Beware of Project Selection Biases

Organizations execute corporate strategies through projects. All have a limited amount of funding available and must choose the projects that best meet their objectives. Organizations use project selection processes to compare projects. The intent is to select the projects that provide the best value, as measured through the selection criteria. If project selection teams are able to evaluate objectively potential projects, the organization will be able to select the projects that best meet the selection criteria. However, Lefley (2006) believes that biases of selection team members may influence project selection.

Case Study: Project Selection and Change Management

In a Kerzner (2003) case study, Corwin Corporation is an internationally known rubber products manufacturer with a reputation for quality. Corwin’s management is conservative and favors expanding markets for existing product over new product development. The company receives frequent requests to manufacture specialty products. A strict management policy and a risk adverse culture results in a 90% no bid on specialty product inquiries. However, Corwin selected to respond to a bid from one of its customers. The project was a complete failure and cost Corwin its relationship with the customer. This case study examines the mistakes Corwin made during the initiation and execution of the failed project.

Ignoring Projects Risks Can Lead to Project Failure

As organizations grow and expand to other countries around the world, deploying upgrades and new systems across multiple locations and time zones can become complicated. As is outlined by Ram Garg (2008) in his article about Lucent’s Wireless Call Server, project risks that are ignored can lead a project to failure. This article review outlines the know and unknown project risk events the lead to the failure of the Wireless Call Server deployment project.

Discussion Questions on Project Quality Management

Quality Management is a key factor in managing customer expectations and ensuring that the project requirements are met. What tools and techniques are used to measure quality control?

I am going to take a major left turn on this one. When talking about quality, many think of the same types of quality work that is done in a production environment. In Project Management: A Systems Approach, Kerzner talks through seven tools that are used to measure quality control: data tables, cause-and-effect analysis, histogram, pareto analysis, scatter diagrams, trend analysis and control charts. But I don’t see these as the focus of quality in project management. Instead, I view quality as the degree to which the project meets requirements. The requirements that I focus on are the measures of time, cost, and scope.

Discussion Questions on Project Scope Management

Scope change management is an area frequently overlooked during a project. However, it is one of the most important areas of concern for a project manager as scope changes are typically the source of project overruns. What are the three most important elements in scope change management? Why?

I agree 100% about the importance of scope change management. I haven’t run a project in recent times that did not have changes to the scope at some point in the project. For me, the three most important elements in scope change management are schedule, budget and risk.

Discussion Questions on Project Baselining

A project baseline is essential in order to be able to determine the earned value for your project. This baseline is set at the start of a project and typically not modified. However, modifications are occasionally required.

To set the context for my answers below, we do not use formal EV calculations to report on project performance. Instead, we report progress against scheduled activities and the project budget through a simplified process. We also extend the typical baselining process to include the scope document, the schedule, the budget and the risk response plan. We only change the baseline in response to an approved scope change. When our internal customer and sponsor have approved the change, we update the scope, schedule, budget and risk plans to reflect the approved change. The updated documents than become our new baseline.