Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Project Management
Ejvin Berry
FIRSTFare – October 30th, 2010
What is a Project?
One goal + some parameters:
Scope – A verb and a noun
Small Scope: Blinking lights
Moderate Scope: Innovative design
High-Risk / High Value Scope:
Streamlining future work
Time
Cost
Quality
Risk
Project Success
Requirements to survive the season:
Happy customers
On time deliverables
On budget projects
Optimistic investors
Team cohesion
Congratulations… but if you have problems
“surviving”, you’ll have problems “thriving”
as an engineering organization…
Profitable Project Successes
New work
Under budget
Innovative design
Paid investors (with PR)
Intensified talent pool
Leftover energy
Time and capital
Project Manager
Primary Roles:
Build a team (organize existing
resources)
Maintain/ Analyze data
Organize capital (money and manpower)
Manage conflict (interference)
Review work – Initiate Design Reviews
Schedule resources
Novations Group, Inc., "Tools and Techniques
of Project Management, v6.1"
What is Project Management?
Initiation
By definition, only ever happens once
Contains clear project goals and parameters
Often involves the customer
Your big chance to control scope
Initiation will take place between 5am and
midnight on Kickoff Day.
Planning
This is the opportunity to modify:
Team structure
Tactics – Define “envelopes”
Schedule
Chronological schedules
Cost schedules – when to buy?
Acceptable risks – Weigh your skills and
your needs with your “wants”
Early vs. Late Project Planning
Executing
Do what you planned.
Do only what you planned.
Feedback and repeat.
WARNING: Execution without documentation
is wasteful and often times illegal.
Monitoring and Controlling
Gather feedback via Design Review
Sort feedback
Make decisions regarding remaining
resources
Closing
A formal process in which you sell your
product to the customer.
Requires a Design Review
Who is your customer?
Which projects need to close?
Minor components
Entire robot
Now it’s time to manage…
If you were looking for someone to
spell it out for you; here’s your
chance…
First: Team Structures
Match people with their strengths
It may be helpful, particularly for rookie teams, to develop a skills matrix.
This will help identify training needs, or where you need to get more outside help (a trainer, or a hired gun?)
Develop an organization chart, matching team members to their responsibilities.
Second: Plan the work…
Work Breakdown Structure (or WBS) = Everything you want to do on the project
Determine the form and function of every part, and what they all do for you (Functional Efficiency Technique)
Also any related work – fundraising, major events, support equipment
This ultimately becomes your project plan, as detailed as you choose to plan and schedule it.
Match with your team structure.
Plan the work (cont.). . .
Estimate each item or system using a Resource Loading Diagram along with a Network Diagram:
How much time (work hours) do you think it will take?
How many people do you have? How much time do they have?
How many days/ hours will each item take?
Where are you short handed? Make sure you aren’t double booking people.
Third: Execute - do some work
Fourth: Design Reviews
Plan and schedule design reviews –
possibly every day, until you enter
production
Document (as specifically as possible) how
subsystems will work together and connect
as they are designed, built and integrated
Check your interfaces in the reviews – if
there is change, it must be fully
investigated, understood and agreed to
Fifth: Risk Management
Also known as “what-ifs”
Leave a little time for disasters and
unforeseen details, but do NOT plan them
Testing is essential to reduce risk
Set goals for features or functions that
would be “nice to have”
If there is insufficient time, the project will
still be successful without them
Risk Management (cont.)
FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis)
Consider system components
Identify symptoms of failure
Identify root cause
Predict consequences to other sub-
systems
Rank failure modes by severity (1,2,3)
Rank failure modes by probability (1,2,3)
Example FMEA.
Work the Plan . . .
Make it happen
Make a simple project schedule, easy to read and status.
Stick to your plan
Monitor progress
Adjust on the fly – you may have to give up some goals, or shift more people to key tasks that are falling behind. Enlist more experts?
Keep everyone productive, but don’t forget this is all fun!
Communicate!
Questions ????
