Project Management Fundamentals

Project Management

• Project management entails applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet project requirements and achieve desired outcomes, including staying on time and within budget, addressing tasks such as organization, budgeting, and communication.
• Poor project management leads to missed delivery dates (48%), budget targets (43%), and organizational goals (31%).
• Project managers do planning & organizing, managing tasks, budgeting, and controlling costs and other factors such as unexpected costs.
• Guarantees project outcomes create value for the company, identify project goals, update team members and clients, and use various tools & techniques daily.
• Project managers create project plans, help manage tasks for the team, communicate project progress, and manage project costs within budget.

Project Management Skills & Industries

• Project management necessitates skills in planning, organizing, budgeting, and task management.
• Industries with the most growth in project management include manufacturing and construction, information services and publishing, management and professional services, finance and insurance, utilities, oil, and gas.
• Internships and contract work can help one start to apply these skills

Entry-Level Project Management Positions

• Common project management positions include Junior Project Manager, Project Administrator, Project/Program Assistant, Project/Program Coordinator, and Project Support Specialist.
• Junior Project Managers perform all aspects of being a project manager alongside an experienced professional.
• Project Administrators assist the rest of the project team with administrative tasks.
• Project/Program Assistants support team members and offer administrative support, potentially doing research or creating training documents.
• Project/Program Coordinators participate in hands-on work and administrative tasks to ensure projects are completed on time and within budget.
• Project Support Specialists work alongside a project manager and team members to oversee assigned projects, and may train and develop employees.

Operational Management Roles

• Operational management facilitates project alignment on budget and schedule.
• Key operational management roles include Project Manager (responsible for initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and project closure), Project Analyst, Project Leader/Director, Project Controller, Technical Project Manager, and Project Management Office (PMO) Analyst.
• Project Managers are responsible for initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing projects with transferable skills across industries.
• Project Analysts move projects along by sharing information, providing support via data analysis, and contributing to strategy/performance.
• Project Leaders/Directors drive core decision-making and set the project's direction; they are knowledgeable about the product or deliverable.
• Project Controllers are responsible for project planning, commonly seen in construction and engineering.
• Technical Project Managers conduct project planning and management for identified goals within defined time frames and budgets.
• Project Management Office Analysts manage the progress of complex projects for timely execution and completion.

Advanced Project Management Positions

• Program Managers manage groups of related/similar projects, facilitate effective communication, provide support, and create/manage long-term organizational goals.
• Portfolio Managers manage groups of related programs within the same organization, coordinating programs to ensure they are on track and meeting strategic initiatives.
• Operations Analysts manage/coordinate research, investigate workflows, create business procedures, and recommend changes to improve projects/the company.
• Operations Managers oversee strategic decision-making and roll out action plans (financial, schedule, and resource reporting).
• Chief Operating Officers are responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administrative/operational business functions.

Agile Project Management

• Agile project management involves different positions
• Scrum Masters coordinate and guide the Scrum team, teaching the Scrum values and principles, and may be listed as a Technical Program Manager or Technical Project Manager.
• Product Owners drive the direction of product development and progress.

Project Managers

• They shepherd projects from start to finish and guide their team, utilizing organizational and interpersonal skills.
• Prioritization, Delegation, and effective Communication are what project managers contribute to teams and organizations

Customer Focus

• Customers define project requirements and set guidelines (budget & deadlines).
• Internal customers are stakeholders within an organization.
• External customers are outside of the organization (clients, contractors, suppliers, and consumers).
• Project managers add value by building relationships with customers & assuring their satisfaction and managing expectations

Building a Project Team

• Project managers add value by identifying the right team and enabling their success, understanding motivations, strengths, & weaknesses.
• Key components include understanding skills needed, customer requirements, valuing each team individual, trusting and appreciating input, and addressing team needs as soon as possible.

Relationships and Communication

• Foundation skills needed to effectively build relationships and maintain customer satisfaction.
• Spending and taking the time to build relationships is something project managers take the time to do.

Managing the Project

• Successful project managers see the impacts of each process and communicates those impacts.
• Keeping open lines of communication and relationships takes time, but the result is success.

Breaking Down Barriers

• Project managers add value by breaking down barriers, innovate, and empower the team.
• They also provide new innovative approaches to find solutions.

Organizing Product Documentation & Managing Quality

• Project managers apply organization skills to streamline documentation and quality assurance

Planning & Organizing Project Tasks

• Productivity tools should be used to track project completion such as plans, deadlines, schedules, documenation

Delegating Project Tasks

• Project assignments should be entrusted to someone else, typically who is less senior in rank.
• Using timelines and schedules ensures the team is on task, even as you identify top priorities of projects for the upcoming quarter.

