PPMP20009: Lean Project Management Implementation in Consultancy

This report provides a comprehensive overview of implementing Lean Project Management (LPM) within a project management consultancy, focusing on the transition to handle government tasks. It details the benefits of LPM for various stakeholders, including top management, project teams, employees, customers, and government entities. The report identifies critical success factors (CSFs) such as management leadership, organizational culture, communication, training, and financial ability, outlining steps to ensure these factors are effectively addressed. It emphasizes the importance of active leadership, communication of change, goal setting, and continuous improvement. The document also discusses the five main principles of LPM: value, value stream, flow, pull, and perfection, highlighting the need for a cultural shift and strategic planning. Training requirements are addressed, with a focus on eliminating communication gaps and aligning employee goals with organizational objectives. The report concludes by underscoring the importance of assessing the successful implementation of LPM through its quantifiable benefits and the adoption of lean sigma standards.

1Memorandum
Memorandum
DATE: [To be Filled]
TO: All the staffs
FROM: Director in Charge
SUBJECT: Introduction of lean project management in the future projects of the firm.
Introduction:
We desire to undertake government tasks in near future and thus the consultancy will
be using Lean Project Management principles in its project management processes in order to
upgrade its skills and making the firm eligible to take up the government tasks. The details of
the implementation process have been attached herein. The staffs’ cooperation will be
desirable in bringing the required change. The aim of the Lean Project Management concept
is delivering maximum value to the customers and the response time should be quick and the
service reliable.
Benefits of Lean Project Management Implementation:
The implementation of the Lean Project Principles will affect the top managerial
posts, the employees, project manager and project team, customers and the government. To
get a clear understanding of the process it is necessary to analyse how the above individuals
will be related to the project. The top managerial posts include the corporate operating
authorities, division managers, resource manager and others (Noori, 2015). These officials
are responsible to develop the strategies required for the effective implementation of the
work. On successful completion of the project under the above said heads, the professional
stand of the individuals will be enhanced in the company. The project team consists of the

individuals those who are wholly dedicated to this specific project and their team lead is the
project manager. The efficiency of the project team determines the rate of success of the
process and the team will be benefitted if LPM strategies are implemented because this
process is capable of reducing time and the resources can be used rationally (Alhuraish,
Robledo & Kobi, 2017). The project manger can learn a lot from his team if he works closely
with them and can build a rapport. The internal customers of the consultancy firm are the
employees who are required to understand the importance of the project going to be
implemented. Some of the aspects of LPM that will be beneficial for employees are the
availability of centralized environment to bring in improvements in the project, 24*7 access
to the work and the workflow is provided with automated notifications. The external
customers are the clients and they will be highly benefitted with the LPM principles as it
gives customer satisfaction the maximum priority. The government in this case is an
important stakeholder, as the project manager needs to deal with the various government
regulators and departments to understand the requirements essential for the Lean Project
Management Process.
Critical Success Factors:
Critical Success Factors (CSF’s) are those factors that are required for accomplishing
the success of the business. The firm has identified some of the critical success factors that
the organization needs to focus on, to implement the Lean Project Management Principles.
The proposed CSFs for the firm are as follows:
 Management leadership and the support of the management
 Top managerial commitments
 Work culture of the organization
 Communication between the employees and the higher authorities

 Training and skill development
 Firm’s financial ability
 Measurement framework
Top management leadership and the support of the higher officials is a crucial and
vital success factor in lean project management implementation. The management is
responsible to take an initiative in order to define and communicate the change in vision and
the employees informed of the importance of the project going to be implemented and the
pros and cons if any in the process. Good leadership boosts skills and enhances the
knowledge amongst the work environment (Lande, Shrivastava & Seth, 2016). The support
framework plays an important role for analysing the service performance and ensures proper
planning for implementing the Lean Project Management. The involvement of management
and their commitment are the primary prerequisites in accomplishing the desired
improvement in the productivity of the firm. To be successful in project lean management
implementation, a committed management is essential to provide support to the firm. The
work environment is one of the imperative factors that are associated with successful
implementation of the Lean Project Management in the firm.
Organizational culture refers to the values, social customs, core beliefs and norms that
are a parameter of the actions of the individuals in the firm and their behaviour with their
peers. Collaborative culture is a vital condition for transferring of knowledge. Lack of
communication in any organization leads to misunderstandings, which is detrimental to the
growth of the firm. In order to bring in a significant change in accordance to the Lean Project
Management it is necessary to communicate the scope of the new initiative at every level of
the organization (Abu Bakar, Subari & Mohd Daril, 2015). It is required to establish the
communication between all the existing value streams. Training and educating the employees
is a crucial part of lean project management success. Some of the tools and techniques related

