Introduction

Businesses are constantly working on projects and from your own experience, you will know that management is very important.  There are a number of methods that can be used to successfully manage a project, but we will be focusing on one particular aspect - time: extremely important to all businesses we acknowledge.

An unexpected delay or similar time crisis can put a business under a lot of pressure and perhaps it was all unforeseeable: evidence of poor project management?

So, how can you plan your time and identify where delays could occur, leaving you to make decisions to compensate for such situations? A useful tool to use would be the CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS.

Critical Path Analysis - What is it?

The critical path analysis is a tool that illustrates the individual tasks of a project highlighting the expected starting and finishing tasks of each. More precisely, the critical path analysis can be used to:

• Estimate the minimum/maximum time that tasks will be started and completed

• Estimate the minimum time that the whole project will take to complete

• Identify if resources are not being used effectively

• Make aware any tasks that could create a possible delay

Ultimately, the critical path analysis will suggest which tasks are critical to keep on time anticipating that the delay in any one of the tasks will delay the whole project.

The critical path analysis is hard to explain in more detail without the use of diagrams, and so the working example in the following section will make it all more clear.

Example

XYZ Limited have decided to carry out some research to ultimately create a selling strategy for their new product. They have decided to create a questionnaire, which they will issue to the public personally. In addition, they will use a mail shot to send out a similar survey to get the opinions of those that live outside of the area.

Each task (A - F) has been given an expected completion time (in weeks). Time is crucial for XYZ Limited and so the Manager has requested a Critical Path Analysis of the project

Task	Description	Order/Logic	Time
A	Plan Primary Research	To be completed first	1 wks
B	Prepare Mail Shot (Postal Survey)	Start when A is complete	3 wks
C	Prepare Questionnaire	Start when A is complete	2 wks
D	Send and Wait for Mail Shot Replies	Start when B is complete	3 wks
E	Issue Questionnaire	Start when C is complete	3 wks
F	Compile and Analyze Results	Start when D & E is complete	2 wks
G	Plan Selling Campaign	Start when D, E & F is complete	2 wks

Now, take a good look at the diagram below. Each circle (Node) will be used to enter specific data. The numbers currently in the nodes (1 - 7) are only there to make following the diagram easier - nothing more. The arrows represent the tasks and each is given their respective completion times.

Before we move on, look at the above table again and ensure that you understand what is being said by linking it back to the diagram. Basically, all tasks cannot start until the previous task has been completed.  This is not true for tasks B and C which can start at the same time - this is the only tricky area.

First of all, we have to identify the earliest starting time (est) for each task. This figure is then entered into the top right hand segment of the node. To work out the est's, we move from left to right on the diagram. The diagram below shows all the est's for the project and by hovering the mouse over a node, it will show how this figure was obtained.

Ignore the red line for now, this will be explained later. Remember - from right to left.

Now the est's and the lft's have been calculated, we can determine the critical path. This is found by recognizing those nodes where the est = lft.

By looking at the above diagram, all the nodes have equal est and lft except for number 4. By acknowledging this, we can identify the critical path as:
A - B - D - F - G (highlighted by the red line)

In other words, there must be no delays in completing these tasks, otherwise the project completion time will be also be delayed beyond the expected 11 weeks. This is not true for the tasks that do not lie on the critical path, as explained below.

So, what can we determine from those tasks that do not lie on the critical path - C and E? Well, either task C or E can be delayed by 1 week without affecting the completion time of the project. This is called the float.

There are two types of float - the total float and the free float. Only those tasks that are not on the critical path will have a float, as you will see.

Total Float

The total float is the accumulated float up to the specific task. This is worked out by subtracting the est and the duration from the lft:

i.e. Total Float = LFT - EST - Duration

E.g. For task C, the total float = 4 - 1 - 2 = 1 (week)

Free Float

The free float is worked out by subtracting the est at the start of the task and the duration, from the est at the end of the task:

i.e. Free Float = End EST - Start EST - Duration

So, again for task C, the free float = 3 - 1 - 2 = 0

This is showing that task C can be delayed (like all tasks), but it will have an effect on the start time of the next task. All tasks that calculate zero has the same rule applying.

