Leading Lean Projects for the FIFA World Cup 2018

This article discusses the implementation of lean project management in the FIFA World Cup 2018. It covers the critical customer requirements and quality parameters that were met to ensure the success of the project. The article also explores the voice of the customers for the FIFA World Cup 2018 and the challenges faced in planning for such a major international event.

Running Head: LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 1
Leading Lean Project
Students Name:
Institutional Affiliation:

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 2
Introduction
Planning for major international events happens to be a very difficult task. Planning
for only one sports event is always better (Essays, 2013). Figure out this-that one sporting
events calls for preparing the stadium, hiring adequate staff, providing security, hotel
arrangement, ticket arrangements, traffic planning and transport planning (Cottle, 2011). A
small world cup always multiples all that to the number of matches which are usually played
in different cities across the given country (York, 2014). Planning for only one match has
never been easy, and it can most of the time fail (Sy, 2012). Thus it was not easy to deliver
the world cup project which happened in Russian on June 14 . The success of it mainly
depended on the project management (Westland, & Kogan Page, 2010).
The voice of the customers for the FIFA world 2018
The voice of the customer can be classified as the needs and the requirements of the
customer towards a product (Westland, & Kogan Page, 2010). It helps the business to know
the view of a customer towards a product (Cottle, 2011). By collecting different opinions of
our customers from our social media platforms and our websites (Sy, 2012). The following
were various expectations of our customers for the FIFA world cup 2018
 Racism Row
One of the critical issues that have greatly plagued the country of Russia is racism. An issue
that needed to be avoided during the world cup season (Alegi, 2008). Russians are also
thought to have a tense atmosphere of ethnic grouping while world cup will have had a lot of
people from diverse background (Alegi, 2008)

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 3
. Players like Samuel Etoo, Christopher Samba and Robert Carlos are thought to have
suffered racism (Sy, 2012). More racial tensions were expected in Russia come the world
cup season.
 Climate controversy
Russia is famed for having cold weather and since world cup is a competition that called for
different teams across the world some of which are not used to such cold weather (Zirin,
2016). People were worried about whether the climate would be hospitable for the 32 teams
which were competing (Essays, 2013). In fact how some people reacted towards this weather
was another interesting thing. In fact, displeasure was also expected from some players.
 Stadium Spectacles
As usual, when a country gets a chance to stage such an important event, it must put more
efforts to have good work designs and landscape (Essays, 2013). This has been the case for
Russia. In total Russia had 12 stadiums which are located in 11 different cities where the
world cup was expected to take place (Sy, 2012).
 Crazy Crowds
Some leagues in the world have very many people supporting them. Their fans are known for
coming up with strong singing habits, hooliganism and also great visual fandom. Fervent
following Flares and fights are well observed in the Russian premier league (Sy, 2012). Thus
the Russians citizens were expected to have a very strong voice since the world cup was in
their backyard.

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 4
 Vuvuzela Revival
The vuvuzela is one of the most well-known instruments used in by fans in football matches
(Müller, 2014). It fast emerged in South Africa, and it was expected to make a return back in
the FIFA world cup 2018
Critical for Customer Requirements
 The Stadiums
Russia must see to it that it has enough stadiums that cater for the 64 world cup matches
played for over 25 days. Every stadium must have to have a unique design which had a theme
form the locality and history demonstrated in its architecture (Zirin, 2016).
 Planning the full Tourist Experience
The Planning team had to go a step further not only planning for the matches but also making
sure that tourist has the best experience ever(Westland, & Kogan Page, 2010). People will
always need an extra thing to do when they are not watching matches thus having people
happy and occupied should also be a goal that the planner needed to accomplish. It greatly
helped to keep public disturbance and violence at a minimum and also it helped greatly to
improve the improve the economy. People might even want to travel back to the country out
of what they enjoyed during the world cup. Moreover is that Russia is known to be Avast
country and each city has different styles of food (York, 2014).
 Infrastructure preparation
Russia is had 3 million spectators from the different countries (Westland, & Kogan Page,
2010). Thus for every event to be successful the world cup project management team together
with Russian government had to greatly invest in infrastructure which included upgrading

