Appendix A: Project Characteristics

Tool Sheet: The Project Portrait

What

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The project portrait is a starting point for identification and analysis of the characteristics and challenges of a project, a basis for understanding the specific conditions for approach and management, and a basis for identification of points of attention.

Large projects involve many persons – either directly in the project work or indirectly as future users of the project product. A common understanding of the project is needed – not just the expected result, but also the nature of the project and its critical elements and conditions (points of special attention). The portrait may be a means of creating a common understanding.

The project portrait illustrates the character and importance of the points of attention and is the basis for a focused management effort.

Use – Where and When

The portrait is usually drawn already at the project beginning and contributes to defining scope, approach, and organization. It is normally revised at the beginning of new phases.

Method

Four Pictures of the Project

The portrait consists of four perspectives, each shedding light on central aspects of the project, and leading to four pictures:

• The entrepreneurial picture – Illustrating the degree of clearness of benefits, of goals, of costs, and of opportunities for business success.

• The technical picture – Illustrating the clearness of the technical area of the project result (solution) and of the effect of technical approach and methods.

• The organizational picture – Illustrating the degree of understanding of the project importance and consequences in the organization and the will to complete the project.

• The political picture – Illustrating the conflicting interests around the project.

Each picture is structured according to the five elements of the five-by-five model – see Figure A1. The degree of difficulty (uncertainty, opaqueness, etc.) is described on a scale from 0 to 5. The actual project is analyzed and evaluated according to the scale, and a score is assigned. The idea is to direct project management effort to the most challenging elements in the project.

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Figure A1.

Four Pictures.

The Portrait

In Figure A2 the four scores for the actual project from Figure A1 may be plotted on the frame forming a rectangle. Figure A3 shows five examples of portraits indicating that projects call for different kinds of attention.

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Figure A2.

A Frame for the Portrait.

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Figure A3.

Examples of Project Portraits.

Some projects have most of the weight in one axis, but usually the project picture will include all four axes. The points on the axes indicate the degree of difficulty. A small shaded area represents an easy project and a large area represents a difficult project.

Understanding and Insight

The portrait may be created in two ways – in a systematic-analytical way or in an intuitive-holistic way.

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Figure A1 suggests a systematic way of creating a collective picture. Each participating person marks his evaluation of the five elements in each of the four pictures in the figure. The reasons for the evaluation should be noted, e.g., particular circumstances and characteristics. The participants compare their pictures and discuss differences. The discussion leads to a common picture and a list of challenges and points of special attention.

Figure A2 is used in the intuitive way. The participants draw a shaded rectangle directly – and explain the reasons. However, what you see depends on the seer, so the participants should discuss the pictures and draw a common picture.

Points of Special Attention

Each picture has a set of challenges and points of attention:

• The entrepreneurial picture: Attention to clarifying and elucidating the benefits and how the resource effort will lead to profit. Activities include visibility, internal marketing, lobbyism, enlisting sponsors/advocates, and on contribution agreements.

• The technical picture: Attention to unclear elements and uncertainties and challenges in the technical part of the project. Focus is on research, test, and specification.

• The organizational picture: Attention to understanding, competencies and confidence in the project and its scope. Focus on information, training, learning, and involvement.

• The political picture. Attention to powerful interested parties and their balancing of contribution and rewards. Focus on negotiation, adaptations, and persuasion.

The challenges may point to certain approaches, countermeasures and management actions. The portrait clarifies requirements to management of a complex project.

Connections Between the Pictures

The four pictures are basically complementary, but their management requirements are linked. Understanding this creates synergy. For example:

• Focus on the project task may contribute to better conflict handling (the entrepreneurial picture and the political picture). Making the project visible to interested parties – especially by emphasizing its benefits – enables each party to see its own contribution and benefit. It clarifies possible coalitions.

• A well-planned technical structure contributes to arranging a correspondingly clear project organization structure (the technical and the organizational picture). An unclear and complex technical structure, on the other hand, will lead to an effort for common clarification.

• A starting point in the entrepreneurial picture and the political picture with subsequent understanding of uncertainties, opaqueness, and counteractive elements may lead to better concept development (the technical picture).

Extension of the Portrait

The portrait may be supplemented by the tool ‘Project challenges’ – see tool sheet C.1. It presents more cues to identifying difficulties.

Example

Figure A3 shows examples of portraits.

Tool Sheet: Models of Project Management Functions

Well-known models of the typical functions in project management exist – most of them developed by project management associations. For inspiration, we will show models from the Project Management Institute (PMI): Project management body of knowledge (PMBOK); The British Association for Project Management: APM BOK; The European association, IPMA: Competences in Project Management; and from PRINCE2.