Chapter 11 - Project Management ME101 Dr. Nhut Tan Ho 1

Lecture Objectives and Activities Discuss the importance and components of project planning Introduce tools for planning and managing project Active learning activities group-assignment: Create GANNT charts 2

Introduction “Failure to plan is planning to fail.” A good plan is one of the most important attributes of successful teams and projects. Projects should be organized systematically. 3

Eight Questions that can be Addressed with a Plan What does your team do first? What should come next? How many people do you need to accomplish the tasks? What resources do you need? How long will it take? When can your team get the tasks completed? When will the project be finished? How do we know we’re done with project? 4

Creating a Project Charter First step: a project summary defining what your project is and when you will know when it is done Elements include Deliverables Planning information Tasks and time needed Milestones Personnel and roles Budget 5

Task Definitions and Organization Identify the completion tasks to achieve the objectives and outcomes. Example: Plan Design Build Deliver Determine task relationships and sequencing 6

Defining Times Include the full time needed for tasks As a student, you don’t have a full eight-hour work day every day Break tasks into week segments Weekday and/or weekend Class periods Break tasks into short time periods Be conservative with your time estimates 7

Milestones Deadlines for deliverables Monitoring of your plans progress Completion of subcomponents 8

Project Evaluation and Planning Technique (PERT) Charts Each task is represented by a box containing a brief description of and duration for the task The boxes can be laid out just as the project plan is laid out Useful as a “what if” tool during planning stages 9

PERT Chart Example: Complete BS ME Degree in 4 Years 10 Start ME Program Complete Math, Physics, Chemistry Courses 1 year Complete ME, EE, CE Courses 3 years Complete GE Courses 2 years Complete ME Program Critical path (in red) is the longest string of dependent project tasks Tasks on critical path will hold up project completion if there are delayed

PERT Chart Example 11

Gantt Charts Popular project management charting method for people to understand your team’s progress relative to your plan Horizontal bar chart Tasks vs. dates Example GANTT Chart 12

Team Activity: GANTT Chart Examine the sample GANTT Chart in the Design Packet (page 13) and create a GANTT Chart for your project (30 minutes) Present your chart to the class (5 minutes) 13

Details, Details Remember Murphy’s Law - “Anything that can go wrong, will.” Leave time to fix debug or fix errors Don’t assume things will fit together the first time Leave time for parts malfunction and order/delivery 14

Personnel Distribution Get the right people on the right tasks Assign people after developing a draft of the plan Balance the work between everyone Weekly updates – does everyone understand what they’re doing and is everyone still on task? 15

Team Roles Roles Project Leader or Monitor Liaison Others: Procurement/Financial officer Project Documentation Document milestones as they occur Leave time at the end for reviewing, not writing 16

Lecture Recap: Project Management Engineering projects are complex, requiring systematic project management Tasks must come together to meet deadlines and satisfy requirements Next lecture: Engineering Design Process This week assignment: Teamwork for problems