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 5
stadiums and revamping, upgrading stadiums, increasing flights and also improving network
transport(Müller, 2014). Local police must also have to be prepared for this event in
maintaining law and order and ensuring that everything runs smoothly
 Sustainability
After the games were over the stadiums were left (Cottle, 2011). It will be very much costly
for the Russian government to keep repairing the stadiums
Critical for quality parameters
Many people already started getting world cup fever even before it started .Goals are
meant to instil a sense of purpose and in us so that we can work hard to achieve an amazing
thing (Westland, & Kogan Page, 2010).The FIFA world cup 2018 is one of the biggest
projects which was expected and also attracted huge media coverage (York, 2014). With 32
countries having participated in this event , it was not to be possible if some quality
parameters were not checked well in advance (Frawley & Adair, 2014). Below are some of
the critical quality parameters that need to be checked to make sure that the goals of the
project are achieved
 Finish on Time
One of the major goals of all projects is having them finished on time (Roudias, 2015). A
project is always temporal ,and it has a duration in which it has to be completed. One of the
things that make it hard to finish projects in time it is because sometimes the requirement of
the usual changes. When a project is using the agile methodology, such changes can greatly
affect the date of completion. Based on the FIFA world cup 2018 having it finished on time
was one of the major goals the project team needed to achieve. Because the world cup is

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 6
usually based on fixed dates, having it completed on time is one of the important project
management goals.
 Maintain happy team members
It is easy to achieve whatever you want when you have a happy team behind you(Frawley
&Adair, 2014). Project managers always need to make their team members happy.by creating
an environment where every team member knows his contribution to the project matters thus
they usually do their best (Müller, 2014).The FIFA world cup planning and project
management teams are usually under a local organising committee (Schmidt, 2009). Thus this
project had h70%of the Russians participate in it (Essays, 2015) .Thus having happy team
members is essential for the success of the project. Many resources had been invested in this
project. Thus it was important for the team members to be happy
 Deliver value to customers
It is possible that a project can be within the budget and completed on time and fail to make
customers happy (Maylor &Dawsonera, 2010). One of the major goals of project
management is to make the customer happy and also to make sure that the project delivers
value.
From the FIFA world cup website 2018, all preparation of this world cup was based on the
interests of the football fan. Value is mostly delivered through offering free travel, fan guides
and visa waivers (Schmidt, 2009). This was evidence that the Russian country value football
fans
 Stay within the budget

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 7
The total budget for the FIFA world cup 2018 was 11.8 billion. Staying within the budget is
one of the major challenges for project managers (Schmidt, 2009). By spreading the budget to
both the government and private companies, it is expected that the project manager will
deliver value (Frawley & Adair, 2014).
 Meet the project Requirements
One of the major goals of project management is being able to meet of a project (Snyder,
2018). They involve the capabilities and requirements that a project must meet for it to have
satisfied the user by solving his problem.One of the major requirement of the FIFA world cup
2018 was to inspire and connect the globe by using a football game. The FIFA world cup is
known for leaving the grand legacy to the country that hosted it (Schmidt, 2009).
Implementation of lean management in the 2018 FIFA world cup
Lean project management
Companies have various projects to deliver and mostly involves the production of
different goods and services (Zirin, 2016). Lean project management tool involves the use of
data-driven tools in managing projects by having the processes improved
continuously( Snyder, 2018). This method of lean management include Data analysis,
increased customer value, eliminating waste and empowered cross-functional teams.
Lean project management is mainly used in complex projects which are greatly
affected by resources limitation and cost. The project management methods include Lean six
sigma(DMEDI), Deming Cycle and Kanban. This methodologies mainly focus on visual
documentation tools, ongoing analysis and process improvement, in-depth planning to
eliminate waste.

