Lecture Notes For Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 8th Edition

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-1Chapter 1Projects in Contemporary OrganizationsAs noted earlier, the material in Part I of this text focuses on project initiation,whichrelates to the context of the project. Although this material may not appear germane tosomeone who wants to learn about how to actually manage a project,having only theplanning and execution tools and being ignorant of the context of the project is a recipefor disaster. It’s like knowing how to sail a ship but notunderstanding your role as thecaptain and the purpose of the trip.Project initiation begins with the judicious selection of the organization’s projects to alignthem with the organization’s overall strategy.Chapter 2 describes how to evaluate and select projects that contribute to theorganization’s strategy and discusses the information needed as well as themanagement of risk during this process. The chapter concludes with a description of aneight-step procedure called the “project portfolio process” that aligns project selectionwith the strategy.Chapter 3, “The Project Manager,” concerns the many roles of the project manager(PM), the multiple responsibilities, and some personal characteristics a project managershould possess. It also discusses the problems a PMfaces when operating in amulticultural environment.Next, Chapter 4 covers a subject of critical importance to the PM that is almostuniversally ignored in project management texts: the art of negotiating for resources. Thechapter also describes some major sources of interpersonal conflict among members ofthe project team.Concluding Part I of the book, Chapter 5 discusses various ways to establish the projectorganization. Different organizational forms are described, as well as their respectiveadvantages and disadvantages. The staffing of the project team is also discussed.CHAPTER OVERVIEWOverview–This section provides a short overview of the modern history of projectmanagement.Many of the now accepted practices of project management were actuallyfirst developed by the U.S.Government to further the development of complex weaponssystems and space hardware.1.1The Definition of a “Project”–This section describes the common characteristics of aproject used to distinguish projects from other types of work.Three ProjectObjectives: The Triple Constraint–Scope, time, and cost are three of the most

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-2important knowledge areas in project management. Each of these must be managedconcurrently due to theeffect that each one has on the other.Characteristics of ProjectsoUniqueoOne-time occurrenceoFinite durationMany projects also have the following characteristics:oInterdependencies–Project activities interact with each other and withother projects, groups, and activities within the organization.oLimited budgets (forpersonnel and other resources)oConflictNonprojects and Quasi Projects–Routine tasks are not considered projectsbecause they are performed over and over again. Projectson the other hand, areone-time events. Quasi-projects are those that do not have a specific taskidentified, no specific budget, and no specific deadline defined. Although thereare some uncertainties, project management skills can still be used to managethem.1.2Why Project Management?–While project management has limitations, mostorganizations receive real benefits from its use.Benefits include better control, bettercustomer relations, increase in projects’ return on investment, etc.Projectmanagement is not easy; for the participants (to paraphrase Churchill) it may seemto be the worst form of management except all the others that have been tried. Inspite of that, project management is a growing careerpath thatis highly rewarding.Forces Fostering Project Management–These include expansion of knowledgeacross academic disciplines which can be used in problem solving, satisfying thedemand for increasingly complex products and services, and an ever-expandingworldwide market forces us to consider cultural and environmental issues in theproduction and distribution of products and services.The Project Manager & Project Management Organizations–The complexities ofproject management coupled with the increased recognition of the necessity forprojects has led to an astronomical growth in the professional society devoted toproject management, the Project Management Institute (PMI). PMI, through itsefforts to define and standardize the body of knowledge, has made a significantcontribution inestablishing project management as a true professional)TrendsinProjectManagement–Increasedcompetitionandconsistentdevelopments in technology are pushing the boundaries of project managementinto new spheres. As the field of project management matures, a variety of trendsare identified and discussed.1.3The Project Life Cycle–This section describes the typical life cycle of most projects.Commonly projects have a slow start, a busy middle and a slow end. When this patternis graphed as percent complete versus time, it results in the classic S-shaped life cycle

