Projects and project management operate in an environment broader than that of the project itself. The project management team must understand this broader context—managing the day-to-day activities of the project is necessary for success but not sufficient. This chapter describes key aspects of the project management context not covered elsewhere in this document. The topics included here are:
2.1 Project Phases and the Project Life Cycle
2.2 Project Stakeholders
2.3 Organizational Influences
2.4 Key General Management Skills
2.5 Social-Economic-Environmental Influences
2.2 Project Stakeholders
2.3 Organizational Influences
2.4 Key General Management Skills
2.5 Social-Economic-Environmental Influences
2.1 PROJECT PHASES AND THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE
Because projects are unique undertakings, they involve a degree of uncertainty. Organizations performing projects will usually divide each project into several project phases to improve management control and provide for links to the ongoing operations of the performing organization. Collectively, the project phases are known as the project life cycle.
2.1.1 Characteristics of Project Phases
Each project phase is marked by completion of one or more deliverables. A deliverable is a tangible, verifiable work product such as a feasibility study, a detail design, or a working prototype. The deliverables, and hence the phases, are part of a generally sequential logic designed to ensure proper definition of the product of the project.
The conclusion of a project phase is generally marked by a review of both key deliverables and project performance to date, to a) determine if the project should continue into its next phase and b) detect and correct errors cost effectively. These phase-end reviews are often called phase exits, stage gates, or kill points.
Each project phase normally includes a set of defined deliverables designed to establish the desired level of management control. The majority of these items are related to the primary phase deliverable, and the phases typically take their names from these items: requirements, design, build, test, startup, turnover, and others, as appropriate. Several representative project life cycles are
described in Section 2.1.3.
described in Section 2.1.3.
2.1.2 Characteristics of the Project Life Cycle
The project life cycle serves to define the beginning and the end of a project. For example, when an organization identifies an opportunity to which it would like to respond, it will often authorize a needs assessment and/or a feasibility study to decide if it should undertake a project. The project life-cycle definition will determine whether the feasibility study is treated as the first project phase or as a separate, standalone project.
The project life-cycle definition will also determine which transitional actions at the beginning and the end of the project are included and which are not. In this manner, the project life-cycle definition can be used to link the project to the ongoing operations of the performing organization.
The phase sequence defined by most project life cycles generally involves some form of technology transfer or handoff such as requirements to design, construction to operations, or design to manufacturing. Deliverables from the preceding phase are usually approved before work starts on the next phase. However, a subsequent phase is sometimes begun prior to approval of the previous phase deliverables when the risks involved are deemed acceptable. This practice of overlapping phases is often called fast tracking.
Project life cycles generally define:
- What technical work should be done in each phase (e.g., is the work of the architect part of the definition phase or part of the execution phase?).
- Who should be involved in each phase (e.g., implementers who need to be involved with requirements and design).
Most project life-cycle descriptions share a number of common characteristics:
- Cost and staffing levels are low at the start, higher toward the end, and drop rapidly as the project draws to a conclusion. This pattern is illustrated in Figure 2-1.
- The probability of successfully completing the project is lowest, and hence risk and uncertainty are highest, at the start of the project. The probability of successful completion generally gets progressively higher as the project continues.
- The ability of the stakeholders to influence the final characteristics of the project’s product and the final cost of the project is highest at the start and gets progressively lower as the project continues. A major contributor to this phenomenon is that the cost of changes and error correction generally increases as the project continues.
Care should be taken to distinguish the project life cycle from the product life cycle. For example, a project undertaken to bring a new desktop computer to market is but one phase or stage of the product life cycle.
Although many project life cycles have similar phase names with similar deliverables required, few are identical. Most have four or five phases, but some have nine or more. Even within a single application area, there can be significant variations—one organization’s software development life cycle may have a single design phase while another’s has separate phases for functional and detail design.
