Lean Project Management - How to Apply Lean Thinking to Project Management

226 Pages·2022·5.611 MB·English

by  Rainer Erne

Rainer Erne
How to Apply Lean
Thinking in Project
Management
How to Apply Lean Thinking in Project
Management
Rainer Erne
How to Apply Lean
Thinking in Project
Management
RainerErne
HochschulefürWirtschaftundUmwelt
GeislingenanderSteige,Germany
ISBN978-3-658-35571-5 ISBN978-3-658-35572-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-35572-2
ThisbookisatranslationoftheoriginalGermanedition"LeanProjectManagement-Wiemanden
Lean-GedankenimProjektmanagementeinsetzenkann"byErne,Rainer,publishedbySpringer
Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH in 2019. The translation was done with the help of artificial
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Contents
1 WhyanAdditionalBookonProjectManagement?. . . . . . . . . . . . 1
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 WhatIstheMeaningandUseofProjectManagement?. . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 DefinitionofaProject. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 TasksofProjectManagement. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3 EffectivenessandLimitationsofProjectManagement
Standards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4 PossibleSourcesofWasteinProjectManagement. . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.5 MinimizingWasteinProjectManagementThroughAgile
Approaches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3 WhatAretheKeyIdeasof‘Lean’?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.1 TheEmergenceofthe‘Lean’Idea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.2 TheSpreadofthe‘Lean’Idea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.3 TheKeyPointsof‘Lean’Idea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4 HowCanProjectsBeManagedina‘Lean’Way?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.1 Principle1:Identifythe BestPossibleCost-BenefitRatio
fromtheCustomer’sPointofView. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.2 Principle2:DefinetheMinimumValue-AddingWorkPackages
andWorkProcesses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
4.3 Principle3:EstablishClearResponsibilities,Tasksand
AuthoritiesontheLowestPossibleOrganizationalLevel. . . . . . . 132
4.4 Principle4:EnsureaContinuousFlowofResultsbyLimiting
WorkinProgress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
v
vi Contents
4.5 Principle5:IdentifyDefectsImmediatelyandRemove
orRepairThem. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. . 175
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
5 Can“LeanProjectManagement”BeStandardizedThroughout
theOrganization?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
5.1 Organization-WideStandardizationEffortsinProject
Management.. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . 207
5.2 StandardizationofLeanProjectManagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
1
Why an Additional Book on Project
Management?
Abstract
Therearesomanybooksandpapersonprinciples,standards,recommendations
andresearchresultswithrespecttoprojectmanagementthatonecouldfillentire
libraries withit. Therefore, akey questionmustbeanswered at thebeginning:
Whyyetanadditionalcontributiontoprojectmanagement?Inthisintroductory
chapter,threeanswerstothisquestionareprovidedandthestructuretodeliver
saidanswersispresented.
AccordingtoaforecastbytheProjectManagementInstitute(2017b),project-based
jobs will increase by 33% on average between 2017 and 2027 in countries like
Germany,theUK,theUS,ChinaandIndia.Thismeansthatin2027therewillbea
global demand for around 87.7 million project workers in industries such as
construction,informationtechnology,healthcare,financialservicesandenergy.
Thegrowingimportanceofprojectmanagementoverthepast60yearshasbeen
respondedtofirstlybytheestablishmentofprojectmanagementassociations:atthe
end of the 1960s in the USA (see Project Management Institute 2017a) and in
Europe(seeInternationalProjectManagementAssociation2016a–c),and30years
later additionally PRINCE2 in the UK (see Axelos and TSO 2017). These
associations all offer different project management certifications according to the
respective standards they administer—meanwhile in both “classic” and “agile”
approaches.
Secondly, standardization on project management emerged during the same
period.InGermany,thecountry-specificnormDIN69901:ProjectManagement—
Project ManagementSystems exists in fivevolumes (2016a–e),andthe normDIN
#SpringerFachmedienWiesbadenGmbH,partofSpringerNature2022 1
R.Erne,HowtoApplyLeanThinkinginProjectManagement,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-35572-2_1
2 1 WhyanAdditionalBookonProjectManagement?
ISO 21500 “Project Management Guidelines” (2016) comprise the entire
internationalarea.
Thirdly a meanwhile confusing field of monographs, reports, handouts and
prescriptions on project management has developed. The amount has especially
grown in recent years with the emergence of IT project management and agile
models. The widely read monographs by Scott Berkun (2008), Jeff Sutherland
(2014), Eric Verzuh (2016), Harold Kerzner (2017), Gerold Patzak and Günter
Rattay(2018),orJürgKusteretal.(2019)canbementionedhereasexamples.
Fourthly,projectmanagementhasalsodevelopedinteachingandresearchfrom
a sub-discipline of engineering to an independent, transdisciplinary research and
teachingfieldatschoolsanduniversities.Atthemoment,thisbranchisconcerned,
