Transportation Project Management

by Tieman, Rob

• ISBN13: 9781394185474
• ISBN10: 1394185472
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2023-06-27
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Approachable guide combining project management principles and proven best practices applied to transportation projects

Transportation Project Management is a comprehensive and approachable work providing practical guidance on all aspects of managing transportation projects. It covers project management principles, practical applications, and proven best practices, all tailored specifically to the unique workflows of developing and designing transportation projects, from inception through to advertisement for construction.

Detailed themes include technical competencies, industry constraints, organizational opportunities, and the range of soft skills necessary to be an effective leader in this role. This timely publication responds to recent trends in the industry, as transportation organizations become more project-centric in their strategic approach, to enable more efficient project and program delivery amidst increased spending on infrastructure.

Some topics covered in Transportation Project Management include:

• The “Triple Constraint” of budget, scope, and schedule, and meaningful change management
• The transportation Project Development Process and its unique interdependencies, opportunities, and constraints
• Creating your project management plan, a living document providing guidance and clarification on how the project will be managed during development
• Organizational structures, establishing and understanding how your organization operates, including who makes what decisions
• Understanding the fundamental differences between projects, programs, and portfolios, enabling successful project management within any organizational structure
• Critical Project Management soft skills, including communication, time management, leading meetings, stakeholder engagement, influence management, and managing expectations
• Developing and leading focused, efficient, and effective project teams
• Partnering with consultants to manage risks, drive development, and increase quality

Aimed at professional transportation project managers in both the public and private sectors, along with engineering undergraduate and graduate students in related programs of study, Transportation Project Management provides the foundations for practitioners to become great transportation project managers.

Author Biography

Rob Tieman has over 25 years of management and engineering expertise concentrated in executive leadership of transportation projects, programs, and portfolios. He is currently the Director of the Project Management Office at the Virginia Department of Transportation. Rob also serves in a number of industry roles. Most notably, he chairs the AASHTO Technical Committee on Project Management (TCPM), is a member of the AASHTO Committee on Design (COD), and sits on the AASHTO COD Executive Committee. He holds a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Illinois, is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE), and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Table of Contents

Contents

1 Project Management 101 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2Triple Constraint 3

1.3 The Project Management Plan 5

1.4 Organizational Basics 8

1.5 A Look Ahead 13

2 Project Development Process 15

2.1 Safety First 15

2.2 Overview 19

2.3 Scoping Phase 22

2.4 Preliminary Design Phase 28

2.5 Detailed Design Phase 30

2.6 Final Design and Right-of-Way Acquisition Phase 34

2.7 Advertise Plans 36

3 Budgets and Estimates 41

3.1 Overview 41

3.2 The Basics 45

3.3 Types of Estimates 50

3.4 Managing the Budget 57

3.5 Performance Metrics 62

4 Scope 67

4.1 Scoping Process 68

4.2 Schedule and Budget Baselines 74

4.3 Roles and Responsibilities 75

4.4 Scope Management 77

5 Schedule 83

5.1 Critical Path Method (CPM) 83

5.2 Schedule Management Plan 92

5.3 Scheduling Issues 94

6 Managing Risk 99

6.1 Why Risk Management Matters 99

6.2 Risk Management Plan 101

6.3 Risk Identification 102

6.4 Risk Analysis 106

6.5 Risk Responses 109

6.6 Monitoring Risks 113

7 Managing Resources 119

7.1 Developing and Managing a Team 119

7.2 Personality Assessments 125

7.3 Resource Planning 140

7.4 Managing Consultants 142

8 Managing Quality 151

8.1 Defining Quality 151

8.2 Monitoring and Controlling Quality 155

8.3 Measuring Quality 161

8.4 The Costs of Quality 164

9 Communications 169

9.1 Project Communications 169

9.2 Stakeholder Involvement and the Stakeholder Engagement Plan 175

9.3 Media Relations 185

10 Controlling the Project 195

10.1 Managing Expectations 195

10.2 Monitor/Control the Project 206

10.3 Change Management 213

10.4 Balancing Innovation – Performance-Based Design 216

10.5 Goals and OKRs 218

10.6 Project Management Methodologies 219

10.7 Performance Metrics 228

11 PM Soft Skills 243

11.1 The Importance of Soft Skills 243

11.2 Characteristics of a Successful PM 245

11.3 Meetings 247

11.4 Time Management 251

11.5 Influence Management 254

11.6 Advancing and Refuting Arguments 261

11.7 Professional Development 266

12 Real-World Challenges 269

12.1 Ethics 269

12.2Project Continuity 270

12.3 Managing Chaos 272

12.4 Surviving an Audit 274

12.5 Scaling Project Approaches 278

12.6 Guidance Pyramid 281

12.7 Planning Fallacy 283

12.8 Closing Thoughts 285

Index 287