This document discusses the concepts of projects and project management. It begins with definitions of a project as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Key aspects of projects mentioned include them being limited in time, goal-centric, and impacting existing organizations. Examples of projects like building a house or developing a new product are provided. The document then discusses what constitutes a project team and management. It provides insights into evaluating different project models and highlights factors like control, discipline, and organization type that determine the best model. The rest of the document offers perspectives on project failures, principles of high reliability organizations, and practical tools for project planning like the work breakdown structure, Gantt chart, PERT planning and managing scope.

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Project Management
Prof. dr. ir. Jan Devos
Universiteit Gent, Campus Kortrijk
Graaf Karel De Goedelaan 5
BE-8500 KORTRIJK - BELGIUM
T: +32 56 24 12 72
e-mail: jang.devos@ugent.be
linkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jangdevos
Blog: jangdevos.wordpress.org
Twitter: @jangdevos

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There are only 3 simple rules for conducting a project.
Unfortunately,
nobody knows
what they are…

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What is a project?
The tunnel boring machines were
specially designed for
excavating the chalk marl rock which
geological surveys had shown to lie
beneath the seabed along the
proposed tunnel route. However,
several factors combined to make
this a unique challenge for
the machines:
•The length of the tunnel to be
excavated undersea ( in
excess of 20 km ).
•The high rate of advance
required to meet the
construction programme
requirements.
•The possibility of unexpected
ground conditions - such as
an unsurveyed borehole.
At completion, it was estimated that the whole project
cost around £10 billion.
Work stated on both sides in 1987, and the fixed link was
opened in 1994 - nearly 2 years late, and way over
budget.

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What is a project?
Program Apollo was a series of human spaceflight
missions undertaken by the United States of America
using the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn launch vehicle,
conducted during the years 1961–1972.
It was devoted to the goal of landing a man
on the Moon and returning him safely to
Earth within the decade of the 1960s.
This goal was achieved with the Apollo 11 mission in
July 1969. The program continued into the early 1970s
to carry out the initial hands-on scientific exploration of
the Moon, with a total of six successful landingsApollo Program insigne
The cost of the entire Apollo program: USD $25.4 billion -1969 Dollars ($135-
billion in 2005 Dollars).

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Apollo vs Space Shuttle ?

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• Temporary organization
• Limited in time
• Goal centric
• Impact on the existing organization
What is a project?
a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique
product, service or result. (Project Management Institute)
a temporary organization that is created for the purpose of
delivering one or more business products according to a
specified Business Case (Prince2)

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• Examples of projects
• Building a house
• Building / installing a machine
• Developing a new product
• Launching a new product, concept, …
• Bachelor thesis
• Masterthesis – PhD thesis
• …

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A project team: temporary organization
(Hackman, 2009, Harvard University)

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A project team: temporary organization
Project Management Team
Project Board (Steering Committee)
Project Manager: day-to-day basis
Different ‘roles’: Team Members
Project Assurance
Project Quality
Reviewers / Testers
Designers
Secretary
Architectures
PR
Sales & Marketing

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A project is limited in time
• Milestones and milestone products (deliverables)
• Wanted, Planned and Realized (Earned Value Analysis)
• Baseline, Stages, Critical path
Clear starting point
• Clear finishing point

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A project is goal centric
• Business Case (Why are we doing this?)
• Feasibility Study
• Requirements (user needs)
• Deliverables
• Acceptance Criteria
• Outcome
Beware of:
• Scope (creep)
• Runaway projects

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Improvising Task centric
Project centric
Assurance of the outcome

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Improvising Project Centric Task Centric
Flexibility
No procedures
Creative/ Innovative
No structure
Goal oriented
Processes
Planning / Analyzing
Change management
Efficient
Procedures
Control
Hierarchy

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Which model is the best ?
Depends on the situation
• What results do we need ?
• Control in time and budget
• Bringing disciplines together
• Type of organization
• Type of product/service

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What is project management?

