Transcript
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The speaker welcomes everyone, explains how the diploma sessions will run, and sets expectations for preparation, attendance, and active participation. He also outlines the role of in-class activities and assessments in the course.
Speaker A
So, good morning, welcome back.ARPC guys and girls.People, where are we today?Well, we're still in managing project scope.So our last session was a bit of an intro and a little bit of a sort of understand how the diploma is run, how our living planet and ARTC run this diploma that you've all committed to and you've all been given that really good opportunity to, to engage in and get that certificate at the end.
So hopefully you're a little bit familiar now or you're a bit more familiar and it'll take a bit of time to sort of navigate through.But you're familiar with our learning management system, you've been able to find all of your resources, Callan, I know you have, you've found all of those assessments.What have you.No problem, but I'm assuming everyone else does.But before we get started into I suppose the scopey bit, the learning bit, worth just taking a bit of a stop and a step back around how these sessions are run from an intro perspective.
So yeah, you will and you should have all of the calendar invites and all of the zoom links and all of that sort of stuff in and while you're here.So obviously you know how to use that.But preparation, when I went through this last a couple of weeks ago, but it's worth just spending a couple of minutes on it from a preparation perspective and we've got another one tomorrow, so moving forward, it's quite a bit of a workload.We're doing two full units back to back every three or four weeks.So a lot of work involved in those sorts of things and if you can get yourself a little bit mentally prepared and ready for the sessions, it's going to help you more so than anything else.
I like to sort of say if you've had a bit of a graze and I'm not expecting you to go through and read all of the learning material.Material, you know, that's, that's, that learning material that you've got there, that's for you to reference as you're going through your knowledge questions, as you, as you're answering those sections of your assessments, etc.So if you, you know, a lot of theory, a lot of definition, a lot of process in those sorts of things.But you know, if you at least have a bit of a grace through those, I'd say probably more importantly, have a bit of a look through the assessments, have a look at what these assessments are asking you to do from a project perspective and come into these sessions, you won't always have questions, but come into these sessions and if you do have some questions, just jot them down or little, you know, areas of the content that, you know, we're going to cover where you, where you might want to slow down a little bit or, or get into a little bit more detail around one or one of the theories or one of the tools of a concept that we're covering.
So if you can, if you've got the time, do a little bit of preparation, a little bit of a skim through that sort of thing and before the sessions start, as, as we did last week, make sure that you've got at least two things ready up and on your laptop or on your desktop and I was going to say on your phone, but goodness me, you wouldn't be able to do this on your phone, would you?
Make sure you've got the in class activity assessment up and ready because we will jump into that reasonably quickly and assessment.God, I can't be today assessment number two or project project number one, assessment number two, which is the case study.And we're going to be using that case study all the way through to the end of the diploma for your first assessment.And the way we're running this is we will provide you for your very first project, that case study.And that case study is something that is a group you can work on together.
And time permitting, in these classes, I'll actually give you time to sit down as a group and brainstorm these things.Because project management is not about sitting at your desk pumping documents out.We know that.It's about talking to people, it's about getting ideas.It's about from a scope perspective, it's about actually identifying who is important to the project, who will have an opinion, who will have expectations around what this project's doing, what we're delivering, and then consulting, collaborating, brainstorming, coming up with solutions, agreeing, all of those sorts of things.
And during the course and certainly during the class, they're the sorts of things that I'm going to be looking for for.So yeah, I'll have your assessments and that's going to be all that clever work that you do and all that detail that you put in and all that that we sort of expect to see.But I do need to also see you guys working together.I need to, I need to be able to see that you are consulting and that you are collaborating and that you are brainstorming and that you are disagreeing and then coming to a common view of what project looks like and what the schedule should look like and all of those sorts of things.So get your, get, get your head across those sorts of things.
Get ready for when we come into class, we'll flip between those two pieces of work, the in class activity.And as you saw from last time, the in class activity is a bit of a light touch.That's where I will sort of observe you guys working together doing all of those things that I just spoke about.But more importantly, when we get into the assessment proper, the case study, that's what I'm really going to be looking for.
Speaker B
So
Speaker A
given that you must be in class and you must be actively participating, if you're not actively participating but you are putting all the assessments in, fantastic.I can mark all the assessments, I can give you feedback, I can let you know, you know where you're doing really well, I can give you some pointers and a little bit of a help and a little bit of a, you know, a little bit of a shove in the right direction where perhaps you're a bit off track.But if you're not in class, I can't see you working with others.And what you'll find is at the end of the, at the end of the diploma, you'll have all of these assessments with your mark saying satisfactory, but you won't actually have passed the unit because I haven't observed and it's just, it's just part of the requirement, this observation component.
The class discusses attendance issues, the upcoming guest speaker, and how the ARTC framework fits into the diploma. The speaker explains that students can use real workplace projects and adapt course documents to their own context.
Speaker A
We've got a little bit of background noise there from someone.All right, I'll work out who that is and we can go.So if you're not, if you, if you're unable to attend a specific session or a specific class, pop an email through to the Supportiving planet, let them know, they'll let me know as well.You can CC me in, I think.Yeah, there we go.My email address is down there.Step got something on.Can't make that session.At least I'll know that you do have the recordings so you can go back through the recordings and sort of use the recordings to help you understand and help you get through.But ultimately if you can't attend a session, we'll need to arrange another time.And who wants another time?Honestly?You're committing for four hours actually this week, you're committing for eight hours of in class activity.
Having to book another session just to catch up on those sorts of things is, is probably time that you don't want to spend.Now I understand there are going to be things that just crop up, but really, you know, really do your Best to jump into class.
If you can't get into class, then yeah, we do have some alternatives.They're a little bit more painful than actually being in class, but that's, that's sort of, I suppose, my, my take on how we're going to run these things.So while I was jibber jabbering away, I was giving you enough time to download and get those documents ready on your desktop.So hopefully they're all there and we're ready to go.I'm going to stop talking for a minute and I'm going to ask, has anyone got any questions, any observations, anything that isn't sort of making sense or didn't land too well around generally around how we're going to run these sessions and what that expectation is.
And I know the first question of the day, everyone just sits there and goes, oh my God, he's talking to me.Do I have to talk?So not expecting much back from you now, but as we go through, again, sorry to be a bit of a broken record as we go through, when I do ask questions, you know what we're talking about.That's all part of the observations as well.Now today we actually have.
Oh, who is it?I've forgotten we've got a, a special.Craig, is it Craig?Let me have a look.I think it was in the email, wasn't it?
Email this morning then?
Speaker B
Duncan's coming.
Speaker A
Thank you.So whoever that was, thank you so much.Who's met Duncan before?Anyone there?Sort of for.Okay, so we got a couple there.So Duncan is going to come and he's going to talk to us about, you know, the realities of, of projects in artc also talking about some of the tool sets, the ARTC way and look where I can, we'll sort of talk about the ARTC way.But we do speak, we do talk quite generically here when we're talking about scoping.You know, the approach to scoping is really what I'm looking for.When you get back into that workplace, if the document looks a little bit different, if the approvals and the authorizations are a little bit different, that doesn't matter.
As long as we understand what good scoping looks like, what those steps are, how we monitor, how we get the scope, how we identify those stakeholders, that's the most important bit.And your, what is it?Assessment number three, project number two, that's the one where you'll be applying everything that you've learned to your project within that ARTC framework.So even when we're going through and doing those assessments, if you've got an ARTC version of one of those documents, like a scope document, or like a schedule, or like a budget, etc.Feel free in that assessment to replace our version of it with your version of it.As long as it covers everything that we're asking for, that's great.You've already done one or you're doing one for a real life project.So it has context, it has meaning, you'll understand it a little bit more.
By all means, we can swap those out as well.
Students share examples of their projects, and the speaker helps them think through whether each project is suitable for the diploma. He encourages them to consider scope, budget, schedule, procurement, and future units when selecting a project.
Speaker A
All right, so when we're talking about our projects, quick show of hands or a quick drop in the chat, what have you, who's feeling reasonably good that they've got a project that they can work on and that they can use through this diploma.
Has anyone thought about that yet?Because you're going to have to start thinking about that reasonably quickly.
Scott, you've got.Scott, you might.Okay, Kirk, great.
Helen, I think you'd have one as well because you've submitted it all.So if we don't mind.Scott, what's your project?Just to.Just to share with the others.Just maybe give the others a bit of an idea of what you're working on.It might help them sort of understand where they want to be.
Can't hear you, Scott, Is that me or is that you?
Speaker C
No,
Speaker A
might be you.We'll try.Kurt.There we go.Kurt, you said you've got a project.
What's yours all about?I've got a couple that I could
Speaker B
potentially choose from, so I'm lying when I've sort of locked it down.But the most immediate one, I've got a retaining wall or a fencing project I've got to do in Kilmore East.
Speaker A
What project?Sorry, Kirk, I didn't quite catch that.
Speaker B
A retaining wall or a fencing project.We're just trying to work out what the final scope is at the moment.There's, yeah, a lot of.A lot of interfaces there with the local farmer.So bench is washed away.So, yeah, just trying to work out how far we actually go with it and.
Speaker A
Yeah, well, that's.Yeah.So what.
And for that, is there.Are you able to put us like a detailed budget together of how much this is going to cost?Are you able to put a schedule together?Would you be able to do those sorts of things?Is there going to be procurement?Will you need to purchase within the ARTC framework or regime, those sorts of things?
Speaker B
Yeah, absolutely.Yeah, yeah.But we're just going to work out what the scope is first before I go down that path, so.Well, you'll get a meeting later in the week.
Speaker A
Okay, good, good, good.So that, that sounds like an absolutely perfect one.If you are, when you are choosing your project or when you are deciding.And look, I'm really happy to chat if you, if you sort of go, if you're sort of not too sure, you can reach out and, and let me know a little bit about your project and I can sort of steer you in the right direction or, or what.And look, even for your work based projects, I mean this, this, this course is going to go for close to 12 or close to.It's going to go for 12 months or so.Some of your projects and Kirk, yours might be, I don't know, yours might be finished in six months.
Speaker B
I hope it doesn't take that long.Okay, yeah, we'll try and push it out and.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah, so.So I suppose this is going to be one of the challenges for you guys as well, but you can always retrospectively go back.So even if you're doing a project now and it's only going to take sort of three or so months, if that's the project you're going to use, fantastic.All it means is as we go through, and we, as we go through these specific units of time and cost and risk and stakeholders and communications etc.Etc.All that really, all it really means is you just might need to go and retrospectively complete those assessments based upon the project that you did.
So what I would suggest as well is have a look at all the units that we are going to cover and as you're going through your projects, your real life at work projects, make a little bit of a note down there.So, you know, I'm going to need to do a budget for this at some point I might start thinking about that, you know, now I'm going to have to do some procurement.So think about all of those moving pieces that you need to, to put together.
More students describe their projects, including a non-infrastructure app redesign. The speaker explains how non-infrastructure work can involve more complex stakeholder expectations and resistance than physical projects.
Speaker A
All right, Callum, what's your project?I haven't looked at your assessment, apologies.But what's your project, Callum?
Speaker B
It's pretty similar.So it was a fencing, one that we've got continued trespasses and a lot of near misses in the Musselbrook area.So yeah, just building that sort of scope.Similar.
Speaker A
Okay, press passes and near misses, that's not dangerous stuff.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
All right, Scott, let's see if your mic's working, my friend.
Speaker B
Can you hear me?Can you hear me?
Speaker A
Loud and clear.
What's yours?
Speaker B
I'm in the network investment program.That's the project I'm working on for the next month.Five years now that's the delivery scope of that project and we are improving resilience over the network.My particular part of this scope as a project engineer is from Adelaide all the way to Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and we're targeting flooding across the network.
So that's replacing culvert.So it's just a lot of, a lot of culvert replacements over the next five years.But they're very remote regions so they're very difficult to.
Speaker A
So how would you approach that?Because you know you could potentially, you could potentially just pick one culvert replacement and say that's the project.
