Project Management Exam Notes
WEEK ONE: Overview
Work breakdown structure: Breaks down different project components.
Milestones: Significant points in the project.
Baselines: Approved plan for the project, including the approved schedule and authorization for changes.
Triple Constraint: Balance between time, cost, and scope.
Project life cycle: The phases a project goes through from initiation to closure.
Gantt chart: A visual representation of the project schedule.
Change control board: A group of stakeholders who evaluate proposed changes to the project plan and have the authority to approve or deny them. This helps to distribute pressure and responsibility away from the project manager.
Stakeholders: Individuals or organizations with an interest in the project.
Change management: A plan to control scope, ensuring that changes are managed effectively.
Risk mitigation: A risk response planning technique that reduces the probability or impact of risks.
WEEK TWO: The Why of Projects
Strategic alignment: Understanding the project's goals and objectives and how they align with the overall organizational strategy.
Goal definition varies depending on the project's discipline (e.g., engineering vs. organizational projects).
Business case: A definition of why a project is being done.
Should be concise and captured in a short statement.
Focuses on the "what" and desired outcomes.
Understanding the "why" and "what" requires answering key questions:
Why do you want to do this project?
What will you have at the end that you don't have now?
Will you/should you deliver anything else?
Are there any gaps or overlaps with other projects?
What assumptions are you making?
Are there any significant problems?
Answering these questions defines the project.
Strategic Planning:
Flow Down: High-level goals are broken down into smaller, actionable objectives.
Strategic Analysis: SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).
Guiding Principles: Vision and Mission.
Vision: Where you want to be in the future.
Mission: Mechanism for achieving the vision.
Strategic Objectives: Short-term and long-term goals.
Portfolio Objectives
Project Proposal: Defines "what" the project is with concept details.
SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).
Grant Application: Justification of "why" the project is needed, including a detailed financial analysis of benefits, costs, risks, and alternatives.
Public-Private Partnerships: Collaboration between a public organization and a private entity to deliver a project.
WEEK THREE: Structure, Roles, Culture
Project Approaches:
Traditional Linear/Predictive/Waterfall:
Linear series of processes.
Most planning occurs before execution.
Agile:
Emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Visually managed approach using planning boards.
Customer collaboration and responsiveness to change are key.
Hybrid (Blended): Combines elements of traditional and Agile approaches.
Organizational Structures: Consist of work assignments, reporting relationships, and decision-making responsibilities.
Functional:
Hierarchical structure where each employee has one superior.
Staff are organized by specialization and managed by experts (functional managers).
Functional Manager: Controls budget, makes project decisions, and coordinates communication.
Projectized:
The project manager (PM) has full authority to assign projects, apply resources, and direct work.
People are assigned to projects and report upwards to the PM.
Matrix:
Hybrid structure where functional managers and project managers share equal authority.
Team members report to both.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Each Structure:
Functional:
Advantages: Good discipline-specific knowledge, easy for central control, clear career path.
Disadvantages: Slow communication, slow response to change, slow decision-making.
Matrix:
Advantages: Flexible, easy to share resources, good cooperation, more input for decisions, knowledge transfer.
Disadvantages: Two bosses, many sources of conflict, more meetings, slow reaction time, hard to monitor and control.
Projectized:
Advantages: Shorter response time, quicker decisions, one boss, enhanced project team identity, customer focus.
Disadvantages: Duplication of resources, rules not always respected, potential loss of lessons learned, discipline-specific knowledge can slip, less career continuity.
Typical Network Chart: Decentralized management.
360-Degree Performance Reviews: Functional managers receive feedback from a representative sample of staff.
Culture: Formal and informal practices shared among members of the organization.
Result of values, personal standards, and commitment to goals.
Informally determines how people are treated, controlled, and rewarded.
Establishes how communication, competition, conflict, and decision-making are handled.
Types of Power Cultures:
Power Culture: Formal authority controls all.
Role Culture: Strictly follows formal designations of responsibilities.
Task Culture: Getting the job done is the most important.
Person Culture: Genuine interest in the needs/development of workers.
Project Lifecycle:
Definite starting and ending point.
Phases with required activities before moving to the next phase.
Initiation, Planning, Execution, Closure.
Traditional Linear Methods: General Model
Selecting + Initiating → Planning → Executing → Closure
Approved to proceed → Project Kick-off → Administrative Official Closure
AGILE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE MODEL
Incremental Implementation
Sprint
Project Requirements Gathering
Envisioning
Approval to Proceed
Charter
Values:
Welcome change
Focus on short, value-driven cycles
Learn through discovery
Deliver continuously to retain feedback
Empower team
Roles:
Executive Level
Managerial Level
Associate Level
Steering Team: CEO, CFO, etc.
