A Brief intro to Project Management What can it do for you Avondale Professional Development 2017 Avondale Professional Development 2017 PM & U PM & U A Brief intro to Project Management What can it do for you Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au Session activities For this session and the one on Thursday at 3pm (also LT1) Some small activities Can work either as a group or individual Would be good to come along to both sessions Laptop could be useful Files for this session can be downloaded at: http://amberwell.net/PD_01.html Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au What is PM? A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to accomplish a unique purpose Project Management (PM) is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Attributes of a Project Purpose Time frame Ownership/stakeholders Resources Roles Interdependent tasks Non-dependant tasks Risks and assumptions etc

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au The Three Forces All project have competing constraints of time, cost, and quality When you will deliver TIME BUDGET QUALITY Goals & Expectations What you will deliver How much it will cost Which of these three is the primary force for your project? Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

What does a PM do? Plans the project Ensure the project is completed on schedule, on budget and to quality Manage administrative details Manage development aspects Oversee quality assurance Manage resources (staff, hardware, software...) Monitor progress against the plan Document, document, document and document.. Consider including up to 20% of budget for doing PM Add contingency in time and budget Project Managers should allow 20% of their time for R&D

A model for your project This is a generic model, but you could choose/make your own adding other phases or items. Progress Reports Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Apple Computer - Multimedia Production Model

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au Defining a project Consider client brief or proposal templates Outline the project’s objectives & outcomes (what is required) Agree on the success criteria and major constraints of the project, in writing with the client (usually ends in a proposal) List the tasks and consider key milestones (Activity based) Estimate time and costs for each task (as accurately as possible) This will give you a good idea of the project’s scope and allow you to work out the critical path of the project Note other items: travel & conferences, research & staff costs software and training, evaluation etc. Identify any obstacles or risks that might thwart the project Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au Tasks list activity Work as a group or individual Write a task list for a simple project For example: Writing a paper with multiple authors Birthday party Building a deck Organising bus trip etc. As you consider the component tasks try to think about them as a progression. Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) A WBS is a way of showing what your project consists of at various levels You start with the top level as the project’s goal Break this down into its constituent tasks You will need to consider granularity (how much to break down the a task into sub-tasks. Depending on project complexity, individual tasks may need breaking down further to make practical sense to those responsible (but not necessarily always on main Gantt) Needed if complex project. In this case we will skip the WBS and go straight to the network diagram

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au Network diagram - A network diagram is planning for making a Gantt chart Try not jump straight into a Gantt chart. Network diagrams can be used for: Showing logical sequence of activities (team communication) Finding the critical path and estimating the project duration Identifying areas for slack and possible problem areas Often the available time will be dictated if the project is running to a definite end date, like writing a conference paper. If your planning shows that you will finish later, then you will need to replan and reduce the time spent on tasks or you may even need to go to stakeholders and tell them you can’t do it (a Gantt chart is a useful tool to show your argument). Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Network diagram - Activity How do we start: Armed with your task list  Arrange the tasks in terms of dependencies – e.g. you must do a particular task, before you can carry out another Construct a network diagram showing the how the tasks fit into the project time-wise (which tasks are dependant on others Assign a time for doing each task One way to do this in a group is using post-it notes on a whiteboard etc.

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au Network diagram Xxxx Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Critical Path (project length) With your network diagram you can figure out the critical path The critical path is the longest path where tasks are dependant on previous tasks being completed. The critical path also shows you the shortest time the project can be completed in. Assess task dependencies and draw critical path (longest path time wise) though your diagram Add up the times and that will be the shortest time to complete Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au THANK YOU Questions Next Session we build a Gantt - Thursday 3:00pm (same place) Bring your laptop if you want to follow along while I demonstrate a example Gantt in Excel Files for this and the next session can be downloaded at: http://amberwell.net/PD_01.html Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au Next session Thursday 3:00pm (same place) Bring your laptop if you want to follow along while creating a example Gantt in Excel Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Scheduling & Gantt charts Can use Excel or other Gantt softwares (MS Project, FastTrack) Three reasons for doing a Gantt chart Planning Communicating the big picture Monitoring Progress

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au Doing the Gantt Now we will look at constructing a basic Gantt Chart in Excel The steps used today are explained in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjxL_hQn5w0 Files for this and the next session can be downloaded at: http://amberwell.net/PD_01.html Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au THANK YOU Questions Files for this and the next session can be downloaded at: http://amberwell.net/PD_01.html Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au

Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au Title Xxxx Jack Seddon – john.seddon@avondale.edu.au