Engineering IT Planning
Project management as defined by Project Management Institute (PMI) as “The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project”. (Project Management Institute, A Guide To The Project Management Body Of Knowledge, 1996, pg 6).
- Engineering Project Management
In general, an engineering project from start to completion goes through few sequential stages in the life cycle. There are define project goal, plan project, execute project plan, close project and evaluate project. Figure 1.1 shows a typical generic flow of an engineering project life cycle.
- IT Project Management
The IT project management follows product life cycle instead of project life cycle. The life cycle flows in sequential order from development activities and indicates whether to proceed from one system development activity to the next (McConnell 1996).
Generally, there are five basic stages in the life cycle as suggested by Marchewka(2006). The stages are planning, analysis, design, implementation and maintenance and support. Figure 1.2 shows an IT product life cycle.
The life cycle flows in the form of loop in sequential order from planning to maintenance and support.
Typically the cycle starts with conceptual of the product, only when the conceptual cycle is completed; the next cycle which is the build cycle would starts, following the sequential order of the flow. The cycle process goes through several build until final build cycle where the product requirements are met.
- Comparing Engineering and IT Project Management
| Engineering Project Management | IT Project Management | |
| 1 | Define Project Goal | Planning |
| 2 | Plan Project | Analysis |
| 3 | Execute Project Plan | Design |
| 4 | Close Project | Implementation |
| 5 | Evaluate Project | Maintenance and Support |
- Differences between Engineering and IT Project Management
| Engineering Project Management | IT Project Management | |
| Follows Project life cycle which focuses on the processes of managing a project. | Follows product life cycle focuses on creating and implementing a product. Life cycle flows in the form of loop from conceptual cycle through several build until final cycle where the unit requirements are met. |
- PROJECT FAILURES FACTORS
Project failure in this context is defined as project failing to meet pre-defined scope and objectives, It may not complete or implemented during the project life cycle.
Based on the researched by the Standish Group, they have identified the factors found in failed projects in the report The Chaos.
- Incomplete requirement
High level requirements provided by user are generally useful, but lack the specific details would be inadequate for developer to apply the appropriate resources and knowledge to achieve the expected requirement.
Lacking of specific requirements would also results inadequate acceptance testing of the developed product or service, thus delivery of completed product or service below the client expectation.
- Lack of user involvement
The participation of user is critical during the design and implementation stages of a project, without the involvement of user, commitment of project would not be prioritised by the project team, as it is interpreted as no urgent needs for the project.
Lacking support from the management,; project managers would have difficulties in meeting the organization business value with the project.
- Lack of resources
Technology based organization constantly face rapid changes, these changes make it difficult to establish the appropriate skilled people required for the project. Many project teams have inadequate in depth knowledge of the necessary technology and face the challenge hiring experienced people from limited labour market.
- Unrealistic expectations
In general, most projects starts with high level of optimism and during the project life cycle, expectations can be inflate to an unrealistic degree that may beyond the actuality that could deliver.
- Lack of executive support
Without the support from the management, project managers would have difficulties in meeting the organization business value with the project.
- Changing requirements specifications
The lack of control system to monitor and evaluate the impact of any change request during the project life cycle would lead to drift in project objectives.
Generally, the impact of changed are in terms of cost, resources, risk and schedule.
- Lack of planning
Project manager lacking the skill and experienced on the assigned task to create a complete detailed planning at various stages of the project life cycle.
All task within a project have some form of relationship with each other, most activity could only start after the completion of another activity. Any deviation from schedule in the critical path could contribute to negative impact of the project outcome (Fichter, 2003).
- REDUCING THE LIKELIHOOD OF PROJECT FAILURES
Proper application of the project management methodology could reduce the likelihood of project failures, the following illustrate the possible factors in reducing project failure in relates to the failure factor mentioned above.
- Incomplete requirement
To build a well designed system, detailed and specific requirements should be clearly defined and documented.
- Lack of user involvement and executive support
User involvement in the project life cycle requires time and effort, with the multitasking work environment, most staff is able to integrate project involvement in their work schedule. (Al Neimat)
Therefore, it is the responsibility of senior management need to continuously support the project to make it clear to staff it is a priority.
- Lack of resources
The management have to be constantly monitoring the performance of their staff, and induct appropriate skill set for them to embark into new challenges.
- Unrealistic expectations
Project manager must manage expectations to a rational level based on the team capabilities. Dividing large task into smaller segment where completed task are delivered in phases. This approach allows early visibility of client's expectations even before project completion.
- Changing requirements specifications
A defined change control process could monitor and evaluate the effects of any changed requirement; these processes provide understanding to the impact of changed, aids the discussion of accepting the change requirement and permit proper re-planning and execution to the changes while meeting the project objectives.
- Lack of planning
Project planning requires good knowledge of the project implementation processes. The plan should include detailed planning of the process implementation stages, task timelines and schedule delay.
