Implementing Lean Project Management for FIFA Event

This article discusses the implementation of lean project management for organizing the FIFA 2018 Football World Cup tournament. It covers important terms like VOC, CCR, CTQ, ways to implement lean project management, and methodologies like PMBOK and PRINCE2. The article emphasizes the importance of customer satisfaction and continuous improvement in project management.

Leading Lean Project
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Important Terms related to FIFA Event.....................................................................................3
Voice of the Customer (VOC)...............................................................................................3
Critical to Customer Requirements (CCR)............................................................................4
Critical to Quality Parameters (CTQ)....................................................................................5
Ways to Implement Lean Project Management.........................................................................6
Methodologies that will help in supporting the lean project implementation............................8
Conclusion and recommendations...........................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................13
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Introduction
The main aim of this task is to organize the FIFA 2018 Football World Cup tournament with
the help of the lean management process and methods. This is an international level sport
event and hence, as a project manager, it is important to deliver high quality project as this
event has attracted international attention. To successfully implement this project, lean
project management has been adopted, as it has the ability to provide all the necessary data
that is required to manage the project in a successful manner. The task has explained all the
necessary lean management practices that have the ability to help in the successful
implementation of the FIFA event. The lean management practice that has been discussed in
detail includes PMBOK, PRINCE2, Agile and Lean Six Sigma.
Important Terms related to FIFA Event
Voice of the Customer (VOC)
Voice of the Customer is a very common term in the field of business and information
technology. The main aim of this concept is to find out about the demands and expectations
of the customers so that they can get what they want. This can also be seen as a market
research technique used by the businesses and project managers so that they can successfully
deliver products and services (Qualtrics, 2018).This method helps to reduce cost as well as
extra expenses over the project. As this is market research, it also helps in promoting about
the product or service being offered which in return has the ability to increase the revenue.
This is one of the best models to connect with the customers at the right time with the help of
the best channel available (Confirmit, 2018).The data collected with the help of this method
helps in improving the performance of the business and enhance the overall productivity of
the organizations. Because of the direct connections with the customers, a chain of loyal
customers is also developed because of this method (Clarabridge, 2018).
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In the case of FIFA event, the managerial staff, the employees, viewers and sponsors of the
event are important customers and as a result, it is important to gather information related to
their expectations and demands from the event. Accordingly, the project can be framed to
satisfy the demands of the customers. The information can be gathered with the help of
interviews, surveys, online advertisements, advertisements through traditional methods, etc.
Management and the employees can also share relevant information related to the
expectations from the event as they are in this business from a long time. Continuous
meetings are one of the best ways to gather information from the managements and
employees. The information gathered through this method will help to a great extent to
deliver what is demanded by the customers.
Critical to Customer Requirements (CCR)
Customers are at the centre of any business and the project managers and each and everything
of a business revolves around customers and is designed according to their requirements and
expectations. It’s upon the customers that whether they want to buy the product or service
offered to them or not (Survey Methods, 2018).This decision of the customer is highly
dependent on the critical customer requirements. Hence, organizations put efforts to find out
about the critical customer requirements so that they can manage their business accordingly
and provide what is demanded. This will give a competitive edge to the business. In order to
describe the customer values more precisely, four different areas have been marked by
experts and they are cost, quality, features and availability also abbreviated as CQFA. In
order to stand out as a successful business, it is necessary that an organization has perfection
in one or more areas mentioned. Though, the level of importance of each area changes on a
continuous basis and hence, it is important to analyse these areas depending upon the needs
and demands of customers (Six Lean Sigma, 2017).
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In the case of organizing the FIFA event, critical to customer requirements play an important
role. With the help of this method, it would be easy to find out about the amount the viewers
are willing to pay for the entry tick.et to the stadium, what necessary facilities and services
are being expected by them around the event area, how viewers can be connected easily with
the food section and the rest rooms of the event area, etc. along with the stadium viewers.
This method will also help in knowing about the viewers sitting at their home and watching
the FIFA World Cup Tournament over the television set. It is the responsibility of the project
manager to make sure that all the necessary arrangements have been done in order to telecast
the whole event to the viewers who are not able to come in person to the event.
Critical to Quality Parameters (CTQ)
Quality is the most important quotient in any business. Good quality not only satisfies your
customer but also offers an organization a competitive edge in the market (Six Sigma Daily,
2018).Though, it has been seen that there has always been debate over the definition of
quality. Hence, critical to quality parameters are used by organizations in order to know about
the factors that drive quality of the product or service to customers. This helps the
organization to offer the product or service in the same manner and with the same quality as
expected by the customer. Critical quality parameters are available in the form of critical to
quality trees called CTQ trees (Six Sigma Basics, 2018).This is a diagram-based tool which is
used by organizations to produce high quality products and services. This tool is used by the
organization in order to convert the customer’s needs into measurable production
requirements. This CTQ tree was developed as a part of the six-sigma method (Hendricks,
2018).This is done by first identifying about the needs of the customers as this is what the
customer expects to be delivered to them. After identifying the need, the quality drivers
attached to that need is identified. This is so because these are the main factors that customers
will use to analyse the quality of the product or service delivered. After this, in order to
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deliver the best high-quality product, the performance requirements of each of the quality
drivers are identified. Hence, it can be said that this method will help with a list of quality
requirements that are critical to the customers (Mind Tools, 2018).
