 Project Management. Inside this chapter, Introduction to Project Management. Project versus Program Management. Project Management Triangle. The Project Management process. Initiation. Planning. Execution. Monitoring and Controlling. Completion. Impact of Project Management. Senior NCO. Mission. Master Sergeant Melby is the superintendent of the Communication Squadron. She has been tasked to create a consolidated equipment and maintenance tracking system. The new system will eliminate redundant reporting among multiple systems. Master Sergeant Melby must oversee all aspects of the project from evaluating potential platforms to implementing the new system. She recalls being involved in projects in the past that could have been managed better and sometimes missed the intent of the original goal. Given this opportunity, she wants to make sure that the end result meets the original objectives of the project, and she knows there are several factors and limitations to consider throughout development. But she's still not quite sure how she should approach this project. What should she do? First, have a definite, clear, practical ideal, a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends. Wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end. Aristotle. Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to Terminal Cognitive Objective Comprehend project management concepts and or their impact on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. Terminal Cognitive Samples of Behavior 1. Identify project management concepts and or their impact on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. 2. Illustrate project management concepts and or their impact on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. 3. Predict the impact of project management concepts on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. Effective Objective Value project management and its positive impact on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. Effective Samples of Behavior 1. Enthusiastically dedicate yourself to read and listen to all material about project management and its impact on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. 2. Voluntarily complete all coursework related to project management and its impact on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. 3. Openly accept project management and its positive impact on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. 4. Willingly develop a preference for project management and its positive impact on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. 5. Strive toward a commitment to apply project management because of its positive impact on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. How many projects have you been involved with? Was everyone always on the same page? Did you have difficulty ensuring that everyone focused on the correct priorities? How did you handle issues like time and cost? Looking back, do you feel like any of your past experiences with leading projects could have been managed better? Senior enlisted leaders and managers are constantly involved with multiple programs containing numerous projects that keep programs running smoothly, enhance program operation, or solve identified problems within a program. Project management is a vital function that provides the framework to help you accomplish goals that are intended to enhance the success of your organization. Increasing your understanding of project management should help you to better plan, organize, and manage your resources in order to deliver on-time, on-budget results, and to meet mission needs more effectively. You'll begin this chapter with an introduction to project management. Here you'll examine the difference between project and program management and the project management triangle. Then you'll learn about the five stages of the project management process, initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and completion, along with steps you can take to be successful in each. You'll end this chapter by covering the impact of project management on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. Now that you know what this chapter is going to cover, let's start with an introduction to project management. Trying to manage a project without project management is like trying to play a football game without a game plan. Catherine Tate. Introduction to project management. Whether planning for a temporary runway closure, a room addition to your office building or home, a retirement ceremony for a co-worker, or a family vacation, project management is involved to ensure the intended outcome follows the plan. The key factor, therefore, is to successfully complete the project without any time or cost overruns. Managing projects is indeed a challenge that calls for developing a definite strategy and creating a workable methodology. To see the value of project management, first it's necessary to understand the fundamental nature of a project and the core characteristics of the project management triangle. In this section, you'll start by covering the difference between project management and program management. Next, you'll be introduced to the three constraints of the project management triangle, scope, time, and cost. Then you'll learn a few project manager responsibilities and skills needed in order to ensure the project is successful. However, before you start to learn about project management, you should understand how it differs from a process some might confuse it with, program management. Let's take a look at their differences. Explore. Project management is the process of leading, coordinating, planning, and controlling a diverse and complex set of processes and people in pursuit of achieving project objectives. Program management is the process of managing several related projects, often with the intention of improving organization's performance. Project management. Task is specific and requirements spell out exactly how it must be done. It is temporary, working towards a specific common goal and end effort. It's output focused, for example, a new software system is developed. A timeline is defined, therefore the project will end at some point. Managers coordinate time, budget, resources, as well as delegates tasks across the team. Program management. Task has a greater level of uncertainty. Can include a number of project teams working together. Is outcome focused. The difference made by the software system to the organization. Is long-term in nature and evolves as a result of continuous process improvement. Managers articulate goals and objectives and map out the list of programs needed to reach goals. Project versus program management. Before you get into the ins and outs of project management, you should understand the difference between project management and program management. Although you may be involved in both, you shouldn't consider them to be the same. In their book, successful project managers, Jeffrey K. Pinto and OP Karbanda state that project management is a combination of human and non-human resources pulled together in a temporary team