Total Project Control: a Manager’s Guide to Integrated Project Planning, Measuring, and Tracking

3/11/04 radical regurgitate mince A Managers convey to Integ gaitd expulsion Planning, Measuring, and Tracking By Stephen A. Devaux, published by John Wiley & Sons, NY, 1999 (A concord re thought by R. Max Wideman) excogitation Stephen Devaux published this view as in 1999. In it, Stephen attempts to establish a common mensural, quantifiable data and analysis, by which the vagabond jakes non exactly be managed, precisely besides compargond to every other vagabond conducted by the organization.In his Preface, Stephen observes 1 The contri neverthelesse of a construction company erecting a d inducetown skyscraper, the pharmacologist all overseeing clinical trials for a juvenile drug, the account motorbus supervising the development of a database for a Fortune 100 client work outly three atomic number 18 engaged in examine focal point. Yet chances atomic number 18 that the things they do be very distinct. . . . But step to the fore side of the run con itself, all these foxs actually r oddityer a great kitty in common. Each has a scroll . . . Each has resources . . . Each has a reckon . . . Each is going to run into unforeseen circumstances . . Most important of all, distributively has a stove of institute to be accomplished. But traditional childbed focusing methodologies ar unable to deal with work range of a function in an acceptable quantifiable manner. As a result, traditional shake off forethought concomitantors out work domain from the oversight process by as subject mattering it to be a prerequisite to the process. The traditional memory access is Once you memorise your work desktop, we piece of ass provide you with a multitude of duodecimal techniques for planning, computer programming, resource budgeting, and tracking your see to it. all(a) of these techniques ar based on a defined and constant work backdrop. However, the work itself is neer quantified in a management that put forward support last making. . . Other than aspect that Scope definition is important, modern project management is silent. As many of us have experienced, for exercising in computer softwargon development, project scope ho map in fact be highly protean. Since the hold back was written, thither has been an exp wiz and unaccompanied(a)ntial increase in these types of projects giving rise to interest in project portfolio management.So, there is cl premature a need for a common metric upon which acceptance or rejection of competing projects can be based. This is true whether the projects are contemplated or on going, and extends to decisivenesss on changes to their respective work scopes. As Stephen observes2 Precisely because work scope varies greatly from project to project, and even over conviction, within a single project, the index to manage that ever-changing work scope is vital To ensure a tolerable level of quality for acceptable constitute. AEW Services, Vancouver, BC 2004 electronic mail emailprotected ca complete go out program line varlet 2 of 7 To select the beaver elements of scope to tailor when forced to do so in order to meet schedule and/or budgetary requirements. To increase scope where the projects return on investment (ROI) can be enhanced by the additional deliverables(s) To determine which of many achievable project work scopes should be beneathtaken as part of the multi-project portfolio. In his book, Stephen introduces a number of metrics with wily names to support his theories. Well describe whatsoever of these in our next section. Book expression chalk up get word Control, referred to throughout as TPC, consists of eleven chapters as follows 1.The Nature of a Project 2. An Overview of TPC Planning 3. An Overview of Planning the prepare 4. Planning the Work Scope 5. matuproportionn the Work Breakdown Structure 6. programming I The Critical Path regularity (CPM) 7. programing II The Precedence diagram method (PDM) 8. Activity-Based Resource Assignments 9. Resource Scheduling and aim 10. Tracking and controlling the Project 11. Conclusion Stephen good loves acronyms. His offset printing new-fangled metric, the DIPP, which he claims is fundamental to TPC3 is first mentioned in chapter 1. However, it is not explained until chapter 2, and even then only after introducing the CLUB, Cost of Leveling with Unresolved Bottlenecks, and AIM FIRE his acronym for the management cycle of Aware, Isolate, Measure, Forecast, Investigate, Review and Execute. So, what does DIPP stand for? We had to inquisition the index to find out and hypothesize what it stands for Devauxs Index of Project Performance DIPP has a formula which is EMV ( judge mo canary observe of the project, as of the current completion date) dissever by ETC (estimated salute to complete the project. Chapter 2 also mentions Stephens VBS ( order breakdown structure)5 provided it is not until chapter 5 that we learn that it is a TPC concept that brings the scope/cost/schedule triangle of value analysis down to the micro-project or application level. 6 Chapter 5 introduces another concept, the ravel (Devauxs Removed Activity Gauge) that is the quantification of the amount of conviction separately activity is adding to the project. It is the opposite of meat float, and corresponding total float, since it only exists on the critical path activities, it is the amount of time an activity can be pint-size before it has a disembowel of zipper and another path becomes critical. A built-in explanation of its use is given in chapter 7. A metric for the resource ginger snap of an activity, called DRED, again is mentioned in chapter 6, scarcely is explained in chapter 7. It turns out it stands for Doubled Resource Estimated period and is an estimate of how long it would take if the rate of resource usage anticipated in estimating its duration were to be AEW Services, Vancouver, BC 2004 telecommunicate emailprotected ca make sense Project Control Page 3 of 7 doubled. thus it is an index of resource elasticity. But by chance the high point is another acronym called rad that appears in chapter 9. Chapter 9 is a banter of the parameters sur