Project Management Fundamentals

• Project are temporary to create value from product, service, and processes.

Project Management

• Applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techinques to task series to achieve desired outcome.
• It allows project managers to plan, execute, track and complete projects with project team.

Role of a Project Manager

• Project managers plan, execute projects within budget and schedules.
• They lead entire teams, define project goals, communicate with stakeholders and bring a project to completion.
• Project managers are accountable for project success or failure.

Tasks of a Project Manager

• Ensures project is delivered on schedule.
• Manage planning and maintain budget.
• Maintain project resources (including teams and workers)
• Keep records of progress.
• Communicating with stakeholders.
• Access for project uncertainties.
• Solve project related problems.
• Quality assurance.

Stakeholders in Project Management

• Stakeholders can be individuals, groups, or entities with vested interest that significantly impact business outcomes, with varied interests and needs, ranging from investments to regulations.
• Senior managers builds relationship to resolve issues.
• Project managers provide responsibilty and contract control.
• Practitioners utilize knowledge to practice a profession.
• Customers specifty software requirements and give guidance.
• End users approve or modify features.

Stakeholder Types

• Internal stakeholders are individuals directly involved or affected, within the business or project.
• External stakeholders are individals, groups, or entities from outside the company with influence.

Areas of Project Management

• Communication management defines team and stakeholder communication guidelines.
• Risk management is the spotting and reducing of problems.
• Procurement management focuses on obtaining project resourses.
• Stakeholder management involves understanding, managing stakeholder expectations.
• Integration management estabishing a work environment.
• Scope management manages scope to hit the task, deliverables, and milestones.
• Schedule management creating a projects schedule that is tracked.
• Cost management defines budget with costs being tracked.
• Quality management ensures standards of deliverables.
• The Project Management Institute (PMI) first defined these areas in it is Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).

Project Management Life Cycle Phases

• Initiation
• Planning
• Execution
• Monitor and control
• Closure

Project Management Methodologies

• Waterfall method is a linear approach where each phase is completed.
• Agile method adapting to customer and collaboration.
• Scrum method focuses in agile framework of incremental short iterations called sprints with master and product roles.
• Kanban is a visual work management with a smooth flow process.
• Lean method from principles of lean manufacturing minimizes consumer waste.
• PRINCE2 method clearly organizes projects into phases, useful for government or larger organizations.
• Critical path determines sequence of stage that are scheduled on minimal time.
• Six Sigma aims to prevent defects in variations.
• Exteme Programming (XP) utilizes feedback and frequents testing.

Project Initiation

• Project initiation is the first stage and decides how needed the project will be.
• It judges and determines expectations from metrics such as business case and feasibility studies.
• How to implement the project initiation process includes business case, feasibility study, project charter, team selection, project office, and review.
• Key people involved include Project Sponsor, Project Manager, Project stakeholders, Steering Committee.

Project Planning

• Project plan consists of formal planning documentation for project execution including risk/resource management and comms as well as scope, cost and timing.
• Project plan serves as roadmap.
• Project planning includes: defining objectives, explaining the scope, scheduling tasks, generating progress report.
• Project planning principles include: determination of scope, idenitfying problem, stakeholder and objectives as well as WBS dividing task.
• Necessary for budget monitoring.
• A project plan includes scope, budget, and timeline.
• Creating a project plan includes tasks such as define stakeholders, introduce roles, set goals

Project Planning Tools

• Gantt Chart: allows project schedule by mapping project tasks over a visiual timeline showing order, due date, duration, etc, with task list on the left and timeline on the right.
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): It is a helpful diagram for project managers becuase it allows the breaking down of project scope and visualizes task requirements.
• Project documentation consists collection of documents including procedures, specificaitons, and guidelines, namely, project plans, schedules, and budget.
• Project documentation: Feasibilty, charter, requirement specifications, design document, work plan, traceability matrix, issue tracker, change and test plan, product/function/user documentation, transition and handover document, contract closure, lessons learned.

Statement of Work

• A statement of work (SOW) explains tasks to perform between vendor/client.
• It contains information to roles and expectations.
• It helps govern project scope, timeline and essential aspects.

Statement of Work vs Scope of Work

• The scope of work is within the SOW and gives details to tasks, activities, resources and methodologies.

Components of a Statement or Work

• Must have: Objectives, scope of work, milestones, timelines, costs, singatures/approvals.

Project Execution

• Project execution is putting project plans in action.
• It is the longest phase in the project management life cycle.

Elements

• Project execution elements are project scope, standards, goal, resources, schedule, organizations.

Project Execution Steps

• Execute project scope.
• Visualize tasks, schedules manage resources track progress.
• Communicate.
• React to changes.

Project Execution Challenges

• Scope creep during the project's start, changes fall outside agreed-on scope.
• Quality control can be an important element that changes final outcome, and things like budget.

Project Closure

• Project closure wraps up administrative tasks and evaluate the success.
• A project closure report is an official final document that reviews process.

Agile

• Agile is a management approach that centers on iterative and incremental steps, during short term development.
• Agile centers on quick change and adaptaion rather that top management following a set plan.
• It focuses on having continuious team feedback.
• Agile is an umbrella term for many types of management methodologies: scrum, kanban, and extreme prograntimg.

Agile Pros

• Increased collaboration/ visibility.
• Delivery speed.
• Reduction of risk.

Agile Cons

• Organizations don't want change.
• not enough leadership.
• not enough training.

Agile Implementation

• Implement Agile to constantly adapt/have short timels.
• Implement a Agile-Waterfall Hybrid to incorportate practices such as planning using Waterfall but development through Agile.
• Key principles are to meet end users, be open, deliver work at intervals, work with a project daily, have a support environment.

Reasons for Agile Failure

• Lack of management support.
• Conflicting core values.
• Following Waterfall processes.

Scrum

• Scrum delivers quality products as an incremental method by inspection, transperancy, and adapation.
• Scrum is a software model with roles, responsibilities and meetings.
• Jeff Sutherland and Ken created the framework.

Key Scrum Activities

• Includes scrum team, process management, prodct owner stakeholder management.
• Sprints are time-bound, at the heart of methods, and ships software with ease.
• Sprint plannng creates a collaborative event that shows questions, which is followed by Daily Serums for teams to stay on target and keep the course with minimal blockades.
• Next is Sprint reviews that showcase product completed followed by Sprint retrospective that identifies improvements.