to achieve a specified purpose. When you think of the word temporary, you might associate it with short term. However, in project management, temporary depends on the activity. For example, when constructing a new facility, it may take months or even years to complete, but it's still a temporary activity with a single objective and a specific timeframe attached. Once the facility has been built, the project is over. On the other hand, program management refers to the specific and coordinated efforts to group a series of similarly structured or interrelated projects. It's normally used to improve an organization's strategic vision or mission. Program managers manage a number of projects. For example, consider the comprehensive Airman Fitness CAF program. It consists of four focus areas, mental, social, spiritual and physical fitness. One person could be considered the CAF program manager. However, there could be a specific task that needs to be created and implemented for each of the focus areas by a specific date. In this instance, each of the focus areas would have a project manager. While program management is certainly important to the overall mission and vision of your organization, this chapter will only focus on how to effectively lead and manage projects. Understanding what project management is and isn't should age you as you continue to progress through this chapter. Projects by nature are limited by their product process quality requirements. This is further illustrated by the project management triangle. The project management triangle is used by managers to analyze or understand the difficulties that may arise due to implementing and executing a project. All projects, regardless of their size, will have constraints. Although you may encounter project constraints, they shouldn't be barriers for successful project execution and effective decision making. There are three main interdependent constraints that exist with every project. Time, cost and scope. Let's examine each of these constraints and then look at how you can face challenges related to each as a project manager. Remember, projects need to be performed and delivered under certain constraints. The project management triangle illustrates the intricate relationship among these primary constraints. Each side of the triangle represents a dynamic constraint while the center of the triangle represents the quality or performance of the project outcome. Any change to one of the constraints can affect the others as well as impact the center of the triangle, product quality. Explore. Scope determines what must be done to produce the project's end result. Cost is the budgeted amount available for the project. Time refers to the amount of time available to complete a project. Scope. Scope captures what is expected at the end of the project, the agreement on the outcome. As a project manager, failing to determine and then agree on the scope of a project can have a negative impact on the overall quality of the deliverable. Additionally, if the scope changes, you might have to make changes to the other aspects of the triangle. Before changing the scope, you should make sure your project's sponsor understands the impact of the change. That way, he or she can make the decision to move forward or disregard. Explore. The project's sponsor is someone in your organization that's the owner of the project, the person who arranges funding and acts as the project's advocate. They normally represent the organization's interests, therefore he or she serves as the project manager's boss. Crawford and Brett. Time. Completion of project tasks can depend on a number of factors. The number of people working on the project, experience, skills, and time. Time is a crucial factor in the triangle you may not be able to control. Failure to meet the deadlines of a project can create adverse effects on other constraints. For example, if a project's schedule changes and the timeline is reduced, you may have to allocate more resources or reduce the scope of the project. Why? Because it would likely either take more resources to accomplish a task faster than budgeted for, or some portion of the end result may need to be modified, or worst case, omitted altogether. If you don't have the flexibility for adjustment, then the overall quality of the product, at the center of the triangle, is likely to diminish. Cost. It's important for both you and the sponsor to agree on the estimated cost when undertaking a project. Budgets should ensure the project is developed or implemented at or below an agreed upon cost. A change in cost could result in a tighter budget or reduce the scope of the project. Sometimes, unforeseen events may cause you to have to allocate additional resources in order to meet the deadlines, resulting in additional project costs. In other words, if you don't have the resources available to accomplish the goal, then the goal may need to be modified. Alternatively, you could wait until more resources are available, but that would increase the amount of time it might take to complete the project. AFI 36-2618 states that senior NCOs should ensure money, facilities, and other resources are utilized in an effective and efficient manner. Creating a budget based on the agreed upon cost can help you meet this responsibility. Quality or performance. In the center of the triangle is quality or performance, which should reveal how well the project achieves its stated end result. Any changes among the three previous constraints could affect the quality or performance of the project outcome. For example, if the scope increases, we can assume the cost and amount of time to complete the project should also increase, which could affect the resulting quality. Your role as a project manager is to provide the appropriate tools and techniques to enable the team to organize their work and manage these constraints. This means you should be able to adjust and adapt as constraints change over the duration of a project. Project Manager Responsibilities and Skills It can be difficult to overcome the challenges of managing the constraints in the triangle during the project execution period. However, as a project manager, you'll have certain responsibilities during the life cycle of the project. They include defining the project and assigning tasks to team members based on talents and abilities, if possible. Obtaining key resources needed to complete the project. Setting the objectives required for the project and working toward meeting these objectives. Keeping the sponsor informed on the progress of the project. Assessing potential risks and carefully monitoring identified risks associated with the project. In order to execute your responsibilities, you should have a range of skills in your Leadership Toolbox which include influencing people, leadership to create buy-in and encourage creative ideas. Managing people in order to keep everyone focused and on task. Negotiating the most effective solutions when faced with conflict. Managing project timelines to ensure overall deadline is met. Effectively communicating with all involved