Table Of ContentPROJECT MANAGEMENT BASICS
P R O J E CT
MANAGEMENT
BASICS
A Step by Step Approach
ROBERT L. KIMMONS
Kimmons-Asaro Group Limited, Inc.
Houston, Texas
m
MARCEL
MARCEL DEKKER, INC. NEW YORK • BASEL
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kimmons, Robert L.
Project management basics: a step by step approach/Robert L.
Kimmons.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8247-8391-3
1. Industrial project management. I. Title.
HD69.P75K56 1990
658.4'04--dc20 90-3505
CIP
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 1990 by MARCEL DEKKER, INC. All Rights Reserved
Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-
copying, microfilming, and recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
MARCEL DEKKER, INC.
270 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Preface
Project management has reached a certain maturity. It is recognized by
businesses and the public as a viable, and in many cases the only
effective, approach to completing difficult and complex assignments. In
recent years, the number of applications served by project management
has increased sharply, and these numbers continue to grow. Manage-
ment by project has come into its own.
When I started my working life after graduation from the University
of Illinois in 1947,1 headed on a bearing leading me ultimately into the
profession of project management. I did not foresee then that someday
there would be a career called project management Certainly I did not
start out to become a project manager, and my steps in becoming one
were not a part of a well organized effort. My early ambitions tended
toward being a mining engineer working in Latin America. Through a
series of circumstances, I became a civil engineer instead and worked
for many years in Venezuela and Mexico. Along the way, I became a
project manager.
My career paralleled the development of modern project manage-
ment, but there was no possible way that I could have access to the
present knowledge of project management. My own learning experi-
ences were optimized by a continual trial and error process. The idea
of using these experiences— identifying goals, setting strategies and de-
veloping plans to achieve these goals, scheduling and monitoring
progress toward the goals, and applying corrective action when new
problems arose— did not become clear until many years later. I realize
that my employers paid a high price for my training.
The project manager must keep in mind the continuity of the project
management process. This process is applicable to almost any effort
imaginable, and it works substantially in the same way with many
different types of endeavors. The single key element is understanding
the sequentialnsture of the steps in the project management approach,
and the need to follow them.
Where does a project manager go for guidance today? All of us owe
a great debt to our mentors, for it is here that the great preponderance
of real learning occurs. Recently I identified forty men and women who
have markedly expanded my knowledge and capabilities as a project
manager. But this "on the job" training, however important it may be,
Hi
iv Preface
cannot be the entire answer because it takes too long. A person cannot
devote forty years just learning to be a project manager; there needs to
be a way to accelerate the instruction.
Today there are various books on the subject of project management.
Many of them are focused upon particular facets only. By some
authors, project management is looked upon solely as scheduling or as
estimating and cost control of the work. This book challenges these
arbitrary limitations.
In writing this book I have tried to distill much of what I have learned
on the job and from others over the years and to put it into a format
which is simple, readable, comprehensive, and easy to use. Frequently
project managers do not need to learn certain things as much as they
need to be reminded of something they already know. They need a key
word to focus on rather than pages of explanation. This book tries to
run through the life of a project manager and to present those things
which will undoubtedly be met repeatedly over the years. I have tried to
point out the predicaments, to highlight the trouble spots, and to place
strategically located red flags where disasters have been encountered
previously. Although the book contains the basics of project manage-
ment, it goes further. The material is presented in a condensed and
graphic format conducive to rapid perusal and allows for a free-
wheeling thought process by the reader in applying what the book says
to his own projects.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my forty mentors, without whose patience and persistence my edu-
cation in running projects would have been impossible.
To the sponsoring companies and, most particularly, to the partici-
pants in my Workshops on Project Management. Their active interven-
tion has kept me current, while confirming that we are still attempting
to resolve many of the same problems.
To the Construction Industry Institute at the University of Texas in
Austin for their well-structured and well-managed success in identify-
ing and resolving project management problems.
To the Project Management Institute in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, for
its efforts in promoting project management internationally and in
compiling the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).
Preface v
To my wife, who has mastered the art of "managing the project man-
ager." Florence has been the source of constant support, but would be
the first to say that "it isn't easy."
To all of these, and also to the new project mangers who will be meeting
these challenges in the future, this book is dedicated with all of the
excitement that is part of the project management profession.
Robert L. Kimmons
Contents
Preface iii
1 PROJECT MANAGEMENT
OBJECTIVES 1
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT APPROACH 3
DEFINITION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT 5
APPLICATIONS FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT 7
THE LIFE CYCLE OF A PROJECT 9
LONG RANGE PROJECT PLANNING 11
PARTIES INVOLVED IN A PROJECT 13
ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF ORGANIZATION 15
THE MATRIX ORGANIZATION 17
THE PROJECT TASK FORCE 19
THE AUTHORITY OF THE PROJECT MANAGER 21
ROLES OF THE PROJECT MANAGER 23
EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT IN A PROJECT ENVIRONMENT 25
MANAGEMENT OF SMALL PROJECTS 27
2 PROJECT MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY 29
ELEMENTS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY 29
3 PLANNING THE PROJECT 31
PLANNING THE WORK 31
SCOPE DEFINITION 33
PROJECT OBJECTIVES 35
IDENTIFYING UNIQUE PROBLEMS 37
SELECTING A STRATEGY 39
CONSTRUCTA BILITY 41
CONSTRUCTA BILITY CONCEPTS 43
SEQUENCING THE WORK: THE PROJECT LOGIC 45
THE EXECUTION PLAN 47
THE PERFORMANCE ASSURANCE PLAN 49
WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE 51
WORK ASSIGNMENT SHEET 53
THE PROJECT ORGANIZATION 55
COORDINATION PROCEDURES 57
BASIS FOR DESIGN/PROJECT CRITERIA 59
vii