In the case of FIFA World Cup Tournament, this method can be utilized in order to identify
the requirements from the broad list of demands. The critical quality requirements related to a
sport event should be identified. And the main drivers of such requirements should be
analysed as this will help in gaining in- depth knowledge about the demands of the viewers
related to the quality of the event, on the basis of past events. This way, the project manager
will be able to deliver an event that will be remembered by the people for years and will set
an example for the future sports event.
Ways to Implement Lean Project Management
At the time of implementing lean it is very important to keep in mind that it is best suitable
for long term goals and is not able to fix urgent organizational issues. The main motive
behind implementing the lean project management is to reduce waste in the organization’s
production as well as other processes. This methodology offers the ability for continuous
improvement in the project processes by consistently measuring the performance at every
level. Hence, the project enjoys benefit from this method on a continuous basis. The
principles of lean philosophy are easier and as a result the workers learn to reduce wastage
over time. One of the most important principle or goal of lean thinking is to maintain the flow
of processes. In order to achieve this project managers need to implement pull approach
which will help in waste reduction, reduced costs of inventory, high maintenance of the end
products. This approach helps in reducing the overwork done by humans as well as machines.
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Some of the best ways to implement lean project management includes waste reduction,
considering the value stream, and focusing on the customer, etc. (Moujib, 2007). These points
are discussed in detail below:
Seeking out waste reduction: A huge number of wastes are expected in project
management. In order to reduce this, the first task that needs to be performed is the
identification of waste. Usually, it has been seen that many project managers or methods end
up identifying the machine waste only and ignore the human waste. The best thing about lean
project management is that it helps in identifying the human waste as well and accordingly
necessary actions can be taken that will help in reducing the machine and human waste. First,
it is important to understand what is waste? Waste can be understood as anything and
everything that does not add value to the customers. If something does not add any value to
the customer, then he/she will not willingly like to pay for the product or service which will
be directly reflected on the profits of the company and the failure of the project. Hence, it is
important to identify waste and take efforts to reduce them.
Focus on Customer: The most important thing in lean project management is to think about
the customers first. In case of FIFA world cup, main customers are the football fans who
come to watch the world cup matches. It is important to know about the target market that
will get the ultimate benefit from the project being implemented. In order to know about the
customers and their demands it is important to know about the customer values. This is so
because depending upon the customer values the project will be optimized and then the final
output will be able to satisfy the final consumer which in this case is the viewers of the world
cup, the sponsors and also the government authorities (Anderson, 2017).
Continuous improvement: This is also one of the most important parts of lean project
management. Continuous improvement is something that is always seen by the project
managers of this approach. This improvement can be achieved with the help of the
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involvement of team members. Also, training can be provided consistently to avoid any
mistakes and learn at every level of the project process. Lean project management makes sure
that the result or the output of the project is measured at every stage. Because of this reason
this approach is able to achieve continuous improvement as and when required (SmartSheet,
2017).
The implementation of the lean project management helps the project manager in tremendous
ways as discussed above. In the case of organizing the FIFA event it is important to identify
the possible wastes that can be avoided. By knowing the needs and demands of the customers
of this event the project manager will be able to deliver exactly what is needed by them and
hence, will be able to achieve satisfied customers.
Methodologies that will help in supporting the lean project
implementation
PMBOK: PMBOK is one of the best solutions in order to support the project
implementation. The principles of PMBOK help in resource optimization as well as
cooperate in dynamic ways. PMBOK is used as guide while designing project management.
The principles of PMBOK help in resolving the quality issues arising in the project
management. The guidelines of PMBOK are so clear and simple that it can be used by an
individual project manager or by a team. Hence, it can be said that the guidelines of PMBOK
aim to provide a structure to the knowledge required in order undertaking a project
successfully. Five basic process groups are identified by PMBOK in almost every project.
They are initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling. Apart from this, nine
different knowledge areas are also identified by PMBOK that are found in every project.
Quality management is majorly focused upon by PMBOK in every project and the guidelines
and steps are easy to follow. The guidelines of PMBOK can be considered as customer -
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centred as it majorly focuses on their satisfaction and fulfilment of their requirements. The
main difference in PMBOK from other methods is that PMBOK helps in identifying as well
as acquiring resources for the completion of the project. It provides the necessary guidance to
review the resources depending upon the requirements of the project (Visual Paradigm,
2018).
PMBOK can be used to manage the quality of the FIFA world cup event in a very efficient
manner. This is one of the best methods that will keep a check on the quality of the event
from the initial stage till the completion of the event. The different process groups identified
by PMBOK along with nine knowledge areas will help in implementing the FIFA event in a
well-structured manner. FIFA is an international event and hence, has to fulfil the
requirements of the international market and therefore, quality of the event is the most
important part to be taken care of in this event. PMBOK is the best solution available as
project management tool in case of FIFA event.