Subprojects within projects may also have distinct project life cycles. For example, an architectural firm hired to design a new office building is first involved in the owner’s definition phase when doing the design, and in the owner’s implementation phase when supporting the construction effort. The architect’s design project, however, will have its own series of phases from conceptual development through definition and implementation to closure. The architect may even treat designing the facility and supporting the construction as separate projects with their own distinct phases.
Subprojects within projects may also have distinct project life cycles. For example, an architectural firm hired to design a new office building is first involved in the owner’s definition phase when doing the design, and in the owner’s implementation phase when supporting the construction effort. The architect’s design project, however, will have its own series of phases from conceptual development through definition and implementation to closure. The architect may even treat designing the facility and supporting the construction as separate projects with their own distinct phases.
2.1.3 Representative Project Life Cycles
The following project life cycles have been chosen to illustrate the diversity of approaches in use. The examples shown are typical; they are neither recommended nor preferred. In each case, the phase names and major deliverables are those described by the author for each of the figures.
The following project life cycles have been chosen to illustrate the diversity of approaches in use. The examples shown are typical; they are neither recommended nor preferred. In each case, the phase names and major deliverables are those described by the author for each of the figures.
- Concept and technology development—paper studies of alternative concepts for meeting a mission need; development of subsystems/components and concept/technology demonstration of new system concepts. Ends with selection of a system architecture and a mature technology to be
used.
- System development and demonstration—system integration; risk reduction; demonstration of engineering development models; development and early operational test and evaluation. Ends with system demonstration in an operational environment.
- Production and deployment—low rate initial production (LRIP); complete development of manufacturing capability; phase overlaps with ongoing operations and support.
- Support—this phase is part of the product life cycle, but is really ongoing management. Various projects may be conducted during this phase to improve capability, correct defects, etc.
Construction. Adapted from Morris (1), describes a construction project life cycle, as illustrated in Figure 2-3.
- Feasibility—project formulation, feasibility studies, and strategy design and approval. A go/no-go decision is made at the end of this phase.
- Planning and design—base design, cost and schedule, contract terms and conditions, and detailed planning. Major contracts are let at the end of this phase.
- Construction—manufacturing, delivery, civil works, installation, and testing. The facility is substantially complete at the end of this phase.
- Turnover and startup—final testing and maintenance. The facility is in full operation at the end of this phase. Pharmaceuticals. Murphy (2) describes a project life cycle for pharmaceutical new product development in the United States, as illustrated in Figure 2-4.
- Discovery and screening—includes basic and applied research to identify candidates for preclinical testing.
- Preclinical development—includes laboratory and animal testing to determine safety and efficacy, as well as preparation and filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application.
- Registration(s) workup—includes Clinical Phase I, II, and III tests, as well as preparation and filing of a New Drug Application (NDA).
- Postsubmission activity—includes additional work as required to support Food and Drug Administration review of the NDA.
Software development. There are a number of software life-cycle models in use such as the waterfall model. Muench, et al. (3) describe a spiral model for software development with four cycles and four quadrants, as illustrated in Figure 2-5.
- Proof-of-concept cycle—capture business requirements, define goals for proof of concept, produce conceptual system design and logic design, and construct the proof of concept, produce acceptance test plans, conduct risk analysis, and make recommendations.
- First-build cycle—derive system requirements, define goals for first build, produce logical system design, design and construct the first build, produce system test plans, evaluate the first build, and make recommendations.
- Second-build cycle—derive subsystem requirements, define goals for second build, produce physical design, construct the second build, produce subsystem test plans, evaluate the second build, and make recommendations.
- Final cycle—complete unit requirements and final design, construct final build, and perform unit, subsystem, system, and acceptance tests.
2.2 PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS
Project stakeholders are individuals and organizations that are actively
involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or
negatively affected as a result of project execution or project
completion; they may also exert influence over the project and its
results. The project management team must identify the stakeholders,
determine their requirements, and then manage and influence those
requirements to ensure a successful project. Stakeholder identification
is often especially difficult. For example, is an assembly-line worker
whose future employment depends on the outcome of a new product-design
project a stakeholder?