The initial plan may not cater for unexpected fallback occurs during the project life cycle. An effective project planning requires continual monitoring and re-planning of schedule with consideration of fallback plans to meet project objective.
- PROJECT “ ISI Blazer X5 (Phase 1)“
(Perceived failed project from personal experienced)
- Background
A leading Small Medium Enterprise contract manufacturer which offer an integrated suite of electro-mechanical manufacturing services including turnkey design, manufacturing integration solutions in precision engineering components, sub-assemblies, modules to complete finished products and capital equipment and systems.
The organization unique strength lies in its ability to provide customized manufacturing solutions for electro-mechanical parts and equipment to a diverse base of customers in the data storage and semiconductor equipment industries.
- The Project
On third quarter of year 2005, Project manager, Mr Ong was assigned by the management to manage a small scale project from an overseas client in data storage industry. The client has contracted the company to replicate an existing equipment; an advanced magnetic write/read head tester.
- The Approach
On the approval from management, Mr Ong deployed two engineering staffs to client site in United Sates, for product technological knowledge transfer program in a short duration of three weeks.
During the transfer program, the deployed staffs; A product engineer from engineering support group and a mechanical technician from manufacturing group (refer to appendix 8.2 for hierarchy structure of the project team) were trained on the integration and testing of the motion control system, there were no troubleshooting or bugging training provided as duration of the program were short.
While the transfer program is still ongoing, the project starts off by purchasing parts for three tester units from the Bill of Material (BOM), by doing so the project integration process could starts earlier than scheduled.
The mechanical structure and electronics components includes printed circuit boards were sub-contracted.
Assembly of mechanical components to sub module, installation of electrical wiring system and assembly of motion control module are perform in house.
Documentation of standard work instructions (SWI) and testing procedures related to the project were completed by the product engineer.
- Execute Project Plan
The assembly processes for mechanical and electrical components went on smoothly with any major issue(refer to appendix 8.3 for project integration process flow).
During the project execution process; the project manager called for project status update meeting once a week with the team members who are involved in this project. The team members consist of senior manager, buyers, sales engineer, manufacturing and product engineering teams (refer to appendix 8.2 for hierarchy structure of the project team).
In the weekly meeting, no major issue was highlighted and project schedule was reviewed as planned. The project manager, Mr Ong had assumed the small scale project could not have any bottleneck as compared to other larger scale projects which he has handled well.
- The Issue
Two days before the scheduled shipment of the final product, the built system had to under goes a 12 hours motion control system test. This is a continuous 12 hours testing of the motion control mechanic and electronics components housed in the motion control module.
The system failed the test after 5 hours into the test duration. Product engineer was called in to troubleshoot the problem, but he was not able to resolve the issue as troubleshooting and debugging training was not provided during the product transfer program. The project manager was informed of the issue and product engineer suggested to the manager to seek technical advice from client.
The project manager did not support the idea, as it reflects the “incapability” of the organization managing a small scale project. He insisted that the product engineer should have the ability to resolve the issue.
The motion control issue could not be resolved after four days of attempts. The project manager had no choice but to hold urgent meeting with team members including overseas client. The client was informed of the issue but was unable to provide useful advice, as they could not understand the issue faced by the project team.
A discussion was made by management and agreed by client, to ship the testers in partial built condition to client site, allowing the client to determine the root cause of the motion control issue.
In these circumstances, the project is perceived as failed even when the product was delivered to client, as it did not achieve the initial objective by failing to meet the shipment schedule with delayed of more than 2 days and failing to achieve expectation and requirement defined by the client.
- PROJECT “ ISI Blazer X5 (Phase 2)“
(Perceived as successful project from personal experienced)
- Background
This project is related to the above mentioned failed project.
After the experience from the failed project, the management made the discussion to replaced Mr Ong, with another project manager with more experience, Mr Wee, to oversee the “ISI Blazer X5 “project.
- Approach
Mr Wee, the newly appointed project manager taking over this project, held few meetings with different work groups to understand the situation.
He even made follow-up on the motion control failure issue by teleconferencing overseas client with his project team members.
The client feedback the root cause of the motion control failure and the project manager response by making changes to the project management methodology employed by the previous project manager.
He worked with the project team members to analysis possible risk at sub module level and dealing with it and all finding including the experiences of the current project are documented.
Meetings were held daily with all project team members to provide better communication channels.
Project schedule plan, Work instructions, testing procedures and quality control checklist were reviewed and revised by the respective team members. These documents were reviewed by the respective client.
The client was impressed by course of action implemented by the project manager and place new order of five units of the same tester.
Subsequently, orders went up to 100 units with delivery of five units per week. The product becomes the “cash cow” for the organization.
The above project was initially perceived as failure, but was eventually developed into a successful project with revised project management methodology by Mr Wee.
