Project management is an approach that is becoming very popular in current Cuban management practice. The material includes a set of elements that serve as guidance for the application of project management in Cuban companies in the agricultural sector, including the concept of the project, types of projects, necessary skills for their administration and current resolutions for their formulation and processing. Finally, the benefits that project management in the company can bring and the errors that can be incurred in such management, which should be avoided, are highlighted.
Introduction
Project management has existed since very ancient times, historically related to civil works construction engineering projects, and in military campaigns, where many management elements (objective identification, human resource management, logistics, identification) also come into play. risk, financing, etc.). But it is from the Second World War when the advancement of these techniques from the professional point of view have transformed project management into a research discipline.
Project management has evolved over the years. Today, this task is not so much a mysterious technical discipline, but rather a set of principles, aimed at offering a structural approach towards the daily decision making that makes a business work properly, be it a small business or a laboratory..
Project management consists simply of leading a project from the beginning to the satisfactory end, making appropriate use of processes and systems that guide and motivate staff to satisfactorily carry out their work within the project, these projects are developed at all levels of the organization and may involve a single person or many thousands, may require less than 100 hours to complete or more than 10,000,000, may involve a single unit of an organization, or cross many organizational boundaries such as consortia or partnerships.
Projects are often critical components of the business strategy of the organization that develops them.
The objective of this work is to show elements that serve as guidelines for the application of project management in Cuban companies in the agricultural sector.
“A project is a large-capacity operation with great capacity for material solutions, a work of great importance, it has a beginning and an end, if it provides solutions to a problem. It is not necessary to implement it exactly, it is only to apply its advantages and its tools and it must be aimed at providing solutions to local problems ”
Rosa Elena Simeón.
The word PROJECT is perhaps the most listened to by businessmen, bankers, merchants, researchers, scientists, academics and hundreds of people with different professional profiles; however, there have been multiple definitions of the term reported in the literature, which obey different interests, economic, political, scientific, social and others.
The modern concept of project is defined by Drucker as "an integrated set of activities of finite duration, destined to satisfy with limited resources the strategic-economic, operational and social objectives of a purpose". This concept is not far from that expressed by other authors who, when defining a project, coincide in aspects such as:
• Set of actions or activities
• Oriented to solve a problem, meet a goal or satisfy a need
• In a certain period
• For which it is necessary to have resources.
As in life itself, many of the things we do we do without being very clear about what we want to achieve. Our organization has a goal, and to achieve it we have to carry out projects that are related to that goal. And not the other way around. We cannot create a project and then see how we fit it into the organization's objectives. Although we have the possibility that with this project we receive money, that generates a corrupt relationship of what we call "fundraising". Good projects are not made to raise funds, but to achieve goals that bring life to the organization. Another thing is that a good project has a good chance of attracting funds.
I. Types of projects
Projects have different classifications.
- Research Projects are those oriented to planned research related to the corresponding National Program, the purpose of which is to acquire new knowledge that may be useful for the creation of new products, processes or services, or contribute to considerably improve existing ones. Development projects are those aimed at the materialization of the research results in a plan, scheme or design for new, modified or improved products, processes or services, intended for sale or use.
According to their scope they can be classified as:
- Institutional projects.
- Local Projects.
- Territorial projects.
- National Projects.
- Technological Innovation Projects for the introduction of new or improved products, processes or services. It includes the change or transformation of a system, service, program or lifestyles.
- Investment projects for improvement or creation of infrastructure and corresponding organizational systems.
- Capacity Development Projects for the development of human resources and institutional capacities.
- Evaluation projects for the evaluation of processes, technologies or services
- Resource Assimilation Projects to obtain resources for the operation of the systems and sustainability of the services.
They can also be classified as external or internal projects.
In the external project there are a set of actions that are related to the need to present an offer to the client and achieve the award of the contract in competition with other companies or individuals. If, for whatever reason, the contract is not achieved, the project is aborted before it has begun and there is no point in worrying about how it should be managed. The commercial requirement is, therefore, a priority for companies, being the achievement of the contract an essential step to be able to undertake a specific project and, with a broader perspective, an essential condition for the survival of the company.
In internal projects, this need to make a prior offer and write a formal contract is not presented in the same way. It is advisable to carefully analyze the project, with its various degrees of need, with the various technical options available, considering whether the necessary financial and human resources are available and choosing among the various projects that could be undertaken.
It is also advisable in these cases that the formulation of the project, once the previous decisions have been adopted, is reflected in a document that, being simple and brief, clearly reflects the objectives of the project. Now the commercial side is relegated to one side, and a pseudo-contract is sought that serves as a frame of reference for the relationship between organization and project manager.
II. Aspects to take into account when preparing a project.
A project starts from the client's needs, which will translate into the technical objectives of the project, which will require human and financial resources to achieve them within the stipulated time.
Fig. 1 Outline of a project
The project manager will be in charge of planning, managing and supervising these resources for the smooth running of the project while the client participates in it.
Client
In any business strategy, the customer is a figure that is always present, it is logical, he is the one who demands the products and services that companies offer and so they manage to consolidate in the market and obtain the income and returns to position themselves and survive.
Clients are considered companies, institutions or organizations that assume specific commitments through legal instruments in relation to the use, application or introduction of project results, while beneficiaries are considered the social, business or institutional sectors that will benefit from the application or introduction. of the project results.
Sometimes the importance of the client is ignored, which can be motivated by two fundamental reasons:
- That the company is not capable of transmitting to the people that comprise it, the importance of this figure for its survival.
- That some efforts are a little more laborious and then they can delay the rest of the tasks.
