Project Management Case Studies from Life of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) Initiating and Planning The Trench Project

Preface

Mohammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) has been ranked as the most influential person in the history of mankind (Hart, M. 1978). He literally transformed the Arab society from a set of disorganized tribes fighting with each other into a highly civilized, organized and educated society. He developed a nation based on the principles of compassion, equality and justice that challenged the superpowers of its time. He dispelled superstitions and encouraged learning – even from staunch enemies – as a result his followers became the pioneers of modern science and mathematics

Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) had an inspirational personality. According to Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) was at a time a Successful Prophet, a Saint, a Preacher, a Philosopher, a Reformer, a Social Worker, a Statesman, a Judge, a General and a Warrior (Rao, K. S. R. 1978)

In addition to the above, I find him a successful project manager too.  During the brief period of 23 years where he was transforming Arab society, he carried out several projects and brought them to successful closure. Students of Project Management can therefore study his biography where they will find many real life case studies of successful Project Management

This article is the first in the series of articles that give an account of various projects managed by Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم). To be precise, the purpose of this article is two folds

•           To show case real life project management case study that provide students of this field with examples of key artifacts. This article only focuses on key artifacts of Project Initiation and Planning. The artifacts, processes and practices included in this article are those that are part of PMI – PMBOK. This, however, does not mean that our intent is to explain each and every artifact or process defined in PMBOK.
•           To reveal another dimension of Muhammad’s (Peace be upon him) personality to the world

The Trench Project

Background:

Muhammad ibn e Abdullah (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) was born in 570 CE which was a time when Arabian Peninsula was in political and spiritual turmoil. At the age of 40 he started receiving divine revelations through Angel Gabriel which ordered him to initiate spiritual and political reform. When he started correcting the beliefs and practices of Arabs as per divine orders, he faced significant opposition and persecution which rapidly increased. Eventually Muhammad ibn e Abdullah (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم ) and his followers migrated from Makkah to Yathrib (renamed later to Madina-tun-nabi – The city of Prophet) where they laid foundation of the first Islamic State. Following this, a number of battles happened between the forces of Makkah and Madina-tun-nabi. Finally the opposition decided to launch a massive attack through a united force of various tribes to eliminate Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم ) and his followers.

The Alliance of enemies of muslims can be divided into three groups

•          Quraish:  Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) belonged to a clan of Quraish tribe. Majority of people from Quraish became enemies after Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) started preaching Islam. Qurasih felt that their dominance was at risk because of the new religion therefore they planned murder of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) which was unsuccessful after which Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) migrated to Madinah along with other Muslims. There were two battles fought between Quraishis and Muslims after the state of Madinah was established
•          Ghatafan: Although they were enemies to Muslims but they were convinced by Banu Nadir to participate in the battle by promising to give them all the dates harvested in one year at Khyber (place near Madinah)  (Bashmel, M.A. 1988)
•          Banu Nadhir: This tribe used to live in Madinah butt later they were expelled from Madinah by Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) after members of this tribe attempted to kill him (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) (Bashmel, M.A. 1988)

When Information Sources of Muhammad (Peach Be Upon Him) relayed this news to him, he immediately called a meeting of his companions and used group decision-making technique to determine the counter strategy. Through the unanimity method, digging a trench around Madinah was finalized as the strategy to defend the Islamic state and to avoid any physical assault. This method of defense was not known to Arabs and was proposed by one of the companions who migrated from Persia (Bashmel, M.A. 1988)

The Trench was a significant project managed by Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) because

-          Muslims (Followers of Islam are called Muslims) came to know about this technique for the first time.

•           They were lacking resources and had limited amount of days to complete this activity.
•           Fate of Muslims was completely dependent on the success of this project.

1.       Initiating the project

Before starting the project or a project phase

-          It is necessary to clearly understand at a higher level that why and what is needed to be accomplished. This information is documented in “Statement of work”.

