Project Management: Core Concepts

Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts

• Project management basics include project life cycles, project management and operations differences, and ethics application.

Distinguishing Projects, Programs, and Portfolios

• A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined start and end, aimed at creating a unique product, service, or result.
• A program is a group of related projects and activities coordinated to achieve benefits not available if managed individually.
• A portfolio is a collection of projects, programs, and operations managed to achieve strategic objectives.

Distinguishing Projects and Operations

• Project work is temporary, has specific objectives, a defined lifespan, and creates unique outputs.
• Operations are ongoing, repetitive, and focused on sustaining the business.

Predictive vs. Adaptive Approaches

• Predictive methodologies plan projects in detail upfront and are suited for environments with infrequent changes. Traditional waterfall models are an example.
• Adaptive (Agile) methodologies are iterative, flexible, and allow frequent changes, fitting environments with high uncertainty.

Issues, Risks, Assumptions, and Constraints

• Issues are current problems requiring resolution.
• Risks are potential future events that could affect the project.
• Assumptions are statements believed to be true but without proof, used for planning.
• Constraints are limitations affecting project execution, such as time, budget, and scope.

Project Scope Review

• Project scope should be evaluated to align with project objectives and be complete and fully defined.

Ethics in Project Management

• Project managers adhere to ethical standards (responsibility, respect, fairness, and honesty) as defined by PMI.

Projects as Vehicles for Change

• Projects often introduce organizational changes through new products, services, processes, or systems to achieve strategic business objectives.

Project Management Planning Elements

Cost Management

• Cost Management crucial for ensuring financial viability and delivering intended value without overspending through planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding, managing, and controlling costs.

Quality Management

• Quality Management ensures deliverables meet quality standards and stakeholder expectations through quality planning, assurance, and control while maintaining the project's reputation.

Risk Management

• Risk Management identifies, analyzes, and responds to project risks by maximizing positive events and minimizing adverse events.

Schedule Management

• Schedule Management involves planning, developing, managing, and controlling project schedules to ensure timely completion of activities.

Project Management Plan vs. Product Management Plan

• A Project Management Plan guides project execution with schedules, costs, quality, resources, communication, risk, and stakeholder engagement.
• A Product Management Plan focuses on product development, strategy, features, and market positioning to ensure market success rather than project execution specifics.

Milestones vs. Task Duration

• A milestone is a significant point in a project schedule, indicating progress without duration.
• Task duration is the time needed to complete specific project activities, affecting the project timeline.

Resource Determination

• Determining required resources involves identifying and quantifying human resources, equipment, and materials. Requires understanding the project scope and the tasks.

Risk Register

• A risk register is used to identify, assess, and plan responses to project risks, including details of identified risks, their severity, potential impact, mitigation strategies, and the status of any actions taken to address them.

Stakeholder Register

• A stakeholder register lists stakeholders with roles, interests, influence, and requirements for stakeholder engagement and communication planning.

Project Closure and Transition

• Project closure involves finalizing activities, handing over deliverables, documenting lessons learned, and releasing resources.
• Transition involves moving project outputs to an operational environment for effective use.

Project Roles and Responsibilities

Project Managers vs. Project Sponsors

• Project Managers lead project execution, manage resources, and ensure objectives are met through planning, execution, monitoring, controlling, and closure
• Project Sponsors are senior management who align the project with strategic goals and provide resources without day-to-day management.

Project Team vs. Project Sponsor

• The Project Team executes project tasks and contributes expertise as outlined in the project plan.
• The Project Sponsor plays a strategic role in aligning the project with business objectives, securing funding, and making high-level decisions

Project Manager Importance

• Project managers act as intermediaries between the project team and stakeholders, managing communications and resolving conflicts. They can ensure project goals are aligned.

Leadership vs. Management

• Leadership inspires and motivates team members, fostering teamwork and innovation.
• Management focuses on planning, organizing, and controlling resources to achieve project goals effectively.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

• Emotional Intelligence helps project managers lead effectively, resolve conflicts, manage teams, communicate, and navigate relationships.

Executing Planned Strategies

• Planned strategies or frameworks involve adjusting actions based on context, like tailoring communication or implementing risk mitigation.

Project Initiation and Benefit Planning

• Project Initiation defines the project and secures approval through a project charter. Includes securing the vision and direction of the project
• Benefit Planning identifies and plans the realization of project benefits, aligning with strategic objectives.

Return on Investment (ROI)

• ROI measures investment gain or loss as a percentage.

