Lecture No.

1
Project management -
developments and challenges in
engineering and related
disciplines
Based on an Engineers Registration Board (ERB) Seminar Presentation
NM Lema
Dept. of Structural and Construction Engineering
University of Dar es Salaam
16 March, 2017
 Introduction
• Specialisation in the engineering and other
related professions have evolved over a long
time in response to widening demand;
• Engineering project management, amongst
others, has emerged as a new comer;
• It has expanded very rapidly and already there
are indications of its development into even
more specialised fields
 Introduction (cont.)
• Practice of (engineering) project management
has provided for significant opportunities for
performance improvement in the
marketplace;
• It has also establishing itself as an academic
discipline but also as a profession based on
standard tools that have now been accepted
worldwide.
 Definition: Project
• A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to
create a unique product, service, or result.
• The temporary nature of projects indicates a definite
beginning and end. The end is reached when the
project’s objectives have been achieved or when the
project is terminated because its objectives will not
or cannot be met, or when the need for the project
no longer exists.
 Definition: Project…..
• Temporary does not necessarily mean short in
duration.
• Temporary does not generally apply to the
product, service, or result created by the
project; most projects are undertaken to
create a lasting outcome.
 Project Management - Definition
• Project management is the application of
knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques
to project activities in order to meet
project requirements; (PMI, Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 2012)
 MAIN OBJECTIVE

