Project Management: Case Study - Cell Phone Design Project Analysis

This project management assignment analyzes a case study involving the design of a new cell phone model for Motorola. The student, acting as a project manager, is tasked with planning the project schedule, calculating the project duration, and estimating project costs. The solution includes a network diagram illustrating the project's critical path and the duration of each activity within the work breakdown structure. The assignment details the start and finish dates for each task, along with the total slack for non-critical activities. The analysis also addresses project crashing, a technique used to reduce project duration by increasing resources and costs, focusing on activities along the critical path. The solution references relevant project management literature and provides a comprehensive overview of project planning and execution principles.

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Project Management Principles
Name of the Student
Name of the University

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Answer to 1
Figure 1: Network Diagram of the Project
(Source: Created by Author)

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Answer to 2
The start and end dates of the project along with the durations of each activity are shown
in the following table.
WBS Task Name Duration Start Finish
Cell Phone Design Project 36 wks Mon 4/15/19 Fri 12/20/19
P Product Specifications (P) 11 wks Mon 4/15/19 Fri 6/28/19
P1
Overall Product
Specifications
4 wks Mon 4/15/19 Fri 5/10/19
P2 Hardware Specifications 5 wks Mon 5/13/19 Fri 6/14/19
P3 Software Specifications 5 wks Mon 5/13/19 Fri 6/14/19
P4 Market Research 2 wks Mon 6/17/19 Fri 6/28/19
S Supplier Specifications (S) 6 wks Mon 6/17/19 Fri 7/26/19
S1 Hardware 5 wks Mon 6/17/19 Fri 7/19/19
S2 Software 6 wks Mon 6/17/19 Fri 7/26/19
S3 Market Research 1 wk Mon 7/1/19 Fri 7/5/19
D Product Design (D) 14 wks Mon 7/8/19 Fri 10/11/19
D1 Circuits 3 wks Mon 9/23/19 Fri 10/11/19

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D2 Battery 1 wk Mon 7/22/19 Fri 7/26/19
D3 Display 2 wks Mon 7/22/19 Fri 8/2/19
D4 Outer Cover 4 wks Mon 7/8/19 Fri 8/2/19
D5 User Interface 4 wks Mon 7/29/19 Fri 8/23/19
D6 Camera 1 wk Mon 7/29/19 Fri 8/2/19
D7 Functionality 4 wks Mon 8/26/19 Fri 9/20/19
I Product Integration (I) 11 wks Mon 9/23/19 Fri 12/6/19
I1 Hardware 3 wks Mon 10/14/19 Fri 11/1/19
I2 Software 5 wks Mon 9/23/19 Fri 10/25/19
I3 Prototype Testing 5 wks Mon 11/4/19 Fri 12/6/19
V Subcontracting (V) 13 wks Mon 9/23/19 Fri 12/20/19
V1 Vendor Selection 10 wks Mon 9/23/19 Fri 11/29/19
V2 Contract Negotiation 2 wks Mon 12/9/19 Fri 12/20/19
In addition, the critical path of the project is as follows.
P1 > P3 > S2 > D5 > D7 > D1 > I1 > I3 > V2

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Answer to 3
The total slack in the non-critical tasks is shown in the following table.
Activity Total Slack
P2 4 wks
P4 6 wks
S1 4 wks
S3 6 wks
D2 11 wks
D3 10 wks
D4 10 wks
D6 3 wks
I2 1 wk
V1 1 wk
Answer to 4
As per the estimation, the project will require a total of 36 weeks to complete. However,
if it is required to reduce the duration of the project significantly, project crashing can be

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performed (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017). Project crashing refers to the process by which the
duration of a project is reduced by increasing the allocated resources (human resources) as well
as the cost of performing the task (Schwalbe, 2015). For reducing the duration of the entire
project, project crashing should be performed on the activities lying on the critical path of the
project.

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References
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.