Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Project Management

Oftentimes I have been asked how is it to manage a project. Is there a technique or rules to follow? There are tools we can use depending on the project and resources available but there are common tools we use in Project Management.

1. Milestone chart combined with a GANTT chart is the most commonly used PM tool. A major benefit of this chart is it easy to understand and gives great deal of information in a single presentation.




2. WBS - Work Breakdown Structure

It is a tree like diagram that captures all the work of a project in an organized way. It is often portrayed graphically as a hierarchical tree, however, it can also be a tabular list of "element" categories and tasks or the indented task list that appears in your Gantt chart schedule.

The WBS is commonly used at the beginning of a project for defining project scope, organizing Gantt schedules and estimating costs.

Figure here shows an example of a WBS.



3. S Curve

The S Curve is a well known project management tool and it consists in "a display of cumulative costs, labour hours or other quantities plotted against time".The name derives from the S-like shape of the curve, flatter at the beginning and end and steeper in the middle, because this is the way most of the projects look like.

The S curve can be considered as an indicator and it's used for many applications related to project management such as: target, baseline, cost, time etc. That's why there is a variety of S Curves such as:
-Cost versus Time S Curve;(appropriate for projects that contain labour and non-labour tasks).
-Target S Curve;(This S Curve reflects the ideal progress of the project if all tasks are completed as currently scheduled)
-Value and Percentage S Curves;(Percentage S Curves are useful for calculating the project's actual percentage complete)
-Actual S Curve;(This S Curve reflects the actual progress of the project to date)

Figure here shows an S curve generated from MS Project




4. PERT/CPM

With this I recommend this article

http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Pert_Chart.html



I also recommend of using a tracking system for software development project. Below is an open source system you might consider using.

http://trac.edgewall.org/

44 comments:

Portebee said...

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Joshi said...

All methods are great, all with each advantage and disadvantages. These methods/techniques also depends on what the project is all about, how the team will move and vision it towards its predicability and the resources available within just like you said..looking back at your examples, I prefer using or to use the Milestone with Gantt Chart..yeah, lets say it is commonly used by many project managers, but thing is.. This method really gives all the necessary information needed for the development. It may not have the fanciest, coolest look or workflow design as i may say, heck milestone doesnt even care about the non critical paths of the system/project, only shows all the critical path.... in spite the fact that its still way organized for scheduling etc. and it IS understandable in any sense..i would have to vote for milestone.. concerning the others..the WBS has a nice fresh look into it with a nice tree diagram, S-Curve with its professional/business looking curves, i believe this is mostly used on big companies with their presentation lol! and lastly the PERT/CPM which is also a nice technique depicting task, ranging durations and informations.. awww never thought management could be this big! nice blog by the way!

My URL:
Believe in Me - http://ibelieveinjosh.blogspot.com

Morfs said...

I think I am not using this methods... that is why I can handle those projects properly... lol

Seriously I haven't use WBS and S-curve method. Is it on MS Project too? Well I'll go research so I'll have better understanding on it... And maybe you can check it out on my blog http://ittribe.blogspot.com/, I'll try to post articles on it...

Anyways nice article it can really be helpful and it does... Nice Blog too.. God Bless

Unknown said...

In making a project there's a lot of things that you must consider. By the method that you have been posted, it makes a lot of help for the developer of a particular project to know the status and development of their project. It will really help them for the information that they need and the deadlines of every activity to make the project well organize.

that's all and its really a nice blog!!!!!

dexytechnology said...

It is a nice blog...In the article tells about a project..it is good for all bloggers because there are some tips in scheduling like the PERT/CPM,milestone,S-curve and WBS..because there showing some chart of images,,it is very good to all bloggers to understand that article because it can use in some businesses...

your blog is interested....
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Arron said...

i think i'll go whats best for our project, which is, the one we have discussed :)

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Jayson M. Colima said...

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all of the method are new for me. i didn't know how to use this kind of method

dexter! said...

i guess this blog is interesting...

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Albert O. Enocillas said...

it's a great blog.every thing i have read can help me budget my time and decrease cost of our thesis project.thnx 4 posting this article.

i have SEo tips and techniques post in my 2nd blog.i hav time pls visit this link. http://albertseotips.blogspot.com/

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jovilyn said...

It can help our work to make it easier but the main problem is the way of introducing the main problem is the part where i cant understand to use in a specific and organize way. Due to lack of understanding.

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ashiya mizuki said...

I think this kind of method is is very useful to every students take thesis..
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kent said...

Thanks for this article, in this it is really helpful for the programmers and also researchers know what is the method in scheduling they used. Keep it up. :)



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arlene said...

its nice your blog..
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mary grace marin said...

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Hancon said...

All the methods mentioned are very helpful in managing a project.
Concise but packed with information.
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aleah said...

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shimozikato said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
shimozikato said...

nice blog, all the tools of project management are there with definition and examples, its help me a lot doing my project.
thanks!

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keep it up!

sHeRwiN said...

i wish i can build blog like your's sir! very foRmaL & eLegant . . . awesome . . =)

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Oldrin said...

Nice Blog!!!
i think this process is usefull to our thesis project... please visit my blog
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thank you

kimuel said...

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all of this method is usefull!!!

ill go try them,....XD

Ronaldo A. Sybang said...

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Jeric's blog said...

This methods of scheduling is very hard its a group effort I suppose

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Ronaldo A. Sybang said...

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dexter! said...

The project Q-Auction

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Joshi said...

Here I am again, After weeks of brooding over these project management methods, I finally got a hold and made a few methods discussed here concerning our project in thesis, so check it out..

Believe In Me - http://ibelieveinjosh.blogspot.com

Budo said...

cool
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Budo said...

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Sandro said...

Sir this is the blog
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arlene said...

in project management..its nice!
how to manage your project,In using milestone with GANTT chart its nice to manage because u can see the critical path.. scheduling and cost to budgeting the project. But the WBS and S-curve show all the methods that help help doing their project.

Zayree said...

This method in Project management is the best way in illustrating a project plan....

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Portebee said...

based on my analysis I figure out that the project management are very usefull in time budgeting. Using the different kinds method you can identify the particular activities,dates and cost of your chosen project. °_°

mary grace marin said...

Its nice to take the subject Project Management.You learn how to plan a project in many ways. Like tge GANTT chart, Schedule and budgeting, WBS, S-curve..You know the risk of the project and the failure....

aleah said...

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aleah said...

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blanchire said...

all i have to say is the methods are not quite familiar for me.But reading those articles,enlighten my knowledge of making a project.i have to say that you have a very interesting methods and can be a big help for us,,youre student...
http://blanchire.blogspot.com

gracie said...

To tell the truth i really don't know what is project management but when i read your article i learned how to manage a project with my own. But i guess i should research more.
I analyzed that s-curved is important because it have an information about target,baseline,cost and time!!!!
Your blog is so interesting.
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Anonymous said...

hi are you freelancher. I'm looking help for my project mgmt assessment. due end of April. There some question I not usre hwo to answer.
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Arsenio Amante said...

200820.blogspot.com

Project Management method inspired me to do something like a project manager for the future in using gantt chart, s-curve, pert cpm and wbs method is a big help for me to make a project successful.

Anonymous said...

Project management tells how to plan, organize and managing resources to achieve all the project goals and objective. Most commonly use by the project managers is Gannt chart because of it shows only the schedule that has been apply for the project. Like thesis..we use Gantt chart for the schedules of weeks that we consumed for the project..nice blog sir!

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