Or you could.Or better still you could, you could pick the whole five years worth and then each C could just be sub deliverable.Have you thought about how you might approach that or.
Speaker B
Well the project itself's already started.It's been kind of drip fed.
So we have a, we have a contractor who is doing the design aspect and they are slowly producing a big model of the whole network to show us where the flooding may occur.And then that's slowly being formed into flooding design models for each individual section of the track which is then being drip fed to us for us to then order the parts which is then we go on to procuring the contractor to install it.So it really is just kind of rinsing and repeating that whole process over and over and over again as we kind of design, procure, construct back to the design pro construct.
Speaker A
Perfect, perfect, perfect.I would sort of suggest that, you know, my approach would be I'd take the broader five years ago, this is the project and then maybe each of those rinse repeats is just a deliverable but you know you could pick one and zoom in on that.So good.Is anyone doing a project in AITC that's not what we would call infrastructure?Because I know from the last, from our last group we had some people who weren't actually working on infrastructure, they were working on process or they were working on other things.Has anyone here considering maybe a non infrastructure type project?
Speaker B
Yeah, mine will be a non infrastructure project.
So at the moment we're redesigning a safe working app that we use to
Speaker A
monitor and like.
Speaker B
Oh it's quality and assurance I guess on chain network controller communications with train crews and anyone.Yeah, on the, on the network.So yeah, that's it.Brief insight.
Speaker A
So yeah, so really think they do, really do.Really difference and the reason we'll sort of ask that is sometimes on these infrastructure projects at artc, when we talk about stakeholders, your stakeholder, your stakeholder groups are quite, are quite, quite limited and that's absolutely fine.And as a project manager, you know, sometimes it's, it's great we don't have that many stakeholders.But even in infrastructure projects, you know, as sort of Curt and Scott and Helen were talking about, yeah, you got the farmer.Yeah, you've got your internals, you've got community, you've got council, you've got all of these sorts of things.But Andrea, for yours, I would imagine that you've got quite a lot of stakeholders and quite a lot of expectation around those because you know, things like it bring a lot more expectations than something like infrastructure.Infrastructure.We can sort of say this is going to be the end result and it's going to be bricks and mortar concrete.
But indrea for yours, you know, it's going to be.Here's a new app.
Do you like it?Can you use it?And you're going to get people, potentially there's going to be resistance to using it.There's never going to be, you're not going to get a lot of resistance in those infrastructure projects other than maybe from, from landowners or something like that, but in those non infrastructure ones that, that web of stakeholders and that web of expectation and that, that, that's.Those expectations of scope can become really, really quite complicated and convoluted.So Andrea, that's a wonderful, wonderful project.I've worked on one similar to that myself and I, I think yours is going to have a lot of moving pieces around that stakeholder or you know, around that quality expectation, etc.Etc.So that's going to be, that's going to be an interesting one.
The speaker answers questions about the course structure and clarifies what is assessed in each unit. He explains the difference between in-class collaboration, knowledge questions, and project assessments.
Speaker A
Anyone else got something a little bit left of field?
I always like the left of field ones.
Speaker C
No
Speaker A
last step.We're just going to build stuff and get onto it and build another arm.That's what you guys do.Fantastic.All right, any questions?
Anything else that we need to cover off?Nope.Let's get on with it then.
Speaker B
Yes, sorry
Speaker A
down there.Max,
Speaker B
while we're on the topic of Skype, can you tell me where.What's the.What is.
So the course material is not that clear in the way it presents what deliverables are required.So is it the case that for each unit there are three separate items?
Speaker A
So for each unit?Yeah, for each.Well actually there's four.
Yeah.
Speaker C
Right.
Speaker B
So it's not clear.Is it not poor scoping maybe?
Speaker A
Hold on a sec.
Because it jumps from 12 project.
Speaker B
There's 1 2, but the others, they're not numerical, they're not in sequence.It's hard to know what, what actually one has to output.
Speaker A
So Max, you're talking about what, what we're, what we're expecting you to, to
Speaker B
do and present what you're assessing and what's what gets us through the gate.That's what.
Speaker A
Fascinating.Okay, so, so the first thing I'm assessing is the in class activity.Yep.So you'll see when you go down there, the in class active.Actually, I'm not, I'm not assessing that.It's a bit of a lie.
Speaker B
Yeah.But it has to be done right.
Speaker C
Yeah.
Speaker A
I'm gonna slow down a minute.I just had a coffee and I feel like I'm going at about 6 million miles an hour.So slow me down guys.If I'm going a little bit too fast there.So the in class activity we do in class and it needs to be submitted.But I don't assess that.What that actually, what that actually proves is that you were in class and that you worked with other participants to come up with the answers.So that in class activity is all about collaboration.When you submit those, they can all be pretty much identical because you're all going to be working on the in class activities together.Did that make sense as the first one?
But more importantly, I'm assessing your collaboration, your consultation, your working with others.
Now you have three other assessments that need to be submitted.Well, let's bring it up.It's probably easier if I show you where are we?
Okay.
And it's, it's worth spending the time.So thanks for the, thanks for the question, Max.Absolutely worth spending the time here.Righty.So let's have a look.Where are we?So this is where are we?Oh, I'm in project time because I was having a look at what we're doing tomorrow.So participant handbook, important dates, all of these sorts of things.Introduction, the presentation that we are working through now, your self paced reading.
But you'll see assessment tasks.So anything that's assessment task you are expected to submit.Now what have we got here?First one, the underpinning knowledge questions.So when you click through there, you'll get the word document.
That is just a question and answer.Here we're testing your knowledge of the theory.So that needs to be completed, submitted and assessed.Boom.If you don't put, you know, if that one doesn't come through, then you're not going to be marked as competent for this specific unit.Then you've got assessment task project number one.That's the case study.That will be assess and assessment two.That will be assessed.The easiest way is if it's in assessment tasks, it's going to be assessed.Yeah.Does that make sense, Max?
Speaker B
Yep.Understood.And that pattern repeats for each of the units, is it?
Speaker A
Yep.Rinse, repeat.Yep.You'll.Yeah, you'll, you'll get the hang of this reasonably quickly.
But where is it?You've got your self paced learning here as well.
That's just for you, that isn't assessed.And then we've got the in class activity.So that's the one where I can observe you doing what you need to do.But it looks like here, it looks like.And I'll get back to you because we're on a new system and it's changed a little bit.It looks like here they're not actually asking you to submit the in class activity.
Oh, they are.All right, so let me get some clarity on that.But certainly these are your assessable, your accessibles.Project one is always going to be the.I think it's office move.We're doing the office move, aren't we?It's always going to be the office move.Two is very similar for some units.There is going to be a little bit of a difference between assess, between Project 1 and Project 2, but for the most part they pretty much match and marry up.One done on our simulation, one done on your project proper.
That's all you need to submit and I'll mark off the observations as we go along.
The speaker explains the overall rhythm of the diploma, including class length, workload expectations, and how many units there are in total. He encourages students to plan ahead and manage the time needed for each unit.
Speaker A
Any other questions?It's worth getting this clear in our heads.
Once you get into that rhythm that, that rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, as Scott said, it'll all fall into place for you.
All right, so if we're sort of okay on how we're going to run, where are we for time doing all right, we'll do a quick recap because it was a long time ago and moving forward, these units will not be split into two.So when we, you know, we don't need to go back and revisit everything.Each class from this point onwards or each session from this point onwards is going to be 4 hours 1 unit.Now we'll go from 8:30 to 12 and then from 12 to 12:30 this is where, this is where you have your opportunity to ask questions.So from 12 to 1230 it's a bit of a backwards and forwards, a bit of a informal, you know, what do you need help with?What's not Making sense.What can we clarify a little bit more?But today that, that last half hour is going to be going to be used with the.
God, forgotten the guy's name already.
Speaker B
Duncan.
Speaker A
Duncan.I got it.Thank you.So just.
Speaker B
Sorry to interrupt.
So how many units are there in total?
Speaker A
12.
Speaker C
Cool.
Speaker B
Thank you.
Speaker A
And look, they say from a diploma perspective, apart from the classes.
Apart from the classes.Each unit, each unit is about 8 to 12 hours worth of work outside of class.
So there's some, you know, some of them you'll get through a little bit quicker, but then some of them will take a bit.But I'd say realistically put aside about eight to 12 hours for each unit.And as we're doing two a month, that's 16 hours or 24 hours of a month that you really do need to set aside to get those assessments done.Now for your work based projects, that might be a little bit easier, especially if your work based project is a bit in front of where we're at.So you might have picked a work based project that's already going, that's already sort of been scoped.Well, that's great.You know, use that information as you go forward.
No use going back and recreating the wheels.But for some you will need to create schedules, create these plans.And I'm going to say that for your work based projects, all of you will be creating something new that you haven't done before.
Meet the 12 hours.That's what we're talking about.
Any other questions?
And please don't apologize for interrupting.Just, just jump in there.You've probably worked out by now I talk quite quickly and it's a bit hard to get a bit of a, a space in there.So just yell out, step, shut up.I've got a question.
Please stop for a minute and, and slow me down and I'll answer whatever questions we've got.But I'm just having a.Look, we've got a 12 thing we're
Speaker B
going to hook up.
The session shifts into scope management, with an explanation of why projects must begin with clear objectives and expectations. The speaker emphasizes that scope is about defining what the project will and will not do.
Speaker A
All right, so if there's no other questions right now about sort of the how to approach it, let's get into the subject of scope.And look, we did, we did cover this last week, but not last week, last month.But it's worth just going back and skimming over it.So we're talking about scope, scope management process and from a project management perspective.And anyone who's familiar with project management knows that it is a process and it is a process of logical linear steps and each step builds on the other.We don't start a project by creating a schedule.
We don't start a project by giving a cost.We start a project by understanding what the business wants, what they're trying to achieve, and then through that process of consultation and collaboration and communication and disagreement and all of those fun things that happen, we ultimately are narrowing, narrowing thoughts, ideas, and more importantly, expectations.And scope management is a huge expectation management exercise.
What we're doing is we're saying, this is what the project is going to be, this is what the project is going to do, and as importantly, this is what it's not going to do.This is what we're not trying to achieve, this is what we're not going to deliver.So we're managing those expectations and we're getting everybody, or we're trying to get everybody on the same page before we break ground.
Because if there is different expectations of what this project is going to be and do, and if we're not clear as the project manager, if we're not clear and if we don't have, if we're not on the same page as those significant others in the business who are asking us to do it, providing the funding and judging our success, if we're not absolutely in sync and on the same page, then potentially we're going to spend a lot of time and money, money going off and planning to go in slightly the wrong direction.And then when we come back and meet at the end of the project, there's a mismatch and we don't want that mismatch at the end of the project.
It's just painful.So that's what scoping is all about.And the scope management is a process within the broader process, as we can see, and a couple of bullet points there.Authorized.And what it's really doing is it's, it's, it's that authorization of whoever is significant enough in the business to say, I will give you the time and the money because I want what you have scoped out for me.
First thing is to understand who, who wants this and who is going to provide the money, who is going to approve what we are doing.But just because we've identified who's going to approve it and who's going to give us the money doesn't mean we've managed expectation.Because there is a whole world, there's a whole satellite of other people, stakeholders out there that are going to expect this thing that you're doing to do something for them.So we're really, you know, we're really talking about understanding what are we Trying to achieve, clarifying the need.And here we're talking about objectives.
What are we trying to achieve?And those objectives should provide us with something called benefit.
If we implement this new application, the benefit is that our staff will be better educated around safety.And the benefits of better education around safety is less incidents, safer working environment.So we're trying to draw that line around what do you want?Why do you want it?So that we can then go away and say, okay, this is what I think we need to do.And that's the scope process.We agree, we define, we plan.So how do we manage scope?And that's, you know, here we're starting to talk about how do we manage those, those things that crop up once we've started, once the budget's been locked, once the time frame's been agreed and locked, how do we manage those extra bits and pieces that maybe weren't defined in scope?Now, as project managers, you know, our job is to try and define that scope as tight as possible.
