3. Based on the ‘immediate objective’ and ‘success criteria’ listed in the article, do you think that ‘time management’ and ‘cost management’ are the main concerns of the project sponsor and stakeholders? Why do you think so?
Yes. In my opinion, I think that ‘time management’ and ‘cost management’ are the main concerns of the project sponsor and stakeholders. However, this two is not the only main concerns of the project sponsor and stakeholders. Their main concerns will be on scope management besides time management and cost management. In order for a project to be successful, it must meet the triple constraint which is the scope, time, and cost goals. Time management and cost management are the main concerns of the project sponsor and stakeholders because time management helps to ensure that the project can be completed within the due date assigned. Meanwhile, cost management helps to ensure that the project is completed within the budget approved.
Project time management actually referring to a component of overall project management in which a timeline is analyzed and developed for the completion of a project or deliverable (Wordpress, n.d.)[4]. For the time management, schedule baseline can be created in conjunction with its activity list. Besides that, network diagrams and Gantt charts can be created with the details of the duration of each task in a visual form. This will help to schedule project task in a proper format so that the flow of the process and the duration of the project are clearly defined. People tend to delay the work done if there is an extra time and not the due date yet. Thus, time management able to place a proper due date and timeline for each phase or each task of the project. Without a good time management and without a due date to motivate the work to be done, the project will be delayed and will not be completed in a timely manner. Hence, this is the reason why project sponsor and stakeholders are concern about the time management in a project.
On the other hand, a good project cost management helps to keep the project within its defined budget (Wordpress, n.d.)[3]. The budget acted as a limit towards the spending of the resources used in the project. Without an agreed or approved budget among the stakeholders, the project might include more and more resources during the process of development without the concern of the cost involved. They will tend to spend more than enough in the resources needed and this is unnecessary. As a result of this, the project will be ended up with a large cost and large expenses involved which is not worthwhile. Since the cost is an alternative that is given up as a result of a decision such as in exchanging for a work done, project sponsor and stakeholders are concern on the cost management in a project.
In addition with the time management and cost management, the main concerns of project sponsor and stakeholders also include scope management. Scope in a project refers to the total of all its products and their requirements or features. Project scope management includes the process in ensuring that the project includes all the work required in order to complete it successfully. With a good scope management, it can help to define and control what is and what is not included in the project (Wikipedia, 2009) [2]. Managing the scope properly can help to avoid scope creep. Scope creep is the expansion of the scope of the project where more requirements that may not be a part of the initial planning of the project are included. Therefore, project scope management is a concern of project sponsor and stakeholders as it can prevent scope creep where it is not favorable in a project.
4. The ‘Biomass Information Service and Awareness Enhancement Program’ consists of a number ‘sub-projects’ (i.e. Biomass Energy Technologies, Technologies Applications Database, Training Courses, Technology Information Exchange Services, etc.). If you were the Project Manager, how would you develop the work breakdown structure? Explain in details, whether it would be organized by product or phase with supporting diagram.
Weak breakdown structure (WBS) is a hierarchical structure, deliverable-oriented grouping of products and work elements that involved in a project. It helps to define the relationships of the project to its sub-deliverables. If I was the Project Manager, I will develop the WBS by dividing the main project into its sub-projects that contributed to the main project. This can be seen from the WBS above with its seven sub-projects. Besides that, I will develop the work breakdown structure by phase oriented. This is because the results of the project are more on verb-based compared to noun-based. In addition, the project tends to have more task-oriented elements where most of the elements are activities. It involves the completion of major tasks in sequence as the project evolves over time (Prasad, 2007) [1]. As you can see from the project output and the diagram above, many tasks needed to be performed in each phase. Each phase is clearly separated by deliverables with entry and exit criteria defined and this adhere to the design principle of 100% rule of developing WBS (Prasad, 2007) [1]. On the other hand, the activity in each phase is the one that lead to the completion of the project as well as making it implemented successfully. In order to perform a particular output, there are few processes that need to be done. Without the tasks and process that lead to the completion of the project, the desired output as well as the outcome will not be achieved. Hence, WBS that is organized by phase can clearly define and provide a basis in managing the project. Moreover, the WBS developed above is by using top-down approach. The project is started with largest items of the project which is the output in the seven phases and breaks them down into the activity that needed to be performed in each phase. The WBS developed above can helps the project manager in facilitating the evaluation of cost, time, and technical performance of the organization in a project. It provides the basis for project manager in assigning individuals with their responsibilities, planning, scheduling, budgeting, and etc.
Reference
[1] Prasad, B, S. (2007, June 16). Ingredients for successful project management. Retrieved July 21, 2009, from http://onlyaboutprojectmanagement.blogspot.com/2007/06/bloggersaijunewbs-yes-it-is-about-work.html
[2] Wikipedia. (2009, June 4). Scope: Project management. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_(project_management)
[3] Wordpress. (n.d.). Project management knowledge: Project cost management. Retrieved July 21, 2009, from http://www.project-management-knowledge.com/definitions/p/project-cost-management/
[4] Wordpress. (n.d.). Project management knowledge: Project time management. Retrieved July 21, 2009, from http://www.project-management-knowledge.com/definitions/p/project-time-management/
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