Benefits of project management

1. Benefits of
Project Management
Lauro Canonica
9th July 2014

2. Table of Contents
1. Why do projects fail?
2. Project managers versus project administrators
3. A real case example
4. Why is project management underestimated?
5. How can we convince people?
6. Conclusions
7. Questions and answers
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3. Table of Contents
1. Why do projects fail?
2. Project managers versus project administrators
3. A real case example
4. Why is project management underestimated?
5. How can we convince people?
6. Conclusions
7. Questions and answers
7/9/2014 Benefits of Project Management 3

4. Project Success Rates
(Standish Chaos Report 2009)
Challenged:
Delivered late
or/and overbudget
44%
Successful:
Delivered on time
and on budget
32%
Failed:
Canceled prior to
completion
24%
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5. Why do projects fail?
Lack of User Input 12.8%
Incomplete Requirements & Specifications 12.3%
Changing Requirements & Specifications 11.8%
Lack of Executive Support 7.5%
Lack of Resources 6.4%
Unrealistic Expectations 5.9%
Unclear Objectives 5.3%
Unrealistic Time Frames 4.3%
New Technology 3.7%
Technology Incompetence 7.0%
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6. Project Management Issues
versus Technical Issues
Project management issues 89.3%
Technical issues 10.7%
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7. Table of Contents
1. Why do projects fail?
2. Project managers versus project administrators
3. A real case example
4. Why is project management underestimated?
5. How can we convince people?
6. Conclusions
7. Questions and answers
7/9/2014 Benefits of Project Management 7

8. Project Manager’s View
(PMBOK standard)
Initiation
Project
Management
Processes
Planning
Execution
Monitoring
and
Controlling
Closing
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9. Project Administrator’s View
Initiation
Project
Management
Processes
Planning
Execution
Monitoring
and
Controlling
Closing
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10. Which tasks are not done by a project
administrator?
• Initiation:
Analysis of the situation, goal definition, stakeholder management,
requirements gathering.
• Planning:
Scope definition, team building, resources selection, preparation of Work
Breakdown Structure (WBS).
• Executing:
Direct execution, manage team, perform quality assurance.
• Control:
measureproject variables, identify corrective actions, manage change
requests, manage customer expectations.
• Closing:
Finalize all activities, share the lessons learned.
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11. Table of Contents
1. Why do projects fail?
2. Project managers versus project administrators
3. A real case example
4. Why is project management underestimated?
5. How can we convince people?
6. Conclusions
7. Questions and answers
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12. A real case, the setup
• Creation of a new web site with a content
management system (CMS)
• Plan:
300’000 CHF, 3 months
• Team:
- Customer representative
- Team leader
- 4 developers
- No project manager (to save on costs)
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13. A real case, the result
• Partial success:
- product delivered
- over budget: 500’000 CHF (+200’000 CHF)
- late: 5 months (+2 months)
- customer and developers frustrated
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14. A real case, what happened (1)
• Missing analysis of the situation
- Technology discontinued
• Incomplete goal definition
- new goals were added during development
• Missing stakeholder management
- Unexpected team changes
- Missing information
• Missing proper requirements gathering
- Only high level documentation
- Requirements per email
- loss of information
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15. A real case, what happened (2)
• Missing scope definition
- Continuous changes
- Developer and customer frustrated
- Loss in trust
• Missing change management
- Disagreements (bug, change or planned?)
• Missing management of customer expectations
- The system is too slow
• Missing “lessons learned”
- documentation
- sharing of experiences
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16. Table of Contents
1. Why do projects fail?
2. Project managers versus project administrators
3. A real case example
4. Why is project management underestimated?
5. How can we convince people?
6. Conclusions
7. Questions and answers
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17. Top reasons why Project Management
is underestimated
• The project is too small and easy!
Don't check only technical complexity. The project situation and the
environment can be very complex.
• A project manager is too expensive!
A failed project is more expensive.
• Our team leader is a software guru who can take care of the
project!
Project management requires many soft skills.
• A project manager wastes everybody's time with meetings
and documentation!
A qualified and experienced project manager reduces the amount of
meetings and useless documentation.
• We want to start immediately, we have no time for
management!
Did you ever hear the joke: Sorry I'm too busy to be efficient?
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18. Table of Contents
1. Why do projects fail?
2. Project managers versus project administrators
3. A real case example
4. Why is project management underestimated?
5. How can we convince people?
6. Conclusions
7. Questions and answers
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19. How do we promote Project
Management?
• Present the results of the Standish Chaos
Report.
• Request that all projects are managed by
certified project managers.
• Show a quick comparison of project costs as
shown in the next slide.
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20. Project cost example
• Plan A:
1 Project manager at 50%, 4 developers 100% for 5 months
(1000 CHF per day)
Cost: 100 days*(500 + 4*1000)CHF = 450’000 CHF
• Plan B:
4 developers 100% for 5 months. (Risk of 2 months delay)
Cost: 100 days*(4*1000)CHF = 400’000 (no delay)
Cost: 140 days*(4*1000)CHF = 560’000 (2 months delay)
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21. Table of Contents
1. Why do projects fail?
2. Project managers versus project administrators
3. A real case example
4. Why is project management underestimated?
5. How can we convince people?
6. Conclusions
7. Questions and answers
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22. Conclusions
Advantages of Project Management:
• Reduces costs and risks.
• Makes sure that what is developed is what the
customer needs.
• Increases the happiness of customers,
developers and users.
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23. Table of Contents
1. Why do projects fail?
2. Project managers versus project administrators
3. A real case example
4. Why is project management underestimated?
5. How can we convince people?
6. Conclusions
7. Questions and answers
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24. Questions and Answers
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