Question from Your Fellow Student

Question
One of our fellow classmate managed to get the information on the Project Management Textbook, Field & Keller, 2007 from Christine in regards of our Task 1 assignment, as per the attachment.
As stated in the essential methodology that we should use the said method (AON) format to answer the question 1.
Please advise us if we should present the whole AON format in Q1 as it carries 8 marks for this question.
Your kind immediate attention and soonest reply to the above is highly appreciated.

Answer
There is no problem in presenting the whole AON format in Q1. Please go ahead.

Question from Your Fellow Student

Question

Hi Mr. Tang
Good afternoon to you.

I would like to ask some info & opinion from Mr. Tang, about our Managing Project - Task 1.
We should use Mr.Tang 's teaching way or use the "Field and Keller" (that Task 1 instruction had mention) or both ways also can, to draw up the activity on the node diagram for Task 1 Question 2 & 3.

Sorry to ask this again because we hear some our classmate, they say that last time their ex-senior was follow Mr.Tang's way to do the activity on node diagram, and they failed this paper in the end.

I would like to apologize & i am not means here to call to account Mr. Tang's teaching way, but just would like to understand more & clearly, as some of us start to worry, as we already finish task 1 in early.

Thanks & best regards.

Reply

Having re-visited the text by Field & Keller and comparing with my lecture notes, I can say that the 'essential methodology' required in the assignment is similar as to what I have presented in the class. These include:

1.) The use the 'Activity-On-Node' or AON method;

2.) The use of forward pass & backward pass to determine all the timings (i.e. EST, LST, EFT, LFT);

3.) The requirement to enter all timings as DAYS, not as dates;

I think the main confusion lies in the way the Activity Box in my notes differ from the Activity Box given in the text.

As you can see from the two types of activity box, the information presented in the activity boxes are exactly the same (i.e. the activity name, duration, EST, LST, EFT, LFT and float).

The difference lies only in the arrangement of the information in each boxes . Moreover, what I call simply as 'float' in my notes are known as 'total float' in the text.

If students feel more comfortable in following the design of the activity box as in the text, you are encouraged to do so. It only involves a change of the design of the boxes, the information is the same. I will leave the choice to you. What is more important is to put in a legend in your diagram to explain what each information means in your boxes so that your answer is concise and clear.

Most of the students from previous batches were using diagrams with the activity boxes I presented in my notes; therefore it is very unlikely that only some failed just because of using activity box of different design from that in the text.

Last but not least, I have mentioned that in the study of Project Management, different books and texts tend to use different diagrams and words to illustrate the same things. As such, it is very easy for students to get themselves confused with the subject.

I hope that this will clarify this query. Please feel free to raise this up in our next lecture if more clarification is required.

Question from Your Fellow Student

1.) Is it need a introduction & conclusion for Task 1?
Not necessary

2.) As my assignment (draft - Task 1), i put the appendix after each answer / question, is it ok, or all appendix should put in 1 side only for appendix in the last of Task 1 ?
The word 'Appendix' means that you'll need to put them at the last section of Task 1.

3.) Is the Table content's wordings will calculate in?
No

Question from Your Fellow Student

Dear Sir,

Would you kindly explain what actually they wanted us to do in this part of the Task 2 question:-

"The analysis should include the skills and competencies required by the Project Manager, along with the project management process. Use examples of the concerns, stages, processes, leadership, administration & control problems associated with managing the lifecycle of this major project."

Thank you.

Answer:

On the skills and competencies required by the Project Manager (PM), remember what I said about the diagram in my Lecture Two, Slide No.7? In the slide, the PM must have the People Skills, Project Management Skills, Technical Skills, Integration Skills and Knowledge of the Organisation he is in.

People Skills refers to the ability of the PM to lead and motivate his/her project team members towards completing the project tasks and achieving the project objectives within the specified time, cost and scope. I have not cover this part with you all yet.

Project Management Skills refers to plan, implement, monitor and control all elements and resources in the project. This is similar to the skills required from a typical manager but within a project environment. If you have worked in a project before, you would appreciate want I mean by 'project environment'. A project environment is always bounded by tight schedule and limited budget, lots of unforseen problems and troubleshooting.

Technical Skills refers more specific set of skills. For example, if it is an IT project; it would be expected for the PM to have a background in IT in order to effectively manage the project. In the context of Task 2, what would you think the technical background of the PM should be?

Integration Skills refers to the ability of the PM to merge or integrate all his/her skills above in order to manage this project effectively. This usually requires the PM to have certain level of experience and maturity to do so.

As for the Knowledge of the Organisation, this is quite basic and straight forward i.e. the PM must know and understand well the organisation that he/she is working for the project. Nevertheless, this brings to the question of whether to appoint the PM internally from the organisation or to employ an external PM. Both has their pros and cos; you should highlight and discuss this in your report.

I have not covered some of the components in my lecture, will do so over the next few lectures. Don't worry too much about it.....

As for the second part, I would suggest you look for case studies in the Internet to get more insight into this part. It'll help you to develop your thoughts and ideas in this direction. As noted in my previous entry, you can go into the Project Management Institute website to look for their case studies. No need to go through all but just the few relevant ones would be enough.

Good luck!