But we know sometimes you need to break ground to understand that there is another requirement in there.So we have a process as well for managing and dealing with that.
The scope and the scope plan and that list of things we're going to do becomes our, becomes the basis for pretty much everything we do.Once we've defined all of those things that we are going to do.And we're not just talking about the widgets, we're not just talking about you're going to get one of these, we're talking about the activities that we're going to do, all of those sorts of things.Once we've agreed on those, then we can, then we've got a firm basis to go away and cost the things that have been agreed to work out how long it's going to take to deliver all of the things that have been agreed.And that's why this scoping is at the start.
And for me, it's probably the most important aspect.It I did, I've spent a lot of time, and I spent about three or four years in one organization and I don't know what I did to deserve it, but where there were projects that were flailing, projects that look like they weren't going to deliver, projects that were coming in over time, over budget, where the sponsor wasn't specifically happy, where sometimes they just imploded under the project manager's feet.So I spent a lot of time actually working through remediation of projects that just weren't delivering and working backwards and trying to work out how did we get ourselves into this state?How do we get ourselves to the point where.And if we get time a little bit later on, I had one project where we actually had a vendor that was just about to walk out the door and take us to court because they said, we cannot work with you anymore.
What we've agreed at the start is nothing like what we're doing now and it's costing us money and we're hemorrhaging and bleeding and you're in breach of contract and all of those nasty, horrible things.So unpacking and unraveling that.And I'm going to say, and I sometimes throw out numbers here and there, I'm going to say that probably 90% of the time when I was going back and having a look at it, it's going to be scope.It's going to be, you know what, you started from a really poor position, is there?No, it's no wonder that you are in a mess now.So we want to start from as strong and robust and clear as a position as we possibly can.And that's why we spend our time on scope.And if I see from a project perspective an area where potentially businesses or project managers run too fast, it's right at this, it's right at this scoping stage.
It's just human nature.If we got a problem, what do we want?
When you find a problem, what do you want?You want to fix the problem.So the temptation is just to get out there and start doing stuff.If there's an opportunity you want to take advantage of, what do we want to do?We want that new thing.So let's just go out and start doing it.
And from a business perspective, what I see as well, you know, from from a sponsor or from a management perspective, they're just like us.They want that problem solved really quickly.They want that opportunity to be taken advantage of right now.And what I see is, you know, we get, we get sponsors and we get businesses that push and drive our projects and our project managers a little bit too fast at this stage.So we're going off half cocked, we're going off half baked, and it's no wonder that we get halfway through and we find there's a problem.
So I'm going to say if there's any point in your project where you would ask the business to allow you to slow down and think about this a bit more scope, and I'm also going to say that if you slow down and get the scope right, doing something like a schedule and A budget becomes easier because you're really crystal clear, you've got that foundation to build everything.And from an infrastructure perspective, you guys, foundations are important.Think of scope as the foundation for everything else that you're going to build on.And if the foundation is weak and crumbly, then potentially the building falls over, the project falls over.So that's why we have the process and that's why we spend so much time on it and why it is so robust.
Well, why scope matters?I just said that.All right, there is authorization.So every project has a hierarchy and scope is no exception to that.As we are working through scrap, we need to understand who is sponsoring this, who is the person within the business who is asking us to do that, who is providing the funding, providing the money.
Authorization is about gating.And I think from, from an ARTC perspective, you've got about five or six stop points that you have within your, within your project.Well, those stop points are where the person who authorizes you to move to the next stage is interrogating the work you're doing and making sure that you and they are on the same page from a benefit, from a deliverables, from a thing to do perspective so that you can move to that next stage.We need to think about authorisation.This is your authorization.
EPG 2001 Project Management Concept assessment, Project feasibility, Assessment approval, implementation closeout.Each of those is asking.Each of those is asking you to stop and to check in with the business to make sure that we're on the same page and we're moving in the same direction.And I think from your.If we were to have a look at where scope fits in there.
Well, the concept assessment, we're starting to think about what are the objectives here?Is it justified against the strategic objectives for ARTC and I, you know, you have a strategic objective around safety.So these fencing projects that we were talking about, they map absolutely to the objectives of safety.Safety for staff, safety for the general public, safety for wildlife, safety for whatever you need to do.Feasibility.
This is probably, probably this is where scope, most of your scoping is done in that feasibility sort of stage.What are your options?This is where you're starting to think about what are the risks.But we're also starting to think about what are the deliverables, what do we need to do here?A project assessment.
This is where we're thinking about again, the scope, but in relation to cost and in relation to time and in relation to governance and all of those sorts of things, project management plans, etcetera Project approval.That's your formal sign off of your project management plan.And Scope is just a part of that broader set of documents called your project management plan implementation.We're using Scope there.So as people are out there doing the work, we're making sure that they are delivering to those scope items, but we're also making sure that they're not going and delivering more, that they're not going off track and making this more costly and making this cost more, making this consume more time than was agreed in the scope.So again, Scope becomes a control tool and it becomes a monitoring tool.And then at the end of the project, well, what you're really doing is you're going back to the business and saying, remember Scope?
Remember all of these objectives, deliverables, tasks, things that we said we were going to deliver.Let's talk about that.Did we deliver them all?
So at the end you are, you, you are going back to the business and saying, please, I think we've done everything that we said.Do you agree?Can this project be closed off?Yes, we're talking about time and budgets and all of those sorts of things, those expectations.But most importantly, if you get to the end of the, you want the business to say yes, you've done everything you've, you've provided, provided us with those, those products, those services, those results, you've provided them in a way that we can use them to meet our objectives and to get benefit.
So Scope, as with everything, sort of runs all the way through what we're doing at a project perspective, project governance, I think we've spoken about that Scope management plan.
The speaker introduces the scope management plan and explains how requirements are gathered from stakeholders. He describes how objectives, deliverables, and stakeholder needs are translated into a project scope statement.
Speaker A
That's what we're going to work through for the remainder of today, definition, but also how are we going to manage scope?And that's an important one.So the Scope management plan will detail.And when we talk about a management plan from a purist perspective, we have plans or sub plans and management plan.
And the management plan is really the rule book.This is how we're going to scope.This is how we're going to manage changes to Scope.This is how we're going to control Scope.And the sub plan for that is what's called the Scope plan.
That's what details everything that's in it.So two different concepts.Management plan, how we're going to manage scope, the scope plan, what is the scope for this project?And those two connect and sort of feed off each other, collecting requirements.We've spoken about that last week, last month.
There's not many projects that I can think about where we just sit down and go, yeah, this is it, this is what we're.What's required.I'm going to go away and do it.We're going to have expectations, but we're also, you know, we're, we're also not in the position where we know everything about everything.So we need to identify who can help, who's important, important.
And that's where we start to think about who are the stakeholders.Now, obviously, the sponsor concept of the person who is asking this, the person who is funding this, and the person who ultimately, at the end of the project will say, yes, you've done it or no, you haven't, is absolutely important.And we need to, as part of this scoping exercise, we need to sit down, we need to talk with them and we need to have those robust discussions.What do you want?Why do you want it?What color does it need to be?And this is where, you know, this is our opportunity to ask, but also to challenge and also to provide solutions.But there's going to be others out there as well who will be able to help, who will know a little bit about what you're doing and can input in it.
But just as importantly, it's those other people sitting around the periphery that are going to judge or use what you've done.And if, if at the end you haven't provided something that they can use, or if you haven't provided something that they judge to be useful, then you know, the work is not lost, but all of that work is not going to result in that end result or product that someone can use.
So we need to think about the stakeholders.Yeah, statutory requirements.We can think of statutory requirements as boundaries and constraints that we need to have a look at, and the technical requirements, simply what is required to be done?What is the ABC?What's the 1, 2, 3, how are we going to know what good looks like?
And from requirements to project scope.And this is what we're going to do today.We're going to take our case study, we're going to break it down, we're going to scope it all out, understanding the needs, return the needs of the business.I need this problem solved into requirements in order to do that.This is what's required into a scope statement.
This is what it is.And then we can start to think, well, okay, now that everybody says, yeah, that's it, what do we need to deliver?What are the things that need to be delivered?And we can start to break that down and we'll talk about how we break that down tomorrow when we talk about time and time management.Now, we did activity one, and forgive me, my memory is a bit foggy.We did activity one last time, didn't we, guys?We did great.Okay, so we don't need to do that.That was about collecting requirements.And I think from memory, you guys, you guys ran through that reasonably quickly.
Can someone have a look?In assessment one from our last session, did we start to think about assessment number one?I'll just bring it up.
Where are we?There we go.
I did make notes and I. I've lost them somehow, so forgive me, apologies.
Did we work through and get project authorization done in our last session?Anybody at all?
Speaker C
No, we didn't.We didn't, no, we didn't.We didn't, no.
Speaker A
So we can, we can swing around and do that, but we did do, we did manage to get this one sorted out, which was our in class activity.Yep, that little bit.And I think some of you actually dropped down there.All right, so I know where we're at.Collecting requirements.All right, so we would have spoken about this defining scope.We're talking about a couple of things here.Objectives, understanding what is the project, what is the piece of work trying to achieve that really becomes our North Star, our guiding line.We want to plan, build and execute to meet those objectives.Now, objectives in and of themselves are those big broad statements to build up house within 12 months.That obviously needs to be broken down into deliverables.So what are all of those moving pieces?What are the things that we need to do?
And identifying those deliverables helps us, then we can turn those deliverables into a cost, into a time.We can put quality requirements around those deliverables, but we're also thinking about boundaries, that expectation, what is and is not included in what we're doing.When we're thinking like that and we're pulling all of this information together, what we're doing is we're getting a scope, a project scope together.Couple of, I suppose, things to think about here.And, and I've been doing this for ages and I still get myself sometimes I can still sort of merge these things and overlap these things.So don't get too caught up on this.But objectives, what the project sets out to achieve.And here we're talking about, you can have a look in the examples.That's how we write a smart objective, isn't it?
What are we trying to achieve?Achieve by when, within what sort of budget, to what level of satisfaction, specific, measurable, achievable all of those sorts of things that's very different to the outcomes.So the outcomes are where we're thinking, well, you know, what if we were to meet those objectives and do the work, what would change the outcomes?What's going to be different?
Are our people going to be safer?Are we going to save money?So these are the outcomes?Obviously, yes, we're looking at, you know, an outcome within a specific time frame and within a specific cost and within those specific customer satisfactions.But outcomes are what changed, how do we get there?And then those become the benefits.
If we reach an outcome of a safer working environment, then the benefit is less accidents, less incidents, less workers compensation, happier people, better reputation, all of those sorts of things.So we're sort of, of, we're starting big and then we're, we're working out why we want to get there and the benefits, what do we get?And look, if there is no benefit, if, if the benefit can't be articulated, then that's probably a really good point of the fact that we're not focusing on the right thing.I mean, why would you do a project that has absolutely no benefit in it?That, so this is the thought process that we, that we put in there, then we can turn those into deliverables.
So this is where we're starting to think, okay, what are those big moving pieces?What are the four or five things that we would need to deliver to meet those objectives and get that outcome and generate that benefit?Spoke about that and we started to think a little bit about it.And that all comes together in what's called the project.That's what we're going to spend most of today on this project scope statement.
So in the last session we collected requirements, we understood what, you know, what people need from the actual project.Now we've got this scope statement, this shared reference point, this, I'm on the same page, and what goes into it, all of what we just spoken about, really, project objectives, what are we aiming to achieve?What are the deliverables that the key outputs, the widgets or the changes, they can be tangible, they can be intangible, all of those sorts of things.And then what's in scope?What are the things that you can reasonably expect to see out of this?
What are the boundaries?So where do we need to work?What's the framework that we're working within?What's out of scope?We're also talking about things like assumptions, we're talking about things like constraints, all of those sorts of, of things.And if we were to make it real.
Using a house build as an example, the speaker walks through objectives, deliverables, in-scope work, out-of-scope items, assumptions, constraints, and approvals. He shows how these elements combine to form a complete scope statement.
