Introduction to Project Management

A project is "a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result."

• Temporary — every project has a definite beginning and a definite end.
• Unique — the outcome differs in some distinguishing way from all similar products or services.

A project:

• Has a unique purpose
• Is temporary (definite start and end)
• Is developed using progressive elaboration
• Requires resources, often from various areas
• Should have a primary sponsor who provides direction and funding
• Involves uncertainty

• Projects: Temporary and unique.
• Operations: Ongoing and repetitive.

Common to both: performed by people, constrained by limited resources, and planned, executed & controlled.

Every project is constrained by three competing goals:

• Scope — what work will be done
• Time — how long it should take
• Cost — what it should cost

The project manager must balance all three. Successful project management means meeting all three goals AND satisfying the project sponsor.

A project may be triggered by:

• A market demand
• A business need
• A customer request
• A technological advancement
• A legal requirement
• A social need

Project management is "the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements."

• Managing competing demands on Scope, Time, Cost, and Quality
• Managing stakeholders with differing needs and expectations
• Managing identified requirements

Stakeholders are people involved in or affected by project activities. Examples:

• Project sponsor
• Project manager
• Project team members
• Customers / Users
• Suppliers
• Opponents to the project

• Core (4): Scope, Time, Cost, Quality Management — lead to specific project objectives.
• Facilitating (4): Human Resource, Communications, Risk, Procurement Management — means through which objectives are achieved.
• Integrating (1): Project Integration Management — affects and is affected by all other areas.

• Scope: Project Charter, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Time: Gantt charts, Network diagrams / Critical Path Analysis, PERT charts
• Cost: Cost estimates, Earned Value Management (EVM) chart

1995 findings: Only 16.2% of IT projects were successful; over 31% were cancelled, costing over $81 billion in the U.S. alone.

By 2002:

• Successful projects rose from 16% → 34% (doubled)
• Failed projects fell from 31% → 15% (halved)
• Money wasted dropped from $140B → $55B (more than halved)

A program is "a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually." A project is a single temporary endeavor.

Program managers oversee programs and often act as the boss for multiple project managers under that program.

A PMO is an organizational group responsible for coordinating the project management function throughout an organization. Goals include:

• Collect, organize, and integrate project data organization-wide
• Develop and maintain templates for project documents
• Provide training on project management topics
• Provide a formal career path for project managers
• Offer project management consulting services

Project portfolio management is the practice of grouping and managing projects as a portfolio of investments that contribute to the entire enterprise's success. Organizations adopt it to:

• Align projects with strategic business goals
• Allocate resources efficiently across multiple projects
• Gain visibility over active, approved, and future projects
• Maximize overall return on project investment

• Communication: Listening, persuading
• Organizational: Planning, goal-setting, analyzing
• Team-building: Showing empathy, motivating the team
• Leadership: Setting examples, delegating, providing vision
• Coping: Being flexible, creative, and persistent
• Technology: Project knowledge and technical experience

• Hard skills: Product/domain knowledge and ability to use PM tools and techniques (e.g., Gantt charts, WBS, cost estimates).
• Soft skills: Interpersonal abilities — communication, leadership, motivation, and working with diverse people.

Both are essential: hard skills ensure the project is planned and tracked correctly; soft skills ensure the team works effectively toward the goal.

• A leader focuses on long-term goals and big-picture objectives, inspiring people to reach them.
• A manager deals with day-to-day details of meeting specific goals.

Project managers must be both — they inspire the team with vision while simultaneously managing schedules, costs, and deliverables on a daily basis. Effective project managers lead by example.

Effective project managers:

• Lead by example; visionary; technically competent; decisive
• Good communicator and motivator
• Stand up to upper management when necessary
• Support team members and encourage new ideas

Ineffective project managers:

• Set a bad example; not self-assured
• Lack technical expertise
• Poor communicator and poor motivator

PMP (Project Management Professional) is a certification awarded by PMI. Requirements:

• Documented sufficient project experience
• Agree to the PMP code of professional conduct
• Pass the PMP exam

Ethics is key because project managers frequently face ethical dilemmas, and professional responsibility is directly tested in the PMP exam.

• Low-end tools: Handle single or smaller projects; cost under $200 per user.
• Midrange tools: Handle multiple projects and users; cost $200–$500 per user. MS Project 2003 was the most popular example.
• High-end / Enterprise tools: Integrate data from multiple projects across the whole organization; licensed per user. Used for portfolio-wide visibility with red/yellow/green status indicators.

Top 5 success factors (Standish Group):

• Executive support
• User involvement
• Experienced project manager
• Clear business objectives
• Minimized scope

What winning companies do:

• Use an integrated PM toolbox with templates
• Grow project leaders with business and soft skills
• Develop a streamlined project delivery process
• Measure project health via metrics including customer satisfaction and ROI