Key stakeholders on every project include:
- Project manager—the individual responsible for managing the project.
- Customer—the individual or organization that will use the project’s product. There may be multiple layers of customers. For example, the customers for a new pharmaceutical product may include the doctors who prescribe it, the patients who take it, and the insurers who pay for it. In some application areas, customer and user are synonymous, while in others customer refers to the entity purchasing the project’s results and users are those who will directly use the project’s product.
- Performing organization—the enterprise whose employees are most directly involved in doing the work of the project.
- Project team members—the group that is performing the work of the project.
- Sponsor—the individual or group within or external to the performing organization that provides the financial resources, in cash or in kind, for the project.
In addition to these, there are many different names and categories of
project stakeholders—internal and external, owners and funders, sellers
and contractors, team members and their families, government agencies
and media outlets, individual citizens, temporary or permanent lobbying
organizations, and society at large. The naming or grouping of
stakeholders is primarily an aid to identifying which individuals and
organizations view themselves as stakeholders. Stakeholder roles and
responsibilities may overlap, as when an engineering firm provides
financing for a plant that it is designing.
Managing stakeholder expectations may be difficult because stakeholders
often have very different objectives that may come into conflict. For
example:
- The manager of a department that has requested a new management information system may desire low cost, the system architect may emphasize technical excellence, and the programming contractor may be most interested in maximizing its profit.
- The vice president of research at an electronics firm may define new product success as state-of-the-art technology, the vice president of manufacturing may define it as world-class practices, and the vice president of marketing may be primarily concerned with the number of new features.
- The owner of a real estate development project may be focused on timely performance, the local governing body may desire to maximize tax revenue, an environmental group may wish to minimize adverse environmental impacts, and nearby residents may hope to relocate the project.
In general, differences between or among stakeholders should be resolved
in favor of the customer. This does not, however, mean that the needs
and expectations of other stakeholders can or should be disregarded.
Finding appropriate resolutions to such differences can be one of the
major challenges of project management.
2.3 ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCES
Projects are typically part of an organization larger than the
project—corporations, government agencies, health-care institutions,
international bodies, professional associations, and others. Even when
the project is the organization (joint ventures, partnering), the
project will still be influenced by the organization or organizations
that set it up. The maturity of the organization with respect to its
project management systems, culture, style, organizational structure,
and project management office can also influence the project. The
following sections describe key aspects of these larger organizational
structures that are likely to influence the project.
2.3.1 Organizational Systems
Project-based organizations are those whose operations consist primarily
of projects. These organizations fall into two categories:
- Organizations that derive their revenue primarily from performing projects for others—architectural firms, engineering firms, consultants, construction contractors, government contractors, nongovernmental organizations, etc.
- Organizations that have adopted management by projects (see Section 1.3).
- These organizations tend to have management systems in place to facilitate project management. For example, their financial systems are often specifically designed for accounting, tracking, and reporting on multiple simultaneous projects.
Nonproject-based organizations often lack management systems designed
to support project needs efficiently and effectively. The absence of
project-oriented systems usually makes project management more
difficult. In some cases, nonproject-based organizations will have
departments or other subunits that operate as project-based
organizations with systems to match.
The project management team should be acutely aware of how the
organization’s systems affect the project. For example, if the
organization rewards its functional managers for charging staff time to
projects, then the project management team may need to implement
controls to ensure that assigned staff members are being used
effectively on the project.
2.3.2 Organizational Cultures and Styles
Most organizations have developed unique and describable cultures. These cultures are reflected in their shared values, norms, beliefs, and expectations; in their policies and procedures; in their view of authority relationships; and in numerous other factors. Organizational cultures often have a direct influence on the project. For example:
Most organizations have developed unique and describable cultures. These cultures are reflected in their shared values, norms, beliefs, and expectations; in their policies and procedures; in their view of authority relationships; and in numerous other factors. Organizational cultures often have a direct influence on the project. For example:
- A team proposing an unusual or high-risk approach is more likely to secure approval in an aggressive or entrepreneurial organization.
