Functions Of Pm
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
PROJECT MANAGEMENT International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 187–189 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman
Editorial
Towards a theory of Project Management: The functions of Project Management
In my editorial in the last two issues of the journal, I have been trying to develop a theory of Project Management. Through a series of premises and lemmas, I have attempted to derive a structure of Project Management, and identify inherent elements of Project Management. In the first article I looked at the nature of projects and in the second the nature of project management. So far, I have identified four premises (though I have only used three of them), and eight lemmas, and from those I have identified eight inherent components of project management and seven roles. In this issue, I am going to look at what in my books [2,3] I call the functions of project management, and the Project Management Institute calls five of its body of knowledge areas [1]: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
managing managing managing managing managing
scope; project organization; quality; cost; time.
We have already met other four of PMI’s body of knowledge areas: Project Contract Management and Procurement was the first inherent component identified in Corollary 1. Information Management, and hence Communication, was identified at Corollary 2. Resource Management was identified at Corollary 4, and since some resources are people, that implies Human Resource Management is an inherent component. Risk Management was identified at in Corollary 8. Thus by then end of this article we will have seen that all nine of PMI’s body of knowledge areas, plus the project life-cycle and Project Management life-cycle are inherent components of Project Management. 0263-7863/$30.00 Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2006.03.001
1. Scope Management Premise 1 says that a project is a temporary organization to which resources are assigned to do work to bring about beneficial change. In order for that to happen, the change required must be defined and its delivery managed (Corollary 6 and Premise 3), and in order for that to happen, the work required to be done must be defined and managed. Thus: Corollary 11. Scope Management is an inherent component of Project Management. Premise 3 and Corollary 7, together with Premise 1, imply that the objectives must be defined at all levels of breakdown, as must the means of obtaining those objectives. Corollary 7B. Product break-down is an inherent component of Scope Management. Corollary 7C. Work-break-down is an inherent component of Scope Management. Not only do we want the desired change to be delivered by the project, the project should consist of the right work to deliver the desired change, we want that change to work to deliver the desired benefit. The project deliverable (the desired change) must have the right functionality to provide the benefit (outcome) we want. I call the desired functionality ‘‘the requirements’’: Corollary 12. Requirements Management is an inherent component of Scope Management. Now for the first time I want to draw on empirical evidence. Everything so far, I think, has been derived logically. But we reach a point where we have to draw on experience, and say, experience suggests this is the best way of achieving this end. Empiricism 1: Configuration Management is a useful tool for ensuring the right means is adopted for delivering the right objectives, and that those objectives will function in the right way to deliver the desired outcome.
188
Editorial / International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 187–189
We can derive logically that we need such a tool, we cannot derive logically that Configuration Management is necessarily the best tool. We have to draw on empirical evidence for that. As the project is completed, we want to monitor its performance and ensure it does actually work as expected and produce the desired benefit. Corollary 13. Benefits Management is an essential component of Scope Management. 2. Project organization Premise 1 says that resources are assigned to the project to do the work to bring about the change. We have also identified seven roles associated with Project Management. Appropriate people and other resources need to be identified and marshalled to the project to fulfil these requirements. Corollary 14. Project organization is an essential component of Project Management. At any level of breakdown we will need to match roles and responsibilities and the skill requirements to the products and work at that level. Corollary 7D. Organization breakdown is an inherent component of Project Organization. 3. Quality Management We have identified above that the project deliverable must function in the desired way; that it must perform. We will specify how we expect the product to perform, and what standards it should meet. We must then ensure that the specification and standards are met, that the output functions as required, and that the desired outcomes are achieved. That is Quality Management. Corollary 15. Quality Management is an inherent component of Project Management. Empiricism 1A: Configuration Management is a useful tool for Quality Management. 4. Cost managament Premise 2 says that the project should provide value for the owner, that is the benefit should justify the cost of the resources used. In order for this to be achieved, the cost must be kept within bounds. It does not necessarily have to be less than some arbitrary budget, it just has to be kept within bounds justified by the desired benefit.
book-keeping, developed 500 years ago, and used and shown to work since that time. I have shown [2] that the standard methods of cost and management accounting, when applied to projects, become Earned Value Analysis. Lemma 9. Earned Value Management is a useful tool for Cost Management. This lemma draws on the field of cost and management accounting. 5. Time Management Also for the outcome to be of benefit it must be obtained within certain timescales. There are at least three ways in which time can have an impact: 1. Sometimes the output only has the desired benefit at a certain time. For instance in event management (such as a sporting event) there is a defined time at which the event must start, to the nearest minute. If the project is late, all the benefit is lost. 2. Sometimes the output only has the desired benefit over a limited market window. For instance new toys have a six week market window over Christmas. If the project is late, the benefit is not lost absolutely, but benefit is lost in proportion to any time the project is delayed. 3. Finally, because of the time value of money, the later the project is delivered the more it costs, and so value is eroded. Here we have to draw on theory from another management subject, (Economics and Finance) to enlighten our theory of Project Management. Corollary 17. Time Management is an inherent component of Project Management. Empiricism 3 I don’t entirely agree with. Empiricism 3: Bar Charts, Critical Path Analysis, Critical Chain, and Resource Smoothing are useful tools for Time Management. 6. Summary This month there have been no new premises or roles, just one more lemma, six more corollaries and two pieces of empirical evidence drawn on.
