The handbook of project management: a practical guide to effective policies, techniques and processes

304 Pages·2.34 MB·english

by  Young T.L.

i
The Handbook of
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
A practical guide to effective policies,
techniques and processes
Revised 2nd edition
Trevor L Young
London and Philadelphia
ii
First published 1996
First paperback edition 1998
Second edition published in Great Britain and the United States in 2003 by Kogan
Page Limited
Reprinted 2004, 2005 (twice), 2006
Revised second edition 2007
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criti-
cism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of
reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the
CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the
publishers at the undermentioned addresses:
120 Pentonville Road 525 South 4th Street, #241
London N1 9JN Philadelphia PA 19147
United Kingdom USA
www.kogan-page.co.uk
© Trevor L Young, 1996, 2003, 2007
The right of Trevor L Young to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN-10 0 7494 4984 5
ISBN-13 978 0 7494 4984 1
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Young, Trevor L. (Trevor Leonard), 1940-
The handbook of project management : a practical guide to effective
policies, techniques and processes / Trevor LYoung. -- Rev. 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7494-4984-1
ISBN-10: 0-7494-4984-5
1. Project management--Handbooks, manuals, etc. I.Title.
HD69.P75Y68 2007
658.4(cid:2)04--dc22
2007017489
Typeset by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Creative Print and Design (Wales), Ebbw Vale
iii
Contents
Preface to the revised second edition vii
Part 1 The programme and project environment 1
1 Introduction 3
What is special about programmes and projects? 4
Who is this book for? 5
2 Change: programmes and projects 7
Change and the programme and project manager 8
What is a project? 9
Projects and sub-projects 10
What is a programme? 12
An example programme 14
Why programme management? 14
What is programme management? 16
What is project management? 17
Why is programme management different from project
management? 18
What is different about programme and project management? 19
How are programmes and projects derived? 21
The dynamic life cycle 23
The dynamic action cycle 24
The programme and project process phase gates 26
Is the phase gate a constraint? 28
Is this control necessary? 29
Summary 30
iv l Contents
3 Organizing for programme management 31
Organizing for ownership 33
Establishing the programme steering team 34
Continuous improvement and problem solving: are they projects? 36
The programme register 37
Operating a programme register 37
The key responsibilities of the programme steering team 41
Meetings of the programme steering team 42
Managing the portfolio: selection of programmes and projects 44
The inputs to effective selection 46
The secondary screening 48
The result of effective selection 49
Summary 51
4 The key roles 53
The project steering team administrator 54
The sponsor 55
The programme manager 55
The project manager 56
The functional manager 56
The stakeholders 57
Frequently used terms 59
The programme and project manager as a leader 60
The dimensions of leadership in the programme and
project environment 62
Dimension 1: Managing stakeholders 63
Dimension 2: Managing the dynamic life cycle 66
Dimension 3: Managing performance 66
Programmes, projects and teamwork 67
Building your team 70
Customer satisfaction 71
Summary 72
Part 2 The programme and project processes and techniques 75
5 Starting up: ideas and opportunities for projects 77
The fundamental data needs 78
What are the constraints? 79
What data does the programme steering team require? 80
Preparing the initial business case 80
Through Gate Zero to Gate One 81
Presenting the business case to the programme steering team 87
The kick-off meeting 88
Project documentation 91
The project brief and specification 95
Summary 97
Contents l v
6 Defining the project 99
What is necessary to define a project? 99
The stakeholder list 100
The project brief 101
The scope of work statement 105
Risk management 107
Risk assessment 110
Quantifying identified risks 114
Risk monitoring 120
Getting your project definition approved 120
Summary 123
7 Planning your project 126
What is not going to be done? 126
Who needs to be involved? 127
Where does planning start? 127
Identifying the key stages 128
The project work breakdown structure 131
Allocating responsibility 132
What is an estimate? 134
Avoid some classic pitfalls 135
The golden rules 137
Effort and duration 137
Estimating the durations 139
Contingencies 142
Time-limited scheduling and estimates 143
Identifying the critical path of your project 145
The programme evaluation and review technique 146
Analysing the logic diagram 149
Using the PERT analysis data 149
Analysing your resource requirements 154
Optimizing your schedule 155