- A project manager with a highly participative style is apt to encounter problems in a rigidly hierarchical organization, while a project manager with an authoritarian style will be equally challenged in a participative organization.
2.3.3 Organizational Structure
The structure of the performing organization often constrains the availability of or terms under which resources become available to the project. Organizational structures can be characterized as spanning a spectrum from functional to projectized, with a variety of matrix structures in between. Figure 2-6 shows key projectrelated characteristics of the major types of enterprise organizational structures. Project organization is discussed in Section 9.1, Organizational Planning.
The classic functional organization, shown in Figure 2-7, is a hierarchy where each employee has one clear superior. Staff members are grouped by specialty, such as production, marketing, engineering, and accounting at the top level, with engineering further subdivided into functional organizations that support the business of the larger organization (e.g., mechanical and electrical). Functional organizations still have projects, but the perceived scope of the project is limited to the boundaries of the function: the engineering department in a functional organization will do its work independent of the manufacturing or marketing departments.
For example, when a new product development is undertaken in a purely functional organization, the design phase is often called a design project and includes only engineering department staff. If questions about manufacturing arise, they are passed up the hierarchy to the department head, who consults with the head of the manufacturing department. The engineering department head then passes the answer back down the hierarchy to the engineering project manager.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the projectized organization, shown in Figure 2-8. In a projectized organization, team members are often collocated. Most of the organization’s resources are involved in project work, and project managers have a great deal of independence and authority. Projectized organizations often have organizational units called departments, but these groups either report directly to the project manager or provide support services to the various projects.
Matrix organizations, as shown in Figures 2-9 through 2-11, are a blend of functional and projectized characteristics. Weak matrices maintain many of the characteristics of a functional organization, and the project manager role is more that of a coordinator or expediter than that of a manager. In similar fashion, strong matrices have many of the characteristics of the projectized organization—full-time project managers with considerable authority and fulltime project administrative staff.
Most modern organizations involve all these structures at various levels, as shown in Figure 2-12. For example, even a fundamentally functional organization may create a special project team to handle a critical project. Such a team may have many of the characteristics of a project in a projectized organization. The team may include full-time staff from different functional departments, it may develop its own set of operating procedures, and it may operate outside the standard, formalized reporting structure.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the projectized organization, shown in Figure 2-8. In a projectized organization, team members are often collocated. Most of the organization’s resources are involved in project work, and project managers have a great deal of independence and authority. Projectized organizations often have organizational units called departments, but these groups either report directly to the project manager or provide support services to the various projects.
Matrix organizations, as shown in Figures 2-9 through 2-11, are a blend of functional and projectized characteristics. Weak matrices maintain many of the characteristics of a functional organization, and the project manager role is more that of a coordinator or expediter than that of a manager. In similar fashion, strong matrices have many of the characteristics of the projectized organization—full-time project managers with considerable authority and fulltime project administrative staff.
Most modern organizations involve all these structures at various levels, as shown in Figure 2-12. For example, even a fundamentally functional organization may create a special project team to handle a critical project. Such a team may have many of the characteristics of a project in a projectized organization. The team may include full-time staff from different functional departments, it may develop its own set of operating procedures, and it may operate outside the standard, formalized reporting structure.
2.3.4 Project Office
There is a range of uses for what constitutes a project office. A project office may operate on a continuum from providing support functions to project managers in the form of training, software, templates, etc. to actually being responsible for the results of the project.
2.4 KEY GENERAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS
General management is a broad subject dealing with every aspect of managing an ongoing enterprise. Among other topics, it includes:
There is a range of uses for what constitutes a project office. A project office may operate on a continuum from providing support functions to project managers in the form of training, software, templates, etc. to actually being responsible for the results of the project.
