Anatomy of a generic project life cycle

What is it that the project manager actually does?

AP Van der Merwe:

Department of Project Management, Damelin Management School, South Africa

Keynote address: 8th International Symposium on Management SYMORG 2002 MANAGEMENT IN NEW ENVIRONMENT Zlatibor, 2-5 June 2002.

Featured in: Project management world today, [internet], July 2002, Volume IV Issue 5: <http://www.pmforum.org>.

Accepted for presentation at the International Project Management Association’s 17th World congress on Project Management to be held on 26 May to 17 June 2003. (www.pmcongress.ru)

Abstract

In this information age of software and business processes, interpersonal aspects of the project manager seem to be forgotten. This paper attempts to document the role of the project manager as a process consultant in a four stage lifecycle model of a project to express the management of people so that they can manage the work of the project. 

INTRODUCTION

The British Standard 6079:1996 defines a project as:

'A unique set of co-ordinated activities, with definite starting and finishing points, undertaken by an individual or organisation to meet specific objectives within a defined schedule of cost and performance parameters' (BS6079, 1996). 

Project management is defined as:

‘The planning, monitoring and control of all aspects of a project and the motivation of all those involved in it to achieve the project objectives on time and to specified cost, quality and performance’ (BS6079, 1996).

Essentially there are no one man project teams and projects cannot be undertaken by machines without human intervention. Fundamental to this definition is that humans must perform work to a given standard to achieve some benefit. In order to perform the work humans require a degree of competence defined by knowledge, skill and interest in work which requires some effort over time. There is also the frequently forgotten aspect of being managed, bringing the definition of project management to an essence of people being managed and motivated to perform work. Therefore we have the “project” or work being performed and the “management” or control of people who are performing the work in the following relationship:

Figure 1: Relationship of control

Managing the work being performed is only second in importance to managing the people who are performing the work. If work is not being done no progress is being made and soon there will be no project to be managed. Work consists of the task to be performed and the person who has to perform the task. In order to perform the task a person needs knowledge, skill and time. In order for the task to be performed it needs money to purchase people, material, tools, and time.

As work demands time to be completed, people who have time available exchange it for money when performing work. People sell knowledge, skill and time. Work purchases people, time, tools and material in exchange for money. If a discrepancy exists between the time demanded and the time available work cannot be completed. I.e. if the task demands 3 hours to be completed but the person has only 2 hours available in which to perform work the task cannot be completed. Removing this discrepancy is one of the primary tasks of the project manager. Using a strategic level model of a project places the work to be done in some perspective:

Figure 2: Generic four stage lifecycle model

In this model work is completed in a logical sequential order 1-10 within the Proposal stage first. When Sponsors approval is gained, permission has been given to proceed to the Planning stage. Work is then completed in a logical sequential order 1-10 within the Planning stage. When the contract is placed, Sponsors approval is sought for permission to proceed to the Implementation stage. Once gained, work is then completed in a logical sequential order 1-10 within the Implementation stage. Acceptance of the product produced and achievement of the end condition gives permission to proceed to the Close-out stage. Work is then completed in a logical sequential order 1-10 within the Completion stage. Completion of the project administration places the project on the asset register and gives permission to disband the team.

This paper endeavours to set out the work of the “project” in relation to the work of the “management” as reflected in the four stage life cycle model.

proposal stage

Having perceived the solution to a problem the client approaches a project manager to gauge the feasibility of implementing for the solution. It is important to note that the project implements a solution rather than finds or refines a solution which is the work of the proposal stage only. The project manager documents the clients ideas and expectations defining the end condition to be achieved by the project and the benefit to be derived. During the proposal stage the work of the project manager is much like that of an advisor or consultant in which the client is introduced to various specialists and assisted through the activities that make up the proposal stage.

The end condition is the quantitative and qualitative end statement that will stipulate when the product that the project is to produce has been achieved. This is most important because without this statement the project is without an end goal. Without it you will not only be unable to determine when the project is finished but will also be unable to determine when the project scope has changed.

The benefit determines the departure point of the project. This is equally important to the end condition as it pegs the project between two points which the project team use as a guide. This gives an indication of where the project is coming from, where it is going to and the effort involved in getting there. A project is therefore cost justified only if it provides a more effective solution to eliminate a problem, than to live with it. The benefit also defines the solution that is being sought. A project can be within scope, quality, time and cost and even deliver the very product it was designed to, but if the solution does not work the project can still be seen as a failure. Once stated the beneficial change that the project brings about is use to focus the minds of the project team on solutions that need to be developed while working towards the end goal.

