PPMP20009 Term 1 2019: Lean Project Management Implementation Report

This report explores the implementation of Lean Project Management (LPM) within Value Project Consultancy. It begins with an introduction to project management and the need for LPM to avoid resource wastage and improve efficiency. The report details the LPM approach, emphasizing data-driven methods, quality, customer value, and resource efficiency. It outlines the benefits of LPM, including a single source of information, accessibility, understandability, and responsive management. The report also discusses the benefits gained by stakeholders, such as improved product quality, increased productivity, and cost efficiency. It identifies critical success factors (CSF) associated with LPM, including proper planning, stakeholder communication, and effective risk management. Furthermore, the report provides insights into training requirements for project members and individual staff, covering techniques like Lean Six Sigma and the Deming cycle. The report concludes with graphs illustrating the impact of Six Sigma implementation on customer satisfaction and waste reduction, providing a comprehensive overview of LPM's practical application.

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Lean project management
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Lean Project Management Approach..............................................................................................3
Benefits gained by the acceptance of LPM in project management................................................5
Critical success factors (CSF) associated with LPM.......................................................................6
Training requirements for project members....................................................................................7
Training requirements for individual staff.......................................................................................8
Graph representing the percentage of wastage before implementing Six Sigma..........................10
Graph representing the implementation of Pre and Post Six Sigma for customer satisfaction.....11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13
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Introduction
Project management is a very important practice that needs to be followed in order to achieve
the project goals under the given conditions. One can find people handling projects in most of
the areas. For example, educational projects in college projects undertaken over by the
government, and projects in companies/organizations. In all these cases, the role of project
management is very essential. In this report, a discussion about the implementation of project
management in organizations has conversed.
Every organization follow certain steps in managing projects. This involves initiating the
project, planning, executing, close monitoring and controlling, and closure of the project. Most
companies fail to deliver projects on time. In such cases, when they sense the inability to submit
or close the projects on time, they tend to add extra resources that may lead to wastage of
resources. This usually happens due to poor planning of the project execution. In order to avoid
wastage of resources, the concept of Lean Project Management (LPM) has been introduced and
applied to project management (Webb, 2017).
LPM uses data-driven methods to execute projects while focusing on the quality, increased
customer value, cross-functional teams, data analysis, and efficiency of resources (employee,
finance, and material).
If one has been made in charge by the Board of Directors of Value Project Consultancy, they are
expected to implement the LPM approach in its operations.
Lean Project Management Approach
First under the necessity to use the LPM approach in the implementation of projects in Value
Project Consultancy. The LPM method will help us attain quality and efficiency in work. This
will result in the availability of resources to work on more projects. The company can accept a
large number of projects without worrying about its execution as everything shall be taken care
of during the planning process. There are a few more benefits of the LPM approach listed below
(Sunder et al. 2016).
Source of information- The LPM approach manages/controls the operations of its project
through a single source of information (Eskerod and Jepsen, 2016). This is because having
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multiple sources to a piece of information can lead to misconceptions and misuse of data.
Working in an environment where data is rendered from a single source will help keep everyone
on the same page. In that case, there will be no miscommunication among the employees, and
any updates about the project will be shared among the teams at the same time. This can be
achieved by creating and giving access to a single system/dashboard where data can be
exchanged with the employees (Brioso, 2015).
Accessibility- The LPM tools are designed in such a way that anybody who has permission to
the system can access information from any location at any time. This will ensure that every
member who is a part of the project is given the freedom to work at any time in order to meet
deadlines.
Understandability- The LPM techniques are easy to understand and follow. Employees will be
able to work efficiently by implementing these techniques. It helps to break down complex
procedures into simple activities. Hence, delivery of projects will not be a tedious process.
Responsive management- Traditionally, the source of communication in project management is
slow and time consuming. This latency can be fixed through LPM where the management is
immediately notified about any changes or progress in a project (Sohi et al. 2016).
Large inventory- The lean management maintains a large database from where the team
members can access data of the present as well as past projects. This will help team members to
identify solutions to their project by browsing other similar projects done in the past.
