Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
OPMG 528
Prepared by:
Alaa El Din El Kordy Amr El Gamal Mohamed Abdel Samie Nancy Girgis Sara Khafagy
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ...............................................................................................................1 The Jaguar Project ................................................................................................................ 2 Project management tools &processes ................................................................................ 2 CPM in a product development setting ............................................................................... 5 Project execution strategy matrix ......................................................................................... 6 Phase gate process analysis .................................................................................................. 7 Risidual risk analysis ............................................................................................................ 9
Executive Summary
The Jaguar Model, which was a project undertaken by Teradyne Corporation, the Worlds largest supplier of equipment for testing semiconductors. The aim of the project was to develop a highly flexible tester platform that could be easily adjusted to the needs of different device segments. It was a critical project that will determine the ability and success of Teradyne to compete in the market, especially that the market need was drastically shifting towards flexible tester platforms rather than different specific test systems for each type of semiconductor device. With the Jaguar Model, Teradyne had used several Project Management PM tools to force discipline in the development process. Including the work breakdown structure WBS which is a detailed description of all the tasks required to complete the project and their interrelationships. The 3-point estimation which is a technique to incorporate uncertainty into projected schedule by estimating a best case, worst case and expected times for each task. The critical path analysis CPA which is a methodology that uses the WBS and 3-point estimates to identify bottleneck tasks in the development process, thus determining the overall lead time of the project. Finally the earned value analysis, which measures the project progress using three metrics: budgeted cost of work scheduled, actual cost of work performed and budgeted cost of work performed. Unfortunately, the project planning; tracking, metrics and reporting distracted many team members from real problems. Additionally, due to the nature of the project; being a development one. Each of the tools had its limitations: with the critical path method, there were many more unknowns and unclear estimates to be calculated which puts the accuracy of CPM at risk. The same applied to WBS, which mandates that each single task is recorded in proper sequence. Even the 3-point estimation tool highly relies on precise time estimates in order to be effective and with EV, it was difficult to apply because EV only works great if you know exactly what you need to do, which is not the case in development projects. After the development process was understood, Teradyne decided on their development team. They developed a project execution strategy matrix which listed the project dimensions, each with its corresponding principles, processes and structure with responsibilities. They also adopted a heavyweight team structure. This arrangement did not prove very successful as the project, although successful in the end, suffered a lot of delays. Basically this was attributed to the size and nature of the project which involved a hardware (sequential and straight forward) and a software (flexible) subprojects and it would have been better if Teradyne had looked at those two separately and adopted different approaches in managing each sub-project as a reflection to the dissimilarity in their natures. An overall leader needed to integrate the two subprojects successfully. Phase gate process analysis was also introduced, however lacked a discovery phase at the beginning of the project to generate more ideas even from the customer which would enhance the project overall success and make the voice of the customer more heard. The residual risk facing the Teradynes process was found to be the complexity of the semiconductor technology, the rapid rate of technological innovation in semiconductors, the speed in developing system and rapid technical support and finally the difficulty in acquiring new accounts. Therefore Teradyne should continue to attract and retain the best caliber, invest highly in its R&D, endeavor to maintain customer satisfaction and pursue the best methods of product development and PM techniques.
Page 1
Page 2
identified and activity durations are estimated. WBS is often used to identify the tasks for the Critical Path Analysis. 3-Point Estimation: A technique for estimating the minimum (best case), maximum (worst case), and expected times required to complete each task. This is a technique to incorporate uncertainty into schedule estimates. For each task, a best case, worst case, and expected lead time are estimated. This technique can be used in conjunction with CPA to identify those activities in the project most likely to cause a time delay. Critical Path Analysis: A technique uses the work breakdown structure and the 3-point estimates to identify bottleneck tasks in the development process which determine the overall lead time of the project. Critical Path Analysis (CPA) is a methodology to identify the set of rating limiting activities that determine the overall length of the project. CPA identifies those tasks that, if delayed, will cause the final completion date to slip. The main benefit of Critical Path Analysis is that it helps a company to identify the minimum length of time needed to complete a project. Where the company need to run an accelerated project, it helps it to identify which project steps it should accelerate to complete the project within the available time. Earned Value Analysis: A method for measuring project progress by comparing actual and expected resources (or time) expended. Earned value (EV) is a methodology for measuring a projects progress. EV compares the actual and planned amount of work completed (at various milestones) in terms of time or costs. An EV uses three metrics: 1) Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS)planned cost of the total amount of work scheduled to be performed by the milestone date; 2) Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP) cost incurred to complete work performed to date; 3) Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)the planned cost to complete the work that has been performed to date. By comparing differences in these three metrics, it is possible to identify two sources of variance: cost variance (cv) and schedule variance (sv).