Net Present Value (NPV)

• NPV is the difference between cash inflows and outflows, assessing project profitability, where a positive NPV indicates expected profit.

Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR)

• BCR compares project benefits to costs; a BCR over 1 suggests financial viability.

Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

• IRR equates the net present value of project cash flows to zero.

Payback Period (PBP)

• PBP is the time needed for an investment to return the original sum, with shorter periods being preferable.

Problem-Solving Tools and Techniques

Meeting Effectiveness

• Meeting effectiveness is evaluated by objective achievement, efficiency, engagement, constructive discussion, and actionable outcomes.

Focus Groups

• Focus Groups gather qualitative data and understand user needs through small, diverse group discussions.

Standup Meetings

• Standup Meetings (daily scrums) provide project status, daily plans, and blocker identification to enhance team communication.

Brainstorming

• Brainstorming is a generative group technique for problem-solving and innovative idea sharing encouraging innovative thinking and solutions

Workshops

• Workshops are leverage collective knowledges and skills to achieve specific outcomes via interactive collaborative sessions involving training and development

Kick-off Meetings

• Kick-off Meetings outline project objectives, plan, and roles at the beginning of a project or phase.

Retrospective Meetings

• Retrospective Meetings review what worked well and can be improved at the end of project phases for continuous improvement and learnin

Predictive Plan-Based Methodologies

Organizational Suitedness

• Organizations that can use the structure of Predictive Plan-Based Methodologies are
  • Virtual: Projects where team members work remotely can be managed with clear documentation and planning.
  • Colocation: Team member physically being located together eases communication to follow planned approach
  • Matrix Structure: Clear role definitions, responsibilities and coordination among various managers
  • Hierarchical (Traditional): Well suited due to the clear chain of command supporting structure planning

Process Activities

Initiating Process Group

• Project Charter Development formally authorizes the project.
• Stakeholder Identification identifies and documents affected parties, their interests, involvement, and success impact.

Planning Process Group

• A Project Management Plan details project execution, monitoring, and control.
• Scope Management Planning creates a scope management plan.
• Requirement Gathering is used to determine and manage stakeholder needs and requirements to meet project objectives.
• Scope Defining develops a detailed project and product descriptions.
• Creating a WBS breaks project deliverables into smaller, manageable parts.
• Schedule Management Planning establishes schedule development criteria and activities.
• Activity Defining identifies and documents specific actions for project deliverables.
• Activity Sequencing identifies and documents relationships among project activities.
• Duration Estimation estimates work periods for individual activities with estimated resources.
• Schedule Development analyzes activities, durations, resources, and constraints to create a schedule model.
• Cost Management Planning defines how project costs are planned, structured, and controlled.
• Cost Estimation approximates monetary resources needed for project activities.
• Budget Determination aggregates cost estimates to establish a cost baseline.
• Quality Management Planning identifies quality requirements and standards.
• Resource Management Planning documents roles, responsibilities, skills, and reporting relationships, creating a staffing management plan.
• Activity Resource Estimating estimates the type and quantities of required materials, people, and equipment for activities.
• Communications Management Planning develops an approach for project communications based on stakeholder information needs.
• Risk Management Planning defines risk management activities for the project.
• Risk Identification determines and documents which risks may affect the project.
• Qualitative Risk Analysis prioritizes risks by assessing their impact and likelihood.
• Quantitative Risk Analysis numerically analyzes the effect of identified risks on project objectives.
• Risk Response Planning develops options and actions to enhance opportunities and reduce threats.
• Procurement Management Planning documents procurement decisions, approach, and potential sellers.
• Stakeholder Engagement Planning develops approaches to involve stakeholders based on their needs, expectations, and potential impact.

Executing Process Group

• Project Work Directing and Managing leads work defined in the project plan to achieve objectives through approved changes.
• Project Knowledge Management uses and creates knowledge to achieve objectives and contribute to learning.
• Resource Acquisition obtains necessary team members and materials.
• Team Development improves competencies and the team environment for performance.
• Team Management tracks performance, provides feedback, resolves issues, and manages changes.
• Communications Management ensures timely communication through planning, collection, creation, and distribution.
• Risk Response Implementation applies agreed-upon risk response plans.
• Procurement Conducting obtains seller responses, selects a seller, and awards the contract.
• Stakeholder Engagement Management engages stakeholders to meet needs and address issues.

