Project Management

project

a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result

operation

on the other hand, is work done in organizations to sustain the business. It focuses on the ongoing production of goods and services. It is ongoing and repetitive

Operation

the purpose is to keep the organization functioning

project

the purpose is to meet its goals and conclude

A project has a unique purpose

Every project should have a well- defined objective

A project is temporary

A project has a definite beginning and end

A project drives change and enables value creation

A project is initiated to bring about a change to meet a need or desire

A project is developed using progressive elaboration

Projects are often broadly defined when they begin, and as time passes, the specific details of the project become clearer. Therefore, projects should be developed in increments. A project team should develop initial plans and then update them with more detail based on new information.

A project requires resources, often from various areas

Resources include people, hardware, software, and other assets. Many projects cross departmental or other boundaries to achieve their unique purposes.

A project should have a primary customer or sponsor

Most projects have many interested parties or stakeholders, but for a project to succeed, someone must take the primary role of sponsorship

Project Sponsor

usually provides the direction and funding for the project

A project involves uncertainty

Because every project is unique, it is sometimes difficult to define its objectives clearly, estimate how long it will take to complete, or determine how much it will cost.

Project Management

applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements

Project Managers

must not only strive to meet specific scope, time, cost, and quality goals of projects but also facilitate the entire process to meet the needs and expectations of people involved in project activities or affected by them

Project stakeholders, project management knowledge areas, Project management tools and techniques

Key elements of the project management framework

Stakeholders

are the people involved in or affected by project activities and include the project sponsor, project team, support staff, customers, users, suppliers, and even opponents of the project.

Project management

a process that includes planning, putting the project plan into action, and measuring progress and performance

Managing a project

includes identifying your project’s requirements and writing down what everyone needs from the project

Cost

the budget approved for the project including all necessary expenses needed to deliver the project.

Scope

what the project is trying to achieve. It entails all the work involved in delivering the project outcomes and the processes used to produce them. It is the reason and the purpose of the project.

Quality

a combination of the standards and criteria to which the project’s products must be delivered for them to perform effectively

Risk

defined by potential external events that will have a negative impact on your project if they occur. refers to the combination of the probability the event will occur and the impact on the project if the event occurs

Resources

are required to carry out the project tasks. They can be people, equipment, facilities, funding, or anything else capable of definition (usually other than labor) required for the completion of a project activity.

Time

defined as the time to complete the project. is often the most frequent project oversight in developing projects. This is reflected in missed deadlines and incomplete deliverables

schematic of the triple constraint triangle

In this triangle, each side represents one of the constraints (or related constraints) wherein any changes to any one side cause a change in the other sides

Project management knowledge areas

describe the key competencies that project managers must develop

Project Scope Management

It involves defining and managing all the work required to complete the project successfully

Project Schedule Management

This is formerly called project time management; includes estimating how long it will take to complete the work, developing an acceptable project schedule, and ensuring timely completion of the project.

Project Cost Management

It consists of preparing and managing the budget for the project.

Project Quality Management

It ensures that the project will satisfy the stated or implied needs for which it was undertaken

Project Resource Management

This is concerned with making effective use of the people and physical resources involved with the project.

Project Communications Management

It involves generating, collecting, disseminating, and storing project information

Project Risk Management

It includes identifying, analyzing, and responding to risks related to the project

Project Procurement Management

It involves acquiring or procuring goods and services for a project from outside the performing organization

Project Stakeholder Management

It includes identifying and analyzing stakeholder needs while managing and controlling their engagement throughout the life of the project.

Project Integration Management

It is an overarching function that affects and is affected by all other knowledge areas. It is the umbrella that covers all other project management knowledge areas. It knits together individual processes and tasks into one project with defined goals and deliverables.

Data Gathering

It includes benchmarking, brainstorming, check sheets, checklists, focus groups, interviews, market research, questionnaires and surveys, and statistical sampling.

Data Analysis

It includes alternatives analysis, assessment of other risk parameters, assumption and constraint analysis, cost of quality, cost-benefit analysis, decision tree analysis, document analysis, and earned value analysis.

Data Representation

It includes affinity diagrams, cause-and- effect diagrams, control charts, flow charts, hierarchical charts, histograms, logical data models, matrix diagrams, matrix-based charts, mind mapping, probability and impact matrix, scatter diagrams, stakeholder engagement assessment matrix, stakeholder mapping/representation, and text-oriented formats.

Decision Making

It determines which activities are most important or critical for the project’s success. Some of the examples include multi-criteria decision analysis and voting

Communication

____within a project team needs to be properly organized, being the key point in many techniques and methodologies. Examples are feedback and presentations.

Interpersonal and Team Skills

It includes active listening, communication styles assessment, conflict management, cultural awareness, decision making, emotional intelligence, facilitation, influencing, leadership, meeting management, motivation, negotiation, networking, nominal group, political awareness, and team building.