Interpersonal Skills

• Using interpersonal skills, like communication, active listening, and leadership, are the behaviors used to interact with others.
• Teaching and mentoring helps eliminate rework, confusion, and frustration.
• Building relationships require getting to know team members, customers, clients, vendors, and other stakeholders.
• Project managers need to manage change, give your team the ability to work directly and communicate status and concerns

The Team

• It’s important for project managers to guide the team (who are not direct managers) and still guarantee accountability, delegate tasks, and facilitate communication.

Teamwork

• It consists of team members from different job functions and varying experience.
• Being able to communicate clearly, get team members w/right skills, measure progress

A Project Manager's Focus

• They create schedules, use productivity tools, use processes, manage tasks, and control costs.
• Effective project managers are in charge of overseeing resources and costs, ensure complete projects, and create teamwork.

Decision Making Qualities

• The key qualities that aid good decision making include staying on schedule by gathering information, effectively communicate, remain flexible and have strong organizational skills

Key skills

• Decision making can be empowerment by project managers to make the process collaborate towards the group's goals.
• Project managers' key function is communication (team expectations), communication, escalating issues for success
• Project managers make flexible plans that take external constraints into account, and plan for risk and challenges. Calculate "float." with time they can wait for the project

A Project Manager's Personality

• Key personality traits needed include:
• Staying calm/poised
• empathy
• clear communication
• trust on the team

Project Life Cycle

• Life cycles guide project progress and ensure projects finish in the correct time. Most project cycles include four phases that consist of several tasks and concerns.

Project Inititation

• Involves project goals and deliverables, identifiy budget, resources etc,
• You'll document all this information in one place to showcase the project's value, and hopefully get approval to move forward with it.

Defining a budget

• A budget needs to include steps on all the tasks that need to be completed, ways to communicate team roles and responsibilities, a schedule, resources, and what to do in case your project encounters problems or needs to change.
• Your tasks are to monitor project and make sure the project will be on time.

Stages of a Project

• Initiate, make a plan, execute, close

Customer Service

• Communicate, manage quality expectations

Key Point

• The long term benefit should be highly considered during the project and that that you understand the risk of the project.

During initiation organize the project into categories : Goals, Determine sources, people

Second step in Project Management , make a plan.

The most common Risks to keep in mind are the plan, changes , etc.

You use your plan to keep communicating with employees. They need to know what to do and what questions

Actions to take

• You communicate with others and take it upon yourself to take all of them as direct tasks

Phases in action: Executing and Closing

_This phase oversees clear tasks, support team, must communicate regulary , adjust schedule etc. all tasks have been finished.

• All invoices/records have been verified after finishing the project.
• Share all information with all of the stakeholders.

Project team, making sure that you put the correct role to each team member.

Make sure communication is great throughout meetings or emails.

Project team phases (The project timeline stages)

• Ask who needs to be involved.
• Is the client's goal reached
• Do not know what skills or recourses will be needed.

Key points to achieve

• Outline deadlines and tasks
• Build schedule
• Monitor team , clear issues or barriers that will stop progress.
• Adjust timeline if necessary

Waterfall and Agile

• Waterfall needs an order and expects the project to be linear.
• While agile (scrum). is non linear and allows you to do everything at the same time.

Waterfall vs Agile (team)

• Waterfall a project manager has control of all and they can complete 1 phase at a time. .Agile requires planning

Six Sigma and lean

Key points.

• Always focus on the customer, always have a smooth process for people to contact.
• Always remove waste, collaborate with teammates,
• Create process to have the proper amount of the project.

Leaks 55 methods that can get rid of waste

• Getting rid of things we dont need and organizing what is needed for production
• Labelling and putting things away
• Clear space daily.

Interpersonal Skills

• Understanding the skills to know how to make decisions that will enable you to keep others engaged.

Agile (Short Phases)

• Collaborative and iterative work , team share responsibility of project.

Scrum (Collaboration)

• Agile model, focuses on what the team can do

Lean (Elimiate Waste)

• Do more with less!

Matrix

• Team reports to stakeholders across teams and Direct managers.
• Good points are; you have people above you, but you also have people in adjacent departments. Make sure you communicate and follow the manager / follow the teams rule to get each point. (communicate very very well)

Projoect manager offie (PMO)

• Defines project goals, standards .
• Offer guidance and support.
• This involves defining processes,select projects based on company goals

Project Documentation (archive tools). To recap includes planning/resources And all other tools to succeed. Team work

Ensure you know how the companies function/ culture work ( ask great questions.)

• See if you can find any experience to help out similar with projects.
• Does the mangment team care for speed/accuracy?
• Make sure you know how they will manage and help.

Explore the core principles of project management. Learn about planning, task management, budgeting, and communication. Understand how effective project management ensures projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with organizational goals.