Assisting the client to comprehend the scope of work the project manager recommends the appointment of a project champion (someone who is to work in the client's office and is accepted or designated by the client) or technical expert who in consultation with others undertakes a feasibility study evaluating several options to the proposed solutions. The project champion is the technical leader of the project and fulfils the duty of technical expert for the project. He is to represent the client and sponsor on the project team and to defend their cause, hence the name 'champion'. The champion or champions are selected from the technical discipline who will best serve the clients interests. Once an option has been selected the risks of the selected option can be evaluated by a risk professional and if the risks are found acceptable the project manager, champion and a cost engineer can draw up a table of expected resource constraints to determine the projects viability.

A communications specialist is used to perform a stakeholders analysis and to draw-up a project report containing the information gained to date. Project stakeholders can be defined as:

“all the people or groups whose lives or environment are affected by the project, but who receive no direct benefit from it. These can include the project team's families, people made redundant by the changes introduced, people who buy the product produced by the facility, and the local community”. (Turner, 1995).  

Stakeholders are also those people or groups who believe they are affected by the project or who have an opinion on the project or the changes that the project will create. It is important to recognise that stakeholders are all the parties that may be affected by the project and not just the easily identified parties with direct involvement in the project. Although appearing as indirect players in the project environment, stakeholders can have a major impact on project success. Failure to recognise their existence and their potential power at a project's strategic level may lead to serious problems at the advanced stages of project planning and implementation.

The project environment consists of two main groups of stakeholders: those 'internal' to the project with direct responsibility; and those 'external' who are affected by the project or have an interest but are not part of the main project team. The behaviour and performance of the 'internal' stakeholders are, theoretically, controlled and predictable. However, the stakeholders of the 'external' group, are free to behave in any way they choose with no regard for the project. To understand how these stakeholders will behave it is necessary to fully appraise their level of power, interest, predictability, knowledge, skill and information needs.

Many of the problems experienced in projects, caused by stakeholders, have occurred because of poor communication from the project team. This can allow misinformation or no information at all to fuel the imagination of those with an interest. Communication is perceived as a vital ingredient for project success. It has been calculated as being second only to technical performance in importance. The project manager and team need to draw on the full range of communication methods and media to communicate successfully with both the internal and external stakeholders of the project environment. Within the project team it is common practice to use drawings, bar charts, work breakdown structures, organisation breakdown structures, network diagrams, meeting minutes, memos, etc. to communicate information. Control of this information flow is usually formalised and agreed between team members using drawing issue sheets, project responsibility charts, communication plans and meeting schedules.

However, control of information to external stakeholders is rarely so well organised. Communication with external parties can be planned and unplanned. Communication to external parties must be managed by the project team to ensure suitable information is given at the most advantageous time for the project to reduce rumour and hearsay.

To achieve this a communication plan must be formalised which will make best use of planned communications to reduce unwanted or unplanned communication. (See: Good Public Relations: An Essential Part of Successful Project Management; http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/goodpr/goodpr.pdf). The project's external communication plan can be formulated by considering the stakeholders and environmental influences. In all cases it is likely to be beneficial to contact supporters and interested parties to advise them of the project's aims and benefits. The plan should include contingencies for dealing with possible detractors and to include those with pertinent skill and knowledge in the team so that communication is managed as proactively as possible. Consideration should be given to using all communication methods and media to address all environmental or green issues that the project may raise.

The resulting project proposal report can be used to lobby and pitch for support to various sponsoring organisations to raise interest in the project. Having generated interest a sponsors meeting can be called where the project manager and project champion may present the project proposal on behalf of the client. Once funding for the project has been gained by approval of the projects resource constraints by a sponsor or sponsors the work of the proposal stage is completed and the work of the planning stage can now begin.

planning stage

Now that approval of the project proposal has been gained the project manager assembles a team to work on the planning and design of the project. The work of the project manager during the planning stage takes on the traditional role of project manager in that time, cost and quality are managed using a programme evaluation and review technique (PERT) and Gant (Bar) charts to manage a team of people to perform a specific task. A project requires the undertaking of a unique task using a novel organisation, which must be created from scratch at the start of the project. A project is subject to time constraints, and so the process of team formation must be undertaken in a structured way to ensure that it happens quickly. The structured approach to creating the project organisation is called “Project start-up”.