Everything mentioned above is important, but dedicating part of that effort to involving and raising awareness of the companies' human team in customer care and attention is essential.
Here are some ideas of what the customer is and its importance:
- The client is not a sales figure at the end of the month, it is our task to treat him in a cordial and friendly manner.
- The client is the most important thing for a company and responding to their demands becomes necessary and essential if we want to be better.
- The client does not depend on us, we do depend on him.
It is obvious that, for customers to form a positive opinion, the company must more than satisfy all their needs and expectations. This is what has been called quality of service.
Therefore, if meeting customer expectations is as important as stated, then it is necessary to have adequate information about customers that contains aspects related to their needs, with the attributes they are set to determine the level of quality achieved..
Deadlines
Once the tasks to be carried out have been logically identified and ordered, the foreseeable deadlines for the project as a whole appear relatively easily.
If we have established the logical linkage of the activities, the total term of the project will be the longest path defined by the activities and relationships established.
The term is the aspect that most easily deteriorates within a project, however it is the aspect that best measures the degree of quality of project management. It is often thought that the completion time of a project should not be over-valued, as it is something that "is almost never respected." But there are projects in which this becomes the most important.
Means
The allocation of resources is usually, in practice, one of the aspects that produces the most complications.
The definition and allocation of resources in fact implies foreseeing three elements:
- what kind of resources are going to be used;
- in what quantity;
- during how much time.
And the three elements are closely linked, since the cost of their application is the product nature of the resource x quantity x time, and therefore, to keep the result fixed, any variation of one of the variables implies modifying any of the other two.
The quality of the estimates depends directly on the capacity and experience of the project manager and the greater or lesser familiarity in carrying out this type of project.
Economic resources
These consist of the availability of funds and the budget necessary for the execution of the project. These resources are solely based on completing the objectives for which the project was conceived.
Successful project management, regardless of organizational structure, is only as good as the individuals and leaders who manage core functions (Kerzner, 1998).
Human resources management
When we speak of Human Resource Management we are referring to the management of the people who make up the organization; and we are, in this case, talking about managing the main resource that organizations have to maintain and improve their competitiveness.
In organizations, project executors abound, but few are truly trained in project design and management. The degree of qualification of the project team is the basic guarantee of its performance and success, not all members must be geniuses; but necessarily the minimum technical capacity required by the project must be ensured by the core of its team.
There is no problem if any of the following strategies are used to consolidate the technical team of the project:
1. Conceive the project under an inter-institutional arrangement that allows the participation of the professional talents of another organization. This allows certain strengths that are absent in the organization to be negotiated.
2. Constitute the nucleus of the project team with highly qualified and experienced professionals and expand it with some development specialists. If novice professionals are interested, responsible and curious, then they can perform many previously defined tasks under the supervision and advice of the most trained and experienced professionals.
The creation of the work team is essential so that the project can be carried out well. The most important figure is represented by the Project Director, since his management style and the way of solving conflicts decisively influences the progress of the project.
The constitution of the work team is the most delicate activity with which a Project Director is faced, and in which he must demonstrate his capabilities the most. The team is created "ad hoc" for a given operation, and is composed mostly of people over whom it does not have hierarchical power, from various departments or specialties, and who must function as a harmonious whole and be able to achieve the expected results that, by definition, are complex, unusual and risky.
Employees featured on a project can sometimes resist for fear of change. This requires an effort on the part of the entire organization, which requires an open and dynamic mindset to accept the sense of transitory mobility that characterizes projects.
In many occasions the constitution of a work team is not made for a single project, but for a “line of activity” in which various projects will be developed over time.
Generally, the line of activity responds to a type of products or technologies in which the knowledge that the work team has will be applied and that cannot be limited to the project that is being developed.
It is necessary to train the components of the work team in the necessary techniques for the project, and it is important to bear in mind that the knowledge that a work team possesses must be continually renewed, although it is not necessary to apply them immediately in the project. This strategy helps to bring the team closer together by giving them a broader timeframe for joint work.
Synergy is probably the most significant result of team building. Synergy means that the result of teamwork is greater than the sum of individual results.
By working as a team, the tasks are divided, the competence of each member is used and greater productivity is achieved.
It cannot be denied that the greatest value of a group is the ideas, talents and abilities of the professionals that make it up, and therefore, their good choice, as well as proper management in pursuit of combining a set of efforts. and achieving clearly identified common goals are the basis of success in any project.
The project manager
If you want something to work, appoint a person in charge.
The Project Manager has executive power and authority to command and make decisions within the scope and objectives of the project. He is not a mere coordinator or entertainer, as is sometimes thought. In the same way, it would not be correct to think that the Project Manager has absolute and dictatorial power over him, since he is immersed in the structure and organization of the company.
The basic relationships of the Project Director with other units or people depend, to a large extent, on the organizational structure of the organization.
The mission of the Project Director could be summarized as: leading the team available to achieve the objectives of the project. More specifically, the following specific functions stand out:
- Collaboration with the client in the definition and concretion of the objectives of the project. Planning of the project in all its aspects, identifying the activities to be carried out, the resources to put into play, the deadlines and the expected costs. Direction and coordination of all the resources used in the project. Permanent maintenance of the external relations of the project: clients, suppliers, subcontractors, other directions, etc. Making necessary decisions to know the situation at all times in relation to the established objectives. Adoption of the pertinent corrective measures to remedy the deviations that have been detected. Respond to clients and superiors of the achievement of the project objectives. Propose, where appropriate,Modifications to the limits or basic objectives of the project when circumstances that advise it.