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-3curve depicted in Figure 1-3. Some projects follow a different pattern, particularly ifthey involve integration and testing of disparate parts at the end.Risk During the Life Cycle–Risk or uncertainty changes throughout the life cycleof a project. At the start, there is the largest amount of uncertainty about theoutcomes at the end. As time passes, the end point can be predicted with moreand more accuracy.1.4The Structure of This Text–This book is arranged to follow the life cycle of a project,beginning with project initiation, which includes topics on startup, organization andproposals. The second part covers project implementation including planning,scheduling, budgeting and controlling projects. The final part discusses projecttermination. Throughout thetext,theimportance of managing both people and risksareemphasized.TEACHING TIPSMost students intuitively know more about project management than they realize. Throughexperiences at work, school or in the community, almost every adult has participated in oreven managed a project at one time or another. For these students, the instructors will beable to foster many “aha” moments when the student will recognize the situation and beable to apply the concepts just learned. One way to facilitate discussions that acceleratethis process is to apply pair-wise brainstorming. In conventional brainstorming or classdiscussions, many students will choose not to participate,unless the instructor takes thetime consuming route of going individually around the room. In pair-wisebrainstorming,the instructor divides the class up into two or three person teams to discuss the questionor issue at hand. The advantage of this technique is that it creates an environment whereall students feel comfortable participating in the discussion.After sufficient time haspassed, the instructor “regroups” the class to collect the thoughts generated by the teams.These can be written on a whiteboard or easel for further discussion.For this introductory chapter, an excellent topic to apply this technique to is the questionof how a project is different from other work. With some assistance from the instructor, thestudents will collectively come up with the same list as in the text.They will generallyoverlook conflict, though they will readily recognize its applicability.The instructor needs to circulate among the groups during this time to listen to what thestudents are talking about. The object is not to take over their discussion, but rather tooffer encouragement and guidance if needed. This will also help keep the discussionsfrom drifting onto baseball or some other interesting but not relevant subject. Eventuallymany of the groups will fall silent (or get onto baseball) signaling the time to move on tothe whole class discussion. The groups usually need about 20 minutes and the followingclass discussion can be done in about 30 minutes.

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-4PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICEA Unique Method for Traveler-Tracking at Copenhagen AirportQuestion 1: Are the triple constraints of this project clear? What are they?Yes.Scope–Passenger flow analysis, including the impact on security screeningTime–Three yearsCost–The cost included two, $30 readers, plus the additional time and effort to analyzethe results and implement the solutions.Question 2: What was unique about this project? What was the main conflict?The uniqueness of the project was the use of the cell phone Bluetooth signals to trackpassengers. The main conflict was related to passenger privacy.Question 3: Why are the travelers themselves a stakeholder in this project, sincemost of them won’t even know they are being tracked?Passengers are stakeholders because it is their cell phone signals being tracked andbecause they benefits from improved service.Question 4: How widespread do you think this technology will become? Whatuses will be garnered from it? Do any of them concern you?This technology has the potential to become more widespread if the privacy issue canbe resolved.Student responses will vary considerably on the second and third questions.The Smart-Grid Revolution Starts in Boulder, ColoradoQuestion 1:Are the triple constraints of this project clear? List each of them.The triple constraints are all clearScope:“smart-grid” electrical system that would span the entire cityTime:3 yearsCost:$100 millionQuestion 2: Given the range of benefits listed for the new technology, whatinterdependencies and conflicts do you suspect smart grids will create forutilities?Interdependencies:all of the system to work correctly; customer technology abilities andsystem useConflicts:users and the system; employees fearful of getting replacedQuestion 3: A major portion of this project had to do with carefully managing allthe stakeholders. List those mentioned in the article and divide them into the four

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-5groups mentioned above. Do any stakeholders fall into more than one of thegroups?The stakeholders and their groupings are below. Some of these stakeholders fall intomultiple categories.ClientsParent organizationProject teamPublicXcelleading technologistsAccenture consulting forengineeringbusiness leaderscustomersbusiness leadersenergy industry consultantsIT expertsIT expertsleading technologistsBoulder city managerssenior project managerIT expertsBoulder city leadersProjectManagementOfficesenior project manageruser-citizensProject Management OfficeMany of these will fall into more than one group.Question 4:What conflicts do you suspect might have occurred between all thedifferent stakeholders in thisproject?Conflicts that could have arisen are numerous and could have included:Business leaders and city managers related to costs versus featuresEngineers versus city leaders related to costsCitizens versus city leaders related to costsQuestion 5: Why do you imagine Xcel agreed to invest $100 million in this riskyexperiment? What might their ancillary goals have been?Any new project idea is a risky experiment. Xcel Energy believes that if everything isplanned properly and the scope and results of the project are clearly documented, thenwith careful execution it is possible to employ a new technology that helps the companyto manage its resource pool effectively and efficiently. An ancillary goal could have beento learn from this project and apply it to other municipalities.The Olympic Torch Relay ProjectQuestion 1:Which of the three universal and three common characteristics ofprojects are displayed in the regular torch relay?The three universal characteristics are unique, one-time, and finite duration. Each ofthese are displayed in the torch relay.The three common characteristics are interdependencies, resources, and conflict. Ofthese, the interdependencies and resource characteristics are the main ones displayed.Question 2:Since this is such a regular project—every four years since 1936—would you consider it a nonproject, or a quasi-project? Why, or why not?I would consider this a project because each torch relay is unique in that they all traveldifferent routes and are managed by different organizations.Question 3:Is the torch relay another part of the Olympics themselves, perhaps asub-project?