-          It is necessary to know that who is expected to be involved/effected by this project (stakeholders). This information is recorded in “Stakeholder Register

Therefore, in my opinion “Statement of work” and “Stakeholder Register” are the key artifacts of Initiation Phase

By looking at the historical accounts it appears that Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) and his companions developed a good understanding of the statement of work during the initial meetings which is being documented as below

a.       Statement of Work

                                                   i.      Need: An alliance of enemies is about to attack Muslims to destroy them once and for all. A defensive strategy is best in this case because, the allied force includes at least 10,000 people and may exceed 24,000 and Muslims are clearly outnumbered because at maximum they have 3000 men who can fight. In addition Muslims lack weapons and cavalry.

                                                 ii.      Scope: Muslims would dig a trench at all the possible directions from which enemies can attack. Since Arabs never came across the technique of digging trench therefore attackers would be lacking strategy and resources to cross the trench.

                                                iii.      Strategic Importance This would help in preventing the newly established state of Madinah and would save precious human lives. The enemy is putting almost all of its resources to launch the most massive attack ever and In case Muslims are able successfully defend without major material and human loss; the enemy will not be able to launch another attack for a long time. As a result Muslims will get enough time to strengthen their newly established state

b.      Stakeholder Register  

Success of a project is majorly dependent on identifying the set of stakeholders, their goals and their expectations. This is because it helps in managing stakeholder engagement appropriately. For example, since Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) had good insight of stakeholder expectation, he was aware that participation of Ghatafanids in the battle is just to get monetary benefits, therefore at a point he tried to make a deal with leaders of Ghatafan where they will be given a share of crops on the condition that they will not participate in the attack.

Project Managers often document the details about stakeholders in Stakeholder Register. The Stakeholder register for Trench project can be seen in Table 1.0.

Group	Name	Objective	Goal	Expectations
Enemy	Tribe of Quraish and associated tribes	Occupy Madinah and Eliminate Islam	Maintain supremacy in Arabian Peninsula	This group will invest maximum efforts to eliminate Muslims
Enemy	Tribe of Ghatafan and associated tribes	Occupy Madinah and Eliminate Islam	Monetary Benefits offered by People in Khyber (a place near Madinah)	This group is primarily interested in Monetary benefits and incentives promised by Banu Nadhir
Enemy	Tribe of Banu Nadhir	Occupy Madinah and Eliminate Islam	Take revenge of expulsion. Regain Supremacy and Influence in Madinah by Eliminating Islam/Muslims	Strategic and Diplomatic efforts of this group resulted in this united offence. Banu Nadhir is expected to convince Banu Qurayza who are Allies of Muslims, to break treaty and join attackers
Muslims	Refugees  (Muhajireen)	Protect Madinah and Islam	Establish and govern a welfare state as per Islamic principles	Put in maximum efforts to protect Islam
Muslims	Residents of Madinah (Ansar) - Tribe of Aws	Protect Madinah and Islam	Establish and govern a welfare state as per Islamic principles	Put maximum efforts to protect Islam
Muslims	Resident of Madinah (Ansar) - Tribe of Khazraj	Protect Madinah and Islam	Establish and govern a welfare state as per Islamic principles	Put maximum efforts to protect Islam
Muslims	Hypocrites of Madinah	Ensure Personal Safety while enjoying benefits	Maintain a position which helps them associate with a side that has greater probability of dominance	Limited efforts to be put in and to refrain from taking any risks. Limited harvesting of crops this year will further reduce their interest and efforts
Allies	Tribe of Banu Qurayza	Support Muslims in Protecting Madinah	Continue to live in prosperity near Madinah	Although they are supposed to help Muslims in protecting Madinah as per the treaty but there is a risk that these people may break the treaty due to diplomatic efforts Banu Nadhir who follow the same religion
Allies	Other Residents of Madinah	ProtectMadinah	Continue to live in prosperity in and around  Madinah	Take measures to extend the trench to prevent attackers to enter through their colonies

Table 1.0 – Stakeholder Register (Hamidullah, M. 1983)

Having a clear statement of work and understanding of stakeholders is vital for success of any project. Modern Project Management practices suggest to record this information in a document called Project Charter along with success criteria of project, schedule for key milestones, name of project manager assigned to the project etc. 