This definition of functions cannot be considered exhaustive. In each entity it would be necessary to make a more specific definition of functions and adapted to the particular characteristics of each project.
Project manager profile
The Project Manager must have a much broader perspective than the knowledge of the technical implications related to the project. It is a manager that needs a triple profile:
Technical: Mastering the main technology of the project is the necessary starting point for the Project Manager to understand its key points, plan resources, generate effective ideas and solutions, control quality, etc.
Manager: The Project Manager must also have a remarkable managerial aptitude, since he not only deals with a technical dimension, but must control and achieve all the project's objectives, including financial and deadline objectives, which are usually the most critical and most frequently unfulfilled.
Personal relationships: The Project Manager must have an outstanding capacity for personal relationships, on the one hand he is the main representative of the project before clients, suppliers, subcontractors, other functional directions, the company itself, and on the other hand, he must direct a group of people over whom he normally does not have hierarchical power, and therefore it is necessary to do so with great doses of personal authority, tact, skill and conviction.
III. The project as a mechanism for change.
The design and management of projects requires each organization to contribute and collectively appropriate a guiding framework that must take into account:
a) Complexity of the organization.
b) Diversity of its activities.
c) Heterogeneity of its clients, users and beneficiaries.
d) Varied range of possibilities of financing sources for projects to which this organization has access.
In the case of science and technology organizations, the project as a mechanism for change can serve as an institutional guide towards greater harmony between the organization's activities and the needs and realities of its relevant environment.
Within the global scenario of difficulties the project emerges as a possible strategy to guarantee a certain direction and dynamism to a set of activities that can translate the ethical-philosophical, social, economic, environmental, political, technological and institutional commitments between an organization and its environment.
Few organizations perceive that a project is the institutional mechanism that allows them at the operational level:
1. Practice the philosophy and institutional approaches towards the environment.
2. Implement institutional policies and priorities.
3. Achieve institutional objectives.
4. Reflect the changes in the way of thinking and consolidate the way of acting of the human talents of the organization.
Projects can be perceived and managed by organizations as compasses for their different activities, as management units, as cost centers of organizational activities, as negotiation instruments, as institutional contracts with the relevant environment, as premises with society in general.. However, the commitments established through a project can provide different meanings, contributions and impacts, it all depends on the institutional model that guides the organization's way of acting.
IV . Key steps in project management
The key steps of project management are:
1. Planning
2. Organization
3. Control of work performance
Planning a project
Planning consists of planning the execution of a project before its start. Project planning is part of what a project is, it may be the launch of a product, the construction of a factory, the manufacture of a complex machine, a research project or the implementation of a new process.
However, certain characteristics must be presented for project planning to be applicable and useful. These characteristics are:
- Limited duration of the project, making it possible to know the beginning phase of said project.
- Existence of perfectly specified activities or tasks, among which interdependencies occur, and of which the temporal order of their accomplishment can and should be established.
- Certain random knowledge of the duration of the activities. In projects, time becomes a fundamental variable.
- Diversity and complexity of the tasks, which go beyond a function, and above all, the existence of interdependence between the different tasks.
Within project planning there is a project control system basically focused on the control of resources, time and cost. As there is an interdependency of tasks and their diversity, which exceeds the limits of a function, carrying out the tasks and activities of a project usually involves the active participation of groups of individuals who are not under direct hierarchical control, requiring the establishment of strong horizontal and / or diagonal relationships, so this type of planning usually requires new organizational devices, which are not foreseen in the existing structure and which are not normally foreseen in a traditional hierarchical organization.
Project planning can be designed using various models, the best known for being the most widely used are: PERT, CPM, and GANTT charts. Other less commonly used techniques are dynamic programming and system dynamics. The PERT technique (Program Evaluation and Revieww Technique)
PERT techniques are generally called the set of abstract models for the programming and analysis of engineering projects. These techniques help us to program a project with the minimum cost and the most adequate duration.
Critical Path Method
The critical path in a project is the succession of activities that give rise to the maximum cumulative time. Determine the shortest time we can take to complete the project if we have all the necessary resources. It is necessary to know the duration of the activities.
Gantt diagram
The Gantt chart is the usual way of presenting the execution plan of a project, collecting in the rows the list of activities to be carried out and in the columns the time scale that we are managing, while the duration and situation in time of each Activity is represented by a line drawn in the corresponding place.
The usefulness of such a graph is greater when resources and their degree of availability are added at the appropriate times. As advantages we would have the ease of construction and understanding, and the maintenance of the global information of the project. And as disadvantages, that it does not show relationships between tasks or the dependency that exists between them, and that the concept of% completion is a subjective concept.
Organization:
The organization of a project consists of specifying the roles and responsibilities of the project staff. Its objective is to establish a coherent internal order that allows the company to function as a unit within and in front of its environment, which is why it involves structuring interpersonal relationships and integrating and coordinating the efforts of all members despite divergent interests.
Work Performance Control includes:
- The organization of the project staff, direct their work focus and constantly motivate them.
- The monitoring of the project and the comparison of the work done and the results specified in the planning.
- The necessary changes when the monitoring of a project shows the need to make any modification in its planning
- Information on achievements.
V. Identification of the project.
Traditionally, project identification has been addressed independently of project formulation and evaluation. For the identification of a project, an analysis of the existing natural resources, the economy, the population, the institutions, the programs and plans must be carried out.
Current methods of project identification
The current methods are:
- Cause-effect or fishbone diagram developed by Ishikawa, where each cause is matched with an effect.
- Vester matrix that consists of listing the relevant problems detected in rows and columns in the same order, to subsequently assign a categorical order of the degree of causality that each problem deserves with each of the others.
