Fundamentals of

Project Planning and

Management
Week 1: Lets get things started!

Yael Grushka-Cockayne

Week 1

Course
Overview and
Objectives

Week 2

Purpose and
Misuse of a
project plan

Week 3

Week 4

What is Risky
about
projects?

From Plan to
Action

What is a
Project?

Detailed
Scoping

Identifying and
Assessing
Project Risks

Earned Value

Define the project

and objectives

What are
Dependencies?

Schedule Risk
Analysis
1

Organization and
stakeholders

What is the
Critical
Path?

Schedule Risk
Analysis
2

Those who execute

Project
Success and
Failure

Project LifeCycle

How do we
Schedule?

What if I
dont like the
plan? Making
changes

Cost Risk
Analysis

Planning for
Ambiguity

Agile, Scrum and

Kanban

Course Wrap Up

Fundamentals of
Project Planning and Management
Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Lets Get
things
Started!

Developing
Plans

Its a Risky
World

Ready, Set,
Go!

Fundamentals of
Project Planning and Management
Week 1
Define and
Organize

Project Goal
The Three
Objectives
and their
Priorities
Organization

Fundamentals of
Project Planning and Management
Week 1
Define and
Organize

Project Goal
The Three
Objectives
and their
Priorities
Organization

Week 2
Plan

Project
Scoping
Dependencies
Schedule
Trade-Offs

Week 3
Improve Plan

Assessing
Risks and
Planning for
Ambiguity

Week 4
Execute

Modes of
Execution
And those
who execute

Image Credit: Krlis Dambrns, Flickr.com

What do all these have in Common?

Create a specific and unique product or service
Temporary:
o Specific start and finish
o Temporary organization

Require multi-disciplinary coordination

Constrained by time, cost or resources

What is a Project?
A unique set of activities meant to produce a defined
outcome within an established time framing specific
allocation of resources. (Harvard Business Review)
A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a
unique product or service. (Project Management Institute)

What is not a Project?

Image Credit: Flazingo Photos, Flickr.com

Why does it matter?

With the appropriate set of tools we can execute better
Projects and Processes:
Different objectives
Different criteria for success

Projects are not unique in being unique

Project Definition
What is the Goal?
The three objectives:
Scope
Time
Budget
Establish Organization

Three Project Objectives

Scope

Time

Budget

Image Credit
Tax Credits, Flickr.com

Three Project Objectives

Scope

Time

Budget

Image Credit
Tax Credits, Flickr.com

Objectives Priorities

Scope

Time

Budget

Constrained

Op5mize

Compromise

Example 1: Service/Website

Constrained
Op5mize
Compromise

Scope

Time

Budget

Example 2: Wedding

Scope

Time

Budget

Constrained
Op5mize
Compromise

Image Credit
Lloyd Dobbie, UK

Example 3: New Facility and product

development

Scope

Time

Budget

Constrained
Op5mize
Compromise

Image Credit
Hillary Lewis, Lumi

Project Organization and Stakeholders

Who will be doing the work?

Who is the Project Manager?
Who is paying for the project?
Who will consume the product or service?
Who are those effected by the project?

Project Organization and Stakeholders

IdenFfy
Stakeholders
Implement
Stakeholder
Management
Strategy

Gather
InformaFon

Predict
Stakeholder
Behavior

IdenFfy
Stakeholders
Mission

Determine
Strengths and
Weaknesses

(Cleland and King, 1988)

Stakeholder Management Cycle: Lumi Juice Plant

Example
IdenFfy
Stakeholders
Implement
Stakeholder
Management
Strategy

Gather
InformaFon

Predict
Stakeholder
Behavior

IdenFfy
Stakeholders
Mission

Determine
Strengths and
Weaknesses

Stakeholder Management Cycle: Lumi Juice Plant

Example
Implement
Stakeholder
Management
Strategy

Gather
InformaFon

Predict
Stakeholder
Behavior

IdenFfy
Stakeholders
Mission

Determine
Strengths and
Weaknesses

Stakeholder Management Cycle: Lumi Juice Plant

Example
Implement
Stakeholder
Management
Strategy

Gather
InformaFon

Predict
Stakeholder
Behavior

IdenFfy
Stakeholders
Mission

Determine
Strengths and
Weaknesses

Image Credit: Simon Shek, Flickr.com

Stakeholder Management Cycle: Lumi Juice Plant

Example
Implement
Stakeholder
Management
Strategy

Gather
InformaFon

Predict
Stakeholder
Behavior

Healthy Ea5ng!
Organic and
Safe!

Determine
Strengths and
Weaknesses

Image Credit: Simon Shek, Flickr.com

Stakeholder Management Cycle: Lumi Juice Plant

Example
Implement
Stakeholder
Management
Strategy

Gather
InformaFon

Predict
Stakeholder
Behavior

Healthy EaFng!
Organic and
Safe!
Determine
Strengths and
Weaknesses

Image Credit: Simon Shek, Flickr.com

Stakeholder Management Cycle: Lumi Juice Plant

Example
Implement
Stakeholder
Management
Strategy

Gather
InformaFon

Iden5fy
Stakeholder
Strategy

Healthy EaFng!
Organic and
Safe!

Determine
Strengths and
Weaknesses

Image Credit: Simon Shek, Flickr.com

Stakeholder Management Cycle: Lumi Juice Plant

Example

Gather
InformaFon

IdenFfy
Stakeholder
Strategy

Healthy EaFng!
Organic and
Safe!

Determine
Strengths and
Weaknesses

Image Credit: Simon Shek, Flickr.com

Stakeholder Power/Interest Grid

High Power

Keep
Satisfied

Manage
Closely
High interest

Low interest

Monitor

Keep
Informed

Low Power

(Freeman, 1983)

Horror Stories (Not Hard to Find)

Main Reasons for Failure

Little or no planning: no clear goal, scope or estimated timeline
Lack of leadership and commitment by stakeholders
Lack of training on new technology
No lessons learned from historical projects
Lack of proper project management training
Biases: optimism, sunk costs, confirmation

Four Bases for Successful Projects

Technology
High tech

Low tech

Complexity

Array

Assembly

DerivaFve

Breakthrough

Novelty

Regular

Blitz

Pace

(Shenrhar and Dvir, 2007)

Measuring Success
Deliver initial set of deliverables?
Does the outcome, at completion, satisfy the
customer?

On time?

Over or under budget?

By how much?

Project Life-Cycle
Initiate

Plan

Establish
organization
Project Charter
and Definition

Identify Scope
Identify tasks,
dependencies
and schedule
Plan resources
Clarify tradeoffs and
decision
making
principles
Develop a risk
management
plan

Execute
Monitor
Communicate
and report
Correct and
control

Close
Sign off
Conduct a
formal postmortem

Project Life-Cycle
IniFaFon

Planning

ExecuFon

Close-out

ExecuFon

IniFaFon

Planning

ExecuFon

Close-out

The StageGate Process

Discovery

GATE

STAGE
1
Business
Case

GATE

STAGE
2
Development

GATE

STAGE
3
Testing and
Validation

GATE

STAGE
4
Launch

(Cooper and Edgett, 2011)