Project managers

play an important role in creating projects, and therefore organizations, successfu

Intelligent People

To make a project a success, you need capable people in your team

Comprehensive Planning

This sets up a project for success from the start

Open Communication

Looking closely at details and listening to outside sources of information is vital to the success of a project. When the team is working on a specific schedule, it is important that the team remains well-informed in every aspect of the project

Careful Risk Management

vital to produce a risk log with an action plan for the risks that the project could face. Make sure all key stakeholders are aware of your risk log and know where they can find it.

Strong Project Closure

If a project does not have strong closure, then it has the potential to continue to consume resources

Failure to Plan Effectively

Effective planning is a project management success factor that simply can’t be overlook ed. Effective project planning involves writing out your plan, setting a realistic time frame, estimating costs, determining milestones, documenting deliverables, and defining project scope. One way to help you plan effectively is to utilize a project management platform to keep you organized.

Disregarding Risk Management

We all know that projects don’t go as planned and regularly fail. Create a risk log with an action plan and keep it in a location where your team members and stakeholders can access it. This will allow your team members to easily find information. Having a solid risk management plan in place will also allow you to take immediate action if you see the warning signs of failure headed your way.

Inadequate Scope Document

An ______ or complete lack of a scope document, is a huge project failure factor. Ultimately, defining your project’s scope should be accomplished during the planning and goal setting stage of your project with a scope document. Defining how you will handle scope changes and how you will track them will help keep everyone on the same page when things inevitably change.

Not Selecting the Right People

Assign team members to roles where they will excel and use your central resources to help keep everyone on the same page while you and your team pursue your project to completion

Lack of Communication

Poor communication leads to disaster and is a major project failure factor. If you have struggled with communication on your teams in the past, be sure to implement a communication plan when you create your project plan to avoid issues from the start

No Management Support

Projects that fail to have the support of management may never get approved, and even if they do, with little management support, the project is much more likely to fail. This project failure factor is often caused by unclear project goals and a failure to define the value it adds or the problem it solves for the business. If you can’t define the value your project brings, it will be difficult to get sufficient funds allocated to the project.

Weak Project Closure

Projects are not meant to drag on forever, and they will drain your resources if you don’t establish a set of parameters for project closure. Finalizing a project involves establishing an agreement with your clients that you met the critical success factors for the project and the project has been delivered, tested, and released according to client satisfaction. You might even ask your clients to complete a satisfaction survey to get feedback and help finalize the project further.

life cycle

helps lay out transparent and time bound entry and exit points throughout the project stages.

Project Management Lifecycle

is a framework comprising a set of distinct, high level stages required to transform an idea into reality in an orderly and efficient manner.

Life Cycles

offer a systematic and organized way to undertake project- based work and be viewed as the structure underpinning deployment.

Project Initiation, Project Planning, Implementation Phase, Project Monitoring and Control, Project Closure

PROJECT MANAGEMENT LIFECYCLE PHASES

PROJECT INITIATION

It includes defining and authorizing a project or project phase. This is the starting phase of your project when you must prove the project has value and is feasible. This stage includes creating a business case to justify the need for the project, and a feasibility study, to show that it can be executed within a reasonable time and cost. This stage of the project culminates in a project kickoff meeting - where you bring together the team, stakeholders, and other relevant parties to lay out the project goals, schedule, processes, and chain of communication.

feasibility study

is conducted to investigate whether each option addresses the project objective, and a final recommended solution is determined

PROJECT PLANNING

This occurs after the project has been approved.

IMPLEMENTATION (EXECUTION) PHASE

This is where most of the work happens

PROJECT MONITORING AND CONTROL

It occurs at the same time as the execution phase of the project

PROJECT CLOSURE

It includes formalizing acceptance of the project or project phase and ending it efficiently. This is the last stage in which the final deliverables are presented to the client or stakeholder

Systems Approach

emerged in the 1950s to describe a holistic and analytical approach to solving complex problems using a systems philosophy, systems analysis, and systems management

Systems Approach

requires that project managers always view their projects in the context of larger organization

Systems Philosophy

This is an overall model for thinking about things as systems. If top management and project managers understand how projects relate to the whole organization, they must follow a systems philosophy.

Systems Analysis

This is a problem-solving approach that requires defining the system's scope, dividing it into components, and then identifying and evaluating its problems, opportunities, constraints, and needs.

Systems Management

It addresses the business, technological, and organizational issues associated with creating, maintaining, and modifying a system.

Structural Frame

This relates to how a project is organized and managed. It focuses on roles, responsibilities, and processes. In the project management lifecycle, this frame ensures that the team is well-structured, with clear responsibilities and processes in place for each project phase (initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure).

Human Resources (HR) Frame

This frame centers on the people involved in the project. It emphasizes creating a balance between the needs of the project and the needs of team members. In the project lifecycle, it’s about building a motivated, skilled team and ensuring their well-being to maintain productivity and quality work.

