Course memo Autumn 2024

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Headings denoted with an asterisk ( * ) is retrieved from the course syllabus version Spring 2019

Content and learning outcomes

Course contents

The course focuses on creating an understanding of problems connected with technical management rather than offering practical competence in a particular project method. Nevertheless, invited guest lecturers will present examples of different project models.

Within the course the following moments are treated: the "project" as a working form, product development, delivery and procurement projects, interplay between supplier and customer, presentation and examples of project models, the different phases of a project, the bidding process, risk analysis, leadership, group dynamics, documents in a project, for example, request for bid, bid, contract, project manuals, project plan/start-up reports, progress reports, project conclusion, and evaluation, quality standards.

Intended learning outcomes

Upon completion of this course, participants shall understand what a project manager does and how one works in an industrial project by being able to:

describe and apply the different phases of a project, i.e. plan, follow up, and finish a project
use methods and tools for planning and following up a project considering time, costs and resources
give examples of how activities such as project meetings and documentation are carried out and managed
with the starting point of an project model create necessary project documentation
plan and perform a risk analysis
analyse an industrial project
present results through oral and written communication

Detailed plan

Learning activities	Content	Preparations
Basic lectures	Provides the basic knowledge and theories of project management. The information needed to pass the assignments will be presented in the lectures. Most of these lectures will be provided as videos you can watch whenever you want.	Read through the handbook
Guest lectures	Guests with different specialications and different backgrounds come and present their take on how to manage projects	Come to the lecture on time for attendence and to give a good impression of you and your fellow students
Agile workshop	A workshop allowing you to test the agile approach to work	Watch Martin Bäcklund and Henrik Knibergs material
Assignments	The assessment of the course, is where you test and document your knowledge. You might need to resubmit your assignments	Read through the assignment specifications, watch relevant material and read the chapters in the handbook that you find relevant (it is a handbook, so you need to look for what you need)

Lectures

Please note that the lectures marked with "GUEST" is mandatory.

Week	Time and place				Lectures
w35	2024-08-26	15:00	17:00	E1	Course Introduction
	2024-08-27	13:00	15:00	E1	Project planning
	2024-08-30	13:00	15:00	F2	Management of risk
w36	2024-09-04	10:00	12:00	F1	Project economy
	2024-09-05	13:00	15:00	F1	Project organization
	2024-09-06	10:00	12:00	F1	(GUEST) Example of a project model - Anna Burack
w37	2024-09-09	08:00	10:00	Q1	Feedback and group dynamics 1
	2024-09-10	15:00	17:00	Q1	Feedback and group dynamics 2
	2024-09-11	13:00	15:00	Q1	(GUEST) Agile - Henrik Kniberg
w38	2024-09-18	13:00	15:00	F2	(GUEST) Scrum and agile project planning - Martin Bäcklund
w39	2024-09-25	10:00	12:00	F2	(GUEST) Leadership in practise - Peter Roos
w40	2024-10-03	13:00	15:00	D1	(GUEST) Project management from the inside - Terence Acton
w41	2024-10-07	13:00	15:00	F1	(GUEST) Agile Leadership - Björn Sandberg
w41	2024-10-09	13:00	15:00	E1	Final lecture: Summary & outlook

Preparations before course start

Recommended prerequisites

For single course students: 120 credits and documented proficiency in English B or equivalent

Students from all master programs are welcome!

Literature

Course literature consists of “Handbook for small projects”/“Handbok för mindre projekt” by Mikael Eriksson and Joakim Lilliesköld (Liber). It is sold at the Kårbokhandeln (KTH student union bookstore) in both Swedish and English. Assignment instructions and supplementary material needed for the course is available via Canvas.

There are many other interesting (but fully optional) books about project management. A Swedish example is “Handbok i projektekonomi” by Agneta Östlund (Liber). A good English book is ”Project Management Toolbox” by Russ Martinelli and Dragan Z. Milosovic (available online). We also recommend the Swedish book “Projektledning” fourth edition, and the English version “Project management”, by Bo Tonnquist.

Support for students with disabilities

Students at KTH with a permanent disability can get support during studies from Funka:

Funka - compensatory support for students with disabilities

Examination and completion

Grading scale

A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Examination

PRO1 - Project, 0.0 credits, Grading scale: P, F
PRO2 - Project, 1.5 credits, Grading scale: P, F
PRO3 - Project, 1.5 credits, Grading scale: P, F
PRO4 - Project, 1.5 credits, Grading scale: P, F
PRO5 - Project, 2.2 credits, Grading scale: P, F
SEM1 - Seminar, 0.8 credits, Grading scale: P, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

The section below is not retrieved from the course syllabus:

The course consists of four assignments, each of which gives a certain number of points (not to be confused with university credits). The total number of points obtained determines the grade (see the grading system table below). It is required that you have at three points for every mandatory course assignment. Furthermore, you can receive additional points through optional assignments, or if your assignments are very well done.