Having a clear statement of work and understanding of stakeholders is vital for success of any project. Modern Project Management practices suggest to record this information in a document called Project Charter along with success criteria of project, schedule for key milestones, name of project manager assigned to the project etc.

2.       Planning

As soon as the statement of work was clear Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) immediately started the activities that are part of Project Planning. Project Planning involves establishing the total scope of effort, refining the objectives of the project and defining the course of action to successfully complete the project. Without wasting any time, he set out on horseback for a tour of inspection to get an idea of the terrain, to determine the points of strategic importance and to outline the path of trench. In order to get expert judgment and consultation, this survey and inspection of the terrain was not done alone but with those having experience of digging ditch along with those having experience and knowledge of warfare. In addition, setting good example of stakeholder engagement, Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) included representation of both Ansar and Refugees (Muhajireen) in the team that accompanied him during this inspection. (Hamidullah, M. 1983). The student of Islamic history will note that Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) believed that quick decision making and timely actions are vital for strategic projects.

The project planning process group produces numerous artifacts. The historical account of trench project contain sufficient details which have been organized to prepare the below documents.

•    Requirements Document
•    Scope Baseline
•    Scope Statement
•    Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
•    WBS Dictionary
•    Project Schedule 
•    Risk Register

a.       Requirements Document: In order to establish the total scope of work, it is necessary to collect complete set of requirements. The primary purpose of the tour of Madinah’s inspection was to determine the exact requirements that will help meet the objectives of the project. The very involvement of key stakeholders in this process of determining requirements assured the quality of requirement collection. During this process, group creativity technique known as brainstorming was used along with unanimity method of group decision making to determine the final set of requirements. It was concluded that only the north of Madinah was open and exposed which could be used to launch a full scale attack. Other directions were mostly covered by dense gardens and habitations of various tribes. The passage between these gardens and habitations was zig zag and narrow thus no formation except in long columns was possible for the enemy. The complete set of requirements for Trench Project can be found in Table 2.0 

Name	Summary	Rationale	Requirement
Position of Army - 001	Determine a strategically suitable position for arraying Army.	To be able to monitor activities of enemy	The position should give Muslims the advantage of being able to monitoring enemy and the position should be supportive of Muslims in worst case where attack is launched
Long trench – 002	The Trench will cover open areas around Madinah	Prevent enemy from launching a massive attack	Trench should be dug north of Madinah. It would connect lava fields on west of Sala’ hillock to the north and will be extended to the date farms
Wide trench – 003	Trench cannot be crossed by any means	Prevent enemy from launching a massive attack	The trench should be wide enough so that horsemen on the best horses cannot jump pass it
Deep trench – 004	Depth of trench should supports its effectiveness	Prevent enemy from launching a massive attack	Trench should be deep enough so that significant injuries are sustained  by anyone who fells into it
Protection for Archers – 005	Parapet towards Madinah	Prevent enemy from launching a massive attack	There should be Protection which should allow archers to operate safely. In addition, the protection should also make it even more challenging for horseman to cross the trench
Transfer Residents to Forts – 006	Transfer residents to safer places	Prevent citizens from a small scale attack	Relocate women , children, those who cannot participate in battle, livestock, food and valuables to forts/towers in Madinah which are safe this will prevent them from coming under attack by small group of enemies

Table 2.0 – Requirements

The above table attempts to formally state Requirements. Requirements documented in similar way are combined with several other details including project description and other information (which varies based upon project domain) in a document called Requirements Document

b.      Scope Baseline of Trench Project

Based on the requirements, the scope of project is defined and documented. The scope statement, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and WBS Dictionary form the Scope base line of the project. Setting a good example for Project Managers, Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) did not allow any changes to the scope baseline without a change control procedure

                                                   i.      Scope statement: Scope statement is an important piece of documentation that includes Product Scope description, Acceptance Criteria, Deliverable, Project Exclusion, Constraint, Assumptions. Below is the scope statement of trench project 