Project start-up is a systematic approach to begin each stage of the project lifecycle. It is used to explain the work of the proposal stage to the participants who must understand the objective of the process at any stage, and must be aware of the specific outputs needed to achieve the necessary level of understanding. These objectives are:

  q       to create a shared vision or mission for the project, by identifying the projects context, its purpose and objectives,

  q       to gain acceptance of plans, by defining the scope of work, project organisation, and constraints of quality cost and time,

  q       to get the project team functioning, by agreeing its mode of operation and the channels of communication,

  q       to re-focus the project team onto the purpose of the project, and the method of achieving it. (Turner, 1993).

These objectives in turn influence the emphasis of the work of the project team which is to:

  q        analyse the project’s context, previous plans, future tasks, and management routines;

  q       plan objectives, scope of work, organisation and routines;

  q       communicate between participants the results of analysis and plans;

  q       motivate participants to carry out work and to make decisions.

The project team at this point comprises of a project manager, project champion (technical specialist), project sponsor, communication manager, financial manager, risk manager, legal manager and technical design team. A typical agenda for a workshop is:

 1.    Review the current project definition

 2.    Define the objectives of the current stage

 3.    Develop solutions and criteria for evaluation

 4.    Assess risk and assumptions

 5.    Prepare a operational plan for the current stage

 6.    Prepare an responsibility chart against the plan

 7.    Estimate work content and duration’s for the work packages

 8.    Schedule the work packages (PERT & GANT)

 9.    Prepare initial activity schedules

 10. Prepare a management and control plan. (Turner, 1993).

It is imperative that the technical design team is made up of those who are actually going to perform the work in delivering the design and specification of the project and that delegation is not allowed amongst these participants. It goes without saying that the people who have the required skill are in high demand. It is therefore important that the team be made up of people who are interested in performing the work of this project as a highly competent team with absolutely no interest in the project leading to failure.

The project team develops a work breakdown structure of the tasks allocating task duration and end date. Those taking responsibility for performing tasks during project start-up automatically become the project team while the project manager notes interest and availability to perform the work for which responsibility is taken. This is done to remove discrepancies between time demanded by the work and time available by the person who has to perform the work pre-empting slow performance.

Information gained during project start-up is used to complete PERT diagrams and Gant charts for the project planning and preliminary implementation programme against established responsibility charts. There is no other singularly more important activity during a project than that of project start-up. It is here that 80% of the project managers work is done to ensure that the right people are on board so that people are managed who are managing the work and not to try and manage the work using people as a resource. Mistakes here lead to replication of error on error and once problems start occurring the project manager never seems to be able to catch up to things going wrong. An old Dutch saying “well begun is half done” has never been truer when work begins after a good project start-up.

The project manager now uses the information gained to monitor progress and may employ a project programmer and software to schedule the work of the planning stage to find efficiencies in the process speeding up delivery. The project manager constantly looks at saving time and pre-empts every progress meeting with solutions to problems so that progress is discussed at the meetings and not the lack of it. All through the investigation of availability on which to base the design and specification the project manager remains vigilant to avoid complex solutions, encourage good design and keeping the client and sponsor informed of progress and cost implications. Once the specification is completed a quantity surveyor and cost engineer can calculate a budget for the implementation stage with relative accuracy while a risk manager can calculate the inherent product risks and cost out the contingencies thus delivering a project budget with a higher level of confidence than that developed during proposal.

When the new budget has been approved by sponsor and client the specification with added standard forms, legal and financial consideration can be put out to tender on the basis of an agreed contract method. Tender period, tender evaluation, negotiation and contract placement with a preferred supplier all form part of contract law which involves the project manager and requires formal legal assistance hence the requirement of a legal professional on the project team as and when needed. Contracts generally contain a technical part which the project champion approves, a financial part which an auditor approves and a legal portion which an attorney approves while the client assumes the overall responsibility.

It is preferable to compare the style of the project manager to that of process leader as set out in the book Process Consultation by Prof. Edgar Schein, where he defines how the roles of the “technical leader” differs from that of the “process leader” and how they influence the performance of the workers. The formal definition of Process Consultation is:

“Process Consultation is a set of activities on the part of the consultant that help the client to perceive, understand, and act upon the process events that occur in the clients environment in order to improve the situation as defined by the client” (Schein, 1988).