Monitoring and Controlling Process Group

• Project Work Monitoring and Controlling tracks progress against performance objectives.
• Integrated Change Control performs reviews and approves any change requests
• Scope Validation formalizes acceptance of deliverables.
• Scope Control monitors and manages changes to the project and product scope.
• Schedule Control monitors project activities and manages schedule baseline changes.
• Cost Control monitors project costs and manages changes to the cost baseline.
• Quality Control monitors results of quality activities and recommends changes.
• Resource Control ensures that physical resources are available and monitors their use, taking corrective actions.
• Communications Monitoring ensures stakeholder information needs are met.
• Risk Monitoring implements risk responses, tracks and identifies new risks, and evaluates process effectiveness.
• Procurement Control manages relationships, monitors performance, and makes corrections.
• Stakeholder Engagement Monitoring adapts strategies for engaging stakeholders.

Closing Process Group

• Project or Phase Closing finalizes activities across all process groups.

Activities within Each Process

• Initiating involves developing the project charter and identifying stakeholders.
• Planning involves creating the project management plan with scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, communications, risk, and procurement management plans.
• Executing involves directing project work, acquiring and developing the project team, and managing stakeholder engagement.
• Monitoring and Controlling involves tracking, reviewing, and regulating progress and performing change control.
• Closing involves formalizing project acceptance and bringing it to an orderly end.

Project Component Differences

• Budget is for financial resource allocation to execute project activities.
• Scope is the detailed description of project deliverables, objectives, and boundaries.
• Schedule is the sequence of activities, milestones, and timelines.
• Quality is the degree to which project deliverables meet requirements and expectations.
• These components are interconnected, requiring effective management to balance them effectively.

Project Schedule

Critical Path Method (CPM)

• The Critical Path Method (CPM) helps identify tasks that cannot be delayed and enables focused monitoring and control of critical activities.

Schedule Variance (SV)

• Schedule Variance measures schedule performance; SV = EV - PV, where a positive value means ahead of schedule while a negative one means behind schedule.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• A WBS hierarchically decomposes the total scope into manageable sections.

Work Packages

• Work Packages are the lowest WBS level that includes scope descriptions, time estimates, cost estimates, and resource requirements while serving as a basis for assigning work to team members.

Quality Management Plan

• The Quality Management Plan is a document outlining quality policies, objectives, criteria, responsibilities, and procedures.

Integration Management Plan

• Integration Management coordinates various project elements through resource allocation, trade-offs, and managing interdependencies among knowledge areas.

Project Controls of Predictive Plan-Based Projects

• Project artifacts provide evidence of progress, ensure communication, and enable monitoring and controlling.

Artifacts

• The Project Charter provides formal authorization.
• The Project Management Plan outlines project execution, monitoring, controlling, and closure.
• The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) visualizes the project’s scope into smaller parts.
• Schedules detail the timing of project activities.
• Budgets outline the financial plan.
• Risk Registers documents identified risks and response strategies.
• Lessons Learned Register captures knowledge gained.
• Status Reports update stakeholders on progress.
• Change Logs record requested and made changes.
• Issue Logs document and monitor issue resolution.
• Meeting Minutes document discussions.

Cost and Schedule Variances

• Cost and Schedule Variances can identify projects if projects are ahead, on, or behind schedule and budget.
  • Cost Variance (CV) can be measured via CV = EV - AC (Earned Value - Actual Cost).
  • Schedule Variance (SV) can be measures via SV = EV - PV (Earned Value - Planned Value).

Agile Frameworks/Methodologies

• This entails the use of adaptive approaches in project management, planning project iterations, and documenting project controls for adaptive projects.

Adaptive Approach Usage

Adaptive vs. Predictive

Agile Adaptive Pros

Pros include flexibility, stakeholder engagement, faster value delivery, and responsiveness to change.

Agile Adaptive Cons

Cons include predictability, difficulty adjusting within regulated environments requiring cultural shift.

Predictive Plan-Based Pro

Pros include clear scope, timeline, budget, fixed requirements, and suitable for regulatory compliance.

Predictive Plan-Based Cons

Cons include flexibility, higher costs for late changes, and potentially irrelevant evolving market/stakeholder needs.

Organizational Structures for Agile:

• Virtual Teams: Agile increases communication with touchpoints and virtual agile ceremonies.
• Colocation: Agile's effective with direct interaction and team problem solving.
• Matrix and Hierarchical: Depends on an organization's flexibility, culture, project goals- agile more suited to cross-functional collaboration while hierarchy suits structured predictive.