Speaker A
I am.I'm going to build myself a new house as an owner builder.So let's, let's just unpack that quickly before we get in and ask you guys to have a run at this.
What do you think the objectives for building a family house would be?Anyone?You can drop it in chat, you can just yell it out.What do we think, the objectives?
Speaker B
Some sort of planning approval maybe?
Speaker A
Is that an objective?That's a deliverable.
So objective, what are we aiming to achieve in building a house?
Speaker B
Of building.
Speaker A
Oh yeah, yeah, yep, yep.Construction of the building.Yeah.What else?
I find objectives to be the trickiest bit.
Speaker B
Probably need to spend some time understanding
Speaker A
why you want to build a new house.
Speaker B
Like presumably you already live in one.
Speaker A
Do you have a bigger family now?
Speaker B
Like.
Speaker A
Yeah.And as Gary said, this is, this is where we need to understand why.That's the question.That's the question that we're answering.
Okay, so I might have an objective statement for building my house which is specific and measurable.My objective is to build a four bedroom single story house on a block of land ready to move into by.How long does it take?How long is it going to take me to build a house, do you reckon?12 months?
Am I being ambitious?I'm going to say 12 months within a budget of $2 million.It's going to be a really nice house.So that is the objective, to build a four bedroom single story house that is ready to move into within 12 months for $2 million.And we all agree that's what we're trying to achieve here.
Okay, if we do.Great.Now we need to start to think about the deliverables.This is where we are starting to break these things down.Now the final deliverable, the last deliverable is a completed home with occupancy certificates and keys handed over.
Agree that's the big one.But there's going to be a few things that we need to deliver along the way to get there.And it's not all construction from a deliverables perspective, as you'd probably be aware.Let's have a bit of a brainstorm.What are some of the things that we would need to deliver?
High level things for this to be successful, do you think?
Speaker C
Approved finance.
Speaker A
Fantastic.So the first, the first deliverable and it's good if we can sort of think of our deliverable sequentially.This, then that, then this.
But that was perfect.So I get to say my first deliverable is design and approvals.Now as a deliverable, I think that's okay.But there's, you can imagine there's going to be a lot of work to be done to get to design and approvals.House plan specifications, soil testing, energy rating, building contracts, council approvals, loan approvals, mortgages, finance, all of those sorts of things.
Then what could be our second deliverable?Once we've got all of those, then what are we going to do?
Speaker B
I would just start looking for resources.
Speaker A
That's a task.So when you say looking for, that's doing something.What are we going to deliver?
Speaker B
So design and procurement, I guess would be next.So you could either establish a construction contract.
Speaker A
Yeah, I'm going to put, I'm going to put all of that in design and approval.That's going to be a big bucket of stuff.But once I've got my design and everything approved, what's the next thing I need to deliver?
Speaker C
Award it to a builder.
Speaker A
I'm going to put that in design and approvals as an activity.
Speaker B
You'd need to ensure as an owner builder that you're compliant with all the building codes and standards as well.
Speaker A
The deliverable in design and approvals.Sorry, a sub.
So let's think about it.And, and this is where people get.And you're falling into the same crap that everybody else does.Normally when we're talking about deliverables, we're not talking about a lot of things.So for the house, and I'll make this really simple for the house.
What have we got here?Gonna have four deliverables.The first deliverable is design and approvals.I will deliver you design and everything approved to start work.The next thing I'm going to deliver is a house.
Make sense?
Second deliverable.So the second deliverable is construction and under construction is going to be a whole bunch of things.The third deliverable might be.The third deliverable will be services and handover.So I will do all the work to make sure that all of after construction, I will deliver you all of the services into that, that built house.
And then there might be a fourth deliverable.Fourth deliverable might be.Fourth deliverable might be interior design, or it might not be, you know, I, I could break this down into three deliverables, designs and approvals, construction and then services and handover, which would have all of those, you know, final approvals, final certificate certifications, all of those sorts of things.Things I notice when I'm talking about the deliverables, I'm talking about, you know, large buckets.When we start to talk about inclusions and work that needs to be Done.
We're starting to talk about all of those things that you brought out.You would need to get this done.You would need to get that done.Well, if I did all of those things and when they're all completed, could I say that the deliverable of design and approvals is complete and you'll do this and I do this.When we work through your deliverables, you will.
Some of you will get right down into the weeds.What we need to do is we need to bring it back up from a deliverable perspective.Then we start to talk about what's in scope.So this is when we're talking about in scope, we're really talking about sort
Speaker C
of
Speaker A
what work can our stakeholders reasonably expect to be included in that.So in scope for this project will be all designs and approvals.So I'll do anything that's required to get the designs and approvals.In scope is going to be.Be all site preparation, construction of the house, connection of all water or power or sewer.
What do you think, would interior design and interior decorating be in scope, do you think?
Who thinks it would be and who thinks it wouldn't?What do you think, Crystal?You were going, absolutely not.Why would, why, why would you say it's not?
Speaker C
Well, I guess it determines what the desirable deliverables are.It may be for some and it may not be for others.If we're talking purely about the construction of a building, then no, if that's what's determined.But somebody, I guess one of the key deliverables for someone might be that.That's part of it.
Speaker A
Exactly right.
So perfect.We decide, is this project just about construction of the.The building ready, ready to give you the keys so that you can put your furnishing in, you can slap clean on the walls or is painting and finishing, is that included in scope as well?And there's no right or wrong.How do we get to.How do we get to the point where, where it's a.It's a right or wrong?Well, it's conversation and it's agreement.I'm going to say because I'm an owner builder and my family is going to move in, I'm going to say in scope is going to be interior.Is going to be interior finishings.
Yeah, I think that would be reasonable.What's out of scope?What do you think would be out of scope for this?
Speaker B
Well, anything that's not prior discussed and agreed upon.
Speaker A
So, like, you haven't talked about your
Speaker B
furniture or your windows or anything like that.So it's all got to be discuss prior.
Speaker A
Exactly.And we agree.And, and you know, the.Out of scope, the, the, the way that we sort of think about out of scope is if I didn't provide you with that, would you still.Would it still meet the objectives?If I didn't provide you with that, would you still get the benefits?
Now I'm gonna, I've been talking to the kids and the kids are saying it's gonna be so good.We're gonna move into this new house.And I can't wait.I can't wait for summer to come when we can jump in the pool.Now I got a problem here, haven't I?
I've potentially got a problem with some of my key stakeholders.So would we, would we include pool in the scope?
Would we?
Speaker C
If it's agreed on yes.
Speaker A
If it's agreed on yes.Now I'm going to say no, because the objective here is to provide a house that is, you know, a structure, a house that is ready for my family to move in, you know, and you know, there could be some other objectives in there.It needs to be safe, it needs to be comfortable, it needs to be functional.
It needs this many bedrooms.We need to be able to do all of X, Y and Z.But a pool doesn't meet a pool doesn't meet any of those objectives.So I'm going to say landscaping, not in scale.Pool, not in scope.
Furnishings.Am I going to furnish the whole place?I'm going to say no.That's out of scope.Now just because something's out of scope doesn't mean it's not a good idea.
Out of scope just means that for this project to meet our agreed objectives, pools and landscaping don't meet the objective of a house that's ready to move into.That's, that's safe and practical and functional for my family.That doesn't mean we don't need it.It might be, you know what, the next project in 12 months time.Well, the next project when this is done, is going to be the landscaping project.
And we will scope that out and that will have its own funding, it will have its own cost, it will have its own everything.So really important to manage those expectations around outer scope boundaries.Boundaries are basically where we're just talking about the limits of what's included and what's not.The boundaries are the projects start when the project starts, when contracts are assigned and the site is handed over to the builder.And the project stops when we've got the keys and we're physically in There now assumptions, these are really important ones.Assumptions and constraints are when we are determining go sometimes we need to, we, we need to move forward on what we're doing without all of the answers.And this is where, where we build assumptions into our thinking and it helps justify how did you come to that cost, how did you come to that time, why is it taking so long, et cetera, et cetera.
Etc.So, you know, let's think about some assumptions that we might be able to put in here.I'm going to provide you the house in 12 months at $2 million.
But I'm still in the planning phase and that, that, that 12 months and that $2 million is based upon the assumption that when we do soil tests they come back clean and we don't need to remediate any of the land.
12 months is based upon the assumption that council approves everything within our inspected time frame.
12 months, $2 million is based upon the assumption that the bank actually gives us that money or that actually the bank releases the approved budget on time.But there's other things as well.Well, we might be talking about plans and I might be talking to the architect and I might be talking to the builder and we might be scoping it out, the three of us might be scoping it out.And the builder says, okay, show me the block of land.And the architect says, yeah, give me the plans for the block of land.
And I'm going, well, I don't have the block of land yet but we need to get moving because the bank and all of this sort of stuff, I've got approval for X. I've yet to find the block of land but please don't let that stop you from starting.That's fair enough.So they're going to go away and they're going to build all of this out.I find this block of land and when I find this block of land, it's the perfect block of land.It's a half an acre and it's got views out over the river on that side and it's got views out over the ocean on that side.But it's on a block of land like, like that.
Now the builder and the architect have been merrily now for me as a scope holder have been merrily going away designing all of this sort of stuff.Is it fair once I find the block of land to hold the builder and the architect to their original costs?
That wouldn't be fair now?Well, because we don't have the block of land, they're going to put an assumption in there, the scope of this project is 12 months, is going to be a four bedroom single story house based upon the assumption that when you do find the block of land, it's flat and if it's not, well then we reserve the right to go back and recost it.So building those assumptions in explains how we came to some of our decisions, constraints, what is constraining us?
What are the boundaries that we need to work in?And we've got lots of constraints.Constrained.I can only spend $2 million.You're not, you know, I'm constrained by budget.So we can only do as much as we can do for $12 million.What else have we got?Council?I'm constrained around what I can build and the materials and how I need to construct is going to be constrained by council regulations, fire ratings.I live in an area where I'm surrounded by bush, so I'm constrained there in the materials that I can use.
And that has a material impact and a material effect on the ultimate plan that I'm going to be put together, building codes, all of those sorts of things.And then I do find this fantastic block of land.And let's say it's a nice flat block of land, but it's one of those battle axes.The only way that you can get access is there's a 30 meter single car laneway in between two other properties.But when you get to the end, this opens up up into this glorious half acre, the nicest possible land I could, I could really, really want.
Now that provides us with some constraints from a building perspective.
$2 million, great.But the builder says, well, no, I am constrained now.I cannot get a lot of the material I need onto site without hiring a crane, cleaning stuff up and over.So I'm constrained by access to the site.And that constraint has a material impact on time and cost.
So being really, really clear and understanding those and documenting those and managing to those constraints is important for us as well.And then we're thinking about approvals.
Who needs to approve what it needs to approve the loan needs to approve that it's ready for occupation, wife and children need to approve that it's the sort of house they want to live in.So we document all of those sorts of things as well and make sure that, make sure that the people who are approving know that they have that role, but also making sure that we are getting the right checks and the right balances in place.So if we do all of that, that becomes the project scope statement.That is a sub Plan of your project management plan.Your project management plan says this is how we scope stuff out.
The scope statement is and for this project, here are the specifics.
The class moves into the office relocation case study and the speaker explains what the groups need to identify. Students are instructed to define objectives, deliverables, scope boundaries, assumptions, and constraints before starting the assessment.
Speaker A
Go away and do some.So where are we from a time perspective?Loads of time.If everyone has got their in class activities up and their assessment number one up and ready to go, let's hit it.Enough of me talking.
What are we talking in class activity.So hear what we're asking you to do and you will need to re familiarize yourself with the scenario.But if you look through here, if you look through the scenario, the simulation, let's have a look at where potentially we've got some pointers that are going to help us.You're not going to find all the answers here.So when you're in your groups working through it, come to a consensus, go.Yeah, this is what we would do.So what have we got here?Project requirements.The project the department manager has provided the following requirements.Therefore key stakeholder.
