Teamwork and Project Management

Karl A. SmithPurdue University/

University of Minnesotaksmith@umn.edu

Engineers Leadership InstituteMinnesota Society for

Professional Engineers

November, 2008

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Teambuilding and Project Management Perspectives

• Capitalizing on individual differences• Leading a team to consensus; the importance

of buy-in• Expanding a team’s capabilities• Perspectives on the role of project manager• Key components to project and/or team

success• Project coordination

. . . Tomorrow’s corporation is a “collection of projects”

. . . Everyone needs to learn to work in teams with multiple independent experts--each will be dependent upon all the others voluntarily giving their best.

. . .The new lead actor/boss--the Project Manager--must learn to command and coach; that is, to deal with paradox.From Eight Commandments for Project Managers Tom Peters

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Project

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result

-- Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), 2004

A project is a combination of human and nonhuman sources pulled together in a temporary organization to achieve a specified purpose.

-- Cleland and Kerzner, 1985

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The Project ManagementBody of Knowledge is thesum of knowledge withinthe profession of projectmanagement

PMBOK

www.pmi.org

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“The Project Management Body of Knowledge is the sum of knowledge within the profession of project management” page 3.

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Project Management is not just scheduling (Lewis, p. 8)

It’s the intersection of:

ToolsPeopleSystems

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Developing Project Management Expertise

• What is expertise?

• What is project management expertise?

• Why is this important?

• How to develop expertise?

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Expertise Implies:

• a set of cognitive and metacognitive skills

• an organized body of knowledge that is deep and contextualized

• an ability to notice patterns of information in a new situation

• flexibility in retrieving and applying that knowledge to a new problem

Bransford, Brown & Cocking. 1999. How people learn. National Academy Press.

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Expert Project Managers

1. Take a moment to recall one of your expert project managers

2. Describe him or her briefly3. Listen as others describe their

expert project managers4. List common characteristics

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Characteristics of Expert Project Managers

1. ?

What is takes to be a good project manager--Barry Posner (1987)

Communications (84% of the respondents listed it)

ListeningPersuading

Organizational skills (75%)PlanningGoal-settingAnalyzing

Team Building Skills (72%)EmpathyMotivationEsprit de Corps

Leadership Skills (68%)Sets ExampleEnergeticVision (big picture)DelegatesPositive

Coping Skills (59%)FlexibilityCreativityPatiencePersistence

Technological Skills (46%)ExperienceProject Knowledge

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Paradox of Expertise

• The very knowledge we wish to teach others (as well as the knowledge we wish to represent in computer programs) often turns out to be the knowledge we are least able to talk about.

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Teamwork and Project Management Exercise

Project Life Cycle

The engineering method is design under constraints – Wm. Wulf, President, National Academy of Engineering

The engineering method is the use of heuristics to cause the best change in a poorly understood situation within the available resources – Billy Koen, Mechanical Engineering Professor, UT-Austin, author Discussion of the Method

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Team Member Roles

• Task Recorder

• Process Recorder

• Materials Manager

Design objectiveDesign and build a tower that can support a concentrated load (standard book) at a height of least 25 cm. The tower is built from index cards and office tape.

Design rulesMaterials are 100 index cards and one roll of office tapeCards can be folded but not tornNo piece of tape can be longer than 2 inchesTower cannot be taped to the floor, ceiling, or any other objectTower must be in one piece, and easily transported in one handTime to design and build: 20 minutesHeight is measured from the ground to the lowest corner of the book placed on topTower must support book for at least 10 seconds before the measurement is madeRoom must be cleaned up before measurements are made.

Group Processing Plus/Delta Format

Plus (+)Things That Group Did Well

Delta (∆)Things Group Could Improve

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Teamwork & 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?

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 procedures2. Studies and basic engineering3. Major review4. Detail engineering5. Detail engineering/construction overlap6. Construction 7. Testing and commissioning

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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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26Wysocki & Rudd, Figure 2.8, page 47

Project Manager’s Role Over the Project Life Cycle:

• Planning• Organizing• Staffing• Directing• Controlling

See Smith (2004) p. 67-68

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Successful Projects

1. Take a moment to recall one of your most successful projects

2. Describe it briefly3. Listen as others describe their

successful projects4. List common characteristics

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Characteristics• ?

A recent survey of technology projects in the United States by the Project Management Institute reveals some startling percentages. Close to half of the projects started were never finished, 30% were completed but took at least twice as long as expected, some took 5 times as long. Only 10% of the projects were finished on time.

Standish Group Survey of Software Project – 1994 (Lewis, 2000, p. 109)

17% Succeeded50% Revised33% Failed

Critical Success Factors and Their Importance for System Implementation (Listed in decreasing order of correlation)[Pinto (1986), See Smith (2004), p. 67]

1.Project mission. Initial clearly defined goals and general directions.2.Top management support. Willingness of top management to provide the

necessary resources and authority/power for implementation success.3.Schedule plans. A detailed specification of the individual action steps for system

implementation.4.Client consultation. Communication, consultation, and active listening to all

parties impacted by the proposed project. 5.Personnel. Recruitment, selection, and training of the necessary personnel for

the implantation project team. 6.Technical tasks. Availability of the required technology and expertise to

accomplish the specific technical action steps to bring the project on-line. 7.Client acceptance. The act of "selling" final product to its ultimate intended

users. 8.Monitoring and feedback. Timely provision of comprehensive control

information at each stage in the implementation process. 9.Communication. The provision of an appropriate network and necessary data to

all key actors in the project implementation process. 10.Troubleshooting. Ability to handle unexpected crises and deviations from plan.

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Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Succeed (Standish Group, 2000)

• Executive management support• User involvement• Experienced project manager• Clear business objectives• Minimized scope• Standardized infrastructure• Firm basic requirements• Formal methodology• Reliable estimates• Skilled staff

Wysocki & Rudd, p. 34

Predictors of Lowered Project SuccessWilliam M. Hayden

• Unrealistic project work plans• Inability to deal early with suspected problem

issues• Technical complexities not well

communicated to team members• Conflict between client expectations and the

state of deliverables• Insufficient involvement on the part of senior

management early in the life cycle

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What is a project?(Cleland and Kerzner, 1985; Nicholas, 1990)

• … a combination of human and nonhuman sources pulled together in a temporary organization to achieve a specified purpose.

• Features– Definable purpose with established goals– Cost, time and performance requirements– Multiple resources across organizational lines– One-time activity– Element of risk– Temporary activity– Process with phases/ project life cycle

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Performance, Cost, and Time Project Targets

Project Success: Quadruple Constraint

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Session Summary(Minute Paper)

Reflect on the session:

1. Most interesting, valuable, useful thing you learned.

2. Question/Topic/Issue you would like to have addressed.

3. Comments, suggestions, etc

4. Pace: Too slow 1 . . . . 5 Too fast5. Relevance: Little 1 . . . 5 Lots6. Instructional Format: Ugh 1 . . . 5 Ah