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-6The torch relay is a project by itself based on its length and complexity. You couldconsider it a project that is part of the overall Olympic “program.”Turning London’s Waste Dump into the 2012 Olympics StadiumQuestion 1:What shape of life cycle did this stadium project have? Compare itwith the life cycle of the river dredging portion of the effort. With the OlympicTorch Relay project described earlier.The life cycle of this project is S-shaped. As the project is initiated and betterunderstood, it would gain momentum giving the project a S-shape. An example would bethe time when the team realized that a lighter roof was required. As the understanding ofthe project increases so does the momentum.Even river dredging as a project was S-shaped due to obvious reasons as was the torchrelay.Question 2:Which of the “triple constraints” seems to be uppermost here? Whichconstraints were Crockford trading between?Time is the constraint that seems to be the uppermost here, given the deadline of theproject and the required amount of work to be done before the project could take-off.Crockford was trading between scope and time, since the team involved people fromdifferent positions and this could have led to scope creep, thereby increasing the timerequired.Question 3:Were there any ancillary goals for this project? What might they havebeen?The ancillary goals of this project could be the learning of skills needed in the integrationof a tightly scheduled project and the coordination and control of the various resources inthe project.Also, the impact of using a waste dumpsite as a Olympics stadium is in itself one ofthose properties that commands respect towards a nation’s engineers and theircombined vision.MATERIAL REVIEW QUESTIONSQuestion 1:Name and briefly describe the societalforces that have contributed tothe need for project management.Refer tothesection titled “Forces Fostering Project Management” in the text.1)Modern societies have experienced an exponential expansion of humanknowledge. As aresult,an increasing number of academic disciplines can beused in solving problems associated with the development, production, anddistribution of goods and services.

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-72)Satisfying the continuing demand for more complex and customized productsand services depends on the producers’ability to make product design anintegrated and inherent part of their production and distribution systems.3)Worldwide markets force producers to include cultural and environmentaldifferences in their managerial decisions about what, where, when, andhow toproduce and distribute output.Question 2:Describe the life cycle of a project in terms of (1) the degree of projectcompletion; (2) required effort.Refer to Figure 1-3,Figure 1-4, and Figure 1-5:The Project Lifecycleand to Section 1.3inthe text. A lifecycle is used to describe a period of time between a starting point and aterminating point. As the project nears termination, the percentage of project completionshould rise. For most projects, the required effort and the project completion level arestrongly correlated. While problems may detract from efficiency, it’s usually true that asmore work is done, the completion level rises as well. There are limitations, particularlyin intellectual projects (e.g. software development) where too many cooks can spoil thebroth and hurt the project more than help it.The typical life cycle is then characterized by a slow beginning,when the project isorganized, a busy middle when most of the work is done, and a tapering off tocompletion as tasks are wrapped up and finishing touchesareadded.Question 3:Describe the limitations of project management.Refer to Section 1.2inthe text. Project management is an approach taken to initiate,plan, execute, control, and terminate projects with the intent of achieving the objectivesused to justify the project’s approval. There are some important limitations associatedwith project management. They include:1)The project characteristic of uniqueness tends to be associated with uncertainty.Uncertainty can affect a project for better or for worse. For example, it can bedifficult to forecast important items related to budget, schedule, customersatisfaction, andbusiness impact.2)Projects often use a temporary organizational structure that is different from theway most organizations typically perform work. This can lead to conflictingpriorities between the project and daily operations, especially when managementhas not clearly established formal authority over the resources responsible tomultitask on one or more projects and on one or more routine jobs.3)Conflict is inherent in projects. Since the project manager usually has limitedpower and authority, the options for modifying the behavior of others are oftenlimited in relation to the accountabilities carried by a project manager.Question 4:List themain characteristics of a project and briefly describe theimportant features ofeach.Refer to Section 1.1inthe text. The main characteristics of a project are:1)Uniqueness: Project management is always the tool of choice when a “neverdone this before” goal is taken on. The space program is overflowing with