Page 3
The project is behind schedule if the schedule variance (sv)computed as the difference between BCWP and BCWSis a negative number. The project is over cost if the cost variance (cv) Computed as the difference between BCWP and ACWPis a negative number. The mixture of these tools as declared by OBrien helped to see different things that were going on in such a complex project like Jaguar. The tools provided visibility into the project. This allowed Teradyne to respond to AlphaTech and be confident that could hit all the milestones. At Teradyne, the output of a development project was judged by two criteria: first, did the project achieve its target objectives and, second, did it build new organizational capabilities for future projects? As it pertained to project management tools and practices, some managers felt that, by and large, the project management tools worked and contributed to the success of the project. Their concerns revolved around the implementation. Others were much less convinced of the value of the tools, and were concerned that they could actually be a distraction. Its always worth mentioning that project planning; tracking, metrics, and reporting could distract team members from real problems. In the Jaguar project Primavera was an awkward tool. The interface is terrible. Many of the first-level engineering managers hated it. Primavera requires a very static work breakdown structure; once you enter it, it is very difficult to modify. The problem is that as you execute a project like this, you actually discover things you have to do differently. But, the schedule is produced and updated using the original work breakdown structure. So the reported scheduled becomes less meaningful over time. Some groups had a weekly struggle with Primavera. They worked it to get the schedule completion date to come out OK by constantly rearranging the critical path, but missed the fact that deliverables in general were slipping and work was not getting done at the planned rate. In recalling the struggles of the software team, the tools allowed the software team to lie to themselves. Some very strong people allowed themselves to be fooled by the data. The software disaster was evident from the EV. There are things that do not show up in the EV tool. Progress on EV can be done without making progress on the project. With more experience and training, team members would know how to get value from the tools they were using more efficiently and thought they would figure out what went wrong. OBrien was also a strong believer in the value of the project tools. He saw the tools as working but was critical of himself and other members of the organization for not always reacting to the data.
Page 4
The mixture of the PM tools used in the Jaguar project helped to see different things that were going on in such a complex project. The tools provided visibility into the project. This allowed Teradyne to respond to AlphaTech and be confident that could hit all the milestones. The PM tools helped as well to force discipline in the development process. This was one of the critical elements of the Jaguar project execution strategy. With the data and information provided by the new tools people were able to know whether a team was having work done at the right pace or not. Others were more skeptical and thought the tools could be distracting by trying to figure out whether the tool reflected reality, rather than discussing what to do.
Page 5
All these limitations of CPM could be reduced through constant and frequent meetings by the core team whose members would compile recent results, analyze their effects on the project, and adjust the CPM and all its tools accordingly. This way, any deviations from the plan would be detected early and managed accordingly.
Page 6
and should be managed in different ways for example in hardware the physical attributes of a part often determine the appropriate sequence and structure of tasks, whilst in software you dont have these physical constraints, which gives you a lot more flexibility. Thus different approaches should have been applied as appropriate. In other words, it would have been better to run two parallel subprojects (software and hardware) completely separate and have different ways in managing them with an overall Project Leader who will be responsible for the overseeing of their successful integration. Another major reason for the struggle that Teradyne was experiencing was the lack of sufficient staff training, unlike the TQM initiative where everybody received enough training. Although the Jaguar project represented a drastic change; not only in the methodology but also in the whole organizational culture which used to encourage individual initiative (warning new employees that they will have to dive in without expecting to be told what to do). Instead in the implementation of the Jaguar Project collaboration of different teams from different ways of doing things was expected. However inadequate effort was exerted to coach teams and to align the whole organizational culture. To mitigate this complexity, we suggest that Terdayne divides the Jaguar Project into 2 subprojects (software and hardware) with different teams and methods of management as appropriate. Hardware is usually sequential and straight forward whilst software projects are flexible and could easily fall behind schedules or go beyond their scope. The overall Project Leader will be responsible for ensuring that both subprojects run well, stick to their timeframes, scopes and budgets. In addition, he will be accountable for the successful integration of both sub-projects.
Page 7
functionality to the product that was not included in the original plan and committing to the shipment of the product to AlphaTech three months earlier than the original timeframe set and agreed upon. The consequences of all these disruptions included the extra costs, adding more resources, consuming the team efforts, introducing the software of the product with bugs and without all the functionality that AlphaTech asked for and more importantly stopping the development of the product for other customers which lead to delays in other launches. It was clear that the gates were not very strict between the stages. The deliverables must have been reviewed properly with solid data to track the projects progress. In addition, potential customers and their requirements must have been identified earlier to avoid ad hoc changes that disrupt the project flow and other projects as a consequence. Adding a discovery stage at the front end of the phase gate process would generate project ideas (see below Fig.). Some of these ideas might come from the customers. So, building voice of customer work into the discovery stage to help identify customers problems, unmet needs and even unarticulated ones. The research might involve working closely with the customers to know their problems and understand their business and its workflow. This helps in incorporating the customers requirements in the project plan from the beginning and engaging the customers in the development process.
Page 8
Page 9