James P. Lewis - Fundamentals of Project Management [Amacom 1995]

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Fundamentals of Project Management
by James P. Lewis
AMACOM Books
ISBN: 0814478352 Pub Date: 01/01/95
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Preface: Successful Project Management
Chapter 1—An Overview of Project Management
Chapter 2—A General Approach to Project Planning
Chapter 3—Developing the Project Mission, Goals, and Objectives
Chapter 4—Using the Work Breakdown Structure to Plan a Project
Chapter 5—Scheduling Project Work
Chapter 6—Scheduling Computations
Chapter 7—Project Control and Evaluation
Chapter 8—Project Control Using Earned Value Analysis
Chapter 9—Managing the Project Team
Chapter 10—How to Make Project Management Work in Your Company
References
Appendix A
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Fundamentals of Project Management
by James P. Lewis
AMACOM Books
ISBN: 0814478352 Pub Date: 01/01/95
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Table of Contents
Preface: Successful Project Management
Although managing projects has been going on for thousands of years, the practice has only recently been
recognized as a discipline in its own right. Suddenly master’s-level degree programs are springing up at
schools throughout the world, and certificate programs are being offered as well. Not only that, but some
organizations have begun to ask their contractors to provide only project managers who have been certified as
professionals by the Project Management Institute, the professional society for practitioners.
In today’s fast-paced world, organizations that practice sound project management methods have a
competitive advantage over those who fly by the seat of the pants. Why? Because competition is rapidly
becoming time-based as well as cost-based. That is, if you can get a product or service to market faster than
anyone else, you have an edge on your competition. Further, if you can control the costs of your work better
than others, you can sell your products or services at lower margins; “sloppy” management requires that
goods be sold at higher margins in order to make sure the business is profitable.
What if you aren’t dealing in products or services? The same principle applies. If you are nonprofit or a
government agency, you face competition from others who might be able to do your work more efficiently
(and at lower cost). In short, we must all learn to work smarter, not harder, in order to survive into the
twenty-first century. Managing projects better is one way to achieve that result.
This book gives you a fast-track approach to managing your own projects. You will learn the essential steps in
setting up project plans, scheduling your work, and monitoring progress/exercising control to achieve desired
project results.
The approach outlined in this book is based on what is considered best practice by experts in the field. If you
follow the methods presented here, you will increase the probability that you can meet critical performance,
cost, and schedule targets. Admittedly, there is a lot more to project management than can be presented in this
short book, but if you learn the essence of the tools, you can go on from there to increase your skill.
Table of Contents
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Fundamentals of Project Management
by James P. Lewis
AMACOM Books
ISBN: 0814478352 Pub Date: 01/01/95
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Chapter 1
An Overview of Project Management
A project is a job that is done once.
WHAT IS A PROJECT?
What is the difference between project management and managing in general? Aren’t they really the same?
The answer, of course, is no. A project is done only once, whereas most jobs are ongoing or repetitive, and
managing one-time jobs is different from managing ongoing ones. For one thing, the people who work on a
project may be reassigned to other jobs once the project is completed, so the team is temporary. Often the
team members do not report to the project manager on a regular basis, meaning that the project manager has
no direct authority over them, a situation that presents its own set of problems.
Quality expert Dr. J. M. Juran defines a project as a problem scheduled for solution. This definition forces us
to recognize that projects are aimed at solving problems and that failure to define the problem properly is
what sometimes gets us into trouble. Interestingly, when you tell project team members that you want to begin
planning a project by writing a problem statement, they tend to say, “We don’t need to do that. We all know
what the problem is.”
In my younger days, I was sometimes intimidated by that response. Not any more. My rejoinder is, “If that is
true, it will only take five minutes, so let’s do it.” I have never yet gotten a group to write a problem statement
in five minutes, because seldom do people really understand or agree on what the problem is. This failure to
achieve a consensus definition of the problem leads to developing the right solution to the wrong problem or
to a paralyzing bickering about goals.
“A project is a problem scheduled for solution.”
—J. M. JURAN
To help a team at this point, I offer a definition of a problem. A desired objective is not a problem by itself.
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