in project. Another skill that's vital to have as a project manager is adaptability. In the Change Management chapter, you learn that adaptability is the ability to adjust oneself to changed, unexpected, or ambiguous situations by actively seeking information and by demonstrating openness and support of different and innovative change ideas. Possessing the three elements of flexibility can help you adapt to changes to the constraints more effectively. Cognitive flexibility. Anticipate changes to the constraints and develop multiple plans to address them. Emotional flexibility. Understand that change may happen over the life cycle of the project. Try to be comfortable with it and help your people do the same. Dispositional flexibility. As unanticipated changes occur, try to see them as opportunities to make the end result better. Since the three constraints in the project management triangle may change, you should attempt to respond in a positive, productive way. Displaying adaptability can help you deal with change and make the necessary adjustments to keep the project moving forward. Adaptability should help you find ways to balance changes to the constraints, if they occur, so the quality of the project won't be compromised. The project management triangle can be a little difficult to manage. However, the more you know and prepare for each constraint, the better the outcome of your project will be. So let's wrap up this introduction to project management. In this section, you were introduced to project management. You learned about the difference between project and program management. One of the biggest differences is project management is output focused, what you produced, whereas program management is outcome focused. The difference what you produce makes. From this point forward, the focus on this chapter will be on project management, the process of leading, coordinating, planning, and controlling a diverse set of processes and people for the purpose of developing, slash, creating a product, slash, output. You covered the project management triangle and identified the three constraints, scope, cost, and time, and how they could impact your overall project quality or performance. Remember, you should remain adaptable as you encounter changes to the constraints. That way, you can work to ensure the final deliverable is the quality product you and your sponsor intended it to be. Finally, you went over a few responsibilities you'll have as a project manager and skills that can help you meet them. Effectively managing your project and team requires leadership. At this point in the course, you've learned principles in chapters such as mediation, full range leadership, critical thinking, team dynamics, etc. That should help you achieve project success. Senior enlisted leaders are always involved in various projects that contribute to the successful mission accomplishment. Your ability to ensure projects meet scope, cost, and time along with the performance objectives is vital to your success and should enable you to help your organization deliver and sustain its warfighting capabilities. As you increase your understanding of project management, you should be able to integrate it into your daily activities, finding it useful in your professional life and your personal life. The challenge is to make project management a habit of the mind, just like critical thinking. As you do, you should begin to see the benefits of taking a step back and approaching situations ranging from new systems at work to family vacations systematically. In order to do this successfully, you need to understand each element of the project management process. The project management process. You've been assigned a project and a group of people to work with. Now what do you do? How do you get from starting the project to the end effectively? Successful completion of a project is your goal as a project manager. It's your responsibility to manage it from its conception to its conclusion. To do so, you should use a process that accounts for all the activities or tasks associated with the project. Whether they're big or small, constrained by scope, cost, or time, it's important to take a structured and defined approach, a systems approach, to managing your project through its entire life cycle. Explore. A systems approach emphasizes the interdependence and interactive nature of elements within and external to an organization, or in this case, your project. A systems approach outlines all the different elements that involve your project. Since the elements are interdependent, completing one impacts the completion of another, they create a framework when considered as a whole. This framework, the project management process, should help you properly manage a project by identifying the most important elements that need close supervision and careful analysis. Dividing the project into smaller components, while still taking into account their interdependent nature, may make your project easier to monitor and possibly less challenging to lead. In this section, you'll cover the five stages of the project management process, listed above, and activities and or tasks you may need to accomplish in each before you move on to the next. Let's start with the beginning of your project, the project initiation stage. Initiation. The first stage in this process is the initiation stage. Here, your goal is to examine the feasibility of the project, to define the nature and scope as well as set the foundation upon which the project will be built. In this stage, ideas are explored and elaborated upon. In addition, decisions are made concerning who is to carry out the project, which party or parties will be involved, and whether the project has an adequate base of support among those who are involved. Some of the questions you should ask yourself during this stage include, why this project? What should the final result be? Is this project feasible? What are the boundaries of this project? Who could I partner with to get this done? In addition to those questions, you should also analyze any needs or requirements. What are you going to need in order to execute the project? Do you have the equipment you need? Are you going to have to coordinate with other base agencies in order to complete the project? Review the current operations. Based on how things currently are, what might you have to change in order to accommodate the project? Duty hours? Unit policies? Conduct a stakeholder analysis. Talk with those individuals that will be impacted by the changes the project will bring. Are there needs being taken into consideration? Do they have concerns you haven't considered but should? Conduct a financial analysis. How much will it cost to complete the project? Are the funds readily available? Create a budget. Based on the amount of funds made available, what do you need to allot money for? Create a charter. Consolidate all of your important information, costs, tasks, deliverables, and schedule in one document. Once you have answers to these questions and perform the above actions as necessary, you should