Project Management Fundamentals

Examples of IT Projects

• A team of students can create a smartphone application and sell it online.
• A company can develop a driverless car.
• A government group can develop a system to track child immunizations.
• A global bank can acquire other financial institutions and need to consolidate systems and procedures.

Project Constraints

• Every project is constrained in different ways.
• Experienced project managers know which constraints are most important on each project.
• Constraints include scope, schedule, cost, and resources.

The Triple Constraint of Project Management

• The triple constraint is a framework that helps project managers understand the relationships between scope, schedule, and cost.
• It shows how changes or additions to one area can affect other aspects.
• Changes to the scope can influence time and cost and can result in a project becoming bigger.

What is Project Management?

• Project management applies knowledge, skills, and techniques in project activities to meet requirements.
• Project managers must meet specific scope, schedule, cost, resource, risk, and quality requirements.
• They must also facilitate the entire process to meet the needs of the people involved in the project.
• Project managers must be able to meet the expectations of stakeholders.

Project Stakeholders

• Stakeholders are people involved in or affected by project activities.
• They can include project sponsors, project managers, the project team, support staff, and customers.

Project Management Process Groups and Knowledge Areas

• Project integration management coordinates the work of all other knowledge areas.
• Project scope management defines and gains agreement for the work required to complete the project.
• Project schedule management estimates how long it will take to complete the project and ensures timely completion.
• Project cost management prepares and manages the budget for the project.
• Project quality management ensures that the project will meet its stated or implied needs.

Project Management Process Groups and Knowledge Areas (continued)

• Project resource management makes effective use of people and physical resources for the project.
• Project communications management generates, collects, disseminates, and stores project information.
• Project risk management identifies, analyzes, and responds to project risks.
• Project procurement management acquires goods and services from outside the performing organization.
• Project stakeholder management identifies, understands, and engages stakeholders throughout the project.

Project Management Tools and Techniques

• Project management tools and techniques assist project managers and their teams in carrying out work.
• Many predictive projects require project charters, scope statements, Gantt charts, kick-off meetings, and progress reports.
• Agile projects often require product roadmaps, backlogs, burndown charts, and retrospectives.

Project Success

• A successful project provides value, meets scope, schedule, and cost goals, and satisfies the customer or sponsor.

Principles behind the Agile Manifesto

• The Agile Manifesto values individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
• It prioritizes working software over comprehensive documentation.
• It highlights customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
• Agile processes welcome changing requirements and adapt to change.

What is an Agile Mindset?

• The Agile mindset focuses on values, beliefs, and principles before following specific frameworks or processes.

Explore the key concepts of project management, including examples of IT projects and understanding constraints. Learn about the triple constraint framework which connects scope, schedule, and cost, and how it impacts project success.