University of Toronto Project Initiation PDF

A good org has a mission, vision - doesnt change our strategy changes - but should be tied to the vision/mission through projects we create products, which then is valued by the consumer, listen to feedback Strategy - organizations create their strategic plan including the Mission Vision and val...

A good org has a mission, vision - doesnt change our strategy changes - but should be tied to the vision/mission through projects we create products, which then is valued by the consumer, listen to feedback Strategy - organizations create their strategic plan including the Mission Vision and values Objectives - based on the Strategic plan, organizations then create their strategic objectives Projects - to support the Strategic objectives, organizations identify strategic initiatives which are projects Products - projects create products and services Value - products deliver value to customers by addressing customer needs Feedback - customers provide feedback to the organization based on their experience. the feedback can be good or bad Benefit - the customer feedback, the organization can determine if the benefits are realized and update their strategy based on the benefits being realized or not we want projects to be aligned with the strategy, not random/self-serving if suggestion is denied, what can we do differently? Is the project tied to the Strategic plan? have similar projects been done? is there a business case? is there a project selection framework? how will the project benefit the organization? Timing is everything to be successful Sometimes a project may not be right if someone can do it better - you want to be the best at what you are doing - hedgehog method Strategic planning: senior Executives develop the Strategic plan; first step is to determine longer-term strategy, goals and objectives Business area analysis: directors and department managers analyze needs in their areas; second step is to analyze business processes Central to achieving strategic goals Project planning: various managers and stakeholders proposed projects; third step to Define potential projects that address the top two layers Resource allocation: authorized managers allocate resources to selected projects; last step to start choosing projects and assigning resources to them is the project feasible? SWOT entirely relates to the org strengths/weakness -internal opportunities/threats - external what is the org interested in? for profit - money How do we look to our stakeholders or those who are providing funding to us? what Financial Resources do we need to achieve this initiative? How do we look to our customers and other stakeholders? do we meet and exceed their expectations? As a result of this initiative will we save time, resources, and money? what internal processes must we excel at in order to attract and retain our customers and other key stakeholders? How do we keep getting better? what skills do our staff need for these initiatives? assign a weighting to qualities that matter to you EXAMPLE EXAMPLE Not every org/project will have a business case (also called executive summary) Can help with the justification for others’ buy-in Can find a template online sometimes a doc sometimes a powerpoint a. high-level overview b. what is the purpose of this project? what are we trying to solve? c. what is the problem? need? d. what resources are needed? Someone from the finance dept should help with this Accountable to the board - how did you spend the money? You want to recoup within 1-2years Year 1 - only spending money, no benefits - cash flow is only out (negative sign) The payback occurs in Year 3, cumulative cash flow is how much total since the beginning >watch language, payback happens in 2 years but happened in year 3 E.g., $10k has more ‘buying power’ in 2004 than it does in 2024 You make informed guesses (or hoping rather than predicting) surrounding benefits You make assumptions, and then do market research to feel where the weather is going Total Discounted Benefits: net present value PV = the discounted amount Look at the excel - example from earlier to get the ROI Returns = $80,000 (80,000-60,000) - 60,000 = 33% ???? this helps with risk management/analysis to decide between two projects Some orgs like higher or lower risk projects - you need to figure out which one makes sense and you are willing to take Example during COVID - likely that there will be travel restrictions Probabilities are the percentages ignore the actual numbers - pretend they were given to you by the powers that be - just look at the maths 5 process groups 10 knowledge areas 49 processes PMI knowledge 1st thing we do during the traditional approach business case happens by higher-ups relating to strategy/reasoning for project project charter means the project has been approved and we are now initiating gathers all possible information - PM responsibility - do your best Group assignment 1 - to use this template and fill out Development approach - traditional (critical path) vs agile vs hybrid Constraints - something preventing you or tying your hands (e.g., hard deadline) Risks - uncertainties Stakeholders - anyone impacted by or can impact the project The kickoff will look different based on the project, but the objective is to let stakeholders/project team know about the project and that you are leading it Scrum master product manager development team - they complete the tasks came from software terms Product manager works with the product sponsor to develop the vision - why are we here? this product or this service EXAMPLE rough draft of how we deliver the product we dont know a lot in the beginning, we are guessing the priorities are given so we know the order to do them in. you can complete one or a few at a time (see next slide) Can be month 1,2,3 or quarter, day, whatever they may be contingent on one another 1st column is who is doing/responsible for each task Rows are when the tasks are expected to be completed not all projects have a brief, but may have EXAMPLE - its a modified charter Objectives must be SMART goals