A process consultant (i.e. process leader, socioemotional leader) helps the technical leader (i.e. task leader or functional manager) to assess the consequences of different alternatives or suggests alternatives that have not been considered. Process leaders do not have pat answers or expert solutions, they assist in adding perspective. Detailed analysis of small group problem solving, showed that groups best develop solutions with the aide of a process leader in conjunction with the technical leader and the team of workers.

But functional management has the advantage that task leaders (General managers) are usually thought of as having formal responsibility for defined organisational outcomes; they have line bosses; they have specific resources at their disposal with which to exercise the authority they have been given. They are accountable, and this accountability cannot be delegated.

In business development and social development projects, project managers who are process leaders, have delegated resources from across the functions which still have functional demands placed on them. The project team members must balance loyalty to the cost centre that pays their salary with the demands of the project. They are deemed to be responsible for the outcome of the project but rarely are they seen to be accountable.

Thus the client is ultimately responsible and accountable for the contract. The contract signed for the performance of the implementation stage concludes the planning stage of the project.

implementation stage

It is normally the case that the same people involved with the planning stage are not used during implementation and that the project team operates from two different localities. One part of the team operates from the home office under the leadership of the project manager and the other under the leadership of the champion from the site where implementation takes place. (The champion is a technical specialist who best understands what exactly is to be done to produce the produce of the project). Distance is not the issue here but rather the responsibility of the two performing centres. In the home office the project manager works with a design team of highly qualified people who may be working on more than one project at a time to assist him with problem solving and analysis of work performed on site to meet the objectives of the project. The project team on site are mainly contract managers supervising the performance of the contractor according to schedules prepared at the home office for time, cost, quality and risk. Earned value analysis (BS6079, 1996) is used as a tool to gauge the progress of implementation in a time Vs. budget equation while managing changes to the original plan.

Keep in mind that the client, project manager, champion and contractor can all come from the same company. These in-house projects present a real danger to the project manager as due process is often disregarded resulting in project failure. The reason for this is that the project team are assigned to the project temporarily or to more than one project at a time splitting accountability and responsibility between the team members functional managers and the project manager. If possible the project manager should try to gain control of team members salary allocation for the period they are assigned to the project or at the very least gain control over the teams time allocation. This helps to gain control of the work allocated to the project by individual team members.

Once the site has been established procurement of all goods and services takes place in an agree rate of expenditure. Procurement may be the duty of the contractor or of the project manager or shared depending on how the contract was set-up. As goods and services are delivered to site they are installed under quality control measures and inspection. The project manager keeps abreast of things through regular reports, progress meetings and on site inspections.

During the implementation stage progress meetings tend to become longer as more time is spent discussing progress and the reasons for the lack of progress. What is required is for the guilty party (who best understands the situation) to come to the progress meeting with proposed solutions which are discussed with the view to selecting one for implementation. This keeps the agenda focused on solutions and the result of implemented solutions rather than on protracted blame avoidance strategies.

A key function of the project manager during implementation is that of negotiator as changes to all aspects of the project continually impact on agreed delivery schedules which impact on agreed time and cost schedules. Negotiating changes to the project with the client, suppliers and contractor can take on extreme proportions as the ripple effect they cause throughout the project threaten to tear apart even the best made plans.

Every change the project manager allows has the potential to cause time and cost overruns on the project but every change not allowed has the potential to impact on the efficiency of the solution that the project seeks to implement. The more changes allowed the more chaotic management becomes. It is advisable to defer all changes to post project modifications if there is a high level of confidence in the planning that was done. Well laid out plans result in smooth implementations and poor plans result in very difficult executions often resulting in time and cost budgets being overrun by more than 100%.

All changes agreed to should be referred to the design and specification compiled in the planning stage. The design and specification should be modified to include the change which should also be budgeted and analysed for risk. The budget for the change should be presenter to the client and sponsor and noted in the contract before being implemented. The main benefit of this is that the client and sponsor are kept informed of changes to the cost and duration of the project as the changes are agreed on for implementation and it does not come as a surprise at the end of the contract in terms of time and budget overruns. If not done a discrepancy will exist between the contract and that which is delivered during the implementation stage resulting in incorrect capital allocation in the asset register during the close-out stage.