We've got a sponsor company office is relocating to a new building because it has outgrown its available space.So we now know why we're doing this.
Project must be completed with minimal disruption to normal business operations with new office office fully operational when staff commence work on Monday.Okay, we've got some expectations here, but here we've got a constraint completed with minimal disruption.Well, that's going to constrain when we can do work and how we can do work.And we've got project requirements.So you can take all of these.These now become.
These now become your deliverables.But what you need to do is you need to work out where the deliverables sit in all of this.What are the deliverables?So what have we got?We've got some operational requirements here.
A lot of these are constraints or deliverables.
We've got some constraints around how we might purchase.Purchasing is always going to be a constraint.We're always constrained by contract and preferred suppliers.Some staff packing requirements, 30 staff members.We've got health and safety requirements in there, we've got some milestones with some activities there.
So we're starting to get some, some activities and some deliverables in there.We've got some costs in there.We're going to be constrained by cost costs.
What else have we got here?We've got weekend testing in there.You've got a bit of a contingency, some details around who approves what and why they're approving it.Some details around reporting and communication responsibilities, project completion, etcetera etc.So you don't have all the answers here.So you're going to have to read through, have a bit of a conversation and go, what are the agenda objectives for this project?If we were to articulate what the objectives are, how could we build that?
And I'm going to say that if you were to take that first page there, you could probably build a couple.And you don't just need one objective.You could have three or four objectives to move all staff safely by X date or to move 30 staff safely by date X.The other objective will be.Might be.
And the objective is that all IT systems are ready and functioning for staff to be able to use on Monday.Think of another objective and then once you've got those objectives, you can start to break it down.Well, to meet those objectives, what do you think we would need to deliver?Now, don't get too caught up on this.No right or wrong.
From my perspective, when I assess, if you've left something really obvious out, I'll go, well, that's really obvious.You should sort of put it in.But what I'm really looking for is your approach.How you're thinking about this is probably more important than the end result for me.So we're going to jump into groups.You're going to do.You've already done activity one, collecting requirements.So we know what is going to be one key requirement and what could happen if we don't meet that requirement.Now we're going to go through, decide as a group, what is the purpose and the goal?What are we trying to achieve?
What are the objectives and the outcomes?Key deliverables.I think for this I'd like to see four, maybe five deliverables.And remember, deliverables are the work we're doing.Remember, for the House, the deliverables were approvals, building lockup, ready to move in.
And that's a big, big project.But we only came up with three or maybe four deliverables.What's in scope?So within those deliverables, what can you reasonably expect us to do?Coordinate this, provide this.But what aren't we going to do?And then what are any assumptions and constraints when you're doing this?Break them down.Big heading assumptions, a list.Big heading constraints, a list.
Once we've done that and you guys are comfortable with it, what I'll ask you to do is.
Jump across with whatever time we've got left, jump across and let's start to complete the assessment.Because all we're doing here is we're lifting and Shifting and moving stuff around.Now don't worry about section one, you can do that yourself.It's pretty simple.You just need to read through the assessment and you'll find all of these approval points and approval metrics and what have you.
Speaker C
But
Speaker A
if you've worked your way through the in class activity and you're pretty comfortable and confident, then flick across and start to work through this one which is again bit of a repeat.So for some of this it's just a copy and paste, but here, okay, now we're asking you to think a little bit more detail.So put a little bit more meat on the bones from your in class activity.Think about your restraints, your dependencies and all of these sorts of bits and bobs and that's what we're going to do from sort of now up until the break.
Now when you are in your sessions and I'm going to put you into your, into your groups in a moment, nominate your project manager.So in there someone go, I'll be the project manager.Project manager, your job.Have the document up, open and ready and make sure that you are sharing screen with everybody else in the breakout room.For this session as the project manager you are going to be taking all of these ideas and then you are going to be completing the template on behalf of the rest of your team.
Now I don't expect you to do, to get all of this done, but if from an assessment perspective, you can get a really good start on it and then you can go away for the remainder of the week and on your own you can tighten it up and you can add your own little bits and pieces in there.That's a good review result.So breakout rooms, nominate your project manager.Work through in class activity number two.Consult, collaborate, argue, disagree, make stuff up if you need to.
When you've completed all of that and you're really comfortable, flick across to the assessment proper and let's get a start on that.All right, Any questions?
Now this is how we're going to do it from moving forward.Might be a little bit clunky for the first one until you sort of get into that rhythm of how you're going to run it.But I'll jump in and out of those rooms, I'll help you where I can, I'll steer you in the right direction.But I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you about 30 to 40 minutes to get as much of that done as you possibly can.Spend the time on this, the in class activity.Remember that's the one I'm going to assess.So that's the one where it needs to have good, clever detail in it.Are we all good?
Speaker C
Yeah.
Speaker A
I'm going to put you into the rooms.I'm just going to let Zoom determine.Yep.I'm just going to do totally random, random, random breakout rooms.
How many of us are there?Boom, boom, boom.Ten.Two groups of five.That makes sense, doesn't it?
Sign automatically.
Speaker B
Okay.
Speaker A
A pretty good looking group.We're all pretty familiar with our Zoom breakout room.Does any.Is anyone not comfortable with how they work?
I'll hit a button, a screen will pop up, says you've been invited to a room, hit accept, get your camera on, nominate your project manager.I'll give you five or ten minutes to go through the case study as a group and start to pull out.Hopefully you've already started highlighting bits that you might think is a constraint, a deliverable, etc.And then just start working on it.Then I'll cycle through both rooms, watch what you're doing, give you my input and hopefully by the end of this, you've got a little bit of your assessment already done.
The groups are sent into breakout rooms to work through the case study and begin the in-class activity. The speaker pauses the recording and announces a short break afterward.
Speaker A
If there's no questions, I'm going to open the rooms now.Now watch out for the pop up.Here it comes.
Lovely.Everyone's in the room.Okay, if you are that, if you are watching this recording, I'm going to pause it now for the next 40 or so minutes, the group's going to actually be working through their in class activities.
Speaker B
Sorry, mate, it's kicked me out of the room for some reason.
Speaker A
That's all right, mate.Hold on a second.
Okay, Richard, I'm gonna, I'm gonna move you somewhere.Don't accept it.Right, I got, I need to move you out of the room and then back in.So I'm moving you into room one.Just ignore that.
Speaker C
Yep.
Speaker A
Okay.Now I'm moving you back into room two.Accept that one.Hopefully it works.
Speaker B
Copy, mate.Mate, I was just in room two and then it come up with a popup and I got out of it and it sent me back here.
Speaker A
Yeah, I think everyone in room two said we don't want Khed in the, in the room technical issues.So look, what I'm going to do is I'm going to put you in room one because I need to move you out.Ignore that.So just give me a sec.Yep, ignore that one.
Speaker B
Yep.
Speaker A
Now I'm going to pop you back into room to accept that one and hopefully, hopefully it doesn't kick you out this time, buddy.
See how we go.Lovely.
Speaker C
It.
Speaker A
And the time.It is.Time's up.
Speaker B
Perfect.
Speaker A
All right, so we.
What we're going to do now is we're going to take a break.So 15 minutes, clear our heads.When we come back, we'll have a little bit of a chat around that, I suppose, exercise and some of the approaches there from a scope perspective.And I see this a lot.There's always a lot of.
Well, there's two things.There's a lot of angst around.What's the difference between an objective, an outcome and a deliverable and an in scope and an out scope and the way organizations approach it.So let's go and take 15 minutes.Go get yourself clear.
Hopefully you're not going to sit there and do your working miles.Go get a coffee, clear your heads.We'll come back in 15, we'll do a bit of a debrief, then we'll move on.I'll see you back here at about 11:30.
After the break, the speaker debriefs the group activity and discusses common confusion around in-scope versus out-of-scope work. He explains how scope decisions should be made through discussion and agreement.
Speaker C
Thanks, Step.
Speaker A
Hey.So hopefully, hopefully you weren't trying to catch up on ebay, but I know most of you probably were.
So let's have a little bit of a chat around that activity and we might.We'll do a little bit of a debrief on it, but I'm just going to open it up.What did you find confusing?What didn't sit well as a group, as a team, where did you sort of get stuck?What directions were you sort of heading in?All of those sorts of things.Let's unpack it a bit.And then, Desmond, we might.We might move on to the conversation that you and I were having as well, but
Speaker C
good acting for our group.One of the things was what was in versus out of scope.So one area where we had trouble agreeing on was employees being responsible for packing their belongings.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker C
There were a couple that didn't think it was in scope versus other people that thought it was.
Because it's still a task that needs to be achieved.
Yeah, that was definitely one spot where I think we had a bit of trouble.
Speaker A
And where did you guys land?
Well, didn't you land?More importantly,
Speaker C
the way that we put it in the assessment, we changed the wording to be more from a project manager perspective of, you know, they need to coordinate and organize for the packaging and the removal of the boxes.They're not obviously doing it, but they're responsible for making sure that that occurs.
Speaker A
Yeah.And that's a good way.And it doesn't always work, but for me, sometimes if I get myself to the in Scope and the out of scope.
Don't think about the product, think about the work.So in us getting this deliverable, we will do this, we will coordinate.Yeah, we will coordinate and provide the boxes, but we won't, the project will not take responsibility for packing them.Doesn't always work because in scope and out of scope can actually be a product, a service or a result.But an easy, sort of, an easy way to start untangling that is as part of the work.
So take for example my building of the house and my deliverable of all approvals in scope will be.
In scope of those approvals will be managing all the applications, working with the bank, providing the financials, securing the sign offs.That's the work.That's in scope for that piece of work.But again, that's a really good point.The whole, the whole doing the scope document is, it's a process through these conversations that you have of taking the subjective.
Because what you're doing is you're taking a, it could be all of these things and what you're actually trying to do is come up with a agreed objective list.So it's a process of moving from subjective into the objective.Yep, we're going to land all of these things.So what we're doing and what, you know, even, even a simple template like that, it's what it's doing, it's forcing you, it's asking you a question and it's forcing you to go out and find the answer or decide on the answer.And I think that's, for me, that's the power in the scoping exercise.
Yeah, it asks a bunch of questions.And if we can't answer that, if we can't answer what's in scope, if we don't not sure of the benefit, if we aren't clear on the deliverables, then really we shouldn't be going on to the next stage.And the next stage is how much, how long, how good, all of those sorts of things.So when we do it right and when we spend the time on it, it could be, it could be an iteration, it could be a few arguments, a couple of disagreements get back together.But ultimately our job is to get it all down as a, as an objective view of what this project might do if we were to sort of go ahead with it.
The speaker clarifies the difference between goals, objectives, outcomes, and benefits, using the office move case study as an example. He also explains how scope documents become control tools once approved.
Speaker A
So don't get too caught up on it.You did exactly the right thing in that team.You had a, you had different views and you talked it out and ultimately, you know, you agreed.And in scoping, you know, let's be realistic in scoping, there's going to be winners and losers.There absolutely is.
And that's our job.Our job is to navigate and to bring the people through all of this.I would even say from a scoping perspective, if I pull it right back, my job as the project manager is to bring all of these people together, let them hash it out and then I'll document it and say, this is what we agreed.And it's a bit of a simple one way of doing it because, you know, we know from project perspectives as well.You know, we're not just planning, we're going to get out there and do it.
We're also going to have opinions and, you know, sometimes our opinions will be challenged in this scoping process and that's healthy.Let's get to the point where we all, even if we, even if we're not 100% happy, we all agree, yeah, this is what it is.But ultimately, who's the decider in order of this, if you get stuck, who unstuck, who un.Unstucks you?Who unsticks you?
The Persian Comp Authority.Sorry, Praj.
Speaker B
The Project Approval authority.In this case, the, the, the department manager.
Speaker A
Yeah, the sponsor, whoever that is, whatever, whatever title role they have within the organization.
Because ultimately you are really, you're going out there and going, this is what the business is, thinks this project is.This is what the project wants this project to be.And then the sponsor goes, yeah or no.