Reviewing your project risk log 159
Reviewing your project budget 160
Intermediate phase gates 161
Seeking approval to launch your project 162
Summary 164
8 Launching your project 166
Establishing key stage work plans 166
Deriving a milestone schedule 169
Critical success factors 171
Ensuring effective communication 173
Project status reports 174
Deriving a meetings schedule for your project 177
Managing project changes 178
vi l Contents
Holding a launch meeting 185
Summary 188
9 Executing the project work 190
The project control system 191
Monitoring progress 195
Managing issues 198
Reviewing project issues 206
Tracking your project 207
Taking corrective action 212
Problem solving 214
Progress meetings 217
Progress reporting 220
Encouraging good time management 222
Controlling the project costs 228
Balancing the project 234
Approaching the closure phase 238
Summary 239
10 Closing your project 242
Why have a closure phase? 243
Establishing completion criteria 244
The acceptance process 246
The close-out meeting 247
Evaluating your project 251
Closing down the project 252
Post-project evaluation 254
Post-project appraisals 258
What next? 259
Summary 261
11 Using a computer 263
What can software do? 264
Using a software program 267
What software does not do 270
Selecting project software 271
The programme management office 271
12 Common project problems 274
Problem analysis 274
How projects succeed 280
Postscript 282
Appendix 1: Glossary of terms 283
Appendix 2: Further reading 289
Index 291
vii
Preface to the revised second
edition
Welcome to this revised second edition. Several significant changes were
made in the second edition. In this revision most chapters have had some
modifications and additions. In particular, in Chapter 7 there are addi-
tional techniques on estimating and in Chapter 9 the techniques of project
balancing have been revised. A new Chapter 12 on the common problems
of project management has been added. The main structure of the work,
divided into two parts, remains unchanged.
Part 1 looks at the programme and project environment. This includes
how programmes have evolved and relate to projects and introduces the
process for managing an idea or opportunity as it progresses from initial
selection on through the different phases of a programme or project. The
concept of phase gates to allow senior management control over the
programme and project activities is included. These techniques depend
very much on organizing for programme and project management, ensur-
ing that the strategically appropriate programmes and projects are
selected to create a portfolio of active projects and programmes. Finally in
Part 1, the roles and their responsibilities are discussed to enable effective
management of the portfolio.
Part 2 has been extensively revised to ensure that the processes and
techniques described fit the programme and project environment. The
detailed processes for managing an opportunity through each phase gate
to completion have been enhanced with new material. The risk manage-
ment process has been modified to include quantitative risk assessment.
The issue management process and the change management process have
been extensively revised on the basis of practical experience. Additional
viii l Preface to the revised second edition
cost control and earned value analysis techniques have been added.
Finally, the project closure process has been enhanced.
This book is based on over 30 years’ experience in the project environ-
ment, and in that time I have learnt much from others – and much the
hard way of ‘try it and see if it works’. I could not begin to list all those who
have helped me on that journey, working together at different times to
achieve a successful project outcome. Programme management has not
been easily understood in many companies. I would like to acknowledge
the huge amount of commitment and support from Ken Foster and thank
him for the many hundreds of satisfying hours we have spent together
persuading others of the value of the techniques in this book. I thank Ken
also for his many suggestions and helpful comments on the material in
Part 1. Finally, I thank Christine, my wife, for tolerance, patience and the
support she gave to help me complete this project on time.
1
Part 1
The programme and project
environment
Part 1 is focused on understanding the steps that an organization needs to take
to create an effective environment for success in programme and project
management. This includes understanding the terminology and the organiza-
tional structure changes advisable to take advantage of a programme-oriented
environment in the business.
Part 1 also looks at the steps necessary to institute a formalized approach to
programme and project selection and at understanding the essential roles and
their responsibilities that are required for these processes to be effective.
2
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