Project Management

In the above network diagram there are three possible paths 1) Start → A→C→E→End→5+3+2=10 Days 2) Start → B→D→E→End→4+6+2=12 Days 3) Start → B→D→F→End→4+6+6=16 Days Out of three paths 3) is the longest as it takes 16 to deliver all three activities. This is the critical path This above process is called as critical path. Crashing - Adding more resources to any activity on critical path activities. Fast Tracking : Re - sequencing activities in the network diagram to gain time benefits.

Project Time Management is basically collection of following steps: 1) Activity Definition 2) Sequencing 3) Estimate resources & Duration 4) Develop Schedule & Control it Milestone List :- Project can't be controlled against single end point. There should be some intermediate control points. Management can check the project performance against those intermediate Milestones. Activity Definition:- Breaking down of WBS or big work into small and manageable activities. There are two sequencing diagrams or network diagrams. 1) Activity on Node 2) Activity on Arrow. Activity on Node or precedence Diagram Method :- Nodes represent activities and draw arrows to show the dependencies. Activity on arrow or Arrow Diagram Method :- Nodes are transition points (dependencies) and arrows represents activities.

Product scope is not project scope. A product can have multiple projects. Project Scope: The work that you need to deliver, includes meetings, reports , analysis which becomes project scope management plan. Stakeholder analysis: convert their needs, wants and expectations into requirement. Work Break Down Structure:- WBS: It breakdown into smaller and more manageable pieces called "Work Packages". This is known as Top-Down Approach. Granular Scoping In order to manage a scope , the project budget needs to be defined.  Accurate Time Capture Detailed working hours are required to be calculated for entire project Milestone Reconciliation Milestone reconciliation is identification of project health with respect to budget. As the budget has already been defined and working hours are calculated, now it can be ascertained if the project is under budget or over budget. Activity  Definition : Team has to break WBS into smaller manageable pieces ...

Process                                                              Project Phase                                  Key Deliverable Develop Project Charter                                Initiating                                        Project Charter   Develop Project Management Plan               Planning                                Project Management Plan Direct & Manage Project Execution          ...

Over the last decade Project Management has experienced  tremendous growth. Modern project management is emerging as a separate discipline and is crucial today for enterprises to maintain a competitive edge. Project Management is an art and science of converting vision into reality.. Project means projection. Project Management profession is as old as the human civilization. The basic processes of project management have not changed. These processes are :- Initiating , planning, execution , control and completion. We are living in a momentous time slot. Time is becoming the most crucial strategic weapon to gain a better market share or supremacy. Everything should have been done yesterday is the kind of syndrome , we all live by. Project management discipline is growing and growing more momentum. Fortune magazine had rated project management as the career choice #1. More and more companies are putting their employees through formal training programs on pr...

For a very long time I wanted to discuss about usage of documentation in Indian industry. If we talk in Indian context, Indian industry has still to come, to the terms of using documentation wisely. Indian industry understands usage of SAP /ERP will remove loopholes in the process. Or in other terms will increase transparency as well as increase accountability. But, everybody needs to understand that most project managers needs is to get swamped in paperwork. But without at least some documentation, a project is more likely to go astray. But, in most of the projects, it is seen that project related financial decision going through the same route and getting lost in the process and delaying the whole project. Think like a functional manager.

Best lesson in project management is terminate unworthy projects . I always thought that terminating an unworthy project is bad for "reputation" of company.But, then I came across a book "Project Management by TATA-McGraw -Hill, & the first paragraph was:"The most fundamental objective of a project is to achieve business results.That means providing a certain amount of return on the proposed investment.Yet in too many organizations, management gets complacent, allowing approved projects to proceed without any further assessment of likely payback. As a result, projects that are no longer profitable are allowed to continue on to completion." We learnt it the hard-way, we took a metro project in Delhi. The management of the project was very poor. There was too much corruption on the project,because of which only preferred vendor's were given priority.We learnt about all this after starting the work. But we continued with the projects as we felt, leavi...