Introduction to Project Management V2

Introduction to Project

The Element of Discipline

“A key to success in project management, as well as in mountain climbing, is to identify the pillars that will be practiced with discipline...I believe that project management is about

applying common sense with uncommon

discipline.”

—  Define a project using characteristics that are common to most projects and describe reasons why more organizations are using project management.
—  

Describe major activities and deliverables, at each project life cycle stage.

—  List and define the ten knowledge areas and five process groups of the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK^®).

—  Delineate measures of project success and failure, and reasons for both.

—  Contrast predictive or plan-driven and adaptive or change-driven project life cycle approaches.

—  Identify project roles and distinguish key responsibilities for each.

What is a project?

project – “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.” PMBOK® Guide 

Projects require:

◦ an organized set of work efforts.

◦ progressively elaborated detail.

◦ a defined beginning and ending.

◦ a unique combination of stakeholders.

—  

Projects are subject to time and resource limitations

stakeholders – “an individual, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project.” PMBOK® Guide

Project Management (PM)

Project management  “the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements." PMBOK® Guide

• Work processes that  initiate, plan, execute, close, work.
• Trade-offs among Scope, Quality, Cost, Schedule, Resources, Risks

•  Administrative tasks planning, documenting, controlling
• Leadership tasks for work associates visioning, motivation, promoting.
• Knowledge, skills, and methods apply for most projects

History of PM

• — Emerged as a formal discipline in the 1950s
• — Developed for aerospace and construction
• — Involved determining project schedules
• Manufacturing, R&D, government, and construction refined techniques
• Software (1980s and 1990s) for planning and controlling
• —  Risk management techniques
•  applied to less complex projects
• —  Communication and leadership role emerged
• —  Information technology and telecommunications fueled use (1990s and 2000s)

How Can Project Work Be Described?

• Projects versus operations
• Soft skills and hard skills
• Soft skills activities
• communication
• Leadership
• Hard skills activities
• Risk analysis
• Quality control
• Scheduling work
• Budgeting work
•  Authority and responsibility
• One person being assigned accountability
• Project managers negotiate with functional managers
• Strong communication and leadership skills to persuade subordinates.

Functional manager – “someone with management authority over an organizational unit.…the manager of any group that actually makes a product or performs a service.” PMBOK®

Guide

•   Project Life Cycle
• Predictable stages
• Life cycle allows for control

Project life cycle – “the series of phases that a

project goes through from its initiation to its closure.” PMBOK® Guide

d

Project Life Cycle Stages

• Selecting and initiating
• Planning
• Executing
• Closing and realizing

A project must pass an approval of to move from one stage to the next

The project life cycle is highly formalized and very specific

Projects are measured at additional points

• Selection
• Progress reporting,
• Benefits realization

Predictive (Plan-Driven) PLC

Predictive (Change-Driven) PLC

Adaptive extreme ---->  Agile

Midland Insurance PLC for QualityImprovement Projects

Understanding Projects

• Project Management Institute
• Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
• Selecting and Prioritizing Projects
• Project Goals and Constraint
• Project Success and failure
• Using MS Project
• Types of Projects
• Scalability of Project Tools

The Project management Institute

• The largest professional organization
• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)
• Project management Professional (PMP) certification
• Certification
• Certified Associate inProject Management (CAPM) certification

 Project management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)

• Project Life Cycle
• 5 process groups
• 10 knowledge areas
• 
  

Project management process group – “a logical grouping

of the project management inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs.” PMBOK® Guide

 PMBOK Process groups

Initiating---"define a project or a new phase by obtaining authorization"

Planning---"establish the project scope, refine objectives and define actions to attain objectives"

Executing--"complete the work defined to satisfy project specifications"

Monitoring and controlling---"track, review, and regulate progress and performance, identify changes required, and initiate changes"

Closing---"finalize all activities to formally close project of phase"

PMBOK Knowledge Areas

Integration management - "processes and activities to identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities"

Scope management - "process to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully"

Time management - "processes to management timely completion of the project"

Cost management  -  "processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding, managing, and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the approved budget"

Quality management - "processes and activities of the performing organization that determine quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken"

Human Resource management - "processes that organize, manage, and lead the project team"

Communications management - "process to enure timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, control, monitoring, and ultimate disposition of project information"

Risk management - "processes of conduction risk management planning, identification, analsis, response planning, and control...to increase the likelihood and impact of positive events and decrease the likelihood and impact of negative events in the project"

Procurement management - "processes to purchase or acquire products, services, or results from outside the project team"

Stakeholder management - "processes to identify the people, groups, or organizations, that could compactor be impacted by the project, analyze their expectations and impact, and develop strategies for engaging them and managing conflicting interests"

Selecting and Prioritizing Projects

• Identify potential projects
• All parts of the organisation are involved
• Determine which projects align best with major goals of the firm
• Organizational priorities:
• Understood
• Communicated
• Accepted

• 
  

What value does each potential project bring to the organization?

Are the demands of performing each project understood?

Are the resources needed to perform the project available?

Which projects will best help the organization achieve its goals?

Is there enthusiastic support both from the external customers and from one or more internal champions?

Project Goals and Constraints

• Projects are undertaken to accomplish specific goals
• Scope and quality are performance goals

Scope - "the sum of the products, services, and results to be provided as a project." PMBOK Guide

Quality - "the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements."

• Subject to constraints of time and cost

Project Goals and Constraints

• Obstacles or challenges may limit the ability to perform
• Opportunities may allow projects to exceed original expectations.
• Project Managers (PMs) decide which goals and constraints take precedence
• Additional constraints
• Amount of resources available
• Decision maker's risk tolerance

Project Customer Trade-off Matrix

Project Success and failure

• Completed without heroics
• Learn new and/or refine skills
• Organisational learning
• Reap business-level benefits

Project Success

Why Projects Fail

• Not enough resources available
• Not enough time given to the project
• Project expectations are unclear
• Changes in the scope not understood or agreed upon
• Stakeholders disagree on expectations 
• Inadequate project planning

Types of Projects

• Classifying by industry
• Classifying by size
• Classifying by understanding of project scope
• Classify by application
• 
  

Success PMI Communities of Practice

• Projects in different industries often have unique requirements

Classifying by Size

Large projects often require more detailed planning and control

Classifying by timing of Project Scope Clarity

How early in the project the project manager and team are able to determine the project scope

Classification by Application

• All projects require planning and control
• The art of project management:

when to use certain techniques 

how much detail to use

how to tailor techniques to the needs of a project.

Scalability  of Project Tools

• All projects require
• Projects specifications
• Understanding of work involved
• Budget and schedule determinations 
• Assignment of available workers to tasks
• Project management
• Projects are scaled up or down to meet the complexity of the task

Project Roles 

Project Roles