What is project, management and project management?
So, for me, as a student, project is something that gives us, student, headaches and sleepless nights. It usually occurs at the end of the sem or school year. Project also happens to be the reason some students fails in the class. But in real definition, project is usually defined as a task or planned program of work that requires a large amount of time, effort and planning to complete. Some interrelated activities that needs to be completed to reach a common goal. In class, project was explained to be unique in goal or result and is temporary. It has definite starting time and a definite ending time. I remembered project has some sort of triangle. The triangle is composed of three things because it is a triangle. Pfft! Anyways, those three are the budget, time and scope. Budget is already self-defined, no argue about it. We can also call it resources for the project. Now, time. Time is also already self-defined. So to make it much longer, time is the schedules of the project. It defines the starting and the ending time. This is the one Filipino normally doesn’t follow. YEAH! Well, we failed in this matter. We always move when the deadline comes closer. Even I am victimized by this factor. I like messing around more than making my self busy doing home works. I didn’t really go to school to have good grades for work or something. It’s just to have fun while at it. So why waste time doing projects? But I still have to do, so. Now, for the scope… Scope is what defines the contents of the project. The scope also seems to have the concept of the project. Projects will be said to be successful if it reached the time, below the budget and if it has the required functionalities. You always have a project.
Management is something I don’t have. I can’t organize much about something or an event. I just leave something as it is. And if something goes wrong, I won’t be blaming anyone. It seems I am a person who wouldn’t cross the safe zone. Anyways, management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Generally, management encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources. Human resources are the only part of the resources where you can talk to (the humans) and has the ability to understand. Financial resources can be controlled but it is really limited. Technology emerges all the time and it has countless possibilities. Its availability will be the only problem for it. Natural resources, well, we shouldn’t really be messing with it. But I guess we can use it but never should we destroy it. So according to what I am saying here and what I have heard, management is all about control. Not the forceful control one, just controlling what we have but with it’s freewill it has one. In other words, guidance.
Project management for me is the application of management skills to a certain project. Project management is a methodical approach in planning and guiding project processes from start to finish. It's typically created once, it's temporary, and it's specific, just like what I have said before. "It has a beginning and an end." It is the discipline of securing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. Without management in a project, nothing will be done and everything’s going to be in anarchy. It is sometimes conflated with process or program management. A project consumes resources (whether people, cash, materials, or even time), and it has funding limits. It is the science of organizing the components of a project. Even if the project is a development or an upgrade of a product; a new service; or even a birthday party, it will always and still be a project and it will need management. A project isn't something that's part of normal business operations. The processes are guided with these stages: initiation, planning, executing, controlling, directing, and closing. I forgot the other things so; I will just let it be. Project management can be applied to any type of project and is widely used to control the complex processes of projects. For us information technology people, big projects happen most of the time.
The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of project goals and objectives while honoring the preconceived project constraints. Typical constraints are actually in the project triangle, the scope, time or schedule, and budget. The secondary and more ambitious challenge is to optimize the allocation and integration of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives.
No matter what the type of project, project management typically follows the same pattern: Well, it will start with the initiation of the project. In this stage the project manager defines what the project is and what the users hope to achieve by undertaking the project. This phase also includes a list of project deliverables, the outcome of a specific set of activities. The project manager works with the business sponsor or manager who wants to have the project implemented and other stakeholders those who have a vested interest in the outcome of the project. The key project controls needed here are an understanding of the business environment and making sure that all necessary controls are incorporated into the project. Any deficiencies should be reported and a recommendation should be made to fix them. This is the part of making the project charter; which will be discussed later but not in this document. Next is planning, after the initiation stage, the project is planned to an appropriate level of detail. The main purpose is to plan time, cost and resources adequately to estimate the work needed and to effectively manage risk during project execution. As with the Initiation process group, a failure to adequately plan greatly reduces the project's chances of successfully accomplishing its goals. Project planning generally consists of:
Define all project activities. In this stage, the project manager lists all activities or tasks, how the tasks are related, how long each task will take, and how each tasks is tied to a specific deadline. This phase also allows the project manager to define relationships between tasks, so that, for example, if one task is x number of days late, the project tasks related to it will also reflect a comparable delay. Likewise, the project manager can set milestones, dates by which important aspects of the project need to be met. Define requirements for completing the project. In this stage, the project manager identifies how many people (often referred to as "resources") and how much expense ("cost") is involved in the project, as well as any other requirements that are necessary for completing the project. The project manager will also need to manage assumptions and risks related to the project. The project manager will also want to identify project constraints. Constraints typically relate to schedule, resources, budget, and scope. A change in one constraint will typically affect the other constraints. For example, a budget constraint may affect the number of people who can work on the project, thereby imposing a resource constraint. Likewise, if additional features are added as part of project scope, that could affect scheduling, resources, and budget. Additional processes, such as planning for communications and for scope management, identifying roles and responsibilities, determining what to purchase for the project and holding a kick-off meeting are also generally advisable. For new product development projects, conceptual design of the operation of the final product may be performed concurrent with the project planning activities, and may help to inform the planning team when identifying deliverables and planning activities. Another is the execution of the project. Build the project team. In this phase, the project manager knows how many resources and how much he or she budget has to work with for the project. It consists of the processes used to complete the work defined in the project management plan to accomplish the project's requirements. Execution process involves coordinating people and resources, as well as integrating and performing the activities of the project in accordance with the project management plan. The project manager then assigns those resources and allocates budget to various tasks in the project. Now the work of the project begins. The deliverables are produced as outputs from the processes performed as defined in the project management plan. After executing, it’s time for controlling the flow of the project. The project manager is in charge of updating the project plans to reflect actual time elapsed for each task. By keeping up with the details of progress, the project manager is able to understand how well the project is progressing overall. Monitoring and controlling consists of those processes performed to observe project execution so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective action can be taken, when necessary, to control the execution of the project. The key benefit is that project performance is observed and measured regularly to identify variances from the project management plan. Monitoring and Controlling includes: Measuring the ongoing project activities ('where we are'); Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be); Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get on track again); Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only approved changes are implemented. In multi-phase projects, the monitoring and controlling process also provides feedback between project phases, in order to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the project into compliance with the project management plan. Project Maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes: Continuing support of end users; Correction of errors; Updates of the software over time. Monitoring and Controlling includes: Measuring the ongoing project activities ('where we are'); Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be); Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get on track again); Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only approved changes are implemented. In multi-phased projects, the monitoring and controlling process also provides feedback between project phases, in order to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the project into compliance with the project management plan. Project Maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes: Continuing support of end users; Correction of errors; Updates of the software over time. Finally, closing the project, in this stage, the project manager and business owner pull together the project team and those who have an interest in the outcome of the project (stakeholders) to analyze the final outcome of the project. Closing includes the formal acceptance of the project and the ending thereof. Administrative activities include the archiving of the files and documenting lessons learned. This phase consists of: Project close: Finalize all activities across all of the process groups to formally close the project or a project phase. Contract closure: Complete and settle each contract (including the resolution of any open items) and close each contract applicable to the project or project phase. Frequently, people refer to project management as having three components: time, money, and scope. Reducing or increasing any one of the three will probably have an impact on the other two. If a company reduces the amount of time it can spend on a project, that will affect the scope (what can be included in the project) as well as the cost (since additional people or resources may be required to meet the abbreviated schedule).