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-8examples from Project Mercury to the Mars Rovers. Project management is aninappropriate tool for routine tasks such as cutting payroll2)One-time occurrence: Projects have a defined scope that includes a specific setof desired end results.3)Finite duration: Projects are temporary endeavors. The performing organizationshould complete the project’s work between the project’s start date and theproject’s termination date. In many projects, the termination of the project mayinvolve a transition process that releases the project’s solution to steady-statebusiness operations.4)Interdependencies: Projects interact with routine operations of the performingorganization as well as with other projects. Perhaps of most interest to projectplanners (and the makers of project management software) is that project tasksoften depend on each other as whenthe paint has to dry before the carpet is laid.5)Limited budgets, for both personnel and other resources:Projects haveconstrained resources, particularly people, which require careful management.6)Conflict: Conflict is a common theme in project management. Many of these arisefrom the conflict between the limited resources (time, money,andpeople)available to the project team and the seemingly unlimited requirements from thecustomer.Question 5:Name and briefly describe the three primary goals of a project.Refer to Figure 1-1:Scope, cost, time project targetsand to the section titled “ThreeProject Objectives: The Triple Constraint” in the text. A goal is a desired future state ofreality that is specific, measurable, and time-bound. By converting a goal into a gap, itbecomes possible to determine the level of change in the status quo that will be requiredto achieve the desired future state. According to Figure 1-1, the three primary goals of aproject are:1)Scope:In ProjectManagement, the term scope means specified deliverables.The PMBOK®Guide defines scope as:“The sum of the products, services, andresults to be provided as a project.”The scope of the project is defined at thebeginning during the planning phaseand the state of the project is continuallyverified against the scope definition.2)Time: Well-defined projects always have a deadline, whether it is tied to asignificant event (e.g. the World Series) or the whim of senior management.Regardless of the source, completing the project within the deadline is always asignificant performance objective.3)Cost: Costs represent resources expended to obtain a set of benefits. Projectstypically are limited in the costs they can incur to try to ensure that the benefitsexceed the costs.Question 6:Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of project management.Refer to Section 1.2inthe textAn advantage is favorable toward accomplishing a desired purpose and a disadvantageis unfavorable toward accomplishing a desired purpose. Project management is a tool

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-9for organizing resources to accomplish a goal in a cost effective manner. As with anytool,it works better in some situations than in others.1)It provides useful tools (scope statement, WBS, budget, schedule, earned valueanalysis, etc.) that can improve an organization’s ability to plan, execute, andcontrol the performance of activities and the utilization of resources when doingnonroutine work.2)The use of interdisciplinary teams to make decisions and solve problemsgenerally improves the quality of the result.3)Many practitioners of project management have reported that the use of projectmanagement has resulted in shorter development times, reduced costs, betterquality, and higher profit margins.4)The focus on managing a project can provide an end-to-end view of the effortrequired to provide an effective solution capable of solving real needs of thecustomer. This focus can facilitate effective conflict management by givingstakeholders access to appropriate tools and techniques for balancing competingdemands for performance, time, and costs.According to the text, some disadvantages of project management are:1)A high level of energy and commitment is often required of the project managerand the project team in order to communicate about and coordinate theexecution of the project’s solution. In many cases, project participants will lackexperienceandtraining in effective tools and techniques for project integrationand control.2)The level of organizational complexity may increase as members of theperforming organization seek to balance the competing demands of routine workwith the nonroutine work of a project.3)There is an increased probability that project teams will violate organizationalpolicies,unless the project manageracts appropriately.4)If an organization attempts to use the tools and techniques of projectmanagement to manage the wrong type of work, the organization will probablyexperience increased managerial difficulties, higher costs, and lower utilization ofresources.Question 7:How do projects, programs, tasks, and work packages differ?Refer to the glossary and to Section 1.1inthe text. In spite of the best efforts of PMI toimpose some consistency, the vocabulary of project management is not usedconsistently across different industries or even within them. Students will no doubt jumpinto this discussion with enthusiasm to explain how in their experience they have heardthese terms used. It is important to emphasize, however, the definitions from thePMBOK® GuideFifthEdition, particularly if the students are planningonbecomingcertified Project Management Professionals(PMP®).1)Program: A program isalarge-scale endeavor composed of several projects allwith a common overall goal. The Apollo program is a good example. The overallgoal of putting a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth involvedmany projects. Designing and constructing the various modules, developing the