- Problem tree where all the problems are organized around the focal problem in the tree so that the causes are above as the branches and the effects below as the roots.
Project conception
The conception of the project starts from an idea, need and request of a client among other diverse sources. In this framework, a group evaluates the request, defines what needs to be done, generates the objectives, its scope, configuration, requirements and restrictions with the participation of the project director. With this information, the feasibility analysis and budget proposal are made, contracts are drawn up and their evaluation proceeds. The group determines a graph that reflects the approximate sequence of execution of the summary tasks to be executed applying system techniques. The methodologies for the elaboration of the projects must be used depending on the format requested by the client or the financier.
Defined the need and the result to be applied with its corresponding adaptations, it is necessary to proceed to the elaboration of a project that allows the evaluation of its objectives, the necessary resources, the scope, the cost, the time frame and the quality with an adequate analysis. feasibility with quantified benefits.
Each project must have its conception and feasibility. The director of the company can have a set of projects and according to his evaluation, the needs of the company and the availability of financing, establish an approval strategy based on the results of the feasibility analysis, such as the IRR indicators (Rate Profitability and Return), NPV (Net Updated Value), cost benefit and recovery period, among others. Generalization can and should be through a project.
Logical framework approach.
The logical framework approach is an analytical tool used to improve planning and management of both development cooperation and social project projects.
This approach serves to:
- Clarify the purpose and justification of a project.
- Identify information needs.
- Clearly define the key elements of a project.
- Analyze the project environment from the beginning.
- Facilitate communication between the parties involved.
- Identify the key variables to measure the success or failure of a project.
It is made up of six phases:
Phase 1 : Analysis of participation
It is about identifying and making a diagnosis of the different social agents that in one way or another are present in the reality that is going to intervene.
Phase 2: Problem analysis
This analysis tries to identify the real problems that affect the beneficiary group with which you want to work and not the possible, potential or future problems. It should be noted that a problem is not the absence of a solution, but an existing negative state.
Phase 3: Analysis of the objectives
Once the main problems of the beneficiary group have been identified, possible solutions should be considered. For this, starting from the problem tree, the achievements to be solved to solve the main problem must be identified. The solution of the same will have positive effects on the people and institutions affected.
Phase 4 : Analysis of alternatives
Once the possible solutions to the problem have been identified and the objective to be achieved has been set, an analysis of alternatives must be carried out. This analysis consists of considering which or which of the solutions can be undertaken by the project that is intended to be launched.
Phase 5 : Identification of the main elements of the project through the Planning Matrix
The basic elements of a project are synthesized in the Planning Matrix. For its design, the information obtained in the identification is used, seeking coherence at various levels:
External coherence: of the matrix with respect to the identified problem.
Internal coherence: of the different components that make up the matrix, in such a way that there is a causal and logical relationship between each of them.
Phase 6: Identification of External Factors
External factors are understood as the conditionals that may exist and that may influence it more or less intensely, escaping direct control of the intervention. These are factors that cannot be influenced because acting on them would entail an excessive cost, are the consequence of a political problem or depend on natural phenomena.
They must be identified when detecting the problem and can influence the specific objective, activities and means.
It is necessary to assess what relationship they have with each of the project components, how likely it is to occur, and what effect they may have.
In any case, there must be a reasonable probability that these risks do not occur or that, if they materialize, they will not have lethal effects for the project.
SAW. Project management
Projects by definition have a specific start and end date, as well as a scope, budget, specific results, and assigned resources. Additionally, each project, no matter how similar the activities and the scope, becomes different because the circumstances change, and things are always different when dealing with people.
One of the primary roles of project managers is to manage the internal processes of the project where the work is actually done. As small as the project is, it requires management skills to overcome the different situations that arise, and also ensure compliance with the objectives within the stipulated times. These skills range from project definition to administration of project progress measures.
Necessary skills in project management
1) Definition of the project
2) Work planning
3) Contract administration
4) Supplier administration
5) Administration of the work plan
6) Situation management
7) Scope management
8) Risk management
9) Communication management
10) Documentation management
11) Quality management
12) Management of metrics
It is important to differentiate between what is considered project work and project management. On many occasions, project activities are confused with administration activities, causing these stages not to be included in the schedules.
The first two activities, project definition and work planning, must be done in strict order and before the remaining ten to guarantee the success of the project. Skipping them will be an unmistakable sign of failure, either due to lack of focus or lack of required activities.
1) Definition of the project
Before starting the project, it is essential that the work is understood and that those responsible, both for the execution of the project and those who will receive its results, have a clear vision of the expected results, when it will be completed, how much it will cost, who will do the work, how the work will be completed, and what the benefits will be.
2) Work planning
When defining the project, you ensure that you have a clear understanding with the project sponsor of what must be achieved in the project. In the planning stage it is determined how the work will be carried out. This then involves developing a plan for the job. Different scopes are used, according to the size of the project. For example, it can be used from a sheet of paper for a small project, to systematized solutions such as Microsoft Project for more complex projects.
If you do not have a template for the work plan, it is recommended to use the analysis structure from top to bottom, a technique that allows you to look at the project from a high level, and break the work into small components until you have the complete picture. of the same. The whole team can collaborate in this task. It is recommended to be careful with the level of detail, because breaking the project into excessively small components can cause high costs of maintenance inefficiency. It is recommended that activities be held in fractions of the total project size. For example, if the project lasts a year, the smallest task should be in weeks. If the project lasts for months, the smallest task should be days, and if the project lasts for weeks, the smallest task should be four hours.There is no point in incorporating activities of shorter duration to those stipulated here, unless they are milestones within the project.
