Doc Number: PMS 10/03-1
|
| Title: Valuing and comparing small portfolios: here's how to choose small portfolios of projects without using invalid statistical measures |
Author/s: Rick Mitchell, Francis Hunt and David Probert.
|
Citation: Research-Technology Management 53.2 (March-April 2010): p43(12).
|
Abstract: Many of the tools used in valuing and selecting projects are justifiably applicable only to large portfolios because they assess value by using statistical concepts, such as probability, mean and risk. However, portfolios are seldom large enough for this to be valid. Nevertheless, it is possible to compare projects and select a small portfolio in a simple and logically-defensible way by appropriately analyzing the distribution of outcomes that can be predicted for each project. Each project is regarded as a wager where the possibility of outcomes worse than a benchmark ("Down ") is placed against the possibility of abovebenchmark performance ("Up "). Projects are selected on the basis of the (suitably defined) ratio of Up/Down until the risk budget is used up. No subjective balancing of "risk" and "reward" is involved. The approach is simple and logical although it requires an uncomfortable change of perspective.
|
Back to top
|
Doc Number: PMS 10/03-2
|
| Title: Operational improvement project management: categorization and selection.(CASES) |
Author/s: Joo Y. Jung.
|
Citation: Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies 15.4 (July-August 2009): p61(6).
|
Abstract: The field of project management is experiencing a burgeoning amount of growth in its applications. Companies apply innovative management methodologies such as project management in order to achieve rapid and continuous improvements in their operations. Selecting an appropriate set of operational improvement projects out of a potential pool of projects is a difficult task. How can companies select an optimum portfolio of projects?
|
Back to top
|
Doc Number: PMS 10/03-3
|
| Title: Transportation megaprojects: comparing project management and oversight approaches: three recent, well-known initiatives--Boston's Big Dig, Denver's International Airport, and Colorado's T-REX--vary in methods and success |
Author/s: Wendy Haynes and Andrew Whipple.
|
Citation: The Public Manager 38.2 (Summer 2009): p72(6).
|
Abstract: The desire to build persists. Since the earliest known civilizations, government leaders, aided by their public managers, have constructed large public works projects. Whether we look at the remains of the ancient Assyrians or the more recent structures of the Greeks and Romans, the inspiration to design and build large urban projects continues. This desire for large public infrastructure projects, "megaprojects" as they are popularly known, remains today When such ideas are wed to the appropriate political, social, and economic conditions, large publicly funded projects emerge. The current political and economic environment lends itself to more government-sponsored megaprojects, and public managers would benefit from being conversant in these themes and ideas.
|
Back to top
|
Doc Number: PMS 10/03-4
|
| Title: Improved genetic algorithm for resource-constrained scheduling of large projects |
Author/s: Jin-Lee Kim
|
Citation: Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering 36.6 (June 2009): p1016(12).
|
Abstract: The generalized model of the resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) is valuable because it can be incorporated into the advanced computational methods of commercial project management software for practical applications. A construction schedule generated by most commercial project management programs does not guarantee its optimality when the resources are limited. This paper presents an improved elitist genetic algorithm (GA) for resource-constrained scheduling of large projects. The proposed algorithm allocates multiple renewable resources to activities of a single large-sized project to achieve the objective of minimizing the project duration. A permutation-based decoding procedure is developed using the improved parallel schedule generation scheme. A new parameter, named transformation power, is created in the transformation method of the improved algorithm to ensure that the individual selection process performs correctly. Extensive computational results using a standard set of large-sized multiple resource-constrained project scheduling problems are presented to demonstrate the performance and accuracy of the algorithm.
Key words: algorithm, heuristics, optimization, project management, resource, scheduling.
|
Back to top
|
Doc Number: PMS 10/03-5
|
| Title: When project-based management causes distress at work |
Author/s: Alain Asquin, Gilles Garel, Thierry Picq
|
Citation: International Journal of Project Management 28 (2010) 166-172
|
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to explore the collateral effects of project-based management. Our purpose is not to deny the value of projects to corporate performance but to encourage companies to pay greater attention to the collateral effects this form of management causes for both individuals and groups. To this end. an exploratory research exercise was devised as a metns of gathering evidence from interviews conducted outside the workplace but in a sufficiently rigorous manner to guarantee its authenticity. Three categories of risks were identified, together with nine main pathologies. These results reveal the need for a more detailed study in order to encourage the human resources function (FIRF) to engage with the issues raised.
|
Back to top
|
Doc Number: PMS 10/03-6
|
| Title: Project-based learning patterns for dominant design renewal: The case of Electric Vehicle |
Author/s: Christophe Midler, Romain Beaume
|
Citation: International Journal of Project Management 28 (2010) 142-150
|
Abstract: The increasing environmental concerns call for deep renewals in existing technologies and traditional desi gn solutions in many industries. Electric Vehicle (EV) is emblematic of such a radical shift. Based on case studies and an action research within an on going project, this article analyses how project-based learning can question such a dominant design. After a brief history of past EV failures, we focus on what should be addressed to prevent the current projects from being just another bubble. We characterize the four projects-based learning patterns experimented in the 1990s and 2000s: concept car projects, derivative projects, vanguard development projects, and multi-projects concurrent programs. We analyse how the last two project-based learning patterns succeed to address the dominant design renewal challen ges. We demonstrate that they develop different linkages between innovative projects and permanent departments of the firms. We show that multi-project concurrent program reduces dramatically the deployment lead-time of the new industrial paradigm.
|
Back to top
|
