Project Appraisal

Management
MBA
Lecture by: Shazia Perveen
Project Management
• Project management is an umbrella term which can actually refer to three
different types of management: Project management, portfolio management,
and program management.
• While these disciplines are all similar and interrelated, they each have
unique differences that impact the responsibilities of project managers in their
given roles.
• Three types of interrelated project management disciplines include:
• Project Management: In a traditional project management role, the objective is
to complete a project successfully, while remaining on time and within budget.
Project managers utilize a variety of project management strategies to help
organize teams and complete projects according to their success criteria while
engaging stakeholders appropriately.
Project Management-Contd.
• Program Management: A program is defined as the coordinated management of
a set of interrelated or similar projects to achieve an organization’s objectives in a
way that’s not possible if managed separately. Program managers collaborate
with project managers to ensure each project is strategically aligned and on track
to hit major milestones. Program managers also facilitate organizational change,
manage the dependencies between projects, and address any project- or
organizational-level issues and risks that affect the program.
• Portfolio Management: A portfolio is the organization’s collection of programs,
projects, and operational work. Portfolio managers work with the organization’s
leaders to identify, prioritize, select, balance, authorize, evaluate, and control the
organization’s approved work to best meet its strategies, given resource capacity
and risk.
Project Manager
• In the broadest sense, project managers (PMs) are responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the
completion of specific projects for an organization while ensuring these projects are on time, on budget,
and within scope.
• By overseeing complex projects from inception to completion, project managers have the potential to
shape an organization’s trajectory, helping to reduce costs, maximize company efficiencies, and increase
revenue.
• The exact duties of a project manager will depend on their industry, organization, and the types of
projects that a PM is tasked with overseeing. But across the board, all project managers share
responsibilities across what’s commonly referred to as the “project life cycle,” which consists of five
phases (or processes):
• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing
• Monitoring and Controlling
• Closing
Role of Project Manager
• A project manager is a person who has the overall responsibility for
the successful initiation, planning, design, execution, monitoring,
controlling and closure of a project. Construction, petrochemical,
architecture, information technology and many different industries
that produce products and services use this job role.
• A project manager must have a combination of skills, including asking
penetrating questions, detecting unstated assumptions, resolving
conflicts, and possessing good general management skills.
• The critical areas controlled by a project manager are scope,
schedule, resources, finance, quality and risks.
Role of Project Manager –Contd.
• Key among a project manager's duties is recognising that risk directly
impacts the likelihood of project success and that this risk must be
formally and informally measured throughout the lifetime of a
project.
• Risks arise from uncertainty, and the successful project manager is the
one who focuses on this as their primary concern—most of the issues
that impact a project result in one way or another from risk.
• A good project manager can lessen risk significantly, often by adhering
to a policy of open communication, ensuring every significant
participant has an opportunity to express opinions and concerns.
Role of Project Manager –Contd.
• A project manager is a person who is responsible for making
decisions, both large and small. The project manager should make
sure they control risk and minimise uncertainty. Every decision the
project manager makes must directly benefit their project.
• A project manager may use project management software, such as
Basecamp, Wrike and Asana (many other solutions are available) to
organise their tasks and team. These software solutions allow project
managers to orchestrate their work and produce reports and charts in
a few minutes, compared with the several hours it can take to create
them by hand using office software
Roles and Responsibilities

The role of the project manager encompasses many activities including:

• Planning and Defining Scope
• Activity Planning and Sequencing
• Resource Planning
• Developing Schedules
• Time Estimating
• Cost Estimating
• Developing a Budget
• Documentation
Roles and Responsibilities-Contd
• Creating Charts and Schedules
• Risk Analysis
• Managing Risks and Issues
• Monitoring and Reporting Progress
• Team Leadership
• Strategic Influencing
• Business Partnering
• Working with Vendors
• Controlling Quality
• Benefits Realization
Roles and Responsibilities-Contd
Some of the techniques a project manager will find helpful in their daily work are:
• Earned Value Management
• MoSCoW Method
• Pareto Analysis
• PEST Analysis
• RACI Model
• SWOT Analysis
Finally, senior management must provide support and authority for a project
manager if they will be successful. Without this support, a project manager will
likely struggle, and projects become delayed and, in the worst cases, fail.
Moscow Method
Mo S co w
MOSCOW example
• Let’s have a look how MoSCoW prioritization technique works with a simple example:
• You are going to buy a motorbike with an extra seat to travel with your friend on the weekends. The
bike should have a low seat and a four-cylinder engine. Unlimited mobility is also important. Your
favorite color is red, so you want to have a red color body. You also want to get good wind protection.
• It would be also nice to have Bluetooth connectivity for your iPod. In addition, you are fond of having
a helmet with a double ventilation system…
• Let’s define prioritization:
• M – a new bike for traveling, an extra seat.
• S – a low seat, a four-cylinder engine. Unlimited mobility.
• C – a red color body, extra wind protection.
• W – Bluetooth and a helmet with a double ventilation system.
• It seems that MoSCoW prioritization technique really helps to highlight the most important thing,
right?
RACI- (Responsibility, Accountable,
Consulted , Inform )
SWOT Analysis
Skills of Project Manager
• 1. Effective Communication
• From project kick-offs to stakeholder meetings, project managers are constantly
communicating. project managers spend 90 percent of their time communicating in some
way. As such, project managers must have excellent communication skills in order to
successfully lead projects to completion.
• Poor communication, on the other hand, can lead to inefficiency and missed deadlines;
according to a recent survey, 28 percent of employees report poor communication as the
primary cause of failing to deliver a project on time.
• In order to mitigate the risk of this, project managers should prioritize learning how to
communicate effectively. This includes knowing how to approach people, create meaningful
relationships with co-workers, and articulate a clearly established vision of what you wish to
achieve. Taking the time to think about what you want to say—and how you want to say it
—prior to communicating is a simple and productive first step toward honing this skill set.
2. Negotiation

