CAPM Course Transcript PDF

Project Characteristics Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize characteristics of projects [Topic title: Project Characteristics. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Projects make up almost half of the work that most organizations do. Organizations use projects to help meet their strategic goals. In terms of strategic goals, projects may help an organization meet changes in market demands, customer requests, or organizational requirements. They may also help an organization make the most of technological advances or meet legal requirements. So projects form an important role in organizations. But what exactly is a project, and how is it any different from other types of work? First, a project is work that produces a unique product, service, or result. Second, a project has a temporary duration. It has a definite beginning and an end. Although projects are temporary, they are not necessarily short lived. A project's life span can vary from a few days to several years. The key is that a project has a set beginning and an end point. Progressive elaboration is a characteristic of a project. When a project starts, you're unlikely to know all the details required for its success. However, you will have an idea of the required end result. Progressive elaboration involves clarifying and refining a project over time. Project teams continuously improve and adjust project plans as more information becomes available. As a project manager, you need to understand how these adjustments affect project timelines and budgets. This knowledge assists with decision making for the project. Progressive elaboration should not be confused with scope creep. Scope creep happens when there are unwanted and uncontrolled changes to a project. Uncontrolled means they are made without addressing the effects of the changes on other aspects of the project, such as resource use or customer expectations. The same issues that might trigger scope creep, such as customer requests and resource changes, actually trigger progressive elaboration when a project is properly managed. Project managers must be on the lookout for issues and new information that must result in updates to plans. Almost any change to the scope of a project affects its budget and schedule. So the project team and the customer need to discuss and agree on changes before they take any action. The work that organizations do on a day-to-day basis is either operational work or project work. You need to be able to distinguish between these types of work. As I mentioned, project work is temporary, unique, and finished when specific objectives have been met. For example, when you develop training material to update supervisor skills, you are undertaking project work. The creation of the Hoover Dam and the discovery of the polio vaccine were the results of projects. Other examples of projects are restructuring an organization, writing a specific grant proposal, running a campaign for the mayor's office, or designing a new space shuttle. Operational work is ongoing and repetitive. Its purpose is to keep a business going. The objectives for this type of work may change frequently. An example of operational work is submitting a monthly expense report. The objectives for each report differ, but the report submission itself is repeated each month for an indefinite period. Other examples include a candy manufacturer's continual production of licorice flavored hard candies, an accountant's maintenance of balance sheets, and a supervisor's development of daily work plans. Operational work is as necessary as project work. It ensures organizations can thrive and last. Without operations, organizations cannot function. And projects are critical because they allow the organization to meet specific strategic goals. Project Manager Responsibilities Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize responsibilities of effective project managers [Topic title: Project Manager Responsibilities. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Project management is an important skill in business today. But what does it take to manage a project? To be successful and meet a project's requirements, you need to apply knowledge, tools, skills, and techniques. Here are few of your fundamental duties as a project manager. [Accomplish a Project's Objectives] Projects aim to achieve specific objectives in order to produce a unique product, service, or result. You want to accomplish a project's objectives within budget and on schedule. [Balance Stakeholders' Expectations] As a project manager, you're responsible to your stakeholders. You're also responsible for ensuring a project meets its objectives. You can do both only when you balance expectations with objectives. You need to keep expectations realistic and in line with a project's objectives. You update project plans throughout a project as part of progressive elaboration. As you gather more accurate estimates and information, you need to adjust project plans to include these details. You need to balance the competing demands of the budget, schedule, quality, and scope. A change in one of these interdependent factors impacts the others. For example, if the budget is cut, a project is likely to take longer. And you may need to compromise on the level of quality or reduce its scope. I'm going to use an example to illustrate. Say you're a project manager for a cosmetics company. Your company is planning to provide its salespeople with remote access to sales order and customer information. Your primary role is to ensure that the objective is met, that your salespeople can access sales order and customer information by the end of the project. You need to achieve this on time and within budget. So you keep these objectives in mind as you make daily decisions. You oversee each aspect of the project, from ensuring that the databases can handle the expected traffic to ensuring that the training that you are developing is adequate. One day last week, the sales manager informed you that he expects 100% server availability, and for all orders to be processed on the same day they are made. You need to explain to him why this isn't possible. This kind of chat is always a delicate task. Because you have to bring stakeholders' expectations in line with what is really possible without causing them to lose confidence in the real benefits of the project. And then today, you discover that developing the training material for the sales force would take two weeks longer than you'd expected. Now you need to rework plans to accommodate this without allowing the delay to have too much of an impact on the budget. Things like that happens all the time during projects. So maybe when you try to balance the impact of this delay on other training criteria, you find that you can reduce the scope of the training. This has an impact on quality. But it is an acceptable compromise given the cost of the delay. This also shows you how progressive elaboration looks in real life. As information becomes available, you need to make changes and adapt your plans. Hopefully, this little scenario gives you a bit of a glimpse into the daily life and responsibilities of a project manager. So in summary, as a project manager, your responsibility is to meet project objectives, balance stakeholders' expectations, update project plans. And balance the changing demands of a project's budget, schedule, quality, and scope. Project Management Competencies Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to distinguish between the three types of project management competencies [Topic title: Project Management Competencies. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Corporate performance relies heavily on the success of projects. So executives are beginning to focus more closely on hiring project managers who have the required competencies and personal attributes that will make them successful. As a project manager, your value is assessed in terms of what you know, what you can do, and what you are like. From this, you can infer three types of competencies, knowledge-based, performance-based, and personal competency. Project management knowledge competency includes knowing project management techniques, processes, and standards. The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, abbreviated as the PMBOK® Guide, is the most widely distributed source of knowledge about project management. The Project Management Institute, also known as PMI®, uses the PMBOK® Guide as a global standard for the project management profession. The PMBOK® Guide is also a significant resource for those seeking a Project Management Professional, or PMP®, certification. The PMBOK® Guide provides information on ten knowledge areas for project management. The knowledge areas relate to the management of project integration, scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, communications, risk, procurement, and stakeholders. As a project manager, you need to know what the stages of a project are and the best practices for applying each knowledge area. For example, you need to know how to document and distribute information about the project, how to procure materials effectively, and how to manage schedules and quality. You also need to know about cost and risk management and the best practices for managing stakeholders within a project environment. Finally, you need to know how to use project management tools such as budgets, risk analyses, Pareto diagrams, and schedules. Project management performance competencies include your qualifications for the job and your experience. They are based on skills that you bring to the table as a project manager. The usual reference for determining a project manager's qualifications and experience is a resume. Employers generally look for experience on similar projects in similar organizations, and are interested in the success of those projects. In terms of performance-based competencies, employers need to consider the types of things a project manager is able to do. For example, are you able to develop a project budget? Schedule project resources properly? Perform a risk assessment and effectively mitigate risk? In other words, performance-based competency depends on how you can put what you know into practice. Who you are affects how you perform, which brings us to personal competencies. This area of competency is about things like your motives, attitude, values, and self-concept. Each personal competency relates to aspects of your character that affect how you apply your knowledge and skills. People with different personality traits may apply knowledge and practices differently, but still achieve similar results. However, there are specific personal competencies that a project manager should have. Successful project managers can manage changes as a project develops. Because they're innovative and willing to take calculated risks. You need to find creative solutions for problems that arise as a project develops. You also need to find flexible ways of responding to unexpected changes, even when this involves some risk. Another personal quality of a good project manager is the ability to get things done. This means you should be able to ensure that effort is sustained from the start of a project to its end. You need to be able to put plans in motion. Then, you must make sure that people remain motivated so that plans are carried out effectively. To be able to do this, you need to move between focusing on details to focusing on the big picture. People skills are a third personal competency. You need leadership ability, good communication skills, and the ability to negotiate and to persuade. As a project manager, you communicate with and motivate your team. You negotiate with the suppliers during the procurement phase. You also persuade stakeholders to approve budgets and to accept changes to project plans and scope. So in summary, successful project managers are generally those who have detailed knowledge of project processes, tools, and requirements. They also have relevant experience and know how to perform the tasks required in a project. These managers can use their leadership and communication skills to ensure that everyone remains on board. Portfolios and Programs Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize characteristics of portfolios and programs [Topic title: Portfolios and Programs. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] To really understand how a project works, you need to understand the project within its context in an organization. Organizations group work in ways that enable them to manage it more efficiently. Typically groups of work are classified as portfolios, programs and projects. This context affects everything that happens in a project, from the nature of the product, to how the work is planned, to how resources are applied. A portfolio is a collection of projects, programs and ongoing work. They're created to make it easier to manage work in a way that ensures strategic business objectives are met. Portfolio managers are expected to identify, authorize, manage, prioritize, and control projects and programs within their portfolios. Organizations run portfolios based on their strategic goals. For example, if a company has a strategic objective of increasing its reputation as ecologically friendly, it may have a portfolio to reflect this. A program is essentially a group of related projects and ongoing work that is centrally managed. Managers use this structure to obtain additional benefits and control. Placing related projects and ongoing work in a single program enables better management of schedules, priorities and shared resources. It ensures more consolidated control of related work. Programs increase management control because projects also feed back to programs. You can identify a change to one project and then adjust all affected projects and ongoing work accordingly. Projects contribute to consolidated program benefits, as well as generating discrete benefits. For example, a project to create the next generation of cellphone could generate the discrete benefit of increased sales. Together with marketing and the creation of another type of product, the project could also contribute to the consolidated benefit of increasing market share for a company. Project Stakeholder Roles Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to distinguish between project stakeholder roles [Topic title: Project Stakeholder Roles. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Managing a project isn't just about managing work. It's also about managing work in relation to people's expectations. All projects involve people with interests and priorities in the project. These people are known as stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or organization that is affected by a project or that influences the project. Examples of stakeholders are the project sponsor, vendors or business partners, the project manager and team, and customers or end users. The stakeholders outside your project team whom you'll need to work with most closely are customers or users, the project sponsor, vendors or business partners, and operational stakeholders. To do this well, you need to understand these stakeholders' responsibilities. Customers or users provide key information about what the scope and result of a project should be. They may also be involved in testing the product or service. Because ultimately, a project aims to create something that will please the customer or user. The feedback from customers can identify potential risks and problems. Customers are also often expected to respond to issues that arise during the project life cycle. The project sponsor champions a project at its outset, develops the initial project scope and charter, and authorizes the start of the project. The sponsor also provides project resources, including financial resources. The project sponsor bears ultimate responsibility for the project's success. This means that the sponsor may be expected to remove roadblocks, provide guidance and feedback, encourage the team, authorize major changes in scope, and have the final say in high risk decisions. Sponsors are also typically responsible for communicating with senior management on behalf of the project manager. Vendors, also called sellers, carry out all contracts and duties as subcontractors according to agreed levels of quality and professionalism. Business partners provide specialized expertise or services such as installation, customization, training, or after-sales support. Both groups may interact with the project team and customer or user groups. Operational stakeholders include any employees who perform or manage business operations, but who may be involved in or impacted by the project. Examples include plant operators, help desk staff, customer service representatives, salespeople, maintenance workers, call center personnel, line managers, and training officers. Suppose you're managing an internal project where the product will be used by someone within your organization. Who is your customer then? Say it's a project to provide the sales team with remote access to customer information and sales records. The customers in this case are the members of the internal sales team. The vendor would be a software development company that is customizing remote software for the sales team. Its role is to provide the software on time and within specifications. The project sponsor is your company's VP of sales. Initially, his role is to champion the project, define its initial scope, and provide sufficient resources and funds to carry out the project. There are several operational stakeholders in this project. First of all, there are the training officers who will train salespeople on using the new program. There are also quality specialists who will test the new product throughout development, and other administrations personnel. The project manager and team have the most hands-on roles in a project. So it's vital that they have a clear and accurate understanding of their roles and responsibilities. The role of team members is to work and communicate well together. They need to accept and work with the strengths and weaknesses of each member. They should also be aware of how their work affects others on the team. The team needs to commit to producing quality work while meeting project deadlines. A project manager's role is a high-profile one that changes over the course of a project. From planner to overseeing execution of the work, measuring, monitoring and reporting, you act as the interface between all stakeholders for the project. So you need excellent communications skills as well as the ability to motivate, persuade, and negotiate. As a project manager, you are in charge of all aspects of a project and are responsible for its success. In summary, project stakeholders within and outside an organization can have a major impact on a project and its potential for success. Key stakeholders include the project sponsor, customers and users, vendors, business partners, operational stakeholders, and the project manager and team. Stakeholders within the Organization Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize organizational stakeholder roles [Topic title: Stakeholders within the Organization. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] In this topic, we're going to look at a few types of stakeholders you may encounter within your organization. Some of these people and groups who operate from within your organization may contribute to or threaten your project. At the executive level, your company may have a Project Management Office, also known as the PMO. The responsibilities of a PMO can range from providing project management support functions to directly managing a project. Generally, a PMO is responsible for managing and coordinating shared resources, risks, policies, and documentation among projects. It may audit a project to monitor its compliance with project management standard policies, procedures, and templates. The Portfolio Review Board provides additional support for project selection and prioritization. The board reviews projects in terms of their value, risks, and likely return on investment. In addition, the board often responds to external opportunities, such as tenders or requests for proposals. A portfolio manager is responsible for the overall management and control of a group of projects and programs. A sponsor can be both a project and an organizational stakeholder. As a member of the project team and of upper management, the sponsor can act as a liaison between the two. The project sponsor is particularly interested in project governance. Which is the alignment of the project's objectives with those of stakeholders and the organization. It ensures that the decisions made by the project manager will satisfy both stakeholder expectations and organizational strategic objectives. Program managers are responsible for managing and controlling groups of related projects. These managers provide support and guidance to project managers. But a program manager's main interest is achieving program benefits, rather than individual project benefits. Unlike project managers, functional and operational managers are responsible for ongoing work and permanent teams. However, they interact closely with project managers and their teams. Functional managers oversee administrative functions rather than the core operational work of a business. They're responsible for providing services directly to project teams. They generally have no interaction with other project stakeholders. The services a functional manager provides depend on the manager's functional area. For example, HR managers provide human resource services and finance managers provide financial services. Operational managers oversee the divisions of the company that directly produce and maintain products or services. They generally provide a project with skilled employees who possess the required technical experience or knowledge for the project. Organizational Culture Influence Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to identify aspects of organizational culture that will influence a project [Topic title: Organizational Culture Influence. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Projects do not occur in isolation. They are created and run within the context of an organization. One of the key factors within an organization that you need to be aware of as a project manager is organizational culture. Organizational culture can be difficult to define. To understand it better, you need to know its elements. The values of an organization filter down from its vision and mission statements, the publicly announced principles and values that it aims to achieve. Examples of these are friendly service, product quality or product innovation, and price leadership. These values affect how project work is done because they set underlying priorities for the work. As groups work together, employees develop a set of implied or unwritten rules, values, and standards about how things should be done. A particular language or way of communicating also develops. These beliefs and practices are known as company norms. Norms can vary from a shared idea that employees bring cake to the office on their birthdays to the shared idea that employees will work all night at the office to meet a deadline. Newcomers need to learn these rules before they are fully accepted as members of the organization. Beliefs are the shared meanings developed by a group working together. They include both habits of thinking and of speaking. So an organization may use particular jargon when talking about work, and may share the belief that quality work is rewarded. How a group characterizes itself and its beliefs about the world and the working environment can deeply affect how tasks are performed. It also affects how people within the team prefer to be managed. Informal policies and procedures are those unwritten rules that the members of an organization are expected to follow. You won't find them in the new employee orientation manual. They include the broad ideological principles that guide how a group interacts with employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Then there are the rules about how to really get things done around here. Some procedures may be explicit, while others are implicit. For example, it may be common knowledge that to get something approved, you need to go to a particular senior manager first, rather than to the person outlined in the organizational chart. How an organization or project team views authority will affect communication between upper management, the project manager, and the project team. For example, if members of the project team respect the project manager's authority, it becomes easier to ensure work is done on time and according to specifications. Getting timely feedback on how the project is going helps the project manager to be aware of issues that threaten the success of the project. Here's an example of how things can go south in a hurry if you're not aware of the culture. A hospital requires a hospital management information system to automate its day-to-day activities. Tracy is hired as the project manager. The decision to hire outside of the organization was an unpopular one. And the project team actively resists Tracy's authority. Because the members of the project team don't respect Tracy's authority, she's likely to find it difficult to get the work done on time and to specification. Then, the resistance results in communication problems. Tracy first notices a problem when she doesn't get timely feedback on how the project is going. As a result, she is unaware of project issues that could jeopardize the success of the project. And because of the lack of communication, nobody is telling Tracy about the unwritten rules. One of the organizational norms that Tracy is not aware of is the rule about flex time. To try to gain some control, she enforces a strict nine-to-five schedule. And this further damages team morale, which negatively impacts the project. Culture arises from the accumulated shared learning of a group. So coming in from the outside can be difficult. If you are assigned to manage an existing team, the first thing you need to do is get a handle on the culture. And if you're already a part of the organization and its culture, your beliefs and ways of doing things may be so ingrained that they are difficult to define or communicate. Be aware of this fact as you welcome new members on board. The aspects of organizational culture that will influence a project include values, norms, and beliefs, informal policies and procedures, and organizational views of authority. Environmental Influences and Process Assets Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize examples of enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets [Topic title: Environmental Influences and Process Assets. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Project managers and members of project teams must understand the factors or conditions that may affect project outcomes. In addition to organizational culture, there are two other items that contribute to a project and how it's managed. In this topic, I'm going to talk about enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets. These two terms might seem like a mouthful now. But you will become very familiar with them as you learned about all the project management knowledge areas. Since they are often listed as two of the inputs to the project management processes. Enterprise environmental factors are almost always outside the control of the project team. That is why being aware is essential to identifying potential risks and requirements. The term enterprise environmental factors conveys the two directions from which these factors originate. First of all, they can be from within the enterprise or organization. Examples include the organizational structure with its lines of authority, personnel and administrative policies, technology use to manage projects such as databases and scheduling software. Influencing factors may also originate from the external environment. Examples include government or industry standards, conditions in the marketplace that determine consumer attitudes and competition, the economy, and the sociopolitical situation of the area in which the project will be carried out. An organization's history determines its structure and culture. It also determines the available process assets that can contribute to the success of a project. Processes and procedures are one category of process assets. This category includes, plans created for the project as a whole, as well as specialized plans such as budget and risk- response plans. Standard processes including company policies and processes for product and project life cycles. Standard procedures including guidelines, work instructions, proposal evaluations, and performance criteria. Templates including general project tools such as risk templates, work breakdown structures, and schedule network diagrams. The corporate knowledge base is made up of historical data on projects completed in the past. Organizations often have information stores containing past measurements related to processes, products, and finances. These are generally held in project files and records. They also store information on past project issues and defects, in what are known as lessons learned knowledge bases. Organizational Structure Types Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize organizational structure types [Topic title: Organizational Structure Types. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Organizational structure is one of the key influences on a project. Lines of a authority and reporting structures impact everything from how decisions are made to loyalty team members feel to the project manager. Two basic organizational structures are projectized and functional. [Two organizational structures display, which are Functional and Projectized. The Functional organizational structure is displayed on the left-hand side of the screen wherein the chief executive has three functional managers under him and each functional manager has three staff members under him. The Projectized organizational structure is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen wherein the chief executive has three project managers under him and each project manager has three staff members under him. The figure is captioned as Figure 2-1: Functional Organization (left), Figure 2-5: Projectized organization (right) Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Pages 22 and 25.] In a classic projectized organization, project team members are typically located in the same office. Project managers tend to have high levels of independence and authority. And a majority of the organization's resources are involved in project work. These organizations may have units termed departments that provide centralized administrative support. However, these generally report directly to the project manager. In a classic functional organization, each employee has one clear superior to report to. Employees are divided according to their specializations. For example, marketing, engineering, or finance. Each functional department works separately from the other departments and completes its project tasks independently. A range of project characteristics are directly affected by the organizational structure. [A table displays. It contains ten rows and six columns. The ten row headers are Organic or Simple, Functional (centralized), Multi-divisional (may replicate function for each division with little centralization), Matrix- strong, Matrix - weak, Matrix - balanced, Project-oriented (composite, hybrid), Virtual, Hybrid, and PMO*. The table is captioned as Table 2-1: Influences of Organizational Structures on Projects Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page 47.] Project managers have very little authority in functional structures and almost complete authority in projectized structures. In functional organizations, project managers must work through the functional manager in order to achieve project objectives. This slows decision making for the project. Project resources are readily available in projectized structures but availability in functional structures is very low. This is because all resources need to be approved via functional managers first. This limits the scope of the project and adds bureaucracy to recourse requests. In functional organizations, the functional manager is in charge of the budget. Whereas in projectized structures, this control is in the hands of the project manager. When the project manager is in charge of the budget, the project is able to access resources more quickly. The project manager's role is typically part-time in functional organizations. And full-time in projectized organizations. This is largely due to the amount of responsibility and accountability that project managers have in either of these structures. Part- time managers can achieve less and take longer to do so. Administrative staff tend to be part- time in functional and full-time in projectized organizations. Because of different workload distribution. Part-time staff limits support for project management. The optimal organizational structure is one that combines the functional and projectized structures. [An optimal organizational structure displays. The Chief Executive is divided into a Project manager and a Functional Manager. Both the managers are sub-divided into Project staff, Shared staff, and Staff.] This is called a matrix structure. This blend minimizes the problems and maximizes the benefits of both structures. There are three types of matrix structures. [A Weak Matrix Organization structure displays. The Chief Executive is divided into three functional managers. All of the three functional managers are further sub-divided into three staff members each. The last staff member under each manager is considered weak.The figure is captioned as Figure 2- 2: Weak Matrix Organization Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page 23.] A weak matrix organization is still very similar to a functional structure, but allows for some degree of project coordination and a use of personnel from various departments to staff projects. A balanced matrix organization is also very similar to a functional organization. [A Balanced Matrix Organization structure displays. The Chief Executive is divided into three functional