1. Planning, Implementing and Managing an Initiative
Welcome to MILESTONE
Planning, Implementing and Managing an Initiative

2. Milestone Milestone is an interactive simulation game.
Milestone is designed to give players an understanding of how to manage an initiative by balancing typical project metrics of budget, schedule and quality with stakeholder sentiment.

3. Milestone Experience a learning-by-doing environment:
Understand the impact and planning for risk
Decisions in information uncertainty
Focus on achieving multiple conflicting objectives

4. Milestone Concepts include: Work Breakdown Structure Gantt chart
Human resource planning
Start, end and lag times including duration
Activity sequencing
Quality
Communication planning
Risk management
Stakeholder management
Leadership, culture, collaboration, expectations, perceptions, team development stages

5. What is a project?
A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK™), Project Management Institute, 1999
One time
Limited funds/time
Specific resources utilized
Performed by people - Single or multi-person team
Planned, controlled
Specific Deliverables
Unique - similar, new
Progressive elaboration

6. Major Characteristics of a Project
Defined Life Span (a beginning and an end)
Unique in nature – Tend have risk
High degree of organization/individual focus
Interdependencies
Uniqueness
Conflict

7. Introduction Examples of projects
Split the atom
Chunnel between England and France
A marketing campaign
A science or psychology experiment
Building a pool
A wedding
A new IT system
“Projects, rather than repetitive tasks, are now the basis for most value-added in business”
-Tom Peters

8. What is a Project? Process Project Ongoing, day-to-day activities
Use existing systems, properties, and capabilities
Project
Takes place outside the process world
Unique and separate from normal organization work

9. Project Life Cycle
FIGURE 1.1

10. Network of Stakeholders

11. Stakeholder Identification
Whole Project
Initiation
Planning
Execution
Closure
Sponsor
I, N N
N, B A IT
etc
Marketing
I – Influence
B – Benefit
C – Input
A – Approve
N – Need their support

12. Work Breakdown Structure
The WBS is an important document and can be tailored for use in a number of different ways
It may illustrate how each piece of the project contributes to the whole in terms of performance, responsibility, schedule, and budget
It may list the vendors or subcontractors associated with specific tasks
It may serve as the basis for making cost estimates or estimates of task duration
It may be used to document that all parties have signed off on their various commitments to the project

13. The Work Breakdown Structure
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can take a variety of forms that serve a variety of purposes
The WBS often appears as an outline with Level I tasks on the left and successive levels appropriately indented
The WBS may also picture a project subdivided into hierarchical units of tasks, subtasks, work packages, etc.

14. How WBS Helps the Project Manager
Facilitates evaluation of cost, time, and technical performance of the organization on a project.
Provides management with information appropriate to each organizational level.
Helps in the development of the organization breakdown structure (OBS). which assigns project responsibilities to organizational units and individuals
Helps manage plan, schedule, and budget.
Defines communication channels and assists in coordinating the various project elements.
Dividing the work into major pieces, then subdividing into smaller, more manageable pieces

15. Example of WBS and a GANTT Chart

16. Project Management Trade-offs - Metrics

17. Scheduling
A schedule is the conversion of a project action plan into an operating timetable
It serves as the basis for monitoring and controlling project activity
Taken together with the plan and budget, it is probably the major tool for the management of projects
The basic approach of all scheduling techniques is to form a network of activity and event relationships
This network should graphically portray the sequential relations between the tasks in a project
Tasks that must precede or follow other tasks are then clearly identified, in time as well as function

18. Resources
resource leveling - network analysis in which scheduling decisions are drive by resource management concerns (limited resource availability or difficult to manage changes in resource levels).

19. Risk
Risk is the chance that an undesirable event will occur and the consequences of all its possible outcomes.
Project risks are those events that, if they materialize can delay or kill a project
Needs a Proactive approach to dealing with Risk
Preventative process designed to reduce surprise and negative consequences

20. Risk Versus Uncertainty
Analysis Under Uncertainty - The Management of Risk
The difference between risk and uncertainty
Risk - when the decision maker knows the probability of each and every state of nature and thus each and every outcome. An expected value of each alternative action can be determined
Uncertainty - when a decision maker has information that is not complete and therefore cannot determine the expected value of each alternative

21. Negative Impacts of Risk
Increased cost on projects
Tighter scheduling
Less flexibility
Poor performance

22. Risk Management Process
A proactive attempt to recognize and manage internal events and external threats that affect the likelihood of a project’s success.
What can go wrong (risk event).
How to minimize the risk event’s impact (consequences).
What can be done before an event occurs (anticipation).
What to do when an event occurs (contingency plans).

23. Risk Management’s Benefits
A proactive rather than reactive approach.
Reduces surprises and negative consequences.
Prepares the project manager to take advantage of appropriate risks.
Provides better control over the future.
Improves chances of reaching project performance objectives within budget and on time.

24. Communication Planning
Who needs What information, When, and How (where, what method), Why will it be done.
WHO?
Who must you communicate with? _____________.
Challenge: N people have N * (N-1)/2 lines of communication.
WHAT?
Set expectations,
-Project progress (cost/time/quality, trend/forecast)
-Resource usage

25. HOW? Technology Use with Stakeholder Message
Conversation (face to face)
Conversation (phone)
Meetings
Memo
Document
On-line availability of info: Database /Internet
Fax

26. The Implementation of a project
Phases:
Planning
Monitoring
Controlling
Evaluation

27. Plans Change
Differences between work scheduled and work planned can develop from several different causes:
Official change orders in the work elements
Informal alterations in the methods used
Official or unofficial changes in the tasks to be accomplished
If the plan is not altered to reflect such changes, comparisons between plan and actual are not meaningful

28. Getting Started Payment
Access the student payment function and have  your credit card ready
Access the registration and login page at:
Create a new student account and then login and do payment, once payment has been authorized. When registering enter the Game Number send to you by your professor.
Note: that payment authorization might take up to 24 hours and that a student game account username similar or the same as your Paypal one is important for authorization.

29. Playing to Win Have Fun! Read the user manual Decide on your strategy
Remember not all your actions within the game will be successful and you will have adjust your approach as the game progresses. This is the reality of initiatives.
Have Fun!

30. Technical Support
Visit for technical support via , or text chat