• Project management aims at

meeting or exceeding
stakeholder needs and
expectations throughout the
process of implementing
project!!!!
 Attributes of the Objectives
• Project should meet envisaged Quality;
• Should be within planned Budget;
• Should be completed on Time;
• Should be within what was planned - Scope;
• Should be Safe - short and long term;
• Should be Sustainable - (environment,
economic);
• ALL STAKE HOLDERS MUST BE SATISFIED (?)
 Challenges
• Engineering and related projects are
increasingly becoming larger and more
sophisticated;
• Project processes therefore involve more
engineering and other disciplines in a single
project.
• Project teams are no longer limited within
geographical boundaries. This has made it
possible for project teams to work on the
same project across continents, making it a
global reality.
• Project management is one of the key skill
sets demanded by organizations around the
world.
• Some facts: • One-fifth of the world‘s GDP, or
more than $12 trillion, will be spent on
projects each year in the decade 2010-2021.
 Challenges (cont.)
• Further, virtual reality technologies have now made
it possible not only to visualise 4-D project models
but to “test drive” these models.
• It is, in this respect, now possible to experience
living in a house that has not yet been built or to
drive on a road that is still to be built or even to
drive a virtual car largely assisted by software
engineers.
• This is what today’s global clients want - to try out
what has not yet been bought!.
 Challenges (cont.)
• As though this was not enough, project
sponsors expect projects to be completed
faster, at lower costs and with higher quality.
• In short, they expect increasing value for money
in their projects.
• Improved project management skills are
required to meet a myriad of these expanding
challenges.
 Challenges (cont.)
• At global level, this has led to the emergence
of project management as one of the fields of
specialisation not only in engineering but also
in other professional fields.
 Tanzanian Situation
• Project management training and practice in
Tanzania has to address these challenges
paused by local and global project
implementation environment.
• Engineering projects, especially public
construction projects have a poor
performance record in Tanzania.
 PM Performance in Tanzania
Typical characteristics of such projects, for
example, include the following:
• they may take up to about twice and even
thrice the planned duration;
• budgets are not met; It is not unusual for
construction projects to cost up to two times
the original budget;
 PM Performance in Tanzania (cont.)
• quality is poor resulting in reworking thereby
affecting cost and duration. This is also coupled
with premature failure of the construct
facilities;
• they have poor stakeholder satisfaction record.
Often, clients are not satisfied with the
constructed facility;
– Contractors do not get the envisaged profit levels;
– Supervisors end up with creating poor relations
with contractors or clients;
– Workers are not treated fairly - wages, welfare,
OS&H;
 Project Performance (cont.)
• Key parties to the contracts sometimes end in
disputes and at times litigation;
• Projects may involve corruption; and
• Sometimes projects have short and long term
adverse environmental, ecological, social and
even political impacts.
• Others???
 PM Performance in Tanzania (cont.)
• A study by Salewi (2003) with regard to the
construction industry concluded that:
– the overall Tanzanian construction industry
performance rating in terms of cost, productivity,
reliability, quality, safety and environmental
conformance was between poor and fair, an
unsatisfactory performance.
– clients were therefore not getting value for money in
construction projects.
 PM Performance in Tanzania (cont.)
– lack of preparedness towards globalisation was one of
the major challenges;
– all respondents to the study agreed that project
management knowledge and skills were a major
deficiency in the construction industry; and
– there is a strong need for a Project Manager in the
project organisational set-up for competitiveness.
• There is no evidence to the contrary for other types
of projects.
 Favourable Climate
• The demand for engineering projects to address
economic and social needs is increasing.
• There is increased ability for the government to
continue implementing projects mostly through
partnerships with the private sector;
• Conducive environment for private sector
investment in Tanzania is favourable.
• Donors and financiers are still willing to fund
engineering projects; and
 Opportunity
• It is a fact, however, that these have to deliver
with higher performance levels within the
competitive and globalising market economy.
• The application of cutting edge project
management skills will continue to have a
significant role in ensuring competitiveness.
• Such knowledge and skills are now generally
accessible.
 Opportunity…..
• Explosion in information and communication
technology.
• In particular, it is now possible to have access to
the same free information as somebody else in
Tokyo, New York, London, Cape Town or
Mwanza, Nachingwea or Rukwa, via the
internet.
• Opportunities are there for those who can to
take advantage.
 Opportunity……
• Indeed, it is now possible to work on the same
project almost simultaneously across
continents.
• This has sometimes been referred to as
“death of distance”.
• It is also affecting the way projects are
conceived, defined and delivered.
 Emergence of Formal PM
• Formal tools like bar charts – 1917;
• Formal PM in 1970’s – Project Management
Institute (PMI) in USA;
• Later International Project management
Association (IPMA);
• 1980’s – discipline matured – USA, UK,
Europe;
• 1990s – a global phenomenon.
• 21st Century - Adopted as a standard practice.
 Modern Project Management
• Almost all tools and techniques for modern
project management were developed before the
1970’s.
• Very little progress has been made in this area
since then.
• Modern project management has been pre-
occupied with organising and standardising
project management processes and tools for
improved effectiveness.
 Project Management Body of Knowledge and
Standardisation
• Defining a body of knowledge and
developing guides and standards for practice
as a basis for education, training and
associated certification or qualification
programs are activities generally associated
with the formation of a profession.
 PM Body of Knowledge (PM BoK)
• The front-runners in defining a body of knowledge in
the area of project management were the Project
Management Institute (PMI) of United States.
• Others include Association of Project Managers (UK)
• PMI Guide to PM BoK (1996 Edition) freely at
http://www.pmi.pmbok
• Currently available, PM BoK 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012
Editions.
• Will provide you with PM BoK 2008 and Exposure
2012 Edition (Sixth Edition is not yet published).
 Project Management Knowledge Areas
according to PMBoK 2008
• PM BoK defines PM knowledge areas;
• Various versions of PMBoK, 1996, 2000 2003 and
later in 2008 with expanded content of the risk
management knowledge area.
• PMBoK 2012 (5th Edition) identified an additional
knowledge area – Project Stakeholder Management
• Sixth Edition likely to come out in 2016.
• Other Project Management Guides are available via
the internet.
 PMBoK Knowledge Areas
• 1.Project Integration Management
• 2.Project Scope Management
• 3.Project Time Management
• 4.Project Cost Management
• 5.Project Quality Management
• 6.Project Human Resource Management
• 7.Project Communications Management
• 8.Project Risk Management
• 9.Project Procurement Management
• 10. Project Stakeholder Management
 Project Management Maturity Models

