BCO3446: Expert Interview Report on Professional Project Management

This report provides an analysis of an interview with the CEO of ABC cotton textile manufacturing industry, focusing on their experience as a project manager and the skills required for effective project management. The report discusses the importance of aligning projects with business strategy, managing scope, and developing a robust communication plan. It delves into the concept of triple constraints (time, cost, and scope) and how effectively managing these constraints is crucial for project success. The report also highlights the need for proactive problem identification, strategic alignment of processes, and continuous measurement of project output against stakeholder requirements. Ultimately, the report emphasizes the project manager's role in ensuring quality, customer satisfaction, and long-term project sustainability by adeptly handling constraints and fostering effective communication.

Project Management

Contents
Introduction:..........................................................................................................................................2
Background:..........................................................................................................................................2
Discussion and Analysis:.......................................................................................................................3
Aligning project to business strategy.....................................................................................................4
Scope Management plan........................................................................................................................6
Communication plan.............................................................................................................................6
Triple constraints...................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
References:............................................................................................................................................8

Introduction:
The project can be successfully completed with the application of effective managerial skills
for handling tasks and flow of processes without any distraction, chaos, conflicts, and
constraints. The manager should develop some key skills for implementing the strategic plan
to resolve the potential constraints associated with the projects. In this paper we are looking
forward on the core managerial skills which the project manager should adapt for handling
the smooth flow of the business operation. The working structure of the role and
responsibilities of the project manager should align with the project objectives so that he will
be able to manage effective communication, handling of constraints and risks, follow up of
negotiation procedures, and management of conflict at work place. During the course plan, I
have been analysed that the operational plan of the project is equipped with three constraints
which are categorised as time, cost, and scope.
Background:
I meet with the CEO of ABC cotton textile manufacturing industry to know about his
working experience as the project manager. He shared his experience about the skills and
expertise which is required to become a good manager. He stated that the capability of the
manager can be judged on the basis of completing the project within approved budget and
time. The supervision of the process activities by setting out their priorities in undertaken
processes is the core responsibility of the project manager to get effective outcome of the
project. He shares his some practical experiences to resolve the complexity at work place.
The project process gets affected if the proper steps are not taken to manage he constraints
related to time, cost, and scope. He suggested that the critical path of the process should be
developed so that the critical activities should be carried out before non-critical activities so
that no delay occurs in the project allocated time for completion. The interdependencies of
the processes should be judged so that the completion of one process does not affect the
working schedule of the other process. The identification of the complexity which is
amalgamated with the project process should be judged and proper strategy should be
planned to resolve the complexity proactively before the start-up of the project. This helps in
completing the project without any distraction and chaos with the end product (Hamid,
Ghafoor, and Shah, 2012). The long term sustainability of the project can be achieved by
measuring the value of constraints and their effect on the business operational plan. The

activities should be aligned in the direction of achieving the mission and goal of the
organization.
Discussion and Analysis:
The managerial aspect of completing the operational work flow of the enterprise is
effectively highlighted by the CEO of the ABC manufacturing company. He focused that the
quality of the product can be achive by measuring the project boundaries associated with the
strategic plan developed for the betterment of the company. The strategic plan should
emphasize the starting and ending date of the project, resources and equipment required for
completing the task, budget required by analysing the cost associated with the processes, and
development of the infrastructure which supports the organization plan for implementation.
The flexibility and the dynamic nature of the organization infrastructure helps in comply with
the constraints associated with the project and the project can be completed on time without
any hindrance.
In his discussion he focuses on the triple constraints which can negatively affect the
functioning of the operational plan undertaken by the company (Hall, 2012). The managerial
skills of the manager can be measured by the capability of handling triple constraint
effectively. The manager should gain expertise in three areas of concern which are known as
development of time management plan, cost management plan, and scope management plan
(Kjolhede, 2012). The aligning of the time, cost, and scope helps in completing the project
with all success and without facing any failure. The satisfaction level of the customers can be
improved by competing the product on time and good quality which in turn increase the
profitability and long term sustainability of the enterprise. The balance should be maintained
between th acitivities which are used for resolving the issues associated with the time, cost,
and scope.
During the course plan of research study, we come across that there are four factors which
should be focused and balanced for achieving goal of the project which are categorised as
identification of the problems and associated requirements, determining the project activities
and sub-activities, Aligning the processes and activities in terms of time and cost to get
quality product with minimum efforts of the working employees, and lastly measuring the
output of the undertaken process with the requirement specification plan set out by the project
stakeholders (Passesheim, 2014).