Corollary 16. Cost Management is an inherent component of Project Management.
P1: A project is a temporary organization P2: which the owner creates to create value P3: The temporary organization is governed on behalf of the stakeholders P4: Governance is defining the objectives, the means of obtaining them, and the means of monitoring performance
Now, the field of cost and management accounting has developed methods of monitoring and controlling costs in routine organizations. These are based on double entry
L1: A project consumes resources to do work L2: to deliver an output L3: which will be operated to achieve a beneficial outcome
Editorial / International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 187–189
L4: The work of the project is non-routine L5: and therefore risky L6: Projects have five stages of: concept, feasibility, design, execution, close L7: Management has five steps: plan, organize, implement, control L8: Projects and Project Management are fractal L9: Earned value management is the appropriate tool for managing cost. Project Management comprises: C1: C2: C3: C4: C5: C6: C7: C8: C9: C10: C11: C12: C13: C14: C15: C16: C17:
Project contract and procurement management. Information management. Financial management. Resource management. Project appraisal. Project definition. Breakdown. Risk management. The management of the project. The project and project management life-cycles. Scope management. Requirements management. Benefits management. Project organization. Quality management. Cost management. Time management.
189
We have also identified several roles: R1: The owner who provides the resources to buy the asset and will receive the benefit from its operation. R2: The users who operate the asset on the owner’s behalf. R3: The sponsor who will channel the resources to the project on the owner’s behalf. R4: The resources who are assigned to the project and will do the work to deliver the asset. R5: The broker, who works with the owner and sponsor to define the required outcome (benefit) from the project, and the output (change) which will achieve that. R6: The steward, who works with the broker to identify the means of obtaining the output, the work and resources required. R7: The manager who manages the temporary organization, to ensure the right work is done to deliver the defined output, and monitors and controls progress.
References
empirical
[1] PMI. Guide to the project management body of knowledge. 3rd ed. Newtown Square (PA): Project Management Institute; 2004. [2] Turner JR. The handbook of project based management. 2nd ed. London: McGraw-Hill; 1999. [3] Turner JR. The management of large projects and programmes for web delivery. Aldershot: Gower; 2004.
E1: Configuration management. E2: Bar charts, critical path analysis, critical chain, resource smoothing.
J. Rodney Turner Lille School of Management United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected]
We have experience:
identified
some
tools
from
PROJECT MANAGEMENT International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 187–189 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman
Editorial
Towards a theory of Project Management: The functions of Project Management
In my editorial in the last two issues of the journal, I have been trying to develop a theory of Project Management. Through a series of premises and lemmas, I have attempted to derive a structure of Project Management, and identify inherent elements of Project Management. In the first article I looked at the nature of projects and in the second the nature of project management. So far, I have identified four premises (though I have only used three of them), and eight lemmas, and from those I have identified eight inherent components of project management and seven roles. In this issue, I am going to look at what in my books [2,3] I call the functions of project management, and the Project Management Institute calls five of its body of knowledge areas [1]: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
managing managing managing managing managing
scope; project organization; quality; cost; time.
We have already met other four of PMI’s body of knowledge areas: Project Contract Management and Procurement was the first inherent component identified in Corollary 1. Information Management, and hence Communication, was identified at Corollary 2. Resource Management was identified at Corollary 4, and since some resources are people, that implies Human Resource Management is an inherent component. Risk Management was identified at in Corollary 8. Thus by then end of this article we will have seen that all nine of PMI’s body of knowledge areas, plus the project life-cycle and Project Management life-cycle are inherent components of Project Management. 0263-7863/$30.00 Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2006.03.001
1. Scope Management Premise 1 says that a project is a temporary organization to which resources are assigned to do work to bring about beneficial change. In order for that to happen, the change required must be defined and its delivery managed (Corollary 6 and Premise 3), and in order for that to happen, the work required to be done must be defined and managed. Thus: Corollary 11. Scope Management is an inherent component of Project Management. Premise 3 and Corollary 7, together with Premise 1, imply that the objectives must be defined at all levels of breakdown, as must the means of obtaining those objectives. Corollary 7B. Product break-down is an inherent component of Scope Management. Corollary 7C. Work-break-down is an inherent component of Scope Management. Not only do we want the desired change to be delivered by the project, the project should consist of the right work to deliver the desired change, we want that change to work to deliver the desired benefit. The project deliverable (the desired change) must have the right functionality to provide the benefit (outcome) we want. I call the desired functionality ‘‘the requirements’’: Corollary 12. Requirements Management is an inherent component of Scope Management. Now for the first time I want to draw on empirical evidence. Everything so far, I think, has been derived logically. But we reach a point where we have to draw on experience, and say, experience suggests this is the best way of achieving this end. Empiricism 1: Configuration Management is a useful tool for ensuring the right means is adopted for delivering the right objectives, and that those objectives will function in the right way to deliver the desired outcome.
