Author: nathann599

Predictive Project Analytics

Posted on by nathann599

I found this two interesting articles that were written by Deloitte Consulting firm about Predictive Project Analytics.   Predictive Project Analytics  (PPA) refers to the quantitative tools and techniques organizations can use to help properly manage project risk and realize the highest value return from large and complex projects.  It uses a qualitative, data driven approach to assess projects instead of an intuitive or benchmarking approach. PPA predicts the likely success of a project through predictive analysis of key project and organizational attributes. PPA can help to identify a floundering project and to avoid the costs of a late or poorly delivered project or an outright failure.

 

To break it down in simple terms PPA is an analytical, data driven way an organization can assess a project, weigh all the risk and determine if the project should continue, if the project needs to be modified or if the project should be terminated.  Having a process to determine risk of a project is critical in today’s business environment because recent research shows that 63% of companies have experienced a recent project failure.  Research also shows that projects that do reach completion, nearly half of the projects fail to meet time, budget and scheduling goals.

 

After reading both articles, PPA seems like it is designed for and it is very beneficial for large scale, multimillion-dollar projects.  This makes sense because PPA was developed by Deloitte and Deloitte is a consulting group that works on large-scale projects.  When I was reading I was thinking how PPA could be applied to small-scale projects that most of us work on?  The backbone of PPA is data collections and analysis to determine how to better execute a project or if a project should be terminated.  But with small projects that are a one-time thing, how do you collect data and how can you justify the cost of collecting the data that might never be used again.  With my experience working for a small company I think data can be used with limited value on a project but people’s experiences is the best resource for projects and project management.  Use what has been learned and has been successful in the past and modify and apply to future projects.

http://deloitte.wsj.com/cio/2012/05/08/predictive-project-analytics-an-introduction/

http://deloitte.wsj.com/cio/2012/05/08/a-five-stage-approach-to-predictive-project-analytics/

Ethics and Project Management

Posted on by nathann599

In the two class periods that we have meet, we have talked about multiple issues that come up during a project.  We have talked about hard deadlines, contracts, contractor/client relations and so on.  One aspect that has not really been talked about and it might be one of the most important aspects of project management is ethics and ethical issues in project management.

I found an article, “Ethical Issues in Project Management” that discusses some ethical situation that might come up during a project and that a project manager might have to address.  The article focus is on three possible situations that could affect a project team and the ethics involved.  The following is discussed in the article: admission of wrongdoing, focus of blame, and hard choices regarding contracts.

The first ethical issue the article discusses is “admission of wrongdoing”.  Admission of wrongdoing can sometimes be the hardest thing to for a person to do.  When a project does not go well or issues arise during a project, a project manager has the dilemma of having to admit and take responsibility for what went wrong.  According to the article, ethically, if the project manager is at fault for the unsuccessful venture of project completion, then that project manager must be able to admit this wrong. Not admitting wrongdoing can greatly damage the team relationship.  Have you ever been a lead on a project or member of a project team were the admission of wrongdoing became an issue?

The second ethical issue the article discusses is “focus of blame”.   As we all know it is easier to blame someone else when something does not go right then to take the blame ourselves.  This is also true for project managers.   The article states that ethically, no one person should be singled out if a project fails unless it is the project manager.  The project manager is in charged of getting the project completed.   Sometimes a task can fail despite the project manager’s best efforts.  If this is the case, ethically, the team should take responsibility for the failure and not one or two individuals.  Have you ever been part of a team and the lead tried to blame you for the failures of the project?  Have you ever tried to blame someone else on your team for a project failure?

The last ethical issue the article discusses is “hard choices regarding contracts”.   Contract may have clauses built into them that may violate ethical beliefs and values.   The article gives the following as an example: a defense contract may stipulate that members of a project team cannot be of a certain race or origin to qualify to work on a project. Is this ethical or unethical? The answer may be debatable. To some, this is ethical in order to ensure the protection of the country’s top-secret initiatives and projects. To others, however, this would be an example of discrimination based on race or ethnicity and labeled unethical.  The question I have is with all of the technology and resources that are available today to do background checks, is it still ok to discriminate for any reason?

Source: http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/53025.aspx