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Questions and Answers
What is the main purpose of the project charter in the initiation process?
What is the main purpose of the project charter in the initiation process?
What is a key characteristic of a project life cycle?
What is a key characteristic of a project life cycle?
What is a project management process comprised of?
What is a project management process comprised of?
What is the main goal of collecting requirements?
What is the main goal of collecting requirements?
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Which process group is more detailed and comprehensive than initiation?
Which process group is more detailed and comprehensive than initiation?
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What are the three main questions to answer during the planning process?
What are the three main questions to answer during the planning process?
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What is the output of the planning process?
What is the output of the planning process?
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What is project management?
What is project management?
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What is the primary purpose of a stakeholder registry in collecting requirements?
What is the primary purpose of a stakeholder registry in collecting requirements?
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What is the main goal of defining the project scope?
What is the main goal of defining the project scope?
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What is composed of the scope statement, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and WBS Dictionary?
What is composed of the scope statement, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and WBS Dictionary?
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What is the purpose of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?
What is the purpose of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?
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What is the role of the WBS Dictionary?
What is the role of the WBS Dictionary?
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When is it necessary to break down a work package further in a WBS?
When is it necessary to break down a work package further in a WBS?
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What is the purpose of estimating time requirements for each work package?
What is the purpose of estimating time requirements for each work package?
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Why is it important to use a hybrid model in a Work Breakdown Structure?
Why is it important to use a hybrid model in a Work Breakdown Structure?
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Study Notes
Project Management Fundamentals
- Project management is a complimentary discipline that helps run projects easily and is not a profession on its own.
- Anyone, regardless of their profession, can benefit from understanding project management.
Project Life Cycle
- A project life cycle is unique to a project, industry, and needs, and is highly customizable.
- It's a sequential series of phases, and each phase may have multiple process groups.
- Examples of project life cycles:
- Human development: conceiving, birth, childhood, teenage hood, adulthood, and death.
- IT project: high-level design, detailed design, coding, testing, installation, and turnover.
Project Management Process
- Project management process is a fixed set of five process groups:
- Initiation
- Planning
- Executing
- Monitoring and Controlling
- Closing
- These process groups are not customizable and are always in the same order.
Initiation Process Group
- Two important processes in initiation:
- Develop a project charter (a simple document outlining project objectives, scope, cost, and time, and stakeholder identification)
- Identify stakeholders (create a stakeholder register)
- The project charter is a checkpoint to get approval from the project sponsor before proceeding with the project.
Planning Process Group
- Planning is a more detailed and comprehensive process than initiation.
- Three main questions to answer in planning:
- What are we going to do?
- How are we going to do it?
- How to know when the project is done?
- The output of planning is a comprehensive project plan, which includes:
- Requirements
- Scope
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Schedule
- Cost and budget
- Quality
Collecting Requirements
- Collecting requirements is about understanding what stakeholders want.
- Use the project charter and give it more details and specifications.
- Tips for collecting requirements:
- Use stakeholder registry
- Keep requirements simple and realistic
- Explain trade-offs to stakeholders
Defining the Scope
- Defining the scope is about what is and what is not included in the project.
- Documents needed:
- Project Charter
- Requirements document
- Any other information about risks, assumptions, and constraints
- Tips for defining the scope:
- Be specific
- Avoid ambiguity
- Don't include everything in the project scope
Scope Baseline
- Scope baseline is composed of:
- Scope statement
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- WBS Dictionary### Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- A top-down approach to break down a project into smaller, manageable pieces
- Decompose deliverables into Work Packages
- Work Packages are "things", not actions, and should be deliverables, documents, or completed items
Key Points of Work Breakdown Structure
- How deep you go in levels depends on the answer to the question: "Can I confidently estimate the cost and time requirements of that work package?"
- If you can't estimate, you need to break it down further to activity level
- Use a hybrid model that combines deliverables and tasks
Creating a WBS
- Start with the project name as level 1 and segment the project into various work components
- Label each component with a number (e.g. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.)