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 8
However Lean project methodologies would have been implemented in the FIFA world cup
2018.The Three Lean principles must have been implemented, for the success of the 2018
world cup (Snyder, 2018). They include focusing on the people, eliminating waste and also
focusing on the customer (Maylor &Dawsonera, 2010)
 Focus on the Customer
Just like in the manufacturing environment, it is good for the planning team to pay much
attention to the need of the customers (Ellis, 2016). The project team needed to determine
who the customer of the FIFA world cup 2018 is? Or in other words who was thought to
benefit from the project?. The management must understand the preference of the FIFA
world cup 2018 customers. They needed to know what they value most (Garcia, 2015). They
needed to know what the FIFA world cup 2018 customers preferred and make sure that the
project delivers to them (Frawley &Adair, 2014). With these in mind, the managing team will
know the need of the customer and delivered the products based on the needs that customers
had (müller, 2014).
 Eliminating Waste;
There is always waste in project management (Wysocki, 2012). Waste is something that will
not benefit the customer, but he or she is will to pay for it. Sometimes people become used to
waste, and they no longer see it as a waste (Roudias, 2015). You need to ask yourself some
questions like can you manage to handle the project in just a few steps? Do you pay attention
to each and every task or you just pay attention to the critical path? Have you asked the
project team for some advice about how to do away with waste?
Coming up with an effective plan on how to execute the FIFA cup 2018 required that the
project management team have a closer look on the previous world cup season and check

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 9
where resources got to be consumed up yet they were not of great benefit to the customers.
Everything needs to be placed within the budget since this great event was to be of benefit to
the customers (Newton, 2013). For example, during the2010 world cup, a lot of money were
used to build, decorate and maintain some stadium s in South Africa. These stadiums ended
up being beyond expectations (Martha., & Voakes, 2015). In fact, there was the overdoing of
it. Also during the FIFA world cup 2014, a lot of money was also used to prevent the
spreading of certain diseases in Brazil during the happening of the FIFA world cup. However,
the disease did not exist in the country in the firsts place. These are different wastes that have
been identified from the past FIFA world cups. Thus this had to be highly avoided at the
2018 FIFA world cup .
It's all about people.
Those who manage projects by use of lean project management are all aware that it is all
about people. This is a culture maintained in all projects using the lean management tool.
One must find out whether he engages people, whether asks for inputs are the people engaged
in this project (Wysocki, 2012). There is one of the project tasks that are very hard, and most
of the project managers would not want to engage people. In fact, it acts as a way to discover
project talent. Thus all stakeholders who were involved in the planning of FIFA world cup
2018. Both the government and the private sector should be needed to be given a chance to
air their opinions (Wysocki, 2012). Also, football fans needed to be given a chance to air
their opinions.
Implementing the world cup project did not require some extra resources, cash and Engaging
capital people makes sure that your project gets to be delivered on time, on budget and offers
some good results (Wysocki, 2012).

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 10
How agile methodology and lean project management would have been implemented in
the FIFA world cup 2018
As a project manager, you have to handle every challenge. On has to deliver quality
work on budget and time (Cottle, 2011). Agile and Lean project are two methodologies that
are in line with the needs of the modern project managers (Garcia, 2015). Agile
methodologies are not limited to any specific practice and approach. Some methodologies
like Scrum, XP and Kanban are classified as agile project methodologies (Ellis, 2016) .
Agile development divides the project development process into small processes thus
minimizing the much work in planning and design. Instead of looking up for a project that
takes a long period to be accomplished quick breaks this whole process into small
manageable processes (Ellis, 2016). This iteration usually takes a little time to be
accomplished. The agile development cycles also promote better communication (Kerzner &
Belack, 2010). During these small processes, the managers usually communicate with the
people for better management. This is to help the people stay up to date when delivering the
given piece of value. It helps the team members to be more focused on the real actual work
on hand. Then if they were managing a whole project at once. Agile methodologies also
greatly help in managing quality (Garcia, 2015). After every piece of value has been
delivered . The agile team usually look back and try to come up with ways in which they can
be able to improve quality. Thus managing the 2018 FIFA world cup will call for the whole
project to be divided into small iterations. Where these iterations will be assigned a team.
Lean project management is a process of lean management which is mainly rooted in
lean methodology (Kerzner & Belack, 2010). Agile was mainly developed for the
optimization of software development teams while lean has been developed to optimize
manufacturing value streams (Kerzner,2011). Today these methodologies are usually used

