Chapter 2 Flashcards
What are the 5 C’s?
The five Cs are used for describing the project environment:
Context
Complexity
Completeness
Competitiveness
Customer focus
Discussing these gives an indication of what we are dealing with. They could be a good starting point.
Context use PESTEL.
What are the 7-S framework?
7-S is a framework that assist in making sense of the reality that project managers have to cope with.
Strategy
Structure
Systems
Staff
Skills
Style/Culture
Stakeholders
Strategy is the process to which we have applied our strategic principles.
Structure is the way we organize our resources, humans etc.
Systems are the way we work.
Staff are the people we have hired for the job.
Skills are our knowledge and abilities.
Style is the culture of the team.
Stakeholders are the people we, as a PM, need to satisfy.
Elaborate on the ICOM model
the ICOM model is a model that tries to make sense of the project.
ICOM conisders inputs to be transformed under the addition of mechanisms and the restrictions of constraints. The transformation result, is the output.
According to ICOM, we can understand mechanisms to work as benefits to our projects, while constraints are limiting us. This can help indicate what we need to restrict and what we need to enable in order to get a better transformation.
ICOM view the machanisms as the things that make the transformation possible.
The inputs will be our needs and goals. What benefits do we need as an organization? With clearly defined needs, requirements and goals, we apply mechanisms on them.
THE KEY POINT about ICOM is the placement of the PM. The PM is placed in the middle of the four parts. The reason for this, is to highlight the PM as the INTEGRATOR of the inputs, mechanisms and constraints.
What is the hedgehog syndrome?
Hedgehog syndrome is not learning from mistakes. The reason for not learning, is mainly due to no feedback loop. For instance, hedgehogs die when crossing a road goes wrong. No way to learn from this.
It is common to not learn from mistakes. How can we force a capture of mistake-learning?
The 4D model tries to do this by using an entire phase for this.
What are the benefits of the 4D model+
The 4D model split up the project into phases based on clearly defined points in time.
D1: Define it
D2: Design it
D3: Do it
D4: Develop it
Using this split is helpful because of what they allow us to focus on. for instance, in D1, we have the opportunity to abandon ship before we really start spending money. If we were to kind of skip D1, and jump into D3, we might spend considerable amounts of money before finding out that the project is not helpful after all.
The D4 phase of useful for learning and forcing actions to be made after the project has delivered the intended benefits.
What do we usually do in D1?
D1 is about establishing the fact that we have a need.
We need some benefits to be delivered, and we need to figure out why and what.
We also answer whether we think the project is feasible or not.
When this is clear, we state the goals, and start phase 2, D2.
What do we do in D2?
We model, plan, analyze, estimate. We answer questions like:
1) How will it be done?
2) Who will be involved in each part
3) When can it start and finish?
4) What methods and structures are going to be used?
When we have a plan that is good enough, we start D3.
What happens in D3?
In D3, we carry out the planned parts.
The concern in now mainly about dealing with uncertain situations, possible risks, evaluationg the status. We need to manage the project. Conflict resoltuion, decision making etc.
What happens in D4?
We assess the process, its outcomes and issues. THen we try to find out how we can learn from this project and carry this learning into future work.
How can we describe managerial complexity in a project?
Firstly, we ask: How difficult will this project be to manage?
Answering this question can be done with respect to 3 different points of view:
1) Structural complexity. Size, breadth, scope, level of interdpendence of people/tasks, pace of work. These all work together in creating chaos and difficulties.
2) Socio-political complexity. People, power, politics. Topics like motivation and political behavior are important.
3) Emergent complexity. Refers to uncertainty and change.
These 3 different points of view may not be fixed through the project. The project could change fast, which would create a different level of complexity.