Once you have the list of activities, the next step is to structure the dependency on them. Not all can develop at once. Once this process of dependencies is completed, the resources are assigned to each of the activities. These resources include personnel, money, and required items. It is feasible, and generally common, that the allocation of resources causes changes in the dates, so that resource leveling techniques are used to adjust the work plan to the availability of resources.
It is recommended, especially for human resources, to take only six working hours per working day, and in case of working on Saturdays, do not count this time within planning, but leave it for weekly adjustments to the project. When timing is very accurate, many adjustments are made to schedules and completion dates, which generally discourages the group.
3) Contract administration
If the project does not involve external suppliers, both this and the following can be skipped. The contract is the document that governs the conditions under which a good and / or service is acquired. In the case of goods, it is much easier to measure the delivery of what has been purchased, a situation that is difficult when they are services. For this reason it is recommended to have a list of "deliverables" that are expected to be obtained from the services received. The more tangible deliverables, the easier compliance management is.
There are two fundamental issues in managing a contract: delivery of results (deliverables) and meeting the dates for these deliveries. For both criteria and requirements are established that allow compliance with the two issues to be controlled. Contract administration involves control of deliverables, payments, and project time management.
4) Supplier administration
In the course of the project, the relationship with suppliers is very variable, variation closely linked to its progress. At the beginning of the process everything is fine. Once the project starts, differences in criteria and scope for deliverables begin to be detected.
In the administration of contracts and in the contracting process itself, it is about including everything that could clarify the management of the supplier and his obligations, but often they are not enough, the best remedy is conversation, and if it is at time, much better. Regular follow-up meetings should be established for both the contract and the supplier's activities. It is imperative to establish how non-compliances, normal to a certain extent, will be handled between what was initially scheduled and what the provider is actually delivering.
There are two types of noncompliance: that of specifications or required function, and that of timing. It goes without saying that an incomplete delivery, but on the stipulated date, does not constitute a satisfactory delivery, and therefore induces non-compliance.
A project, depending on the size, can have several suppliers interacting. The administration of this interaction can be done by another supplier, or the company itself. The mechanisms for assigning responsibilities must also be defined in such a way that there is no place to bounce from one supplier to another, the solution to a problem.
The appointment of a third party as a project controller is recommended in such a way that there is an impartial and defending vision of the project itself and its objectives, and not of the interests of the client and supplier. It is clear that the only one left without a defender is the project, and the auditor can do this task.
5) Administration of the Work Plan
It describes what needs to be done, the order of work, the effort required and who is assigned to which task.
The more complex the project, the more changes are presented in the work plan over time. The Project Manager should review the work plans on an ongoing basis (recommended weekly, at a minimum) and determine the current status of the project.
The use of proactive management is essential, so that the activities to be carried out in the near future are identified, and based on these activities and their impact within the project's schedules and objectives, make adjustments so that the main objectives are met. Any changes in the schedules, acceptance criteria and established objectives must be resolved through a change committee. It should be clear to all those involved in the project that these changes affect the scope of the contract, so they cannot be taken unilaterally. Once the impact is analyzed and the risk evaluated, this committee must make the decision to allocate more resources, or postpone compliance.
6) Situation management
Typically, a project is managed in two instances: one at the project team level and the project manager, and the second at the company management level. When suppliers are involved, there will also be a project manager on behalf of the supplier, and the company manager for the management committee will also be assigned to the project. In some cases, committee involves long and unproductive meetings. For the purposes of this writing, the committee is a group of people with decision-making authority, who do or do not require meetings to do so. Today, with the use of email and automated systems for project management, few meetings are required.
A "situation" occurs when a problem can impede or impede the progress of the project and cannot be solved by the project manager and the project team without outside help. When this type of situation occurs, there is no alternative but to solve the problem.
The application of situation management techniques is recommended, which has two components. The first is to have a process that allows finding these situations and bringing them to light, determining their impact on the project, evaluating the alternatives, and getting the people who make the best decision under the circumstances. This process must be part of the general project administration process and must be defined before starting it.
The second component is applying problem solving techniques to resolve these situations. This includes understanding tools such as fishbone diagrams, Paretto diagrams, and cause and effect analysis. Knowing these tools allows the team to understand the reason for the problem, determine available actions, and what alternative would be best to take.
It is important to note that having a process to resolve situations is not the same as having the ability to successfully resolve them. In some cases there are better alternatives, and the project group's job is to find and apply them. In other cases there is no good solution for these situations. In this case you have to make the decision for the one that does less damage, or the "least bad" of the alternatives.
7) Scope management
The scope of a project describes the limits of the project and what the project is going to deliver, what information is needed and which parts of the organization will be affected. Given a pool of resources and time, a number of things can be accomplished.
Scope change management starts with defining what a scope change is. If the project manager has not well defined the initial scope of the project, it will be tremendously difficult to manage this scope during the project. The purpose of scope change management is to protect the viability of the project definition already defined and approved. When the project was defined, the expectations of results were also defined and stipulated.
During the life of the project, it is normal that items different or additional to those included in the original definition of the project are required. It must be clear to all parties that meeting these new requirements with the same resources as the previous definition is practically impossible.
It is clear that the approval of the changes in the scope must be carried out among the clients and providers of the same, since it is the only way that the necessary additional resources are gathered and the expectations of those involved are adjusted.
Scope management is not always that simple. Common problems happen. One of them is to accept small changes that at first glance do not affect the project very much, and the joint effect of many small changes is unknown.