The deliverable of the project is a trench that covers North of Madinah whose success criteria is to protect citizens of Madinah by preventing enemy to launch a large scale attack. As far as product scope description is concerned, the length of the trench would approximately be 18,500 ft (5638 meters). Width and depth would be such that it cannot be jump crossed even by best horses. Usually a ditch that is 15 ft (4.6 meters) wide and 8 ft (2.4 meters) deep cannot be jumped over by horses. The trench will be N shaped that will connect two lava plains starting from an agreed upon point in north-east touching the northern Farewell Hill (Thaniyat Al-Wada) at Madhad, converging to the west as far as the hill of Banu Ubaid returning to the Mount Sal’ as far as the point where Victory Mosque stands today. As a preventive measure the residents of Madinah will also be shifted to safe forts/towers (Hamidullah, M. 1983).

There are some open spaces between residential colonies at one side of Madinah, however those areas are excluded from the scope of project. The residents of those colonies might dig trench on those areas and connect it to the actual trench. 
The amount of time to be spend on this project is constrained by the fact that preparations of enemy are almost complete. At maximum, a little more than a month might be available to complete this project

It is assumed that enemies will not be prepared for this defensive strategy as it has not been used in Arabian Peninsula before, therefore their objective to engage in a formal battle will not be accomplished

                                                 ii.      Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): The purpose of WBS is to completely list down all project and product related work that must be performed. The scope statement becomes a key input to the WBS along with the requirements. Figure 1.0 shows the WBS of trench project. Having a WBS help project manager in making sure that all the required work is known, scheduled and completed.

Figure 1.0

                                              iii.      WBS Dictionary

Work Package ID	WBS Title	Description
1.1	Finalize Positions	This work package includes a survey to determine -          The best place where the Army should camp which will also play role in determining the path of trench. -          The directions from which attack can be launched to finalize the path of trench. -          The Positions where check posts will be setup. These check posts will be to support digging activities and later to ensure that enemies do not infiltrate
2.1	Arrange resources	Arranging resources involves -          Coordinate with Banu Qurayza to obtain tools for digging and maintain a store to retain the tools. -          Informing all Muslims about the project and engaging them in digging activity. -          Erect a tent where Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم)  can stay 24x7 to monitor the project.
2.2	Trench Digging	This work package will deliver a deep and wide trench along with a parapet at the side of Madinah
3.1	Organize troops and assign responsibilities	On completion of trench digging, troops should be organized and responsibilities should be assigned. This work package involves -          Reviewing troops to ensure that boys below 15 do not participate in combat or patrolling. -          Dividing the army into battalions and assigning responsibility to each group
3.2	Secure the residents of the city	This includes -          Assigning deputy in Madinah -          Moving women, children, disabled, livestock, food and valuables into safe forts.

Table 3.0 WBS Dictionary

c.       Project Schedule: WBS identifies work packages which are decomposed into smaller components call activities. Activities represent work effort which can be estimated for duration and resources. Project Schedule ensures that not only all the activities required to complete the project happens but happens in right order, by right people and within a right duration. In order to prepare schedule a Project Manager usually 

a.       Breaks the work items identified in WBS into actions whose durations can be estimated and can be assigned to resources. This process is called Define Activities in PMBOK

                                                                           i.      For example, “Finalize Positions” is broken down into activities of surveying site, identifying and agreeing upon location where Army will camp, finalizing the path of trench and finalize position of checkpoints.

b.      Determines the order in which activities should be performed (Sequence Activities)

                                                                           i.      The dependencies within tasks dictate the order in which activities can be performed. For example, digging will start once the tools (resources) have been arranged.

c.       Estimate the resources required to complete actions/activities.

                                                                           i.      Considering the nature of work as well as other important factors, a project manager determines the equipment, human and material resources required (and available) to complete this activity. Digging trench did not involve specialized skills or training and the timelines were challenging, therefore Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) allowed young boys to participate in digging activity thus the number of available human resources reached 3000 people. There was shortage of tools like wheelbarrows but it was not a showstopper as people can use their garments to carry soil

d.      Estimate the duration required to complete action/activities.