have enough information to create a proposal and submit it for review and approval. Overlooking one or more of these items or failing to ask or answer these questions during this stage could result in wasted time and effort. What if the project isn't feasible or finding out the project will cost more than it's worth? Boundaries aren't established or final result isn't agreed upon. Oversights could also result in misunderstandings and or conflicts because those involved in the project aren't clear on these matters. For example, if your commander is the sponsor of your project, she might expect a working product as an end result while you and your project team are only expecting to develop a prototype. This misunderstanding on expectations could range from a delay in the project, minimal, to a negative impact on your unit's ability to accomplish the mission, detrimental. Therefore, consensus on expectations from all major parties involved is paramount. However, when attempting to decide what the final product expectations are, sometimes scope creep occurs. While coming to a consensus on the final product, sometimes projects tend to expand as other tasks get added on. The sponsor or other stakeholders may say, since you're going to do X, you should also add Y onto the project as well. This is known as scope creep. The scope of the project expands just as a sponge expands when it's dropped in water. It increases in size. As the project manager, you should address scope creep with the sponsor. Start by reminding the sponsor of the original agreed upon scope. However, if the sponsor still wants to add on the new tasks, expand the scope, you should let him or her know how the overall time and cost of the project will be impacted. The project cost might exceed what was originally budgeted for and or it might take more time to complete the project. After you provide the impact the scope creep could have on the project, the sponsor should then decide whether or not to proceed. The project officially begins once your proposal is approved. Then you'd move on to the next stage, project planning. Explore. Scope creep is the tendency to include more tasks in a project than were originally specified. Planning. The key to a successful project is in the planning. Creating a project plan is the first thing you should do when undertaking any kind of project. Often project planning is ignored in favor of getting on with the work. However, many people fail to realize the value of project plan in saving time, money, and many problems. The project plan is a document that should be more specific and defined than the project proposal. Its purpose is to plan time, cost, and resources adequately to estimate the work needed and to effectively manage risk during project execution. Your project plan should also detail information about the tasks, personnel assignments, what needs to be done, deadlines, and expectations. This plan helps you organize and control the project by breaking the overall project down into smaller pieces, providing visibility of ambiguous tasks which might otherwise be overlooked. Providing a single point of reference. Describing the sequence of events. Providing a baseline with which to compare project execution. Anticipating potential issues and or events in order to mitigate them. The planning stage generally consists of four steps. Project goals, deliverables, schedule, and supporting plans. Let's begin with your project goals. Explore. A stakeholder is anybody directly or indirectly impacted by the project's product or outcome. Step one, goals. A project is deemed successful when the needs of the stakeholder have been met. Stakeholders may include the project sponsor, customers, or users of the deliverable, the team carrying out the project, etc. It's important to communicate with your stakeholders since they may see things you don't see. For example, they could provide insight into certain elements of your project that could prevent you from wasting resources on things you don't need to produce the final product. Once you understand who your stakeholders are, the next step is to find out their individual needs for the project. The best way to accomplish this is by conducting interviews with each of them. Their needs and requirements should be considered and prioritized appropriately when defining the project goals. The degree of success in meeting those needs and requirements directly correlates with determining the success of the project as a whole. Once all the stakeholder interviews have been conducted, the next step is to compile and prioritize a comprehensive list of needs. From the prioritized list of needs, create a list of goals that can be measured easily. A technique for doing this is to review them against the SMART principle. SMART is an acronym for S. Specific. What. Where. How. It's all defined and distinct. Clear to anyone that has a basic knowledge of the project. No ambiguous language. M. Measurable. From and to. Know if goal is attainable and how far away completion is. Know when it has been achieved. A. Attainable. How. Goal is reasonable. Can be reached. Is within your power to accomplish. R. Realistic. Is within the availability of resources, knowledge and time. T. Time based. When. There's enough time to achieve the goal. Time frame is aggressive yet realistic. Once you have established a clear set of goals, record them in your project plan along with the stakeholders needs and expectations. A complete plan is very helpful in eliminating redundant work and organizing the efforts of those participating. You must be able to articulate exactly what the project should achieve. Without clear definitions of the goals, it's unlikely the project team will be able to achieve the project deliverables as expected. This leads us into the next step. Project deliverables. Step two. Deliverables. Using the goals you defined in step one, create a list of products and or services to deliver in order to meet those goals. A deliverable usually has a due date and is tangible, measurable and specific. A deliverable can be given to either an external or internal customer and satisfies a milestone or due date that is created and produced in the project plan. A deliverable can be a software product, a design document, a training program, or other asset that's required by the project plan. Document the deliverables on the project plan and estimate when and or how each item must be delivered. More accurate delivery dates will be established during the next step. Project scheduling. Step three. Schedule. In this step, you'll lay out the course of the project in a logical manner from start to finish and assign personnel and due dates to major tasks. However, in order to ensure your project schedule accounts for all aspects of the project, you should start by creating a work breakdown structure or WBS. Explorer. A work breakdown structure WBS is a deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team. Project management institute. Work breakdown structure WBS. The WBS is a tool you can utilize to visually represent all of the work necessary to