Aligning project to business strategy
The business strategy should be developed for aligning the processes undertaken with respect
to minimizing the risks associated with time, cost, and scope (Catanio, Armstrong, Tucker,
2015). The constraints associated with the time, cost, and scope depend on the three
managerial elements which are summarised in the table below:
Core area of the concern Elements Functional Unit
Resources People The functional unit for
achieving the operational
plan of the enterprise
depends upon employees
and workers (Vidal, 2014)
System The policies and standards
should be used for
implementing the required
application to complete the
given tasks
Tool The set of equipment,
hardware, and software
helps in completing the
business activities on time
and with minimum efforts
(Lima, Fernandes, and
Machado, 2014)
Financial Resources Revenue collection Revenue from investment
Revenue from equity
Revenue from assets
Expenditure Cost required to manage
the labour and equipment
Charges on freight and etc.
Budget The funds required for
competing the business
processes is approved on
the basis of estimated

budget for the project
The estimated cost of the
project should be
estimated by the project
sponsor for the smooth
flow of business
operational plan
Stakeholders Project Sponsor He is responsible for
approving the budget of
the project
Project owner Requirement specification
plan
Project manager Supervising the functional
unit
The inefficiency and unavailability on time requirement placed by the site workers creates the
scenario of complexity. The following figure shows the interrelationship of the constraints:

Scope Management plan
The development of the scope management plan for the undertaken project is the core
responsibilities of the project manager to align the requirement of the project with it
associated processes. The manager focuses on pointing out the in-scope and out-of-scope
activities required for the completing the project on time. The in-scope activities of the
project depends on the management of time and cost factors associated with the process
activity schedule. The number of days and amount should be allocated to every activity to
notice the critical path of the project development activity schedule. Scope should be verified
according to the requirement specification plan placed by the owner with the quality of the
end product received at the completion of the project. The process of verification helps in
measuring the success and failure of the project. The project is successfully completed if it is
capable of completing the task within approved budget and allocated time without any delay.
Communication plan
The effectiveness of the project plan depends on the flow of communication between the
participating units of the undertaken process. The communication should be established
between the internal and external parties of the business unit for the transmission of the
required information on time. The on-demand retrieval helps in increasing the operational
capability of the working process. The communication at the work place helps the employees
to resolve their grievances, chaos, conflicts, and distraction among them. The happy and the
satisfied employees increases the productivity of the enterprise. The project manager aligns
the communication plan according to the business pan by answering to the question like:
What information should be shared?
By whom information has to be shared?
Who are the receivers of the information?
When the information has to be shared?
What is the frequency of sharing information?
What are the means of communication used?
What are the impacts of communication management plan?