managers. One of the functional manager is sub-divided into two staff members and one project manager. The other two functional managers are sub-divided into three staff members each. The last staff member under two managers and the project manager under the third manager are considered balanced. The figure is captioned as Figure 2-3: Balanced Matrix Organization Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page 24.] This organization allows for project managers, however, they report to functional managers. This greatly limits the project manager's decision making authority and control over funding. The strong matrix organization is most similar to the projectized structure. [A strong matrix organization structure displays. The Chief Executive is divided into three Functional Managers and one Manager of Project Managers. Each of the three Functional Managers is sub-divided into three staff members each. The Manager of Project Managers is sub-divided into three Project managers. The last staff member under each functional manager and the last project manager under manager of project managers are considered strong. The figure is captioned as Figure 2-4: Strong Matrix Organization Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page 24.] There are still functional managers with staff, but there are also full-time project managers with a direct reporting line to upper executives. In most cases, organizations involve a blend of organizational structures at various levels and at various times. A range of project characteristics are directly affected by whether an organization is a weak, balanced, or strong matrix. [The Influences of Organizational Structures on Projects table displays.The following three rows are displayed: Matrix - strong, Matrix - weak, and Matrix - balanced. The table is captioned as Table 2-1: Influences of Organizational Structures on Projects Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page 47.] Project managers have limited authority in weak matrix structures. However, the authority level rises as you move to a strong matrix structure. Project managers have limited to moderate access to resources in weak and balanced matrix structures. This is because all resources need to be approved via functional managers first. In a strong matrix, project managers may have high access to resources. In weak matrix organizations, the functional manager is in charge of the budget. Whereas in strong matrix structures, this control is in the hands of the project manager. In a balanced matrix, the control is shared. The project manager's role is typically part-time in weak matrix organizations and full-time in strong matrix organizations. Administrative staff tend to be part-time in weak and balanced, and full-time in strong matrix organizations, because of different workload distribution. Part time staff limits support for project management. In summary, the ideal organizational structure is a matrix organization. Which is a combination of functional and projectized. The project manager's role, authority, and access to resources depends on which structure is used. Agile Considerations Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize characteristics of the Agile methodology [Topic title: Agile Considerations. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Many organizations are adapting agile project methodologies. Agile has characteristics that are unique in terms of how projects can be managed. In traditional project management, the phase to phase relationship is sequential. One phase is fully completed before the next phase starts. Predictive life cycles are plan-driven. And change is not encouraged except as a way to prevent defects or correct nonconforming project work. Agile projects on the other hand, are characterized by iterative and incremental life cycles. The phases overlap with one phase starting before the previous phase finishes. This can speed up the project, but may also result in rework if issues are encountered. The scope is tentatively determined early in the project. And then clarified as the project proceeds. This is called Rolling Wave Planning. When you think about the differences between traditional and agile methodologies, think about trying to hit a target. The bullseye of the target is a product that perfectly meets requirements and satisfies the customer. In traditional project management, we take careful aim, planning thoroughly before we release the arrow. If we miss the target, we revisit our plan to see what went wrong. Changes can add time and cost to our project and we consider them an exception. In agile project management, we don't take any more time planning than is necessary. We shoot the arrow quickly. Based on where the arrow hits, we make adjustments and quickly try again. And if our customer decides that they would like to move the target, we welcome that change and adjust to it. Because it will satisfy the customer in the end. These are two very different ways of thinking. And each is appropriate for different types of projects. For instance, in construction projects, a traditional approach is ideal. We certainly don't want to start digging a foundation or pouring cement only to learn it wasn't what the customer envisioned. That would get expensive. However, in knowledge-based or innovative projects, it may be harder to visualize the end product. Agile methodologies can help bridge that gap by delivering incremental value quickly and reducing waste through constant change. In February 2001, 17 software development leaders who used a variety of different project management methodologies, met to discuss a set of values and principles for software development projects. Together, they published the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and identified four values. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Working software over comprehensive documentation. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation. And responding to change over following a plan. As part of the Agile Manifesto, the group also outlined 12 principles. Number one, our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. Number two, welcome changing requirements even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage. Number three, deliver working software frequently from a couple of weeks to a couple of months with a preference to the shorter time scale. Number four, business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. Number five, build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. Number six, the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. Number seven, working software is the primary measure of progress. Number eight, agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. Number nine, continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. Number ten, simplicity. The art of maximizing the amount of work not done is essential. Number 11, the best architectures, requirements and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. And number 12, at regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly. Just as agile methodologies differ from traditional project management, agile teams are also structured in a unique way. Perhaps you've heard the term scrum. In rugby, scrum is when the players pack closely together with their arms interlocked and their heads down in order to gain possession of the ball. Similar to a rugby team, a scrum team works very closely and collaboratively. Scrum relies on co-location, where teams are physically located together to maximize face-to-face communication. Scrum teams are also self-directed and self-organized. Teams manage their own responsibilities and assignments without oversight from managers. The ideal size of a scrum team is about seven members. Teams that grow too large can lose efficiency and the effectiveness of co-location. The scrum roles include the product owner, who acts as the voice of the customer. The product owner creates what is called the product backlog. The backlog is ordered by priority, and the focus is on delivering the highest value items first. The Scrum Master is a servant leader. They facilitate the scrum process by removing impediments and acting as a buffer between the team and any distracting influences. They often encourage the team and ensure that the scrum framework is being followed. The Scrum Master may also be part of the development team. The Development Team is the group responsible for doing the actual work in creating the deliverables during each work increment or sprint. Depending on your project, or your organization, you may adapt elements of agile for your project. Agile elements can be integrated very successfully depending on the needs of your project and organizational readiness. The Life Cycle of a Project Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize the characteristics of the project life cycle [Topic title: The Life Cycle of a Project. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] A project's life cycle, from beginning to end, consists of all the work required to bring a product to the market or to make a service or process operational. It has four stages. The first is starting the project. [A figure depicting project life cycle displays. It also depicts Phase Gate, Project Gate, Potential Gate, and Timeline. The figure is captioned as Figure 1-5: Interrelationship of PMBOK® Guide Key Components in Projects Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page 18.] Then comes organizing and preparing. The third stage is carrying out the work. And the fourth is completing the project. Each stage in the project life cycle has different characteristics [A graph displays. The x-axis represents Time. The y-axis represents Level of Effort. The graph depicts Interactions of Initiating Process Group, Planning Process Group, Executing Process Group, Monitoring and Controlling Process Group, and Closing Process Group. The graph is captioned as Figure 1-5: Example of Process Group Interactions Within a Project or Phase Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page 555.] in terms of three factors. Cost and staffing levels, level of uncertainty, and cost of changes. At the start of a project, cost and staffing levels are low. More resources are needed as project work is carried out. Cost and staffing levels then drop as the project comes to completion. This pattern creates a bell curve shape on a graph that illustrates cost and staffing levels over a project's life cycle. The next factor is level of uncertainty. At the start of a project, the level of uncertainty is at its highest. [A graph depicting Risk and Uncertainty displays. The x-axis represents Project Time. The y-axis represents Degree.] This is when the risk that the project will fail is the greatest. As the project team organizes and prepares the needed work, there's a little less uncertainty. This is because as plans are created, you begin to identify the path you can follow to meet the project's objectives. There's less uncertainty and risk as the project progresses. As each activity completes successfully, there's less and less uncertainty about whether the project will meet its objectives. Once all project work is closed, you know that the work is complete and whether the project has met its objectives within the required schedule and budget or not. Uncertainty is at its lowest. The third factor is cost of changes, all projects are likely to undergo changes. This may be to adapt to changing circumstances or to correct errors. The cost of making changes