2.4 KEY GENERAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS
General management is a broad subject dealing with every aspect of managing an ongoing enterprise. Among other topics, it includes:
- Finance and accounting, sales and marketing, research and development, and manufacturing and distribution.
- Strategic planning, tactical planning, and operational planning.
- Organizational structures, organizational behavior, personnel administration, compensation, benefits, and career paths.
- Managing work relationships through motivation, delegation, supervision, team building, conflict management, and other techniques.
- Managing oneself through personal time management, stress management, and other techniques.
General management skills provide much of the foundation for building project management skills. They are often essential for the project manager. On any given project, skill in any number of general management areas may be required. This section describes key general management skills that are highly likely to affect most projects and that are not covered elsewhere in this document.
These skills are well documented in the general management literature, and their application is fundamentally the same on a project.
There are also many general management skills that are relevant only on certain projects or in certain application areas. For example, team member safety is critical on virtually all construction projects and of little concern on most software development projects.
2.4.1 Leading
Kotter (4) distinguishes between leading and managing while emphasizing the need for both: one without the other is likely to produce poor results. He says that managing is primarily concerned with “consistently producing key results expected by stakeholders,” while leading involves:
There are also many general management skills that are relevant only on certain projects or in certain application areas. For example, team member safety is critical on virtually all construction projects and of little concern on most software development projects.
2.4.1 Leading
Kotter (4) distinguishes between leading and managing while emphasizing the need for both: one without the other is likely to produce poor results. He says that managing is primarily concerned with “consistently producing key results expected by stakeholders,” while leading involves:
- Establishing direction—developing both a vision of the future and strategies for producing the changes needed to achieve that vision.
- Aligning people—communicating the vision by words and deeds to all those whose cooperation may be needed to achieve the vision.
- Motivating and inspiring—helping people energize themselves to overcome political, bureaucratic, and resource barriers to change.
On a project, particularly a larger project, the project manager is generally expected to be the project’s leader as well. Leadership is not, however, limited to the project manager: it may be demonstrated by many different individuals at many different times during the project. Leadership must be demonstrated at all levels of the project (project leadership, technical leadership, and team
leadership).
2.4.2 Communicating
Communicating involves the exchange of information. The sender is responsible for making the information clear, unambiguous, and complete so that the receiver can receive it correctly. The receiver is responsible for making sure that the information is received in its entirety and understood correctly. Communicating has many dimensions:
- Written and oral, listening and speaking.
- Internal (within the project) and external (to the customer, the media, the public, etc.).
- Formal (reports, briefings, etc.) and informal (memos, ad hoc conversations, etc.).
- Vertical (up and down the organization) and horizontal (with peers and partner organization).
The general management skill of communicating is related to, but not the same as, Project Communications Management (described in Chapter 10). Communicating is the broader subject and involves a substantial body of knowledge that is not unique to the project context, for example:
- Sender-receiver models—feedback loops, barriers to communications, etc.
- Choice of media—when to communicate in writing, when to communicate orally, when to write an informal memo, when to write a formal report, etc.
- Writing style—active versus passive voice, sentence structure, word choice, etc.
- Presentation techniques—body language, design of visual aids, etc.
- Meeting management techniques—preparing an agenda, dealing with conflict, etc.
Project Communications Management is the application of these broad concepts to the specific needs of a project—for example, deciding how, when, in what form, and to whom to report project performance.
2.4.3 Negotiating
Negotiating involves conferring with others to come to terms with them or reach an agreement. Agreements may be negotiated directly or with assistance; mediation and arbitration are two types of assisted negotiation.
Negotiations occur around many issues, at many times, and at many levels of the project. During the course of a typical project, project staff is likely to negotiate for any or all of the following:
- Scope, cost, and schedule objectives.