But, what about those tasks that calculate a figure other than zero? If we work out the free float for task E, we get:

Free Float = 7 - 3 - 3 = 1 week

Now, this means that task E can be delayed by 1 week without having an effect on the start time of the next task (F). Any delays over this time would only then affect the proceeding task. For example, if task E was delayed by 2 weeks, it would delay the start time of task F by 1 week - 1 week compensated by the float, and the other causing 1 week delay.

Finally, let's now look at the floats for all the tasks.

By looking at the table, those tasks without a 'total float' (i.e. zero) are considered 'critical' and coincidentally are found on the critical path. It is therefore important that these tasks are not delayed in order to complete the project on time as planned (11 weeks).

Acknowledging and integrating float is very important. For example, those tasks that do carry float may have resources (labour, capital, equipment, etc) that could be used elsewhere to complete other tasks quicker.

I came across this article today, which was profoundly interesting.

Tomorrow, Google will be hosting a developer day for 5,000 developers worldwide. The bulk of developers will be gathering at the San Jose convention center for a keynote by Google’s VP of Engineering, Jeff Huber. At the conference Google will be outlining their developer strategy. But the big announcement will be Google Gears, an open source browser plugin that will enable developers to create offline web applications using JavaScript APIs. As a developer, you’ll be able to make an application with the assurance that it will work offline and online across browsers.

The plugin is a 700K download for Firefox 1.5+ and Internet Explorer 6.0+ that installs three developer APIs. One API will handle the creation of data objects to store application information locally, another will be a SQLite relational database for searching the data, and the final part will enable asynchronous JavaScript so applications can sync data in the background without overburdening the browser. More info on the APIs are available at the gears website.

The first demo of Gears will be for Google Reader, but more Google apps are expected to come. Reader will add a green download button to the user interface. When you click the button, Reader will download the last 2,000 messages to your computer, preparing your computer to work offline or under a spotty internet connection.

Downloading will take place in the background, using the asynchronous JavaScript API. While offline you can read these articles and carry out your usual sharing and tagging. When you get back online, just click the button and Reader will sync your offline activity with their server. Right now the syncing is initiated manually, but it’s easy to see that it will become more seamless as the program develops. Gears could conceivably solve the large data overhead problems of Google’s AJAX applications, pushing updates to your desktop instead of slowing down your browser.

Google is releasing opensource and early to developers to get some preliminary feedback. They are also collaborating with a host of other partners such as Opera, Mozilla, and Adobe, which will to integrate flash and Apollo into their system.

Source: Google Gears Lets Developers Take Apps Offline

Program Management Office is a department that centralizes the management of projects and focuses on the coordinated planning, prioritization and execution of projects and sub-projects that are tied to the organization's or client's overall business objectives. Usually takes one of the following three roles.

• Providing policies, methodologies and templates for managing projects within the organization.
• Providing support and guidance to others in the organization on how to mange projects, training others in project management or project management software and assisting with specific project management tools.
• Providing project managers for different projects and being responsible for the results of the projects. (All projects or projects of certain size, type or influence are managed by this office).

One has to carefully understand the authority of the PMO and how it is different from others in the project. PMO is an organizational structure and not a person. In summary PMO may

• Manage interdependencies between projects.
• Help in providing resources to project managers.
• Provide recommendation or terminate projects (To keep the business objectives consistent).
• Help gather lessons and provide training to project managers and make them available towards other projects.
• Provide guidance.
• Provide enterprise project management software.
• Be heavily involved in the project initiation phase rather than in later phases of the project.

It is an important point to note the risks involved with the PMO, if PMO does poorly, they generate a negative feeling towards Project Management, in order to make the PMO work, following important aspects need to be kept in mind.

• Role of PMO must be clearly defined.
• PMO has to pick any one of the above three roles detailed above and has to adhere to it, instead of trying to do everything.
• Professional management must be encouraged and all those in PMO should be certified as PMP's.
• Commitment of executive management is required.
• PMO has to use proper management processes and techniques.