is the lowest at the start of a project. [A graph depicting Cost of Changes displays. The x-axis represents Project Time. The y-axis represents Degree.] As more planning and work is done, the cost of making changes continues to rise. As a project manager, you'll be involved in different activities as a project moves through each of the four life cycle stages. As part of starting the project, you determine the need for the project and its feasibility and set the project's goals. You may have to create a proposal and convince stakeholders, such as executive management, that the project is needed. You'll also decide what resources are needed, create a budget, and appoint staff. As part of organizing and preparing a project, you typically need to conduct research and use the results to design a prototype or service for testing. You also prepare and implement a schedule, identify targets within the project, and distribute tasks and resources to the team. This stage also involves adjusting members of the project team as needed. Carrying out the work for a project involves getting materials and building and producing a product or service. It also entails testing quality and performance and making modifications if required. Finally, the product or service must be prepared for delivery. Completing a project involves transferring the product or service to those who will maintain or use it. It means completing all contractual commitments, transferring responsibility if necessary, and training personnel to use the product or service. It also entails rewarding the project team, reassigning team members to new work, and transferring resources to other projects or organizational divisions. Understanding the project life cycle and the activities that take place in each of its stages can help you manage a project more effectively. In summary, all projects have a basic life cycle that includes four stages. Starting the project, organizing and preparing, carrying out the work, and completing the project. Each stage has specific characteristics in terms of cost and staffing level, level of uncertainty, and the cost of changes. The Product Life Cycle Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize characteristics of the relationship between the product and project life cycles [Topic title: The Product Life Cycle. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] The project life cycle consists of the work required to bring a product or service into existence. However, a product itself has its own life cycle. The product life cycle is made up of all the activities that take place from a product's creation to the end of its production and use. The product life cycle consists of five stages, product inception and development, market introduction, market growth, market maturity, and sales decline. Here is an example, years ago you were the project manager on a team responsible for developing a new product, a mobile telephone. At the time, no other product like this was available. During product inception, the idea of a small, completely portable phone was born. Engineers researched and developed a fully functional prototype model. You and your team tested and refined this model, which was then manufactured. The phone was introduced to the market through advertising. People became aware of this new concept in communication and were eager to try it out for themselves. The success of the mobile phone grew. Consumers liked the novelty and convenience of having a portable phone. More and more people started buying the mobile phone. And other electronics companies started introducing similar mobile phones to the market. At the maturity stage, your mobile phone design reached the peak of its success. There were many other mobile phones available, so you had to ensure that consumers would continue to buy your brand. The mobile phone you created was replaced by new models. These new models were smaller, had color touchscreens, wireless Internet capabilities, and built-in high definition video cameras. As a result, your phone's popularity declined. Although the project and product life cycle share a connection, they are separate cycles. How they relate and overlap all depends on the objective of the project. If the goal of the project is new product development, then the project life cycle would be fully contained within the first stage of the product's life cycle, product inception and development. Then the product's life cycle would continue with ongoing operations and maintenance until the product sales decline. This example will illustrate how in the first stage of the product's life cycle, the project will move through all the stages of the project life cycle. A company that produces energy drinks for athletes launches a project to introduce a new flavor of drink. In the first stage of the project life cycle, [The figure depicting Interrelationship of PMBOK® Guide Key Components in Projects displays. The figure is captioned as Figure 1-5: Interrelationship of PMBOK® Guide Key Components in Projects Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page 18.] project goals and a budget are set. And a feasibility study is carried out to determine if it's worthwhile to develop the new drink. Once the project is approved, it can continue to be planned. In the second stage, project work is planned and research is carried out to determine the flavors people most enjoy. Technicians experiment with different flavors using the research results to guide them. In the third stage, the company sources raw materials for creating the drink. The technicians create two new flavors that they think will be popular. Taste tests are then carried out in focus groups. One of the new flavors emerges as a favorite in the taste test. So the company starts producing the preferred drink. The project reaches the end of its life cycle as the first stage of the product life cycle, the inception and development stage, completes. You could also have many smaller projects being carried out over the different stages of the product's life. For example, an organization may use a single project to develop the product, then another to market the product. A few projects to boost sales during the growth stage of the product, then a project to decommission the product once sales have declined. When there are many projects within the product life cycle, it can help to coordinate and manage those projects as a single group. This is especially true if the projects all have a related goal or purpose. In summary, like a project, a product also has a life cycle. This cycle includes five stages, inception and development, market introduction, market growth, market maturity, and sales decline. A project life cycle can exist independently of a product life cycle, run concurrently with it, or form part of the product life cycle. A single product cycle can consist of many project life cycles. Project Phases Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to identify characteristics of project phases [Topic title: Project Phases. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Just about any project can be divided into phases. Phases of a project are logical divisions in the way the work is carried out. The aim of dividing work in this way is to make managing the work easier. A simple project can include just one phase. Take, for example, a project to install new desk phones for a group of employees. The project is straightforward and should be completed in just a day. It's likely that this project will include only one phase, phone installation. A complex project, like constructing a building, needs a lot of time and planning. A project of this scale contains multiple phases. For example, you may want to break up the project into seven phases, design, site preparation, foundation, super structure, electrical, plumbing, and painting. This makes it easier to break up all the work required for such a complex project. Phases in a project have several characteristics. They are sequential, they each involve distinct work, the work that is done is of a distinct nature that is particular to that phase. They repeat project management processes, these include processes in the initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing process groups. They each end with a hand off of work, the work done or the output of a phase is often referred to as a deliverable. For example, a project may include a feasibility phase, the phase completes once a report on the project's feasibility is handed over to those responsible for the next phase. Finally, they have natural endpoints at which the continued viability of a project is assessed. The end of a phase is usually marked by a transfer or hand-off of the work that was targeted for that phase. The end point is an opportunity to assess the project's overall progress. Generally, a phase ends when a change of focus, authorization for the next phase, or even the termination of the project occurs. The end points are sometimes called phase exits, phase gates or decision gates. If they result in a project ending, they're also called kill points. The end of a phase and start of the next phase are good times to revisit your earlier decisions and assumptions. You can tailor these to suit current demands or adapt to new information. How you plan and carry out the phases in a project should depend on the nature of the project. It will also depend on your own and your organization's preferred management approach. For project life cycles that have more than one phase, the phase to phase relationships may be one of two types. If phases have a sequential relationship, one phase is fully completed before the next phase starts. This ensures that a project is carried out in a definite sequence, but it can add to the time it takes to complete a project. Phases may overlap, with one phase starting before the previous phase finishes. This can help in speeding up a project, however phases can't overlap if one phase depends on accurate and complete information from a previous phase. The project management methodology you choose for your project will often determine the structure of its phases. You may choose the methodology that has a predictive life cycle, also called a waterfall methodology. For example, a software development project using this approach would attempt to determine the time, cost and scope requirements as early in the project life cycle as possible. Then the project would proceed through a series of sequential, or overlapping phases. [which starts from System requirements, then Software requirements, then Analysis, then Program design, then Coding, then Testing, and then Operations.] Some projects have an iterative life cycle. Scope is tentatively determined earlier in the project, and then clarified as the project proceeds and more information becomes known. Work in the early phases is carried out while later phases are still in planning. This is called rolling wave planning. The focus is on planning work for the very near future. There is also an incremental approach. That means that each phase or increment successfully adds to the functionality of the product. The end of each phase is marked by a completed deliverable. For example, in a software development project, the coding and testing phases are repeated in increments as features are added to the product and delivered to the customer for review. Adaptive life cycles, also called change-driven or agile, are iterative and incremental. But the phases are typically no longer than four weeks in duration. This approach requires a high degree of customer involvement and is used for projects in which scope frequently changes. Phases and the Project Life Cycle Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize the relationship between project phases and the project life cycle [Topic title: Phases and the Project Life Cycle. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] So we know [The figure depicting Interrelationship of PMBOK® Guide Key Components in Projects displays. The figure is captioned as Figure 1-5: Interrelationship of PMBOK® Guide Key Components in Projects Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page 18.] a project has a life cycle with four distinct stages, and that it is usually made up of one or more phases. [which are Research Phase, Design Phase, Development Phase, and Wrap-up Phase] Sometimes project phases map very closely to life cycle stages. At other times, phases don't have a one-to-one relationship with the project stages. A project most often starts with a feasibility study or meetings with the customer to negotiate terms and develop the project charter. We'll call this the research phase. This phase aligns almost exactly to the life cycle stage of starting the project. Once you know that a project can go ahead, the next logical phase is to convert the idea for the project into a plan. This usually happens during a design phase. In the design phase, the product or service that the project will deliver is designed. This involves preparing and drawing up plans. The design phase aligns directly with the second stage of the project life cycle, organizing and preparing. The third stage of the project life cycle is when project work is carried out. It's here that project phases often stop aligning directly to the life cycle stages. This stage can have several phases. In a typical manufacturing project, these development phases include the prototype, production, marketing and deployment phases. A model of a product is created and tested in the prototype phase. This lets you check that the product meets requirements before your organization starts full scale production. If a project is designed to deliver a service, this phase would be a pilot phase. In a pilot phase, you will test a service on small scale to check it before deploying it fully. The product or service is produced in the production phase. This phase often requires the most work and resources. For this reason, it's often divided into smaller sub-phases or components. These sub-phases can run sequentially or overlap. It's important that they're clearly defined so that you can monitor and control progress. You may want to market the product or service you've created, especially if its success depends on use by consumers or organizations. For example, after construction of the apartment block, you may want to create billboards or print ads to create awareness of the apartments and attract future buyers. A marketing phase may take place after the production phase finishes. It may also take place at the same time as other phases or as a separate project. Some projects have a deployment phase. This is when the final product or service is put into use, or handed over and installed for a customer. In the case of an apartment block, during the deployment phase apartments are prepared for inspection by potential buyers. The last phase is the project wrap up. It corresponds directly with the final stage of the project life cycle, completing the project. In summary, the research, design, and closing phases of a project tend to align with the activities in the life cycle stages for starting the project, organizing and preparing, and completing the project. However, the stage of carrying out project work is usually divided into several phases. Examples of these are prototype, production, marketing, and deployment phases. The Project Management Institute (PMI)® Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to identify characteristics of the Project Management Institute® [Topic title: The Project Management Institute (PMI)®. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Let's take a couple of minutes to talk about The Project Management Institute. It is the world's leading project management organization. According to the PMI.org website, it has over 450,000 members and 280 local chapters worldwide. PMI® supports project managers in several ways. PMI® actively promotes the project management profession. Its advocacy programs facilitate meetings with governments, organizations, and industries around the world. PMI® conducts research and makes a wealth of information available to project management professionals. It also sets professional standards for project management. PMI® promotes a code of ethics and professional conduct for its members. It identifies best practices and the responsibilities of project managers. PMI® provides accreditation, such as the Project Management Professional or PMP® certification for project managers. PMP® is the only globally recognized certification in the profession. As well as the PMP® credential, PMI® provides certifications and training. In the Certified Associate in Project Management certification, the Program Management Professional certification, and the Portfolio Management Professional certification. Other certifications include PMI® Professional in Business Analysis, PMI® Agile Certified Practitioner, PMI® Risk Management Professional, and PMI® Scheduling Professional. It also provides education and training through PMI® registered education providers, and accreditation of project management educational programs. The PMBOK® Guide Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to identify the role of the PMBOK® Guide [Topic title: The PMBOK® Guide. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] There is no doubt that good project management is crucial to the success of any organization. But how do you ensure that this is achieved? PMI® offers a solution in the form of a guide to the Project Management Body Of Knowledge commonly known as the PMBOK® Guide. The PMBOK® Guide provides guidelines for managing projects. It also defines project management concepts. It's a trusted source of best practices for project managers. These practices have evolved over many years based on the experiences of project managers throughout the world. As a project manager, you can benefit from using the PMBOK® Guide in many ways. The PMBOK® Guide describes generally recognized practices and knowledge that apply globally. In other words, project managers anywhere can benefit from applying the practices and knowledge it contains to almost all projects. The PMBOK® Guide provides a globally accepted standard for the project management profession. For project managers worldwide, it's a valuable and trusted source of guidelines and information. Project management is a profession that's always evolving. As times changes, new insights and new needs arise. The PMBOK® Guide provides continually updated information to reflect these changes. The PMBOK® Guide provides project managers around the world with a common vocabulary. This ensures consistency and clarity in the profession. For a project to succeed, it's important that the management you provide needs accepted standards of quality. The PMBOK® Guide provides a comprehensive set of standards for this purpose. However, all projects are different, you need to adjust the processes a project team uses based on what a project must do. This is known as project tailoring. You and the project team should agree on tailoring requirements, and state these clearly in the project management plan. This ensures you'll have a defined set of standards to follow. Project management can be complex. The PMBOK® Guide neatly draws all its aspects together. It lays the foundation for understanding project management, and explains the project life cycle and how projects fit into an organization. It also explains project management processes, knowledge areas and the five process groups. The Project Management Process Groups Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to identify characteristics of the project management process groups [Topic title: The Project Management Process Groups. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] A project cannot run smoothly unless there are clear processes in place. The PMBOK® Guide describes a process as a set of interrelated actions and activities performed to achieve a pre-specified product, service, or result. So project management processes are what you use to ensure that each step in a project produces the right results. The PMBOK® Guide categorizes processes into five different process groups. The Initiating Process group includes processes that help start a new project or a new phase of a project that's already underway. These processes involve defining new ideas, and obtaining authorization to proceed with the project or phase. The Planning Process group defines the plans and courses of action for a project. This group determines the scope and objectives of the project, and helps to establish a better idea of project requirements. If necessary, alternative courses of action can be planned. Process in the Executing Process group relate to performing the work that's required to create the final output of a project. They focus on managing the project team, and communicating information to stakeholders. This process group typically uses up the most time and resources. You use processes that fall under the Monitoring and Controlling Process group to regulate and control a project's progress. These processes involve monitoring, reviewing, and identifying any problematic areas, as well as initiating any necessary changes. It is also important to note that Monitoring and Controlling Processes interact with the other four process groups throughout the project. The processes in the Closing Process group aim to finalize all activities and contracts for a project or phase. The process groups span over the duration of the project. In a project with multiple phases, all of the process groups usually occur within each phase. However, it is important to know that any project, no matter how many phases it may have, will only have one charter. As each subsequent phase begins, the charter may be revisited in order to make sure the phase is aligned with the overall project and its objectives. Many individual project management processes are iterative, this means they are repeated throughout a project. [A graph depicting project management outputs displays. The x-axis represents Time. The y-axis represents Cost and Staffing Level. The graph is divided into four phases: Starting the project, Organizing and Preparing, Carrying out the Work, and Closing the project. Project Charter is at the end of Starting the project phase. Project management plan is at the end of Organizing and preparing phase. Accepted Deliverables is at the end of Carrying out the work phase. And Archived Project Documents is at the end of Closing the project phase. The graph increases in the first two phases, reaches its high point in the third phase and stays there for a while, and then starts decreasing in the fourth phase.] For example, the developed Project Management Plan process is part of the planning process group. It begins in the first stage of the project life cycle, and is repeated throughout the other stages as the project plan is updated. Just as each process may iterate or overlap with other processes, process groups may overlap and iterate within each phase of a project. And each group interacts in some way with the other process groups. The Initiating Process group includes collecting information that allows the project, or a phase of the project to start. The Planning Process group uses the outputs from the Initiating Process group, such as the project charter, as an input for its work. Most planning occurs before work in any of the executing processes begins. However, plans are continually modified and updated with new information as work progresses. So the planning processes continue to iterate until all project or phase work is complete. Activities of the Executing Process group are repeated as plans change throughout a phase or project. During the Executing Process activities, the outputs from the Planning Process group, such as the project management plan, are used to carry out the work. All stages of a project or phase need some kind of control. So the Monitoring and Controlling Process group activities are regularly repeated. They occur for when a project starts to when it's closed. These processes use outputs from all the other process groups, so they can effectively keep track of the whole project. For example, keeping track of the Planning Process groups output so information is regularly updated. Or the Executing Process groups outputs to ensure the work is being done properly. Once project or phase objectives have been met and all the work has been carried out, activities in the Closing Process group ensure that all loose ends are tied up. This occurs only once in a single project or phase. So now you're more familiar with how the PMBOK® Guide divides project management processes into five process groups. Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. The Project Management Knowledge Areas Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to identify the project management Knowledge Areas [Topic title: The Project Management Knowledge Areas. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] If you've worked on a project before, you'll know that a lot of processes go into making a project a success. You've been introduced to the idea of project management process groups. These organize processes into groups based on their purpose. Another way of grouping processes is by knowledge areas. Each knowledge area includes the knowledge needed for one aspect of managing a project. The PMBOK® Guide identifies these ten knowledge areas. Project Integration Management involves coordinating all the elements of a project so they work together to achieve objectives. This means identifying and defining what work must be done, and managing and coordinating this work. The purpose of project scope management is to identify and define all work that's needed to meet project goals. It also involves managing a projects' scope as it progresses. Project Schedule Management is necessary to ensure that a project is completed on time. It includes processes for creating and monitoring project schedules. [Project Cost Management] Costs and budgets form an important part of any project. Project Cost Management involves ensuring that a project meets its objectives without going over budget. It includes processes for calculating budgets, conducting estimates, and controlling costs. Project Quality Management involves ensuring that a project meets the standards and requirements that were set out for it. It includes processes for measuring project performance, comparing results to the required standards, and identifying where improvement is needed. Project Resource Management is concerned with the processes for planning and developing a project team. This includes keeping track of roles and responsibility, and managing changes in team members. It also includes processes for estimating, managing and controlling all required project resources. These resources may include such items as materials, and equipment. A project relies on an exchange of accurate information to work properly. Project Communications Management is responsible for that. It involves ensuring that information is properly generated, collected, distributed, stored, and retrieved. Project Risk Management involves ensuring that risks to the success of a project are identified and analyzed, and that appropriate responses are developed. Project Procurement Management is concerned with obtaining goods and services for a project from various suppliers. Project Stakeholder Management involves ensuring that relevant stakeholders are identified, and engaged in all project decisions, and activities. It's a good idea to commit the ten knowledge areas to memory if you plan to take the PMP® Certification exam. A useful trick for doing this is to create a mnemonic. This is a phrase or sentence that uses each first letter of the knowledge area key words. An example is, I stopped so I could quickly remove a coiled red poisonous snake. You can create a mnemonic of your own if you prefer. Process groups organize processes based on their purpose, [A table displays. It contains five columns and ten rows. The five column headers are Initiating Process Group, Planning Process Group, Executing Process Group, Monitoring and Controlling Process Group, and Closing Process Group. The ten row headers are 4. Project Integration Management, 5. Project Scope Management, 6. Project Schedule Management, 7. Project Cost Management, 8. Project Quality Management, 9. Project Resource Management, 10. Project Communications Management, 11. Project Risk Management, 12. Project Procurement Management, and 13. Project Stakeholder Management. The table is captioned as Table 1-4: Project Management Process Group and Knowledge Area Mapping Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page 25.] and on when they generally occur. Knowledge areas group processes based on how they contribute to project management, regardless of when they are carried out. It can be difficult to remember exactly which processes fit in each knowledge area. It's important that you can do this though, it will help you understand the processes better, and answer questions in the PMP® Certification exam. There's a very useful table in chapter one of the PMBOK® Guide if you can get a copy of it. It has the process groups across the top, and the knowledge areas down the left side. Each of the project management processes fall within the cell that intersects with its corresponding process group and knowledge area. For example, the Develop Project Charter process takes place during the initiating phase of a project, and it falls under the Integration Management knowledge area. Let's take just a moment to see how each process group interacts with the knowledge areas. [Knowledge Areas are Stakeholder, Cost, Risk, Procurement, Communications, Integration, Scope, Schedule, Quality, and Resource.] The key processes that make up the initiating Process group are develop project charter, and identify stakeholders. Developing a project charter fits in the Project Integration Management knowledge area because the charter informs all other areas of a project. The identify stakeholders process fits in the Project Stakeholder Management knowledge area because stakeholders must be included from the very beginning of a project. All knowledge areas include planning processes. For example, the Project Risk Management knowledge area includes the plan risk management process. The Executing Process group includes the processes needed to carry out the work in project or phase. So the Knowledge Areas that intersect with the execution group are project Integration, Quality, Resource, Communications, Procurement, Risk, and Stakeholder management. All of the knowledge areas are active in the Monitoring and Controlling Process group. And the processes are often control processes for the knowledge areas themselves. For example, for the Project Schedule Management knowledge area, the control schedule process falls within the Monitoring and Controlling Process group. The Closing Process Group includes the close project or phase process in the Project Integration Management knowledge area. So now you have a foundational understanding of how the project management processes are divided into separate knowledge areas, as well as into process groups. This understanding will equip you as you learn about each of the processes in more detail in future courses. Project Management Processes Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize the role of organizational process assets and enterprise environmental factors in projects [Topic title: Project Management Processes. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] The PMBOK® Guide defines 49 project management processes. Some examples of processes are plan quality management, control schedule and control procurements. Each process has three elements, inputs, tools and techniques and outputs. An input is any item that is required before you can begin a process. Typically, inputs are documents or information you need in order to perform the process. They can be internal or external to the project. Often the input for process is the output from another preceding process. A tool is something tangible like a template or a software program that you use to produce a product or a result or to facilitate a technique or a systematic procedure. A technique is a defined systematic procedure that you use to perform an activity within a process. It is the method or one of the methods you use to perform the process. A single technique may employ one or more tools. An output is a product, result, or service generated by a process. An output from one process often serves as an input to another process later on. So each time you see a new process, ask yourself, what inputs are necessary to perform the process? And what are the outcomes of this process? The project management processes outlined in the PMBOK® Guide represent best practices. But that doesn't mean you can or should apply all of them to every project. As project manager, you and your team must decide which processes to use and how to apply them. This is called project tailoring. Factors that will affect how you and your team apply project management processes include organizational process assets and enterprise environmental factors. Organizational process assets are assets in an organization that are already available to a project. Organizational process assets are usually inputs to a process. Here are some examples. An organization's environmental policy is an example of an organizational process asset in the processes, policies, and procedures category. The environmental policy is an existing document that provides a framework for ethical decision making. Consider how an engineering company's environmental policy could be an input to the develop project charter process. The company's commitment to reducing carbon emissions could shape its entire approach to carrying out a project. Project closure information is an example of an organizational process asset from an organization's corporate knowledge base. Old project files are archived and lessons learned are logged in a database. You can use information gathered from earlier projects to help you in the planning and execution of later projects. For example, project closure information can form a useful input to the process of developing a project schedule. If the reason for premature closure of a similar project was related to poor scheduling. Enterprise environmental factors are external and internal factors that contribute to the circumstances around a project. They often provide constraints to project planning and execution, so they impact how a project is tailored as well. Government standards and marketplace conditions like the availability of resources are examples of enterprise environmental factors. Because every project is unique, it's the project manager's responsibility to take specific actions to ensure success. Choose the most relevant processes given the size and nature of the project. Make the processes clear to all team members. Act in accordance with the stakeholders' requirements. And balance competing demands such as cost, resources, scope and quality. In summary, each of the 49 project management processes comprise a set of interrelated activities for achieving a pre-specified product, result or service that contributes to achieving project milestones and objectives. Each has inputs, tools and techniques you use to carry it out and outputs. Factors that affect how processes are applied include the organizational process assets available for a project and enterprise environmental factors, which often determine project constraints. Which project management processes you apply and how you apply them will depend on a particular project's needs. Product-oriented Processes Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to distinguish between project management processes and product-oriented processes [Topic title: Product-oriented Processes. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] You can apply project management processes to any project in any industry. They help a project manager and team ensure that a project flows successfully. However, you use product-oriented processes to outline the steps for creating a specific product, service, or result. For example, a cosmetics company wants to make the hand cream it produces therapeutic and free of chemicals. Based on research, it decides to replace some chemical ingredients with tea tree oil in its existing product. These are examples of the product-oriented processes the cosmetics company might use. The process of extracting tea tree oil from plants. The process of calibrating measurements and equipment used in the lab so that ingredients are mixed in the correct proportions. Processes related to revisiting existing packaging and labeling to reflect the new ingredient. And consumer testing processes that are compliant with government regulations. All the processes used by the cosmetics company are product-oriented processes because they are directly connected to the creation of a specific product. In contrast, project management processes apply globally to projects in any industry. Some examples of project management processes that the cosmetics company may use are estimate costs, plan quality management, manage communications, and identify risks. Product-oriented processes aren't used only for projects that deliver products. They are also used for projects that deliver services. For instance, a translation company uses product- oriented processes to translate a software application and all supporting documentation from English into Spanish. The translation company may use certain product-oriented processes. Extracting the English text from the application files into a word processor. Performing the translation itself. Loading the translated text back into the software files and document files. Or checking to ensure the translated application is bug-free. As well as product-oriented processes, the translation company will use project management processes. For example, it will need to use processes to identify risks and assumptions, ensure all project resources are in place, schedule programmers' and translators' time, and communicate project information with stakeholders. Project management processes and product-oriented processes interact throughout the life of a project. As you use processes in each of the process groups to manage a project, product- oriented processes are also occurring. In a project, you use product-oriented processes to specify and create a specific product, service, or result. As a project manager, you need to understand product-oriented processes and ensure they're executed in line with project management processes. For example, you have to know which product-oriented processes are needed and what they entail before you can implement a project management process like estimate costs. Process Groups Characteristics Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize characteristics and interactions of Process Group activities [Topic title: Process Groups Characteristics. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] The PMBOK® Guide defines 49 processes that help make project management flow effectively. As you become familiar with these processes, you'll find that many of them are clearly related. For example, the plan quality management process is obviously connected to the control quality process. The PMBOK® Guide organizes all project management processes into five process groups based on how the processes relate to each other. You can think of a process group as a logical cluster of processes with related objectives. The process groups are initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. One way to remember these in order is I Prefer Eating Milk Chocolate. The purpose of the initiating process group is to kick off a project by defining and authorizing it. The planning process group uses the outputs from the initiating process group to develop a blueprint for project implementation, evaluation, and closing. This group contains the greatest number of processes, because you have to consider all aspects of the project in order to create an effective plan. The executing process group contains the actions you take to implement the project plan and perform the work. The monitoring and controlling process group contains the processes that verify, track, control, and report on the project progress. The outputs of these processes serve as feedback to the executing process group, and can result in revised plans. A project is a finite undertaking and as the name implies, the closing processes bring the project to an official end. You close procurements and project activities, and record project information as organizational project assets, to be used as inputs to future projects. The process groups are not discreet, in practice they overlap over the course of a project life cycle. Initiating processes are in full swing at the beginning of a project. They tend to wind down once the project is underway. Although planning happens from the very beginning of a project, activity in the planning process group increases as the initiating processes end. The planning process group has a high level of interaction with the executing and monitoring and controlling process groups, especially during the phases when the project work is being carried out. The executing processes occur throughout a project life cycle. They begin after the planning processes start and speed up as the initiating processes end. As execution reaches its peak, planning processes slow down. Monitoring and controlling processes are active from the beginning to the end of a project. They reach their highest point as planning slows down and execution reaches its peak. Closing processes begin soon after the initiating processes end. Once the planning processes are completed, activity in the closing process group increases rapidly. This activity peaks as the executing processes are coming to an end. The closing processes are the final processes to take place within a project. At the beginning of a project, there is significant activity in the initiating process group, but not much activity in the other process groups. In the middle of the project life cycle, there is significant activity in and overlap between, the planning, executing, and monitoring and controlling process groups. At the end of the life cycle, there is activity in the closing process group, but little activity in other groups. Each process group represents the types of phases a project passes through, such as the planning and closing phases. But don't confuse process groups with project phases. A big project like constructing a hotel, typically consists of multiple project phases. Examples of these phases might be feasibility study, design, and construction. All the process groups are needed within each project phase. So within the feasibility study phase, processes in the initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing groups will take place. Project management processes are connected by their inputs and outputs. The output of one process is often the input to a subsequent process. Processes with related objectives are organized into process groups. There are five process groups and they overlap extensively throughout a project's life cycle. Project Management Process Dependencies Learning Objective After completing this topic, you should be able to identify factors that cause dependencies between project management processes [Topic title: Project Management Process Dependencies. Materials in this course are based on the text A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK, PMI, PMP, CAPM are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.] Imagine you're the project manager for a software development project. The project is well underway, when the client moves the delivery date a month closer. As the project manager, you now need to redevelop the project schedule, so you can meet the customer's requirements. A project almost always encounters changes during its life cycle, so the planning, executing, and monitoring and controlling processes are iterative by nature. They are performed again and again, often resulting in updates and revisions to the project plan. Also, a change to one process usually impacts a number of related processes. This is because different processes are connected via their inputs and outputs. In the example I mentioned at the beginning, a change to the project delivery date meant having to revise the project schedule. The project schedule is an output of the developed schedule process. It is also an input to several other processes, control schedule, estimate costs, determine budget, and plan procurement management. Just as individual processes are connected by their inputs and outputs, the process groups are connected. Consider an example of how the initiating, planning, and monitoring and controlling process groups depend on each other. In the initiating process group, you create a project charter. The project charter is an important input for the project management plan, which you develop as part of the planning process group. In turn, this plan contains information, such as cost baselines and quality checklists, needed for the monitoring and controlling process group. [A table displays. It contains five columns and ten rows. The five column headers are Initiating Process Group, Planning Process Group, Executing Process Group, Monitoring and Controlling Process Group, and Closing Process Group. The ten row headers are 4. Project Integration Management, 5. Project Scope Management, 6. Project Schedule Management, 7. Project Cost Management, 8. Project Quality Management, 9. Project Resource Management, 10. Project Communications Management, 11. Project Risk Management, 12. Project Procurement Management, and 13. Project Stakeholder Management. The table is captioned as Table 1-4: Project Management Process Group and Knowledge Area Mappin

CAPM Course Transcript PDF

Document Details

Tags

Related

Summary

Full Transcript