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Current Winners of the James R. Snyder International Student Paper of the Year Award
The Project
Management Institute Educational Foundation is proud to announce the
recipient of the 2009 PMI Global Congress - EMEA Award:
Hans Petter Krane
Norwegian University of Science and Technology: Ph.D. candidate –- Concentration: Project Management — Uncertainty Management
Paper Title: IT Project Portfolio Governance: The Emerging Operation Manager
Abstract:There are numerous publications showing that projects often fail to meet their cost or schedule target or give their intended benefits, and there are numerous solutions to solve that problem.
One of the early approaches to improve this was to focus on success factors. Pinto and Slevin (1987) were amongst the first to publish success factors. Their ten factors include project mission, management support, schedule/plan, client consultation and acceptance, personnel, technical aspects, monitoring, communication and feedback. A couple of years later Duffy and Thomas (1989) published a study giving the main causes of unsuccessful projects. The most important were part time project management, inappropriate organization, inadequate definition of scope, poor planning and change order control and risk not identified. It is interesting to note that the study by Duffy and Thomas has risk as an important factor whereas Pinto and Slevin do not mention this in their list. Recent thinking focuses significantly on risk. (Miller & Lessard, 2001; Moynihan, 1997)(Maytorena, Winch, Freeman, & Kiely, 2007; Simister, 2004). Risk management is by many considered to be the essence of project management.
Hetland, Sandberg and Torsøy (2005) have studied 44 capital projects and suggest a new understanding of project specific uncertainties and offer a proactive communication strategy that will outwit attackers’ attempts to escalate cost deviations. A recent study of mega oil sand projects in Canada (Jergeas, 2008) points in the same direction as it highlights overly optimistic original cost estimate and schedules. Some authors have started to look at volatility as an expression of uncertainty in projects (Costa Lima & Suslick, 2006).
Today risk is considered as a major factor influencing project success, and project risk management is an important activity in any capital project. Project risk management is also one of the nine knowledge areas in PMIs standard "A Guide to the project management body of knowledge" (2004). It is also part of most maturity models including PMI OPM3 (2003), and there will soon come a new standard from PMI on project risk management .
Several authors have published project risk management approaches (Chapman & Ward, 2003; Gareis, 2005; Hartman, 2000; Kerzner, 2006; Morris & Pinto, 2004). The classical approach to project risk management normally contains 4 – 6 steps. The underpinning idea is to identify risk factors, evaluate and analyse them and finally try to manage them. The analysis may be purely qualitative or quite sophisticated quantitative.
Some authors, for example Westney and Dodson (2006) also use the term strategic risk. Focusing on negative risk, they regard strategic risk as the prospective impact on earnings or capital from adverse business decisions, improper implementation of decisions or lack of responsiveness to industry changes. It is beyond the control of the project team, but may be controlled by the project owner or sponsor. It is a function of the compatibility of an organisation’s strategic goals, the business strategies developed, the resources deployed and the quality of the implementation.
In addition to operational and strategic risk, Rolstadås and Johansen (2008) define contextual risk. This is risk connected to circumstances outside the project that may influence the scope of work and the performance of the organisation. Examples are competing projects, change in ownership and management, legislation and governmental directives, media attention, extreme market conditions, accidents, etc.
Contextual risk may be difficult to predict and may have significant impact. Taleb (2007) calls such risk Black Swans. The Black Swan logic makes “what you do not know” more important than “what you do know”.
It may seem trivial to state that both in the academic and practical discipline of management there has for a long time been an acceptance that uncertainty plays a major role – not all factors of importance may be regarded as well defined or static. When speaking of project management in particular the focus has shifted – from a view of the ideal well-managed project having fixed and firm plans based on a thorough analysis of needs and detailed specs of the solution to a greater attention to the impact of uncertainty.
If once accepted that uncertainty may have a substantial impact on projects and how they achieve their goals, then risk/uncertainty management becomes an important issue. And it becomes important to find out more on how the project risk management contributes to achieving the objectives. A case study has therefore been made to see how the project risk management can address the project objectives, and to see whether strategic risks are addressed at all or not.
This paper will be organized as follows:
The paper will first define the research questions and discuss some of the terms in common use and establish the terminology that will be used in this paper, and then discuss the classification of risks.
The method is then described, and present the projects that have been studied.
The results of the study are then presented, they are related to some common hypotheses from the literature and their implications are discussed.
Finally, some conclusions are drawn and necessary further work is pointed out.
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The Project
Management Institute Educational Foundation is proud to announce the
recipient of the 2009 PMI Global Congress - North America Award:
Laura Sherrick, PMP
University of Ottawa, Canada: Master’s candidate –- Concentration: Engineering Management
Paper Title: A Final Project Report: Utilizing PMBOK® Project Management Areas to Produce a Play and Discover Gym
Abstract:
Project Plan Purpose
In the Summer of 2008, driven by a major consumer products licensing agreement, a committed and inspired team of professionals embarked on a developmental project to create an infant activity gym. The gym, a strategic initiative, was intended to serve as the high-end anchor (bottom shelf product) for a retailer display. Product feature requirements included: use of proprietary character art, a bright, bold color pallet, and inclusion of developmental activities to both entertain baby and assist in dexterity and cognitive skills development. Following is the story of how the project team utilized A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) project management knowledge areas to produce the Play and Discover Gym
Project Requirements and Work Descriptions
The project was initiated as the framework to guide the gym’s development, to ensure systematic achievement of the triple constraints: cost, time and quality goals, and finally, effectively use human resource management tools and techniques.
- Cost: Corporately mandated financial requirements as expected for an infant activity product were negotiated
- Time: Driven by an accelerated schedule, the product required delivery for planned retail display set dates
- Quality: Product safety requirements of American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM, F963), toy safety and product integrity concerns required identification and management
- Human resources management: Project work would be accomplished on two continents requiring both co-located and distance/virtual stakeholders. Application of project management processes organized and directed the work as well as secured timely milestone achievement
Project work, a progressive elaboration across seven internal and external functional units, required a diverse collection of work package activities, including:
- Marketing: Charged with industry, market, and competitive research which resulted in a thorough marketing download and product direction
- Product Design: The project’s creative genius developed a product compliant with features and safety requirements resulting in a best-to-date gym concept design
- Engineering: The project team’s distanced arm developed and manufactured the gym product with a China based vendor factory
- Packaging: Inspired by licensed character art, a compelling design that achieved dual needs: attract consumer attention at retail, and serve as a premium retail package for product shipment and merchandising
- Safety: Produced the safety standards for testing processes, the comprehensive safety specification, and conducted safety/quality reviews throughout the project.
- Licensing: Per contractual agreement, provided artistic reference and design assistance, product reviews and a multitude of product approval comments
- Project Documentation and Reporting: Applied product management methodologies, tracked and documented progress on both continents through: status meetings, reports, using the Development Timeline report (from China) and project management software.
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