As implementation reaches a conclusion commissioning or switch on of the installed equipment is done to facilitate final testing and hand over to the client. The solution to the problem that brought about the project is now in place and the end condition of the project is achieved concluding the implementation stage.

Close-out stage

Probably the most misunderstood stage of the project life cycle and the one least experienced by project managers as they typically move on to another project at the end of implementation. Pity, because this is where all the lessons are learnt of the things that went right and wrong during the project and their possible corrective actions. As the saying goes “hindsight is always 20-20 vision”. The function of the project manager takes on the role of a project auditor, as the paper work must now be done. A different project manager can be used during close out to maintain objectivity.

This is also the stage where the on site project team must now be deployed to other projects or find other employment which can be a difficult but fulfilling time if you have the inclination for it as the relations you have built up with people now come to an end. If there is a lot of work around it is relatively easy but in time of economic recession it can prove to be very difficult to find other positions even for highly competent staff and they feel let down if you cannot place them.

Closing the contract (real or implied) requires that the project be put into commercial operation which may require some modification to work completed in order for the project to function correctly. The line where the contract is completed and the modifications begin to become blurred resulting in unexpected cost overruns. Knowledge of the contract becomes critical as non performance of certain parts of the project may apportion blame to the design or to the contractor. Needless to say contractors try to get out of non performance issues often relinquishing guarantees necessitating the use of others to complete the work.

Sign off on commissioned equipment, as built drawings and maintenance manuals are essential to closing the contract which starts the guarantee period and releases the final funds to pay for work done. At this critical juncture many mistakes can be made in paying contractors before all documentation is delivered resulting in them not being received at all.

Financial systems are kept open as there is always something outstanding which results in the capital account continuing to draw interest instead of being transferred to the asset register so that the supply account can begin with the pay back period. Careful financial control is required to ensure contracts are closed in time.

All site and home office documentation is transferred to a central office and compilation of the project report is the main activity of the project manager in this stage. An audit trail is set up of all documents which are classified and placed in a filing system from which key lessons learnt can be abstracted in the project report.

Finally the last meeting is called where the project is closed, personnel are thanked for their contribution and the project team is officially disbanded. Care should be taken during this stage to keep up the quality of the work and not allow activities to be closed merely to get them off the books. The project now enters the commercial life cycle where operational staff utilise the solution provided by the project to gain the benefit envisioned. This stage is used to hand over what was installed to the maintenance staff, with appropriate training, drawings and manuals to ensure efficient operation. Disbanding the team was found by Cleland (1988: 223) to have a major impact on the success of following projects. When the project was not properly closed the team would continue to look for performance information on the past project, causing a lapse of attention on the current project, resulting in more errors than one would normally expect.

CONCLUSION

If society is to develop it requires people to do things in exchange for money. (Modern society depends on exchanging services for money). It requires in the project world, people to find solutions and implement them. It requires people to turn vision into reality. Central to the whole issue of getting things done is the ability to manage a project, as it is the project that implements a solution and combines knowledge and skill to deliver a developing industry, business and society.

This paper has attempted to formulate a base model by which projects may be managed to customer expectations, within time, cost and quality. Repeatability and incremental improvement have been built into the model to lay the foundation on which a best practice may be developed. In project management there can never be one best way as each project is novel and unique. Any model must therefore contain a framework flexible enough to be applied to the implementation of many different solutions.

Project management should be established as a profession to be used to create project managers sufficiently competent to manage business processes and human behavioural processes in such a way to aid ordinary people to turn their dreams into reality.

BIBLOGRAPHY

BS6079.  1996.  Guide to project management.  London: British Standard Institute. 

Et Al.  1988.  Project Management Handbook, Cleland DI/King WR, (Ed) New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Kerzner H.  1984.  Project Management, New York: Van Nostrand.

Schein EH.  1988.  Process Consultation, New York, Addison-Wesley Publishing.

Turner JR.  1993.  The Handbook of Project-Based Management.  London: McGraw-Hill. 

Turner JR.  1995.  The Commercial Project Manager.  London: McGraw Hill. 

Wideman RM.  1985.  Good Public Relations: An Essential Part of Successful Project Management; http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/goodpr/goodpr.pdf).

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