PROJECT MANAGEMENT.

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Codeword Codeword is a medium-sized firm that designs and manufactures electronic sys- tems for the mass transit industry. It competes with other firms to win contracts to provide such systems. When Codeword receives a contract, it creates a project to complete the work. Most projects range from $10 million to $50 million in cost and from one to three years in duration. Codeword can have 6-12 projects going on at any one time, in various stages of completion-some just starting and others finishing Codeword has a handful of project managers who report to the general man- ager; other people report to their functional manager. For example, the electron- ics engineers all report to the manager of electrical engineering, who reports to the general manager. The functional manager assigns particular individuals to work on various projects. Some people work full time on a project, whereas others split their time among two or three projects. Although individuals are assigned to work for a project manager on a specific project, administratively they still report to their functional manager. Jack Kowalski has been with the company for about 12 years, since graduating from college with a BS in electronic engineering. He has worked his way up to senior electronics engineer and reports to the manager of electrical engineering. He has worked on many projects and is well respected within the company. Jack has been asking for an opportunity to be a project manager. When Codeword is awarded a $15 million contract to design and manufacture an advanced electron- ics system, the general manager promotes Jack to project manager and asks him to run this project. Jack works with the functional managers to get the best people available assigned to the project. Most of the people are buddies who have worked with Jack on previous projects. However, with Jack's position as senior electronics engineer vacant, the manager of electrical engineering has no one with the appropriate level of expertise to assign to Jack's project. So the manager hires a new person, Alfreda Bryson. Lured away from a competitor, Alfreda has a Ph.D. in electronic engineering and eight years' experience. She was able to command a high salary-more than Jack is making. She is assigned to Jack's project full time as the senior electronics engineer. Jack takes a special interest in Alfreda's work and asks to meet with her to discuss her design approaches. Most of these meetings turn into monologues, with Jack suggesting how Alfreda should do the design and paying little attention to what she says. Finally, Alfreda asks Jack why he is spending so much more time reviewing her work than that of the other engineers on the project. He responds, "I don't have to check theirs. I know how they work. I've worked with them on other projects. You're the new kid on the block, and I want to be sure you understand the way we do things here, which may be different than at your previous employer."On another occasion, Alfreda shows lack what she thinks is a creative design approach that will result in a lower-cost system. lack tells her, \"I don't even have a PhD. and I can see that that won't work. Don't be so esoteric; just stick to basic sound engineering.\" During a business trip with Dennis Freeman, another engineer assigned to the project who has known lack for six years, Alfreda tells him that she is frustrated with the way Jack treats her. \"Jack is acting more like the electronics engineer for the project than the project manager," she tells Dennis. \"Besides, I have forgotten more about designing electronics than Jack ever knew! He reallj.r isn't up to date on electronic design methodologies.\" She also tells Dennis that she's planning to discuss the matter with the manager of electrical engineering and that she would never have taken the job with Codeword if she had known it was going to be like this. . Have a say and have full control over the design and building; and . Uninterrupted personal life as they are going to live with their neighbors and friends as opposed to moving to a new place. Although making a home addition is more sensible than relocating in many cases, it has some drawbacks, such as the following: . Cost may dig into a huge percentage of savings reserves; . Increases monthly expenditures like utilities, taxes, and so on; and . Eats up some remaining space. | Case Questions 1. What are the pros and cons of Nash and Myra's decision? 2. What are the different phases in the lifespan in this type project? 3. What are the key issues in this project? 4. How would you classify this project? 5. What are this project's success factors? How does each one of these factors affect other factors?110 . CHAPTER 3 / PROJECT ACTIVITY AND RISK PLANNING Dean Ryan added: be emphasized? Should the program be organized From an administrative perspective, as you develop around modules or should we have standard semester the curriculum you will need to consider faculty length courses? related issues. For example, does our current faculty have the background to teach the new courses? And if Building on Professor Scott's comments, Professor so, is there sufficient slack that we can accommodate Kacy remarked: the new courses in the faculty's current teaching loads? Yes, getting the curriculum right is critical. Also, we need to determine the split between hard analytical Professor Samuelson suggested: skills and softer skills. And if we were to go with mod- In addition to benchmarking other programs, I think ules, would there be themes for each module? it is important to solicit input from key stakeholder groups including potential students, our faculty, and companies that would recruit graduates of the program. Professor Regan then commented: Another issue we need to address is what would be Dr. Lee agreed: the admissions criteria for the program? For example, I completely agree with Dr. Samuelson. My sugges would students need to have some number of years of tion is we create an online survey to solicit recruiter work experience? opinions. As the discussion died down, Professor Scott Dean Ryan added: wrapped up the meeting: Speaking of recruiters, we also need to evaluate This has been a productive meeting. I think we have whether we have sufficient resources in our Career done an excellent job identifying the work ahead of Management Center to handle the coaching and us. I greatly appreciate the passion each of you has placement needs of this new group of students. demonstrated and the contributions all of you have made. I will take the list we generated, organize it a Professor Scott next suggested: bit, and then develop a tentative schedule for your There are a lot of issues that come to mind regard- review. I will also have my staff assistant send out a ing the curriculum. For example, should we develop a poll to identify a weekly meeting time. skills matrix? How much hands-on experience shouldPROJI - Case Study 8 1. Read the case study in page 354 and answer the following questions. 