Whitbread World Sailboat Race PlanEssay Preview: Whitbread World Sailboat Race PlanReport this essayRunning head: PROJECT PLAN FOR WHITBREAD WORLD SAILBOAT RACEProject Plan for Whitbread World Sailboat RaceUniversity of PhoenixApril 6, 2008Project Plan for Whitbread World Sailboat RaceThis paper is a preliminary project plan for Whitbread World Sailboat Race. First the sailing industry and history will be discussed. Then the strategy of Bjorn Ericksen will be discussed. Project duration and reduction is explained and put in context for the project at hand. Lastly the project audit plan and project closure plan are discussed.
Bjorn Ericksen Project Strategy AnalysisSpeed was crucial in the time when water-based industries were dominated by sailing-craft. Perishable goods needed to get to market quickly. Having a swifter hull or a superior rig was often the strategic advantage that provided financial success (Sailboat, 2008).
The driving force in developing upwind sailing technology was the competition that existed between owners of small commercial sailboats. Larger craft were less concerned with maneuverability within harbors or in coastal regions where the geography of the land was an impediment to downwind sailing (Sailboat, 2008).
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a smaller vessel (such as a sailboard) varies by region and culture (Sailboat, 2008).
Sailboat racing ranges from a one person dinghy to large boats with 10 or 20 crew and from small boats costing a few hundred dollars to multi-million dollar Americas Cup or Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race campaigns. This type of sailing is one of the most expensive sports in the world due to the costs of participating in the high end large boat competitions. However, relatively inexpensive ways to get involved in sailboat racing include community sailing clubs, and in inexpensive dinghy and small catamaran classes. Sailboat racing is one of the few sports in which people of all ages can regularly compete with and against each other (Sailing, 2008).
Most sailboat and yacht racing is done in sheltered coastal or inland waters. However, in terms of endurance and risk to life, ocean races such as the Volvo Ocean Race, the solo VELUX 5 Oceans Race, and the non-stop solo VendД©e Globe, rate as some of the most extreme and dangerous sporting events (Sailing, 2008).
The sport of Sailboat racing is governed by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), and the rules under which competitors race are the Racing Rules of Sailing, which can be found on the ISAF web site (Sailing, 2008).
Each year countries enter their sailing vessels in the nine-month Round the World Whitbread Sailboat Race. In recent years, about 14 countries entered sailboats in the race. Each year’s sailboat entries represent the latest technologies and human skills each country can muster.
Bjorn Ericksen has been selected as a project manager because of his past experience as a master helmsman and because of his recent fame as the “best designer of racing sailboats in the world.” Bjorn is pleased and proud to have the opportunity to design, build, test, and train the crew for next year’s Whitbread entry for his country.
As Bjorn begins thinking about the project plan, he sees two parallel paths running through the project. One consists of the design and construction of a sailboat, and the other consists of crew selection and training. It has already been determined that last year’s boat will be used for training until the new entry can have the crew on board to learn maintenance tasks. Bjorn needs to develop his project audit plan and project closure plan, along with calculating project duration and reduction of duration if need be.
Plan to Reduce Project DurationStrategies to reduce project duration should be addressed either prior to setting the baseline for the project or in the midst of project execution. The choice that is made from among the options is based on the constraints surrounding the project. Another area that needs to be addressed is the time-cost framework for selecting which activities to “crash.” Crash is a term that has emerged in the Project Management lexicon for shortening the duration of an activity or project beyond when it can be normally done (Gray & Larson, Ch. 9, p.1).
Reducing the time of a critical activity in a project can be done but almost always results in a higher direct cost. Cost-time situations focus on reducing the critical path that determines the project completion date. Good reasons exist to reduce the duration of a project. One of the most common reasons is known in the field as an “imposed” project duration date (Gray & Larson, Ch.9, p.3). Imposed project durations are a fact of life for project managers. The market also imposes a project duration date. Incentive contracts in partnering arrangements can make reduction of project time rewarding — usually for both the project contractor and owner. Another reason for reducing project time occurs when unforeseen delays cause substantial delays midway in the project. Getting back on schedule usually requires compressing the time on some of the remaining critical activities. The additional costs of getting back on schedule need to be compared with the costs of being late.
The Cost-Time Relationship of a Program
A Cost-Time relationship can come in several forms depending on the specific program of the project, the project environment and the project management environment. The general principles of a Cost-Time relationship is to maintain an established project life, to minimize costly activities, and to provide sufficient financial support to reduce the project time. A Cost-Time relationship is also referred to as the project team-wide value relationship. A Cost-Time relationship may result from: • Not having enough time to meet project deadlines • being unable to attend project meetings, schedule, or deliver messages that you have to put on your calendar • being too busy as a senior project manager to meet project deadlines . This is generally due to a few common reasons, often the following: • The project team is a group of executives, managers, and members of the same organization. Project managers have a role within the project management team, a group of employees, and various organizational and operational staff to implement a project schedule for a project. The project managers and project managers of a project can provide information on the project schedule for their project. Some senior project managers believe they have no time to be productive at a project.
What can we learn from this?
What lessons should we give project managers? A number of different strategies should be incorporated into any project management program. In addition, a number of projects that are not listed as Cost-Time partners can be developed a bit differently.
Ideally we would like to apply these ideas to a variety of projects that are not in the Cost-Time categories, with particular focus on small projects, and for specific projects that are generally not being pursued by large project management companies.
The following topics include a few relevant examples:
Planning a planned project
Maintaining a project budget
Designing project lists
Establishing and managing the project managers that have a high level of involvement in the project
Finding the right balance of project, project location, planning, project structure, quality control, development and operations management, production management, maintenance and coordination—all elements relevant to the project
Creating and maintaining a large project management effort
The following topics have been created only for a brief period of time, but they are not as extensive as these discussions. The ideas may not have been presented individually, but should be considered as a step by step approach to the questions of the Program Manager for the next few years. These topics are intended to develop more in depth to cover important topics and to facilitate the development of a successful project management strategy, as well as provide a clearer picture of how the Program Manager should consider some of the concepts involved in the Program Manager’s job description.
The following topics explain the major concept principles that apply to designing and maintaining projects for small project management companies.
Identifying the Right Fundamentals for the Projects
With the advent of larger companies, project management companies look for the right balance of cost, project location, planning of projects, quality control, project size, product selection, etc., so that the team can maintain consistent and efficient productivity metrics over the long-term. The following are the key components to the right balance of budget, project location, planning of projects, cost-based decisions, quality control etc., which can be summarized as follows: • Build one or multiple high-quality projects. • Provide a high level of involvement in the project management team. • Create a budget that is a minimum of $30 million for such projects. • Work within the project structure. • Develop a budget that aligns with our project manager’s goals and objectives.
How to Implement Costs In Planning, Planning, and Contructuring Your Projects for Scale
Cost-Time constraints are often a reason to spend time planning. If you are developing
Several effective methods for crashing specific project activities when resources are not constrained exist. The most common method for shortening project time is to assign additional staff and equipment to activities. Limits, however, as to how much speed can be gained by adding staff do exist. Not only is more time needed to coordinate and manage a larger team, there is the additional delay of training the new people and getting them up to speed on the project. The key is if the new staff is added early so there is sufficient time to make up for lost ground once the new members have been fully assimilated.
Another method for shortening the project times is to subcontract an activity. Subcontracting also frees up resources that can be assigned to a critical activity and will ideally result in shorter project duration.
The easiest way to add more labor to a project is not to add more people, but to schedule