complete a project and sets the foundation for an effective project schedule. The goal of the WBS is to organize your project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components. This makes your deliverables easier to schedule, helps you estimate cost and effectively monitor and control the overall project. Please refer to page 10 for a project example. In the example, notice how the deliverables for the project are separated into more manageable tasks. In some cases, a more complicated task may have subtasks associated with it. In order to account for them when scheduling, they should be listed in the WBS as well. However, don't think of the WBS as a to-do list. Using the example above, a to-do list would include all the activities needed to complete each task. For example, for task 1.3, you may need to do A, B, and C. Your WBS shouldn't include those items. One final note. Get your team involved in completing the WBS. They can help you identify the major tasks that must be completed for each deliverable and help you estimate completion times when drafting your project schedule. Explore. A project schedule is a tool that communicates what work needs to be performed, which resources, people of the organization will perform the work and the timeframes in which that work needs to be performed. Project Schedule. An effective schedule is one of the most important tools you'll need to manage your project. It provides a visual representation of all the moving parts and or milestones of the project and can be useful not only for you and your team, but also for your sponsor and stakeholders as well. Your project schedule should contain elements such as deliverables and associated tasks, sequence of tasks, time estimated for task completion, start and finish dates, names of those assigned to tasks, resources required to complete deliverables and or task. Please refer to page 11 for an example of a project schedule. Explore. Float is a term that describes the amount of time available to complete a given task beyond the amount of time originally allocated. Each task within a project should have an anticipated timeframe associated to it. However, because some of the risks mentioned above can delay a project, it's important to have extra time built into a project's timeline. Float. Another way to look at float is how many delays, minutes, hours, days, even months your project can have without interfering with the projected completion date. In simple terms, float comes from adding together the differences between the minimum and maximum amounts of time it takes to complete each task associated with the project. This formula determines the earliest possible and latest completion dates for the project. Ideally, projects should never go beyond the latest agreed upon completion date and whenever possible should be completed by the earliest date possible. Effective project managers no delays are unavoidable, so they purposely build float into their project timeline. In addition, effective project managers never reveal the earliest possible date for completing a project. Instead, they inform stakeholders and decision makers of the latest completion date. That way, if the project is executed on time, everyone's happy and if the project comes in early, you become the hero. As the WBS and project schedule define and clarify realistic timelines required to produce the desired outcomes, you may come to realize that an initial imposed deadline is unrealistic or unfeasible. If this occurs, there are a few alternatives you could consider. You might decide to renegotiate the deadline. In this case, consider the project sponsor, the stakeholders and the requirements that originally drove the imposed deadline and determine if negotiation is realistic and feasible. If it's determined they aren't, it may cause an overall delay in the project. Another possibility would be to employ additional resources. However, you should consider the potential impact of doing so. For example, do you have the necessary funds and or manpower available to do so? Would additional resources be the most efficient and effective way to address the situation? Maybe you should seek to reduce the scope of the project. With fewer products to deliver, less time may be required to deliver them. Institutional competency. Managing organizations and resources. Resource stewardship. Completing a WBS and project schedule can help you prioritize the milestones, timelines and resources you need to deliver your product on time and within budget. These are just a few options that may be considered. Whatever avenue you explore, you should use the project schedule and any supporting plans to justify your intended course of action. Step 4. Supporting plans. The process of developing supporting plans is primarily concerned with the actions necessary to define, integrate and coordinate all subsidiary planning documents into a single plan. They provide further detail to address key areas identified in the project management plan. Human resource plan. This single sheet document identifies the organizations and individuals by name with a leading role in the project. It details the number and type of personnel needed to carry out the project, as well as start dates and the lengths of time they'll be required. Your plan should also include the method you'll use to obtain the people you'll need. For example, volunteers, detail airmen, loans from other sections in the unit. Communications plan. This document lists the stakeholders who need to be kept informed. It defines how, when and why communication will take place. It should explain what information needs to be communicated, how often it will be disseminated, and the manner in which it will be provided. Clear communication both solves and prevents problems and helps ensure timelines stay on track. Key elements of the communication plan include a brief background for the plan, the stakeholders analysis, the project objectives, the communication strategy, potential issues and risks, budget information. A common mechanism used for conducting communication is a weekly or monthly progress report. Content should include information such as how the project is progressing, milestones reached, and efforts planned for the upcoming period. Please refer to page 13 for an example of a communications management plan. Risk management plan. This plan evaluates the projected phases and tasks of the project for potential risks. You'll find it beneficial to proactively search for risks throughout the project life cycle in order to outline mitigation actions for the identified risks. Being prepared to address risks as they surface can help to correct the issues and get back on track as quickly and efficiently as possible. Some examples of common project risks include time and cost estimates that are too optimistic, customer review and feedback cycle that's too slow, unexpected budget cuts, unclear roles and responsibilities, stakeholder input isn't sought or their needs aren't properly understood. Stakeholders change the requirements after the project has started Poor communication