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

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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 intelligence(machinetranslationbytheserviceDeepL.com).Asubsequenthumanrevisionwas done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventionaltranslation.SpringerNatureworkscontinuouslytofurtherthedevelopmentoftools fortheproductionofbooksandontherelatedtechnologiestosupporttheauthors. #SpringerFachmedienWiesbadenGmbH,partofSpringerNature2022 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart ofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsofreprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthis bookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernorthe authorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressedorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontained hereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwith regardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations. This Springerimprint is published by the registeredcompany SpringerFachmedienWiesbaden GmbH,partofSpringerNature. Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Abraham-Lincoln-Str.46,65189Wiesbaden,Germany 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.

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