And at that point, because ultimately we're going to answer to the sponsor, but we need to, we need to let the sponsor know.
Speaker C
Right.
Speaker A
What else got you caught and tripped up on that?
Deliverables.Everyone got a little bit mixed up on deliverables, is that fair to say?And too much detail.And too much detail.And look, what we're talking about at the scope stages, what a lot of you do is you, you, you, you, you drop down into requirements and requirements is that next stage.
Like I said, you can have a bunch of deliverables in there.I, I haven't seen many projects, I'll be honest, I haven't seen many projects, projects that have been done in the right robust way where you, you have more than, you know, any more than sort of 10 deliverables.I'm going to say, I'm going to challenge you to say, well, that's a really big project, but I'm going to challenge you to say what you're probably doing is you're putting requirements in there.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
So for my second deliverable of My house, I. E. The foundations and the structure are done.
Well, I could go into a bunch of requirements there and this is where things like specifications, two of these.Yep.Four windows, three bedrooms, you know, specifications around the footings and tensile strengths and specifications around the glazing on the windows and all of those sorts of things.They are requirements of the deliverable.But try and get those deliverables into those big, biggest chunks.Yeah.And I'm going to say, there is no real right or wrong.If, if you agree and you want to get down to that level of detail, fantastic.But I'm going to say, you know, that's where requirements, that's where quality requirements come in.
Deliverable four bedroom, single story house requirements.Well, requirements are timber floors, XYZs and all of these sorts of things.But again, it comes with practice, but it also comes with understanding the way your organization works and it also comes with your sponsor or your approval authority as well.Some sponsors and some of those approvers want to see that detail in the scope and if that's where they want to see the detail in the scope, then just add another section requirements and go into glorious detail around requirements, specifications, all of those sorts of things.I know Desley, you and I were having a conversation and you were saying that from your perspective when you get to deliverable, you've got a list, a quite detailed list of deliverables.
Does that.
So I can't hear you, Desley.
It says you're not on mute but there's nothing coming through.
Can anyone else hear Desne?Okay, that's all right, Desley.I won't put you on the spot for that one.It was an interesting one.This might be something that, that we ask Duncan.
Yeah.What's the difference, Duncan MyITC.What's the difference between a deliverable and a requirement?
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
In his experience he might be able to show us anything else that sort of got you a little bit caught up.
Speaker C
So.Yeah.
Speaker B
So personally, something I always sort of trips me up is the purpose versus the objectives.I kind of model them to be the same in my mind for some reason.
Speaker A
Yeah.
And I would as well.Yeah.
Speaker B
So like what would.If you had to just dumb it down, like what would be how would I know if I've written an objective instead of the goal of the project?
Because usually in let's say a project definition document, for example, you have a one liner, like one clear sentence about what their goal or the project is.Right.Versus like the objectives.You could probably have a bit more detail than that.
Speaker A
But
Speaker B
I have written a few documents, and a lot of the times I end up realizing I've written down the objectives as opposed to what, like a holistic goal for the project should be.
Speaker A
Be.I think so.
Try.When we're talking about goals, try and map goals to the broader organizational goals.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
And when you're writing objectives.Objectives are specific to the piece of work that we are doing, and an objective will support a goal.So the goal, the goal of this project.The goal would be to.
The goal is to ensure that our working environment.The goal is to ensure that we have a working environment that allows for expansion, collaboration, and whatever the heck it is.The objective is to move 30 people to a new location within three weeks.Yeah, gotcha.
Speaker B
So objectives are usually more specific and measurable.
Speaker A
Goals are more specific.And I know I keep saying this, but just look at the way the documents are structured.
The first question, high level.The second question, we're taking that and we're breaking it down a little bit.The next box, we're breaking it down a little bit more.Yeah.But you know, for me, the purpose needs to map to those broader goals.Why?The goal is why are we doing it.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A
So the goal is why are we doing it?The objective is what are we going to do then?The outcome is what changes, and the benefit is what do we get if we make that change?So what's the benefit?What would you say the benefit of our case study project is?Anyone?
Speaker B
I think that was the benefit that we moved into a large office space.
Speaker A
Is there benefit in that?
Speaker B
Well, the benefit would be that we're moving because we've run out of room.
Speaker A
Okay.Getting there.So what's the benefit that the new
Speaker C
office building provided room to expand in the future.
Speaker A
So if we, if we spend this time, if we go through this pain, if we manage this risk, the benefit is that we will be.We will have a working environment that will allow us to expand.That's the benefit.We're chasing that.And that expansion is going to come with.With whatever benefits we have in there.So, Gary, you are almost there, always there.If we do all of this, why is it good?
Just being in an office in and of itself isn't compelling enough reason to convince me to spend the time and the money.But if you say step and we will be able to expand and we will be able to.To have a much better office, which is going to make for much better collaboration and we're going to make more money and we're going to be able to do all of this, I go, ah, I want that benefit and I'm a, you know, I'm happy to pay just being in a new office.So what can't I, you know, why can't we stay here?So, but these things just take practice and, and, and, you know, the other thing, the other thing is get as many eyes on it as you possibly can.
So Praj, Gary and I, we just sort of threw some ideas around and between the three of us, we sort of came up with something that we agree on.But if you sit there and just try and do it on your own at your desk, you're probably missing a beat.And that's why we talk about stakeholders in the whole scoping bit.If you don't understand the benefits, it go and talk to people go, oh, wow.And, and, and we start to build up a bit of a benefit.
Anything else it's worth, you know, this is the big, this is the big activity of, of the scoping bit.The rest of it's pretty simple.
Well, if anything come popped into your mind, yell out scope management.So we've gone through all of this, this process.We have a SCOPE statement which is deliverables, outcomes, all of this sort of stuff.We might drop requirements in there as well if we want to.Specifications.
I've seen, you know, good scope document has the requirements and specifications.If there's something that just absolutely is not negotiable from a specification, must meet this, must meet that, they become requirements.So, and I'd sort of say, you know, chucking requirements in there, it's a really robust example of a scope.But we do all of this sort of stuff and then we don't just get a sign off, a signature and stick it away in our drawer.And it's the same with all of our plans.
In planning, we're planning, but then once those plans are robust and everybody agrees and you've got your authorities and your approvals on them, those documents move from a planning document into a monitoring and controlling document.
The discussion turns to scope creep, change control, and how to manage unplanned work. The speaker explains how approved changes are documented, assessed, and incorporated into scope, schedule, and budget.
Speaker A
You think about it tomorrow when we, and I'll say the same thing.Tomorrow when we do time, we're going to spend time planning out our schedule.
Once that schedule is approved, that then moves from being a plan into a monitoring document.We are now monitoring progress against the agreed plan.
And it's the same with Scope, where making decisions around the agreed scope, someone comes up and says, we should do this, we should do that.Well, rather than the project manager go, yeah, good idea, go away and do it it, we're going hold on.We need to go back to the scope that wasn't originally in our scope, or you're going, you know, you're actually working on something that's out of scope or you're going too far.So it becomes a document that allows us to control the work that's being done in the right way and it becomes a measurement tool.We're going to be reporting on this here.We're going to re, we're going to be reporting on progress against the scope, progress against the deliverables.So they are, you know, they're live, active documents.And within any organization there's going to be processes involved.But, you know, robustness basically says, yeah, we plan it and then we monitor it, we check periodically.
And milestones are a really good place to check periodically.
We've met a milestone.Let's go back, back.What was, what were, what were the deliverables up until that milestone?Are we there yet?Have we still got work to do?
We're looking at the work that's being done and we're going, hold on, that's.Why are you doing that?And sometimes, you know, people, for the right reasons with good intentions will start to do additional work.And what's the impact of people doing additional work that's not planned for them?Guys, really generically, what happens?
No one knows what they're up to.Well, no one knows what you're up to.Yeah, dispute.
Speaker B
Sorry, dispute.
Speaker A
Maybe disputes.
Yeah, disagreement.Cost or spending time arguing over stuff.
Speaker C
You.
Speaker A
What else?
Speaker B
I think for projects you can get commercial as well.Like between separate contractors.If you've got scope, clarity is not there.Between the separate contractors, there's liability issues,
Speaker A
there's principal contractor, perfectly.
The two biggest ones.If people are doing work that wasn't agreed to, they're bringing additional time and cost into your plan.
Scope creep is what we're really talking about.Yeah.And I've seen this.I had a b, A business analyst who I absolutely loved, worked with her for years.She followed me and I followed her to three different organizations and she was great.She would do requirements gathering and she would do a lot of the scoping stuff.You know, we, I, I would see that projects were, were starting to take a little bit longer or cost a little bit more than we planned and sort of cycled back and tried to work it out.And because she was so respected and was so trusted within that organizational context, she would just go, yeah, yeah, yeah, for the right reasons.Now every year, year, year brings additional time and cost.So we need to, we need to control it.And that's all it's saying here.All right.We need to move on quickly.
So scope management.Yeah, we're monitoring the work, we're checking.Not all the time, but we are checking.Milestones are a really good time to go back and check.Scan and then to check scope for the next piece.Easy to do.Change control, controlling those changes that come in, communicate, reporting, letting people know what's happening, documentation, filing, keeping all your approvals in the right place, audit trails, all of those sorts of things.And escalation.What do I do when Scope gets out of control?And that's all part of your scope management plan.That's the.This is how we're going to run things.
When scope changes, we do a simple scope variation.If you're working with contractors a lot, you would already know.You ask a contractor to do something, they go, that wasn't in scope, they'll give you a variation.You go, yes, move on.Internally, it's the same thing.If someone wants something extra, even if it's the sponsor, even if it's the authority, if they have said and signed off that this is what I want.And then they say, oh, I know I'm going to give you two weeks and $55,000, but I also want all the servers upgraded.What do we do?We say, you've only given me $55,000.If you want the servers upgraded, it's going to cost you another $120,000.And they'll go, yeah.Oh, and by the way, it's going to take an extra two weeks and you can go back and readjust your plans, but you're doing it in a control controlled way.
So identify the change, document it.And when we're documenting it, we're basically saying, you know, what is it worth doing?Is there benefit?
How much extra time and money is this going to cost?And the sponsor goes, yeah, included.At that point, your scope has changed.You now go back and add this extra thing to your scope.You go back to your schedule, you add the extra week, you go back to your budget, you add the extra 120,000, and now your held account amount to $175,000.Budget rather than a 55.It's just about controlling these things.And as project managers, we need that to happen.We consider the options.Well, we provide enough information for someone else to say yes or no.
Now, from a hierarchy perspective, you might even go, you know what?A minor scope change, anything that's less than 5% of the total budget.The project Project.The project manager can approve that.Anything more than 5% must go to the sponsor as an example.But again, this is stuff.You all agree in your plan and then you will follow that.That's simple.So when we're managing.Yep.Why do we.Why do we have scope creep?Well, if it's for scoping, then I'm going to say that's on you because your job is to do good scope scoping, unclear project boundaries, different stakeholder expectations, unapproved additional work, outdated scope document.There's a bunch of issues in there.I'm going to say the first 1, 2, 3.
If you spend the time and you talk to enough people when you're doing your scoping exercise, you will minimize those uncontrolled changes, have a robust change process in there.Unapproved additional work.Well, that is an uncontrolled change.So you can group those together.We've got a process for it.An outdated scope document.Well, you know, you don't want a new scope to come out and half the business to be working off the old one.So make sure you communicate and things are updated.That's always saying here, here.
The class works through a short change-management exercise based on the office move scenario. The speaker then directs students to transfer their work into the assessment and continue if time allows.
Speaker A
And then at the end, we're not going to get time to do this today, but we do a review.
It's like our lessons learned.So at the end of our project, or even going through our project, we sit back and go, okay, how did we go?What happened?Well, there was a lot of uncontrolled scope.Why was that?
