Develop Project performance objectives

Original: James Lewis [US]

The project manager should let every team member who is about to contribute to the project know three things: what to do, when to do, what kind of performance to qualify, and how to evaluate it. Please note that it is not the responsibility of the project manager to stipulate how the team members can complete the work, because that is what professionals need to consider. Of course, in a large project, the project manager must work with the head of each functional group to ensure that everyone involved in the project is aware of their performance objectives, that is, the first to set performance goals for each team in the project team, so that the team can further target performance targets to everyone.
In addition, every person participating in the project must be aware of their terms of reference, responsibilities and obligations. After all, it is impossible to give people responsibility without giving them power.
　　4 Project Goals

Each project must achieve 4 goals, namely performance objectives, cost objectives, time objectives and scale objectives, which are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. We will discuss further below.
　　Performance Goal performance is related to the project's requirements for results. What kind of performance should the project have? It is envisaged that the Boeing 777 aircraft will be able to carry a certain number of passengers and cargo across Denver and Honolulu on a hot day. It should be able to fly at a certain latitude, have a certain amount of fuel consumption per hour, and so on. The weight of the aircraft at high current carrying should be how many pounds. If these goals are not met, Boeing will have to compensate for the airline's mileage, as fuel efficiency fails to meet the targets set by the two parties. By the way, it is incredibly difficult to keep the weight of the aircraft itself within hundreds of pounds, after all, its structure is very complex (sabbagh,1995).

　　cost target cost is the amount of money needed to complete the project. If the ROI of the project is set at the outset and cost overruns occur during the project, the original return on investment will not be achieved in the end. Therefore, successful control is essential for almost all projects, but it is not at the heart of the project.

time target in many of today's projects, timing is the most important goal. Boeing promised to submit its first Boeing 777 aircraft to United Airlines in May 1995. The airline will then arrange flight schedules based on this commitment, advertise their new aircraft and start training for the people involved. Whether or not Boeing has submitted its aircraft before or after the prescribed time will cause problems for the airline. If the aircraft were submitted prematurely, the airline would probably not be ready to pay. Delays in delivery may result in the airline canceling flights, which can cause serious economic losses.
The scheduling of projects is often critical. For new products, the first market-entry company usually has a market share of up to 70%, and it is hard for the latter to gain access to this segment of the customer. So, in today's world, Time is life, and good project management has the most effective impact on achieving time goals.
A few years ago, Hewlett-Packard discovered that if they delayed the marketing of a new computer for 1 months, they could lose 1/3 of the total sales of the product. They thought it would be worthwhile to add 25% to the project as long as they were able to launch the product before the target date, as it would have only a few percentage points (patterson,1993) on the profit.

　　Scale target size refers to the size and quantity of work. The Boeing 777 project includes the development of millions of new parts, only part of which is done by Boeing. For example, an aircraft's engine is actually designed and manufactured by companies such as GE, Rolls-Royce, Pratt and Whitney (Pratt & Whitney). Therefore, the engine cannot be counted as the project's working scale. Of course, it is the responsibility of the project manager to coordinate engine development and Boeing's wing development to keep the two in alignment, otherwise the engine may end up with a wing that does not match or the wing does not support the body and engine weight. It turns out that one of the main reasons for project failure is the expansion of the project size. There is a tendency for projects to grow in size because people ignore things when they are planning a project, there are some surprises in the process, or because the external environment has changed, the project team must respond. In the case of environmental change, advances in technology may lead to an increase in project size. As the Boeing 777 is planned to create the most technologically advanced aircraft ever, if a equipment supplier prepares to develop an extremely sophisticated new wind-cutting (wind-shear) alarm device, Boeing is likely to use the new device instead of the original lesser device. This may require a large change in the design of the completed Flight deck section. However, even without the provisions of the project, such changes could be very important and worthwhile.

It is very important to understand that 4 goals cannot be balanced against these 4 goals. The relationship between them is usually expressed as c=f (P,t,s) reads "Cost targets are functions of performance objectives, time objectives, and scale objectives." "The cost of this formula covers only the cost of labor." The cost of materials and equipment is not directly related to other project objectives. However, they are important for the overall cost of the project, but they need to be calculated separately from the cost of services. Now assume that performance goals, time objectives, and scale goals are determined by the job requirements. Then the project manager will have to calculate the actual formula to the right of the target need to what resources, and then converted into labor costs. In many cases, the project manager tells the organizer that the cost amount is higher than the latter estimate. In fact, the project sponsor may tell the project manager directly that the company does not have enough funds to carry out the project. The latter will certainly say: "Then tell me how much money the company can provide, and I'll tell you what I can do with that money." This answer is not a quarrel, but a truth. If you can provide a certain amount of money, we may be able to reduce the size of the project and create the corresponding results. If we do not scale down, we can lengthen the project time and use this method to reduce the cost. If neither of these approaches works, it can only improve productivity by changing the program, which will reduce costs or force us to abandon the project.

Develop Project performance objectives