- COMPARISON OF ISI BLAZER X5 PROJECT FAILURES AND SUCCESS
From my observation of the project management methodologies used by two project managers, the following tabulation is comparison of success and failure factors relating to ISI Blazer X5 project.
| Failure Factors | Success Factors | |
| 1 | Under estimate the project scale size; assumed no potential risk; no risk assessment was perform. | Analysis possible potential risk and managed it with contingency plans. |
| 2 | Hold meeting once a week; inadequate communication, lack of involvement. | Daily meeting with project team members, better feedback capabilities and provide directional goals. |
| 3 | Lack quality control checks on contracted tasks. | Implement quality control checks for critical incoming parts |
| 4 | Does not understand the complexity nature of the product; Poor planning | Reviewed time schedule and constantly monitor changes. Consult with client to gain and share knowledge. |
| 5 | Inappropriate skill set of engineering staffs; insufficient resource allocation. | Documented project experiences and induct appropriate training to manage challenges. |
| 6 | Unsatisfied client and lost of confidence; may loose business revenue. | Gained back the “lost confidence “of client and increased the work orders. |
| 7 | Project completion not within the scheduled time line | Reviewed time schedule and constantly monitor changes. |
| 8 | Lack capability resourceful | Incompetence and inexperience project manager. |
- REDUCING THE LIKELIHOOD OF ISI BLAZER X5 PROJECT FAILURES
The Project Management Book Of Knowledge (PMBOK) comprise of nine areas of project management knowledge practices, there are;
- Project Integration Management
- Project Scope Management
- Project Time Management
- Project Cost Management
- Project Quality Management
- Project Human Resource Management
- Project Communication Management
- Project Risk Management
- Project Procurement Management
Based on the ISI Blazer X5 project failure factors tabulated above, the application of nine areas of project management knowledge could reduce the likelihood of project failures as illustrated in the table below.
| Failure Factors | Knowledge Area | Methodology | |
| 1 | Under estimate the project scale size; assumed no potential risk; no risk assessment was perform. | Project Risk Management | Analysis possible potential risk and managed it with contingency plans. |
| 2 | Hold meeting once a week; inadequate communication, lack of involvement. | Project Communication Management | Daily meeting with project team members, better feedback capabilities and provide directional goals. |
| 3 | Lack quality control checks on contracted tasks. | Project Quality Management | Implement quality control checks for critical incoming parts |
| 4 | Does not understand the complexity nature of the product; Poor planning | Project Integration Management Project Time Management | Reviewed time schedule and constantly monitor changes in activities. |
| 5 | Inappropriate skill set of engineering staffs; insufficient resource allocation. | Project Human Resource Management | Documented project experiences and induct appropriate training to manage challenges. |
| 6 | Project completion not within the scheduled time line | Project Integration Management Project Time Management | Reviewed time schedule and constantly monitor changes. |
The nine knowledge areas in project management serve as a basic reference to good practises of project management, and application of nine knowledge area in project management (PMBOK) does not always leads to every project success.
There are factors that influence project outcome depending on the nature of the each project and their characteristic, not all project are the same.
The project team must constantly analysed and determine the factors that influence the project outcome and apply the appropriate knowledge area to achieve the goals and objective of a given project. This is a continuous process of making mistakes and learning from mistakes (Frese, 2003).
- Reference
Jack T.Marchewka (2006) “Information Technology Project Management: Providing Measurable Organizational Value”.
Hoboken, NJ : Wiley
McConnell, S (1996),”Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedule”.
Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press.
Neville Turbit (2007) “ Comparing Building and IT Projects “
The Project Perfect White Paper Collection. Available from:
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Ted Klastorin (2004) “ Project Management : Tools and Trade-offs “.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Phil Coley, “Why Project Fail “[Online]
Coley Consulting, Available from:
http://www.coleyconsulting.co.uk/failure.htm [Accessed 16 October,2007]
Standish Group (1995), “CHAOS”[Online]
West Yarmouth, MA, Available from:
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[Accessed 18 October,2007]
Al Neimat, Taimour(2005), “ Why IT Project Fail” [Online]
The Project Perfect, Available from:
http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_it_projects_fail.php
[Accessed 16 October,2007]
Fichter, Darlene (2003), “Why Web Projects Fail” [Online Journal] Online, Volume 27, Issue 4, page 43. Available from :
http://www.ebscohost.com [Accessed 16 October,2007]
Humphrey, W (2005), “Why Big Software Project Fail: The 12 Key Questions”, The Journal of Defence Software Engineering, March Issue
Robert Frese and Dr. Vicki Sauter (2003), “Project Success And Failure : What Is Success, What Is Failure, and How Can You Improve Odds For Success?”
[Online Journal] Available from :
http://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/analysis/6840_f03_papers/Frese/ [Accessed 16 October,2007]
Glaser, J (2004),” Management's role in IT project failures “, Healthcare Financial Management, October
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