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-10Saturn rocket, even designing and building the facilities at the Kennedy SpaceCenter were each significant projects by themselves.2)Project: A project is a subdivision of a program. The project is a temporaryendeavor that will provide useful solutions to real needs. The focus of a projectwill be on producing deliverables that customers or users can formally acceptduring the termination processes of project management.3)Tasks: In the PMBOK®GuideFifthEdition, atask is defined as a unit of workwithin a project. Various practitioners and various pieces of software use taskdifferently, and apparently PMI has given up the ghost on consistency for thisterm.4)Work Package: According to the PMBOK® GuideFifthEdition, the workpackages generally reflect the lowest level of detail in the work breakdownstructure used to track and control budget and schedule variances on a project.Question 8:How would you define a project?Refer to Section 1.1inthe text. The PMBOK®GuideFifthEdition defines a project as “Atemporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.”Question 9:What are some of the interdependencies related to a project?Refer to Section 1.1inthe text.1)Projectsoften depend upon functional departments to provide resources and thefunctional departments depend upon projects to use resources effectively andefficiently,so that the project manager can release those resources back to thefunction as quickly as possible. This type of interdependency is often associatedwith conflicts regarding work priorities, job assignments, and work schedules.2)Projects often depend upon other projects to release resources or to createdeliverables thatare inputs to a separate project. This type of interdependencymay lead to resource contention and resource loading problems. It may alsocreate potential compatibility problems,when the performing organizationultimately assembles the individual project outputs into an integrated system.3)Within projects,there are typically many interdependencies among the tasks.These maybe actual physical relationships;for instancethe roof can’t go on untilthe foundation is poured. They may be information dependencies;for example,John has to finish his drawing before I can start mine. They may also be a by-product of the resource interdependencies where John can’t start work on task Bof this project until he completes task 563 of another project which by chance ordesign has a higher priority.Question10:What are some sources of conflict the project manager must dealwith?Refer to Section 1.1inthe text:Unfortunately, there are many sources of conflict inatypical project. Among them are:1)The project customers, who often push theirown interests in conflict with the actualor perceived project requirements.

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-112)The inherent conflicts in trying to manage costs, schedules,and objectives at thesame time. Typically, something has to give, and the project manager is put inadifficult position of being the messenger of the bad news.In other words, there is aneedfor goal-focused balancing within a constrained system and the project issubject to expectations generated from the perceptions of stakeholders3)The project’s own organization, which may have problems staffing all the projectsmandated by senior management. Even when resources are adequate, thetemporary nature of many project assignments is a source of conflict for theemployee caught between theproject manager and his or her functional manager.Question 11:Differentiate between direct and ancillary project goals. Wouldlearning a new skill through the project be a direct or ancillary goal? Entering anew market?Refer to Section 1.1 in the text:Direct project goals are the goods and services produced by the project for thecustomer. Ancillary goals are those that benefit the organization performing the projectand are usually a by-product of the project. The ancillary goals are usually things that thesponsor or senior management wants and expects asapart of project success. Anexample might be a project with the direct goal of creating a new piece of software andan ancillary goal of training ten people in a new programming technique.Learning a new skill through a project sounds like an ancillary goal, while entering a newmarket is harder to place. If the project was set up to specifically enter a new marketthen it’s a direct goal. If entering the new market is a by-product of creating a newproduct orservice then it’s an ancillary goal.Question 12:Describe the characteristics of quasi-projects.Refer to Section 1.1inthe text:Descriptive characteristics of quasi-projects include:No specific taskisidentifiedNo specific budgetisgivenNo specific deadlineisprovidedCLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONSQuestion 13:Give several examples of projects found in our society, avoidingthose already discussed in the chapter.There are innumerable examples that the students may cite:1)The cleanup of the World Trade Center site after 9/11. This project grew from thechaos of the immediate rescue efforts to a well-run process that succeeded inerasing the physical evidence of the attack. An excellent (and controversial) bookon this project isAmerican Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade CenterbyWilliam Langewiesche.

