Project Strategy

The conventional approach to strategy in projects requires the manager to consider three key elements. There are, 

• Time 
• Cost 
• Quality 

There are provided the goal for the project. This can be considered first. Then need to consider the further element of flexibility.

All three-time, cost and quality can be considered as having two elements. The first is the element of performance, as: 
Time -What is the shortest possible project duration? 
Cost -What is the lowest cost? 
Quality -What is the highest level of quality that can be achieved?

The second element is conformance. This is a measure of the reliability required of the project system, as: 
Time -Can the project be guaranteed to deliver on time? 
Cost -Will the project finish within budget? 
Quality- Will the project meets the specified level of quality?

                            Time                       Cost                          Quality 
Performance     Shortest possible      cheapest possible           Highest level 
Conformance    As planned               As budgeted                  As specified

The mechanisms by which the project manager assures conformance are different from those that ensure performance. For example, by selecting low-cost suppliers, the project manager may attempt to ensure that the project is delivered at minimum cost. Whether it is in fact deliverable is determined by the actions of that manager to secure guarantees that the price will be achieved in practice. 
However fix strategy are not a better method of adopting it macro environment provide opportunities and threats for the project.
 
Time and cost criteria are relative straight forward concepts. In practice determining whether key objectives have been achieved can be a matter of some argument and commercial significance. However, one of the least understood concepts is quality. There are number of manufacturing and service definitions. 

The process of developing strategy for projects would be easier if customers always knew exactly what they wanted at the outside and were able to communicate this which is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure that customer input is obtained by the project, and there are number of methods available for doing this. There are, however, many occasions when the requirements of the customer are likely to change as the project progresses. The ability of the project system to address this change is expressed by its flexibility. Such flexibility needs to be accounted for the outset, as there can be penalties in relation to the other objectives. It is vital at the project strategy stage to determine the most important issues for the project so that, should necessary, compromises can be identified.

However, finally the most important Component in project strategy planning consists of external environment analysis, Internal environment analysis, goal formation and implementation.

The Strategy Process

A strategy is a process, as it involves the conversion of information by the individual or group making the strategy. The information of the market such as the behaviour is taken in and processed.




Senior                       Organizational       @ Competitive analysis
Management            Strategy                 @ Organizational requirement 

                                  


Management 
Steering                     Aggregate              @ Existing project
Board                         Project Plan           @  Organizational Capabilities & Capacity
                                                                                         



Project                       Project                    @  Prioritized customer requirement
Management             Strategy                  @  Supplier capabilities
                                  



Project Team             Project 
                                Activities

The high-level decision made at a senior management level within an organisation is reflected through to the project activities. Organisational strategy takes in the organisational requirements and the results of competitive analysis. SWOT analysis is a high level analysis that organisation regularly carried out.

            SWOT is stands for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It may also consider the impact of changes in technology, new entrants to the market and other force changes such as currency movements, legal change. The outcome of this deliberation is the statement of policy which provides a focus for all the activities of the organisation including all projects. There is an important concept that those aspect of the product or service offering into these things money, time and effort.

Role of strategy in project management

There are three levels in the role of strategy in project management.

v  Strategy

v  Tactical

v  Operational

The project management has focused on the tactical and operational levels. This has resulted in those arias,

•  Project being carried out in a reactive mode with project managers having little or          no input to the strategy process
•  A lack of definable objectives for projects
•  Inevitable conflicts with line manages over resources

First project manager should understand the strategy process and he can make an input to process. The strategy is like a set of principles that guide and inform the actions and decisions of managers.

The major classifications of strategy are:

•         The environment in which an organisation exists
•          In an absolute sense, as a statement of the vision for the organisation

Strategy in the context of project management is the outcome of a strategy process. This process includes two key elements. There are:

•           Assessment of the present
•           Anticipation of the future

Furthermore strategy process is conducted at two levels,

•           Organisational
•           Project level

At the organisational level, the aspects of interest are external to the project but those policies will affect its objectives. At the project level, these are internal aspects that are generated by the project manager and refer to the project specifics. As a minimum requirement, the project strategy should be in line with the organizational strategy. 

