Project Planning

Project planning and project management are important supporting processes in engineering design. The textbook by Mattson and Sorenson does not cover project management explicitly, though the ideas of teamwork, coordination of effort, analysis of dependencies (design networks in the textbook) are discussed throughout the book. This web page summarizes ideas about project planning and management to supplement the textbook.

Tools

  • Work Breakdown Structure: list of tasks and estimated time to complete
  • Activity Definition: detailed description of each task and all dependencies on other tasks
  • Gantt Chart: timeline showing tasks, resources and dependencies
  • PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique): introduce probabilities in analysis of dependencies
  • Critical Path Analysis: highlights sequential dependencies to identify a combination that defines the minimum possible time to complete the project
  • Design Structure Matrix (dependencies and ordering of tasks), Ulrich and Eppinger

Planning activities

  1. Identify tasks necessary to complete the work – Work Breakdown Structure
  2. Estimate time for each task – Work Breakdown Structure
  3. Describe activities necessary to complete each task – Activity Defintion
  4. Estimate dependencies between tasks – Activity Defintion
  5. Identify resource requirements for each task – personnel, materials, facilities, purchases
  6. Create Gantt chart and network diagrams to visualize the schedule
  7. Iterate:
    • Update sequencing to account for dependencies
    • Reallocate resources to meet deadlines
    • Communicate with management (internal) and customer (external)

Work Breakdown Structure

A work breakdown structure is a technique for enumerating the work necessary to achieve a major goal. The "breakdown" refers to subdivision (and enumeration) of the major goal into a set of smaller tasks. Tasks are subdivided recursively until the work to complete that task is fully understood and the time to complete the task can be estimated with confidence.

  • Start with the overarching goal
  • Identify a set of high-level steps to achieve the goal
  • Recursively break down each step into smaller steps until the task is fully understood
    • Write a short description of the task
    • Estimate the time to complete the task

Do not worry too much about order of steps. In creating the WBS, the focus is obtaining a complete decomposition of tasks so that (1) everyone on the team understands what work needs to be done, and (2) that the time to complete each task can be estimated and can be agreed upon by the team.

The output of a work breakdown structure is a list of tasks with time estimates, which is then used as an input to other scheduling activities.

Additional reading

On-line references for Work Breakdown Structure

Heagney [1] describes work breakdown structure from a generic project management perspective. Dieter and Schmidt [2] have a brief discussion of work breakdown structure and give an example for developing a small appliance.

Activity Definition

Merrie Barron and Andrew Barron in the open textbook Project Management describe activity planning as the detailed step between the work breakdown structure and development of a Gantt chart. The activity definition process involves expanding on the work breaksdown structure to describe the work necessary to complete each task and to identify dependencies between tasks.

Barron and Barron identify three types of task dependencies

  1. Finish-to-start: Task A must be finished before task B can be started
  2. Start-to-start: Task A and Task B must start at the same time
  3. Finish-to-finish: Task A and Task B must end at the same time

With a complete Activity Definition for the project you can create a network diagram showing the dependencies between tasks. Refer to the textbook by Mattson and Sorensen for detailed discussion of network diagrams.

Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a graphical representation of the plan for completing a project or process. The chart has major project tasks listed along the left edge. The horizontal dimension of the chart represents time, with increments of weeks or months. Individual tasks have horizontal bars corresponding to the start date, duration, and end date.

A general resource for self- and project-management is the consulting web site Mindtools. The mindtools site has a short article about Gantt charts

Commercial and free versions of the computer software exists to make project planners easier. Microsoft sells "Microsoft Project", which is designed specifically to create Gantt charts.

As an alternative to stand-alone programs like Microsoft Project and a large number of on-line services, you can use an Excel template to create Gantt charts. Here is a sample of Excel templates:

And templates for Google sheets and Google charts:

Mindtools has a recipe for creating a Gantt chart without using a particular software tool.

Gantter is a free, web-hosted project planning tool that integrates with Google Drive.