PRINCE2: PRINCE2 stands for Projects IN Controlled Environments and this is one of the
most widely used methods to manage projects. This is one of the best methods that is used by
project managers in order to wrap up the projects more efficiently. This method was
introduced in order to execute government projects in UK, since then, this method has been
used by public as well as private organizations. The main benefit offered by PRINCE2
method is that it helps in recognizing the common causes that may lead to project failure.
This method helps the project managers to divide the whole project into small steps and make
it more logical and simple to handle. There are majorly 7 basic principles of the PRINCE2
method that helps any project manager. They are providing justification to the business,
learning from experience, it clearly defines roles and responsibilities, helps in running the
management in stages, managing by exception, and focus on quality of the product, adjusting
the approach according to the project (Axelos, 2018).
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This method can be used to manage the FIFA event by dividing the whole event into simple
steps that can be handled easily. Though this method is not that powerful as compared to
PMBOK and hence, this method can be avoided in the implementation of a lean project.
Agile method
Agile method is related to the software development that is used in project management
(Drumond, 2018). There are different agile methodologies that are unique in their nature but
share common values related to the project management. This method is customer -centred as
well as majorly focuses on the results of the project. This method aims to undertake
continuous improvement in the project with the help of software development (Stackify,
2017).The main advantage of this method is that it will help in finding about the cause of the
failure of any project at a very early stage. This method also helps in understanding the need
of the customer and developing the project accordingly so that maximum satisfaction is
received (VersionOne, 2018).Hence, it can be said that with the help of this method, the
project managers can develop and design the right project product. This helps the companies
to gain competitive advantage in the market. This method is best utilized for technical
development of the project as a result of which, excellent quality work is delivered by the
business (Gonçalves, 2018).
This method can be adopted along with other methodologies. This is so because this method
will help to develop software that will link every demand of the project and how it needs to
be done in order to undertake the FIFA event in a successful manner. This method will help
in developing the design of the project that is the manner in which the project should be
undertaken so that the desired objective is achieved. This method will also help in
continuously keeping a check over the quality of the project.
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Lean Six Sigma
With the help of the lean six sigma method, the quality of the products and services are
improved as well as the organizations are able to increase their profits. This method provides
with various tools to adopt different improvements in the project and also to improve the
capability of the project. Lean Six Sigma method in simple words can be understood as a fact
based method that uses data in order to improve the defects if any in the project. This method
helps in reducing wastage along with time and aims to promote the standardization of the
work giving a competitive edge to the businesses in the market (ASQ, 2018). Lean Six Sigma
is a blend of both the methods lean and six sigma. It improves the managerial process of the
business and hence, is also used to improve the project management process by the project
managers (APMG, 2018).This method helps in the development of quality of the product and
also adds value to the business by reducing the critical to quality (CTQ) issues of the
businesses. It has been seen that with the application of six sigma a considerate improvement
has been seen in the quality of the project and because of this reason it has been widely used
in the field of project management (Hill, Thomas, Mason-Jones, & El-Kateb, 2018).
This method is though not that supportive for the FIFA event. This is so because the
principles of this method are majorly used in manufacturing and production. Though, this
method is now being used in almost every field but event management is something that does
not require factual information. This is the main feature of this method. Though, it cannot be
totally neglected, as this method helps in waste reduction and helps in improving the value of
the project. However this advantage is offered by other methods as well like the agile method
and PMBOK method.
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Conclusion and recommendations
FIFA 2018 Football World Cup tournament is an international event. Hence, it is important to
deliver high quality project. Lean project management has been adopted and the necessary
lean management practices are implemented to help in the successful implementation of the
FIFA event. In order to make the event successful, it is important to understand the needs and
the requirements of the customers. Considering the long- term goals of the project is
important at the time of implementing the lean practices. The important areas to be focused
are reducing waste and focusing upon the customers’ demand. This methodology will help in
continuous improvement through measuring the performance continuously at every level.
The event’s main customers are the football fans and hence, output will be able to satisfy
them. In order to attain the success, it is important to focus on continuous improvement and
the training of the team members in order to avoid mistakes. The methodologies that support
the lean project implementation are PMBOK, Agile, PRINCE2 and Lean six sigma. Hence,
the effective implementation of these methodologies can help in managing the FIFA event in
an effective manner. PMBOK helps in the resource optimization and resolving the quality
issues. It involves five steps that are: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and
controlling and closing for managing the project. PRINCE2 helps in recognizing common
causes that lead to project failure. Agile methods help in keeping a check over project quality
and also help in understanding customer’s needs and developing the project accordingly.
Lean six sigma methods helps in maintaining quality of products and services and increase
profits. It also helps in reducing wastage, promoting the standardization as well as helps in
improving the value of project. It is recommended that, for the implementation of the lean
project management, effective understanding of the requirements of the customers is highly
important. Using the combination of the lean methodologies can help in governing the
success of the project. Effective planning of the project is important for managing the project
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and hence using PMBOK can help in attaining the same. In order to identify the issues in the
project, PRINCE2 can serve as an effective methodology to be adopted in the FIFA event.
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