• Performance in a project, programme or

organisation can be enhanced through the
application of known or new practices.
• Over time, repetitions of the applications of same
practices, referred to as a model, lead to predictable
outcomes.
• A rule, principle or law is therefore created in the
process (just like Archimedes principle, or Newton's
laws of motion);
• At this point, the application model is said to have
matured.
 Maturity Models
• The purpose of an organisational Project
Management Maturity model is to enhance
organisation’s ability to implement
organisational strategy through successful
consistent and predictable delivery of the
project – irrespective of the industry.
 Maturity Models and Standards
• A number of project management maturity
models have already been established.
• Some of these have already been translated
into standards;
• Standards constitute industry-tested,
accepted and formalised quality or
performance levels of products or processes.
• Note: PRINCE2, P3M is one other such mature
model.
 Project Management Models
• PRINCE2 (an acronym for projects in controlled
environments, version 2) is a project
management methodology.
• Many other models exist* - see Assignment No.
1(b).
 PM Standards
• PMBOK Guide have been recognized as standards by
the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
which assigns standards in the United States
(ANSI/PMI 99-001-2008) and the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE
1490-2011).[1]
• ISO 21500 Guide to Project Management;
• ISO 21500:2012 was released on 10th of September
2012 and as of today, ISO 21500 is the fifth best-
selling ISO standard in the world (ISO 9001 is the
best-selling standard).
 ISO 21500
• Latest ISO Project Management Standard
• Published in 2012 as well – very similar to
PMBoK 2012;
• Defines project management as a unique set
of processes consisting of coordinated and
controlled activities with start and finish
dates, undertaken to achieve an objective.
 PM Qualifications and Profession
• Responding to the needs of industry governments in
the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia have
resourced the development of standards for project
management as part of their national qualification
frameworks.
• Results - performance based competency standards
for project management - profession.
• As of 31 October, 2016, there were over 741,007 PMI
certified Project Management Professionals (PMPs) in
over 104 countries world wide!
• Tanzania???
Key competencies of project management
personnel
• The generic competencies of project
managers include the following competencies
assembled from various PM standards.
 Generic Competencies
• Interpersonal Skills
• Relationship Management
• Project Start-up
• Resource Management
• Project Planning and Control
• Project Evaluation and Improvement
• Project Scope Management
• Project Time Management
• Project Cost Management
• Project Quality Management
• Project Risk Management
• Legal Issues
• Finalisation
• Strategic Alignment
 PM Practice in Tanzania
• Project management is not new in Tanzania.
• Practice has generally been to appoint project
managers to fill a job title.
• Project management has seldom been viewed
as a profession.
• There is yet a wide study in Tanzania that has
adequately documented the practice of
project management.
• Cited hereunder are a few rather old studies.
 Study conducted by Kasango (2003)
• Tanzanian organisations had a generic
knowledge of project management, none was
applying the knowledge in a systematised
manner.
• The study recommended that it is inevitable
that organisations adopt best project
management practices if they have to
compete in a globalised economy
 Salewi study (2003)
• Advocated for establishing project
management competency standards, based
on established maturity models.
 Project Management Training in Tanzania
• 1994 FoE UDSM established a masters degree
programme in engineering management with
specialisations in project management, industrial
engineering and information technology
• Steady progress has been achieved averaging 30 - 50
graduates each year for the last 10 years;
• Last year, 2014/15, 44 candidates specialising in
project management sat for the final examination. The
candidates are drawn from all engineering fields and
other related fields – including architecture, surveying,
information technology, quantity surveying, town
planning, etc even sociologists
 Recommended Strategic Actions towards Project
Management Profession

• Engineering project management practice is

here to stay. The key concern is whether
Tanzanian professional engineers and related
professionals have an edge in engineering
project management.
• Rules of the game have started changing;
• If we have to remain successful players, we
need to know the rules and follow them.
Pro-active strategic actions recommended

• There is a need to continue building project

management capacity within the engineering and
related professionals;
• There is a clear need for formal recognition of
project management professionals in engineering
and related fields - the earlier the better. This need
not necessarily be based on academic qualifications
alone. Proven practical experience could also play a
significant role.
 Strategic Actions (cont.)
• There is a need to establish a stakeholder’s forum
that may spearhead a possible establishment of
project management profession. DONE Hurray!
PMAT is in place.
• Engineers Registration Board has started registering
consulting engineers as Civil Engineering Project
Managers;
• Architects and Quantity Surveyors Board (AQRB) now
registering Building Project Managers.
• Formal debate and dialogue amongst engineers and
related professionals is necessary if progress is to be
achieved on this matter. On going!
 Strategic Actions (cont.)
• While it is not too late, and at least in the short run,
regulatory authorities need to continue ensuring that
engineering management responsibilities are not taken up
by unrelated professionals; At least ERB and AQRB
registers Project Manager in construction;
• Tanzanian engineering professionals are not denied
engineering project management positions just because
they are not “recognised” professionals – at least in the
short term.
• PMI Chapter Established in Tanzania – Visit PMI Tanzania
Chapter - Official Website - www.pmi.or.tz/
•
 Way Forward
• Some of these recommendations have far
reaching implications, including where
necessary, amending current laws and
respective regulations.
• However, as we forge ahead towards a
globalised and competitive industry, we need
to enhance our chances through proactive
participation.
• Protecting the status quo can only weaken our
competitive position.
 Project Management Maturity
Videos
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk-
JwtScIlw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=KVpeKwMYQ6U
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=XDn139MUD1s
 Assignment 1(a)
• See separate assignment sheet.
 Assignment No. 1(b)
• Project Management practice is now a mature model.
Discuss the best practices of assessing methods that
can be used to assess organisation’s project
management maturity in Tanzania .
• Deliverable: not more than 6 pages of publishable
paper in a journal of your choice. Use Harvard Citation
System.
• Deadline: 30 March, 2017, 1800 hrs.
• Submit in pdf format.
 Reference Documents
(see list of documents provided)