Handbook of Project Management

A complete guide for beginners to professionals

Colin Dobie

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367718275
• eBook ISBN: 9781000257328
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

The practical approach that Colin Dobie prescribes is as applicable to the experienced project manager as it is anyone entering the field.'

Ernest J. Nielsen, Brigham Young University, USA

A no-nonsense approach to project management. Essential reading for all project managers and project team members.'

Peter Dechaineux, Inaugural Chairman, Australian Institute of Project Management, Australia

Excellent coverage of all the material required in easy to follow steps. It places activities in logical context. Essential reading for China's many project managers.'

Professor Yuan, Chairman, Asia-Pacific Federation of Project Management.'

Colin Dobie has very comprehensively detailed out the intricacies needed to manage projects. Well done.'

Adesh Jain, President, PM Guru Inc. and President, IPMA

Whether you are creating a new product or building a power station, you need to know how to manage the myriad elements in a project to ensure it is completed on time, on budget and to a high standard.

A Handbook of Project Management is a practical and comprehensive guide for project managers working on small and large projects in any field.

Colin Dobie systematically maps the four phases in the project lifecycle: initiation, planning, implementation and finalisation. He outlines the processes and techniques of the nine functions of project management, and how they are applied during the project lifecycle. He also explains what a project manager is expected to deliver, and the roles of team leaders and team members.

Drawing on international standards and bodies of knowledge, as well as Colin Dobie's extensive industry and training experience in several countries, A Handbook of Project Management is an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to develop their skills in project management. It is extensively illustrated with examples, templates, exercises and checklists, making it valuable resource for experienced project managers.

Part I
AN OVERVIEW

CHAPTER 1
WHAT IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT?

PROJECTS VERSUS OPERATIONS

Beginning with the obvious question, what is a project?, immediately raises another—what is the difference between an ‘operation’ and a ‘project’? Both involve work, and both are a means to achieving results or outcomes that contribute to overall goals and objectives. Operations and projects share many characteristics. For example, they are:

• performed by people;
• constrained by limited resources; and
• planned, executed and controlled.

Operations are made up of processes that are refined and repeatable. Each step in the operation has been performed before, and produces a predictable output. In manufacturing, for example, these steps, or processes, can be refined to a point where their outcome is so predictable it can be forecast to almost nil error.

So a major distinction between operations and projects is that the first is ongoing and repetitive while the second is temporary and unique.

‘A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.’ (Project Management Institute 2004)

Because it is temporary, every project has a definite beginning and end, or a definite lifecycle. ‘Unique’ means that the product or service is different in some way from all other products or services (i.e., its predecessors are produced to a proven formula, while this new project is creating that formula).

Many organisations believe that they are managing projects when in actual fact they are managing operational processes. The reverse is also true. Many times outcomes are attempted through operational processes that should have been defined as the start/end of a project. The differences between projects and operational processes need to be well understood. They are shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1: The difference between projects and operations management

Projects	Operations
Unique	Repetitive
Finite	Ongoing
Revolutionary change	Evolutionary change
Unbalanced objectives	Balanced objectives
Transient resources	Stable resources
Flexibility	Stability
Risk and uncertainty	Experience

One is not better or worse than the other; it is simply that projects and operations must work effectively together, and managers must realise each is managed in a fundamentally different way.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PROJECTS

Projects are undertaken at all levels within an organisation. They may involve a single person or many thousands. They may require less than 100 hours to complete or more than 1000 days. Projects may involve a single unit of one organisation or may cross organisational boundaries, as in joint ventures and partnering.

Projects are unique in that each one will have different environmental and other factors imposed on it regardless of how often the same project objective is sought. As well, all projects are finite. Projects generally bring about change that is revolutionary rather than evolutionary, and may have an unequal or unbalanced range of objectives to be achieved (where unknowns and conflicting priorities contribute to inequalities in objectives definition across multiple projects).

Projects rely on their flexibility in planning and quality processes to ensure that a range of options is maintained in order to achieve a desired outcome. This is because project planning and control centres on the identification of levels of uncertainty within which risks demand the incorporation of contingency plans.