1. Do you think Jack is ready to serve as a project manager? Why or why not? How could Jack have prepared for his new role? 2. What is the major problem with the way Jack interacts with Alfreda? 3. How do you think the manager of electrical engineering will respond to this situation? What should the manager do? 4. What could have been done to prevent the situation? II. Visit PMI website, write about 5 certifications in PMIIt was springtime, and the scent of new flowers filled the air around Nash's home in the Midwest. Nash Nathan was discussing with his wife how to improve their kitchen and dinette area. Their house overlooked a lake in a beautiful wooded setting. Nash's wife, Myra, was a fantastic interior decorator and landscape artist. Myra told her husband that a room addition to the dinette area of their house would enlarge the living area as well as maintain the lake view from the addition. This was appealing to Nash as the benefits would be huge: a new area to host friends and family, a larger kitchen and dinette area for utility purposes, and added value to the house. Myra and Nash wanted to go ahead with this construction project and decided that they should contract this out to a general construction company. Nash had prior dealings with Craig Daemon, a construction company owner. But before discussing this new project with Craig, Nash talked to one of his neighbors who had actually built an addition a few years back. The neighbor advised Nash with the following: . Room additions are complex and pricey. Make sure that you really want this addition before starting on this project; . Get a good contractor; . Take a home equity loan; . Get the best estimate; . Find out if the addition would increase your home value, and discuss the proposed addition with a realtor; and Because this is like a new house construction, you need permits, foundation, footers, framing, HVAC, flooring, plumbing, electrical, new windows, and so on. BENEFITS AND KEYS ISSUES WITH ROOM ADDITION PROJECTS Home additions can be a great investment. However, before embarking on building a home addition or other large home remodeling projects, there are a number of important items that should be considered. These items include: neighboring home market values, home addition costs, architectural plans, financing, personal disruption threshold, and sweat equity commitment level. Sweat equity is a term used to describe the contribution 3233 made to a project by the homeowners who contribute their time and effort. This project is certainly an exciting decision, yet it requires thorough planning due to the consequences involved. Therefore, Nash and Myra decided to come to an understanding of the pros and cons that might influence their quality of life. After discussing with friends and family and researching on the web, they found that the following are advantages: . Cheaper than buying a new property or building a new house;Question of Project Management case study: 1. Critique the meeting: what went well and what did not 2. Professor Scott indicated it was a productive meeting. Do you agree? Why or why not? 3. As the leader of this project, what would your next steps be? C A S E Samson University I am very excited about this opportunity and I truly Samson University is a small liberal arts university believe we can develop a program that is unique and located in the northeast of the country. Recently, QBS will attract great students and major employers. Today, Inc., a large multinational corporation headquartered my goal is to have us brainstorm about what work we need to undertake to complete our charge. I will in the same city, made a large gift to the university to record the ideas you come up with on the flip chart develop a 1-year Master of Science program in Project and then use this to develop a draft project schedule Management. To develop the new Project Management for your review. So without further delay, what ideas program, Samson's business school dean, Dr. Ryan, asked come to mind regarding the work we need to do to Professor Scott to chair a taskforce to develop the new complete our charge! degree program. Together, Dean Ryan and Professor Scott decided that Professors Samuelson, Kacy, Regan, and Lee Professor Lee was the first to respond: should also serve on the taskforce In my view, the first thing we need to do is bench- At the taskforce launch meeting, Dean Ryan acknowl mark other Project Management programs and find edged how much she appreciated everyone's willingness out what courses these programs offer, Also, I think we to serve on the taskforce given all their other responsibili ties. She went on to explain how developing this program need to decide what our goal is. In particular, are we would significantly enhance the university's relationships trying to develop a program that achieves parity with with QBS, lead to important job opportunities for its grad- other programs or are we trying to reinvent the way uates, and ultimately enhance the university's reputation. project management is taught! She then turned the meeting over to Professor Scott. Professor Kacy next chimed in: I agree with Dr. Lee that benchmarking is an impor- Professor Scott began: tant step. Based on what we learn from benchmarking I would also like to echo Dean Ryan's appreciation for other programs, we will then need to develop the cur- your willingness to serve on this taskforce. Personally. riculum for our program