Overview of Project Management

Learning Objectives of Project Management

  • 1-1 Understand why project management (PM) is crucial in today’s world.

    • Highlights the importance and relevance of PM in addressing challenges and driving success across various industries.

  • 1-2 Distinguish a project from routine operations.

    • Differentiating between temporary endeavors that are aimed at creating a specific outcome and ongoing, repetitive tasks.

  • 1-3 Identify different stages of a project life cycle.

    • Understanding the phases that projects typically undergo from initiation to closure.

  • 1-4 Describe how Agile PM is different from traditional PM.

    • Emphasizing the shift in methodologies from a rigid approach to a flexible, iterative framework suitable for uncertain environments.

  • 1-5 Understand that managing projects involves balancing the technical and sociocultural dimensions of the project.

    • Balancing the structured methodologies with interpersonal dynamics and organizational culture.

Chapter Outline

1.1 What Is a Project?
1.2 Current Drivers of Project Management
1.3 Agile Project Management
1.4 Project Management Today: A Socio-Technical Approach

What Is a Project?

  • Definition of a Project (according to PMI):

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

  • Major Characteristics of a Project:

    • Has an established objective.

    • Has a defined life span with a beginning and an end.

    • Involves several departments and professionals.

    • Involves doing something that has never been done before.

    • Has specific time, cost, and performance requirements.

Program vs. Projects

  • Program Defined:

    • A group of related projects designed to accomplish a common goal over an extended period.

  • Program Management Defined:

    • A process of managing a group of ongoing, interdependent, related projects in a coordinated way to achieve strategic objectives.

  • Examples:

    • Project: Completion of a required course in project management.

    • Program: Completion of all courses required for a business major.

Comparison of Routine Work with Projects

  • Routine Work:

    • Taking class notes

    • Daily entering sales receipts into the accounting ledger

    • Responding to a supply-chain request

    • Practicing scales on the piano

    • Routine manufacture of an Apple iPod

    • Attaching tags on a manufactured product

  • Projects:

    • Writing a term paper

    • Setting up a sales kiosk for a professional accounting meeting

    • Developing a supply-chain information system

    • Writing a new piano piece

    • Designing an iPod that is approximately 2 X 4 inches, interfaces with PC, and stores 10,000 songs

    • Wire-tag projects for GE and Wal-Mart

Project Life Cycle

  • Phases of Project Life Cycle:

    • Defining:

      1. Goals

    • Planning:

      1. Schedules

      2. Specifications

      3. Tasks

      4. Budgets

      5. Responsibilities

      6. Resources

      7. Risks

    • Executing:

      1. Status reports

      2. Changes

      3. Quality

      4. Forecasts

    • Closing:

      1. Train customer

      2. Transfer documents

      3. Release resources

      4. Evaluation

      5. Lessons learned

The Challenge of Project Management

  • Project Manager's Role:

    • Manages temporary, non-repetitive activities, often acting independently from the formal organization.

    • Marshals resources for the project and serves as the link to the customer.

    • Works with a diverse team and provides direction, coordination, and integration.

    • Responsible for the performance and success of the project, inducing the right personnel at the right time to address issues and make decisions.

Current Drivers of Project Management

  • Key Factors Increasing Project Management Use:

    • Compression of the product life cycle

    • Knowledge explosion

    • Triple bottom line considerations (planet, people, profit)

    • Increased customer focus

    • Small projects representing significant problems

Agile Project Management (Agile PM)

  • Definition:

    • Agile PM is a methodology that arose from frustrations with traditional project management processes in software development and is now applied across several industries dealing with high uncertainty.

  • Characteristics:

    • Employs an incremental, iterative process known as the ‘rolling wave’ approach.

    • Focused on active collaboration between project team members and customer representatives, breaking projects into small functional segments, and adapting to evolving requirements.

    • Best suited for small teams of 4 to 8 members.

  • Process:

    • Iterations last between one to four weeks with goals including defining key requirements and addressing technical issues.

    • Progress is reviewed after each iteration, with adjustments made before the subsequent cycle begins.

Project Management Today: A Socio-Technical Approach

  • Dimensions:

    • Technical Dimension (The “Science”):

      • Encompasses the formal, structured parts of project management, including planning, scheduling, and controlling projects.

    • Sociocultural Dimension (The “Art”):

      • Involves the creation of temporary social systems within larger organizations, focusing on teamwork, customer interactions, and leadership.

Text Overview of Following Chapters

  • Chapter 2: Evaluating and selecting projects.

  • Chapter 3: Discusses matrix management and its organizational culture impacts.

  • Chapter 4: Defining project scope and developing Work Breakdown Structures (WBS).

  • Chapter 5: Formulating cost and time estimates.

  • Chapter 6: Utilizing the WBS to create a project plan of timed and sequenced activities.

  • Chapter 7: Identifying and managing project-related risks.

  • Chapter 8: Resource allocation and limitations impacting project schedules.

  • Chapter 9: Strategies for reducing project time before initiation or in response to unforeseen demands.

  • Chapter 10: Role of project manager as a leader, emphasizing stakeholder management.

  • Chapter 11: Concentrates on team dynamics and building high-performance teams.

  • Chapter 12: Outsourcing project work, negotiations with stakeholders.

  • Chapter 13: Information management for monitoring project progress, highlighting the concept of earned value.

  • Chapter 14: Closing procedures and performance assessments.

  • Chapter 15: Exploring agile project management as a more flexible approach.

  • Chapter 16: Managing projects across different cultures.

  • Agile Project Management (Agile PM): A methodology that focuses on incremental, iterative processes and collaboration in uncertain environments.

  • Program: A collection of related projects aimed at achieving a common goal over time.

  • Project: A temporary effort to create a unique product, service, or result with defined objectives and constraints.

  • Project Life Cycle: The stages projects progress through from initiation to closure, including defining, planning, executing, and closing.

  • Project Management Professional (PMP): A certification demonstrating expertise in project management practices and methodologies.