• From managing resources, to engaging suppliers, to dealing with team conflict, leading a
project means constantly being involved in negotiations. An effective project manager is often a
skillful negotiator with the ability to keep involved parties content and working toward a unified
goal at all times.
• Unavoidable discussions about budgets, scope creep, resources, and timelines can easily
become adversarial if not handled tactfully, and savvy project managers instinctively know
when—and how—to apply persuasive techniques that will encourage solutions and avoid
damaging workplace relationships.
• Depending on the situation at hand, project managers may choose to apply different
negotiation styles, and it’s important they have the ability to choose which will be the most
effective in each given scenario. Where some may call for compromise (in which an agreement
with the opposing party is reached), for example, others may call for collaboration (in which a
win-win solution is reached), or competition (in which a project is controlling in a win-lose
situation). No matter which style they choose, knowing how to effectively navigate these
negotiation tactics is a vital tool for successful project managers.
3. Scheduling and Time Management

• Naturally, scheduling is a core facet of the project management

function. However, if you’re adept at juggling multiple schedules and
can anticipate roadblocks before they occur, you’ll increase your
chances of delivering successful projects.
• The most common causes of project failure involve poor planning
, and include changing priorities within an organization (40 percent),
inaccurate requirements (38 percent), changes in project objectives
(35 percent), and undefined project goals (30 percent). As this data
shows, time management is clearly a valuable project management
skill to attain.
4. Leadership

• When managing a team or project, it’s crucial to have strong leadership skills. By
effectively coaching, guiding, and motivating your co-workers, you can help move a
project forward and deliver a positive outcome. Strong leaders also foster a
productive work environment by communicating regularly with their teams and
helping their employees develop important project management skills themselves.
• Teams also work more efficiently when employees feel they are making a
meaningful contribution to the project. You can help team members feel impactful by
learning how to delegate tasks, provide constructive feedback, set goals, and
evaluate individual and team performance. Be sure to recognize the achievements of
your team members so they know you value their contributions, as well. Combining
these elements with your own unique leadership style will help you to successfully
manage projects while also becoming a more effective leader.
5. Technical Expertise

• Successful project managers must not only possess the aforementioned soft skills but also have
the technical know-how to move projects toward completion. PMs who can “speak the language”
of their organization’s subject matter experts will be able to communicate more effectively with
their teams and have a better understanding of a project’s inherent risks and potential roadblocks.
• Additionally, a practical understanding of popular project management software can have a
positive impact on a project manager’s work. These types of programs are frequently used to plan,
organize, and communicate with teammates while simultaneously managing resources, budgets,
and schedules. In today’s world, this means project managers must also constantly evolve,
learning how to leverage the newest technologies available to successfully lead a project to
completion.
• Tools that may enhance a project manager’s ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders
range from shared drives (e.g., SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Google Docs) to more technical
programs. Microsoft Project and Jira, for example, are popular in IT settings, while Primavera is
commonly used for scheduling in the government and construction industries.
6. Risk Management

• Risk management, which involves identifying and planning for

potential risks, is a critical competency for project managers. The
most productive PMs are able to identify risks at the outset of a
project and develop proper mitigation plans in the event that the risk
does, in fact, occur.
• Since risks are, by definition, uncertain events, it’s easy for project
managers to ignore them and assume they will not happen. But by
knowing—and acknowledging—what positive or negative impacts
may happen to the project if the risk does occur, project managers
can plan ahead to avoid major problems that might otherwise derail a
project.
7. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

• While critical thinking is a skill

all professionals could benefit from learning, it is particularly useful in
the project management discipline. Rather than being reactive, the
best project managers are proactive and use their critical thinking
skills to navigate through tricky or ambiguous projects.
• By remaining objective, analyzing the facts, and evaluating options
without bias, project managers are able to solve complex problems
for organizations while delivering results on time and within budget
Functional Manager and Project Manager
• The functional manager is the person who has management authority
within a business unit/department with direct supervision over one or
more resources on the project/program team, and/or direct
responsibility for the functions affected by or that affect the
project/program deliverable(s).
Or
• A functional manager is a person who has management authority
over an organizational unit—such as a department—within a
business, company, or other organization
What are the functional manager responsibilities?

• Communicate changes to their resources’ availability to the project/program manager

• Track project/program status and understand impacts to their resources and areas of
responsibility
• If directly responsible for function affected by or affecting deliverable(s)
• Assists the project/program manager in providing leadership and achieving buy in for that function
• Evaluate and assess overall effectiveness and quality of deliverable
• Ensure performance of their function improved and cross-functional integration is working and
effective
• Participate in project/program decision-making, relevant to impact on the functions he/she is
responsible for
• Communicate with project/program manager on any changes to the project that affects the quality or
scope of deliverable
• Ensure appropriate requirements for the deliverable are communicated and understood
• Participate in project/program risk and issue management with project/program manager, where
required
Contd.
• If has direct supervision over one or more resources on the
project/program team
• Ensure their resources’ time is not over allocated between project/program
work and other responsibilities
• Decide which resources to allocate to project/program, ensuring allocated
resources have the appropriate skills required for the project/program, or have
the ability to acquire those skills
• Understand the work required of his/her resource(s) on the project/program
and any new skills they may acquire as a result of the project/program work
• Ensure resources are available to the project/program, as originally promised
• Handle any resource performance issues project/program manager
brings forward
• Thank You