Project Management View from Rail Transit Programs and Projects

This is Part 10 and the final post of a blog relating sections of Excellence In Engineering by W.H. Roadstrum, 1967, with Project Management Institute’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK-5th Edition).

In Parts 1 through 9, the blog covered Roadstrum’s good and poor engineering practices and PMI’s  factors for success on topics including: Project Teams, Team Development, Problems Solving and Decisions, Scheduling, Progress Monitoring, Project Controls, Project Manager and Project Leading.  

Both books continue to impact my career and the quality of service and professionalism that I demonstrate to each person I encounter in the work domain and project environment.   

After a brief 3 years as an Engineers’ Assistant in the utility power generating industry, the majority of my career was spent in the rail transit industry on projects with roles that included Jr. Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Project Coordinator, Assistant Project Manager, Project Manager, Sr. Project Manager, and Director-PMO.    The bulk of the work involved projects that restored, improved or expanded infrastructure for accessibility and mobility of passengers and commerce and some with intermodal connections and real estate development.   

Now as a consultant, I continue to lead by example/sample and contribute equally to the success of the teams I work with on rail transit projects.    As often as possible, I transfer knowledge from my experiences while adapting to the changing work environment.

In Chapter 15 - Human Relations, Roadstrum cites the good and poor practices with essential attributes related to the project manager’s skills, objectives, and personal qualities necessary to be effective and to be a leader for his team.  

Good Engineering Practices in Human Relations

1.The engineer, while battling hard when he must, recognizes that in disputes with others it is important to maintain a calm and impersonal attitude if maximum benefits are to result.

2.The engineer recognizes the importance of the self-fulfilling image to his associates and is careful not to stir up difficulties for himself by inadvertently threatening these self-images in others.

3.The engineer recognizes how string an influence organization patterns have on setting his relations with others.

4.Realizing that differing backgrounds can interfere with his efforts at communicating, the engineer is careful to establish a common understanding and purpose before proceeding into new business.

5.The engineering is careful to avoid informal channels in most matters except in emergency and then covers his short cut with a parallel action through regular channels.

Poor Engineering Practices in Human Relations

1.The engineer feels that his expert technology knowledge will eventually solve all relations problems.

2.In disputes with other the engineer uses kid gloves to improve relations and group harmony.

3.Not understanding the concept of communicating, the engineer naively assumes that since his colleagues understand the English language they will comprehend what he is trying to tell them.  

4.Heedless of the effect of emotions on communicating, the engineer leaps headlong into a delicate situation with a minimum of results.

5.The engineer takes his boss for granted.

6.The engineer assumes that his relations with others are harmonious, they are necessarily effective.

In PMBOK Chapter 9-Human Resources, the selection, training, team building and performance monitoring of team members is presented.   The most relevant comparison to the good practices for a Project Manager is found in Section 9.3-Develop the Project Team.  

The Project Manager should:

• Acquire skills to identify, build, maintain, motivate, lead and inspire project teams to achieve high team performance and meet the project’s objectives
• Create an environment that facilitates team work
• Continually motivate the their team by providing challenges and opportunities, by providing timely feedback and support as needed, and by recognizing and rewarding good performance
• Request management support and/or influence the appropriate stakeholders to acquire the resources needed to develop effective project teams.

Working with the available resources, the Project Manager and individual team members should equally commit and contribute to:

• Improving knowledge and skills of team members to increase their ability to complete project deliverables, while lowering costs, reducing schedules, and improving quality
• Improving feelings of trust and agreement of team members to raise morale, lower conflict, and increase team work
• Creating a dynamic, cohesive, and collaborative team culture to (1) improve individual and team productivity, team spirit, and cooperation, (2) allow cross-training and mentoring between team members to share knowledge and expertise.

This is Part 9 of a blog relating sections of Excellence In Engineering by W.H. Roadstrum, 1967, with Project Management Institute’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).

In Chapter 14-The Project Engineer, Roadstrum cites the good and poor practices for the project engineer and the unit manager.   But equally important is the skills by the project engineer to lead the team in completing the defined scope on-time and within the budget. 

Project Leading Techniques:

• Keep first things first-“...never lose sight of the fact that your job is coordination and leading.  This is your most important responsibility.”
• Allocate effectively-“...look at it as allocating resources to best meet requirements. …Take into account individual differences in your people’s experience and interests to optimize their output.”
• Handle consultants carefully-“utilize their efforts as contributions for some full-time team member tom integrate into the solution.”
• Start your control immediately-“It is much easier to keep a project under control than to rescue it once it has gotten out of control.”
• Keep your control effort current-“Nothing can relieve or excuse a project leader from the necessity of knowing the financial, schedule, and technical status of his work at all times.”

Roadstrum also indicates - two useful tools in maintaining mutual confidence between manager and project engineer are (a) an initial write-up on how the project will be conducted, and (b) periodic progress reports, usually weekly.