Ease of administration- Managers often find it difficult and time consuming to juggle between
projects for a status update or any other information related to it. Lean management will help
solve this issue of monitoring the operations and feasibility of projects. By providing a single
dashboard to store information about the projects, managers will be able to give attention to the
projects one at a time and also detect any delay in the delivery of projects (Ramazani and
Jergeas, 2015).
The other reasons to inculcate the LPM approach are increased productivity and quality, cost
reduction, huge profit, low inventory cost, customer satisfaction, time efficiency (Orzen et al.
2016 ).
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Benefits gained by the acceptance of LPM in project management
The benefit of a project is of great interest to stakeholders. Stakeholders include the people
who invest monetarily as well as the people working towards the delivery of the project. An
organization can have internal and external stakeholders (Webb, 2017). The possible
stakeholders for a project are customers, high level management, project managers, project
members, resource managers, contractors, suppliers, government, subcontractors, and peer group
.
The benefits gained by stakeholders are listed below.
1. Product quality- LPM focuses on delivering good quality products (projects being the
products here). This can be achieved by eliminating the unwanted functions and
inefficiencies from the project.
2. Visualized workflow- By using the visual management tools, managers can identify the
defects in the work process and also areas of improvement. This can help them discuss
with the teams on how to create more value to the project and deliver it with efficiency.
Thus, saving the cost of the projects by removing waste generation (Elias, 2016).
3. Increased productivity- As the quality of the product is taken care, an increase in
productivity can be clearly seen due to the reduction of waste generation. Team members
are also focused on their work due to lack of miscommunication.
4. People management- As LPM focuses on the workflow of each team member, it is easy
for managers to track their performance and ensure proper credit is given to the efforts of
the members (Anholon et al. 2016).
5. Safety management- Lean management practices safety training and implementation of a
safety plan. When a risk is identified, it immediately enables the use of the
countermeasures to manage safety issues such as safety inputs, safety planning, cause of
accidents, and safe behaviours.
6. Increases profit- Reduction/removal of waste generation will help decrease the
production cost of projects and also help to deliver them on time. This will reflect on the
profit of the organization.
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7. On-time delivery- The increase in productivity and removal of defects, timely delivery of
projects can be attained.
8. Cost efficiency- The cost efficiency is directly proportional to the gained profit. So, as the
production cost is lowered, the organization will not have to spend on the waste
generation thus avoiding additional expenditure on unwanted resources (Dave et al.
2016).
Critical success factors (CSF) associated with LPM
The critical success factors are the key factors that determine the success of projects. These
are the benchmarks that the managers, as well as stakeholders, should follow in order to deliver
the objective of the projects. (Rus et al. 2016).
Listed below are the critical success factors for implementing lean factors:
1. LPM focuses on proper planning of the projects, and this is the first step that managers
should initiate.
2. Project managers should discuss the scope of the project with the stakeholders before
starting the project. The scope involves the aim, goal, objective, strategies, vision, and
performance evaluation of the project. This is an important part of the project that needs
to be discussed with everyone who is interested and influenced by the project.
3. SMART goals should be set initially for the project members to work on. The goals have
to be relevant, attainable, and measurable (Basu, 2017).
4. Techniques that have been used earlier or approved by managers should only be applied.
5. Risk management policies should be designed to avoid the damages caused by risk
factors.
6. Effective communication must be maintained before and during the execution of the
project. This involves transparency in communication between the managers and project
members (Cooper, 2017).
Implementation of critical success factors
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The success of every project is measured by the completion of the project in the specified
timeframe. CSF takes a comprehensive approach to a project’s success by measuring the long-
term and short-term goals of the project. The goals are then studied and evaluated for any
variations that are noted for future references (Harrison & Lock, 2017).
The following steps are used to attain successful LPM with the help of critical success factors:
1. The commitment of the managers- In order to implement the lean management method
successfully in an organization, the commitment of the project managers is very
important. They not only have to administer the entire system but also involve themselves
in the process of project execution. Thus, giving an assurance to the project members
about the correct flow of direction of the project.