Decisions can also be made at a lower level than indicated, which implies that the "owners" of the result may not obtain it. To avoid this second problem, it is recommended that changes to deliverables can only be approved by the management of each company. In general, these changes entail higher costs and delay the achievement of results, two issues that directly impact company management.
8) Risk management
Risk is a future condition that exists outside the control of the project group, and can have a negative impact on the project result if the condition occurs. Reactive administrators wait to resolve the situation when it happens. Proactive managers try to identify and resolve potential problems before they occur.
Small projects, because of their short duration, do not give much room for problems to arise. By contrast, large projects are prone to trouble waiting to appear. We advocate proactive management, so risk management is then defined as identifying all possible risks, determining how accurate the risk is, and understanding the impact on the project if they occur.
Once the risk to be actively managed has been identified, there are five courses of action that can be taken:
Do nothing. Nothing will be done if it is determined that the effect on the project is negligible when the risk occurs, or there is nothing that can be done to address it.
Tracing. The risk will be followed up so that the probability of the risk occurring or not occurring over time can be determined. If the probability of occurrence apparently increases as time passes, it will be attended to at that time.
Avoid risk. This involves eliminating the condition that could be causing the problem. For example, risks presented by one supplier can be avoided by hiring another supplier.
Move risk. In some cases it is feasible that risk management be removed from project management and assigned to another entity or third party.
Mitigate risk. In most cases this is the measure to take. If a risk has been detected, and is a consideration, a proactive plan can be developed to ensure that the risk does not occur, or if it does, its impact is negligible.
As with scope management, there is nothing wrong with project risk. It is not intended that a project be without risk, what matters is the response of the project management to the risk. If the risks are ignored, they will become situations and there will be fewer options for their solution by then.
9) Communication management
This is one of the critical activities in a project, and fundamental in the administration of the objectives and the recipients of its benefits. It is the best way to avoid surprises, an aggravating factor in the presence of an unforeseen event.
There are two levels of communication in a project. All projects must communicate the status of the same. Additionally, if the project is complex or larger, a more sophisticated level of communication defined in a Communications Plan is needed.
The status meetings and the project status report is where the progress of the project, the problems, the activities carried out, the cash flow review, and the proximity of the deliverables are stipulated. At this level, risk management, situations, contracts and other project components are formalized. Usually a standard format report is defined summarizing progress and alerting you to potential problems.
When the impact of the project is of great importance, a Communications Plan is required, which not only reports on the project but also helps in the implementation of the change. This plan is usually assembled with information that is distributed at various levels. The obligatory one, where the project status reports, budgets, and legal and audit requirements are included. The information one, where extensive information is provided for those who require it. This information includes frequently asked questions, a document library and a website for the project among others. Lastly, there is the type of marketing information that is in charge of creating enthusiasm for the project, and includes from the name of the project, delivery of testimonials from the administrators, and accounts of the successes of the project.
Communication must be proactively managed by the project manager, must be planned and executed with a purpose in mind.
10) Documentation management
Document management is one of those activities that project managers take for granted, until they are inundated with paper. For small projects there is no need to establish an entire administrative system, but as the scope of the project increases, it becomes necessary to have one. Although it is one of the tasks that can be assisted by technologies such as a document repository, these tools can be difficult to manage and add major problems to the project.
Simple topics like encoding documents, and what types of documents you want to store and for how long. Some prefer to organize it by source of the information, and others by the object of it. The author has had a very good experience classifying the general information of the project, such as contracts, policies and compliance reports in a group; the information related to each achievement in another, and finally, the consecutive minutes of the different decision-making levels.
Another decision is the standard format for documents. We recommend using PDF for documents that will not change once they are published, and creating a website for storage.
11) Quality management
The quality of a project is a measure of how close the customer's expectations and deliverables are to being met, therefore the central objective of the project team is to try to meet and exceed the customer's requirements. There is a tendency to equate quality with the best material, best equipment and zero defects. However in most cases, the customer does not wait and cannot afford a perfect solution.
The purpose of the quality management function is to correctly define the customer's expectation, by quantifying something that was originally handled as subjective. The term "quality" should be broken down into a number of areas that can define quality characteristics in a tangible way, and then see how each of them is measured.
Quality measurement is not an event but an ongoing process and a state of mind. The use of quality circle principles is recommended to carry out this process effectively.
When defining the project, the working group must understand the quality terms imposed by the client and be recorded in a Quality Plan, in which the acceptance and correction criteria of each deliverable are managed. For example, in software delivery, it is known that it is difficult to be completely free of flaws, so it can be defined that it is accepted with flaws in form, but not in the background.
The plan also contains two processes: quality control and quality assurance. Quality control ensures that project deliverables meet customer expectations. Quality assurance ensures that the process for creating deliverables is of high quality. An example of this second case can be a checklist of steps to ensure that the product is delivered complete.
One of the purposes of quality control is to detect errors as soon as possible in the life of the project, and thus lessen its economic and time impact.
12) Management of metrics
Obtaining project metrics is the most sophisticated project management skill, and can become the most difficult. Metrics are generally difficult to define and collect, which is why they are ignored or mismanaged.
Basic metrics must be defined to measure the effort, cost and completion times. Metrics that determine how well customer requirements are met and how expectations are met must also be included. Depending on the results, the appropriate corrective measures are taken.
To set the metrics for the project, it is suggested to identify the success criteria in terms of deliverables and execution, determine how to measure both final achievement and progress, select a balanced number of metrics, and collect the information. It is vitally important to set comparison parameters using goals, since the metric alone does not say much.
In general, this process is of little importance for small projects since there is not even the time to collect the values, let alone to analyze and take corrective measures.