to the implementation process require expertise and thus the employees would be trained in
such skills. Supervisory skills of the workforce need to be upgraded for the process and the
individuals would be trained to develop problem resolving potential. Financial ability of the
firm is a parameter that determines how much the firm can invest on the new initiative. The
changes acquainted with the new process require investments and the training been given to
the employees is an added cost to the firm (Laureani & Antony, 2018). Ample funding is
needed for the adopting and subsequently implementing of the lean project management.
Implementation of successful lean project management is governed by some crucial
factors. A detailed understanding of the factors will be beneficial for the firm. The CSF’s
recognised in the firm must be taken care of while taking the steps in implementing the
process. Measurement framework serves as a data collection system that provides useful
informations about a specific activity (Gonzalez Aleu & Van Aken, 2016). An initiative such
as the lean project management will be nothing more than a management fad, if it is not
measured. Measurement would enable the organization to track the rate of progress of the
lean implementation and would help in determining the benefits and effectiveness related to
the same. Based on the measurement framework the organization can control, improve,
compare and evaluate its own performance.
Steps for Ensuring Critical Success Factors
The required steps to put CSF in place in the organization are:
 Demonstrating active leadership styles by setting appropriate example to epitomize
the desired behaviour for the implementation of the lean project management.
 Initiative needs to be taken to define and communicate the change required.
 Setting goals and defining the values related to these targets.

 Change of the thought process of the management and employees regarding acquiring
knowledge and learning new things.
 Every level of the firm must have the information of the new initiative and the
employees should know the importance of the lean project management.
 Adequate funding is required to implement the project.
 Steps should be taken for long-term effectiveness of the lean project management.
 Formal mechanisms development to aid and support autonomy in the firm.
 Following new practises and principles and adopting essential changes in the work
culture.
 Developing mechanism for identifying the parts wasting the resources of the firm and
finding remedies according to it.
 Creating a culture that is able to promote creativity and sharing.
 Developing a collaborative culture for significant transfer of knowledge between the
groups as well as the individuals.
 Ensuring that the work environment is apt for the lean project management.
 Addressing the cultural issues if any in the organization.
 Establishing measurement structure and information technology system.
 Establishing a system for measuring service process performance.
 Establishing mechanisms to capture feedback from the employees to the top
management for improvement in the process.
 Encouraging the employees to communicate with the management in case of any
difficulty being faced by them.
Lean project management involves five main principles that are value, the value
stream, flow, pull and perfection. Lean project management is nothing but developing a
strategy for the improvement in the production of any firm and owes its roots to the mass

production setting in the automobile industry (Anholon & Sano, 2016). It focuses on the
managing the wastes of any form in the firm and eliminates the same from the process. The
outcome of the lean project management is that less effort, capital and space are required and
the time is reduced and the quality enhanced with decrease in the cost. In implementing the
lean project management, a value stream mapping helps in analyzing the rate of
improvement. The vital aspect is organizing the firm and this might need flexible work
structure (Brioso, 2015). The other significant changes that need to be considered standard
work, single minute exchange of dies, maintaining total productivity and proofing of the
mistakes. Further inclusions can be advance supply and demand via just in time pull systems.
Integration between lean project management and production planning and respective
control systems such as MRP is also relevant. The mindset could be achieved by strategic
planning and detailed discussion. Organizational culture and changing the leadership styles
could help implementing the process. There are many models available to change the
management process but the cultural approach must be taken. Lean refers to the cultural
principles and these are not just mere tools. The sustainability of the project is dependent on
the work culture and the collective response as a whole. Many of the tools of the lean project
management are sophisticated regarding their requirement of a specific culture that includes
strong intrinsic motivation for the successful implementation of the process (Anholon &
Sano, 2016). Thus in order to implement the project a significant change in the leadership is
required through coaching unlike giving directions only. In the lean project management
human principles are equally valuable as is the elimination of waste.
Training Requirements:
Certain training requirements are essential in order to incorporate the lean project
management. The six sigma factors are effective in eliminating communication gaps,