Project Portfolio Management: Recent trends in project management include project portfolio management. It is a move by organizations to get control over numerous projects by evaluating how well each project aligns with strategic goals and quantifying its value. An organization will typically be working on multiple projects, each resulting in potentially differing amounts of return or value. The company or agency may decide to eliminate those projects with a lower return in order to dedicate greater resources to the remaining projects or in order to preserve the projects with the highest return or value. There are a number of approaches to managing project activities including agile, interactive, incremental, and phased approaches. Regardless of the methodology employed, careful consideration must be given to the overall project objectives, timeline, and cost, as well as the roles and responsibilities of all participants and stakeholders. The traditional approach is phased approach identifies a sequence of steps to be completed. In the "traditional approach", we can distinguish 5 components of a project (4 stages plus control) in the development of a project: But not all the projects will visit every stage as projects can be terminated before they reach completion. Some projects do not follow a structured planning and/or monitoring stages. Some projects will go through steps 2, 3 and 4 multiple times. There are industries use variations on these project stages. In software development, this approach is often known as the waterfall model i.e., one series of tasks after another in linear sequence. In software development many organizations have adapted the Rational Unified Process (RUP) to fit this methodology, although RUP does not require or explicitly recommend this practice. Waterfall development works well for small, well defined projects, but often fails in larger projects of undefined and ambiguous nature. The Cone of Uncertainty explains some of this as the planning made on the initial phase of the project suffers from a high degree of uncertainty. This becomes especially true as software development is often the realization of a new or novel product. In projects where requirements have not been finalized and can change, requirements management is used to develop an accurate and complete definition of the behavior of software that can serve as the basis for software development.[17] While the terms may differ from industry to industry, the actual stages typically follow common steps to problem solving "defining the problem, weighing options, choosing a path, implementation and evaluation." Project control systems is the element of a project that keeps it on-track, on-time and within budget. Project control begins early in the project with planning and ends late in the project with post-implementation review, having a thorough involvement of each step in the process. Each project should be assessed for the appropriate level of control needed: too much control is too time-consuming; too little control is very risky. If project control is not implemented correctly, the cost to the business should be clarified in terms of errors, fixes, and additional audit fees. Control systems are needed for cost, risk, quality, communication, time, change, procurement, and human resources. In addition, auditors should consider how important the projects are to the financial statements, how reliant the stakeholders are on controls, and how many controls existing. Auditors should review the development process and procedures for how they are implemented. The process of development and the quality of the final product may also be assessed if needed or requested. A business may want the auditing firm to be involved throughout the process to catch problems earlier on so that they can be fixed more easily. An auditor can serve as a controls consultant as part of the development team or as an independent auditor as part of an audit. Businesses sometimes use formal systems development processes. These help assure that systems are developed successfully. A formal process is more effective in creating strong controls, and auditors should review this process to confirm that it is well designed and is followed in practice. A good formal systems development plan outlines: A strategy to align development with the organization’s broader objectives; Standards for new systems; Project management policies for timing and budgeting; Procedures describing the process; Evaluation of quality of change.
In a project, there is some one called a project manager. It is a professional in the field of project management. Or he is expected to be. Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project, typically relating to construction industry, engineering, architecture, computing, or telecommunications. Many other fields in the production engineering and design engineering and heavy industrial also have project managers.
A project manager is the person accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which is cost, time, and scope.
A project manager is often a client representative and has to determine and implement the exact needs of the client, based on knowledge of the firm they are representing. The ability to adapt to the various internal procedures of the contracting party, and to form close links with the nominated representatives, is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time, quality and above all, client satisfaction, can be realized.
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a tree structure, which shows a subdivision of effort required to achieve an objective; for example a program, project, and contract. The WBS may be hardware, product, service, or process oriented. A WBS can be developed by starting with the end objective and successively subdividing it into manageable components in terms of size, duration, and responsibility (e.g., systems, subsystems, components, tasks, subtasks, and work packages), which include all steps necessary to achieve the objective. The Work Breakdown Structure provides a common framework for the natural development of the overall planning and control of a contract and is the basis for dividing work into definable increments from which the statement of work can be developed and technical, schedule, cost, and labor hour reporting can be established.
The Program (Investment) Life Cycle integrates the project management and system development life cycles with the activities directly associated with system deployment and operation. By design, system operation management and related activities occur after the project is complete and are not documented within this guide.
The VA IT Project Management Framework diagram illustrates Milestone 4 which occurs following the deployment of a system and the closing of the project. The project closing phase activities at the VA continues through system deployment and into system operation for the purpose of illustrating and describing the system activities the VA considers part of the project. The figure illustrates the actions and associated artifacts of the VA IT Project and Program Management process.
In simpler words, project management is essential to a project. And a project manager, which should actually be called project leader, manages the flow of the project and leads its members in doing so. Leading the members is much important than managing them.
Management is something I don’t have. I can’t organize much about something or an event. I just leave something as it is. And if something goes wrong, I won’t be blaming anyone. It seems I am a person who wouldn’t cross the safe zone. Anyways, management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Generally, management encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources. Human resources are the only part of the resources where you can talk to (the humans) and has the ability to understand. Financial resources can be controlled but it is really limited. Technology emerges all the time and it has countless possibilities. Its availability will be the only problem for it. Natural resources, well, we shouldn’t really be messing with it. But I guess we can use it but never should we destroy it. So according to what I am saying here and what I have heard, management is all about control. Not the forceful control one, just controlling what we have but with it’s freewill it has one. In other words, guidance.
Project management for me is the application of management skills to a certain project. Project management is a methodical approach in planning and guiding project processes from start to finish. It's typically created once, it's temporary, and it's specific, just like what I have said before. "It has a beginning and an end." It is the discipline of securing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. Without management in a project, nothing will be done and everything’s going to be in anarchy. It is sometimes conflated with process or program management. A project consumes resources (whether people, cash, materials, or even time), and it has funding limits. It is the science of organizing the components of a project. Even if the project is a development or an upgrade of a product; a new service; or even a birthday party, it will always and still be a project and it will need management. A project isn't something that's part of normal business operations. The processes are guided with these stages: initiation, planning, executing, controlling, directing, and closing. I forgot the other things so; I will just let it be. Project management can be applied to any type of project and is widely used to control the complex processes of projects. For us information technology people, big projects happen most of the time.
The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of project goals and objectives while honoring the preconceived project constraints. Typical constraints are actually in the project triangle, the scope, time or schedule, and budget. The secondary and more ambitious challenge is to optimize the allocation and integration of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives.