Need to refer to PMO's role in an Organizational Structure in PMBOK "2.3.4 The Role of the PMO in Organizational Structures"

Program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control which is not available from managing them individually. Their management is coordinated because they may use the same resources, the results of one project feed into another or they are part of larger project that are broken down to smaller projects. This coordination provides decreased risk, economies of scale and improved management that could not be achieved if the projects were not managed as part of a program. Whenever it is discovered that there are more than one project, either we can manage them as separate projects OR if there is an benefit or value then all the projects can be managed as a Program.

Portfolio is a collection of projects or programs and other work that are grouped together to facilitate effective management of the work to meet strategic objectives. However, it is not required that all the projects and programs that are part of the portfolio be interdependent or directly linked.

Projects are frequently divided into more manageable components or Sub-projects. Sub-projects are often contracted to an external enterprise or to another functional unit in the performing organizations.

Organizations perform work and generally involves either operations (Services) or Projects. Both Operations and Projects share similar characteristics like, they are performed by people, constrained by limited resources, planned, executed and controlled.

Operations(Services) are generally ongoing, repetitive in nature while an Projects are temporary and unique. If my boss say, the system is broken, figure out what is wrong with it and fix it., then it is an Operation/Service and not a Project.

Hence a Project can be defined as having distinguishing characteristics and is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create an unique product or service or result.

• Temporary endeavor with a beginning and end

Project always have a start and a finish. A Project starts when it is decided what is about to be done and, ends when a product or service is completed and objectives of the project are achieved. Sometimes project are not successful and get terminated in the middle, because, the objectives of the project might be no longer achievable or when it is determined that the need of the project is no longer required.

Temporary does not mean short in duration, many projects last for years, in any case, the duration of the projects is finite. Also Temporary does not apply to the outcome of the project viz. Product, service or result, most projects are undertaken to a lasting outcome. Several projects have an intended and unintended outcomes on social, economic, environments impacts that outlast the projects itself.

Also the opportunity or the market window is usually temporary, some projects have a limited time frame in which they have to produce the product or the service. Also the project team which is working on the project often outlives the project and the team which was working the project gets disbanded upon project completion and moved to some other project or job.

• Creates a Unique Product, Service or Result

Projects involve doing something that has not been done before and which is therefore quantifiable(unique and measurable). A product or service or result may be unique even if the category to which it belongs to is large. e.g. many thousands of villas are constructed, but each individual villa is unique-different owner, different location, different design, different workers and so on. The presence of repetitive elements does not change the fundamental uniqueness of the Project.

• Progressively Elaborated

One will learn more and more about the project as it goes on, when a project is started, we have certain goals and plans, however we have to constantly deal with new information coming along as the project goes on and have to make decisions in order to keep the project on track. While we do our best to plan for everything that will happen during the course of project, you know that we will keep learning the project as we move on and developing in steps and continuing by increments. 

In summary, Projects Characteristics are

• Goal Oriented (Measurable/Verifiable).
• Temporary/ Finite duration with begin and end.
• Uniqueness to a great extent.
• Coordinated undertaking of interrelated activities.
• Involving resources and resources cost money.
• Proceeding in steps, continuing steadily by increments.

Projects are often implemented as a means of achieving organizations strategic plan. However, it always not required that Projects are Strategic and Critical. Projects are typically authorized as a result of one or more of following strategic considerations.

• Market demand.
• Organizational need.
• Customer request.
• Technological advance.
• Legal requirement.

Operations(Services) & Projects share similar characteristics as follows

• Performed by people.
• Constrained by resources.
• Planned, executed & controlled.

Towards my PMP preparation, today, I have subscribed to The Project Management Precast Podcasts for $24.99 hosted by Cornelius Fichtner. I have heard his podcasts earlier and I liked them for the crispness on subject. This helps me to learn PMP related topics on the go and at times when I feel like I do not want to go through books. I am providing a link to one of his free podcast on Project Charter below.

