07
MGMT 6332 / Project Management
Project Management
Turn operations strategy into coordinated execution and deliverables.
The Management Question
What decision does this operating system need managers to make?
What is it?
Turn operations strategy into coordinated execution and deliverables.
How does it work?
Learn the concept -> work through the operating logic -> apply it to the project.
Why does it matter?
The topic gives students a practical lens for improving real operating systems.
Next step
Open the lecture
Move into the interactive lecture experience for this topic.
Agenda - Week 07
Project foundations
Move from an objective to activities, durations, and predecessor relationships.
Build the schedule
Use forward and backward passes to find activity timing and slack.
Communicate the plan
Identify the critical path, establish a Gantt baseline, and monitor progress.
Trade time for cost
Crash critical activities when added spending can shorten the project.
Evaluate uncertainty
Use Program Evaluation and Review Technique estimates, path variance, and deadline probability to assess completion risk.
Learning Objectives
After this week, you will be able to:
Explain the project manager's role, project success factors, and common impediments.
Translate activities, durations, and predecessor relationships into a project network.
Use a forward pass and backward pass to calculate earliest and latest activity times.
Calculate slack and identify the critical path that determines project completion.
Convert a Critical Path Method (CPM) schedule into calendar dates and a Gantt chart.
Evaluate time-cost tradeoffs and calculate crash cost per unit of time.
Use Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) estimates to calculate expected activity time and variance.
Evaluate the probability of completing a project by a management deadline.