PERT

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a method of project scheduling that identifies the dependencies of tasks necessary to complete a project. In addition, PERT uses probability estimates for tasks in a project to develop an overall probability estimate of the project begin completed on time. The time to complete a task is estimated by combining three separate estimates: an optimistic estimate, a pessimistic estimate and a most likely estimate. Heagney [1] gives a short introduction to PERT.

A detailed PERT analysis is not practical for Capstone projects, especially since teams are learning and applying many new skills. In this environment, a keep-it-simple approach makes sense. However, one useful benefit of a simplified PERT analysis is that it helps the team identify tasks that are sequential dependent. This is at the heart of the network diagrams described by Mattson and Sorenson.

Additional Reading

  • Wikipedia page on PERT
  • Mattson and Sorenson, Critical Path Analysis in Part II: Product Development Reference (pp. 216-217 in the 4th edition)
  • How to draw a PERT Chart
  • Joseph Heagney, Fundamentals of Project Management, 5th ed., 2016, American Management Association.
  • Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger, Chapter 18, Managing Projects in Product Design and Development, 5th ed., 2012, McGraw Hill

Definition of Terms

Critical Path

Heagney (p. 85):

… the critical path … is defined as the longest series of activities (that can't be done in parallel) and which therefore govern how early the project can be completed

Mattson and Sorenson give a concise example of Critical Path Analysis in Part II: Product Development Reference (pp. 226-227 in the 5th edition).

Deliverable

From Wikipedia

In project planning, a deliverable is a "tangible or intangible product or service that is intended to be delivered to a customer (either internal or external).

An internal customer would be another member of the design team. An external customer would be the project sponsor.

The following are examples of deliverables:

  • Conceptual design report
  • Working prototype (with a specific objective such as idea validation, usability testing or performance testing)
  • Cost analysis for manufacturing a device
  • A detailed CAD model of the device being designed
  • A Finite Element model and stress analysis of a critical structural part
  • A user manual for the device that was designed
  • Final project report

Milestones

In project planning, a milestone is a significant event that occurs at a specific time along the project timeline. A milestone has a date (one day) and short name like "design review".

According to Heagney, (Fundamentals of Project Management, 5th ed., p. 109),

"A milestone is an event that represents a point in a project of special significance. Usually, it is the completion of a major phase of the work. Project reviews are often conducted at milestones.

Examples of milestones are project review dates, dates for public design demonstrations, and due dates for reports. Milestones are not just dates. Milestones mark significant and consequential points in time that enable measurement of the progress of a project. Missing a milestone means that the project is significantly behind schedule.

As described by Heagney, milestones can mark the end of a project phase, especially if the phase boundaries require explicit approval. For example, the date at which the Conceptual Design is completed and approved is a milestone.

Do not confuse milestones with tasks that have duration, e.g. performing a survey for market requirements, developing a cardboard mock-up, or analyzing a part with Finite Element Analysis. Those tasks may have due dates, but the tasks themselves are not discrete events, and therefore are not milestones. Furthermore, subsidiary tasks that contribute to the large goals should not probably be elevated to the status of milestones. Key milestones reflect system-wide events that impose limits on subsidiary tasks.

See Wikipedia

References

  1. Joseph Heagney, Fundamentals or Project Management, 5th ed., Chapter 7, 2016, American Management Association, New York.
  2. George E. Dieter and Linda C. Schmidt, Engineering Design, 5th ed., pp. 146-148, 2013, McGraw-Hill, New York.
  3. Christopher A. Mattson and Carl D. Sorensen, Fundamentals of Product Development, 5th ed., 2017, CreateSpace Independent Publishing.
  4. Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger, Chapter 18, Managing Projects in Product Design and Development, 5th ed., 2012, McGraw Hill
  5. Merrie Barron, PMP, CSM and Andrew R. Barron, Project Management. OpenStax CNX. Aug 5, 2016 https://cnx.org/contents/5e9177d7-9998-43d0-9b98-91a369c6a371@10.1.

Document updated 2018-01-29.