resulting in misunderstandings, quality problems, and rework. Lack of resources. Risks can be tracked by using a log or matrix. Begin by brainstorming risks before you begin the project, documenting what you'll do to prevent the risk from occurring, and what you'll do to mitigate their effects as they occur. It's important to review the matrix regularly, adding new risks as they are identified. As the project manager, you should attempt to determine the likelihood of a given risk occurring and predict its potential impact before it happens. Considering these two aspects together can help determine the priority of mitigation efforts. Institutional competency. Strategic thinking. Decision making. A risk management plan helps you create decision making criteria to address risks, their impacts and or results. For example, you might identify two potential risks, A and B. You determine that in order to mitigate risk A, you'll need to acquire additional funding that you don't have, however the likelihood of it occurring is minimal. When you take a look at risk B, you determine that there is an increased chance of it occurring, but you may need to request assistance from another base agency in order to mitigate it. Therefore, you would prioritize risk B ahead of risk A. As the schedules and plans are developed for the project, it's time to move into the next stage. Execution. Execution. Once you have established the project's goals and outcomes and you understand how you're going to achieve them through the initiation and the planning stages, you are ready to execute your plans. The execution process includes coordinating people and resources as well as integrating and performing the activities of the project in accordance with the project management plan. During the project execution, you'll use a wide range of resources that may be at your disposal. The goal is to integrate all activities and aspects of the project together in order to achieve a successful outcome. You should monitor quality and timeliness of the products identified as deliverables, outputs, while maintaining oversight of the potential risks identified in your risk management plan. Throughout this stage, you should adhere to your communications plan by keeping the sponsor and stakeholders abreast of what's happening during execution. Maintaining communication creates an avenue for real-time, free-flowing feedback. This should enhance your ability to make adjustments as needed and increase their confidence in your deliverables. Conducting regular meetings with the project team provides a forum to discuss progress with task accomplishment and any project problems or issues that may have arisen. Team meetings not only provide you with tactical-level feedback, they can also help reinforce the team concept and encourage healthy relationships between team members, team dynamics, Air Force core values, excellence in all we do, teamwork. In order for your project to be successful, you need to create and maintain a sense of teamwork amongst your people. Doing so helps highlight the need for interdependency in producing the final product, as well as encourages them to challenge and motivate each other as they complete their assigned tasks. Now that execution has begun and your team is producing deliverables, monitoring and controlling become important. Monitoring and controlling. During this stage, you should observe all aspects of project execution in order to quickly identify potential problems, to investigate the causes of issues, and to apply corrective actions if necessary. The regular observation of your schedules and or resources and measurement of performance enables the identification of variances from the project management plan. Monitoring and controlling includes the following, measuring the ongoing project activities, where we are, monitoring the project variables, cost, effort, scope, etc., against the project management plan, comparing the current project performance baseline, where we should be, identifying corrective actions to address issues and risks, how we can get back on track and or stay on track. Ensuring that only approved changes are implemented. Where are we? Measurement. Are we where we need to be? Evaluation. How can we get back on track? Correction. Status reports are a common tool used for controlling a project. If a project is achieved, status reports should be delivered to whoever is responsible for the ultimate success of the project. It may be helpful to develop a standard template for a status report. Complex projects with multiple phases may require more in-depth status reports than simple projects would require. That's because there should be feedback occurring between the phases in order to implement corrective and or preventive actions to bring the entire project into compliance while monitoring and controlling your project, the principles you learned in the Change Management chapter can be extremely helpful. If your project results in changes to established processes, you may have to deal with resistance. Try to rely on your cognitive, emotional, and dispositional flexibility to help your people and others impacted deal with and get past their resistance. Hopefully they'll be able to see the value in the changes your project will bring. If you'll begin to follow the new process or use the product of your project, you can lock it in by rewarding those that are embracing it. Effectively monitoring and controlling your project can help you finish successfully in the next stage, project completion. Completion Projects can go astray for various reasons. Maybe no one verified that all the projects agreed upon objectives were completed, leaving aspects of the project in limbo. Or maybe someone noticed that you assumed your project had funds that hadn't been spent yet and decided to spend them on something outside of the project scope without talking to you first. Conversely, over-expenditure, spending more than your budget allowed, could put you in a situation where you aren't able to finish the project because you've run out of funds. All of these examples could result from a lack of monitoring and controlling all aspects of your project. They have the potential to create but also your project team. If these examples cause your project to be deemed unsuccessful, your people may feel dissatisfied and unrewarded for the work, often extra work, they've done. As the project manager, it's your job to ensure your project doesn't go astray. By carefully monitoring and maintaining the project plan, the project should stay on track as planned and may be officially closed at the end. This is a project where you'll see the benefits of all your work and your team's hard work. The time and effort spent ensuring that any extra work was specified, budgeted, resourced and fully authorized will be rewarded by an on-time, on-budget project report. Project Review The last formal piece of work the project team should undertake is the Project Review. This event should be a formal review of what went well with the project of sorts. It should include all aspects of the project, such