No matter what the type of project, project management typically follows the same pattern: Well, it will start with the initiation of the project. In this stage the project manager defines what the project is and what the users hope to achieve by undertaking the project. This phase also includes a list of project deliverables, the outcome of a specific set of activities. The project manager works with the business sponsor or manager who wants to have the project implemented and other stakeholders those who have a vested interest in the outcome of the project. The key project controls needed here are an understanding of the business environment and making sure that all necessary controls are incorporated into the project. Any deficiencies should be reported and a recommendation should be made to fix them. This is the part of making the project charter; which will be discussed later but not in this document. Next is planning, after the initiation stage, the project is planned to an appropriate level of detail. The main purpose is to plan time, cost and resources adequately to estimate the work needed and to effectively manage risk during project execution. As with the Initiation process group, a failure to adequately plan greatly reduces the project's chances of successfully accomplishing its goals. Project planning generally consists of:
Define all project activities. In this stage, the project manager lists all activities or tasks, how the tasks are related, how long each task will take, and how each tasks is tied to a specific deadline. This phase also allows the project manager to define relationships between tasks, so that, for example, if one task is x number of days late, the project tasks related to it will also reflect a comparable delay. Likewise, the project manager can set milestones, dates by which important aspects of the project need to be met. Define requirements for completing the project. In this stage, the project manager identifies how many people (often referred to as "resources") and how much expense ("cost") is involved in the project, as well as any other requirements that are necessary for completing the project. The project manager will also need to manage assumptions and risks related to the project. The project manager will also want to identify project constraints. Constraints typically relate to schedule, resources, budget, and scope. A change in one constraint will typically affect the other constraints. For example, a budget constraint may affect the number of people who can work on the project, thereby imposing a resource constraint. Likewise, if additional features are added as part of project scope, that could affect scheduling, resources, and budget. Additional processes, such as planning for communications and for scope management, identifying roles and responsibilities, determining what to purchase for the project and holding a kick-off meeting are also generally advisable. For new product development projects, conceptual design of the operation of the final product may be performed concurrent with the project planning activities, and may help to inform the planning team when identifying deliverables and planning activities. Another is the execution of the project. Build the project team. In this phase, the project manager knows how many resources and how much he or she budget has to work with for the project. It consists of the processes used to complete the work defined in the project management plan to accomplish the project's requirements. Execution process involves coordinating people and resources, as well as integrating and performing the activities of the project in accordance with the project management plan. The project manager then assigns those resources and allocates budget to various tasks in the project. Now the work of the project begins. The deliverables are produced as outputs from the processes performed as defined in the project management plan. After executing, it’s time for controlling the flow of the project. The project manager is in charge of updating the project plans to reflect actual time elapsed for each task. By keeping up with the details of progress, the project manager is able to understand how well the project is progressing overall. Monitoring and controlling consists of those processes performed to observe project execution so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective action can be taken, when necessary, to control the execution of the project. The key benefit is that project performance is observed and measured regularly to identify variances from the project management plan. Monitoring and Controlling includes: Measuring the ongoing project activities ('where we are'); Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be); Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get on track again); Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only approved changes are implemented. In multi-phase projects, the monitoring and controlling process also provides feedback between project phases, in order to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the project into compliance with the project management plan. Project Maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes: Continuing support of end users; Correction of errors; Updates of the software over time. Monitoring and Controlling includes: Measuring the ongoing project activities ('where we are'); Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be); Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get on track again); Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only approved changes are implemented. In multi-phased projects, the monitoring and controlling process also provides feedback between project phases, in order to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the project into compliance with the project management plan. Project Maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes: Continuing support of end users; Correction of errors; Updates of the software over time. Finally, closing the project, in this stage, the project manager and business owner pull together the project team and those who have an interest in the outcome of the project (stakeholders) to analyze the final outcome of the project. Closing includes the formal acceptance of the project and the ending thereof. Administrative activities include the archiving of the files and documenting lessons learned. This phase consists of: Project close: Finalize all activities across all of the process groups to formally close the project or a project phase. Contract closure: Complete and settle each contract (including the resolution of any open items) and close each contract applicable to the project or project phase. Frequently, people refer to project management as having three components: time, money, and scope. Reducing or increasing any one of the three will probably have an impact on the other two. If a company reduces the amount of time it can spend on a project, that will affect the scope (what can be included in the project) as well as the cost (since additional people or resources may be required to meet the abbreviated schedule).
Project Portfolio Management: Recent trends in project management include project portfolio management. It is a move by organizations to get control over numerous projects by evaluating how well each project aligns with strategic goals and quantifying its value. An organization will typically be working on multiple projects, each resulting in potentially differing amounts of return or value. The company or agency may decide to eliminate those projects with a lower return in order to dedicate greater resources to the remaining projects or in order to preserve the projects with the highest return or value. There are a number of approaches to managing project activities including agile, interactive, incremental, and phased approaches. Regardless of the methodology employed, careful consideration must be given to the overall project objectives, timeline, and cost, as well as the roles and responsibilities of all participants and stakeholders. The traditional approach is phased approach identifies a sequence of steps to be completed. In the "traditional approach", we can distinguish 5 components of a project (4 stages plus control) in the development of a project: But not all the projects will visit every stage as projects can be terminated before they reach completion. Some projects do not follow a structured planning and/or monitoring stages. Some projects will go through steps 2, 3 and 4 multiple times. There are industries use variations on these project stages. In software development, this approach is often known as the waterfall model i.e., one series of tasks after another in linear sequence. In software development many organizations have adapted the Rational Unified Process (RUP) to fit this methodology, although RUP does not require or explicitly recommend this practice. Waterfall development works well for small, well defined projects, but often fails in larger projects of undefined and ambiguous nature. The Cone of Uncertainty explains some of this as the planning made on the initial phase of the project suffers from a high degree of uncertainty. This becomes especially true as software development is often the realization of a new or novel product. In projects where requirements have not been finalized and can change, requirements management is used to develop an accurate and complete definition of the behavior of software that can serve as the basis for software development.[17] While the terms may differ from industry to industry, the actual stages typically follow common steps to problem solving "defining the problem, weighing options, choosing a path, implementation and evaluation." Project control systems is the element of a project that keeps it on-track, on-time and within budget. Project control begins early in the project with planning and ends late in the project with post-implementation review, having a thorough involvement of each step in the process. Each project should be assessed for the appropriate level of control needed: too much control is too time-consuming; too little control is very risky. If project control is not implemented correctly, the cost to the business should be clarified in terms of errors, fixes, and additional audit fees. Control systems are needed for cost, risk, quality, communication, time, change, procurement, and human resources. In addition, auditors should consider how important the projects are to the financial statements, how reliant the stakeholders are on controls, and how many controls existing. Auditors should review the development process and procedures for how they are implemented. The process of development and the quality of the final product may also be assessed if needed or requested. A business may want the auditing firm to be involved throughout the process to catch problems earlier on so that they can be fixed more easily. An auditor can serve as a controls consultant as part of the development team or as an independent auditor as part of an audit. Businesses sometimes use formal systems development processes. These help assure that systems are developed successfully. A formal process is more effective in creating strong controls, and auditors should review this process to confirm that it is well designed and is followed in practice. A good formal systems development plan outlines: A strategy to align development with the organization’s broader objectives; Standards for new systems; Project management policies for timing and budgeting; Procedures describing the process; Evaluation of quality of change.
In a project, there is some one called a project manager. It is a professional in the field of project management. Or he is expected to be. Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project, typically relating to construction industry, engineering, architecture, computing, or telecommunications. Many other fields in the production engineering and design engineering and heavy industrial also have project managers.
A project manager is the person accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which is cost, time, and scope.
A project manager is often a client representative and has to determine and implement the exact needs of the client, based on knowledge of the firm they are representing. The ability to adapt to the various internal procedures of the contracting party, and to form close links with the nominated representatives, is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time, quality and above all, client satisfaction, can be realized.
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a tree structure, which shows a subdivision of effort required to achieve an objective; for example a program, project, and contract. The WBS may be hardware, product, service, or process oriented. A WBS can be developed by starting with the end objective and successively subdividing it into manageable components in terms of size, duration, and responsibility (e.g., systems, subsystems, components, tasks, subtasks, and work packages), which include all steps necessary to achieve the objective. The Work Breakdown Structure provides a common framework for the natural development of the overall planning and control of a contract and is the basis for dividing work into definable increments from which the statement of work can be developed and technical, schedule, cost, and labor hour reporting can be established.
The Program (Investment) Life Cycle integrates the project management and system development life cycles with the activities directly associated with system deployment and operation. By design, system operation management and related activities occur after the project is complete and are not documented within this guide.
The VA IT Project Management Framework diagram illustrates Milestone 4 which occurs following the deployment of a system and the closing of the project. The project closing phase activities at the VA continues through system deployment and into system operation for the purpose of illustrating and describing the system activities the VA considers part of the project. The figure illustrates the actions and associated artifacts of the VA IT Project and Program Management process.
In simpler words, project management is essential to a project. And a project manager, which should actually be called project leader, manages the flow of the project and leads its members in doing so. Leading the members is much important than managing them.
Why do Projects fail?