CHARACTERISTICS OF OPERATIONS

Operations, on the other hand, are usually repetitive and unbridled by time limitations. They rely on evolutionary change (if change is in fact sought), and generally attract a range of balanced objectives, many of which are achieved more than once.

Operations processes most often require an established range of resources (physical, human, monetary and time), which underscores the stability of much process work. Because of this, the major driving forces in the achievement of process outcomes are experience and skills not entirely attuned to change management.

Exercise 1.1

It is vital to recognise the distinction between projects and operations.

Using your workplace as a case study, list separately some current projects and ongoing operations. Identify the distinctions between the two. A useful way to approach this exercise would be to conduct a brainstorming session with work colleagues on the perceived differences between projects and operations. You might also consider raising the issue as a matter for policy clarification with other staff members.

Note that a project, once completed, may deliver outcomes that become part of ongoing operations. Identify some instances in your workplace where this has been the case.

WHAT IS CORPORATE PROJECT MANAGEMENT?

Corporate project management has the connotation that organisations today are recognising project management as a core function contributing to the achievement of corporate goals and objectives. Many people in the organisation contribute to project outputs, from senior managers to operational specialists. In this context, corporate project management (hereafter referred to as ‘project management’) has developed as a profession from a variety of industries and organisations embracing the process, techniques and tools involved, to deliver something that is effectively new, or innovative—in fact to deliver anything involving change. As a result, project management is now making a significant contribution to the practice of management.

Project management has been adopted by some organisations, as an integral part of the general management of the corporation/enterprise, along with the other core functions of financial, human resource and assets management. Others have taken a whole-of-lifecycle approach of plan–execute–operate, and have adopted a more manage-by-projects approach. In a continuum between operations and projects-based methods of doing business, these organisations tend strongly towards the latter, and consider sound general management of their business plans, programs, projects and works programs as best undertaken as ‘projects’.

ORIGINS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Since ancient times, which saw the construction of wonders such as the Great Pyramids, people have been undertaking planned projects. More recently, construction of ships and developments such as the electric light bulb and steam-power generation, for instance, would have been managed as projects. However, modern project management first appeared with the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb. In the past 60 or 70 years since then, project management techniques have been used to streamline processes associated with taking an idea or requirement from concept through to delivered product.

Significant developments that meet everyone’s idea of a project include the Apollo Space Program, the Polaris Submarine project, motor vehicle industry projects, and the development of commercial and military jet engines and aircraft. All had significant engineering content, again conforming to what constituted a ‘project’. This has changed more recently, with project management used in such diverse contents as advertising campaigns, implementation of information systems, specific research outcomes, corporate restructuring and capital acquisitions.

The following is a brief history of the evolution of project management since the 1950s. Some of the concepts and terminology may be unfamiliar at this stage, although each will be introduced and explained in due course as the book progresses.

1950s and 1960s

• Worldwide post-Second World War building and reconstruction
• Emphasis on defence, engineering and construction applications for project management
• Self-contained autonomous project teams
• Network analysis and planning techniques developed, including the critical path method (CPM) and the method and program evaluation review technique (PERT)
• Professional project management bodies founded

1970s

• Expansion of project management techniques into corporate business
• Professional definition of project management
• Development of a systems analysis and management approach
• Introduction of work and organisation breakdown structures and project and matrix management techniques
• Formation of professional project management associations

1980s

• Formalisation of approach to project management
• Development of the eight project management functions model
• More emphasis placed on front-end analysis, project lifecycle costing, the influence of external factors (such as stakeholders), and change management
• Professional certification/registration of project managers

1990s

• Incorporation of project management into corporate strategies
• Management by projects (i.e., organisations grouping and managing major activities as projects)
• Development of the ninth project management function—integration
• The importance of balancing the needs of all stakeholders (stakeholder management and integration) recognised
• Project process enhancements, including the quality standards relationship to project delivery cycles
• Enhancement of computer-based project management tools and techniques
• Application of project management to ‘soft’ projects across a broader range of industries and contexts
• Team building and empowerment
• Development of multi-project management techniques
• In...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of acronyms and abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I: An overview
• Part II: Initiation
• Part III: Planning
• Part IV: Delivery
• Part V: Finalisation
• Appendices
• References
• Index