challenges, and information technology is being used, among other things, to dis- perse the workforce from centralized and expensive office com- plexes to smaller telecommuting sites or to home offices, Other attempts to cut costs include the establishment of cross-6 Human Sxis ano Tecuntent Toous functional teams to use the resources of the company better, flat- tening the organization to reduce management levels and expe decision making and communication, and using fewer but better- trained people. All of these efforts at making the company more efficient and cost-effective are precisely the areas that project management was developed to handle. But with the relatively recent emphasis upon such things as cross-functional teams, flat organizational struc- tures, increasing diversity in the employee ranks, and empower- ‘ment of the employees, project managers have to be more than just technical managers; they have to be team builders, mentors, and negotiators as well. These and other skills are discussed in Part One, It is important to understand the technical and management tools needed for project management, but without the knowledge of when and how to apply them, the skills are useless. Part Two explores the phases of a project's life cycle, and demonstrates how the tools are applied in each of the phases, This brings us to the objective of this book: to provide a balance between the technical and management skills required, and the knowledge of how and when to apply them. This book is written to be consistent with the standards and Principles of the Project Management Institute (PMI*) and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®), PMI® and PMBOK® are discussed in Chapter 1 in the discussion on project management skills and the problems of project management. Note 1. Harold Kerzner, Project Management; A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. &th ed. (New York: Wiley, 2003). The Human Skills <>Project Management Skills Today, inspiration, though still necessary, is no longer enough for the manager, Perce Guest Managing projects in today's environment of large, complex proj- ects, several subcontractors working on the same project, matrixed or cross-functional teams, and multicultural organizations has rad- ically changed the way we manage and, consequently, the skills required of project managers. Not too many years ago, it was thought that as long as a person had strong technical skills and demonstrated a certain amount of aggressiveness and enthusiasm, and had worked on several project teams for experience, he could be given the role of a project man- ager. Notice that I didn't say that one of the characteristics was the ability to get along with other people. Although that was a definite plus, it really wasn’t considered a necessary quality to successfully manage a project. Notice also that I referred to the project manager as "he." There weren't significant numbers of women in project management until about 1986. This chapter discusses the evolution of project management and the major skills of the most successful project managers.10 Huuan Siauis ano Tecnica Toous Project Management as a Career Path Traditionally, the career paths leading to the top corporate posi- tions were usually through finance or marketing, Today, an in- creasing number of organizations are adopting project management concepts as a way to manage their businesses. Project management is now recognized as a legitimate career path, and many organiza- tions are choosing their top corporate officers from the project manager ranks. It really is not surprising that a highly trained and experienced project manager would make a good top executive, because running a large, complex project is like running a small company; the project manager needs to have broad experience in all aspects of an organization. The organizations that are adopting the project management concept to manage their businesses are also going to great lengths to ensure that their project managers are highly trained. Compa- nies such as AT&T, IBM, Bell South, and Citibank are sending proj- ect managers through rigorous training courses to prepare them for certification as a project management professional (PMP®| ‘The Project Management Institute (PMI®) isthe certifying body that bestows the PMP® certification. (PMI® also offers a credential as a certified associate in project management for project team members and entry-level project managers, as well as qualified un- dergraduate and graduate students, to recognize that they are on the path to project management.) This organization was begun in 1969 by @ group of concerned managers to help improve the qual- ity of project management work. Now there are more than 170,000 certified project managers worldwide. The PMI® membership of professional project managers has identified a body of knowledge, known as the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PM-BOK®), which represents the knowledge areas that a project manager needs to Taster before becoming a certified project management professionall- PMP®.: The following list is taken from the most current PMBOK® Guide (2004): * Project Integration Management (Project charter, project plan development, execution, and change control) Provecr Maxasuenr Suits n * Project Scope Management (Scope definition and planning} * Project Time Management (Time in the sense of duration es- timation, schedule