Project Management Professor: Dr. Miguel Alonso Jr.

Outline Introduction Creating a project Charter Task Definitions, Milestones, Defining Times Organizing the tasks PERT Charts, Critical Paths, and Gantt Charts Details, Details Personnel Distribution, Money, and Resources Documentation and Team Roles

Introduction “Failure to plan is planning to fail” Questions that should be addressed in a project plan What do you/team do first? What comes next? How many people? Resources? How long? Milestones? What can be completed by end of quarter? When will it be finished? How do we know when were done?

Creating a project charter First step in project planning is to create a project charter (project summary)‏ Description Objectives Outcomes or deliverables Duration Community partners Stakeholders Team membership and roles Planning information

Task definitions Once the project charter has been defined, the next step is to identify the completion tasks to achieve the objectives and outcomes Many tasks will have to be completed for project completion Effective plans are detailed enough to be managed Plan should allow for the following hold members accountable Identify all needed resources, materials, funding, and people Allow project progress to be assessed to make sure it is on schedule Manage people and resources by shifting from one task to another as needed for project completion

Tips for defining tasks Use past experiences Gather data from instructors, advisors, alumni, community parters, and stakeholders for input Include tasks associated with other tasks Example task: pg 338

Milestones A milestone is a deadline for some deliverable Maybe subcomponents for the project, or when all parts are available Each phase of a design project should be a milestone They are useful as checks for the plans progress Should not be left for the end They serve two purposes Meet and celebrate short-term goals, good morale booster Monitoring project progress so that if off schedule, steps can be taken to bring the project back on schedule

Defining Times and organizing the taks Must attach a completion time to each takes Can be measured in working days In defining task times, you should budget in lead times for components Be conservative and allow enough time for the learning curve of a new task If a task spans several weeks, break it up into smaller tasks Optimize the project plan by determining task relationships and prioritizing the tasks

PERT Charts and Critical Paths Project Evaluation and Review Technique Each task is represented by a box that contains a brief description and duration for that task Milestones have rounded edges Lines determines tasks that are part of a series or can be completed in parallel Great tools for initial task completion Critical path is the longest series of tasks Example: Mathematics in an engineering curriculum

Gantt Charts PERT chart is good for a limited set of tasks When the tasks become numerous, a Gantt chart is more appropriate A Gantt chart is a table where the rows represent tasks, and the columns represent the timeline Tasks and Milestones can be represented using different colors Task responsibility can be included as an additional column after the file:///mnt/win_d/scans/gantt%20chart.bmp task description

Details, Personnel Distribution, and Money/Resources Details tend to pile up at the end, especially for a new project (unforseen circumstances)‏ Detail as much as possible at the beginning Work must be balanced and take into account your team members individual expertises' What resources will be used? Setup a budget Use prior estimates Internet searches Item cost associated in addition to the items (shipping costs, etc.)‏

Documentation, Team roles, and Software Begin documenting the project from day one Include documentation milestones as part of the project plan Makes it easier to backtrack and reassess project tasks if needed Work reduction upon project completion Important team roles include: Project leader or monitor Procurement Financial officer Liason Software: Microsoft Project or Open Workbench

Semester Project Ideas Spaghetti Bridge http://42explore.com/bridge.htm Robot (Lego or otherwise) Catapult Rollercoaster, Hovercraft http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4M9VWeIktg &feature=user

Go Cart Wii Hacks Hovercraft Trebuchet Self-balancing Robot Segway Skateboard GreenPower Science Bridge Maglev

Class Work For your project: Create a project Charter Setup Task Definitions, Milestones, and Define Times Organize the tasks Create relevant PERT Charts, Critical Paths, and Gantt Charts Establish Personnel Distribution, Budget, and Resources Establish Documentation tasks, deadlines and Team Roles and Responsibilities