Engineering Project Management

The Preface of Nigel Smith's treatise says all his authors consider that "a project can be any activity that has an identifiable beginning and end and a specific aim or purpose" (Smith, Engineering xi). The book's emphasis is "in the chemical, civil, electrical and mechanical disciplines" (Smith, Engineering xi), which helps; because the "any activity" definition subsumes both a weekend solitaire game and Tuesday's dinner. It is worth noting: Each of Smith's authors has at least one degree in civil engineering (Smith, Engineering xiv-xvii).

Stephen Wearne's introduction to projects and project management is far more direct: "A project can be any new structure, plant, process, system or software, large or small, or the replacement, refurbishing, renewal or removal of an existing one" (Wearne, "1. Projects" 3). Also, a project represents an investment of resources--an opportunity cost realized--to get something else, either a product or a service. "In other words it costs money" (Wearne, "1. Projects" 3-4). There are, in addition to construction (or product) contracts (Berger and Godel), study-and-advise (or purely service) contracts (Badiru). Project management is "the planning, organization, monitoring and control of all aspects of a project and the motivation of all involved to achieve project objectives safely within a defined time, cost and performance" (Wearne, "1. Projects" 4). Construction or product-oriented manageme

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includes the typical methods of equity (investment by shareholders) and debt (loans)(86-94); but the power of government to tax is not discussed--which is the singular distinction between public-project and private-project financing. When the money is gone from a private pot, there is likely to be no recovery option available, and an unfinished office building gets razed by a new property owner. A 75-million dollar public hospital can be completed and opened at an eventual 234-million dollar cost, or whatever, because the county or city can increase its tax rate(s) and collect the needed funds, even if politicians and civil service managers are eventually held accountable. Very much within the purview of the PM can be the prediction of a project's cash flow--the timed inflows and outflows of money during the project's anticipated construction or research-completion period. In the second-weakest chapter of Smith's treatise, Thompson shows graphical methods to chart the inflow of taxed or invested funds against the outflows of monies for contractors and material suppliers, while the project is being completed and placed into operation (104-107). He lists ten factors that can affect the ability of anyone to control cash flow, but

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