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Teamwork Skills and Project Management

1. Teamwork Skills

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Teamwork

Corporations develop teams for many reasons Projects are becoming increasingly

complex Projects often span international

borders, and require workers all over the world

Projects are requiring more speed, which requires more workers

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What Makes a SuccessfulTeam?

A common goalLeadershipEach member makes unique contributionsEffective communicationCreativityGood planning and use of resources

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Team Leadership Structures

Traditional: One leader, who directs subordinates. Leader typically is the only one who “speaks”.Participative: Leader is closer to individual workers.Flat: There is no “leader”. All members are equal. The leadership “moves” with the situation to the worker with the most expertise in a given subject

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Decisions within a Team

Consensus: All team members agree on a decisionMajority RuleMinority/Committee decisionExpert input

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Grading a Team Effort

Did the team accomplish its goal?Were results of a high quality? If not, why?Did the team grow throughout the process?Evaluate the team leaderEvaluate the other members of the teamEvaluate your own contribution to the project

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Teamwork Skills and Project Management

2. Project Management

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Introduction

“Failure to plan is planning to fail.”A good plan is one of the most important attributes of successful teams and projects.Projects should be organized systematically.

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Eight Questions that can be Addressed with a Plan

What to do first?Next?How many people?What resources?How long?Time table?Deadlines?Objectives?

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Creating a Project Charter

A project summaryDefining what your project is and when you will know when it is doneElements include Deliverables Duration Stakeholders Team members

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Task Definitions

Identify the completion tasks to achieve the objectives and outcomes Plan Design Build Deliver

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Plans

Plans should include: Who to hold accountable for

progress Needed materials, resources, etc. How to determine if the project is on

schedule Manage people and resources Determine the end!

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Milestones

Monitoring of your plans progressDeadlines for deliverablesCompletion of subcomponentsUsed to track progress and meeting milestones can be a big morale boost for team.Doesn’t have to be an individual activity with time and resources, etc.

Milestones

Milestones are significant events on a project that normally have zero durationYou can follow the SMART criteria in developing milestones that are: Specific Measurable Assignable Realistic Time-framed

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Defining Times

Include the full time needed for tasksAs a student, you don’t have a full eight-hour work day every day Break tasks into week segments

Weekday and/or weekend Class periods

Break tasks into short time periods No more than a week or two

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Organizing the Tasks

Determine task relationships and sequencingRelate the task groups from your outline

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PERT Charts and Network Diagrams

Developed by the US Navy back in the 50’s when working on Polaris missile project.Each task is represented by a box containing a brief description of and duration for the taskThe boxes can be laid out just as the project plan is laid outUseful as a “what if” tool during planning stagesLines to and from boxes showed task relationships.Generally simplify into Network Diagrams since PERT actually uses weighted time estimates.

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Precedence or Network Diagram

Receive notice to proceed and sign contract

Start: 1/1/07 ID: 3

Finish: 1/3/07 Dur: 3 days

Res: G.C. general management

Submit bond and insurance documents

Start: 1/4/07 ID: 4

Finish: 1/5/07 Dur: 2 days

Res: G.C. project management, G.C. general management[25%]

Prepare and submit project schedule

Start: 1/8/07 ID: 5

Finish: 1/9/07 Dur: 2 days

Res: G.C. project management[25%], G.C. scheduler

Prepare and submit schedule of values

Start: 1/10/07 ID: 6

Finish: 1/11/07 Dur: 2 days

Res: G.C. general management[10%], G.C. project management

Obtain building permits

Start: 1/4/07 ID: 7

Finish: 1/9/07 Dur: 4 days

Res: G.C. project management[50%], G.C. procurement[50%]

Submit preliminary shop drawings

Start: 1/10/07 ID: 8

Finish: 1/23/07 Dur: 2 wks

Res: G.C. project management[50%], G.C. procurement[50%]

Submit monthly requests for payment

Start: 1/4/07 ID: 9

Finish: 1/4/07 Dur: 1 day

Res:

Submit shop drawings and order long lead items - roofing

Start: 1/24/07 ID: 12

Finish: 2/6/07 Dur: 2 wks

Res: Roofing contractor management

Detail, fabricate, and deliver steel

Start: 1/19/07 ID: 17

Finish: 4/12/07 Dur: 12 wks

Res: Steel erection contractor management[50%], Steel erection contractor[50%]

Submit shop drawings and order long lead items - steel

Start: 1/5/07 ID: 11

Finish: 1/18/07 Dur: 2 wks

Res: Steel erection contractor management

Task Dependency Types

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Critical Paths

The longest string of dependant project tasks Ex. – prerequisites such as the math

curriculum for engineering

Some tasks can be accelerated by using more people, others cannot Ex. – nine people cannot have the

same baby in one month

Critical Path Method (CPM)

CPM is a project network analysis technique used to predict total project durationA critical path for a project is the series of activities that determines the earliest time by which the project can be completedThe critical path is the longest path through the network diagram and has the least amount of slack or float

Finding the Critical Path

First develop a good project network diagramAdd the durations for all activities on each path through the project network diagramThe longest path is the critical path

Simple Example of Determining the Critical Path

Consider the following project network diagram. Assume all times are in days.

2 3

4

5

A=2 B=5C=2

D=7

1 6

F=2

E=1

start finish

a. How many paths are on this network diagram?

b. How long is each path?

c. Which is the critical path?

d. What is the shortest amount of time needed to complete this project?

Figure 6-8. Determining the Critical Path for Project X

More on the Critical PathIf one or more activities on the critical path takes longer than planned, the whole project schedule will slip unless corrective action is takenMisconceptions: There can be more than one critical path

if the lengths of two or more paths are the same

The critical path can change as the project progresses

Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule Trade-offs

Knowing the critical path helps you make schedule trade-offsFree slack or free float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately following activitiesTotal slack or total float is the amount of time an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned project finish dateA forward pass through the network diagram determines the early start and finish datesA backward pass determines the late start and finish dates

Calculating Early and Late Start and Finish Dates

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Gantt Charts

Popular project management charting methodHorizontal bar chartTasks vs. dates

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Gantt Charts

Gantt Chart

Sample Tracking Gantt Chart

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Details, Details

Remember Murphy’s Law - “Anything that can go wrong, will.”Leave time to fix debug or fix errors

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Details, Details

Don’t assume things will fit together the first timeOrder parts well in advance to leave time for shipping, errors, or backordersLeave time for parts malfunctionPush delivery times back to a week before they’re actually due – this will help to avoid panic if things go badly

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Personnel Distribution

Get the right people on the right tasksAssign people after developing a draft of the planBalance the work between everyoneWeekly updates – does everyone understand what they’re doing and is everyone still on task?

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Money and Resources

Develop a budget Estimate with high, middle, and lower

quality products – offer a range of solutions

Extra costs Shipping Travel Extra parts such as nails, screws,

resistors Material costs and laborHave someone be responsible for managing the budgets and financial aspects

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Document As You Go

Document milestones as they occurLeave time at the end for reviewing, not writing

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Team Roles

Roles Project Leader or Monitor Procurement Financial Officer Liaison

Project Management Software

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Project Leader or MonitorDesignate a leader, or rotate leadersMonitor and track progress of milestonesMaintains timelinesIncreases likelihood of meeting goals

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ProcurementLearns purchasing systemTracks team orders

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Financial Officer

Manages teams expensesCreates original budgetMakes identifying budgetary problems easier

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Liaison

Responsible for keeping everyone informed about the progress of the plan and any changesThis includes outside customers, management, professors, etc.