Sponsor: $
Project Manager (PM)
Chief Projects Office (CPO)
Functional Manager (FM)
Subject Matter Expert (SME) - Smarty Pants
Core Team Members
Facilitator: Goes between PM and client
Project Management Office (PMO):
Governs all projects.
Forms: Project repository (source of information), project coach (helps with best practices and monitors performance).
Responsibilities: Identify potential projects, select manageable set, prioritize projects, select sponsors and teams, reward participants, monitor/control implementation, ensure resources.
WEEK FOUR: Scope, Time, Cost
Scope: Product scope + project scope.
Product Scope: Features and functions.
Project Scope: The work that must be performed to deliver the product, service, or result.
States deliverables and establishes boundaries (inclusions and exclusions).
Prevents scope creep.
How to Define Scope:
List Project Variables.
Establish Project Boundaries (In and Out).
Create Project Work Statement.
Scope Creep: When components of work have poorly defined entry and exit criteria, or when the client asks for additional features to be added.
Processes:
Project Charter & Stakeholder Register → Collect Requirements → Define Scope → Create WBS → Perform Integrated Change Control
Requirements Matrix → Scope Statement → Scope Baseline → Project Updates
Project Charter: Defines what the owner expects from the project and the reasoning behind the chosen option and strategy.
Collecting Requirements: Process of defining/documenting stakeholder needs to meet objectives, gathering stakeholder input, and placing yourself in the customer's situation.
Requirements Matrix: Must be traceable, clear, measurable, and prioritized.
Questions to ask: What do I don't understand, why the request, actions needed.
Eliciting User Requirements: Gathering and understanding expectations.
Scope of Work Template:
Glossary (terms referenced).
Problem Statement (what are you trying to solve).
Goals.
Objectives/Deliverables.
Administration.
Timeline.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): Tool used to divide project work into smaller outcomes.
Identifies deliverables and provides a framework for communication, planning, execution, and control.
Why use WBS? Adds discipline and visibility, aids in planning (schedule, resources, budget, risk, cost, quality), facilitates communication, and helps determine where problems could occur.
Developing WBS:
Project Name → List Product, Phase, or Deliverables → Work Packages
Can be based on product or phase (initiation, planning, etc.).
WBS Formats:
Indented
Framed House
Organizational
Free Form
Work Package: A deliverable at the lowest level of each branch.
Must be able to be allocated to someone.
Can be estimated, scheduled, and allocated resources.
Ideally should be an 80-hour duration.
Should not exceed the reporting period (2 weeks).
Change Management:
Change control system to manage change.
No impact statement = project is bound to fail.
Project Objectives/Constraints:
Quality, Time, Scope, Cost.
Time, Cost (Resource), and Quality objectives & constraints define the scope.
Time:
Milestones: Significant events typically signaling a change in the stage or transition point, specific dates determined by external processes, dates are difficult to shift, in boxes.
Precedence: Technique for placing WBS items in the order they must be completed + estimating time needed.
Gantt Chart: Visual project plan that lists tasks on the y-axis and time on the x-axis.
Useful for large projects, helps identify required tasks and order.
Milestone progress focuses on activities needed to achieve specific milestones (rather than order).
Cost
WEEK SIX: Project Scheduling and Estimating
Project Scheduling:
The act of creating your project schedule.
Determine what needs to be performed, who needs to perform it, and how long it will take.
Critical Path Method:
A schedule network analysis technique used to determine the minimum total project duration.
Creation of Project Schedules:
Identify all activities.
Determine the logical order in a network diagram.
Assign resources to each activity.
Estimate time required for that activity.
Compare emerging schedule with imposed dates.
Consider project budget and cash flow, quality demands, and risk factors.
Effort:
Human unit of time required to complete an activity ("work hours").
Useful for understanding how much work is required and the cost.
Duration:
Useful for understanding how long it will take to complete an activity.
Example: Work package = room renovation, activity = paint room. If the activity takes 4 hours with two painters, the effort = 8.
effort = 4 hours * 2 painters = 8work = duration * units (resources)4 * 2 = 8SV = EV-PVCV = EV-AC$$ (cost)
Discussion:
It is important to choose the right method of estimating
NEVER lie to yourself or anyone about the estimation
Make sure to keep in mind the different types of costs, there's a lot of them
Imperative that the cost is getting monitored constantly.
Need to revise EVM since Ken rushed through it during the lecture
Estimating
Parametric: Statistical past data to calculate cost, budget and duration estimates
Top Down: Using actual cost of previous similar project
analogous as the basis for cost of current (quick but accurate)
Bottom Up:
project is broken down into smaller components and estimates are made on lower lvl (activities)
Then grouped to estimate total (accurate but time consuming)
** Effort driven:** amount of work effort rather than duration (based on amount of effort + resources)
fixed duration: allocates duration regardless et no. of resources. timeline remains constant