Project Management
Attila The Hun
Revision: 21 August 2008
Author: Jack Caldwell
Table of
Contents
Scope of
Mining-Related Project Management
Consultants
and Engineering Companies
Introduction
Leaders are born; project
managers are made. Attila the
Hun is my favorite example of a born
leader:
· First because of Verdi’s opera in which Atilla is portrayed as a rather sensitive inspiration to his men.
·
Second because of his legendary ability to avoid
battle yet extract tribute from the
· Third because of the glamour of his death (the nature of which is admittedly disputed).
My most admired project
manager is still in the business so I tread warily in describing her. We met trudging the woods of
The project was a great
success, achieving all the company’s goals, including on-time delivery of
documents and containment of costs below budget. It is still something of a mystery to me how
she did it.
So let us examine the
principles and practice of project management in the context of mining to see
if we can discern at least the basic outlines of successful project management
skills that can be taught and learned.
Sources of Information
First access the website of
the Project Management Institute. If you do a lot of project management, their
annual $129 fee may be well justified.
You can also subscribe to the
newsletter from PM Forum, billed as the
world’s most significant project management on-line publication.
The best free book on project
management (in my opinion) is available from Method 123. While on their site, I recommend you also
register to receive their newsletter. I
always enjoy the information it brings.
Most of the tools you will need for mining-related project management
can be found at this site.
The site Reforming Project
Management, which bills itself as “the magazine for the project age” has an
interesting article called Starting a
Project Well Begins with a Kickoff Meeting. It is the sixth article in a
series on Project Meeting Protocols.
For a comprehensive source of
information on project management, see the Guide
to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition, by the Project Management Institute.
EduMine has a number of
courses that set out the principles & practice of project management in the
mining context. In particular, I
recommend the course on Mineral
Project Management. It is worth
every cent you may have to pay for it and every hour you may have to study it. The course author has also published a book: Managing
Capital Projects for Mining. You
should definitely get it if you ever have to manage a mining-related
project.
General
Principles
On the basis of observing
many excellent project managers, having to manage projects myself, and
scrutinizing the websites listed above, here is my list of desiderata for
successful project management:
- Team
Members. You need people able to do the work.
Hand pick the best, regardless of where they come from or which
organization they work for. Nothing
reduces the likelihood of success of a project more than a team member who
is on the team by virtue of organizational affiliation rather than
competence.
- Work
Breakdown Structure. You
must have a good WBS and better still a WBS dictionary. Without the WBS, you cannot plan,
budget, establish a schedule, file, or keep track of work done.
- Schedule. MicroSoft
Project is pretty much good enough for most projects. It is readily available and easy to
use. It works with WBS (one of the
menu items).
- Budget. Be
realistic but be conservative.
Carefully spelling out the work to be done in each WBS category and
assigning costs means that if extra work is required, it is easy to
identify the out-of-scope items and assign additional budget.
- Hard
Work. You have to work hard to keep abreast
and ahead of the team. You should
know as much as they do, you should read everything they write, you should
fuss over the details of schedule and budget status, and you must interact
with the greater world that will bless or condemn your project
deliverables.
Scope of
Mining-Related Project Management
The key to any formal project
management activity is of course the Work
Breakdown Structure. To this end, I
have compiled a Work
Breakdown Structure (WBS) for a typical mine. This is an activity based WBS and covers most
mining activities. I am sure you can
expand or adapt it readily enough for your mine.
If you live and work at a
mine in
Consultants
and Engineering Companies
I have written many a
proposal for consultants and engineering companies. Without fail you must get the words in “we
execute projects within schedule and under budget.” My most severe peer reviewer would routinely
strike out these words and pen a sarcastic comment to the effect of, “Prove it, give examples, why should I
believe you?” I recalled these words
as I read the claims on the many websites of consultants and engineers, all of
whom of course claim that they execute projects on schedule and within
budget. Here are some examples.
·
Ekati -
·
Micon International has specific experience in the
management and administration of small and large underground mining development
projects. This highly specialized capability includes providing assistance in
the design of the project and, with a team of seasoned project administrators,
ensuring that the quality of work is satisfactory and that the project is
completed on time and on budget.
·
KBR
engineers and project managers have
the qualifications and experience to provide a wide range of services to the
mining and mineral processing industries. Using KBR's well-established project
management systems and the expertise of our project controls specialists, we
help maximize outcome predictability and help minimize disruption to ongoing
operations.
Sinclair
Knight Merz states that their project delivery
system includes:
- Safety management
- Risk assessment and
management
- Estimating
- Cost control
- Planning and
scheduling
- Contract management
- Procurement
- Inspection,
expediting, logistics and materials management
- Project management
systems
- Document control
- Reporting
- Accounting and
administration
- Change management
- Engineering management
Western
States Mining Consultants see it
differently when they state that their project management approach contains
four distinct steps:
- Problem assessment
- Development of
alternative solutions
- Selection of
appropriate solution based on effectiveness and costs
- Monitoring results
Project Management Office
A final question: Do you need
a project management office? This
“office” would supply experienced project managers to manage projects using
standard and current project management principles. There are conflicting opinions about whether
this approach saves money or costs money.
Read what CIO
says about it and decide. Then view a
sad story.