188
Editorial / International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 187–189
We can derive logically that we need such a tool, we cannot derive logically that Configuration Management is necessarily the best tool. We have to draw on empirical evidence for that. As the project is completed, we want to monitor its performance and ensure it does actually work as expected and produce the desired benefit. Corollary 13. Benefits Management is an essential component of Scope Management. 2. Project organization Premise 1 says that resources are assigned to the project to do the work to bring about the change. We have also identified seven roles associated with Project Management. Appropriate people and other resources need to be identified and marshalled to the project to fulfil these requirements. Corollary 14. Project organization is an essential component of Project Management. At any level of breakdown we will need to match roles and responsibilities and the skill requirements to the products and work at that level. Corollary 7D. Organization breakdown is an inherent component of Project Organization. 3. Quality Management We have identified above that the project deliverable must function in the desired way; that it must perform. We will specify how we expect the product to perform, and what standards it should meet. We must then ensure that the specification and standards are met, that the output functions as required, and that the desired outcomes are achieved. That is Quality Management. Corollary 15. Quality Management is an inherent component of Project Management. Empiricism 1A: Configuration Management is a useful tool for Quality Management. 4. Cost managament Premise 2 says that the project should provide value for the owner, that is the benefit should justify the cost of the resources used. In order for this to be achieved, the cost must be kept within bounds. It does not necessarily have to be less than some arbitrary budget, it just has to be kept within bounds justified by the desired benefit.
book-keeping, developed 500 years ago, and used and shown to work since that time. I have shown [2] that the standard methods of cost and management accounting, when applied to projects, become Earned Value Analysis. Lemma 9. Earned Value Management is a useful tool for Cost Management. This lemma draws on the field of cost and management accounting. 5. Time Management Also for the outcome to be of benefit it must be obtained within certain timescales. There are at least three ways in which time can have an impact: 1. Sometimes the output only has the desired benefit at a certain time. For instance in event management (such as a sporting event) there is a defined time at which the event must start, to the nearest minute. If the project is late, all the benefit is lost. 2. Sometimes the output only has the desired benefit over a limited market window. For instance new toys have a six week market window over Christmas. If the project is late, the benefit is not lost absolutely, but benefit is lost in proportion to any time the project is delayed. 3. Finally, because of the time value of money, the later the project is delivered the more it costs, and so value is eroded. Here we have to draw on theory from another management subject, (Economics and Finance) to enlighten our theory of Project Management. Corollary 17. Time Management is an inherent component of Project Management. Empiricism 3 I don’t entirely agree with. Empiricism 3: Bar Charts, Critical Path Analysis, Critical Chain, and Resource Smoothing are useful tools for Time Management. 6. Summary This month there have been no new premises or roles, just one more lemma, six more corollaries and two pieces of empirical evidence drawn on.
Corollary 16. Cost Management is an inherent component of Project Management.
P1: A project is a temporary organization P2: which the owner creates to create value P3: The temporary organization is governed on behalf of the stakeholders P4: Governance is defining the objectives, the means of obtaining them, and the means of monitoring performance
Now, the field of cost and management accounting has developed methods of monitoring and controlling costs in routine organizations. These are based on double entry
L1: A project consumes resources to do work L2: to deliver an output L3: which will be operated to achieve a beneficial outcome
Editorial / International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 187–189
L4: The work of the project is non-routine L5: and therefore risky L6: Projects have five stages of: concept, feasibility, design, execution, close L7: Management has five steps: plan, organize, implement, control L8: Projects and Project Management are fractal L9: Earned value management is the appropriate tool for managing cost. Project Management comprises: C1: C2: C3: C4: C5: C6: C7: C8: C9: C10: C11: C12: C13: C14: C15: C16: C17:
Project contract and procurement management. Information management. Financial management. Resource management. Project appraisal. Project definition. Breakdown. Risk management. The management of the project. The project and project management life-cycles. Scope management. Requirements management. Benefits management. Project organization. Quality management. Cost management. Time management.
189
We have also identified several roles: R1: The owner who provides the resources to buy the asset and will receive the benefit from its operation. R2: The users who operate the asset on the owner’s behalf. R3: The sponsor who will channel the resources to the project on the owner’s behalf. R4: The resources who are assigned to the project and will do the work to deliver the asset. R5: The broker, who works with the owner and sponsor to define the required outcome (benefit) from the project, and the output (change) which will achieve that. R6: The steward, who works with the broker to identify the means of obtaining the output, the work and resources required. R7: The manager who manages the temporary organization, to ensure the right work is done to deliver the defined output, and monitors and controls progress.
References
empirical
[1] PMI. Guide to the project management body of knowledge. 3rd ed. Newtown Square (PA): Project Management Institute; 2004. [2] Turner JR. The handbook of project based management. 2nd ed. London: McGraw-Hill; 1999. [3] Turner JR. The management of large projects and programmes for web delivery. Aldershot: Gower; 2004.
E1: Configuration management. E2: Bar charts, critical path analysis, critical chain, resource smoothing.
J. Rodney Turner Lille School of Management United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected]
We have experience:
identified
some
tools
from