2. Employment training- Provision of education and training to the members working on the
project is necessary for its success. The managers can either train the members
themselves or appoint trained internal or external staff (Furterer, 2016).
3. Plan and workflow- As discussed earlier, planning is the primary factor of any project.
The plan must be broken down into smaller steps for an effective workflow. Setting small
targets to achieve a greater goal makes work easy for the project members.
4. Resource allocation and profit-sharing- The project members must have access to
adequate resources related to the projects. The funds must be utilized properly, and a fair
distribution of the profit among the team members is necessary to keep them encouraged.
5. Usage of lean management tools- After understanding the importance of the lean
program, the project members should use the methods and tools of lean management in
their daily routine. This will help one understand the practical use of the lean program
(Nicholas et al. 2017).
Training requirements for project members
The project managers should first identify the members of the project who would need training
in order to execute the project. Once the team members are chosen, necessary arrangements will
have to be made to meet the physical attributes of the training that includes a proper space for
training. Training manuals and other materials should be provided as per the requirement. After
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these arrangements have been made, the following lean management techniques can be taught:
Lean six sigma, Kanban, Kaizen, Deming cycle, Value system mapping, Last planner system,
Total quality management (Flockhart et al. 2016).
Trainers must use a systematic and holistic approach while teaching the trainees so that they are
not burdened with a lot of information and find it difficult to understand. The project managers
and trainers must motivate the trainees to keep them attentive throughout the course. In order to
ensure the success of training, balance score card technique and KPIs must be applied.
Incorporation of proper evaluation methods is very important for such learning sessions
(Nicholas et al. 2017).
Training requirements for individual staff
In order to train the employees, the task of an external consultant or the project manager is
to expertise in lean project management. There have to be proper arrangements which have to be
made in connection to physical attributes of the training. In order to prepare the employees, the
project manager needs to create a team. Then proper space has to be given for training (Aquilani
et al. 2017). Then training materials and manuals have to be sourced and then be used as an
instruction manual. After resources like physical, physiological, and psychological are allocated,
the whole process of training needs to be started (Flumerfelt et al. 2016).
The techniques available are
1. Deming cycle
2. Six Sigma
3. Kanban
4. Last planner system
5. Kaizen
6. Total quality system
7. Value system mapping
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The employees undergoing the training must start the training with a learning attitude and the
trainers training them must use a very cohesive and holistic approach of teaching them. It is
necessary for the employees to have an open mind; in that case, teaching becomes easier.
Moreover, the project manager must be able to convey his message without any obstruction and
must be able to give a lot of daily life based examples to help the employees grow as individuals.
Various factors should be brought in the play to keep the employees attentive. In the end, a
proper and structured evaluation measure must be incorporated in order to test the learning skill
and ability of the employees, and they must be segmented accordingly (Kerzner & Kerzner,
2017).
A well structured manual shall help in the easy grasping of the content mentioned by the
employees. The manual must be reader friendly and should be able to convey the message
directly. The effectiveness of the manual can be evaluated directly by evaluating the
improvement of the employees. A good manual has no proper or given definition, but if it is able
to convey its message, then it can be considered as good enough (Haque & amp, 2015).
LPM Methodologies
Value Project Consultancy uses the Six Sigma approach to undertake future government
projects.
This method eliminates the root causes of problems in order to reduce the deviation in the
workflow. It mainly focuses on customer satisfaction and helps to improve the business of the
organization (Fleming et al. 2016).
The incorporation of the Six Sigma method in the working of the company is to reduce the
defects to 99.96%. Achieving this number is a good indicator of business.
The five stages of Six Sigma are:
 Define
 Measure
 Analyze
 Improve
 Control
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This process is commonly called DMAIC.
Figure 1: Lean six Sigma (Flumerfelt et al. 2016)
This methodology was used by the company to reduce wastage and achieve customer
satisfaction. The work process of the company was observed for five months. During this period,
the waste generation was reduced by 70% with the customer satisfaction rate of 83%.