Project as a conversion process

            The project is viewed as a conversion or transformation of some form of input into an output.The inputs are some form of want or need which is satisfied through the process. The project will take place under a set of controls or constraints.

                                               

                                                 Constraints:

 Ø  Financial

 Ø  Legal

 Ø  Ethical

 Ø  Environmental

 Ø  Logic

 Ø  Activation

 Ø  Time

 Ø  Quality

 Ø  Indirect effects

 

             Project                                                                                   

Input                                                                                 Output

Want/need                                                                         satisfied need

                                                                    

                                                      Mechanisms:

  Ø  People

  Ø  Knowledge and expertise

  Ø  Capital

  Ø  Tools and techniques

  Ø  Technology                          

·         Inputs

                        A document which provides a statement of the want or need that is to         transformed by the project. There are two types of needs. They are original    explicitly stated requirements and customer’s changing needs or perceptions        (emergent needs).

·         Constraints

                        There are several no of constrains used in conversion process.

v  Financial- the amount and timing of release of capital to the project and the         revenue or other benefit it should generate.

v  Legal- this may not be explicitly stated but there will be legal constraints

v  Ethical-this is at present limited to certain sectors of the community the need to behave in an ethical manner as well as being seen to behave ethically is a factor in the way that projects are managed.

v  Environmental-the role of environmental control from a subsidiary issue to one due to management thinking

v  Logic constraints-the need of certain activities to have been completed before a project can start

v  Activation-action to show when a project or activity can start

v  Time-the biggest constraint for most projects

v  Quality-the standard of both product and process

v  Indirect effects- it is practically impossible for any change to take place in isolation. Because the output of a project will be a converted information such as a new product, a tangible product such as a building or changed people when followed a training programme.

·         Output

                        The output of a project describes as a ‘satisfied need’. That is very wide     interpretation of the possible outputs of a project and includes. Always the output     should be fulfilled the customer’s requirements.

·         Mechanisms

                        Mechanism is that used to build the final output of the project.so the           mechanism achieve the output as follows,

v  People-those involve direct and indirect

v  Knowledge and expertise-consultants

v  Capital-the money that provided for resources

v  Tools and techniques-potential work organising

v  Technology-the available physical assets

Successful Project Manager

A successful project manager is responsible for projects deliveries on time, within budget and exceeding client expectations.  He should have a very good understanding of the client’s needs and requirements. 

The project manager’s role can be determined as follows,

• *        The nature of the project
• *        The nature of the organization
• *        The personality of the project manager
• *        The construction under which they are working.

A successful project manager is someone that always has the big picture in mind.  He acts as the liaison person between all the various stakeholders.  His role is crucial in the successful delivery of a project, making sure that all outputs are delivered on time, on budget and within the agreed level of quality.  To be able to deliver successfully, a sense of urgency is recommended, as to optimize results with the given resources.

The characteristics of project manager can be classified as attitudes or skills. Attitude of project manager is determined by way a person thinks about a particular issue and which are reflected in the intent of that person. The skills are those characteristics which person has been trained in or has learned, and determine the tools available to that person regarding how to handle a particular situation.

The project manager should has these of attitude as follows,

Ø  A desire not just to satisfy but to delight customers and stakeholders alike

Ø  Accepting of both challengers and responsibility

Ø  Being focused on action, rather than procrastination

Ø  A desire to make the best use of all resources with minimum wastage

Ø  Does not lose sight of the light at the end of the tunnel

Ø  Project manager has personal integrity

Ø  He is flexible about the route that must be taken to achieve the started end-goals

Ø  Project manager has personal goals that are consistent with those of the project organisation.