- Changes to scope, cost, or schedule.
- Contract terms and conditions.
- Assignments.
- Resources.
2.4.4 Problem Solving
Problem solving involves a combination of problem definition and decision-making. Problem definition requires distinguishing between causes and symptoms. Problems may be internal (a key employee is reassigned to another project) or external (a permit required to begin work is delayed). Problems may be technical (differences of opinion about the best way to design a product), managerial (a functional group is not producing according to plan), or interpersonal (personality or style clashes).
Decision-making includes analyzing the problem to identify viable solutions, and then making a choice from among them. Decisions can be made or obtained (from the customer, from the team, or from a functional manager). Once made, decisions must be implemented. Decisions also have a time element to them—the “right” decision may not be the “best” decision if it is made too early or too late.
2.4.5 Influencing the Organization
Influencing the organization involves the ability to “get things done.” It requires an understanding of both the formal and informal structures of all the organizations involved—the performing organization, customer, partners, contractors, and numerous others, as appropriate. Influencing the organization also requires an understanding of the mechanics of power and politics.
Both power and politics are used here in their positive senses. Pfeffer (5) defines power as “the potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance, and to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do.” In similar fashion, Eccles et al. (6) say that “politics is about getting collective action from a group of people who may have quite different
interests. It is about being willing to use conflict and disorder creatively. The negative sense, of course, derives from the fact that attempts to reconcile these interests result in power struggles and organizational games that can sometimes take on a thoroughly unproductive life of their own.”
2.5 SOCIAL-ECONOMIC-ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES
Like general management, socioeconomic influences include a wide range of topics and issues. The project management team must understand that current conditions and trends in this area may have a major effect on its project: a small change here can translate, usually with a time lag, into cataclysmic upheavals in the project itself. Of the many potential socioeconomic influences, several major categories that frequently affect projects are described briefly below.
2.5.1 Standards and Regulations
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) differentiates between standards and regulations as follows (7):
- A standard is a “document approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines, or characteristics for products, processes or services with which compliance is not mandatory.” There are numerous standards in use covering everything from thermal stability of hydraulic fluids to the size of computer diskettes.
- A regulation is a “document, which lays down product, process or service characteristics, including the applicable administrative provisions, with which compliance is mandatory.” Building codes are an example of regulations.
Care must be used in discussing standards and regulations since there is a vast gray area between the two; for example:
- Standards often begin as guidelines that describe a preferred approach, and later, with widespread adoption, become de facto regulations (e.g., the use of the Critical Path Method for scheduling major construction projects).
- Compliance may be mandated at different levels (e.g., by a government agency, by the management of the performing organization, or by the project management team).
For many projects, standards and regulations (by whatever definition) are well known, and project plans can reflect their effects. In other cases, the influence is unknown or uncertain and must be considered under Project Risk Management (described in Chapter 11).
2.5.2 Internationalization
As more and more organizations engage in work that spans national boundaries, more and more projects span national boundaries as well. In addition to the traditional concerns of scope, cost, time, and quality, the project management team must also consider the effect of time-zone differences, national and regional holidays, travel requirements for face-to-face meetings, the logistics of teleconferencing, and often volatile political differences.
2.5.3 Cultural Influences
Culture is the “totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought” (8). Every project must operate within a context of one or more cultural norms. This area of influence includes political, economic, demographic, educational, ethical, ethnic, religious, and other areas of practice, belief, and attitudes that affect the way that people and organizations interact.
2.5.4 Social-Economic-Environmental Sustainability
Virtually all projects are planned and implemented in a social, economic, and environmental context, and have intended and unintended positive and/or negative impacts. Organizations are increasingly accountable for impacts resulting from a project (e.g., accidental destruction of archeological sites in a road construction project), as well as for the effects of a project on people, the economy, and the environment long after it has been completed (e.g., a roadway can facilitate the access to and destruction of a once pristine environment).
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