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 11
together (Alegi, 2008). Through the integration of agile methodologies in Lean project
management helps a project manager to break down a whole project into some measurable
and manageable pieces thus making the different teams be able to deliver faster and high
quality. As a result, a project is delivered on time.
Thus applying agile methodologies in delivering the lean project management of the
FIFA world cup of 2018 would have been easier because the project would have been broken
into small manageable processes which would have been easily managed by small teams
(Alegi, 2008). Agile methodologies are the best to use in lean project management especially
while trying to deliver a complex project like the 2018 FIFA world cup .The whole project
can be divided into small matches assigned to a team but coordinated by the project
managers. In fact, it will be easier this way.
How Lean and Lean Six Sigma would have been implemented in the 2018 FIFA world
cup
Lean six sigma is usually based on facts and a philosophy based in data . It mainly
favours consumer satisfaction through reducing cycle time, waste and variation thus
promoting workflow and standardization .It is best applied where waste and variation exist
(Kerzner & Belack, 2010). It is further referred to as DMAIC which means to define,
measure, analyse, improve and control. These methods can be best applied in FIFA world cup
2018 project management. This is by defining what customers want and the borders of the
project (Maylor &Dawsonera, 2010). We can also use this method to measure the extent to
which the world cup will be able to satisfy all customers and by which way (Frawley &Adair,
2014). This method will help to carry out an analysis on what customers prefer best.
Generally, lean six sigma management will be of great help to know the needs of the
customers and what they want to be delivered to them.

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 12
This method would have been effectively used to collect data from customers to make
sure that they had the best world cup experience ever offered to them during the FIFA world
cup of 2018 (Garcia, 2015).
How PRINCE2 and Lean project management would have been implemented in the
FIFA world cup 2018.
Basically PRINCE2 usually means Projects in Controlled Environments (Roudias,
2015). The government of the United developed it, and it is a process-based method. This
method is usually based on some principles which are meant to control the whole process of
the project. They include
1. All operations of the project should serve the need of Customers and the benefits they
will draw from them
2. The project team should learn from every stage. Thus everything that happens in every
phase of the project should be recorded for future retrieval
3. The responsibility of every person should be clearly defined
4. Apart from planning for every project, each stage should have its planning
5. Teams need to ensure that they offer quality at every stage
6. Project managers manage projects by putting exceptions
There also seven steps in this method. They include start up, directing, initiation,
controlling, managing the delivery of the project, managing the stages of the projects and also
closing the project (Hahn, 2011). However one must have experience when implementing
PRINCE2

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 13
Thus it is straightforward to implement PRINCE2 in Lean Project Management. Lean
methodology pays more attention to the needs of a customer just like the PRINCE2 method.
The PRINCE2 usually divided a project into seven stage (Frawley &Adair, 2014). When this
methodology is combined with the lean project it will make sure that in every step the needs
of the customers will be catered for and because of the presence of data it will be easy to
know how to implement each stage based on the needs of the customers
There was a need to combine Lean project management with the PRINCE2
methodology (Frawley &Adair, 2014). This would have divided the whole world cup project
into seven stages (Hahn, 2011). There was to be data analysis for each step which would
significantly help in making sure that customers had the best world cup experience ever
(Martha., & Voakes, 2015). Through this, it was easy to eliminate waste and everything that
would not have been to the best interest of customers and sponsors.
How PMBOK and Lean project management would have been implemented in the
FIFA world cup 2018.
This process also breaks down a project into five processes. These processes include
Initiation, planning, executing, controlling an closing. However, PMBOK cannot be thought
to be a methodology rather it more of conventions and standards of managing different
projects (Kerzner, 2011). Thus implementing Lean methods together with PMBOK will see
the division of the entire project into the five projects (Frawley &Adair, 2014). Each stage
will call for data analysis just like the lean methodology requires it and to makes sure that
waste is eliminated it will be carried out based on the interests of the customer (Burton,
2011).