Sample podcast from http://www.pmprepcast.com hosted by Cornelius Fichtner Project Charter MP3

I ordered "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) - Third Edition, Paperback" for less than $19.17 yesterday from Buy.com. Regular price is $49.99 and PMI member discounted price is $39.99.

Here are the deal details.

1. Sign up to earn your $10 bonus from Google checkout http://www.google.com/checkout/signupbonus.html
2. Go to the buy.com link where the book is available for $29.17 http://www.buy.com/prod/a-guide-to-the-project-management-body-of-knowledge/q/loc/106/39864192.html or search for the SKU 39864192 in buy.com.
3. Order using Google checkout and select Budget: 7 to 9 business days shipping which brings the total to $19.17. That's it...

Since many people have started asking me for a copy of the latest PMBOK Guide, I am placing the PMBOK Guide 3rd Edition, in the form of a ZIP file which everyone can download here

Projects does not operate in vacuum and are impacted by, and have impacted on the culture, management policies and procedures of the organizations they are part of. Project managers need to look for these influences and manage them towards the benefit of the project and the organization. Out of all the forms of influences, the main one is how the organization is organized. This will dictate project manager who to go for help with resources, how communications must be handled and other components of project management.

Organizational structures are often defined in terms of project manager's level of authority. I will discuss on the following key aspects in this section.

• Who has more authority in each type of organization - the Project Manager or the Functional Manager.
• Advantages & Disadvantages of each organization.

Functional Organization

This is the most common form of Organization where Project Manager's has least/no amount of authority and power in terms of Project Management. Functional Organization is typically grouped based on areas of specialization within different functional areas. (e.g. Development, Quality, Customer Support, Professional services etc.).

In Functional Organizations, all of the project work typically happens within a particular department and that department head is completely incharge of everything. Project Management decisions need to be cleared with Functional Managers/heads, i.e. if an information or project work is needed from another department, the request need to be transmitted up to the department head, who in turn communicates with other department head.

 Project Managers typically act as assistants to functional managers in getting work done and will be spending lot of time doing administrative tasks and will be working as Project Manager's less of the time.

Matrix Organization

This form of organization is an attempt to maximize the strengths and weakness of both functional and projectized forms. In plain terms, in an Matrix organizations, a person will be reporting to two bosses, viz. Project Manager and Functional Manager. Communication goes from each member of the team to both the bosses. Team members do project work in addition to functional work.

Matrix organizations can be sub-divided into

1. Weak Matrix
2. Balanced Matrix
3. Strong Matrix

Weak Matrix Organization

In Weak Matrix Organization, Project Managers have some authority, however, they are not incharge of any of the resources on the project. All the major decisions are still made with functional managers cooperation or approval.

A typical example or Project Manager's role in weak matrix organization would be as

Project Expeditor who is working in the Weak Matrix Organization, who acts primarily as a staff assistant and communications coordinator. Project Expeditor personally cannot make or enforce any decisions. People have to report to Functional & Project Manager's.

Project Coordinator who is more or less like Project Expeditor and typically report to higher-level managers and have some decision making ability.

Balanced Matrix Organization

In Balanced Matrix Organization, Project Managers share authority along with Functional Managers. Here Project Manager runs/makes Project Management decisions on his own and gets People Management decisions done through Functional Manager. Likewise, Functional Manager runs/makes People Management decisions on his own and gets Project Management decisions done through Project Manager. People have to report to Functional & Project Manager's equally.

Strong Matrix Organization

In Strong Matrix Organization, Project Managers have more authority  when compared to Functional Managers. However, the team still have to report to both the managers. In this kind of organization, the team is judged based on performance on their projects, as well as on the their functional expertise. Delivery of the project is the most important aspect in this kind of organizations.

Projectized Organization

In this kind of Projectized Organization, teams are organized around projects. When an project is completed, the team is released and the team members move to other project, i.e team does not have a home/base, this is typically observed in consulting companies which are organized by projects. In this kind of organization, Project Managers have full control of the project and will make all the decisions about the project's budget, schedule, quality & resources etc. Project Manager is completely responsible for the success and failure of the project. 

