Project Management PHẦN 2 potx

Is the user able to operate the product? The size of the work crew required to operate the product is part of this

issue, as is the amount of training required for its successful operation. Operability refers to many of the

issues of system or product design that are commonly known as human engineering issues. Operability is one

of the areas of the project technical objectives that tend to be overlooked and can have serious implications

once the product has been delivered to the end user or client.

Manufacturability

Can the project team or the recipient of the design manufacture the product? Manufacturability has an image

of smokestack industries and the fabrication of complex industrial equipment, but it is an issue in other

industries as well. For example, in the area of software development, programmers need to be able to create

the necessary code from the product design. In the construction industry, manufacturability is replaced by

structurability. Regardless of industry type, manufacturability can and should be defined and specified.

Flexibility

Flexibility generally refers to an attempt to produce an end-of-work item that has multiple applications or can

be put to use in a number of areas. Modularity is related to flexibility. Building the end-of-work item from

standard modules or designing it as a complex of standard modules can enable the modules to be used for

other applications in the future, thereby increasing the return on investment for the project.

Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory compliance refers to the international, national, state, and local or municipal regulations with

which the project may have to comply. In addition, project standards may be determined by private

organizations such as Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., and/or the organization performing the project. Even

within an organization, corporate, divisional, and/or departmental standards may exist. All of these sources

comprise the body of regulations with which the project may have to comply.

Materials Use

A project team can often find itself constrained by the organization’s preference for certain types of material.

The Brick and Masonry Institute, for instance, probably would not favor a headquarters facility constructed

with aluminum siding. Related requirements are packaging and product appearance.

Community Relations and Corporate Image

Community relations is particularly important in construction project management, where concern with

disruptions in the neighborhood of the construction is part of the project team’s mandate. Community

relations often becomes an issue in other types of projects as well, such as the installation of communications

equipment that might interfere with television reception or the installation of high-voltage power lines that

could cause environmental damage. Corporate image, a more global concern, can affect the packaging of

products, serve as the basis for the approval or killing of certain projects, or affect materials use.

Project requirements serve as the basis upon which the plan is built. Part of the challenge to project teams is to

make sure that all of the requirements have been identified prior to submitting a project plan. The result will

be a better plan, with fewer errors of omission during the course of the project. The requirements should be

quantified in order to measure the project team’s performance. Let’s take a look at two examples and decide

what is wrong with the way the project requirement is stated:

1. “The new system must be better than anything we have used in the past.” What does better mean?

What is the standard-of-performance criterion that will equate itself to “better” after the project is

complete? Do we have a standard-of-performance criterion for current productivity against which we

can compare future productivity after the system is installed?

2. “You have to understand that this will be the greatest thing since sliced white bread, and our

company cannot survive without it.” This explains the why, not the what. Although it is essential that

the project client and manager understand the why, the what must be defined.

Documenting the answers to these questions in the form of a proposal or business case sets the stage for the

remainder of the project. It requires a concentrated, sustained effort. However, the return on investment for

the time and effort spent will be significant.