Projects, like mention before, it has the three elements or something like that. The three things are scope, budget and time. The scope might be the most important but I haven’t experienced getting problem with it in the prior time. But I guess in real situations, this is not really the biggest problem since I guess project developers are aiming for it. As long as you got your brains on, you would of course successfully meet the scope requirements of the project. Next would be the budget or can also be called resources. Since I am still a student and not to mention, I don’t spend so much money for projects I am involved with, I also haven’t got problems regarding to it if it is about a project. But of course, it big projects, it really puts headache to the project leaders. It won’t really be disturbing if the project you are involved at is well-funded, although accidents really happen; so is corruption. Anyways, failing to meet with the budget intended for the project would only mean you will get more money to spend or the project will be stopped for sure. Moreover, if you are the project leader and the project you handled failed, you will really get the blame and be accused of corruption. Anyhows, there is another thing that we normally point the problem, it would be the time. Well, if it is a project to make gigantic laser cannon to be made within 1 week… of course, curse the time for it and also your client and maybe yourself for accepting it. We, Filipinos, also got a habit of Filipino Time… we are most of the time, late. Students, like me, are also victimized by this element. Like in our System Analysis and Design course, we got an incomplete grade for a while. Good thing we managed to complete it immediately. But I guess it wasn’t really the time that made us failed that time, there were so many things to take care of like other projects so, I thinks it is a given… the bright side is, only one subject got an incomplete grade. I didn’t getting one, though. I also didn’t anyone for it. Maybe, others said that it was unfortunate for us to deserve it but it was really fine. The world won’t be destroyed just by that and we still got a lot of time to comply it. We managed to complete it before the adding and dropping of subjects ended, though. Now back with time. We normally waste our time doing some other things and we tend to forget other things like our projects for this matter. Well, that is just in a lazy student’s perspective. I know, in a bigger projects like a constructing a building, that seldom happens. Naturally, who would think of playing poker all night when you got a building to construct and you got not that much time left? For smaller projects like at school, well, yeah, that happens. I, myself, play video games even though I haven’t finished a project yet and the dead line is already tomorrow. How do you like that?! But I know that is just laziness and some stress relief. Good thing I still finish my tasks before the dead line. Others, well, they failed due to it. Except for our mistake in System Analysis and Design where we actually didn’t submit all the required deliverables, the previous or finished ones that we didn’t think we should have submitted too… wait a minute; I don’t think time was to blame in this part. I guess that was merely stupidity. So to cite a better example, we got a project in our Network Technologies 1 class. The project was a basic network design or something like that for the whole USeP campuses. In the span of time given by our instructor for that project, our major field trip and seminar will occur in that time. The project is by pair and we apparently already got the trick for it or we thought we had. I just asked my partner to do the diagram or the physical representations of the routers, switches, computers, or should I say nodes in the network. And I will be taking care of the IP addressing of those computers and routers. Fortunately, my partner finished his task before the field trip and I have, or I thought I have, an idea on how to place the IP addresses. After arriving from Manila and recovering from my sleepless nights, I resumed the project and things get a little complicated. Something’s wrong with my addressing. Well good thing I managed to figure a trick before time is over. I finished my task a day before the dead line and the documentation for it is the only problem. We also submitted it before time. Now… what did the others do??? Well, after coming back from Manila and resting a whole day, some of them got in to a camping. The good thing is that is for the Lord or we think it is; but the bad thing is, they didn’t do the project. I am sure the Lord would understand if they haven’t joined that camping because they got a project to do (well, at least it was for a project, not something for pleasure). Well, if they fail because of that action, what will their parents say? If it is only them who will be affected, that would be fine. But the point that someone else needs them to pass that subject is what matters most. Anyways, after their camping, they planned to do a cramming for the project which is a really careless move. And what did they do? They just slept all night because of tiredness. They thought they could finish it in one day (well, it can be but with the least quality). That project needs good logical skills in terms of networking and the moment they figured out what to do, it was too late. They wasted their time (because it wouldn’t be graded) doing the best they can for that project in that given day and it results the failure of most of them. So, the reason of their failure is due to their carelessness. Now, the reasons of failure are: not being able to reach the scope, over the budget, lack of time management, stupidity and carelessness. What else? We could say we fail to finish the project because we didn’t plan so well for the project. That is a given factor of failure. Failing to plan seems to be not that hard for a project. You can always make a virtually perfect plan. Following the plan is the bigger problem. “I am planning to finish this task tonight.” But later, I just slept. Oh come on? It is not that easy. I guess we need to be motivated enough to do the project. In my perspective, let’s say a project involving programming, and by programming, I say hard coding. I know for ordinary case, that is not that easy and motivating as it is but it is for me. Its challenging element makes me want to finish it as soon as possible. I just noticed now, why am I the one who tends to finish a programming-related project as soon as I can the fact that I am one of the fastest to finish that project while others who are not that fast do it in a cramming manner??? Who knows??? Anyways, “being motivated”; for it to be one, the project should be interesting for you. For example, in the line of IT education, you are tasked to make a weird application. You can’t just say you won’t be making it. At the first place, you are an IT student; you should know you are destined to do it if you really are interested to be in the IT industry. That is just a smell step for being a real IT professional. So at the first place, you should really be sure to be in it. If not, think again. In other ways for being motivated, I don’t really know. It is your choice. It is you to decide. You know your self, you’re old enough. So, another factor will be, like our facilitator said, “You plan to fail”. I really got a thought of that phrase. In our project in System Analysis and Design, did I really plan to fail? All I can say is I will accept it if ever I will get an INC grade. And I also did my part in that project. Now, is that the same in planning to fail thing? I guess we were just stupid that time. How about the others? There were also groups that did a normal routine in their project but got an INC grade. Some didn’t got much team coordination or I could say some of their members didn’t do anything or rely so much to others. There, I just realized, it is also team effort. It’s not just “you” or “I”, it is actually and always be “we”. In our project, the truth is, it is disturbing for me that my co-members ask too much at me. I just accept and tolerated those attitudes anyways. We did finish our final paper in time anyways, why think of that. I just set my mind on finishing the project. “Think more about the project’s success and less about annoying things”. That is what I was thinking the entire time in our second chance. So, how to prevent a project’s failure? What I normally do when I got a project, I didn’t do it immediately, not that I am getting myself in to lazy mode. I just take my time to think in what to do in that project. Sometimes, you may not see me as if I am making a plan for the project but the truth is, I really do, even in normal situations. Sometimes, I just sit aside but if you can hear my mind, you might get your nose bleeding. My mind generates massive algorithms, and sometimes really massive. I am still mastering how to handle it because sometimes, I just stand up with my head really fuzzy. I don’t know what to do with all the things in my head. I feel like I want to jump around at the walls if I can only do that. “Information is power” but it’s not just like that. How to use that information is much important. You got the most dangerous weapon in the world but you never had an idea that it was a weapon. I am able to handle those information in my head. I also got a cool short-term memory that is like a computer’s random access memory which helps me trace the codes I made. So, one of my traits for success is on how to use my abilities for good. I am lazy, though. I also got a trait of being a perfectionist. Being a perfectionist gets my work done slower, though. But if I get enough head start, it would be cool. Spotting my mistakes makes me frustrated in solving it. That’s my motivation anyways, solving a problem, right? And to tell you the truth, I am aiming on solving the problem, not to be able to finish the project. Now that is a spinoff. Based on what I am saying, the project itself only seems to be another part of the problem. It’s like I am just aiming to solve the problem and not to finish the project. And I just realized, the time I realized that the logical phase of the system analysis is a really challenging phase (I didn’t realized that immediately because I just did the single part of it, and it was little), that is the time where I get really interested and got motivated in finishing it. I didn’t really think that making the dataflow diagram and use case are that exciting. I spent long time making those things. My mindset is to finish it in one shot. Having more time finishing it is better than doing it again and again. Some who were making the project quickly failed to finish it. I also used my head to think ahead. I always think in a “what if this and that…” manner. It really helped a lot. It simply says, you should really get a head start and use your head (even maximize its usage) to make a quality product or something like that. That way, things might get done smoothly. Also, if it is a school project, it is a less stressful job to the teacher / instructor / facilitator. You should think it is not that easy to check awful submissions. Oh… don’t ever think or say something bad to your instructor. It’s not their fault if you are dumb. I mean, if your submission is wrong. Well, I am just lucky to have enough intelligence (hahaha! I misspelled a lot of things when I declared it) to do weird stuff. Yeah, I do believe there are smart people and there are also unfortunate ones. Information is different from intelligence, I think so. In case you got a project which your mind can’t handle, keep practicing. Unless you are physically bound or if that problem is virtually impossible for you (not everyone has the ability to make the completion of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, that’s insane). Anyways, I hate Einstein. I remember the line we made from my childhood days because of watching Godzilla, “Direct hit! But the target is still moving--- keep practicing”; nothing really something about that, just sharing. Well really, if you can’t handle the heat, chill. Relax for a while. I know there are really hard projects sometime that you’ll dry out but there are others who can help you (but don’t disturb them). Well, you might really fail if it is difficulty, not time is your enemy. But don’t surrender just yet. Do everything you can until your last breath (not literally). Failure is an option but it is the least you should consider in doing so. But if all else fail, live today and fight another day. In our university, you got 3 chances of failing, anyways.
