Project Management Karl A. Smith University of Minnesota MOT 8221 Spring, 2002

Project Life-Cycle Hands-On Construction Project Simply Supported Beam Groups of Three or Four

3 Team Member Roles Task Recorder Process Recorder Materials Manager

Simply Supported Beam Specification: Free Span > 65 cm Concentrated Load located at Beam Center Final Design May Contain ONLY: One sheet of beam material One file folder label Beam may NOT be attached to supports

5 Project Management Heuristics--Examples Identify the weak link and Allocate resources to the weak link Freeze the design--at some stage in the project (when about 75% of the time or resources are used up) the design must be frozen Discuss the process and ask meta-level questions, e.g., What are we doing? Why are we doing it? How does it help?

Group Processing B Plus/Delta Format B Plus Things That Group Did Well Delta Things Group Could Improve

The prevailing view of the project life cycle is that projects go through distinct phases, such as: Conceiving and defining the project Planning the project Implementing the plan Completing and evaluating the project Operate and maintain project A typical construction project has the following seven phases (Kerzner, 1998): 1. Planning, data gathering, and procedures 2. Studies and basic engineering 3. Major review 4. Detail engineering 5. Detail engineering/construction overlap 6. Construction 7. Testing and commissioning

8 Project Life Cycle? 1.Wild enthusiasm 2.Disillusionment 3.Total confusion 4.Search for the guilty 5.Punishment of the innocent 6.Praise and honors for the non- participants

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10 The Project 50 – Tom Peters Traditional Create – 10% Sell – 0% Implement – 90% Exit – 0% The Project 50 Create – 30% Sell – 30% Implement – 30% Exit – 10%

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Project Manager’s Role Over the Project Life Cycle: Planning Organizing Staffing Directing Controlling See Smith (2000) p

13 Project Manager's Role 1 Planning -Establish project objectives and performance requirements -Involve key participants in the process -Establish well-defined milestones with deadlines -Build in contingencies to allow for unforeseen problems -Prepare formal agreements to deal with changes -Clearly define responsibilities, schedules, and budgets 1 Oberlender, G.D Project management for engineering and construction. New York: McGraw-Hill.

14 Organizing -Develop a work breakdown structure that divides the project into units of work -Create a project organization chart -Clearly define responsibilities, schedules, and budgets

15 Staffing -Define work requirement and seek appropriate managers input when selecting team members -Orient team members to overall project -Seek each team members input to define and agree upon scope, budget, and schedule -Set specific performance expectations with each team member

16 Directing -Coordinate all project components -Display positive attitude -Be available to team members -Investigate potential problems as soon as they arise -Research and allocate necessary resources -Recognize team members good work and guide necessary improvement

17 Controlling Measure project performance by maintaining a record of planned and completed work -Chart planned and completed milestones chart -Chart monthly project costs -Document agreements, meetings, telephone conversations -Communicate regularly with team members