Whitbread World Sailboat Race Plan

Running head: PROJECT PLAN FOR WHITBREAD WORLD SAILBOAT RACE

Project Plan for Whitbread World Sailboat Race

University of Phoenix

April 6, 2008

Project Plan for Whitbread World Sailboat Race

This 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 Analysis

Speed 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 America's 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 VendÐ"©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 Duration

Strategies 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 вЂ" 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.

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