Now what???
In bigger situations, there are times that your project won’t be having much support. In times like that, don’t be afraid to cancel it as early as you can. That is better than failing it later with bigger damage caused. Choose wisely. Anyways, not having much support means fewer resources for the project. And fewer resources only mean bad news. So don’t push it.
Lacking expertise is also a problem. Some projects were cancelled due to it. I read an article once. He blamed Blender (I guess I am a avid Blender fan) for one game to be cancelled. Stop blaming the tools; it just happened that they are weak. Except for my old PC, I don’t have a laptop or any gadgets to aid my studies (which I don’t really do much). But I still haven’t experienced academical death and I hope I won’t be experiencing it ever. Taking a specific subject again and again is tiresome. Who likes doing that? Well, that is one of my motivations for success. Anyways, your skills should be considered in doing a project. In the framework we used in System Analysis and Design which is FAST or Framework for Advanced Software Techniques, there is a phase which is called Decision Analysis phase where the team’s technical skills is so much considered. We get to rank our self according to skills and if we are qualified about it. I don’t know if those rankings are right but I’m sure we can handle it. I hope so. We will just see it in the Software Engineering course. I already am harnessing my programming skills by doing other’s project which I won’t be discussing who I am working for and what school they go. Hehehe. I get to earn money and get my skills sharper. Who won’t want that? Their teachers won’t be for sure. Well, enough with my underground job. What matter is, I am getting ready for the challenge. And yeah… being is another factor. Always be prepared to the challenge, the stress, the headaches; the sleepless nights and most importantly, in case it happens, the acceptance of failure. But don’t really think of failing, you can do it! Be confident, it is part of the preparation. But of course, don’t be overconfident that you are blinded of the damages done.
Anyways, even how good you are, you can still fail. That is fact right? Even an Olympic swimmer can die drowning in a swimming pool. But I know that has a little chance to happen. Why do I say “but” many times? Anyways, there is infinite number of possibilities. Your failure, the project’s failure is a possibility. Impossibility for you to finish a project is even a possibility.
Ohhh… I remembered, you’re client’s expectation is also a disturbing thing that could make the project fail. There are chances that your client would ask so much, I think that is called feature creep. Anyways, there is a way to handle it. Like being able to think ahead what your client wants. Well, if you are in a school project, you should be able to think ahead on what your instructor wants. Your instructor might want a hard one and you have thought of that already. Put that feature, at least you’ll get it in your mind that you got a hard task and you are ready for it.
For me, what matters most is not why and how projects fail, most importantly, you should think more on how to make it successful. But of course, you should still consider the factors of failure so you can prevent it. And don’t be lazy, like me!
Now what???
In bigger situations, there are times that your project won’t be having much support. In times like that, don’t be afraid to cancel it as early as you can. That is better than failing it later with bigger damage caused. Choose wisely. Anyways, not having much support means fewer resources for the project. And fewer resources only mean bad news. So don’t push it.
Lacking expertise is also a problem. Some projects were cancelled due to it. I read an article once. He blamed Blender (I guess I am a avid Blender fan) for one game to be cancelled. Stop blaming the tools; it just happened that they are weak. Except for my old PC, I don’t have a laptop or any gadgets to aid my studies (which I don’t really do much). But I still haven’t experienced academical death and I hope I won’t be experiencing it ever. Taking a specific subject again and again is tiresome. Who likes doing that? Well, that is one of my motivations for success. Anyways, your skills should be considered in doing a project. In the framework we used in System Analysis and Design which is FAST or Framework for Advanced Software Techniques, there is a phase which is called Decision Analysis phase where the team’s technical skills is so much considered. We get to rank our self according to skills and if we are qualified about it. I don’t know if those rankings are right but I’m sure we can handle it. I hope so. We will just see it in the Software Engineering course. I already am harnessing my programming skills by doing other’s project which I won’t be discussing who I am working for and what school they go. Hehehe. I get to earn money and get my skills sharper. Who won’t want that? Their teachers won’t be for sure. Well, enough with my underground job. What matter is, I am getting ready for the challenge. And yeah… being is another factor. Always be prepared to the challenge, the stress, the headaches; the sleepless nights and most importantly, in case it happens, the acceptance of failure. But don’t really think of failing, you can do it! Be confident, it is part of the preparation. But of course, don’t be overconfident that you are blinded of the damages done.
Anyways, even how good you are, you can still fail. That is fact right? Even an Olympic swimmer can die drowning in a swimming pool. But I know that has a little chance to happen. Why do I say “but” many times? Anyways, there is infinite number of possibilities. Your failure, the project’s failure is a possibility. Impossibility for you to finish a project is even a possibility.
Ohhh… I remembered, you’re client’s expectation is also a disturbing thing that could make the project fail. There are chances that your client would ask so much, I think that is called feature creep. Anyways, there is a way to handle it. Like being able to think ahead what your client wants. Well, if you are in a school project, you should be able to think ahead on what your instructor wants. Your instructor might want a hard one and you have thought of that already. Put that feature, at least you’ll get it in your mind that you got a hard task and you are ready for it.
For me, what matters most is not why and how projects fail, most importantly, you should think more on how to make it successful. But of course, you should still consider the factors of failure so you can prevent it. And don’t be lazy, like me!
Project Management in Implementing Changes
Project always needs to be monitored along its development and life cycle. Along the way, the project would need some adjustments or so we call them changes in a project. But why does a project needs changes? Or me, I believe that there is no project that didn’t need nor had no changes in its plans. There’s no perfect plan, especially for a project. However you think your plan is perfect; there will always be at least one flaw in it.
I once got a project last semester in our Network Technology class. It was all about connecting dots. Well… just kidding. The project was all about making a network design model or whatever that was called for all the campuses of University of Southeastern University. Hey? I just realized. I don’t know what it was called. Anyways, at first, I was testing my network addressing skill (I don’t know the term for it) in connecting one campus and the ISP. Everything went well so I just got carefree with it. I thought that if I do the same trick I used in those two with the other campuses, that would result to the same result… but it didn’t. I was fixing or should I say, trying to teach others how to do it when it went crazy and I didn’t have any idea on what to do next. I was thinking it was because of some bugs with the packet tracer and until now, I was still thinking it was really due to it. Good thing I managed to figure out what to do before we are dead meat.