To reflect the fact that real life industrial projects require participation in meetings and careful planning of available time, lecture attendance at all guest lectures is required. This means that you will have to be on time and attend both lecture hours. You can miss one guest lecture, but more than that if you know that you will be unable to fulfill the attendance requirement it is possible, under special circumstances and agreement with either the course responsible or examiner, to compensate your absence by doing a literature study. A typical literature study requires more time to complete than the equivalent lecture attendance.

Project ( PRO1 ) - Assignment 1 - part 1 - Project Plan

You make a plan for running the course as a project.
For requirements see the assignment specification and the handbook.

Project ( PRO2 ) - Assignment 2 - Interview

You book an interview with a project manager and make a short analysis comparing your case with what has been taught in the course.
For requirements see the assignment specification.

Project ( PRO3 ) - Assignmnet 3 - Risk analysis

You work with two other teams and perform a risk analysis on a given case, for requirements see the assignment specification and the handbook. It is enough to hand in one report for all three groups with everyones name on it.
For requirements see the assignment specification and the handbook.

Project ( PRO4 ) - Assignment 1 - part 2 - Status report and final report

You continiously follow ut your plan in status reports, using Earned Value Management to predict your result and at the end you also create a Final report that summarize the lessons learned so you can make use of them in future projects.
For requirements see the assignment specification and the handbook.

Project ( PRO5 ) - Assignment 4 - Agile project

You take part of the agile workshop and then make an analysis of agile vs traditional projects, and what you think will influence your future career as an engineer. Further, you will make a peer-review on some other students report and present in a seminar.
For requirements see the assignment specification and the handbook.

Seminar ( SEM1 ) - Attendence on guest lectures

Other requirements for final grade

80 % mandatory class attendance (SEM1; 0,8 p).
5 written exercises (PRO1: 1,5p + PRO2: 1,5p + PRO3: 1,5 p + PRO4: 2,2 p).

Grading criteria/assessment criteria

The different submissions get graded with a number of course points, see Table 2 below. Some assignments can give either 3, 4 or 5 course points, whereas others are pass/fail only. To get more than three points, the assignment must be very well done when submitted the first time. This means that it should be clear that the authors have fully understood and mastered the important concepts and skills tested in that particular assignment in addition to having fulfilled the specific requirements. Both contents and form are important in this respect; i.e. no important contents or analysis should be missing, the structure and formatting should adhere to the relevant templates, and the text should be carefully proof-read.

Note that a higher grade can be rewarded for an assignment that is very well done, even if a re-submission is required due to some minor details. Whenever an assignment requires a re-submission to pass, the comments from the course staff will make it clear whether the final grade after re-submission is likely to be a pass or a pass with a higher grade. However, a higher grade is never guaranteed, but is completely determined by the quality of the final submission.

Table 2. Project phases with submission and grades.

Assignment	Submission	Course points
Assignment 1	Project plan	3-5 points
	Status report 1	pass/fail (no points)
	Status report 2	pass/fail (no points)
	Final report	3-5 points
Assignment 2	Project description	3-5 points
Assignment 2	Oral presentation (optional)	3 points
Assignment 3	Risk analysis	3-5 points
Assignment 4	Reflection report	3-5 points
Assignment 4	Peer review	3 points
Guest lecture attendance		3 points
TOTAL POINTS POSSIBLE		34 points

The total sum determines the final grade, as follows:

Course points	Grade
21-23	E
24-26	D
27-29	C
30-32	B
33-34	A

Goal oriented grading

Intended Learning Goal	Assignment	Adequate	Excellent
Describe and apply the different phases of a project, i.e. plan, follow up, and finish a project	Assignment 1	Project documents are created that fulfills the requirment of the assignment (following the project model)	It is clear from the document in every step, what should be done, how the work is structured, the different sections are interconnected what has been done, is there problem, what is the lessons learned
Use methods and tools for planning and following up a project considering time, costs and resources	Assignment 1 and Agile workshop	Project plan is created that includes a WBS EVM is used in status report	The status report is a tool not only used to report status but to make a forcast
Give examples of how activities such as project meetings and documentation are carried out and managed	Assignment 1 Assignment 2 & Assignment 4	Examples are given in the assignments	Examples are analysed and there are suggestions on what works good and why and vice versa
With the starting point of an project model create necessary project documentation	Assignment 1 & Assignment 3	Project documents are created that fulfills the requirment of the assignment (following the project model)	There is a reflection on what was god and bad in the process
Plan and perform a risk analysis	Assignment 3	A risk analysis is performed and documented so it fulfills the requirment of the assignment	There is a reflection on what was god and bad in the process and how the risk analysis could be improved. Actions to identified risks are both procative and reactive, and is not always the obvoius choise
Analyse an industrial project	Assignment 2	An interview is performed and documented	There is an analysis on the differences and similarities between what was done in the industial case you studied and what was taught in class
Present results through oral and written communication	All assignments	Correct language and understandable and following the template	Clear efforts are made to tailor communication to the intended audience, examples are given when needed, and there is a balance between concise formulations and reflections

Ethical approach

All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

The section below is not retrieved from the course syllabus:

Please note that when solving the project assignments co-operation between students is allowed and even encouraged. However, both project group members are responsible for the content of their own reports and any plagiarism will result in an immediate failing of the assignment in addition to a written report to KTH’s central disciplinary committee.

This means that all groups should write their own reports. You are not allowed to copy text from other students; you are not allowed to copy text from the internet. If you want to use a quote from a source, it must be clearly indicated that it is a quote.

The use of references is mandatory. When you use a fact from some source you should include a reference to this source.

NOTE! The better the sources, the more accurate the facts, therefore please note that reports that use credible sources (as for instance peer-reviewed scientific papers) will receive higher grades than those that only rely on Wikipedia as a source.

Use references according to this or some similar standard but be consistent. For instance:

”Early assessment of system characteristics in software projects is one of the main concerns of the discipline of software architecture [1] [2] [3].”

List of references:

[1] Heineman, G., W. Councill (Eds), Component-based software engineering: Putting the pieces together, Addison-Wesley, 2001.

If the source is a web-page use the following standard.[name of page],[URL],[access date]

Wikipedia: Requirement, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requirements, 2015-08-26

Course AI policy

In this course, we actively encourage iterative, mindful, and disclosed usage of generative AI technology to enhance your learning. AI platforms can support you in generating ideas, refine your writing, or explore different approaches. Be mindful of the fact that you are responsible for usage, and therefore must be able to assess output. If you do not know if output is truthful, fact-check with external sources. If it is truthful, but you are unsure if it is helpful, discuss with your team and one of us teachers. AI can help you learn faster, but only if you engage with it in an iterative and critical fashion.

You should see LLMs (e.g. ChatGPT and Claude) as discussion partners who only care about making you “happy” (generating a consistent response which makes sense in relation to what you ask it), rather than more knowledgeable.

With these “good intentions”, AI lies continuously and well (Mollick, 2023). Therefore, iterating on results to increase quality is a must to get anything of deeper value, which means to engage in a dialogue with these systems about what you want to do instead of treating the input box like a search engine. Finally, disclosing that you are using it and how you use it is of the highest importance in this course. Disclosure means that you include a footnote, sentence, endnote, textbox explaining usage in the same document or artifact in/for which you have collaborated with AI to develop content. Do not include disclosure as an appendix or comment outside the document or artifact, since these can get lost or disconnected.

This course policy has been written with AI-support using the above principles, as well as following the EECS School Code of Conduct - Rule 7 on using GenAI. I first explained to ChatGPT what the core principles I wanted to include in the course memo, and then I discussed with it in 5 iterations to get a draft which I then rewrote extensively in Microsoft Word. I then sent the draft to Sebastian Krakowski, an expert in using AI in education, for review. The above text is the result of this process.

The above paragraph is an example of how you can disclose usage. It is also how this policy was made. Unless specifically requested, do not copy-paste prompts and answers, but in 1-4 sentences explain your process of collaboration with your chosen AI platform leading to the content submitted.

Recommended further (pragmatic and useful) reading:

Notes on the use of GenAI in academic coursework and research by Sebastian Krakowski, 2024

How to use AI to do stuff by Ethan Mollick, 2023

Post-apocalyptic education by Ethan Mollick, 2024

General information on the assignments

The members of the course staff correct hundreds of assignments every week. In order to give you quick and relevant feedback on your work, the following rules apply:

Assignments are done in groups of two, with the exception of assignment 3. These groups must be formed and reported on lists available at the lectures before Assignment 1 is submitted! Note that the members of a group must aspire to the same grade.
A prerequisite for obtaining a higher grade than an E is that all assignments and re-submissions are submitted on time!
The assignments are submitted in the pdf format via the Canvas system. Pdf files can be created with the Adobe Acrobat software, which is not free-of-charge. There are, however, several services on the Internet which can be used free-of-charge to create pdf files.
Any reports suggesting mass duplication will be unconditionally failed, and no opportunity to complete the course will be offered
Build a single pdf for each assignment. Do not hand in any appendices separately if not explicitly specified. Either build the pdf from a single document containing everything, or merge separate pdf files into a single one using Adobe Acrobat or free software services available on the internet.
You must name your assignment by the following convention: pdf, where “XX” is your group number (two digits, 01, 02, 03, etc), “Y” is a number between 1 and 3 indicating whether it is the first, second or third submission of the assignment, and “assignment” is one of the following: projectplan/ statusreport/ finalreport/ projectdescription/ riskanalysis/ agilereport (EH2720) / reflection (EH2070) / peerreview.

Example: G06_2019_projectplan_2.pdf is group 6’s project plan, which after correction had to be submitted a second time.

Optional parts of an assignment will only be corrected twice, i.e. if you don´t perform the necessary corrections after the first submission the chance to get a higher grade will be lost.
Assignments submitted after the deadline will be corrected during the next re-exam period.
Any complaints about the corrections are to be submitted in writing to the course responsible or examiner.
All resubmissions after the first round of feedback must have all changes highligted in yellow. This is to ensure fair and equal grading for all student groups. Resubmissions with no yellow highlights will not be graded again, since this indicates that no changes have been made.

Deadlines for assignments and presentations

Suggested dates for optional oral presentation of Assignment 2:

A booking system will be available on the Calendar in Canvas where you book yourself a slot. Check the box for EH2720 to the right to see available slots. Only one student from each group chooses only one slot. When booking write a note which group you belong to. Your time allocation is the hour you present - you stay and listen to the other two groups presentations. The oral presentations will take place during week 40.

Dates for A4 agile workshop

You will book a slot on the Calendar on Canvas. Available dates for the workshop is:

Monday September 23, 15.15-ca 19.00
Wednesday September 25, 15.15-ca 19.00

NOTE! During this workshop you will work in teams of 5, those who for any reason can not be part of that, contact Joakim Lilliesköld for an alternative assignment.

Dates for peer review seminars in Assignment 4:

You will book a slot on the Calendar on Canvas. The peer review seminars will take place during week 41. Please submit a written version of your peer reviews on Canvas no later than the day before your booked peer review seminar.

Submission deadlines

Week	Date		Submissions due (at 17:00)	Feedback Published (at 17:00)	Re-submissions due (at 17:00)	Final grading published (at 17:00)
36	Fri	Sep 6	A1 Project plan
37	Fri	Sep 13		A1 Project plan
38	Tue	Sep 17	A1 Status report 1
	Wed	Sep 18	A3 Risk analysis
	Fri	Sep 20			A1 Project plan
39	Wed	Sep 25	A2 Project description	A3 Risk analysis
39	Fri	Sep 27				A1 Project plan
40	Tue	Oct 1	A1 Status report 2
40	Wed	Oct 2	A4 Agile report	A2 Project description	A3 Risk analysis
41	Wed	Oct 9			A2 Project description
41	Fri	Oct 11				A3 Risk analysis
42	Wed	Oct 16	A1 Final report			A2 Project description
43	Wed	Oct 23		A1 Final report
43	Fri	Oct 25			A4 Agile report
44	Mon	Oct 28			A1 Final report
	Wed	Oct 30				A4 Agile report
	Fri	Nov 1				A1 Final report

Further information

Course administration

The course administration and communication are handled on Canvas, the learning management system, reached via https://kth.instructure.com
Canvas is used for:
- Signing up in groups
- Posting questions to the course administration (we will not answer questions over email unless you have problems with your registration or if its a very urgent personal matter)
- Communicating with other course participants
- Reading and accessing instructions and other material needed for the assignments
- Submission and re-submission of assignments
- Obtaining corrected assignments and comments, and lists of results
- Booking time slots for seminars.
- The course leaders are located at Teknikringen 33, ground floor (NSE department).
Attendance will be registered on one or more lists that are passed around during the guest lectures. Approved attendance of a all except one (marked GUEST) yields 0.8 ECTS credits, which means that the attendance requirement is a grading factor. Therefore, cheating with the attendance list is equivalent to cheating on an exam. You are required to inform the course staff if you have to leave a lecture. Show respect to our guest lecturers by being on time to the lectures!

Contacts

Communication during course

The communication in the course is through Canvas, NOT email. We will appoint someone responsible to answer on Canvas to ensure fast response and will not answer questions over email unless you have problems with your registration.