as Objectives Review where all of the agreed-upon objectives met. Performance Criteria Did the project meet the customer's expected key performance indicators? Financial Criteria Were Finances Utilized Appropriately? Resource Utilization Were Resources, People, Material, etc. Utilized Appropriately? Slips and Gains of Time Was Time Estimated and Utilized Appropriately? Quality of Work Was the quality of work performed satisfactorily? Adherence to the Project Definition and Plan Did the project follow the defined plan and remain within the agreed-upon scope? Even if the project was unsuccessful, it should be formally closed. Regardless of the outcome, you should reward your team for their hard work and commitment. Allow them time to reflect on the review. Encourage them to think about the project, including your performance as project manager, and conduct a thorough group discussion. Try to keep the meeting positive. Don't dwell on negatives. However, you should ensure the positive lessons are brought out from each negative event. Doing better next time should be the theme of the review rather than delving into every detailed reason for each perceived failure. As the project manager, consider starting this session with what was done right, what you were pleased with, and then move on to what didn't go well. The outcomes from the project review should be incorporated into a final project report. Ensure the report provides the measures of the relative success, time, budget, performance, delivery, and also clearly details the lessons learned. It's best to deal with unpleasant truths with care. For example, if the project team had little or no senior leader support, assuming they positively asked for it, then it may be best to report that with the benefit of hindsight. The motto Think Before You Act is at the heart of the project management process. Projects go through a number of stages characterized by a distinct set of activities or tasks that take the project from conception to conclusion. Successful execution of each stage should have a direct impact on you, and ultimately, the mission. This section covered the five stages of the project management process. You started with the initiation stage. This stage sets the tone for the entire project since you'll figure out information such as the feasibility of the project or if you'll have everything you need to get it done. Don't forget to get the input of your stakeholders, but be on the lookout for scope creep. At this point in the process you should also create a proposal based on your research for your project sponsored to approve. Once you receive approval, you'll move on to the next stage. In this stage, which takes time and effort, you'll develop your project goals, a list of your deliverables, a project schedule based on an effective work breakdown structure and your project supporting plans. Even though your plan might be good at the start, remember to remain adaptable as unforeseen events can cause changes to your project plan. Next, you cover the execution stage. This is where the work to develop your project's product will begin. Don't forget to conduct regular meetings with your sponsor and stakeholders in order to keep them abreast of how the project is progressing. The feedback you provide them is based on what you've observed in the next stage monitoring and controlling. As the deliverables are being completed continue to measure where your team is according to the project plan where they need to be and if there is a discrepancy what needs to happen in order to get them and the project back on track. This is the completion stage. At this time you'll take a look at how the project progressed, get feedback from your team and conduct a project review. Pass on any lessons learned as a result of the project to your leadership and ensure your team is rewarded for their hard work regardless of the outcome of the project. As a project manager, your goal should be to produce a successful product regardless of the scope and or size of the project. Taking a structured approach to the project management process can help ensure the end result is successful meeting the needs of your sponsor, stakeholders and mission. So, when assigned a project and a group of people, you should now have the skills to complete the life cycle of the project effectively. Impact of project management Now that you've covered a variety of concepts you should have a better understanding of project management. A carefully planned and organized effort utilized to achieve specific goals criteria. So now what? How do these concepts apply to you? Why should you use them? How will their application impact your mission? Before you finish this chapter you should understand the relationship between how well you manage projects and your effectiveness as well as your mission's effectiveness. Air Force Core Value Integrity First Accountability As the project manager you are accountable to your project sponsor, stakeholders, team and ultimately the Air Force. As a result, you must maintain transparency in all aspects of the process budget, communication, etc. Coaching is unlocking a person's potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them learn rather than teaching them. Tim Galway Senior NCO Effectiveness As a senior NCO, your ability to successfully lead projects could have a direct impact on your effectiveness. Teams, not individuals, deliver projects. As a project manager your role is similar to that of a conductor of an orchestra. You must bring all aspects of the project together to produce a successful performance and result. However, what happens if the people on your project team don't have the full range of skills and expertise needed? If this is the case, you should help them understand the life cycle of the project. As a result of effective coaching your people should become better at what they do. Throughout the life cycle of your project, don't forget that your people are the ones completing the tasks and producing your projects deliverables. Encourage innovation and creativity and give your team the space to reach their full potential. Your understanding of team dynamics principles should assist you as you continue to focus on the working relationships, personalities, thoughts, actions, and behaviors that arise within your team. Remember, one of the possible reasons for a team's ineffectiveness and possibly your project's failure could be a result of poor leadership or negative team dynamics. Try to create an environment that encourages greater diversity in thinking, work style, and behavior where there is open communication that nurtures continuous learning. By using full range leadership's intellectual stimulation or inspirational motivation you can set the stage for this to occur. Throughout the project management process there are many overlapping activities oftentimes occurring simultaneously. Therefore communication is a key component of project management. In the very early stages of initiation project leaders begin by defining the nature, purpose, and scope of the project. Your ability to