                                                                           i.      Based on the amount of work effort required to complete an activity, the number and type of available resources, a project manager determines the work periods (duration) required to complete an activity. For example, the work periods in which trench digging got completed seems to be 28 days (Abdul Bari, 1984). Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) came up with this duration after organizing the workforce into 300 teams each containing 10 members. Each team was assigned to dig an area of 7400 cubic feet out of a total area equivalent to 22,20,000 cubic feet (length=18,500 ft. width= 15 ft. and depth = 8 ft.) . Each team would dig approximately 264 cubic feet daily to complete the trench in 28 days. (Abdul Bari, 1984)

Many project managers often model Project Schedule as Gantt chart. Figure 2.0 shows Project Schedule of Trench Project as Gantt chart which has been prepared using MS Project

Figure 2.0 – Project Schedule

d.     Risk Register

Muslims were digging trench for the first time, the path of the trench included rocky areas and there was limited time, due to all these factors there was a chance that trench might not be completed before the arrival of enemy. Considering this Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) allowed young boys to participate in digging as a result increasing the total number of workers.  In addition, he implemented ground rules that no one would leave the work without permission.

In the above example, the possibility of not completing the work on time can be termed as Risk in project management terminology. It is defined as an event or a condition that might occur and positively or negatively impact one of project objectives. It is important for the success of project that risks are regularly reviewed to determine the status of existing risks and to identify new risks. This is because risks can dictate changes in scope or decisions, for example considering the above mentioned risk, workforce was increased by including young boys and special ground rules were defined.

Risks that can effect a project negatively are called Threats, whereas opportunities are the risks that if exploited can positively impact a project. For example, the enemies were coming with preparations to start the battle immediately therefore they did not had enough food stocks to keep Madinah under siege for a long period. Therefore, ensuring effectiveness of the trench will frustrate enemy, they will run out of sustenance and will be forced to go back.

Since risks have significant impacts on the project therefore it is important to carefully document and manage risks. To achieve this objective it is suggested that project managers maintain a Risk Register throughout the project. Following steps can be performed to prepare a Risk Register  

o   Identify the risks: While identifying risks, people often make use of Risk Breakdown structure (RBS) which documents the sources/categories of risks. Having the list of sources handy in the RBS helps in brainstorming to identify risks. RBS is also be used to associate various risks to respective categories which helps determining how to deal with the risks. RBS for the trench project is found in Figure 3.0  

o   Determine the probability of risk occurrence: In order to reduce influence of bias, the definition of probability levels should be established. Table 7.0 documents the probability scale used for this project

o   Determine the impact of each risk: In order to reduce influence of bias, the definition of threat and opportunity impact levels should be established. Table 5.0 and 6.0  document the threat and opportunity impact scale used for this project

o   And in some cases you may want to quantify the impacts of risks on cost, quality etc.   

  

 

Risk Breakdown Structure- Figure 3.0

The outputs of the above activities are recorded in Risk Register which is frequently referred to and updated during the project life cycle. Another important item is to record how a particular risk will be handled and who is responsible for handling the risk