Triple constraints
The success of the project can be measured by measuring the efficiency of managing time,
cost, and scope in relation to the project activity schedule. The traditional view of the triple
constraints highlights that the balance should be drawn between time, cost, and scope
associated with the project completion. The three criteria should be fulfilled for the
completing the task with success which are project should be completed with the prescribed
duration, approved cost required for completing the processes, and scope should be aligned
with the requirement specification plan. The effective management of the three constraints
which are associated with the project helps in resulting with the expected quality of the end
product. The central idea of the triple constraint is to satisfy all the requirement of the project
which affects the quality of the end product. The satisfaction of the customers helps in
measuring the success or the failure of the project.
Time Constraint: The value of the project increases with the completion of the project within
the approved time limit. The duration of the activities are set so that no hindrance should
takes place and result into the delay of the project. The development of the project activity
schedule helps in focusing on the critical path of the project activity. The completion of the
critical activities helps in completing the project without any delay.
Scope Constraints: The development of the scope management plan should align with the
requirement specification plan proposed by the project owner. The scheduling of in scope
activities helps in providing expected quality of the product by the customers. The out of
scope activities helps in eliminating the extra burden of activity schedule which can cause
delay of the project. The determining of the scope helps in satisfying the expectation of the
customer by handling them the quality product at the end of the project cycle. The scope
management plan should emphasize the starting and ending date of the project, resources and
equipment required for completing the task, budget required by analysing the cost associated
with the processes, and development of the infrastructure which supports the organization
plan for implementation.
Cost Constraints: The expected cost should be associated with every activity which helps in
calculating the expected budget of the project (Wyngaard, Pretorius, and Pretorious, 2012).
The cost should be determined by analysing the market price of the resources and equipment.
The actual cost of the project should be less than the estimated cost. The over budget of the
project causes the failure to the project completion life cycle. The difference between the

budget cost and the actual cost helps in measuring the success and failure of the project. It
can be determined if the budget cost is more than the actual cost than it clarifies that project is
successfully completed within the approved budget of the project whereas if actual cost is
more than the budgeted cost than it clarifies that the project is failed to handle its resources
and equipment within the approved budget (Wei, 2014).
The project manager should periodically analyse the difference between the two costs and the
critical path of the project activity schedule so that proactively effective action plan can be
implemented for managing the requirement of the project within the approved time, cost, and
scope.
Conclusion
The concluding remark of the project is that the core role and responsibility of the project
manager is to determine the inefficiency associated with the project in respect to cost, time,
and scope should be handled proactively so that the smooth operational flow of processes can
be laid down to get quality product at the end of the project cycle which is capable of
fulfilling the expectation of the customer demand placed in the requirement specification
plan. The project process gets affected if the proper steps are not taken to manage he
constraints related to time, cost, and scope. The central idea of the triple constraint is to
satisfy all the requirement of the project which affects the quality of the end product.
References:
Catanio, J., Armstrong, G., Tucker, J. (2015). The effects of project management certification
on the triple constraints. 1st ed. (ebook). Available at:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/beac/f3536399bc5f6557ede240b18c2ed1b85096.pdf
[Accessed 17 Apr. 2018].
Hall, N. (2012). Project Management: Recent development and research Opportnities. 1st ed.
(ebook). Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11518-012-5190-5
[Accessed 17 Apr. 2018].

Hamid, S., Ghafoor, S., and Shah, T. (2012). Work Environment and its impact on the triple
constraint of project management. 1st ed. (ebook). Available at:
file:///C:/Users/acer/Downloads/1011-1-1011-1-10-20160308.pdf [Accessed 17 Apr. 2018].
Kjolhede, E. (2012). Project Management theory and the management of research projects.
1st ed. (ebook). Available at:
http://openarchive.cbs.dk/bitstream/handle/10398/6308/wp32000.pdf?sequence=1 [Accessed
17 Apr. 2018].
Lima, A., Fernandes, G., Machado, R. (2014). Project and program Management
implications in the portfolio management of IT projects in applied R & D projects. 1st ed.
(ebook). Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7814553/ [Accessed 17 Apr.
2018].
Passenheim, O. (2014). Project Management. 1st ed. (ebook). Available at:
http://home.hit.no/~hansha/documents/theses/projectmanagement.pdf [Accessed 17 Apr.
2018].
Vidal, L. (2014). Understanding project complexity: Implication on project management. 1st
ed. (ebook). Available at:
https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/03684920810884928 [Accessed 17 Apr.
2018].
Wei, L. (2014). Manager’s challenge in managing constraints. 1st ed. (ebook). Available at:
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/managing-challenges-triple-constraints-6884 [Accessed
17 Apr. 2018].
Wyngaard, J., Pretorius, J., and Pretorious, L. (2012). Theory of the triple constraints : A
Conceptual review. 1st ed. (ebook). Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271455172_Theory_of_the_triple_constraint_-
_A_conceptual_review [Accessed 17 Apr. 2018].