These twelve skills described as necessary to one degree or another to ensure project success focus on process management. However, there are other skills that are also required in managing people, such as leadership, listening and good feedback.
VII . Project evaluation and monitoring
The objective of this phase would be to have an appreciation of what the project has meant and, broadly speaking, to have an idea of its situation at the end of its activities.
Criteria for the evaluation stage.
a) Social co-responsibility of the projects: It implies the degree of social participation in the design as well as in the execution and follow-up by the actors included in the identified interest groups. In this way, reference is also made to the degree to which the objectives, results and actions were defined based on a rational and balanced meeting between the demands and needs of the interest group and the possibilities of action or offer of the cooperation team..
b) Legality and legitimacy of the project: Legitimacy can be considered from different sources that produce it, for example, co-responsible participation itself or attachment to needs. However, we understand legitimacy based on the relevance of the project in relation to the construction or reinforcement of a strategic vision of the local and national territory. This is also related to the attachment that the project has with respect to the Plans and Strategies of support and promotion of local development emanating from public, local, regional or national institutions.
c) Efficiency and effectiveness: Related to the fulfillment of the specific objective but also to the aspects contributed by the project regarding the general objective. How the project provided some inputs to transform a territorial reality that was beyond its own design limits. Efficiency, from a strictly technical point of view, refers to the relationship between results and the use of resources to achieve the defined objectives. Here, it is essential to consider the cost benefit and effectiveness ratio.
d) Flexibility: Related to the way in which the project was adapted to different factors of the territorial environment, to the particularities of the actors (for example, cultural / ethnic). Likewise, it includes the particularities of the project to assume continuous changes based on transformations in the local reality and the recommendations of the monitoring processes.
e) Impact: Perhaps, one of the criteria whose value weight is very important and that implies understanding how the project transformed a certain reality for a certain group of actors; how it positively and / or negatively affected interests, transformed possibilities of access to resources and ultimately generated modifications in the quantities and qualities of life.
VIII. Viability and sustainability of a project
The feasibility study as an administrative analysis technique consists of research aimed at determining the qualitative and quantitative benefits in the short, medium and long term, considering factors such as the opportunity, accuracy, precision and cost of the information to be obtained, and above all, the effects that it has on the different hierarchical levels.
The sustainability of a project consists of knowing how the benefits will continue after the period of external aid has ended. Although actual sustainability cannot be assessed a priori, the prospects for sustainability can be assessed by determining the extent to which experience shows that they are influencing factors.
To evaluate this indicator we must answer the following questions:
- The competent authorities will have a support policy after the project has concluded.
- The beneficiaries will appropriately appropriate the project.
- It will increase efficiency, effectiveness, feasibility and relevance.
IX . Communication in the company and within the project
Communication is often thought of as natural and spontaneous, and there is no need for special attention. Therefore, it is usual that companies do not have specific operational elements to solve problems related to communication, nor is it clearly observed that communication within the company is a management tool.
Communication issues are intangible, they are everywhere and they involve us all. However, despite the difficulties presented by their study, it is essential to put them in the foreground to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of companies.
Developing favorable contexts for a better understanding will affect the members of the company, will improve motivation and commitment, will generate high positive returns, in addition to making it more effective and humane.
Communication is essential for the proper development of a project since there are many and very different stakeholders, from the client, to those responsible for the department or company, through all team members.
The project's documentation and measurement methodology will help this communication to occur.
Having good "instruments" to know the progress of the project is what will allow us to control it and thus go from being mere spectators who warn at the end of the catastrophe to foresee the final catastrophe with enough advance notice and having time to rectify it.
In companies we often mistake the need for communication with the need to manage the project, just because they are linked. And because the work and management methodology is necessary, we end up thinking that the more methodology the more control and higher quality are achieved.
There are different definitions, according to the point of view of each manager, but what they all seem to agree on is that it is a means of carrying out a projection into the future with respect to a current situation that one wishes to change.
For this reason, over time different working methods have been developed that seek to avoid these drawbacks and that, presented formally and publicly, are called Methodologies.
In agriculture, the project methodologies of the following organizations are mainly used:
- Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians (ACTAF).
- National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP).
- Exchange and Reference Center- Community Initiative (CIERI).
- Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA)
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
X . Processing of projects
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) to carry out the technical scientific development of the country has created the System of Science and Technological Innovation, which covers all branches of the socio-economic and cultural development of Cuba. The plan reaffirms the scientific-technical programs as planning tools that guarantee the investigations dedicated to solving the main social, economic, and environmental interests of the Cuban state.
The Ministry itself finances and manages the projects with the greatest possibility of success according to their quality and their impact in the economic, scientific and social spheres that today make up the National Programs of Science and Technology, whose objectives, scope and expectations are in turn submitted to Its approval before the Cuban Parliament includes those matters of highest priority and repercussion in the economy and in society.
Examples of these national programs are:
Vaccines, Products of the biotechnological and pharmaceutical medical industry, Agricultural biotechnology, Food production, Energy, Sugar industry, Climate change, Tourism, Cuban society, Cuban and world economy, Information technologies.
The Branch Programs include research and technological innovation topics of a sectoral nature. They are called by ministries to solve their main research needs.
Territorial Programs are those whose actions and solutions are aimed at solving the specific problems of each province.
Projects not associated with National Priority Branch Programs that respond to the country's economic and social development priorities and that have been approved by the corresponding levels of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, within the national plan for Science and Technological Innovation.
The System of Science and Technology integrates the systematic work of the fronts, the scientific poles and the control of the generalization of the results of the National Forum of Science and Technology.