Project Communication
Method123 distributes a free project management
newsletter that must be amongst the best in the genre.
Their Communications Management Process template is
the method by which formal messages are identified, created, reviewed and
communicated within a project. Clear, accurate and timely communication is
critical to the success of any project, as miscommunication can result in
increased project risk. If you
communicate properly, the right stakeholders will receive the right information
at the right time. This enables them to make well-informed decisions about your
project. There are a variety of ways
that you can communicate the project status to stakeholders, such as through:
Press releases; Internal newletters; Project Status reports; Presentation
materials; Website news releases; and Internal project memos.
Step 1: Identify the Message.
Your Communications Plan will identify the communications messages
that need to be distributed, to keep your stakeholders informed of the
project's progress. Throughout the project, the Project Manager should review
this plan to identify which messages need to be distributed, how
and when.
Step 2: Target the Audience. Now that you have identified
what it is that needs to be communicated, the next step is to identify who it
is that the message needs to be communicated to. The audience for each message
needs to be confirmed.
Step 3: Decide the Timing.
Identify the timing and frequency of the communications message. In
some cases, regular communications, such as weekly Project Status Reports or
monthly newsletters, may be necessary. In other cases, a one-off communication
event, such as a project change notification, may be more appropriate.
Step 4: Confirm the Format. With content, audience and
timing decided, the format of the communication message can be effectively
chosen. There are a number of different types of formats to choose from,
including verbal presentations, written reports, memos, letters and emails.
Step 5: Create the Message. You should document a first
draft of the message content. The Project Manager will then review it and they
may suggest changes. When a final draft is completed it is submitted for approval
and release.
Step 6: Communicate the Message.
Once approved, the message is communicated to the target audience.
The Project Manager may need to seek the Project Sponsor's approval before
releasing certain high risk communications messages.
On
the subject of good sources of information about project management, I also
recommend PMFORUM, a fee
subscription-based publication on news and information in the field of project
management.
Project
Planning
Method123
regularly sends me their newsletter. Of
course they are marketing and here I am giving them free publicity. But I so liked the following (edited to suit
my style) that I do not hesitate to replicate it. See their website
for more information. This is their
checklist if you are planning a project.
Step 1: Create a Project Plan
Firstly, you need to create a comprehensive Project Plan, which is critical to
the success of the project. The Project Plan identifies the Work Breakdown
Structure (WBS) of the phases, activities and tasks to be undertaken. It
defines the sequencing, duration and dependencies of each task, as well as the
generic resources and financial expenditure required to complete your project.
Step 2: Create a Resource Plan
Following the creation of a Project Plan, a detailed assessment of the
resources required to undertake the project should be made. The required labor,
equipment and materials should be listed and the amount of each resource
quantified. Finally, the resource consumption should be scheduled to provide
the Project Manager with a complete view of the total amount of resource needed
for each stage of the project.
Step 3: Create a Financial Plan
The Financial Plan describes the total quantity of financial resources
required during each stage of the project. The total cost of each item of
labor, equipment and materials is calculated, as well as the total cost of
undertaking each activity within the Project Plan.
Step 4: Create a Quality Plan
To ensure that the project deliverables meet customer requirements, a
Quality Plan is developed. This plan explicitly lists the quality targets to be
achieved, and a suite of Quality Assurance and Quality Control activities are
scheduled to ensure that the required level of quality is achieved throughout
the project.
Step 5: Create a Risk Plan
Managing Project Risk is a critical process within the Project Lifecycle.
To mitigate risk effectively, all foreseeable project risks are identified and
rated in terms of their likelihood of occurrence and potential impact on the
project. The risks are prioritized and a set of actions identified to reduce
the likelihood of each risk and its impact on the project should it occur.
Step 6: Create an Acceptance Plan
The key to customer satisfaction is in gaining approval from the customer
that the deliverables meet the quality criteria stated in the Quality Plan. To
ensure that customer acceptance is sought for each deliverable produced by the
project, an Acceptance Plan is created. The Acceptance Plan provides a schedule
of Acceptance Reviews which are undertaken to gain customer acceptance for the
completion of each deliverable within the project.
Step 7: Create a Communications Plan
A Communications Plan is a document which describes the information to be
provided to project stakeholders to keep them informed of the progress of the
project. Each stakeholder is listed and their requirements for information
clearly identified. A schedule of communication events and activities are laid
out to ensure that the right information is communicated to the right people at
the right time.
Step 8: Create a Procurement Plan
Projects often need to acquire procurement items (such as products,
services and specific results) from external suppliers. The Procurement Plan
describes which items will be sourced from external suppliers and the
timeframes and methods for delivery.
Step 9: Contract the Suppliers
With a clear view of the procurement items to be acquired, the project
team will set out to select and contract one or a small number of preferred
suppliers to the project.
Step 10: Perform Phase Review
With a detailed understanding of the activities, resources, finances and
supplier relationships required to undertake the project, the team is ready to
enter the Execution phase. A Phase Review is undertaken to ensure that all of
the required Planning activities have been completed and to provide formal
approval to proceed to the Project Execution phase.
If you would like to use a suite of templates to complete each of these
activities quickly and efficiently, then read about the Project Planning Kit. This kit includes all of
the templates, forms and processes required to perform these 10 steps faster
than ever before.