In PMP Exam, if an Organization is not specified as part of the question, then it need to be taken for granted as "Matrix Organization".

Across all of the process groups, there are 9 knowledge areas which span all of the different kinds of information that I need to know and keep up with to manage my project. 

The 9 knowledge areas are as follows 

1) Integration Management : About keeping everybody working towards the same goal and dealing with changes. This area teaches me about following processes

1. Developing Project Charter.
2. Developing Preliminary Scope Statement.
3. Develop Project Management Plan.
4. How to Direct and Manage Project Execution.
5. How to Monitor and Control my project related work.
6. How to deal changes with Integrated Change Control.
7. Finally, about Closing a Project.

2) Scope Management : About defining the work, that will and that won't be done on the project. In other words, tells me about processes required to ensure that project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete a project successfully. This area teaches me about following processes

1. Scope Planning.
2. Scope Definition.
3. WBS.
4. Scope Verification.
5. Scope Control.

3) Time Management : About estimating how much time I need to do my project and making sure that I get it done by the deadline. This area teaches me about following processes

1. Activity Definition.
2. Activity Sequencing.
3. Activity Resource Estimating.
4. Activity Duration Estimating.
5. Schedule Development.
6. Schedule Control.

4) Cost Management : About Budgeting my project and tracking all of the money that I am spending on a Project and ensuring that project is completed successfully, within the approved budget. This area teaches me about following processes

1. Cost Estimating.
2. Cost Budgeting.
3. Cost Control.

5) Quality Management : About making sure that I build a right product which satisfies the needs for which it was undertaken, and I do it as efficiently as possible. This area teaches me about following processes

1. Quality Planning.
2. Perform Quality Assurance.
3. Perform Quality Control.

6) Human Resource Management : About getting the people who will do the work, and make the most effective use of the people involved in the project, and keeping them motivated. This area teaches me about following processes

1. Human Resource Planning.
2. Acquire Project Team.
3. Develop Project Team.
4. Manage Project Team.

7) Communications Management : About who should talk to who to keep everyone in the loop on my project and ensuring timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination storage & ultimate disposition of project information. This area teaches me about following processes

1. Communications Planning.
2. Information Distribution.
3. Performance Reporting.
4. Manage Stakeholders.

8) Risk Management : About planning for things that could happen (both positive & negative) and how to identify, analyze and respond to risks. This area teaches me about following processes

1. Risk Management Planning.
2. Risk Identification.
3. Qualitative Risk Analysis.
4. Quantitative Risk Analysis.
5. Risk Response Planning.
6. Risk Monitoring and Control.

9) Procurement Management : About defining contracts, acquiring goods and services from outside the performing organization, like choosing a contractor to do work for the project. This area teaches me about following processes

1. Plan Purchase and Acquisitions.
2. Plan Contracting.
3. Request Seller Responses.
4. Select Sellers.
5. Contract Administration.
6. Contract Closure.

The above 9 knowledge areas summarizes a total of 44 processes.

PMBOK recognized 5 Process groups under which all the 44 Processes will fall (All 44 Process, I will cover later). The 5 process groups are...

• Initiating: Here I will identify what are my high level goals.  This process group helps me to learn and understand processes which are included to create and define preliminary project scope.
• Planning: Here I will detail, how I will do all of the work, this is where I will detail, how I will manage all aspects of the projects and with emphasis on the Triple Constraint (Cost, Scope & Schedule).
• Executing: Here, I will get the work done. All the work completed here will get monitored in the Monitoring and Controlling process and based on based on recommendations provided, adjustments to be made to the project.
• Monitoring & Controlling: Here, I will be tracking the work, keep an eye on problems, and fixing them before the project becomes a failure. This is where I will constantly compare the work (Output from Executing process) with the plan and make decisions to keep project on track.
• Closing: Here I will do all the final paperwork to enable company to keep track of what work was performed, to release the team, so that they can work on other projects, and myself get payment and fat bonus to meet my cruise expenses for Antarctica ;), I need take timeout and relax before I catch up with other project.