Well, we didn't enforce the change control process strictly enough.Okay, well, next time we need to make sure that everybody knows the process and we've got an approval gate in there, etc.And look, we're going to do lessons learned at the end of every unit.Every single unit.The last assessment will be, what did you learn?
What could you do better next time?So we're not going to spend too much time on that because we don't have much time left today on that.Okay, so let's have a look at managing change to scale.We go.Let's jump back into our documenters.
Where are we in class activity.We can at least get that one done before Duncan can come through.
Oh, we're already there.All right.Managing changes to scope.During the office move project, the sponsor requests a change.Six new staff have joined the office team, Six additional computers have been purchased, a new printer must be included in the move, and six additional boxes are required.
Yeah, so that one's a pretty easy to work through.All I want you to do Is answer these questions.
We okay with that?Now if you can get through that in the next 10 or 15 minutes, by all means, by all means, jump across into the assessment proper.If I can just find the darn thing and see how much as a team you can get of that section of the assessment proper Done this one, you're not gonna, you're not gonna need too much time.I'll give you 10 or so minutes.When you come back, Duncan's gonna be here and then we'll talk about the lessons learned a little bit at the end.So this one should, should be.Okay, I'm not going to pop into your rooms because I think, I think, I think you guys will get it.Any questions?
Speaker C
Yes, Deb, Are we doing the.Our project one or are we doing our.In class?The.
Speaker A
In class?
Speaker C
Yeah.
Speaker A
Okay, nice and quick.And if you look at it, most of the assessment one is just going to be a copy and paste from ink class into there.Yeah, get, get the ink class done on and then if you've got any time left over, see how much of the assessment you can do.Yeah.
Duncan arrives and the speaker introduces him to the class, explaining that he will provide a real-world ARTC perspective. They briefly discuss the difference between deliverables and requirements before Duncan begins.
Speaker A
All right, let's do it.A good quick 10 minutes.I think allow participants 10 minutes.
Automatic closure at 10 minutes this time.Good luck, guys.When you come back and if you've got questions for Duncan, by all means, bring them out.
All right, Duncan.Hello.
Speaker B
Hello.How you going?
Speaker A
I'm doing well, my friend.Nice to meet you.
Speaker B
Yeah, nice to meet you.
Speaker A
To Duncan.We're a little bit behind where we need to be.Have you got.Are we okay if we start sort of in 10 minutes time?
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah, that's fine.Yeah.Do you want me to come back or are you happy for me to hang around?I can do some other stuff, grab
Speaker A
a coffee, do some emails.Not sure if we're going to get any too many questions in there, but Desley, are you.
Do you know Desley at all?
Speaker B
No, no.
Speaker A
We're going through scope at the moment and they're really struggling with the difference between goals, objectives, deliverables and requirements.When I started to talk to them about deliverables and I used the example of building a house, I said for building a house, it's probably.For me, I would probably have three or four, maybe five deliverables in that whole thing of building a house out and then, well, when I have to do it, you know, my deliver, I've got like 30 deliverables in my scope document.
And I'm saying, well, mate.And I said, but they're requirements and they're going.But no, the form says deliverables.So little, little, little things around nomenclature and the way RT art sort of work.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
So I'd be interested in your view on that.
Speaker B
Yeah, no worries.
Yeah, I guess,
Speaker C
Yeah.
Speaker B
It's a bit of a tricky one because it's.Yeah, it depends how you're defining them I suppose for each component of a project because it's the same deal.I guess on a complex project you could have, you could have a number of different deliverables, I suppose.What are the examples?Like if you're talking about a house there, what are you seeing as the different difference?
Speaker A
So from.And we're, we're using, we're using PMBOK or Prince, two definitions.Yep, yep.So for me, for building a house, I, I said, for me, the deliverables for building a house based upon the pinlock definition of what that end result is, I said I would have.The first deliverables would be funding and approval.I will deliver you.I will deliver you design and all approvals.Now underneath that obviously there's going to be a bunch of specifications.Second deliverable, the shell.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A
I will deliver you a structure on a foundation.Third deliverable will be all services lock up ready for you to move in.I said, yeah, I mean that's deliverables.Now tomorrow we're going to talk about time, we're going to start talking about work breakdown structures.
So within each of those big deliverables there's going to be work packages.Those work are going to have fast, those tasks are going to have specifications.Yeah, yeah.And I'm sort of working towards the purest PMBOK sort of definition.But if I, yeah, I guess from
Speaker B
an ARTC perspective then those deliverables are probably more stages.So we're going to have like.I'm just trying to think from our EGP20A1, which I guess is aligned to Prince.So we're going to have a project feasibility phase, we'll have a project assessment phase.So it's sort of that those sort of deliverables, I suppose, whereas some of the people that are doing this training maybe aren't as experienced with the complex projects and they're probably.A lot of those phases are probably developed by others and they're.Then the projects might be handed over to them for delivery and they'd only be seeing a single sort of construction phase delivery from their project perspective.So they may not see some of those other deliverables as.
Speaker A
And if they're seeing just their bit of execution or their Work package.
Speaker B
That's right.Then they're looking at requirements and saying, well, the requirements are I need to put in this many sleepers or I need to replace this many turnouts.
Speaker A
Yeah, they're saying that they are.Okay.Okay.So I'm.I'm gonna.If there's no questions, that's what I'm going to open with.Yeah.Then maybe we can help with a
Speaker B
little bit of clarity.Yeah, yeah, yeah, Cool.All right.Yeah, okay.
Speaker A
I don't.Are you able to.If I give you my email address, are you able to send me.What is it?IP.IPG.What was it?
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.EPG201.
Speaker A
I don't have any.I don't actually have a.A copy of that and I think for me, contextually, that'd be really interesting as well.
Speaker B
To.Sure, yeah, for sure.Yeah.
Speaker A
But ArtC prints two primarily.
Oh, you're frozen on me.
Speaker B
Yes.So that.Yeah, our project management procedures aligned to that.It's a development.
Speaker A
Yeah.I'm Prince 2, so that's fine, but Prince 2 pin mark.Same.Same in my mind.Just a slightly different.
Speaker B
Different.
Speaker A
Slightly different lens or version of it.All right, so let's see where we.We're at too.Yeah, I'll be back in, my friend.
Speaker B
Yeah, no worries.Yeah, cool.No worries.
Speaker A
I might go and top my cup of tea up, so I might just jump onto my jar, put myself on mute and.
Speaker C
Yeah, nice.
Speaker B
I'll.I'll do the same.
Speaker A
Just bring a few emails out.Yeah.
Duncan outlines his background and explains the importance of project management plans, approvals, and change control. He also describes the tradeoffs between scope, time, cost, and quality, and why scope creep must be controlled.
Speaker A
Here we go.
All right, we got back.Room one.Perfect.Room two.Still.
Still.Oh, room.Before we were one into.Goodness me me.
The other teams are squeezing every second out of the timer.There we go.
Here we go.Everyone back.
So hopefully, hopefully that one was.Was I suppose a little bit easier to sort of get our heads around here.We're really talking about.About standard process, a standard change management process and good change management process.Really.It's for most of those changes, we would say for every unapproved.So every change that happens after the scope has been signed off, we would apply that process again.You know, does this change.
Contribute to benefit?How much is it going to cost?How long is this change going to take?And we're what.What we're doing is we're prob.Providing enough information for the business to decide, yeah, I do want that and I'm prepared to give you more time or more money or more what have you if that is the case.So it is very standard repeatable process.Was there any questions about that?Was There any part of that exercise that that sort of didn't land then?
And I said it's a simple exercise but if you did find it, you know, if there was a gotcha in there, by all means let me know.
All right, so we have Duncan.Where are we?Where we are.Yep.Duncan Cowie in the room.Hi Duncan.Right there.There we go.So Duncan's here to give us a bit of an overview of artc, but more importantly to answer any question questions that you might have around that it's all well and good to go through theory, but what's the real world like?And Duncan, Duncan is able to help us untangle what the realities of doing these things in ARTC is.
So welcome Duncan, great to have you here.Did you have anything sort of planned or anything that you wanted to go through or, or do you want to just take some questions or.
Speaker B
No, I did actually.I went through and sort of of wrote down some thoughts around sort of general project management, I guess, sort of key things from my experience, I suppose that lead to effective project management.What I thought sort of generally in regards to project management but also specifically around scope.So I thought I'd go through a few things and then there's not too much there.So I think there'll be plenty of time for questions at the end if there are any questions.
Speaker A
Have you prepared anything that you're going to flash up on screen or are we just.
Speaker B
Just one.There's just one thing, I guess when I get to that it's just a sort of comparison or a comparison between sort of the, the trade offs, I guess between cost, scope, time and quality.So he's going to throw something up on the screen briefly while we're talking about constraints.
Speaker A
Yeah, okay, well I'll leave it to you.
Speaker B
Yeah, no worries.Yeah, for those that don't know me.So yeah, Duncan Cowie, I'm the, the manager for projects in New South Wales.I work in the infrastructure projects team.I share that responsibility with one of my colleagues, Richard Kang.So the two of us have sort of dual responsibility for delivering the major projects within the infrastructure projects team in New South Wales.So Richard focuses mostly on network improvement, Project Program 1 projects and then I've got everything else in New South Wales, so.So yeah, as I said, I'll run through some thoughts around I guess, sort of key things to focus on in project management at artc, a bit of my background.So I've worked in project management for ARTC for 22 years this year across a number of different roles across a number of different teams and I actually completed this same course with Living planet back in 2014.
It was delivered at the time by Les Bentley.
So at that time when I was doing the course I was the senior project manager in ARTC's Hunter Valley major Projects team and I'd been working across a number of different projects at the time.Liverpool Range duplication, there's a number of projects at Kooragang, in and around the coal terminal at Kooragang and also then the Hexam Relief Roads project we successfully delivered.I found the course material both extremely informative for the bits that I was less familiar with, but also it was comforting in that it reinforced what I was doing in my role at the time and had done across my career to that point.
Now I guess the first thing, and this is more of a general one, but I guess at risk of stating the obvious, I think the importance of preparing a project management plan and the relevant sub plans for that for your projects can't be overstated.Even for simple projects it's obviously necessary to ensure you haven't missed a step or omitted in important detail and the development of those plans can be used as a pseudo checklist as well to make sure you haven't forgotten something that you need to cover off.And I guess from my sort of experience again noting that if you don't record your plans for the development delivery of your projects then you don't have any established control and there's nothing to measure them against.
What else?I guess key to that is understanding and seeking approval from the delegated project approval authority for both your PMP and also to manage any change on approved projects.
And I guess again here noting the mechanism for managing scope can differ between simple and complex projects.The level of detail is probably the main differing factor here, but the mechanism to gain approval for scope changes may also differ.You might handle that differently on a simple project compared to how you would on a complex project.And I don't know and I'm sorry here step this is the simple complex differentiator here as an AI, so you may not be covering that depending on the framework you utilize and to sort of train the people against.But yeah, from an ARTC perspective that's that sort of difference around I guess the level of control and the level of management that's implemented for the differing projects.ARTC categorizes against those two sort of key differentiators, a simple project and a complex project.And the complex is maybe the one that's closer to the sort of Prince 2 methodology where it's a staged implementation or staged development and implementation approach for the project as a simple's a bit more rudimentary and may only have a single stage, just the implementation phase, but again that needs to be defined.
So if you're looking at the way we're managing scope, that needs to be defined within the project management plan and again is key to why you need to adequately complete those documents and spend the time to plan for delivery of your projects.So very important.But if we're talking about scope particularly, I guess that's contingent upon identifying your key project stakeholders to ensure their critical requirements are met and that they sign off on the developed scope so that the approval authority can approve it.
And I know note for simple projects the stakeholder engagement and scope develop may be predefined by others that may then be handed over to you as the project delivery team and then it's more on identifying those key stakeholders for the management of change and the tracking and reporting on your scope delivery progress to the key stakeholders.