- Break down each component into smaller work packages
Importance of WBS
- Everything happens after WBS in the planning process group
- Project costs, schedule, risks, and everything is calculated using the WBS
- Do not calculate costs or schedule for a project as a whole, but at the work package level
Scope Baseline
- Consists of:
- Project scope statement
- WBS
- WBS Dictionary
- WBS Dictionary defines each work package to prevent scope creep
Time Management
- Take the WBS and estimate the time required for each work package
- If you can't estimate, break down the WBS further to activity level
- Use a Gantt chart to layout the work packages and activities
Cost Management
- Take the WBS and estimate the costs for each work package
- Use a bottom-up approach to estimate costs
- Add up the costs to create a budget
- Include contingency estimates and management reserves for PMP takers
Execution
- The purpose of execution is to complete the work defined in the project management plan
- Focus on managing the team, following processes, and information exchange
- Protect the scope from changes and prevent scope creep
Monitoring and Controlling
- Measure the project's performance against the plan
- Manage change requests and make sure you're hitting KPIs
- Monitor scope, schedule, costs, quality, risks, and procurement
- Document everything and solve problems as they arise
Earned Value
- Calculated as Total Project Budget x % complete of the project
- Used in construction and software projects
- Not always applicable in real life due to exponential growth and power curves
Closing
- Hand over the project to the client if applicable
- Finish procurements and complete cost records
- Gather final lessons learned
- Release resources and let team members go back to their own teams
- Celebrate the completion of the project
Project Management Fundamentals
- Project management is a complimentary discipline that helps run projects easily and is not a profession on its own.
- Anyone, regardless of their profession, can benefit from understanding project management.
Project Life Cycle
- A project life cycle is unique to a project, industry, and needs, and is highly customizable.
- It's a sequential series of phases, and each phase may have multiple process groups.
- Examples of project life cycles include human development (conceiving, birth, childhood, teenage hood, adulthood, and death) and IT project (high-level design, detailed design, coding, testing, installation, and turnover).
Project Management Process
- Project management process is a fixed set of five process groups: Initiation, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing.
- These process groups are not customizable and are always in the same order.
Initiation Process Group
- Two important processes in initiation: Develop a project charter and Identify stakeholders.
- The project charter is a checkpoint to get approval from the project sponsor before proceeding with the project.
Planning Process Group
- Planning is a more detailed and comprehensive process than initiation.
- Three main questions to answer in planning: What are we going to do?, How are we going to do it?, and How to know when the project is done?
- The output of planning is a comprehensive project plan, which includes Requirements, Scope, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Schedule, Cost and budget, and Quality.
Collecting Requirements
- Collecting requirements is about understanding what stakeholders want.
- Tips for collecting requirements: Use stakeholder registry, Keep requirements simple and realistic, and Explain trade-offs to stakeholders.
Defining the Scope
- Defining the scope is about what is and what is not included in the project.
- Documents needed: Project Charter, Requirements document, and Any other information about risks, assumptions, and constraints.
- Tips for defining the scope: Be specific, Avoid ambiguity, and Don't include everything in the project scope.
Scope Baseline
- Scope baseline is composed of: Scope statement, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and WBS Dictionary.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- A top-down approach to break down a project into smaller, manageable pieces.
- Decompose deliverables into Work Packages, which are "things", not actions, and should be deliverables, documents, or completed items.
Key Points of Work Breakdown Structure
- How deep you go in levels depends on the answer to the question: "Can I confidently estimate the cost and time requirements of that work package?"
- If you can't estimate, you need to break it down further to activity level.
- Use a hybrid model that combines deliverables and tasks.
Creating a WBS
- Start with the project name as level 1 and segment the project into various work components.
- Label each component with a number (e.g. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.).
- Break down each component into smaller work packages.
Importance of WBS
- Everything happens after WBS in the planning process group.
- Project costs, schedule, risks, and everything is calculated using the WBS.
- Do not calculate costs or schedule for a project as a whole, but at the work package level.
Time Management
- Take the WBS and estimate the time required for each work package.
- If you can't estimate, break down the WBS further to activity level.
- Use a Gantt chart to layout the work packages and activities.
Cost Management
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Description
Learn the basics of project management, a discipline that helps run projects smoothly, and discover how it can benefit anyone regardless of their profession.
