Imperatives of Successful Project Management

Project management?is about making decisions to achieve?successful management of a task which:

• Has objectives of cost, time and quality
• Is finite, i.e. has a beginning and an end
• Uses resources
• Produce changes

Project Management?is planning, organising, motivating,?coordinating, monitoring?and control of a project from inception to completion aimed at ensuring its completion on time, within budget and to the intended technical requirements, quality and performance.

Aspects of Project Management

• Planning
• Decision making
• Leadership
• Communication
• Organization
• Stakeholders Management
• Implementation

Project Manager’s Tasks:

• Preparing project plans
• Building strong team
• Motivating individuals
• Defining roles and setting objectives for team members
• Scheduling control points and milestones
• Monitoring progress of work against plans
• Keeping the sponsor appropriately informed at all times
• Ensuring smooth passage of information throughout the project hierarchy
• Representing the needs of project to the stakeholder group
• Documenting all changes to the original specification
• Conducting regular learning reviews

The ‘Hard’ Techniques in Project Management

• Economic appraisal
• Planning
• Estimating
• Cost and time control
• Contract strategy
• Risk management

The ‘Soft’ Techniques in Project Management

• Leadership/coaching and being led
• Decision making under conditions of uncertainty
• Communication and information flow
• Motivation
• Team work
• Delegation

Principles of Scientific Management

There are five principals of scientific management:

1. A clear division of task and responsibilities between management and workers
2. Use of scientific methods to determine the best way of doing a job
3. Scientific selection of person to do the newly designed job
4. The training of workers to perform the job in the way specified.
5. Surveillance of workers through the use of hierarchies of authority and close supervision

Good Team’s Characteristics

• Goals are clear
• People understands their assignments/roles
• Open communication
• High personal performance standards
• Differences are recognised and handled
• Recognition

Risk Management

• Early Warning Notices
• Risk Register
• Programme
• Target cost (pain and gain mechanism)
• KPIs
• Monthly reporting
• Supply chain management

Causes of Cost Overruns and Mitigation

Engineering is not exact science. It has lot of variables. Costing and programmes are only estimates. Following are the major causes of cost overruns:

• Poor communication
• Changes in scope
• Setting unrealistic targets
• Red tapism and indecision
• Unforeseen circumstances

Some potential mitigation measures are:

• Suitable contract strategy
• Float in time. contingency in the cost and tolerance in quality
• Realistic programming
• Buildability advice
• Risk assessment and risk management
• Selection of suitable designer/contractor
• Value engineering
• Incentives (e.g. pain/gain)
• Learning lessons from previous experience