Now this is a little bit of an aside, but when I was thinking about this, I guess my career and the experiences that I've had, it got me to thinking about the importance I suppose of deciding to and gaining approval to stop a project and that that shouldn't necessarily be seen as a negative as there are occasions where funding needs to be invested in a particular project and you get to a point to determine that the contract costs required to deliver it outweighs the benefits.Now I've worked over my career on a number of projects where that's been the case.The Liverpool Range duplication was an example.There was also a couple of loops, South Kannadar Loop and Whiddon Creek Loop in the Hunter Valley that was determined that at the time based on producer requirements, that those loops just didn't represent value for money.
So yeah, that shouldn't necessarily be seen as a failure or a negative, it's just that the investment was required to determine that those jobs didn't need to be done.
But I've also worked on approximately 20 major capital projects that have been successfully delivered during my time at artc.
And I think our management of complex projects Procedure and Prince 2 the same includes those stage gates for that very reason.So that a project there is a formal review of projects at the end of each stage in an informed decision of either proceed or not is made at the end of each stage.
That's important.
And then this is the bit I guess talking about the project management triangle and the Trade off between project cost, time, cost and quality.Now it's a model of the constraints, the project management, management and I'll see if I can share.
Sharing.Okay.Yeah, I can't at the moment but not allowing me to share.But yeah, bear with me a second.I think it's because you're sharing screen at the moment.
Speaker A
Yeah, but normally I'll stop sharing.That's all too easy.Bear with me a second.
Speaker B
No worries.
Speaker A
Oh, I'm back here.There we go.No, stop.Share.All right, you hopefully, hopefully Duncan, it'll allow me.It might let you jump in there now.
Speaker B
Yep.
Is it coming through?
Speaker A
Are the triple constraints here?
Speaker C
There you go.
Speaker B
Yeah, so yeah, this constraint triangle, the idea here is that the quality of work is constrained by the project's budget, schedule and scope.Now you guys as a project manager can trade between the constraints, but changes in one constraint would necessitate a trade off in the others to compensate or the quality will suffer.
So, so for example, a project can be completed faster by increasing budget or cutting scope.And similarly if you need to increase scope, then that may require an equivalent increase in budget and or schedule.So cutting budget without adjusting schedule or scope will lead to lower quality.And in essence the rule of thumb is you can have two of, you can have only two of good, fast or cheap.Now I guess the reason I'm sharing this is, is that again during my career I've seen many examples over the years where stakeholders, and especially approval stakeholders, they want all three maximized and I guess without realising there's trade offs required.
That's where us as project managers need to be clear how the trade offs on our projects work and present what can realistically be achieved under different scenarios.So that is different scenarios, maybe more time, more money, lower quality or less scope.So I guess it's just sort of thinking about and I guess it also provides you with an idea of the levers that you have as a project manager to adjust your projects as well, that if you are needing to deliver more scope and yet you may need more money, more time to do that and it's just sort of framing that in your minds and being able to present that to a stakeholder as well, so it is clear to them that you can't have everything.And so and as project managers, I guess off the back of that as well, you need to be wary of scope creep.
Now that can be introduced at any stage of a project and especially if the scope for your project wasn't adequately defined or approved upfront and is hence Another reason why it's so important to identify those key stakeholders and have that project scope approved, formally approved and, and have an adequate change control process in place that any changes in scope are considered.And it looked like the activity you were doing just before was exactly that.So it's important.So, yeah, I guess that's it.Sort of the thoughts that I had.But yeah, I guess again, encouraging you all to take the time to prepare and seek approval for your project management plans.
Make sure you've identified the key internal stakeholders to keep them informed and involved during the development delivery of your projects and then considering the constraints model when considering project control options to explain trade offs.
The discussion moves to operational readiness and how it interfaces with project delivery. Duncan explains how ARTC distinguishes between simple and complex projects, and how deliverables may map to stages or registers.
Speaker B
There should be a bit of time for questions, I guess, any questions or even on stuff that I haven't covered.If there's anything else that's come up today out of the training.
Speaker C
Yeah.Hi, Duncan, Desley Miles.I'm one of the three operational readiness advisors in artc and I believe Terry is connected to the infrastructure projects.What's your experience with operational readiness and how you go about that with Terry as the interface there?
Speaker B
Yeah, so yeah, my team's, my team deals with Terry on the operational readiness planning.So I guess it's again, similarly to the rest of our project planning, it's about having a plan in place on preparing for the commissioning of our projects and that can sometimes be staged.Like we might have a project like the one we're delivering down in the Southern Highlands at the moment, where we've got a number of sites that are actually being commissioned.So it's obviously important to develop and implement a plan for each of the key commissioning possessions so that we have the information available to the different parts of ARTC and the different systems that need to be updated ahead of the commission.So, yeah, it's definitely a key role for the project teams.
Speaker C
Sorry, Duncan, just on that, just in our session today, we were discussing the hierarchy of scope and deliverables and it came up that deliverables for operational readiness, different, like there's different terminology.
So for us in operational readiness, the deliverables are.Could be half a dozen of the operational deliverable, operational readiness, deliverable register that we keep.It's tailorable to the, to the scope of work that's happening in a possession.So our deliverables are tailored from the scope of work, whereas in the session that we've just been in, the terminology was different.So yeah, instead of using deliverables, there was another term used.
So do you find from PMBOK to Prince to methodology that, that is a major change as well, like because, sorry to explain, I also work on inland rail, not infrastructure projects.So we all, but we all use the complex, complex projects methodology within artc.
Speaker B
Yeah, and Stent and I were actually discussing that when you guys were in your breakout rooms just before.I guess from an ARTC perspective.Yeah, those deliverables there, there are probably the stages.So we've got from the project management procedure for a complex project we've got our different stages.So whether that's sort of project assessment or the construction stage.So it's probably more those stages as deliverables and then close out as the last stage within that six step process.But it's probably more that.And then within that you've then got scope items within each of the stages and requirements that you'd be covering off as part of the deliverable for a particular stage.So it's probably that differentiator of the stage.I mean for a simple project, I was saying there before there might be that there's only a single stage for that project.It might not be split because the scope is that simple and should define it doesn't mean that's easy, it's just that there might only be a single item.
It might just be re sleepering or it might just be a recon.So it doesn't mean that the actual work is simple, it's just more in the scheme of things when you're considering the differentiator between the two projects.Because a complex project might just be a number of what notionally be called simple tasks, but they're added together to make a more complex and multidiscipline delivery.
Speaker C
Yeah, sorry, I hate to hog the question time, but with the scope and what you use to track that within artc.So if it is more than one stage or a complex stage, you would use the Operational Readiness Deliverable register.But if it's a simple project or a simple piece of work, you would use the ccl, Is that right?
Speaker B
Right, yes.
Speaker C
Configuration, Change list.
Speaker B
Change list, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C
Okay, cool.Thank you.
Speaker B
Thanks.
Speaker A
Right, so as I said at the start, you know, multiple, there's multiple ways to sort of I suppose approach that.And I've seen, I've seen a lot in sort of the more private enterprise area is deliverables are what are the big things we're going to get.It's two government who tend to work along that A very standard deliverable is to use the phases, so initiation phase, planning phase, execution phase.And then obviously within all of those phases you've Got your work packages.And then those work packages might have requirements around specifications and then there's tasks and we move down to activities.
So both methodologies achieve, I think the same thing.But it's really, you know, it's, it's important that you guys get your head around, I suppose, the ARTC way of approaching those deliverables.And Desley, it sounds like from, from Duncan's perspective that those are reasonably well defined for those complex projects.They don't change too much.
Speaker C
Much.
No.
Speaker A
Fantastic.Well, that's, that's a sort of simple.So then the devil in the detail then comes in.What are, what are, what are the tasks and activities that needs to be done in the initiation phase?What are the tasks and activities that need to be done in the construction or the execution phase, which is all the stuff we're going to talk about tomorrow when we start to break these down into a work breakdown structure.Does that make more sense now, Desley?I think it certainly to me as well.All right, great question.Thank you, Desley.Anybody else got anything else that's on their mind around not just what we've spoken about, but, you know, this is the way we do it.
I think they all might be a little bit exhausted from four hours of.Yeah, yeah, but four hours of scoping out this, this, this darned project, it takes it out of you.All right, well, thank you, Duncan.If there's, if there's questions, I'll let you go and wrap up, I'll wrap up with the guys.
Speaker B
All right.
Speaker C
Okay.
Speaker B
Thanks very much everyone.And if, if any questions come up or anyone thinks of anything, obviously you can reach out to me via email as well.So that's, that's fine.Thank you.
Speaker C
Thanks Duncan.
Speaker B
Thanks, Duncan.
The speaker summarizes the key takeaways, highlights the extra section in the work-based assessment, and reinforces the importance of getting scope right. The session ends with questions about invites, calendar links, and the next class.
Speaker A
So some, some nice clarification there from an assessment perspective.I think you've, you've got enough to be able to get onto assessment number one there.The lessons learned, you can work on those.Or if we've got some time tomorrow, at the end of tomorrow we can go back.But when we're talking about lessons learned, you know, what were some of the problems or what are some of the gotchas around Science show?
And you know, what could we do different next time or what could we focus on a little bit, a little bit more robustly next time?So hopefully you'll get your head around that.I just wanted to call out one last thing when you go on to project two, so your actual work, bum based assessment, it is slightly different.There is an extra section in the, in the project Proper.And let me just bring that up.So I am absolutely up with it.Where are we?
Project one, so many projects open here.
Project two, I'll just do a quick share and then I'll let you all go for the day, I think.All right.So you'll see there is a slight difference.
Gone everywhere.There we go.
There is a slight difference in this one.In that at the end of Project 3 we're actually asking you to document your scope management plan which was not part of of project number one, but it was actually part of your in class activity.So a lot of that should be able to be just lifted and shifted here.All I'm looking for is for you to explain in your own words how you approach these challenges or these problems or this approach to putting your scope management plan together.So just wanted to call out your work based assessment has an extra little section in it, but it is what we covered and it is part of what we did in the in class activity.
So with that being said, I think we're just about.Oh, we're two minutes over time.Is there any final questions, anything else that's not sitting well with you?I know we've covered a lot today but again, important.This is the bit.
Get this, as Duncan said, get this bit right and not everything works after that.But if we get this bit right you will find that the rest of the stuff we need to do has a good strong foundation for you to move forward on.So this is the bit that we really want to spend time thinking about.Any questions before I let you all go?Any observations?
Speaker B
No, just a quick one this morning.The invite.Just wanted to see mate, how do we access them because Kerry had to send it through in the team thing for us.
Speaker A
Sorry, the.The invite for.
Speaker B
Yeah, okay.
Speaker A
It should be.Well firstly it should have been sent out to you.Sorry, let's stop talking about should haves.I'll work out why that didn't happen happen and I'll get back to you.I'll actually post out an announcement for there but for tomorrow.Same, same right away.
Speaker B
No worries.Thank you.
Speaker A
So actually whatever link you've got now, that's going to be the link for every class moving forward.
Speaker B
Awesome.Thank you.
Speaker A
Yeah, but that should have also been.Do you all have these in your calendars?
Speaker B
No, we.We're linked with Microsoft Teams so unless we've got the Pro version, we can't coordinate that with Zoom, if that makes sense.
Speaker A
You should have.Living Planet should have sent you out these as.There's these as invites to drop into your calendar.Scott, you were saying?Yes, you do have them all in your calendar is.
Speaker B
Yeah, I got sent an email and it's appeared in my work calendar.But maybe I was just a lucky one.
Speaker A
Maybe you were the lucky one.
Speaker B
But I did find the link.The link to the Zoom meeting was just on the dashboard.Dashboard for me as well.So you go to my courses.
Speaker A
So the link, the link is in there.But short answer, it's going to be the same link for every class that we have moving forward.
So save that somewhere, drop it into your calendars.If it changes, we'll let you know.This is your link for the course moving forward.
Anything else guys?
Have a wonderful day.I'll see you all tomorrow.8:30.We'll talk about time.Bye for now.
Speaker B
Thanks, buddy.
Speaker C
Thanks.Bye everyone.Bye.