It was observed that a lot of waste was generated by the excessive use of paper, where close to
one-third of the paper waste was due to negligence and errors. The company used 200 boxes of
paper every month. Using the six sigma technique; this issue was fixed where certain measures
were taken in the electronic system to control printing. The consumption of 134 boxes of paper
per month was seen after the implementation of the six sigma methodology (Anholon et al.
2016).
Graph representing the percentage of wastage before implementing Six Sigma
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75%
25%
Boxes of Paper
Wastage
Graph1: Created by author
The level of customer dissatisfaction kept growing, which was later reduced by applying
customer-centric approaches (Larson et al. 2017). The Six Sigma approach (setting up portals for
customer queries and complaints) also helped to solve this problem which also helped to receive
more customers for the company. This was further evaluated by taking feedback from the
customers.
Graph representing the implementation of Pre and Post Six Sigma for customer
satisfaction
Happy Customers
Unhappy Customers
Happy Customers
Unhappy Customers
Post Six Sigma Pre Six Sigma
83
17
46
54
Graph2: Created by author
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Conclusion
By applying the Lean Project Management technique in the Value Project Consultancy, it
was observed that there was a change in the functions and outcome of the organization. There
was more efficiency achieved by the company compared to earlier. The company is now ready to
undertake and execute government projects successfully. Similarly, the Six Sigma technique
helped the company in reducing wastage generation and unnecessary expenses. It also helped to
identify the areas of customer dissatisfaction that led to a drop in the company's turnover. Just six
months, the company has decided to apply the lean project methodologies in all the functional
departments and future projects of the company.
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References
Anholon, R., & Sano, A. T. (2016). Analysis of critical processes in the implementation of lean
manufacturing projects using project management guidelines. The International Journal of
Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 84(9-12), 2247-2256.
Basu, R. (2017). Managing project supply chains. Routledge.
Brioso, X., (2015). Integrating ISO 21500 guidance on project management, lean construction and
PMBOK. Procedia Engineering, 123, pp.76-84.
Cooper, R. (2017). Supply chain development for the lean enterprise: interorganizational cost
management. Routledge.
Dave, B., Kubler, S., Främling, K., & Koskela, L. (2016). Opportunities for enhanced lean
construction management using Internet of Things standards. Automation in construction, 61, 86-
97.
Elias, A. A. (2016). Stakeholder analysis for Lean Six Sigma project management. International
Journal of Lean Six Sigma, 7(4), 394-405.
Eskerod, P. and Jepsen, A.L., (2016). Project stakeholder management. Routledge.
Fleming, Quentin W., and Joel M. Koppelman. "Earned value project management." Project
Management Institute, (2016).
Flockhart, D.T., Mitchell, G., Krikun, R. and Bayne, E., (2016). Factors driving territory size and
breeding success in a threatened migratory songbird, the Canada Warbler. Avian Conservation
and Ecology, 11(2).
Furterer, S. L. (2016). Lean Six Sigma in service: applications and case studies. CRC press.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
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Larson, E.W. and Gray, C.F., (2017). Project management: The managerial process. McGraw-Hill
Education.
Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and
technology. Routledge.
Orzen, M. A., & Bell, S. C. (2016). Lean IT: Enabling and sustaining your lean transformation.
Productivity Press.
Ramazani, J. and Jergeas, G., (2015). Project managers and the journey from good to great: The
benefits of investment in project management training and education. International Journal of
Project Management, 33(1), pp.41-52.
Rus, S., Mocan, M., Ardelean, B.O., Ivascu, L. and Cioca, L.I., (2016). Conceptualization and
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Sohi, A. J., Hertogh, M., Bosch-Rekveldt, M., & Blom, R. (2016). Does lean & agile project
management help coping with project complexity?. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 226, 252-259.
Sunder M, V., (2016). Lean Six Sigma project management–a stakeholder management
perspective. The TQM Journal, 28(1), pp.132-150.
Webb, A., (2017). Using earned value: a project manager's guide. Routledge.
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