Project Management

A project management is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Project management provides a framework for working amidst persistent change. The process of combining systems, techniques, and people to complete a projectwith a limited resources, time, and expected quality.

It implies

–a specific timeframe
–a budget
–unique specifications
–working across organizational boundaries

Unofficial Definition: Project management is about organization, changing people’s behavior, decision making, creating an environment conducive to getting critical projects done!

PM role: Supervisor of many, but manager of none.

Project Requirements: SMART

–Specific, Measurable, Agreed to, Reachable, Timely

Project: a problem scheduled for solution. A sequence of tasks with a beginning and an ending dates. Limited resources and time, but with expected results. A specific, expected outcome, a deadline and a budget.

Phases of project management

Definition - Clarifying the project’s goal and specifying the resources needed
Planning - Scheduling the project and assigning responsibility for completing the activities
Implementation - Undertaking the project, modifying the plan
Evaluation - Determining the success

Project Manager’s Role

Leadership, Organization, Communication, Finance, Technical savvy, Politicking, Team building, Praising, Punishing

Project Charter

A document that includes strategic goal, problem statement, project objective statement, constraint priority matrix, scope, assumptions, high-level responsibility matrix, risk factors, schedule and major milestones, and signatures of project manager, project sponsor and client

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
•Identify the major task categories
•Identify sub-tasks, and sub-sub-tasks
•Use verb-noun to imply action to something

Gantt Chart
•A horizontal barchartthat graphically display the relationship of the steps in a project

Critical Paths
•Milestones that impact downstream milestones and the overall timeline of project
•If you miss a Critical Path, the entire project is delayed, or
•You have to make up ground on downstream critical paths

Pert Chart
–Program Evaluation and Review Technique
•Task, duration, dependency, team [leader]

Control point identification chart
–What is likely to go wrong?
–How and when will you know?
–What will you do about it?

Project control chart
–Comparing actual plan
–Calculating variances in time and cost

Milestone chart
–Listing key events
–Providing a concise summary of progress

Budget control chart
–Using different colored lines to express the budgeted allocation and actually spent part

Project Budget
•Direct Costs
•Indirect Costs
•Ongoing costs

Monitoring Performance
•1.Inspection
•2.Interim progress reviews
•3. Testing method
•4.Auditing by expert

Project Plan Document
•Communication plan
•Risks/risk matrix
•Task/WBS
•Schedule/Gantt Chart
•Quality/project requirements
•Cost/budget
•Resources/skills

Laws of Project Management
•No major project is ever installed on time, within budget, or with the same staff that started it. Yours will not be the first.
•Projects progress quickly until they become 90% complete, then they remain at 90% complete forever.
•When things are going well, something will go wrong.
•When things just cannot get any worse, they will.
•When things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.
•No system is ever completely debugged. Attempts to debug a system inevitably introduce new bugs that are even harder to find.
•A carelessly planned project will take three times longer to complete than expected
•A carefully planned project will take only twice as long.
•Project teams detest progress reporting because it vividly manifests their lack of progress.

Why Projects Fail?
•Failure to align project with organizational objectives
•Poor scope
•Unrealistic expectations
•Lack of executive sponsorship
•Lack of project management
•Inability to move beyond individual and personality conflicts
•Politics

Why Projects Succeed?
•Project Sponsorship at executive level
•Good project charter
•Strong project management
•The right mix of team players
•Good decision making structure
•Good communication
•Team members are working toward common goals