Pearls of Wisdom – In General
It is said, "A picture is worth a thousand words". This figure comes close:[4]
Figure 1: Typical life cycle (life history) of a large project
Note that this is a large project covering an eight-year period, and in the
author's mind "Project Management" is called up only over a short period between
milestone: "6 Authorization" and milestone: "13 Handover". This stance is
not unusual. However, the "Project" itself starts at milestone "1 Original
Concept". That's when serious money starts flowing, and those expenditures may
well be capitalized as a part of the project cost, at least partially.
If this is true, then shouldn't activities 2 through 5 also be "project managed"?
Indeed, the author cites the case of implementing large-scale organizational
change initiatives, where staff resist change, have concerns over possible redundancies,
or simply resent coping with the teething problems that inevitably arise. But
as Dennis observes:[5]
"In recent years these difficulties have led to new ways of assessing and managing
the benefits realization of management of change and IT projects. It is now recognized
that the benefits realization process should start during early project definition
by establishing benchmarks that can be put in place in the business plan. These
benchmarks have some similarity with the milestones set in the project execution
plans of all projects, but for management change and IT projects there are two
important differences:
- The most important benchmarks often occur some time after initial handover
...
- Each benchmark must be directly associated with a cash inflow, cost saving
or other real benefit that can be tracked to a favorable entry in the company's
accounts or management reports."
There's nothing like optimism! What if the project is an "enabler" project,
just one steppingstone on the way to a larger end goal? Or maybe it is a part
of a group of projects that are all necessary for the whole system to work. Who
is to say what benefit is attributable to which project? Besides, who is collecting
that kind of data in the first place? Collection of benefits data and allocation
to corresponding projects is fraught with difficulties.
In this book, Dennis postulates four main project types:[6]
- Civil engineering, construction, petrochemical, mining and quarrying projects
- Manufacturing projects
- Management and business change projects
- Scientific research projects
Each type is described in some detail. However, the author warns the reader
that: "This book is generally concerned with projects that can be defined, as
described in the [descriptions of the] first three categories listed."[7]
4. Ibid, p5,
Figure 1.2 in the book
5. Ibid, p11
6. Ibid, p2
7. Ibid, p3
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Book
Structure