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The planning, monitoring and control of all aspects of
a project and the motivation of all those involved in it
to achieve the project objectives on time and to the
specified cost, quality and performance. (Prince2)
PM-triangle

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(Tom Cross, HBR)

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Project Management Failures

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Project Management Failures

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Project Management Failures

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Small projects have more chance to succeed

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Project Management
• Clear roles and responsibilities
• Management capabilities and
techniques

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What is succes in project management?
Answer: do not fail !
But failure is the outcome of a human process
All failures are “expectation failures” = the
failure to meet the expectations of the
stakeholders

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High Reliability Organizations

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Organizing for High Reliability: Processes of
Collective Mindfulness (Weick, 1999)
• Preoccupation with failure (“Failure is not an option”)
• Reluctance to simplify interpretation
(beware of ‘frameworks’, ‘models’, ‘mindsets’, …)
• Sensitivity to operations (“situational awareness”)
• Commitment to resilience (“continuous management
of fluctuations”)
• Under specification of structures (“no bureaucracy”)

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Lessons from HROs
• The expectation of surprise is an organizational resource
because it promotes attentiveness and discovery
• Anomalous events should be treated as outcomes rather
than as accidents, to encourage search for sources and
causes
• Errors should be made as conspicuous as possible to
undermine self-deception and concealment
• Reliability requires diversity, duplication, overlap, and a varied
response repertoire, whereas efficiency requires
homogeneity, specialization, non-redundancy and
standardization
• Interpersonal skills are just as important in HROs as are
technical skills

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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Break your assignment down in manageable tasks
• Assign a deliverable to each task
• Define each task with clear objectives
• Assign a execution time to each task
• Assign a cost to each task
• Assign resources to each task
• Tasks who are not in the WBS are out-of-scope
Do a stepwise refinement of some tasks in the WBS

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Define the goals according to the SMART principle
S Specific / Significant / Simple
M Measurable / Manageable
A Achievable / Appropriate / Attainable
R Realistic / Relevant
T Timely / Trackable

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GANTT chart (H.L. Gantt (1861-1919) – assistant of F. Taylor)
• WBS = set of all tasks
• Presentation of all tasks on a time line
• Beginning and Ending time
• Linking of tasks (concurrent tasks are possible)
PERT planning (Program Evaluation and Review Technique)
• Origin: US DoD (1958)
• Extra: TOTAL time needed to finished the project
• Critical path = the longest path of planned tasks to the
end of the project, and the earliest and latest that each task
can start and finish without making the project longer
Project Management Practices

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GANTT chart

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PERT planning

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Scope
Poor scope definition is the
major contributing factor to
cost overruns in the
engineering and construction
industry.
The effect of “creeping scope” is
a major cause of cost overruns

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PRINCE2, Projects IN Controlled Environments,
Project management method covering the organisation, management and
control of projects.
Process Based & Product Based
Improved responsibility, authority and accountability reducing confusion
Divide the project into manageable stages for more accurate planning

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some practical hints to kill a project
Hint 1 - Don’t define a clear goal

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some practical hints to kill a project
Hint 2 – Time is of no
importance

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some practical hints to kill a project
Hint 3 – Scope is of no importance, try
to do everything, and keep adding
specs, while you are busy and in the
mood !

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some practical hints to kill a project
Hint 4 – Budget is
of no importance

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some practical hints to kill a project
Hint 5 – Organize
meetings but only to
look at each other or
to sleep.
Important decisions
are made in the
restrooms

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some practical hints to kill a project
Hint 6 – Avoid using
tools to support your
project. Don’t use
your computer.

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• PM does not guaranteed success nor eliminates failures
• PM too much focused on ‘how-to-do’
• Management of meaning iso management of control ?
• Critical perspective on projects: focus on values (technology is
not neutral), ethics and morality equally important than
efficiency & effectiveness ?
• Research on SMEs: Trust vs Control ? (Devos, 2009)
• “Political” PLC
2003, The chimpanzees’ tea party: a new metaphor for project manager (Drummond & Hodgson)
2006, New Possibilities for Project Management Theory: A Critical Engagement (Cicmil & Hodgson)

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Inception
Design & Dev.
PLC Wild enthusiasm
Search for the
guilty
“P”PLC

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