From that experience, I had problem of dealing with some minor and major problems. It was because I didn’t manage incoming problems that would be resulting to many changes in the plan. I just let the problem on its own and I didn’t even thought for a solution immediately. Well, the problem was that is I didn’t thought of a plan B earlier. I should even thought of the entire alphabetical alternative plan set after thinking of the first solution I have got. But I guess a plan from letter A to Z would be exaggerated to do so. So yeah, project management is really needed to deal with changes in a project. Part of the project’s plan is to think of another plan if things don’t happen as it was foreseen. But it doesn’t end up just there. We can say we now have some backup plans. Another thing why we need project management to deal with changes is that what backup plan should we be using in the current situations we are dealing currently. Who is dumb enough to always use plan B when the plan he or she should be using is plan C? That is the part where project management is really needed with dealing the changes.
Now, of course, you now got some of your project’s alternative plans and you also got the right decision making skills, what are the other things you should need?
You will need to have some budget allowance or what could be the right term for that… I guess we can call it additional budget or emergency funds in case that the alternative plan needs a lot more money for it to be implemented than the original one. I guess, an alternative plan would need more resources than the original plan because of the part where it was called “alternative plan”. If it would not need more resources, then why is it in the alternative plans category at the first place? So I guess psychology or something like that comes in place. And an alternative plan would also need lot more money than the original plan because sometimes it would need to fix the damage done by the previous plan. We can’t really avoid things like that to happen because alternative plans have alternative ways of doing things and it might be far different from the previous ones that the previous ones might have done something that would be an obstacle for the new plan. I know… that was kinda’ tongue twisting things I have said.
Let us take an example. An under construction 10-floor building was decided to become a twin building. Apparently, the construction firm or whatever they call it finished up to the third floor. So the client said that a part of the built higher floors needs to be deleted from its existence. And that’s the evil part of the problem, after spending money building the other floors, a part of them needs to be destroyed. But I guess that would be normal for a weird client to ask something like that. Well, the point in there is that the building needs to be partly destroyed for the change to become. And of course, it needs more money to do it. As for me, I could say the client is really weird because he didn’t really need to destroy a part of it. Geez?
Well, like I have said a while ago, selecting another plan to use needs to have or should I say, needs an expert judgment in decision making. Having the plan changed is a stressful work. You need to reevaluate the current situations of your project and you would be dealing with money matters which is really hard to deal with.
Anyhows, imagine a project that didn’t have a good foundation in project management. One wrong move could be fatal with your project. Like what I have mentioned above: the client was really kinda’ weird for destroying a part of the building when he didn’t really need to. That is a disastrous project management skill.
So I guess that’s the reason why project management is needed for implementing a change in a project. And besides, one thing why a project needs a project management is because project change management is involved in it. I guess project change management is something like what I have been saying above.
I once got a project last semester in our Network Technology class. It was all about connecting dots. Well… just kidding. The project was all about making a network design model or whatever that was called for all the campuses of University of Southeastern University. Hey? I just realized. I don’t know what it was called. Anyways, at first, I was testing my network addressing skill (I don’t know the term for it) in connecting one campus and the ISP. Everything went well so I just got carefree with it. I thought that if I do the same trick I used in those two with the other campuses, that would result to the same result… but it didn’t. I was fixing or should I say, trying to teach others how to do it when it went crazy and I didn’t have any idea on what to do next. I was thinking it was because of some bugs with the packet tracer and until now, I was still thinking it was really due to it. Good thing I managed to figure out what to do before we are dead meat.
From that experience, I had problem of dealing with some minor and major problems. It was because I didn’t manage incoming problems that would be resulting to many changes in the plan. I just let the problem on its own and I didn’t even thought for a solution immediately. Well, the problem was that is I didn’t thought of a plan B earlier. I should even thought of the entire alphabetical alternative plan set after thinking of the first solution I have got. But I guess a plan from letter A to Z would be exaggerated to do so. So yeah, project management is really needed to deal with changes in a project. Part of the project’s plan is to think of another plan if things don’t happen as it was foreseen. But it doesn’t end up just there. We can say we now have some backup plans. Another thing why we need project management to deal with changes is that what backup plan should we be using in the current situations we are dealing currently. Who is dumb enough to always use plan B when the plan he or she should be using is plan C? That is the part where project management is really needed with dealing the changes.
Now, of course, you now got some of your project’s alternative plans and you also got the right decision making skills, what are the other things you should need?
You will need to have some budget allowance or what could be the right term for that… I guess we can call it additional budget or emergency funds in case that the alternative plan needs a lot more money for it to be implemented than the original one. I guess, an alternative plan would need more resources than the original plan because of the part where it was called “alternative plan”. If it would not need more resources, then why is it in the alternative plans category at the first place? So I guess psychology or something like that comes in place. And an alternative plan would also need lot more money than the original plan because sometimes it would need to fix the damage done by the previous plan. We can’t really avoid things like that to happen because alternative plans have alternative ways of doing things and it might be far different from the previous ones that the previous ones might have done something that would be an obstacle for the new plan. I know… that was kinda’ tongue twisting things I have said.
Let us take an example. An under construction 10-floor building was decided to become a twin building. Apparently, the construction firm or whatever they call it finished up to the third floor. So the client said that a part of the built higher floors needs to be deleted from its existence. And that’s the evil part of the problem, after spending money building the other floors, a part of them needs to be destroyed. But I guess that would be normal for a weird client to ask something like that. Well, the point in there is that the building needs to be partly destroyed for the change to become. And of course, it needs more money to do it. As for me, I could say the client is really weird because he didn’t really need to destroy a part of it. Geez?
Well, like I have said a while ago, selecting another plan to use needs to have or should I say, needs an expert judgment in decision making. Having the plan changed is a stressful work. You need to reevaluate the current situations of your project and you would be dealing with money matters which is really hard to deal with.
Anyhows, imagine a project that didn’t have a good foundation in project management. One wrong move could be fatal with your project. Like what I have mentioned above: the client was really kinda’ weird for destroying a part of the building when he didn’t really need to. That is a disastrous project management skill.
So I guess that’s the reason why project management is needed for implementing a change in a project. And besides, one thing why a project needs a project management is because project change management is involved in it. I guess project change management is something like what I have been saying above.
Project vs Work; Project Management
For me, project and work is something relevant. Not all work is a project but project needs a lot of working. Well, it is still really confusing for me on what is project and work is different to each other. As far as I know, everything that we had a goal to do is a project. But I guess it is not for all of them... Project has this Bermuda triangle, just kidding but it is still a triangle. Its Bermuda triangle has scope, resources or budget and time or schedule. Well, scope is the element for knowing what does a project does. Let us say, you are copying the lecture from the board to your notes. The scope there would be the core of that lectures, I guess so. If it was English and you wrote something Math, you should think of reanalyzing what you have wrote. Oh come on? Who is stupid enough to do that? Anyhows, another element would be the budget or resources. Still in the same activity, writing the lectures from the board to your notes. The resources that can be considered would be the board, the chalk, your pen or pencil and your notebook. Well, I have mention there resources OR budget because not everything in the project starts from raw, which is money. So it should be called the resources. So, unless you need to buy another pen or pencil since yours ran out, I guess you really need a budget for that. But money itself is a resource already. Damn... this is confusing. The last element of the project’s Bermuda triangle would be the time or schedule. In the same situation as always, the writing the lectures from the board to your notes. Your time would be the schedule of that class. The time starts when the lecturer starts writing the lecture on the board which is boring. Well, the end time normally ends when the class has ended, of course. But there are still some other times that you can still be writing the lectures when the class is over. It is just like what I normally do. Well... it is not that I am bragging but I am one of the slowest writer I have ever known. Writing is boring and I hate writing as much as reading. I really hate boring stuff. This why a project really needs to be enjoying like what our instructor said.