Adaptive Approaches

• Adaptive approach are related to all assets from organizations involved that can influence the project's success like documentation, policies, procedures, and past project knowledge.
• Enterprise Environmental Factors: Influences immediate team control like market conditions, social and cultural, organizational structure, and international environment.

Agile Iteration Planning

• Logical iteration unit distinctions, as well as iteration pros - frequent reprioritization, change/issue detection, and team focused productivity- versus cons - backlog management, dispersed team collaboration, communication - should all be taken into account.
• Take WBS into account: prioritize agile work breakdown structure through value/complexity, creating high-priority that guides sprint planning.

Agile Scope Input

• Derive initial Agile scope from the product backlog- enhanced features fixes and requirements regularly reviewed, and updated based on stakeholder review to ensure value.

Adaptive vs Plain-Based Tracking

• Agile emphasizes changing tracking-monitor sprints, velocity and backlog items, and change
• Plan-based focuses on tracking adherence to baseline with formal changes through process.

Agile project control artifacts should have

• Product Backlog prioritize a dynamic projects scope that is regulary refined
• Sprint backlog subsets product to deliver increment realizing the sprint goal.
• Burndown charts provide displays over rate of work completion
• Definition of Done (DoD) makes criteria list of project increments meet
• User Stories provides software feature description from the end-user's perspective encapsulated in (type of user) [ I want [an action] so that [a benefit/a value].
• Retrospective Reports - Summaries of what went well, what could be improved, and sprint plans to foster improvement. Velocity Charts Tracks team work, sprint, plan, forecasts, efficiency

Adaptive Plan Components

Adaptive Methodology Components

1. Scrum is used for time-boxed Sprints, and product Backlogs while integrating Sprint and Daily Reviews to discuss improvements.
2. Test-Driven Extreme Programming (XP) with code pairing, and continuous integration using Shared Repository and regular Refactoring while changing behavior;
3. Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) with Agile and Program Release Trains which increase value Incrementaly through a heartbeat PL Planning Kanban with Visual Boards, Workflow and limit via WIP with flow monitors
4. Crystal tailors frequent releases to customers, and facilitates improvements through reflective practices,
5. .DSDM User participation empowerred by teams, use MoSCoW to prioritize needs

Agile Task Management

1. Key to interpret flexible success (customer needs value) for Agile Tasks to meet iterations
2. By using prioritization to set importance, urgency and impact through MoSoCow based on customer value

Business Analysis Frameworks

• Focuses on business analysis, which includes stakeholder communication, requirement gathering, and how methodologies can influence business analysis.

Stakeholder Analysis (BA Roles)

1. Process Owner: Ensures overall process performance.
2. Process Manager: Handles process operations.
3. Product Manager: Focuses on product placement through marketing.
4. Product Owner: Maximizes Agile.

BA Role

1. Efficient Roles must be designed to minimized inefficient over lap
2. Stakeholder Engagement: Properly identifies, which insures Business Expectation is aligned
3. Communication: Channels must be critical and aids external roles

BA Communication:

1. To reach channels Reporting is used to show detailed reporting of data Presentation is visual and summarized Emails: are short and quick Meetings: are interactives and brainstorm Collaboration Platforms: facilitate continuous communication Survey and Feedback: input gathering and perspectives

2. This will facilitate Collaboration: bridge gaps, between customers, sponsors, and project teams with aligned requirement Requirements: clarity from communications for ambiguities to be resolved

Requirements Gathering

1. Match tools to
   • user stories: capture end value for end Agile
   • Use cases: functional project specifications where users will achieve goal
2. Identify Requirements Approach

   • perform one on one stake holders through insights

   • surveys will gather questionnaires,

   • workshop organization stakeholder requirement,

   • lessons is learned and should review documentation for the current project

• RTM and Agilie backed project include user to reach specific goal

Product Roadmaps

• A product roadmap delivers vision, direction, and priorities between team/partners.
• To select Components that Release prioritize between all stakeholders while managing expectations accordingly to align through feedback, and priorities, across resources

In Business Analysis, agile/ plan base projects

• Agile business analysts must actively facilitate, maintain flexability across contious reviews -Plan-based must provide analytical reviews with change management and risk requirements

Product Delivery in Business Analysis

• To validate product Requirements are met, stakeholders and product owners must use RTM and backlog with complete features prior to release.

Explore project management fundamentals, including project life cycles and ethics. Understand the differences between projects, programs, and portfolios. Learn about predictive versus adaptive project management approaches.