Political Frame

This frame deals with power dynamics and politics within the organization. In project management, understanding who supports or opposes a project is crucial. It helps manage stakeholders effectively throughout the project lifecycle, ensuring you gain support and address conflicts early.

Symbolic Frame

This frame focuses on the culture, symbols, and meaning behind actions within the organization. For project management, it involves understanding and respecting the values and cultures of the team and stakeholders. It’s particularly important when working on international projects, where recognizing cultural differences can foster collaboration and communication throughout the project lifecycle.

Globalization

Thomas L. Friedman describes globalization's effects, which has created a “flat” world where everyone is connected and the “playing field” is level for many more participants. Project managers need to address several key issues when working on global projects

Communications

Because people work in different time zones, speak different languages, have different cultural backgrounds, and celebrate different holidays, it is important to address how people will communicate in an efficient and timely manner. A communications management plan is vital.

Trust

Trust is an important issue for all teams, especially when they are global teams. It is important to start building trust immediately by recognizing and respecting others’ differences and the value they add to the project

Common work practices

It is important to align work processes and develop a modus operandi with which everyone agrees and is comfortable. Project managers must allow time for the team to develop these common work practices.

Tools

IT plays a vital role in globalization, especially in enhancing communications and work practices. Many people use free tools such as Skype, Google Docs, or social media to communicate. Many project management software tools include their communications and collaboration features in an integrated package

Outsourcing

This is an organization’s acquisition of goods and services from an outside source

Virtual Teams

It is a group of people who work together despite time and space boundaries using communication technologies. Team members might all work for the same company in the same country, or they might include employees and independent consultants, suppliers, or even volunteers providing their expertise from around the globe. Research on virtual teams reveals a growing list of factors that influence their success

Team processes

It is important to define how the virtual team will operate

Leadership style

The project manager’s leadership style affects all teams, especially virtual ones.

Team member selection and role preferences

It is important to select team members carefully and form a team in which all roles are covered

Task-technology fit

IT is more likely to positively impact individual performance if the capabilities of the technologies match the tasks that the user must perform.

Cultural differences

It is important to address cultural differences, including how people with authority are viewed, how decisions are made, how requests or questions are communicated, and how workers prefer to operate

Team life cycles

Project managers must address the team life cycle, especially when assigning team members and determining deliverable schedules.

Incentives

Virtual teams may require different types of incentives to accomplish high-quality work on time

Conflict management

Even though they might never physically meet, virtual teams still have conflicts. It is important to address conflict management.

Agile Project Management

means moving quickly and easily, but some people feel that project management, as they have seen it used, does not allow people to work quickly or easily. Early software development projects often used a waterfall approach, but as technology and businesses became more complex than before, the approach often became difficult to use because requirements were unknown or continuously changing. Agile today means using an approach where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration. Agile can be used for software development or any environment in which the requirements are unknown or change quickly.

Stakeholders

are individuals who either care about or have a vested interest in your project. They are the people who are actively involved with the work of the project or have something to either gain or lose because of the project.

Project Team

is an organized group of people who are involved in performing shared/individual tasks of the project as well as achieving shared/individual goals and objectives for the purpose of accomplishing the project and producing its results. The team consists of full-time and part-time human resources supposed to collaboratively work on producing the deliverables and moving the project towards successful completion

Formation Phase

It is the early phase of the organization. The team members from all directions come to the team with different kinds of ideas, some emotional, some too impatient to wait, some hesitate. It is necessary for a project manager to organize the team as soon as possible under such psychological diversification and encourage everyone to be settled down in mentality as soon as possible.

Puzzle Phase

When the team is set up, and the work is arranged, the emotions of the team members will be confused, and some may complain about the new work being inconsistent with their expectations, some may cause a fluctuation of their mind because the promotion is unsuccessful. In all situations, the project manager needs to coordinate the various conflicts within the team and properly figure out how to solve the problem properly.

Normal Phase

When the puzzle phase is diverted, the team may enter its normal phase. At this point, every member of the team has defined their own tasks and responsibilities and understands the resources that each one has at its disposal. During the normal phase, the interrelationship among members of the team has been improved. The entire team is in a normal working condition under the encouragement and guidance of the project manager

Efficiency Phase

The whole team is in the phase of being able to exert maximum efficiency. The team members work together to achieve cooperation, mutual trust, and mutual understanding.

project stakeholder

is any individual, group, or organization that has an interest in or is affected by the project and stakeholder its outcomes.

Top Management

may include the president of the company, vice-presidents, directors, division managers, the corporate operating committee, and others. These people direct the strategy and development of the organization

The Project Team

is made up of those people dedicated to the project or borrowed on a part-time basis. As a project manager, you need to provide leadership, direction, and above all, support to team members as they go about accomplishing their tasks

Your Manager

Typically, the boss decides what the assignment is and who can work with the project manager on projects. Keeping your manager informed will help ensure that you get the necessary resources to complete your project.