Page 297 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence

284 C o n t i n u o u s I m p r o v e m e n t D e f i n e S t a g e 285

Total cost

Direct
costs
Project cost

Minimum
Indirect cost schedule
costs

Crash Normal
schedule schedule
Project duration
Figure 13.11 Total costs as a function of project duration.

Other Performance Measurement Methodology
Project information should be collected on an ongoing basis as the project
progresses. Information obtained should be communicated in a timely fash-
ion to interested parties and decision makers. The people who receive the
information can often help the project manager to maintain or recover the
schedule. There are two types of communication involved: feedback and
feed­forward. Feedback is historical in nature and includes such things as
perfor mance to schedule, cost variances (relative to the project budget), and
quality variances (relative to the quality plan). The reader will recall that
j
initial pro ect planning called for special control plans in each of these three
areas. Feed­forward is oriented toward the future and is primarily concerned
with heading off future variances in these three areas. Information reporting
for mats commonly fall into one of the following categories:

• Formal, written reports
• Informal reports and correspondence
• Presentations
• Meetings
• Guided tours of the project, when feasible
• Conversations

The principles of effective communication discussed in Chap. 20
should be kept constantly in mind. The choice of format for the communi­
cation should con sider the nature of the audience and their needs and the
time and resources available.

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