Risk Register for Trench Project can be found in table 4.0   

S.No.	Identified Risk	Mitigation/Response	Category	Type	Priority (Probability x Impact)	Urgency
1	Limited time may result in incomplete trench thus enabling enemy to launch assault	Initiate the digging process immediately and encourage everyone to participate. Let young boys participate as well. Ensure people give maximum time to trench digging	Schedule	Threat	High (0.5*0.5)	High
2	Draught and early harvest may result in negatively impacting  morale in turn impacting the performance/quality of work	Motivate people by using good leadership techniques and making additional sustenance available whenever possible	Weather	Threat	High (0.5*0.5)	Medium
3	Narrow Portions of Trench May Result in enemies crossing trench resulting and causing life losses	Patrolling of trench and in case where motivation of enemy to attack increases move security camps/checkposts closer to narrower  areas to ensure effective surveillance	Trench Quality	Threat	High (0.4*0.3)	Low
4	limited cavalry (36 vs 600) will result in slower patrolling thus may provide enemy an opportunity to bypass the trench	Since there are multiple groups patrolling therefore chances of intercepting those who bypass are significant.	Trench Quality	Threat	Medium (0.4 * 0.2)	Low
5	Small scale attack, that can be launched via other areas that were not covered by trench, can result in damages to Muslims	Patrolling of these areas will be done to intercept insurgencies	Enemy	Threat	Medium (0.3*0.1)	Low
6	Breaking of treaty may happen if People of Khyber negotiate with Banu Qurayza resulting in attack on people in Madinah	Transfer women, children and those who cannot fight to forts. In addition patrolling of the city should also be ensured	Allies	Threat	Low (0.2*0.5)	Low
7	Position of Archers being against air direction may reduce their effectiveness and thus not a major threat for enemy	Archers will only be used to defend Trench and create it difficult for people to cross. As Archers won’t be used to launch/support an attack therefore being against wind direction will not result in major loss	Trench Quality	Threat	Low (0.5*0.1)	Low
8	Enemy will come with limited stock of food as they are not prepared to carry out a siege of city thus they will run out of sustenance soon	Ensure that enemy is not able to launch any major attack on Muslims	Enemy	Opportunity	High (0.5*0.5)	Low
9	Cold and Windy weather may result in difficulty to retain position thus armies may have to retreat	Muslims would chose a position where mount Sal will be covering them to an extent from Wind and trench will be protecting them from enemy. Enemy will have no such protection from whether therefore they may not be able to continues siege for long	Weather	Opportunity	High (0.3*0.5)	High

Table 4.0 Risk Register , (Bashmel, M.A. 1988), (Abdul Bari, 1984)

For Response of Risk 3,4,5, two separate patrolling parties were organized under leadership of Zaid bin Hartha (رضی اللہ عنہ)  and Sa’ad bin Ubadah (رضی اللہ عنہ). For the response of Risk 6, Ibn Umm Maktoom (رضی اللہ عنہ) was assigned as acting chief of Madinah and Salma bin Aslam (رضی اللہ عنہ) was assigned the responsibility of patrolling Madinah with 200 men.

Rating	Impact
4	Major - A large group (500+) of soldiers is able to attack
3	Significant - Significant number of soldiers (200+) is able to attack as a group
2	Moderate - A small group (40+) of soldiers is able to attack
1	Minor - Less than 40 soldiers are able to attack

Table 5.0 Impact Scale for Threats

Rating	Impact
4	Major - An event/condition that forces enemy to retreat
3	Significant - An event/condition that prevents enemy to launch any attack
2	Moderate - An event/condition that prevents even a small group (40+) to launch an attack
1	Minor - An event/condition that prevents a significant attack (200+)

Table 6.0 Impact Scale for Threats

Rating	Probability
5	91-100% chances
4	61- 90% chances
3	41-60% chances
2	11-40% chances
1	0-10% chances

Table 7.0 Likelihood Scale of Risks 

3.       Monitoring, Controlling, Executing and Closing

The project management of trench project contains good example of other project management activities as well. These are planned to be covered in upcoming article  

Reference

1-      Hart, M. (1978) The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

2-      Rao, K. S. R (1978) Muhammed The Prophet of Islam

3-      علامہ محمد احمد باشمیل، غزوہ احزاب مترجم  اخترفتح پوری، نفیس اکیڈمی کراچی

Bashmel, M.A. (1988) Ghazwa Ahzab translated by Fateh Poori, A., Nafees Academy Karachi

4-      Hamidullah, M. (1983) The Battle Fields of Prophet Muhammad Peace be Upon Him, Kitab bhawan, New Delhi

5-      عبدلباری، رسول کریم صلى الله عليه وسلم کی جنگی اسکیم، الفیصل، لاہور

Abdul Bari. (1984) Rasool e Karim صلى الله عليه وسلم ki Jangee Scheme, Al Faisal Lahore