examine the feasibility of the project and use your writing skills to prepare a thorough project proposal to ensuring it gets the proper attention and funding it needs to be successful. Additionally, effective communication skills are needed when interacting with your sponsor and stakeholders. Remember, many misunderstandings and conflicts arise because the parties that are involved aren't clear about what the objectives are or the purpose of the project. Your effectiveness as a senior NCO and project manager can be increased when you're able to clearly outline your goals and accurately define the project scope. There are tasks that are fundamental to successfully meeting the intended outcome of the overall project. Institutional competency communication speaking and writing The ability to effectively communicate is a vital skill for a project manager. Since you'll have to communicate your progress to various people you'll have to adjust your message so it can be understood by different audiences with varying levels of experience. Finally, effective communication helps to create an avenue for free flowing feedback. Real-time feedback enhances your ability to make adjustments as needed and increases your sponsors and stakeholders' confidence in the product you're providing. Failing to maintain an environment that encourages communication could result in blind spots you aren't made aware of or even loss of support from your project sponsor. Institutional competency Managing organizations and resources Resource stewardship As a project manager, it's your responsibility to determine and prioritize your project's timelines, deliverables and resources required. As a project manager your effectiveness also depends on your ability to think strategically and make good decisions throughout the process. One way this is accomplished is by developing and utilizing a risk management plan. The risk management plan evaluates the projected phases and tasks of the project for potential risks. You should use this plan to determine the likelihood of a given risk occurring and potential impact to your deliverables. Neglecting to do so may increase the chance that a risk manifests itself without a plan in place to help mitigate it. Some examples of common risks include budget cuts, role ambiguity and changes in project scope or other constraints. Ignoring these risks could lead to project failure or even something worse, mission degradation. Institutional competency strategic thinking decision making It's your responsibility to establish metrics and decision making criteria concerning items such as cost, risks timing and project strategy. This information should help you evaluate their possible impact to your project and your project outcome. Mission effectiveness When implemented as designed projects can be planned executed and completed with ease. By doing so we are more likely to meet expectations in terms of budget, deadline and product quality while maintaining professional partnerships with those individuals involved. If the project outcome impacts your unit's ability to perform its mission, your responsibility to make sure these things happen becomes exponentially more important. Effective project managers understand that before the work actually begins they must make sure everyone understands and agrees to the project outcome especially the project sponsor and key stakeholders. You should recognize the need to work with the sponsor and stakeholders to ensure everyone's on the same page in regards to what the project will deliver, when it will be complete, how much it will cost, who will do the work, how the work will be done, and what the benefits of the final product will be. One of the most important ways you can do this is by creating a work breakdown structure and project schedule. These tools can help ensure everyone is on the same page when it comes to what the project is actually going to deliver. Failing to create or poorly creating them can have a negative impact on the mission since you may not be able to accurately track task accomplishment and product deliverables or monitor the overall progression of the project. These actions and or inactions can make your project susceptible to a higher degree of risks that might ultimately derail your project and or mission. Every project is unique in terms of the problems that arise, the priorities and resources assigned to it, the environment in which it operates, and the project manager's level of guidance and control. As a senior NCO and airman, more than likely the projects you're tasked to manage will have some level of importance to your organization's overall mission. Otherwise, in today's fiscally constrained environment, the resources wouldn't have been allocated to complete it. By appropriately applying the concepts and principles in this chapter, you can increase your chances of managing a successful project that not only improves your effectiveness as a senior NCO, but also positively impacts the effectiveness of your unit's mission as well. Summary The project management chapter began with an introduction to project management including the difference between project and program management. Next, you explore the project management triangle and how the constraints of time, cost, and scope are related to each other and to the final product's quality and or performance. You continued by exploring the project management process and its five stages initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and completion. In order for you to meet your sponsors and stakeholders' expectations, you have to effectively complete each stage. The chapter concluded by examining the impact of project management on senior NCO and mission effectiveness. It's been said that hindsight is 20-20. When reflecting on past actions, there are always things you could have done better. Maybe you could have planned a bit more or prevented your scope from expanding. Maybe you didn't complete a WBS. Or maybe you didn't communicate the progress of the project effectively. Hopefully, you now understand the importance of these items and others involved in successfully managing a project. They should help you deliver results that are on time within your budget and help to meet your mission needs more effectively. Air Force Requirements Mission Changes and internal organizational initiatives all necessitate effective project management in order to be successful. Senior NCOs are regularly appointed to lead and manage these projects. Your ability to take a step back and view every project from a project management perspective should aid you and your team as you progress through the life cycle of your project. Key Terms Completion Page 15 Cost Page 5 Execution Page 14 Float Page 11 Initiation Page 7 Monitoring and Controlling Page 14 Planning Page 8 Program Management Page 3 Project Management Page 3 Project Management Process Page 6 Project Management Triangle Page 4 Project Schedule Page 11 Project Sponsor Page 4 Scope Page 4 Scope Creep Page 8 Stakeholder Page 9 Systems Approach Page 7 Time Page 4 Work Breakdown Structure WBS Page 10