Project Chapter 1
Project Chapter 1
Introduction to
Project Analysis and
Management
Discussion Question
• Prepare a list of activities that are not projects.
What distinguishes them from project activities?
Which activities are difficult to classify one way
or the other?
Continued
Brief History Of Project Management
• Projects from ancient times have left impressive legacies on our
architectural and industrial culture.
• We wonder how some of those early masters managed without
the technology that is readily and cheaply available today.
• However, with the exception of a few notable philanthropic
employers, concern for the welfare and safety of workers was
generally lacking and many early project workers actually lost
their lives through injuries, disease and sheer physical
exhaustion.
• People were often regarded as a cheap and expendable resource.
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Definition
• Project is a temporary endeavor involving a
connected sequence of activities and a range of
resources, which is designed to achieve a
specific and unique outcome, which operates
within time, scope, cost and quality constraints
and which is often used to introduce change.
Key concepts:
• Purpose-the basic reason for the existence
of a project- to solve a problem, address a
need or take the advantage of opportunity.
• Temporary: means that a project is
something that has a specific start date and
a specific end date.
Continued
• projects are of a transient nature, with a
defined beginning and end. The end is
reached when the project’s objectives have
been achieved and effectively handed over
to the business
• In certain situations the project itself is a one-off event and
not integrated into an organization, for example an election,
or the Olympic Games.
Key concepts:
• Sequences of Activities: the works and the steps we
perform and the methods and knowledge we use to
achieve the project objective.
• Unique Outcome: A project brings about a unique product
or service - something that has not existed in the
organization here-to-fore.
• Uniqueness derives either from activities that have not
been done before, or from some product or service
feature that distinguishes it from all other products or
services the organization has produced before.
• Identifying and focusing on uniqueness is important to
project management.
• It helps identify new organization risk areas, enabling
management to develop and implement timely risk
management strategies.
• Time: any project should be time bounded-it has a
start and end time
• Cost: activities consume human, financial and material
resources.
• Quality: the project needs to produce quality products
to maximize the satisfaction of the users.
• Introduce change: A project is often used as an
instrument for change - change for the betterment of
the society.
• Projects range in size, scope, cost and time
from mega international projects costing
millions of dollars over many years to small
domestic projects with a low budget taking
just a few hours to complete.
Examples of projects:
• Build low cost houses/ condominium
• Build a dam for hydroelectric/irrigation
• Improve the standard of a road
• Develop training program for CEOs about human rights
• Redesigning the IT system