The scientific poles constitute an organizational conception that serves as an interface between scientific research and the production or generalization of knowledge. In them, the work of universities and research institutions is integrated and strengthened.
CITMA introduced the project format for the corresponding processing in the Science and Technology System, and in these cases they were closely linked to research projects whose coordination is carried out by a researcher with a group of collaborators. Each project must be approved by the scientific council and it is followed up and evaluated.
XI. Resolutions in force for project management.
- 2002 Resolution of the Ministry of Agriculture approving and putting into effect the Manual of General Procedures of the Integrated System of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (SIPSyE) of the National System of Agricultural Science and Technological Innovation (SINCITA) of the Ministry of Agriculture.
- Resolution No. 63/2003 of CITMA. This resolution regulates the granting of the salary increase to professionals and other technicians who participate in scientific-technical projects and are included in Resolution 4/2001 of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
- Resolution No. 15/2006 of the Ministry of Foreign Investment and Economic Collaboration. This resolution approves the norms for the economic collaboration that Cuba receives.
- Decree 262/99 of the Council of Ministers, which establishes the regulation for the compatibility of the country's economic and social development with the interests of the defense, and empowers MINFAR and the National General Staff of Civil Defense to carry out the process of compatibility and approval of investments and international cooperation projects.
- Resolution No. 85/2003 of the CITMA. Regulation on the system of science and technological innovation programs and projects.
XII. Benefits that Project Management can bring to the company
In-company project management enables rapid response to changing demands. Provides the ability to adapt to change and manage that change.
The reasons why Project Management allows us to respond more quickly are:
- Maximize the capacity of the organization: Get more with less cost.
- Identifies all functional responsibilities in order to fulfill the company's mission, ensuring that all members of the organization know their responsibility, and also Identifies possible improvements in processes, providing savings in time and costs.
- Coordinate the different internal and external resources. In many occasions, the same supplier has contact with different areas of the company and the synergies that this can provide are not exploited.
- It provides an overview and improves communication in the company. It allows knowledge to be transferred between departments that would otherwise act stagnant.
- Set global goals beyond the particular visions of each group, department or area.
- Manage general budgets and costs of the entire organization.
- It allows setting priorities within the different pending actions.
- Lets learn from past lessons. By means of a correct Project Management a “know how” is created in the company that allows to use that experience for the planning and realization of future projects.
- It provides a correct perception of the team's authentic capacity, since it maximizes the synergies between the different members.
- It allows the identification of risks and problems at an early stage, allowing corrective actions to be designed in time.
- Provides a vision focused on the client, since the Project Manager is generally the sole interlocutor of the client and defends the interests of the client within the organization.
- Provides information to Management and reduces the need for all team members to be constantly reporting, since information is centralized in the Project Manager.
- Ensures quality, since it allows the client to be provided with a result that is in accordance with the requirements and is suitable for use.
XIII. Errors that may be incurred in project management
It is sweet to savor the honeys of success when a project comes out to ask, but it is the mistakes that are made that are never forgotten, which is why 10 of the mistakes that can be made are listed below.
1. We were not dealing with the correct problem.
Every project involves the need to solve a problem, whether it is a barrier that prevents us from moving forward or an opportunity to do something better.
2. We design what was not.
Most of the projects start with the design of the final product and in their realization the client's wishes are taken into account and what is feasible given the limitations. The greater the client's involvement in the design, the greater the chances of success. However, it is often the case that work teams rush to make the design and then discover that certain details have been erroneously done or have been completely omitted.
3. We use the wrong technology
The choice of one type of technology or another depends on the environment in which the company operates. However, there are a number of general considerations that we must take into account when making technology decisions.
4. We don't design a good agenda for the project
When designing a project execution schedule, critical steps are sometimes ignored or insufficient time is allocated to certain tasks. Consequently, the agenda looks great on paper, but is dangerously far from reality. This usually happens either when it is too detailed, when details are scarce, or when it does not reflect the dependency relationship between the different tasks; also when the project lasts too long, when some of the tasks do not produce useful results and when the team does not understand the plan. You will begin to see that something has gone wrong with the agenda when tasks are not completed on time or when team members are not aware that they should be working on a specific task.
5. The team did not match.
Like an orchestra, a well-structured work team is one in which each member understands their role in the execution of the project and performs it appropriately. Signs that warn of this are the confusion that reigns in the work team regarding the tasks that each member must carry out, unproductive discussions and the lack of cooperation between the team members.
6. We don't involve the right people.
When designing the project, we must seriously reflect on the people who must take part in it. It happens that we have not involved the right people when there is no clear definition of who the client is, when people who could contribute their help to specific project issues are not used and when those who can catapult the project have not been identified. project towards success or failure, in order to wisely manage our relationship with them.
7. We do not pay attention to the risks of the project, nor to the administration issues.
In any project there are various risks and issues. Certain risks are generally already known at the beginning of the project and others may arise at a certain time or persist until the end. Their danger is that they can influence the outcome of the project if they become a reality. To succeed, we must at all costs try to foresee the risks, defining those that would pose a serious threat to the project and preparing strategies to deal with them.
8. The project cost much more than expected
In some projects, more money is invested than expected and, although this may be in their benefit, since their results also improve more than expected, the credibility of the project manager may be jeopardized by not fulfilling what was promised from the point of view. economically. The project manager must know how to manage his budget so that temporal variations do not affect the final result.
9. We did not understand or report progress according to the plan.
The more concise a progress report is, the more effective it will be at communicating clearly to all stakeholders where we are in the project.
10. We try to do too much.
The desire to "please the client," what some people promise impossible, is one of the reasons why projects often fail.
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