The Best Son

In epic Ramayana, one side there is Ram, the son of King Dashratha, who is crowned as maryada purshotam(the Perfect Man). He left his all happiness and luxuries by leaving the palace by accepting the exile period of 14 years. He accepts his stepmother’s two wishes which King Dashratha given her in war time when she saved king’s life. Ram along with his wife and brother went to forest where he fought and killed many evils like Ravana, Kumbhkaran etc. He made the society peaceful and safe from these evils. Ram never did anything which is against society and kingdom. He even left his wife Sita to fullfilll the judgement with king’s role for their peoples. He established the unmatchable standards as a son, a human being, a ruler and a king.

On another side there is one other son of blind hermits, called Shravan Kumar. Shravan Kumar decided to take his blind parents to various pilgrimage places.  He places his parents in two baskets and carries the baskets on his shoulder to the various places of pilgrimage. According to the legend in Ramayana, while hunting in the forest of Ayodhya, King Dashratha heard a sound near a lake and unleashed an arrow, hoping to hit an animal. When he crossed the lake to collect his kill, he found that his arrow had struck a boy who was bleeding. The boy, Shravan Kumar, told Dashratha, that he had come to the lake to collect water for his sick and aged parents, who were both blind. He requested the king to take water to his parents. After telling his tale, Shravan succumbed to his wounds and when the king took water for his parents and told them of his tragic mistake, they were unable to bear the shock. They cursed Dashratha and both died.

Shravan Kumar is known as the best son in the universe but not the Ram. Every mother compares his son to be like Shravan not like Ram. Why? Ram is ideal man but the scale on particular role like son is not reached as marked by Shravan Kumar. Ram had lots of thing to left and hold but Shravan don’t. Sharavan have only his devotion for his parents by which he served his parents in the best way. He himself was bleeding but had strong wish to fullfill his parents thirstiness. Shravan don’t have facilities and resources available like Ram. 

The best project manager is not who did many things but he who manages the project attributes in minimal resource and best throughput. No matter what you have or what you equipped with but it only evaluates what you do and how. In project environment many times one can feel the lackness of resources, time & money which leads to crisis of man, machine and money to finish the project. There may be so many risks like Dashratha's bow, hitting you to die, but the project manager has to focus to his deliverable in targeted boundary lines.

Copyright © 2012 Prashant Pathak. All rights reserved.

Pathfinder Mission to Mars- on a Shoestring

In 1976, NASA’s two Viking Mars-lander missions took six years and $3 billion (in 1992 dollars) to develop. Twenty-one years later, on July 4, 1997, Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner Rover landed on Mars once again, but at a development cost of only $175 million, representing a whopping 94 percent cost reduction over the earlier mission. This amazing cost reduction was achieved thorough a variety of means but the most important was perhaps the philosophical one that a design-to-performance project. Given this philosophy, the scope of the mission was intentionally limited and “scope-creep” was never an issue:

• To achieve a successful landing
• Return of engineering telemetry
• Acquisition and transmission of a single partial panoramic image
• Successful rover deployment and 7 sol(Martian day) operation on the surface
• Completion of a 30 sol lander mission meeting all engineering, science, and technology objectives
• One successful alpha proton X-ray spectrometer measurement of a Martian rock and soil sample.

The means of limiting the cost of the mission were multiple and creative.

• Development was cost-capped, with no opportunity for more funds.
• Identifying a set of “de-scope” options which could be implemented in case the cost grew beyond the fixed budget.
• Mission, flight, and ground systems designs were driven by existing hardware and system capability
• A project cash reserve of 27 percent of the total budget was held back and carefully planned for time-phased release through-out the duration of the project
• Mission designers/builders transitioned into the testers/operators to save documentation. Time, labor cost, and chance of error.
• Existing NASA mission infrastructure was used rather than designing new systems
• Instituting time-passed “what-if” and lien lists for real or potential current and anticipated items of cost growth during the project
• Choosing to use a “single-string” but higher risk design and offering the risk by using more reliable parts.
• 70 percent of major procurement contracts were fixed-price rather than cost-plus
• Creative procurement, such as existing equipment spares, and accounting, such as lower burden rate personnel.

On July 5, the Mars Sojourner Rover rolled down its deployment ramp and the resulting pictures made the headlines on newspapers around the world. The mission continued for almost three months and returned 2.6 GB of scientific and engineering data, 16,000 lander camera images, 550 rover camera images, 8.5 million environmental measurements, and the results of 16 chemical rock/soil experiments and 10 technology rover experiments. 

Reference:-
Project Management Book by Meredith

Demolishing San Francisco’s Bridges safely

Not only to develop an infrastructure even in demolishing any big infrastructure project has management played a crucial role. That’s why the good organization adopts this paradigm to be in safer side.

The Central Freeway Viaduct in downtown San Francisco suffered major structural damage during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and recently had to be safely demolished. The task was complicated because the bilevel, multispan bridge passed within six feet of heavily populated buildings, ran in the vicinity of both overhead and underground utilities(gas, water, electric and sewer lines), and crossed both commercial and residential areas with strict vibration and sound level restriction. Thus, managing the demolition while ensuring the safety of both the on-going population and existing facilities was a major challenge.

The primary tools for conducting  such a delicate, but dangerous operation were detailed planning and through communications with all related parties. An extensive Demolition plan was required and included:

• A Code of Safe Practice describing personal protective equipment for the workers, as well as maintenance plan for the equipment;
• A demolition sequence plan (sequence of work, staging, equipment location, restraints, safety structures, traffic control)
• A dust control plan
• Work-hour schedule
• Noise-level monitoring
• Load determination and structural analyses

Most of the demolition was accomplished using a breaker on the upper deck of the bridge and a pulverizer on the lower deck. First the roadway slab was demolished, then the girders were pulverized and all the debris pushed down to the ground. Then the cap, columns and restrainers were demolished. This process continued along the length of the bridge until the entire distance was conducted for noise, vibration, safety, and procedures throughout the project. Continuous communications was made with utility companies and other concerned with a particular segment being demolished. In this fashion, the entire viaduct was demolished with no major accidents or injuries.

Reorganizing for Project Management at Prevost Car

In July 1994, the vice-president of production at Prevost Car in Quebec City, Canada, was told that he would have to expand production capacity 31 percent(%) in the next five months. In the past, such a task would start with a bulldozer the next day and the work would be under way, but no one knew at what cost, what timetable, or what value to the firm. Realizing that he needed some fresh ideas, a structured approach, and that there was no allowance for a mistake, the VP contacted a project management consulting firm to help him.

The consulting firm set up a five-day meeting between their project managers, a value engineering expert, and the seven foremen from Prevost’s main factory to scope out the project. The group produced a report for senior management outlining a $10 million project to expand the main factory by 60,000 square feet, and a follow-on potential to make a further expansion of 20percent more. The detail of the plan came as a revelation to top management who approved it after only two days of study. After it was completed on time and on budget, the firm also committed to the additional 20 percent expansion which also came in as planned.

The success of this project resulted in “infecting” Prevost Car with the project management “bug”. The next major task, an initiative to reduce workplace injuries, was thus organized as a project and was also highly successful. Soon, all types of activities were being handled as projects at Prevost. The use of project management in manufacturing firms is highly appropriate given their need to adapt quickly to ferocious international competition, accelerating technological change, and rapidly changing market conditions. In addition, Prevost has found that project management encourages productive cooperation between departments, fresh thinking and innovation, team approaches to problems, and the highly valued use of outside experts to bring in new ideas, thereby breaking current short-sighted habits and thinking. As Prevost’s VP states: “Right now it’s a question of finding what couldn’t be better managed by project management.”