Project Ajax - Cebex

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To make room for schedule or project uncertainty, the project manager should have used the critical chain method during the schedule creation. “The critical chain method (CCM) is a schedule method that allows the project team to place buffers on any project schedule path to account for limited resources and project uncertainties. It is developed from the critical path method approach and considers the effects of resource allocation, resource optimization, resource levelling, and activity duration uncertainty on the critical path determined using the critical path method. To do so, the critical chain method introduces the concept of buffers and buffer management (PMBOK 5th edition, 2013: 178).”

The base project plan was also unveiled at the team building retreat, and it seems as though it was developed in isolation by the project manager without any input from subject matter experts or the project team. The project manager should have used the opportunity at the retreat to conduct a planning session with all stakeholders present, that way everyone will have had the opportunity contribute their inputs in developing the project schedule and highlight possible risks that might impact the plan.

The project manager failed to act on this opportunity, and it became evident much later in the project when schedule delays were becoming a reality, certain cynics who augmented how the original schedule was unfair and the impossible deadlines it presented. Input from stakeholders on the development of the schedule could have prevented this stance by certain team members.

When developing a schedule, project managers need to take in account the input from key stakeholders and subject matter experts, as they’ll have more knowledge on the efforts required to achieve schedule tasks or objectives. The role of the project manager (with input from the team) during this process is to define schedule activities, sequence schedule activities, estimate activity resources and durations. All these tasks need to be done properly and all act as an input to developing a project schedule. What I’ve identified in the case, is the fact that the base plan seems to have developed in isolation without input from the project team, and no schedule contingency was applied to the plan, essentially the project manager failed to plan for failure. The project suffered some delays, and this had a negative impact on the team, as performance bonuses are dependent on achieving certain key milestones. My recommendation to the project manager is to rework the plan, apply the critical chain method, and constantly monitor and control the schedule. My recommendations can be applied as per the below;

- Reworking the plan: Re-plan the schedule, taking in account the delays suffered, and involve the team during this process.

- Apply the critical chain method: Add a buffer to the schedule, this will absorb any potential future delays that might negatively impact the schedule.

- Control the schedule: Monitor the schedule and the progress of activities whilst managing changes and ensure the team actually works towards meeting project timelines.

- Poor risk management planning (lack thereof)

At the start of the project, the project manager identified a technical risk inherent in the project, the solution designs made sense though this technology has not been integrated in the field in this manner, and knowingly from past experiences, there is a big difference between the laboratory and the real world. Additionally, the project manager notes that this integration will test the ingenuity and patience of the project team. After the two day team building retreat, the entire team bought into the technical challenges the project represented, and this was due to the good feelings carried over from the team building retreat, ever more evident when engineers collaboratively worked side by side on solving problems and building subsystems from the start of the project.

“A risk is an uncertain event that, if it occurs, can jeopardize accomplishing the project objective (Clements and Gido, 2012: 286).” The risk in this case is the uncertainty that the integration of the technology will work outside the laboratory, in the real world. Should the risk be realised, it will jeopardise the achievement of the project objectives, in this case being the successful integration of the audio, optical, tactile, and laser subsystems at an important government installation. Additionally, the achievement of this project objective is dependent on the achievement of certain project milestones, of which if not met, the team will not be in line of receiving performance bonuses.

“Risk management involves identification, assessment, control, and response to project risks to minimize the likelihood of occurrence and/or potential impact of adverse events on the accomplishment of the project objective (Clements and Gido, 2012: 293).” It is not indicated anywhere in the case that this technical risk is managed accordingly, to ensure it is not realised at any point during the lifecycle of the project. It is also evident during the test execution that no risk response strategies are in place to absorb the impact it caused the project. The project manager did well in identifying the risk at the start of the project, though following through this with the application of proper risk management was the downside as no risk response strategy was in place to mitigate the impact of the risk when it occurred. The system issues encountered during test executions of Alpha I, II, and III are a direct result of the technical risk. The debugging period required to resolve the system issues, is the impact the occurrence of the technical risk had on the project timelines and subsequently the team morale.

Risk management to be conducted from the start and throughout the project lifecycle. The lack of applying the risk management processes will lead to an undesirable end state any project. Based on the case, the occurrence and reoccurrence of system issues during test executions is the direct result of the technical risk being realised, this has had an undesirable effect on the project timelines and project team. The lack of risk management within the project is a contributing cause to the case problem. My recommendation to the project manager is to apply the risk management process on his project. My recommendations can be applied as per the below;

- Identify the risk

- Risk analysis / assessment

- Plan risk response

- Monitor and control the risk

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