1 oxford brookes university u08096 project note 2
TRANSCRIPT
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Oxford Brookes University
U08096 Project
Note 2
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Supervisor
Vincent Ching
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Note 2
Project Management, Log & Deliverables
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Project Management is Important!!
Project PhasesCost ManagementTime ManagementResource ManagementQuality Control
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Project Phases
Project ideas, consider resources availableProposalLiterature searchPractical works (depends on type of project)Setting report formatReport writing
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Practical Works Example(Development Projects)
AnalysisDesignImplementationTesting
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Importance of Time Management
Beginning : Time is more than enoughMiddle : Time is still enoughNear Deadline : Why all assignments, tests / e
xaminations come together? WHY??
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How to avoid delay?
Take care of assignments, tests & examinations in schedule. Near Deadline is always a Peak Period
Try to use tools which are familiar and do some trials as soon as possible. It is too late to try the tools after design is finished.
Project Planning
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PROJECT PLANNING
Planning is about turning your aims and objectives into actions in the sense that a plan assists you in identifying the work you have to do and how you will achieve it. There are six steps: Identification of tasks Estimating the duration of each task Identifying milestones Identifying the order in which tasks are completed or may run in
parallel Scheduling your time Re-planning to fit the time available
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PROJECT PLANNING
There are several techniques for the above elements but the most common are: Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), Activity Networks, Gantt Charts.
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Refinement of Major Tasks
Refining a major scheduling task into smaller activities needed to create a detailed project schedule.
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Defining a Task Network
Building a task graph or activity network is the key to building a feasible schedule. The task graph represents inter-task dependencies very clearly.
This allows to determine which tasks may be done in parallel and which tasks need to done first.
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Critical Path Method (CPM)
CPM was developed in 1957 by J.E. Kelly of Remington Rand and M. R. Walker of DuPont. CPM assumes the completion time of an activity can be determined with certainty which only depends on the amount of money allocated to the activities.
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Critical Path Method (CPM)
The first step is to identify the work breakdown of the project and the precedence relations between them. An Work Breakdown Structure (also named Activity List / Precedence Relations Chart) can be used to identify the separate activities of the project and their precedence relations. Then a Task Network Diagram of the project can be constructed.
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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
It is a list of all the tasks in the project, which includes the task dependency, duration and the human resource required.
It breaks down your project into a series of identifiable tasks and sub-tasks. They are constructed by looking at your aim and then using the objectives to define the main tasks. Once that is done the main tasks can be refined into a series of subtasks.
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Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)It is always difficult to decide the level of detail required
and if you are not careful you will find yourself defining tasks that take a few minutes. It is best to think of a task as being something that you will deliver as a complete entity for your project.
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Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)Typically, this will mean that the smallest task will last
about 1 week. Alternatively you can use the following 'rule' to decide whether the task needs further breakdown or not. If the task was carried out incorrectly, would it affect project
quality? If the answer is yes, then you need to consider whether there are any meaningful subtasks.
Is it absolutely obvious how to carry out the task? If the answer is an honest yes, then there is probably no need to look for subtasks.
Example
Here is an example using a text breakdown rather than a diagram.
It is usual to put the tasks in the order in which they would be done but this is not essential and in any case many tasks will be done in parallel.
Also you may number the tasks if you wish.
1.0 Stock Market Project 1.1 Literature Survey
1.1.1 Literature Search 1.1.2 Literature Review
1.2 Develop Prototype 1.2.1 Investigate 1.2.2 Design 1.2.3 Build 1.2.4 Test
1.3 Get Stock Data 1.4 Evaluation
1.4.1 Train Users 1.4.2 Use Stock Market Models 1.4.3 Analyse Results
• 1.4.3.1 Decide on statistical tests• 1.4.3.2 Evaluate results
– etc. 1.5 Write Report.
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Time Estimates
Once you have identified the tasks it is important that you estimate how long each one will take. Such estimates are normally continually revised as the project proceeds.
A good way to deal with time scales is to use milestones and time boxes. A milestone is a significant step towards completing the project and a time box is the period of time leading up to the milestone but with the clear intention of delivering a significant and well-defined project element. The actual estimates may be added to the WBS or for ease of calculation you may draw up a simple linear list of activities and their time estimates.
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Work Sequencing
The usual way to do this is to construct an activity network. Activity networks are simple diagrams that show relationships between tasks in that they link activities together based on sequence and timing. Activity diagrams also allow for parallel activities to take place.
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Activity Network
There are two ways to draw a network diagram. In the first figure, arcs are used to represent activities while in the second figure, nodes are used to represent them.
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Some notation has more information on the node:
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Scheduling
Scheduling is usually done using a Gantt chart where the main purpose is to show explicitly the duration of activities and identify explicitly when tasks can be performed simultaneously.
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Gantt ChartTo track the progress of a project is one of the most
important responsibilities of project managers. A common tool for this purpose is the Gantt Chart.
The Gantt Chart was developed by Henry L. Gantt in 1918 and it is used to display and monitor the project progress. In a Gantt Chart, time is measured on the horizontal axis and each activity is listed in the vertical axis, a bar is drawn corresponding to its expected completion time. For different purposes, Gantt Chart can be drawn with earliest start & finish time, or latest start & finish time.
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Re-planningDo not be afraid to re-plan your work as the project
proceeds - this is essential since it is very rare that everything goes without a hitch.
You must also resist the temptation to improve the deliverable and this can lead you into exceeding the time estimate for the task. The usual way to avoid falling into the trap of trying forever to improve a deliverable is to use the fitness for purpose criteria - will the deliverable suffice?
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Dealing with Problems
All projects will experience problems - software does not work, your supervisor is not available, your industrial sponsor goes into liquidation and so on. The key to dealing with problems is to tackle them objectively, professionally and systematically with the aid of your supervisor.
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MANAGING YOUR TIMEThere are just 7 days in a week and 24 hours in a
day. Some of this time is not serviceable by you for your project, it therefore follows that you have to manage your time. We are all different - some people are good at managing their time and shutting out unwanted activities or interruptions whilst other seem to 'bumble' along just managing to complete things, usually right on the deadlines.
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MANAGING YOUR TIMEWe can define the time management process as follows.
1.0 Decide what you want to do. 2.0 Analyse what you want to do. 3.0 Improve the way you do things:
3.1 By improving your own efficiency. 3.2 By prioritisation. 3.3 By elimination:
This looks quite simple and indeed the first two steps are relatively easy but changing one’s work habits is itself stressful.
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Deliverables
what exactly you will be delivering at the end of the project.
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Logbook
It should contain information concerning items such as: Strategic decisions, accompanying reasons, Practical design considerations, Experimental data, References to articles & other work Useful addresses etc.
You will find it useful when writing your report.