"Executing", "Monitor & Controlling" process groups go hand in hand and operate in cycle.

PMBOK defines four areas of responsibilities for me as follows

• To identify requirements for project: Here I will figure out what it will take to make a project success, and I will ask questions on what the project is all about, and detail what everyone (Stakeholders) need from the project and figure out the Triple Constraints. If I do this in the beginning, I will be able to keep my project on right track for success.
• To clearly define objectives that can be achieved: Here, I will plan the goals for my team and will identify the ways or means of achieving them. Here I need to speak to my speak and keep them in sync and understand what the goals are and ensure that everyone agrees to, in order to make right decisions and avoid conflicts and move towards success.
• How to balance Triple Constraints (Time / Schedule, Scope / Quality, Cost /  Resources): Helps me to keep track of how the project is moving when compared to the planned schedule, scope & cost (Triple constraints). Important to note is that anytime a change is made to any of the constraint, it is inevitable that other two will get affected. Here I will learn how to manage all the three constraints and make the project success, which means I need to deliver what I said (It's Imperative that with Quality) and within the time and budget.
• Satisfy stakeholder needs: Here I will learn how to communicate with Stakeholders and understand the needs of all stakeholders, in order to ensure that the end result of project is more likely to satisfy my stakeholders.

Who is a Stakeholder: All of my project team members, people who financed the project, customers who benefit from the project, anyone else who are directly or indirectly affected due to what is happening in the project etc... More to come in future posts.

In my quest to achieve the PMP Certification, which has been in my mind since 2004, I have finally started making serious attempt and from here you will be seeing my notes which I have taken from best of the sources and which I feel is important, so that I can go through over them when required.

PMBOK was created by a team of experts, drawing on collective wisdom of many Project Managers from all around the world. This is the short intro to the PMBOK guide and ocean of Project Management :)

The book contains best practices for all known problems that happened and happen on almost all projects. This book is a standard for all PM's (Project Manager's) as what need to be known and how best to resolve the common problems faced during a project. This book is only a guide and will not be detailing all the essence / knowledge of the Project Management, as it changes constantly.

In brief, PMBOK Guide will help me as follows (Does not mean that I will be reading the PMBOK, rather I will be reading Head First PMP book and take few tests from Transcender and view online classes to start with and attempt to chew, digest and understand the Project Management, and then give one good reading of PMBOK before I give the PMP exam)

• To learn from past projects that have run into similar problems and provide an foresight on how to avoid the same problem again in current / future project(s).
• Helps me to plan and execute (complete) projects by avoiding common pitfalls.
• It makes me familiar with tools & techniques which help me to plan and track costs etc...
• Provides me with a knowledge & ideas on how to estimate and put tasks in an organized fashion in order to complete the project efficiently and in a timely manner.
• Helps me to learn how to plan and prevent defects (read, quality issues) in the project.

Suggested Readings

Head First PMP Book ( This is my favorite !!!, because pictures are worth thousand times )
PMBOK from PMI ( Evidently has put me to sleep after reading 2-3 pages )
Rita Mulachy PMP Prep Book

Situation: A Project Manager in Your PMO Could Be a Little More Collaborative...
This little snippet could help you hint at a problem without being too confrontational.

Sun announced will roll out a Java-based product family called JavaFX at the Java One Conference.

The announcement follows the recent well received launch of Microsoft’s Silverlight, and as an offering will compete directly against AJAX as well.

JavaFX is said to be a new scripting variant of Java with a focus on development for the consumer communications market, including desktops, mobile clients, and TVs. The first product release is JavaFX Mobile, a software system for mobile devices.

We won’t know a lot more about the new offering until after the presentation, however my immediate thoughts are that what we are seeing here is a game of catch-up by Sun. The object-oriented applications programming language that is Java was once the cool kid on the block, a base from which a new generation of applications would be launched, taking over our desktops. And yet it never happened. The new product, with its focus on mobile technology presents the potential of dealing Sun back into the application game in a big way if it’s well received today by developers.