control, and task interdependencies} * Project Cost Management (Resource planning, cost estimat- ing, cost budgeting, and cost control} * Project Quality Management (Quality planning, quality as- surance, quality control) * Project Human Resources Management (Organizational planning, staff acquisition, and team development) * Project Communications Management (Planning, informa- tion distribution, project progress reporting, and other ad- ministrative requirements} * Project Risk Management (Risk identification, risk quantifi- cation, risk control) * Project Procurement Management (Solicitation, source selec- tion, contracts and contract management) The point is that project management has become a serious ca- reer field, and one in which many large companies are willing to invest heavily in having a trained, professional project manager corps. Additional information about PMI® and the project manage- ment certification process can be obtained by contacting PMI® at: Project Management Institute Four Campus Boulevard Newtown Square, Pennsyivania 19073-3299 www.pmi.org Project Management Skills Project managers can no longer depend upon their positions or their initiative or their enthusiasm to accomplish the goal of a proj- ect successfully. Because most projects are managed from a matrix organization (see Chapter 10 for a discussion of various organiza- tional forms), project managers have no functional control or au-12 Huan Suis ano Tecunteat Toots thority over the project team members. Consequently, the project manager must have strong interpersonal skills to negotiate for the Tesources needed for the team, and then he or she must motivate and lead the team throughout the life of the project as well as in technical and organizational skills. Several years ago, Barry Posner, a professor of organizational behavior and managing partner of the Executive Development Center, Leavey School of Business and Administration, Santa Clara University, wrote a report on the problems of project management and the skills needed to cope with them.? Posner's report is the basis for his now famous model for training project managers. As of 2005, he has presented this model worldwide—to more than 1 million people. Although conducted nearly twenty years ago, his study is as relevant and instructive as when it was first done. Prior to Posner's study, there were essentially two views about the skills needed to run projects successfully. One school of thought held that the successful project manager needed to have a set of personal characteristics, such as aggressiveness, versatility, and decisiveness, to be able to accomplish the goals of a project successfully. On the other hand, some scholars thought that it ‘would be too difficult to find people possessing all these requisite characteristics. Therefore, they argued that the emphasis should be on determining just the critical problems of a typical project and then finding people with skills that fit the critical problems. Posner found, however, that these two schools of thought really were not two different approaches but actually “two sides of the same coin.” Posner surveyed experienced project managers from across the United States. The project managers were from various back- grounds and managed all types and sizes of projects. He asked the following two opened-ended questions in his survey: 1, What factors or variables are most likely to cause you prob- Jems in managing a project? 2. What personal characteristics, traits, or skills make for above-average project managers? What specific behaviors, Prossct Manacemenr Suits 13 techniques, or strategies do above-average project managers use (or use better than their peers}? ‘The responders to the survey provided a large number of state- ments about the problems of project management, all of which fell into one of eight categories. The list of eight project management problems, in the order of most often to the least often occurring problem, are shown in Exhibit 1-1. Not surprisingly, the most often mentioned problem is the lack of adequate resources and the next most often mentioned problem is the setting of unrealistic sched- ules. Inadequate resources occur for many reasons. On the surface, the most obvious reason is that organizations are forced into hav- ing to do more with less in order to be competitive. Although that can be a contributing factor, in reality, it is more likely that inade- quate resources occur because of poor planning or inefficient usage of available resources. Whatever the reason, it is no less a problem to the project manager who is suddenly in the position of having to accomplish a project's goals without a staff of sufficient size or qualification to do it. Unrealistic deadlines occur all too often. Usually these are deadlines imposed by the organization because it is reactively re- sponding to a need or because it is promising earlier delivery in a bid to make the company appear more attractive competitively. Again, the project manager is stuck with the problem of accomp- lishing the project's goals sooner than is reasonable or, in many cases, possible. Exhibit 1-1. Problems most often encountered in project management. . Inadequate Resources . Unrealistie Schedules . Unclear Goals and Senior Executive Direction Uncommitted Team Members 5. Inadequate Planning . Communication Breakdowns Goal and Resource Changes Interdepartmental Conflicts eee