In PMBOK Appendix X3, the interpersonal skills for effective project managers are expanded.    While PMBOK is not an instruction manual for developing project managers, the Appendix contains summary descriptions of the skills listed in Chapter 1.   The descriptions, and a list of well-known business and management book s, provide information for personal development of project managers.  The books include:

• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey, S. R
• Human Factors in Project Management, Dinsmore, P.C.
• Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager, Verma, V. K.

Leadership is the 1^st skill listed, and probably the most important attribute for a project manager.   Leadership, as described, encompasses the bulk of the 11 skills - team building, motivation, communications, trust building, and coaching.   Effective Leadership is required throughout a project life-cycle and if demonstrated by the project participants it will lead to success for the project, the Owner, stakeholders, and the project team.

“Leadership involves focusing the efforts of a group of people toward a common goal and enabling them to work as a team.  In general terms, leadership is the ability to get things done through others.  Respect and trust, rather than fear and submission are the key elements of effective leadership.   Although important throughout all project phases, effective leadership is critical during the beginning phases of the project when the emphasis is on communicating the vision and motivating and inspiring project participants to achieve high performance.”

If the project is not successful, it is unlikely the project manager will be evaluated as demonstrating leadership.

This is Part 8 of a blog relating sections of Excellence In Engineering by W.H. Roadstrum, 1967, with Project Management Institute’s Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK).

Remembering “Engineering work is project work”, Roadstrum carries this theme throughout the book.   As a result, Chapter 14-The Project Engineer can be applied equally to current day project management and the Project Manager.   

Before citing the good and poor practices for the project engineer, Roadstrum describes the role of project engineer, and his supervisor the unit manager.  

The unit manager’s function is to get the engineering work in his assigned area of responsibility done effectively on a continuous basis.   Describing the project engineer, Roadstrum writes, he supplies the people and other resources needed for the work.  He provides work for his people and meets the budget.  He hires and fires people, trains them, appraises them, and adjusts their salaries.  He forms projects and project teams and provides them with support and guidance.

The project engineer’s function is to execute the assigned project on time and within the budget, and with excellent technical results.   He is the leader of his men on the project and he is devoted entirely to getting the project done through administrative ability and team leadership and B) his own outstanding technical understanding and efforts. 

Good Practices for the Project Engineer

1.The unit manager with overall responsibility for the project assigns a project engineer; together they work out the manpower and other resources and support requirements.

2.The project engineer sets down on paper, with manager’s approval, the specific project goals, and the resources to be used, including the funds and time.

3.The project engineer operates the project in such a way that essentially all professional contributors are aware of every important development or problem on a daily basis.

4.The project engineer keeps himself current on all aspects of his project so that he is ready at any time to explain where the project is technically, financially, and schedule-wise.

5.The project engineer uses to the maximum possible extent the resources and support available to him and his people.

6.The project engineer acts as the principal writer and editor of major project reports.

Poor Practices for the Project Engineer

1.The unit manager assigns no project engineer or assigns one on an inadequate part-time basis.

2.The unit manager assigns a “technical” project leader with no responsibility for project administration.

3.The project engineer buries himself in one technical phase of the project to the detriment of the other necessary aspects and of his overall integrating role.

4.The unit manager assigns a nominal project engineer but then runs the project himself.

5.The project engineer allows such friction to develop between his immediate group and other interested groups (for example, production) that present and future progress of the project is hindered.

6.The project engineer delegates parts of the work to others and then fails to exercise the leadership needed to draw everything together for an excellent solution.

In PMBOK Chapter 1, the responsibility and roles of the project manager are very concisely described.  Section 1.7 states the project manager is the person assigned by the performing organization to lead the team that is responsible for achieving the project objectives.  

Section 1.7.1 summarizes the responsibilities of the project manager and the key factors for success.   The project manager is responsible to satisfy the needs: task needs, team needs and individual needs.   This requires project managers to possess and demonstrate:

• Comprehensive knowledge of project management
• Effective performance of activities encompassing all project management knowledge areas
• Superior personal interaction skills and proactive behavior with all project participants.

The interpersonal skills expected from successful project managers are:

• Leadership
• Team building
• Motivation
• Communication
• Influencing
• Decision making
• Political and cultural awareness
• Negotiations
• Trust building
• Conflict management
• Coaching

This blog will cover sections of Excellence In Engineering by W.H. Roadstrum, 1967, and relate them to Project Management Institute’s Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK).

In Chapter 4 of Excellence In Engineering, Roadstrum covers Scheduling, Monitoring and Controlling processes and practices project work.    While Part 5 and Part 6 of this blog series presented Scheduling and Monitoring, this blog will cover the Controlling element.