unstructured targets and mistaken strategies in training the employees. The six-sigma
mistakes that are normally committed are:
 Is the organization well designed for delivering results?
 Have focused goals been created for all employees?
 Are all teams working towards achieving the overall organizational goals and
objectives?
 Are the roles of all employees defined based on capabilities, skills and interests?
 Does the organization recognize and encourage innovation, ideas, and ownership?
 Is the organizational reward structure in perfect alignment with the performance
scale?
The understanding of the employees can be analyzed by regular assessments according to
their performance. The employees grasping the change faster must be recognized and
rewarded to build the motivational environment. Strategic educational sessions with the
management staffs will help remind the employees of the organizational goal. The project
managers play an important role in incorporating a work culture that includes transparency in
the communication of the organization. The employees would be updated of the future plans
and targets of the company (Netland, 2016). The important plans should be communicated in
time. The goals of the team should be aligned with the goal of the company to achieve the
overall target of the firm that is implementing the project. In the training process, employees
should be motivated to produce effective performance and adding value to the firm
irrespective of the process being undertaken such as increase in pay, incentives, opportunities
and promotion. The employees should be given ample scope to improvise themselves and

should be supplied with guidelines to accomplish the goals of the company. Lean sigma
standards in any firm are geared to follow the right direction because it adds quantifiable
value to the workforce.
The benefits related to the lean project management will be the best way to assess its
successful implementation. The management technique has various advantages and is ahs an
positive impact on the growth of the firm. The demands on timelines and the budgets, usage
of new resources and the process of customization, complicated strategies and strict
regulations are the factors that effectively contribute to the project. To excel in the
competitive environment the project teams should be able to detect maximization in the value
and increasing efficiency and minimization of the wastes (Cooper, 2017). The
implementation of the lean management project is challenging succumbing to the various
principles inculcated in the process and needs to be assessed to curb waste and avoid faults.
Some of the benefits of the lean project implementation are:
 Increase in the productivity
 Improve in the quality
 Smoother operations in the organization
 Reduction in the operating costs
 Standardization of the workflow by removing waste
 Decentralization of the process by improving the responsibilities by introducing
flexibility towards improvements
 Just-in-time invention to remove waste
 Emphasis on teamwork, mutual trust and peer development

Assessment Method:
Higher quality of the work is an important lean management project impact. The
principles rely on the trust and respect of the individuals involved in the process and can be
achieved by putting emphasis on the communication and the performance of the team
(Biazzo, Panizzolo & de Crescenzo, 2016). When working as a team enhances the team spirit,
everyone related feels empowering to focus on the areas that need more value, and thus high
quality will be obtained. In addition to the above thing, the effective collaboration and
powerful coordination will help the organization to avoid rework thus proving that the project
has been implemented well. The collaboration of the team is a supporting framework of the
management. It requires that all teams have equal contribution in the continuous process of
improvement. One of the best ways to assess that LPM has been successfully adopted within
the premises of the firm is analyzing the utilization of the tools and the software that enhance
communication and are powerful weapons to solve problems. Successfully implemented
LPM would allow information transfer between the cross-functional teams and they would be
able to access the information whenever required (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017). The usage of the
appropriate technology is a vital element to leverage the advantages of Lean Project
Management. The achievement of the desired goals depend on the understanding and the
application of the concept and it has a significant impact on the organization as it helps in
taking quick decisions without jeopardizing the end results. When the employees are
acquainted with the outcomes and they know that, they will be benefitted for the work they
are doing, their speed of resolving issues increases.
The decentralized nature of decision-making and the contributions allow the process
to move towards its expected end quicker. A project team prompt in resolving issues and
tracking the financial condition of the firm is a proof that the firm has successfully
implemented lean project management. The increase in the production rate of the firm on

implementation of the project lean management will make it eligible to get the government
tasks. The rates of production are the basis of measurement of the applicability of the project
as it is the only parameter that yields profit. Increase in production decreases the risk
involved in losing profit and thus contributes to the growth of the firm (Sunder, 2016). The
minimal waste production, May it be actual material waste or procedural waste increases the
efficiency of the project. As Lean Project Management involves specific principles, it would
help in gaining profits.
Conclusion:
The implementation of the lean project management will not only increase
productivity but also help to handle risks. Owing to the concepts of the strategies of the Lean
project management is a effective task management tool. The commitments made, the actual
processing on them can be checked, and thus it helps in time management. The team requires
to find out where exactly the project is being worked upon that is tracking the progress of the
project and the portions which require maximum productivity. The organization can closely
track their progress in accordance to the commitments allowing the decision makers to
recognize the potential and the risks if any in the process. The Lean Project Management
would help understand the progress of the firm; the teams will be able to understand their
potential and work in improving themselves. The successful implementation of the project
will help the firm to get the government tasks and as the value delivered, will be the priority
it will accomplish the targets that have been set and customer satisfaction. A positive work
environment and freedom to communicate with the officials will bring transparency in the
firm. Lean project management practitioners strive to inculcate perfection in their work and
thus leading the company towards its goal and reaching the targets that it has set, the primary
being eligible to get the government tasks.

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