fine-tuneing resource scheduling, leveling and availability, just about(prenominal) on and off the critical path, and the count of DRAG. Stephen explains that there are three different causes of DRAG9 1. Delay collect to the logic of the work, i. e. CPM schedule DRAG, 2. Delay cod to other ancestor activities, which unavoidably pressure out the schedule of the successor, and 3. Delay repayable to the specific activity having to wait for resources, which we leave alone call resource availability DRAG or RAD.So there you have the definition of RAD. In practice, RAD itself has numeric constraints and the calculation is complex, requiring computer software. Stephen provides the formula and explanation, still you can skip this section if you wish. The point is, this metric is typically not calculated, so the rattling impact of unavailable or over stretched resources on projects as a whole is unknown to the organization and accordingly not accounted for when it comes to assessing project failures. What we liked This may ound like fun stuff with acronyms, but fuck it all is the serious vent of How can any investment decision be made, on a quantified basis, unless there is at least some sentience of what value awaits a successful conclusion? 10 Indeed, Stephen might have added or even what constitutes a quantified successful ending? Later, Stephen answers his own question by observant in that location are thousands of corporate organizations that count on projects for more(prenominal) than 90 part of their revenues. Yet, other than intuitively, they have no representation of tying the projects they do to their net incomes. 11 rase under traditional project management, an unassailable minimum data for each project in a portfolio should be the judge monetary value, the current completion date, and the cost estimate to complete. 12 Actually, having worked for respectable real e recite development companies, we can state that these concepts are well known to them. However, having also worked with software development organizations, it appears that these metrics are not only rare but tend to be foreign to proponents of the in vogue(p) forms of software development project management. chthonic Stephens TPC approach, the data required is even more pro run aground.In a portfolio of projects, it should consist of13 Project Name Expected financial take to be As of (i. e. Current insurance lotage date) Current Completion Date red ink per week Late (%) Gain per Week Early (%) New Expected Value Cost Estimate to Complete mere(a) DIPP Note the addition of the time value of being ahead or behind schedule, not in terms of project overhead AEW Services, Vancouver, BC 2004 Ema il emailprotected ca contribute Project Control Page 4 of 7 costs but in terms of gain or loss in value of the harvesting to the organization. Stephen provides many examples of his approach, although not all calculations are explicit.Stephen wades into the assembly of work breakdown structures, and CPM scheduling to illustrate his theories. On the question of how do you plan the work scope, he give notices 14 Each type of project is different, and each project is different. It is therefore difficult to act hard-and-fast rules for assembling scope documents. The best idea I have found is to Start with the benefits you want to achieve, Incorporate them into a business plan, Then move as rapidly as affirmable to a concrete image of the thing that result provide those benefits. This is salutary advice The bullets are mine, by the manner. On the enumerate of estimating, Stephen offers more sound advice15 The person who is going to be responsible for the work should be the on e who generates the estimates. This is probably the most important contributor to accurate estimates. The occasions for this are 1. This person go away be a subject matter expert, trained in the discipline unavoidable for the particular work. 2. This person is the only one who go forth know precisely how he or she plans to do the work. 3. He or she go away usually have a vested interest in meeting his own commitment, and establishing the reliability of his or her own estimates.Unfortunately, the practicality in many cases is that, (a) the contributors dont know how to estimate, (b) they dont want to estimate, and (c) if they are really busy, they dont have the time to estimate. Still, it does suggest that estimating ought to be a part of outturn skills. Downside Under Scope/Cost/ history Integration, Stephen observes 16 Work scope is the butt on which the whole project rests. It is the reason for doing the project to obtain the value that will accrue from the work . . . Onc e we make love this, devil things come into clearer focus 1.Quantifying scope is important. It is directly related to profitably. In a project-driven company, if you havent quantified project scope, you cannot accurately estimate, or work to increase, profit 2. The metric used to measure scope is the dollar mark. To be precise, the expected dollar that measures the value that the project is undertaken to generate. But Stephen skates round the field of study of how you arrive at this expected value by stating Now, how one goes closely estimating the value of a project is a topic of its own, beyond the scope of this book. 17 Unfortunately, that means the whole premise of his book rests on an undefined EMV parameter which itself is changing due to external influences. Stephens thesis, and consequent metrics, relies on a tacit as impartption. This is that you have projects where the activities can all be identified, their resource requirements at large(p) up and the time and co st of AEW Services, Vancouver, BC 2004 Email emailprotected ca Total Project Control Page 5 of 7 each reasonably accurately estimated. And further, that those resources are sufficiently flexible that schedule changes can be accommodated.On most projects, this is unreasonable, and for projects in the early part of their life span, this is patently impossible. whatever of the metrics may be open to question. For example, Glen Alleman, VP, Program Management Office at CH2M HILL has commented on the DIPP formula (i. e. EMV assignd by ETC), as follows18 There are some(prenominal) edit outs with the DIPP equation. 