From a project perspective, the controlling process is initiated after the baseline schedule is prepared and the processes and practices for monitoring project activities and progress to the baseline are implemented by the project team.   Similar to controlling contract change orders, changes to the schedule need to be identified, confirmed, evaluated for effectiveness and then implemented to create a new baseline for monitoring work. 

Near the end of the Chapter, Roadstrum summarizes: 

Good Engineering Practices for Controlling

1.Take early corrective action where needed.

2.Balance project effort on all needed phases.

3.Watch continually for places where the effort can be reduced.

4.Make changes early rather than late.

Poor Engineering Practices for Controlling

1.Mistake “scheduling” for “control.”  Fail to monitor or to take needed action.

2.Overemphasize certain areas to the detriment of overall cost and schedule.

3.Failing to make controlling changes in time.

The development and use of scheduling software has enabled project teams to more effectively and efficiently monitor project work by providing automated analysis of critical schedule metrics to produce numerous reports for earned value, changes in critical activities, and production and performance indexes.    

PMBOK Chapter 6-Section 6.7.2 identifies tools and techniques for Control Schedule, including:

• Trend Analysis – This examines metrics comparing actual progress and expenses against past performance and available unit cost/production rates for the project estimate.
• Critical Path Method – This examines activities on the critical path to assess early or late completion of work and to identify threats or opportunities for schedule adjustments.
• Critical Chain Method – This examines resources allocations planned and actual to assess production rates, to forecast for activity completions and to identify adjustments in resources that may improve the schedule.
• Earned Value Management – Based on the earned value, this compares schedule and cost of planned work with the budget value of work completed.   The ratios for cost and schedule produce performance indexes (CPI=EV/Actual Cost; and SPI=EV/Planned Value. )

The controlling process encompasses documenting the rationale for the schedule action, and provides feedback to produce and share Lessons Learned on other projects.   The schedule software output can be used to explain variances, produce a record to initiate a schedule change, and to document the expected results from implementing the changes in the baseline schedule.   

This blog will cover sections of Excellence In Engineering by W.H. Roadstrum, 1967, and relate them to Project Management Institute’s Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK).

In Chapter 4 of Excellence In Engineering, Roadstrum identifies Project Controls as three elements – Scheduling, Monitoring and Controlling.   As discussed in Part 5, the first of three elements of Project Controls was presented – Scheduling.   In this Part, the Monitoring practices will be highlighted.   

As I have learned through a career in project management, keeping the team focused on the project vision, mission, objective, and benefits, which are identified and committed to through the Project Charter, is an essential function of the project leader.   But an equally important part of the business of project management is to advise the team on performance to project metrics. 

 Roadstrum builds on the work flow and scheduling practices to define the practices for monitoring the baseline schedule within established milestones, dates and goals.

Good Engineering Practices for Monitoring

1. Follow and monitor performance (time, cost, technical progress) on a regular basis.

2. Include all contributors in the monitoring process so they are also “self-monitoring”.

3. Plan at least general alternatives for each principal contingency.

4. Keep the goal and its broad alternatives clearly in mind.

Poor Engineering Practices for Monitoring

1. Because of preoccupation with novel and challenging areas of the project, allow unmonitored tasks to run far off schedule.

2. Because of failure to identify critical items, do not follow these or provide alternatives.

3. Wait for other people or the turn of events.Raise no questions on schedule progress until critical deadlines have been missed.

4. Mistake proper rate of expenditures for adherence to technical schedule.

5. Allow an old schedule to become so outdated as to be useless.

PMBOK – Fifth Edition Chapter 6, regarding Project Time Management, covers scheduling and schedule control tools and techniques common for monitoring of the project schedule, and the respective performance indicator (s), which are shared across schedules and estimates under the project controls function.

Section 6.6.2 identifies tools and techniques for monitoring and updating project schedules using subject matter expertise and software.    The project team can make improvements in achieving scheduled dates, planned progress goals, and in creating recovery plans for projects with poor performance indicators.    The actions may be created by several means:

• Network Analysis – This involves showing where various activities converge or diverge with dependent activities.

• Critical Path Method - This involves using the predecessor and successor connections with activities where the estimated duration has fixed start and end dates and contingency in scheduled duration with other activities.  

• Critical Chain Method - This involves using buffers in activity durations to account for limited resources.

• Resource Optimization – This involves using resource leveling and resource smoothing to adjust the duration of activities and align with available resources.

• Modeling  - This involves  conducting trial and error changes to the baseline to detect potential schedule risks and to improve schedule efficiency and production effectiveness.

• Leads and Lags - This involves adjusting the activity relations, such as start-to-start, finish-to- start, and finish-to-finish, to establish modified connections in the predecessor/successor relationship, such as start Task B 60 days prior to finish of Task A.

• Schedule Compression - This involves  Crashing - shortening activity duration with corresponding increases in resources, and Fast Tracking - re-sequencing work activities to increase overall progress rate and to shorten the project duration.