So, as we can see, writing the lecture from the board to your notes is a simple work. Wait?! If you have been wondering why I did not call it as project, it is simply because project is a combination of relative activities. Well, in writing the lectures from the board to your notes, the only activity is well... when you write the lectures from the board to your notes. Well, maybe we can also put the activities done by the teacher for preparing the lecture. It is a part of a team project but this time it is not. Since project has a life cycle, it made the writing the lectures from the board to your notes disqualified. After I write the lectures when I was still in grade school... Hey? I did not do much of the writings in my grade school years! But anyways, in the chances that I did, all I really do is to leave them alone after those were all written. The study part? I have done that already when I wrote the lectures. Quick hands and eyes, eh? Come on, you got to admit, grade school is so boring. I don’t know why did I stay there for 6 years. Maybe 2 years is enough for me to be in grade school. Sheesh! Should have applied for an acceleration program. So right, writing the lectures from the board to your notes has a definite end and doesn’t have a maintenance. I mean, who does maintenance on it? Weird... Also, another characteristic of a project is that it is unique. Well... If you are writing the lectures from the board to your notes, so as your other classmates. Hhhhmmm... maybe if I was your classmate, probably I habv not wrote it. Hehehe. I am a terrible lazy guy. So yeah, the word “unique”, since at least someone else does the same thing you are doing, the never ending writing the lectures from the board to your notes, it is obviously not unique. Well, the difference is that you don’t have the same and equal resources. In that time, I may not have any pen in my bag and others have their own set of crackers. A project has a client, in this case... it depends. If your parents will be looking for the notes that you should have been writing in your class earlier, then, they are your clients. If your old teacher would check your notes after the class, then he or she is your client. I have forgot other things about projects so... let me just stick to that.
So, from the things I have been murmuring, project is different from any other work because project is unique. From that word alone, it is already different. Hey? That answered the question? Right? Hehehe. Anyways, project does has tons of characteristics compared to a normal work. A project normally takes a long time. Well, eating takes a little time but a party could take longer. So eating is a kind of work while party is the project. Eating only involves the eating part while party normally composed of eating. So I guess we can say a project is a project is a result of a ton of works.
You inquire for a school’s enrollment. You look for money for the tuition fees. You go to school. You force your little mind to learn. You get scolded by your teacher. You got failing grades. But in the end, you graduated. But... it took you 10 years to finish a very simple program called Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. Geez... Who would reach ten years for that except if you are really poor? Dumb... Well... college life is a project itself. Well, everyone is unique, so your life itself is your biggest project.
Hhhhmmm... Project management is relevant for me. Well, since life is a project, we all need one. But I guess we should not over concentrate in it. let’s just wait for surprises in life. Enjoy life what we should always do. Or maybe, usually do. Well... I go to school to get some allowance... I mean, I go to school to get some learnings from wherever it could be. Anyways, I got a lot of projects. Now... let me mention all that I can remember. The MTV which should be unique or a remix... yeah. That was a strange project. I mean, what would it look like if it is a remix? Geez. Another would be the 3D animation one. The first two small projects are from our Multimedia course. Next would be the business plan thing which is really hard for me. I am not a businessman. The evil part is... we would make a 100-page business plan. That is what I call, pocket monster. It eats the money in your pocket. Oh come on. Next would be for the project templates. We still don’t have a company... Oh no... Then from our Software Engineering which is still hangs in the balance. And some other projects which are not yet detailed. Those were just small projects compared to the graduating from college kind of project. But even when those were small (But looks big for students like me), they still need a project management. So... yeah. Even a simple work needs a management, how much more would be a project? Everyone needs it and everyone has their own (sleeping) project management skills. So... project management is relevant for all, not just me.
So, as we can see, writing the lecture from the board to your notes is a simple work. Wait?! If you have been wondering why I did not call it as project, it is simply because project is a combination of relative activities. Well, in writing the lectures from the board to your notes, the only activity is well... when you write the lectures from the board to your notes. Well, maybe we can also put the activities done by the teacher for preparing the lecture. It is a part of a team project but this time it is not. Since project has a life cycle, it made the writing the lectures from the board to your notes disqualified. After I write the lectures when I was still in grade school... Hey? I did not do much of the writings in my grade school years! But anyways, in the chances that I did, all I really do is to leave them alone after those were all written. The study part? I have done that already when I wrote the lectures. Quick hands and eyes, eh? Come on, you got to admit, grade school is so boring. I don’t know why did I stay there for 6 years. Maybe 2 years is enough for me to be in grade school. Sheesh! Should have applied for an acceleration program. So right, writing the lectures from the board to your notes has a definite end and doesn’t have a maintenance. I mean, who does maintenance on it? Weird... Also, another characteristic of a project is that it is unique. Well... If you are writing the lectures from the board to your notes, so as your other classmates. Hhhhmmm... maybe if I was your classmate, probably I habv not wrote it. Hehehe. I am a terrible lazy guy. So yeah, the word “unique”, since at least someone else does the same thing you are doing, the never ending writing the lectures from the board to your notes, it is obviously not unique. Well, the difference is that you don’t have the same and equal resources. In that time, I may not have any pen in my bag and others have their own set of crackers. A project has a client, in this case... it depends. If your parents will be looking for the notes that you should have been writing in your class earlier, then, they are your clients. If your old teacher would check your notes after the class, then he or she is your client. I have forgot other things about projects so... let me just stick to that.
So, from the things I have been murmuring, project is different from any other work because project is unique. From that word alone, it is already different. Hey? That answered the question? Right? Hehehe. Anyways, project does has tons of characteristics compared to a normal work. A project normally takes a long time. Well, eating takes a little time but a party could take longer. So eating is a kind of work while party is the project. Eating only involves the eating part while party normally composed of eating. So I guess we can say a project is a project is a result of a ton of works.
You inquire for a school’s enrollment. You look for money for the tuition fees. You go to school. You force your little mind to learn. You get scolded by your teacher. You got failing grades. But in the end, you graduated. But... it took you 10 years to finish a very simple program called Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. Geez... Who would reach ten years for that except if you are really poor? Dumb... Well... college life is a project itself. Well, everyone is unique, so your life itself is your biggest project.
Hhhhmmm... Project management is relevant for me. Well, since life is a project, we all need one. But I guess we should not over concentrate in it. let’s just wait for surprises in life. Enjoy life what we should always do. Or maybe, usually do. Well... I go to school to get some allowance... I mean, I go to school to get some learnings from wherever it could be. Anyways, I got a lot of projects. Now... let me mention all that I can remember. The MTV which should be unique or a remix... yeah. That was a strange project. I mean, what would it look like if it is a remix? Geez. Another would be the 3D animation one. The first two small projects are from our Multimedia course. Next would be the business plan thing which is really hard for me. I am not a businessman. The evil part is... we would make a 100-page business plan. That is what I call, pocket monster. It eats the money in your pocket. Oh come on. Next would be for the project templates. We still don’t have a company... Oh no... Then from our Software Engineering which is still hangs in the balance. And some other projects which are not yet detailed. Those were just small projects compared to the graduating from college kind of project. But even when those were small (But looks big for students like me), they still need a project management. So... yeah. Even a simple work needs a management, how much more would be a project? Everyone needs it and everyone has their own (sleeping) project management skills. So... project management is relevant for all, not just me.
Expert Judgement
The question was kinda’ weird when I first read it. Expert judgment was the never ending and ever existing element of the tools and techniques user for a project activity. So… my question is, which should it be classified, a tools or a technique? Since expert judgment is a skill and skill is a tool, at least for me, then it is a tool. On the other hand, I don’t think it can be a technique since techniques are the ones like methodology or whatever term for that and skill is far being something like a methodology.