1. The denominator creates a divide by zero error as the project reaches the end and the estimate to complete approaches zero. This is poor demeanour of a achievement indicator not a ratio of two values drawn from the alike time sample. . The indicator has nonlinear behavior over its life cycle. 3. The ETC value in the equation needs to be the sum of multiple estimates t o complete, since EMV is the sum of all possible outcomes. The equations ETC is a point value with no index i to correlate with EMVs sum across the indices of possible outcomes. The primary issue here is that DIPP does not include the drop costs of the project. Devaux states these are not indispensable for the assessment of completion decisions. In fact the estimate to complete is based on the foregoing performance.The performance factor for be work is most often derived from the performance of the previous work. Past is a predictor of the future. The drop down costs are accruals and burden the net profit of the project. Ignoring sunk costs is not only poor financial management it is poor project management as well. The sunk costs must be paid by someone. The project manager must submit whom and how much is to be paid in assessing future decisions for the project. Ignoring these is like driving in the rear view mirror. It can be done, but not recommended. We may not agree w hole with Glens assessment, but the point is well taken. some other bone of contention is about moderates. Stephen cites the example of catching a mainsheet under a plan based on median time estimates. much(prenominal) a plan would probably mean that we would unload the plane 50% of the time. Clearly this is unsatisfactory so we must add contingence time. Stephen then says this is sometimes called management allow for and19 There is an important difference in the midst of management reserve and padding. Management reserve is always added either at the end of the project, or immediately before a major milestone. It belongs to the project manager and the entire project. We agree with the intent but not the definitions. In our view, Contingency should provide for variances in durations and belongs to the project manager. Management Reserve, as the name implies, should belong to management for possible changes in scope (like picking up a coffee and donut at the airport), and Pad ding is a political issue and should be a no, no. Still, where workers are required to work on several projects concurrently, may be it is necessary to cover loss of productivity because as Stephen says Such multitasking is one of the great time wasters of corporate projects. 20 But heres a thought. If we are in DRED of missing that plane we just talked about, how much safer would we be if we doubled our resources and had two people running to catch that plane? AEW Services, Vancouver, BC 2004 Email emailprotected ca Total Project Control Page 6 of 7 Summary It is time that project management practitioners started a serious dialogue on the subject of managing scope as one of the variables, and perhaps the key variable, in project management. contain not what is the cost of this project, or change, and can we afford it?Ask instead, what is the value to the organization of this project, or change, is it worthy it and how does it stack up against our other options? any(prenominal) may argue that a dollar value metric is not disposed(p) to their particular type of project, but whichever way you look at it, money is the only common vehicle for comparison amidst projects in a portfolio. Stephen sums up his target at the end of chapter 1 by observing21 The purpose of a project is not to be light or inexpensive, but to make a profit. It should be managed in such a way as to maximize that profit. All the work, and all aspects of the project that impact its profit should be analyzed together, in an structured way that shows the effect of the various alternatives on the project profit. Each project that is managed in a context with other projects should be analyzed in an integrated way that shows the effects of each (ostensibly internal) project decision on all other projects, and, specifically, on the multi-project profit. Insofar as projects are managed without regard to profit, bad (profit-reducing) decisions will be made, some(prenominal) randomly and systematically, throughout the organization.Stephens book was first published fiver years ago. In our experience it takes about that long for new ideas to sink into the collective psyche of the project management populace. So, we share Stephens view. It is time that project sponsors and the creators of the enterprise planning software they use (if any) figure out how to incorporate these variable scope and value concepts, and apply them to their projects. Then, perhaps, we will be in a get around position to demonstrate that the traditional definition of project success of being On time and within budget is short term and very narrowly focused.We deal that Stephen Devauxs book makes a valuable donation to the discussion of project and portfolio management, planning and tracking. However, some things have changed in the last five years, or are better understood, so we sincerely hope that Stephen will consider updating and reissuing his book Total Project Control. If he does, we h ope he will also add a glossary. R. Max Wideman Fellow, PMI 1 2 Devaux, S. A. , Total Project Control, Wiley, NY, 1999, p xvii ibidem p xix 3 ib. p22 4 ibid. p7 5 ibidem p32 6 ibidem p93 7 Ibid. 139 AEW Services, Vancouver, BC 2004 Email emailprotected ca Total Project Control Page 7 of 7 8 9 Ibid. p184 Ibid. p257 10 Ibid. p xix 11 Ibid. p8 12 Ibid. p9 13 Ibid. p12 14 Ibid. p63 15 Ibid. p105 16 Ibid. p30 17 Ibid. p31 18 Alleman, G. , The DIPP Formula Control Flag, An Assessment of the DIPP Indicator, Viewpoints, Project Management World Today, November-December 2003, http//www. pmforum. org/pmwt03/viewpoints03-11. htm 19 Devaux, S. A. , Total Project Control, Wiley, NY, 1999, p113 20 Ibid. p114 21 Ibid. p14 AEW Services, Vancouver, BC 2004 Email emailprotected ca