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-122)The Columbia Accident Investigation. This is the third excellent report producedby NASA on problems within their project management environment. Thecomplete report is at the website http://caib.nasa.gov/.3)The Mars Rovers. Thiswas aresounding success for NASA,andthe pluckyrovershavebecome the world’s most beloved robotssinceR2D2and C3PO.The website describing the project is athttp://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/.Question 14:Describe some situations in which project management wouldprobably not be effective.The purpose of a project is to change the existing status quo by providing discretesolutions that solve realneeds. Project management will not be effective if:1)A real need does not exist or the organization has not clearly defined the need thatthe project should solve. In order to be effective, project managers shouldunderstand what would be required to complete the project successfully.2)The proposed goal for the project is something that is routinely created by an in-control process. An example would be a “project” to print next month’s payroll checksusing the existing process. A project would be to install new payroll software in timefor next month’s payroll. Once it’s accomplished, the project is over and it’s back totheroutine process.3)The solution is not discrete. For example, “world hunger” does label a real need, butthe solution to that need is hardly a discrete solution appropriate to projectmanagement. However, providing disaster relief to a famine stricken area of theworld within a finite period of time or achieving a stated level of performance forfamine relief might benefit from project management approaches.Question 15:How does the rate-of-project-progress chart (Fig. 1-3) help amanager make decisions?Refer to Figure 1-3 and to Section 1.3inthe text. In a project planned with thetechniques of Earned Value the rate-of-project-progress chart is a by-product of theproject plan. It shows the planned rate at which resources (usually labor but it can bedollars) will be consumed. Once this curveand its cousins are established, they giveinsights into the number of people who will be required and when they will be needed.The simplifying assumption is that all labor is equally valuable to the project and thateach hour “earned” is just as important as any other. When the project is underway,actual labor expended and actual progress earned can be plotted against the plan. Thisgives a reliable indication of how the project is doing in terms of cost and schedule.Question 16:Expound on the adage, “Projects proceed smoothly until 90 percentcomplete, and then remain at 90 percent forever.”Refer to Figure 1-3 and to Section 1.3inthe text. Lifecycles tend to resist termination. Inmany cases, the work needed to closeout a project can be tedious and unrewardingparticularly those picky issues that have been allowed to let slide. Moreover, as peoplebegin leaving the projects, the remaining team members may become more interested inlanding the next assignment than in completing the last steps of the current project. An

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-13equally damaging possibility is that the remaining people don’t know what their next jobis so they drag out this one.Question 17:Would you like to be a project manager? Why, or why not?Student answers will vary considerably, but some responses may beto:1)turnaround the poor project success rates.2)lead others in successful projects.3)learn more about the IT and business aspects of the firm.4)gain experience which will facilitate a “move up the career ladder.”Further, my experience in teaching project management to hundreds of technicalprofessionals in the San Diego area is that they are usually in the class for one of threereasons:1)They are seeking new opportunities. Ihave heard many students say somethinglike,“I don’t want to be sitting at the same lab bench for the next twenty years.”2)They have been thrust into a project manager’s role by their management andfigure theyshouldlearn something about it.3)They have been a project manager, sometimes for years, and want to find out“how to do it right.”Question 18:Discuss why there are trade-offs among the three prime objectives ofproject management.There are tradeoffs because as one or two of these change, so do the remaining ones.For example, if the schedule is extended because the employees are taking too long tocomplete the work, then the cost will increase as well.The rule of thumb heard for years among project managers is that when it comes tocost, schedule and performance, you can control any two. That is you can bring a projectin on cost and schedule if you have some flexibility with the performanceor you canachieve performance and cost if there is some flexibility with the schedule. Another wayto state this rule is among cost, schedule and performance, only two can be independent(specified) and one has to be dependent. This is true because the real functionthatrelates them is not known up front when the project is estimated and the “arbitrary”deadline is assigned.Question19:Why is the life cycle curve often “S” shaped?The life cycle curve is a by-product of the project plan. It shows on a cumulative basisthe rate at which labor will be expended per the plan. This is under the common EarnedValue assumption that the amount of labor expended and the progress achieved arecorrelated. Most projects follow the slow, fast, slow pattern of activity. They are slow atthe beginning as things are organized, fastest during the middle portion when manyactivities are working in parallel,and then slowing down again as deliverablesarecompleted and last minute issuesareresolved.If this type of plan is plotted on acumulative basis such as Figure 1-3 the resulting curve will be S-shaped.It can beviewed as unwindingthe bell-curve of a histogram into the string that showsinflection points separating increasing and decreasing rates of change.