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 14
The implementation of the lean methods together with the PMBOK would have seen
the FIFA world cup 2018 project divided into five stages since when the idea was conceived.
Just like Prince 2, in PMBOK every step must be carried out based on the needs of the
football fans across the world.
How Project management organization and Lean methodology could have been
implemented in FIFA world cup 2018
Project organization is a process concerned with coming up with decisions and
arrangement that affect the whole process of a project. This tasks usually involves organizing
the method of the projects, the framework involved in the process. Basically, the project
management organization usually requires structuring, configuration, and organization. If this
is implemented together with the lean methodology, it will make sure that the decisions made
for the execution of the project are proper.
Implementation of project management organization together with the lean project
management in the FIFA world cup 2018, would have ensured that good arrangement and
decisions that pertain to each team and every match are made (Burton, 2011). This would
have ensured that no inconveniences are encountered during the project processes.
Assumptions
 All resources needed to accomplish the FIFA world cup project were available.
 The FIFA world cup was to be held in Russia.
 Only the 12 stadiums were to be used for the world cup events.
 32 teams were also expected for the world cup event.

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 15
Conclusion
Using multiple methodology approach always leads to happier customers and projects teams
(Maylor &Dawsonera, 2010). At the beginning using multiple methodology approaches is
usually odd especially when delivering complex projects. Thus it okay for project managers
to use a combination of Lean, Lean six Sigma, PMBOK, and PRINCE2 methodologies

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 16
References
Alegi, P. (2008). "A nation to be reckoned with": The politics of world cup stadium construction in Cape Town
and Durban, South Africa. African Studies, 67, 397-422. doi:10.1080/00020180802505038.
Burton, T. T. (2011). Accelerating lean six sigma results: How to achieve improvement excellence in the new
economy. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: J. Ross Pub.
Cottle, E. (Ed.). (2011). South Africa's World Cup: A legacy for whom? Scottsville, South Africa: the University
of Navarro, -Natal Press
Essays, UK. (November 2013). Project characteristic of FIFA World Cup. Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/management/project-characteristic-of-fifa-world-cup-management-
essay.php?vref=1
Ellis, G. (2016). Project management in product development: Leadership skills and management techniques to
deliver great products. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Frawley, S., & Adair, D. (2014). Managing the football world cup IN: Macmillan.
Garcia.L .K. (2015, May 11). Brazil's World Cup legacy includes $550M stadium-turned-parking lot. NPR.
Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/05/11/405955547/brazils-world-cup-legacy-
includes-550m-stadium-turned-parking-lot
Hahn, V. G. (2011). Creating sustainable shareholder value with Lean Six Sigma: Evaluation and portfolio
selection of Lean Six Sigma projects. Lohmar: Eul.
Kerzner, H., & Belack, C. (2010). Managing complex projects. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Kerzner, H. (2011). Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: A guide to measuring and monitoring
project performance. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 17
Müller, M. (2014). After Sochi 2014: Costs and impacts of Russia's Olympic Games. Eurasian Geography and
Economics, 55, 628-655. doi:10.1080/15387216.2015.1040432
Martha, M., & Voakes, K. (2015). Over budget and underprepared – Are Russians stadiums ready to host the
World Cup?. Goal.com. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
Maylor, H., & Dawsonera. (2010). Project management. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Newton, R. (2013). The project management book. Indianapolis, IN Wiley.
Roudias, J. (2015). Mastering principles and practices in PMBOK, PRINCE2, and Scrum: Using essential
project management methods to deliver effective and efficient projects. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Pearson Education/FT Press.
Schmidt, T. (2009). Strategic project management made simple: Practical tools for leaders and teams.
Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
Snyder, C. (2018). A project manager's book of tools and techniques: A companion to the PMBOK Guide.
Sy, D. R. (2012). SharePoint 2010 for project management. Farnham: O'Reilly.
Westland, J., & Kogan Page. (2010). The Project management life cycle: A complete step-by-step methodology
for initiating, planning, executing & closing a project successfully. London and Philadelphia: Kogan Page.
Wysocki, R. K. (2012). Effective project management: Traditional, agile, extreme. Indianapolis, IN Wiley.
York, G. (2014, June 8). How South Africa can offer Russi a World Cup lesson. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved
from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/world-cup/white-elephants/article19064519/

LEADING LEAN PROJECTS 18
Zirin, D. (2016, March 21). How the Rio world cup could cement a Brazilian coup. The Nation. Retrieved from
https://www.thenation.com/article/how-the-rio-olympics-could-cement-a-brazilian-coup/