Discussion:
Project Management
Reference: Project Management Achieving Competitive Advantage. 3rd edition. Jeffrey K. Pinto
1.Imagine you are a project team member on a project that has been missing deadlines, not producing the technological results hoped for, and is a source of problems between your team and the customer. You have just been informed that the project is being cancelled? In what ways is this good news and how would you view it as bad news?
2. Using the following data, calculate the planned and actual monthly budgets through the end of June. Assume the project is planned for a 12-month duration and $250,000 budget.
Activity Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Plan % C Value
Staffing 8 7 15 100
Blueprinting 4 6 10 100
Prototype
Development 2 8 10 70
Full Design 3 8 10 21 67
Construction 2 30 32 25
Transfer 10 10 0
Monthly Plan
Cumulative
Monthly Actual 10 15 6 14 9 40
Cumul. Actual
3.What do the schedule performance index and budget performance index demonstrate? How can a project manager use this information to estimate future project performance?
4. Comment on the different methods for project termination. How have you seen an example of one of these methods, through either your school or work experience?
5) Compute early and late start and finish times for the network shown.
Early and late start and finish times are given in the table.
|
Task
|
Early Start
|
Early Finish
|
Late Start
|
Late Finish
|
|
A
|
0
|
6
|
0
|
6
|
|
B
|
6
|
11
|
16
|
21
|
|
C
|
18
|
27
|
21
|
30
|
|
D
|
6
|
10
|
14
|
18
|
|
E
|
18
|
30
|
18
|
30
|
|
F
|
6
|
18
|
6
|
18
|
|
G
|
30
|
38
|
30
|
38
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6) Use the values in the table to calculate activity durations and variances for the project. Which path is critical? How closely should the other path be watched and why?
|
Activity
|
Predecessor
|
Optimistic
|
Likely
|
Pessimistic
|
|
A
|
--
|
4
|
6
|
10
|
|
B
|
A
|
2
|
5
|
8
|
|
C
|
A
|
6
|
7
|
9
|
|
D
|
B
|
3
|
9
|
20
|
|
E
|
C
|
7
|
9
|
11
|
|
F
|
D,E
|
7
|
11
|
19
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7) A project manager ascertained that five different resources are needed to complete a project that has been estimated to last 37 days. Just to be on the safe side, the project manager told the client that the project would definitely be delivered in 40 days and 40 nights and arranged to rent the resources for that period of time. The project manager goes to the local rental center at the start of day 1 of the project, signs a 40-day lease agreement for all five resources, and brings them to the site to begin the project. Analyze the Gantt chart and resource list (activity durations are in parenthesis) and determine how much money is being wasted with this rental plan. If each resource could be rented for just the time it takes to complete each activity, what would the charge to the project be?
|
Resource
Number
|
Daily Rate
|
|
1
|
$1,000
|
|
2
|
$1,200
|
|
3
|
$500
|
|
4
|
$750
|
|
5
|
$800
|
|
Activity
|
Length
|
Activity
|
Length
|
|
H
|
3
|
S
|
3
|
|
M
|
9
|
J
|
1
|
|
P
|
6
|
W
|
4
|
|
B
|
7
|
T
|
4
|
|
R
|
9
|
G
|
4
|
|
F
|
5
|
K
|
10
|
8) What is the student syndrome and what makes it a useful model for highlighting common project efforts?
9) Create a resource loading table and perform resource leveling on the project composed of the activities in this table. Activities listed in the table are measured in the number of eight-hour days. The maximum amount of time used per day is 16 hours.
|
Activity
|
Time
|
Predecessor
|
|
A
|
6
|
--
|
|
B
|
1
|
--
|
|
C
|
2
|
A, B
|
|
D
|
4
|
--
|
|
E
|
1
|
C, D
|
|
F
|
1
|
E
|
|
G
|
6
|
E
|
|
H
|
4
|
F
|
|
J
|
4
|
F
|
|
K
|
3
|
G, H
|
|
L
|
5
|
J, K
|
|
M
|
3
|
L
|
10) Identify a different key success driver and inhibitor for the project stages of formation, build-up, main phase, and close-out.
11) Sketch the Seven Elements of Project Closeout Management model and discuss what takes place at each step.
Finishing the work -
Handing over the product -
Gaining acceptance for the product -
Harvesting the benefits -
Reviewing how it all went -
Putting it all to bed -
Disbanding the team -