Now it seems to me that expert judgment is already a tool, but since it is a skill kind of tool, then skills can use medium, so I guess the medium is the tool we should be talking about. Hey! It kinda’ made sense and I got it on my own. Yay!
So… what can I say? A tool… Well, you can write the data using a paper and a pen. You will now have a data store to be analyzed and to be processed to be used in your project. But I know it is not just like that. Too bad… Well, I got another hunch. I don’t know if it is a medium or tool but you will really need it for expert judgment. Let’s put your brain in this matter. As long as you know how to use your brain well, what could possibly go wrong? Oh… A lot of things can still happen. But anyways, in your brain you got all your processing prowess. Use your imaginations for that. Oh… You should also use all of the things you have read, wrote, seen, heard and learned. In simpler words, we call it experience.
Experience seems to be the best source if nothing else is involved for expert judgment. Even babies base their decisions from experience. You won’t see much a baby doing the same painful mistake twice, right? A baby that once fell down would not want to stand up once again for a while. My nephew is also afraid standing up in his own since he fell down. Babies do have expert judgment in their level.
So, basically, how would you know what to happen when you don’t have any idea on what to happen since you don’t have any experience with it? When I went to EnchantedKingdom and about to ride the Anchor’s Away, I was thinking, “That looks scary? Watching the ground with your body at 90 degrees… Whoah?” But it wasn’t really that scary watching the ground at 90 degree perspective. The disturbing one was the tickling sensation in my intestine when the ride sways down. I don’t know what is with that. It just tickles. I was in fact just laughing while riding the ride. My knees didn’t shake of. The next ride they set their site on was the Space Shuttle. The approximately 135-degree swaying motion of the Anchor’s Away already did that much tickling effect on me, how much more would that G-force effect of the Space Shuttle ride and that up side down moments, too. So, why on Earth would I ride that freakin’ Space Shuttle? I was scared with that up side down thing more than the G-force thing but they said the G-force was scarier. Phew! You can practically use your own experiences to almost every activity.
Another tool would be the internet. You don’t have much knowledge with Mathematics, search for tutorials and online books. Asking for advices to the experts, search for some experts in the net. As long as someone put the info of what you need in the net, cool. You thought of an algorithm but you don’t have any ideas if it was really that good. Ask the experts again. So the expert judgment is not just in you.
The best tool in a computer for expert judgment for me is a simulator type of information system. It can be at the same level for experience. There is a lot of simulation software especially in video games. You don’t know how to run a house, play The Sims? You want to be an airplane pilot, play a flight simulator. You want to test your strategy in gun combat, consult Tom Clancy. Do you ever want to manage a country, play Civilizations? Want to know how to drive well, play GRID. Those are just examples of simulation software. But for bigger things, like in business, I don’t know specific softwares for businesses but surely, there are a lot of things like that. Simulation software provides decision-support capabilities for purposes. Even a normal calculate provides a very good decision-support. Most businesses only care about money matters so they just consider the income or the least loss of the activity to be done. Even a normal calculator could project the amount of money to be used. Hey? The calculator is one of the basic tools for expert judgment? That’s kinda’ unexpected… but that would be just for business works. But, yeah. The calculator helps a lot in statistics. Statistics results to projection of an activity. And the projection of what the activity is the basis for expert judgment. So, via the associative law, calculator results to expert judgment. Hehehe. I guess that made some sense anyways.
So which is the best out of what I have mentioned? The basic notes with paper and pen provides basic data store for expert judgment basis. But of course it would only be for small scope. Next would be your own brain. You can either use your brain’s processing power so you can project the results virtually in your own mind or you can base your decisions with your previous experiences. And lastly, the computer. Computer is the primary medium for information with the help of internet. Another is using the software for simulation and decision-support. A calculator is also a computer. For me, since it was said “it takes one to know one”, your experience would be the best basis. Next would be other’s experience which can be found somewhere or to someone else. A combination of experience and computer seems to be the best.
Now it seems to me that expert judgment is already a tool, but since it is a skill kind of tool, then skills can use medium, so I guess the medium is the tool we should be talking about. Hey! It kinda’ made sense and I got it on my own. Yay!
So… what can I say? A tool… Well, you can write the data using a paper and a pen. You will now have a data store to be analyzed and to be processed to be used in your project. But I know it is not just like that. Too bad… Well, I got another hunch. I don’t know if it is a medium or tool but you will really need it for expert judgment. Let’s put your brain in this matter. As long as you know how to use your brain well, what could possibly go wrong? Oh… A lot of things can still happen. But anyways, in your brain you got all your processing prowess. Use your imaginations for that. Oh… You should also use all of the things you have read, wrote, seen, heard and learned. In simpler words, we call it experience.
Experience seems to be the best source if nothing else is involved for expert judgment. Even babies base their decisions from experience. You won’t see much a baby doing the same painful mistake twice, right? A baby that once fell down would not want to stand up once again for a while. My nephew is also afraid standing up in his own since he fell down. Babies do have expert judgment in their level.
So, basically, how would you know what to happen when you don’t have any idea on what to happen since you don’t have any experience with it? When I went to EnchantedKingdom and about to ride the Anchor’s Away, I was thinking, “That looks scary? Watching the ground with your body at 90 degrees… Whoah?” But it wasn’t really that scary watching the ground at 90 degree perspective. The disturbing one was the tickling sensation in my intestine when the ride sways down. I don’t know what is with that. It just tickles. I was in fact just laughing while riding the ride. My knees didn’t shake of. The next ride they set their site on was the Space Shuttle. The approximately 135-degree swaying motion of the Anchor’s Away already did that much tickling effect on me, how much more would that G-force effect of the Space Shuttle ride and that up side down moments, too. So, why on Earth would I ride that freakin’ Space Shuttle? I was scared with that up side down thing more than the G-force thing but they said the G-force was scarier. Phew! You can practically use your own experiences to almost every activity.
Another tool would be the internet. You don’t have much knowledge with Mathematics, search for tutorials and online books. Asking for advices to the experts, search for some experts in the net. As long as someone put the info of what you need in the net, cool. You thought of an algorithm but you don’t have any ideas if it was really that good. Ask the experts again. So the expert judgment is not just in you.
The best tool in a computer for expert judgment for me is a simulator type of information system. It can be at the same level for experience. There is a lot of simulation software especially in video games. You don’t know how to run a house, play The Sims? You want to be an airplane pilot, play a flight simulator. You want to test your strategy in gun combat, consult Tom Clancy. Do you ever want to manage a country, play Civilizations? Want to know how to drive well, play GRID. Those are just examples of simulation software. But for bigger things, like in business, I don’t know specific softwares for businesses but surely, there are a lot of things like that. Simulation software provides decision-support capabilities for purposes. Even a normal calculate provides a very good decision-support. Most businesses only care about money matters so they just consider the income or the least loss of the activity to be done. Even a normal calculator could project the amount of money to be used. Hey? The calculator is one of the basic tools for expert judgment? That’s kinda’ unexpected… but that would be just for business works. But, yeah. The calculator helps a lot in statistics. Statistics results to projection of an activity. And the projection of what the activity is the basis for expert judgment. So, via the associative law, calculator results to expert judgment. Hehehe. I guess that made some sense anyways.
So which is the best out of what I have mentioned? The basic notes with paper and pen provides basic data store for expert judgment basis. But of course it would only be for small scope. Next would be your own brain. You can either use your brain’s processing power so you can project the results virtually in your own mind or you can base your decisions with your previous experiences. And lastly, the computer. Computer is the primary medium for information with the help of internet. Another is using the software for simulation and decision-support. A calculator is also a computer. For me, since it was said “it takes one to know one”, your experience would be the best basis. Next would be other’s experience which can be found somewhere or to someone else. A combination of experience and computer seems to be the best.