The project manager should has these of skills as follows,

Ø  Ability to determine the real needs/desires of the customers by getting close to the customer

Ø  Analytical skills to turn data into information and break down the project into comprehensive parts

Ø  Technical skills

Ø  Team handling skills

Ø  Ability to delegate effectively

Ø  Ability to manage own time –it will be save your valuable time

Ø  Balancing of stakeholder perceptions of project progress

Ø  Negotiating skills

Ø  Problem solving ability

Ø  Question all assumptions made by stakeholders at all stages of activities.

            The organisation is managed their role and it consider around four factors.

§  Responsibility

§  Authority

§  Accountability

§  Credibility

7 S of Project Management

The McKinsey & co. management consultants were introduced the 7-S framework of management issue. The 7-S framework provides a comprehensive set of issues that need to be considered. It also allows classification of tasks within the remit of the project manager, which reduces the complexity of the role. In addition, classifying issues in this manner ensures that the project manager will know where to look to find sources of help if novel situation arises. Their original 7-S is amended for the project environment with a description of each of the elements as follows,

Element

Description

Strategy Structure Systems Staff Skills Styles/Culture Stakeholders

The high-level requirements of the project and the means to achieve them The organisational arrangement that will be used to carry out the project The methods for work to be designed, monitored and controlled The selection,recruitment,management  and leadership of those working on the project The managerial and technical tools available to the project manager and the staff The underlying way of working and inter-relating within the work team or organisation Individuals and groups who have an interest in the project or outcome

§  Strategy

            Strategy is a process what involves a high-level consideration of objectives that can be seen as points of principle, rather than activity-level details. So strategy is an overall approach and plan.

§  Structure

            Structure is the arrangement of human resources relative to lines of command and control. A key question for the project manager concerns the nature of this structure.

§  System

            Systems are ‘the way we work’.both formal and informal systems will need to be designed or at least recognised for key task, including communication and quality assurance. Formal systems can be demonstrated though statements of procedure-simply put, under these conditions, we carry out this action. Informal systems, particularly for information transfer, are far less easy to describe and control.

§  Staff

Staff should be selected, recruited and then managed.How they respond to their treatment will have a large impact on the success or otherwise of the project.

§  Skills

The project manager should have very good capability to understand staff member’s skills.Skills required by the project manager and staff of the project team again have we got the skills in in-house, before we mentioned the areas you may have get involved in.

§  Style/Culture

It is the part of the ‘soft’ side of management. Indeed,it cannot be managed in the short term in the same way that the finances of a project as an example it can be managed.

§  Stakeholders

They are an important consideration for project managers. Their importance has only recently been realized and methods for the management of expectations and perceptions developed.So that is going to be supporters, who are going to support project.

THREE PHASES of Project Management

Such as THREE Ds

The three phases of project management as follows,

·         Design it

In this phase identify the need that the project will serve, construct models to show how the needs will be developed, evaluate these to determine the optimum process for the task and minimize risk.

·         Do it

In this phase carry out the project in line with the models or plans generated.

·         Design it

In this phase improve the models and processes in the light of the experiences gained from the project, incorporating the check/study and act part of the Deming cycle.

There are a number of tasks and issues for each phase. This provides a degree of complexity for the project manager and is one reason that there are few truly excellent examples of project management available. When it consider that the analogy of the project as a chain, it is important that there is general competence across the phase. The three phases provide the three sections and their applications are lined up as follows,

Phase	Key Issues	Fundamental questions
Design it	project and organisational strategy, goal definition, modelling and estimating , resource analysis, conflict resolution and justification	What is to be done? Why is to be done? How will it be done? Who will be involved in each part? When can it start and finish?
Do it	Organisation, control, leadership, decision-making and problem solving	How should the project be managed on a day-to-day basis?
Develop it	Assessment of process and outcomes of the project, evaluation, change for the future	How can the ‘management process’ be continually improved?