amongotherthings,withthequestionofhowvariabilityinprojectmanagementcan
be theoretically and practically described, explained and processed (see Padalkar
andGopinath2016;Uchitpeetal.2016).
Henceprojectmanagementcanbynowberegardedasacross-sectorprofession
thathasprofessionalassociationsaswellasastandardizedandtestableprofessional
knowledgethatisconstantlyevolving(seeMillerson1964;Mieg2003).
Based on abovementioned observation the question is: Why an additional
contributiontoawellprocessedandre-processedknowledgefield?
Therearethreereasonsforthis:
1. Theprofessionalizationofprojectmanagement—besidesagreatdealofpositive
aspectsthatwillbementionedinthisbook—involvesalsothedangerofspecial-
ization.Saidtermdenotesanoperationallyclosedsystemoftechnicallanguage,
complicated practices and tools, and elitist access requirements, while the
originalpurposeandcontributionofprojectmanagementisgettingoutofsight
(seeStöger 2011, p.12).The‘Lean’ideaopposesthisriskwith arefreshingly
simple notion: Everything that is not for the customer is suspected of being
waste.Thisconceptcouldrefocusprofessionalizedandesotericprojectmanage-
mentmoreclearlyonitsrealpurpose:Todeliverresultsforthecustomerwiththe
leastpossibleamountofwaste.
2. Inaddition,thetendencytowards“projectification”oftheorganizationinvolves
ablockof“overheadcosts”forinitiation,planning,tracking,andreporting.Its
valueisincreasinglyquestionedbothforthetasksathandaswellasfortheresult
and suspected of being “red tape”. This criticism was first introduced by the
“agile” community in the field of software development and has since been
institutionalizedinorganizationswithgreatsuccess(seeBecketal.2001).Asa
result,twoorthreeworldsarenowexistinginmanyorganizations:“classical”,
“agile”and“hybrid”projectmanagement.Theundesirablesideeffectconsistsin
1 WhyanAdditionalBookonProjectManagement? 3
thefurtherincreaseofprojectmanagementcomplexity.The‘Lean’ideapoints
outthatfollowingafewprinciplesandtaskscanbringsignificantcustomervalue
at lower costs and turnaround times in all of these approaches. Thus, it is no
longer the approach that is the key issue, but the way in which the particular
approach is designed and executed. Because even “agile approaches” can
involveaconsiderableamountofwaste.
3. In the author’s opinion, the potential that the ‘Lean’ idea entails for project
management has not yet been fully exploited. Too few contributions on the
subjectof“LeanProjectManagement”existtodatetoraisethispotential.Those
published,however,eitheraretoogenericandabstractortrytotransferpractices
frommanufacturingenvironmentdirectlytothefieldofprojectmanagement.A
thirdgroupof‘Lean’interpretationssimplyequateagileapproacheswith‘Lean’.
In this book, the author by no means claims to conclusively identify and
elaborate the potential. He merely wants to make a contribution to this task—
andhopestostimulatediscussionandfurtherdevelopmentamongpractitioners
andtheoristsofprojectmanagement.
Thus,theaimofthisbookistolookforpossibilitiestotransferthe‘Lean’ideato
the field of project management and thus to show solutions for some typical
problemsofprojectmanagement.
Thisgoalisachievedinthefollowingsteps(seeFig.1.1)
The first two chapters are dedicated to the theoretical foundations. Hence they
are rather addressed to the recipients who are theoretically interested in project
management.
InChap.2theterms“project”and“projectmanagement”aredefinedinaway
thatthesedefinitionsserveasabasisforthefurthercourseofthebook.Besidesthat,
project management standards, which essentially define the tasks of project man-
agement,arequestionedfortheireffectivenessandlimitations.Thisquestionleads
topossiblesourcesofwasteinprojectmanagement,whichisthedockingpointfor
the‘Lean’idea.
InChap.3theoriginsofthe‘Lean’ideainthe“ToyotaProductionSystem”are
traced back in order to avoid the danger of straying too far from its origins when
transferringtheidea.Afterthatitisbrieflyrecapitulatedhowtheprinciplesofthe
“ToyotaProduction System” have spread toother industries and functional areas.
This emphasizes that the transfer of ‘Lean’ thinking to project management is
nothing else than only one application that has been undertaken before. Finally,
thecross-industryandcross-functionalkeypointsofthe‘Lean’ideaareelaborated
inordertohaveastructureforthetransferofthisideatoprojectmanagement.
4 1 WhyanAdditionalBookonProjectManagement?
Fig.1.1 Structureofthebook
Thefourthchapterwithitsfivesectionsisprimarilyaddressedtoreaderswitha
practicalinterestinprojectmanagement.Thefunctionofthischapteristorelatethe
core points of the ‘Lean’ idea elaborated in Chap. 3 to project management.
Following the five principles of ‘Lean’ thinking, the typical challenges of project
management are identified, the tasks of “Lean Projects Management” are derived
andindividualtoolsforimplementingthesetasksareproposed.
Finally,inthefifthandlastchapter,thequestionisexaminedofwhetherandto
whatextent“LeanProjectManagement”canbestandardizedthroughoutanorgani-
zation.Thischapterisbasedontheassumptionthatthe‘appetite’oforganizations
for standardizing tasks and tools is unlimited, since only in organization-wide
standardized processes it becomes visible that a topic is really “addressed”. This
ideaisalsosuggestedbymaturitymodelsforprojectandprocessmanagement.In
the case of “Lean Project Management” though there might be limits to the
standardizability of tools and templates—and other means may be used to make
projectmanagement‘Lean’throughouttheorganization.