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-14Question 20:How might project management be used when doing a majorschoolwork assignment?It depends on what characteristics are embedded in the idea of “major.” It goes withoutsaying that a student has limited resources and is working to a deadline,so thesecharacteristics are a given. If major also means unique (at least to the student) andcomplicated because there are many tasks with interdependencies, then projectmanagement could be very useful. If major just means big, for example, 30 problemsoutof the back of the book this week instead of 20, but the nature of the assignment isotherwise routine, then project management wouldn’t be useful.Question 21:Why is there such a pronounced bend in the curve of Figure 1-2?Refer to Figure 1-2inthe text. The growth in the number of project managers has beencreated by a corresponding rise in the number of projects being implemented in modernorganizations. The factors that have driven this growth include automation of many officefunctions, and management initiatives like Total Quality Management (TQM). This hasresulted inanincreased needfor:(1)project managers(2)awareness of the professionof project management.Question 22:Describe a project whose life cycle would be a straightline from startto finish. Describe a project with an inverse-S life cycle.An example might be going through the training process to get a pilot’s certificate. If thestudent follows a prescribed syllabus, there is very little planning required. If thestudent’s schedule allows, he or she will spend about the same number of hoursperweek studying and flying from the beginning until they take their check ride.A research astronomy project that requires the creation of a new equipment setup,would be an example of a project with an inverse S-shape. There would be lots ofactivity at the beginning to set up the experiment, then a long, relatively quiet time whiledata is gathered (perhaps by automated equipment), then most of the benefit accrues atthe end when the data is analyzed and interpreted.Question 23. How does the recognition that projects are only the middle portion ofa longer chain of activities help improve the effectiveness of a project?Projects are only the middle portion of a set ofactivitiesinvolving the recognition of aneed, the selection ofa project to meet it, designing a governance structure forthe project, executing the project, and the tasks needed toensure the benefits of theproject are realized.Understanding that a valid need must first be recognized isan important part of goodproject selection. Similarly, the selection of the “right,” good projects is another importantconcern that must be addressed. After the project is completed, it is important to ensurethat the benefits of the project are realized. This can include training of the users andawareness campaigns to ensure adoption of the project deliverables. In addition,maintenance, etc must be addressed long-term to ensure success.

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Project Management: A Managerial Approach,10theditionInstructor’s Resource GuideCopyright ©2018John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter1-15Question 24. Why do project managers frequently not understand the purpose ofthe project they are responsible for?Answers for this question may vary considerably since this isn’t addressed explicitly inthe text. Possible answers may include that the purposes of the project were notexplicitly stated by the project sponsors, the customer/user may not know exactly whatthey need, and user requirements are not clearly stated.INCIDENTS FOR DISCUSSIONBlanka Transport Inc.Questions:Is this a proper approach to the problem?Is this a “project”; if so,what are thethree triple constraints?What, if any, helpful suggestions would youmake to Joe?This incident is a good opportunity to discuss the haphazard ways that many projectsstart. Encourage the students to discuss projects in which they have participated thatstarted because a senior manager made a casual comment during a meeting or at thecoffee pot. What happened with these projects? Were they successful? Were thereproblems because not enough time was spent on understanding the real problem? Hereare some thoughts to cover with the class:1)The project needs to address the long-term problem of the imbalances, not just aone-year fix. It would be dangerous, therefore, to jump into a “fix” simply basedon Joe’s observations and ideas. The first phase would be to collect data on theproblem andanalyze the trends. The next phase would be to develop a set ofpotential solutions to the point where cost benefit analysis could be performed.Once the best solutions are chosen, a project could be organized to implementthem.2)Joe’s son has the right idea to involve members of the management team andstaff to generate buy-in and take advantage of their unique knowledge. One orthe other of the managers, however, must be appointed the project manager toinsure that there is a single source of clear direction for the team members. Joecan’t end up brokering disputes between two project managers, as this wouldeffectively make him the PM. Joe should be the project sponsor and as suchshould be willing to let the project play out without imposing his ownpreconceived notions of the best solution. He should be clear up front though ifthere is any particular option that he would find unacceptable so that the teamdoes not waste any time on it. Joe’s son could participate as a project planner,but again needs to insure that the participants do not defer to him because of hisposition.This would be considered a project because the work is unique, it is a one-timeoccurrence, and has a finite duration. The three triple constraints are scope, time,and cost. The scope of the project would be to decrease the size of the routeimbalances by75%. The time would be one year that was mentioned. They did notmention a cost, but we can assume that a budget will be established.

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