project management

closing processes

- close project or phase - close procurements

role of project manager

- communicating with stakeholders - generating project planning documents - assembling, motivating, and managing the project team - monitoring and reporting on project progress

external stakeholders

- external customers - government - subcontractors and suppliers

three basic guidelines should be followed when generating bottom up estimates

- have people familiar with the work make the estimate - if possible use several people to make estimates - estimates should be based on normal conditions and a normal level of resources - estimates should not make allowances for contingencies. the project manager or team will add buffer times and contingency funds to the project after estimates are collected and analyzed

functional organizations

- large organizations organized into various departments (human resources, accounting, procurement, marketing, sales, shipping) - success of projects within this type of organization depends on functional managers working together and cooperating

monitoring and controlling processes

- monitor and control project work - perform integrated change control - validate scope - control scope - control schedule - control costs - control quality - control communications - control risks

projectized organizations

- organizational energy and resources are focused on completing projects rather than ongoing operations - operations are minimal - PM has great authority over resources and personnel decisions - employees in this type of environment are able to focus their loyalty to a project rather than their particular discipline - most efficient organizational type for conducting projects, used in military, industrial, scientific fields- may last several years

identifying stakeholders

- project champion or sponsor - top management - functional managers - project team - shareholders and owners

strong matrix

- project has more direct control over resources and staffing, while functional manager will provide support to the project staff in terms of hiring, technical expertise, and professional development - PM has most authority and functional manager has least

what should be in a project charter?

background, business case, goals, key stakeholders, major milestones, project budget, constraints, assumptions, risks, project authorization

payback period

calculates the amount of time it will take to recover the costs of the project payback period = (cost of project)/(annual project/savings)

strategic projects

involve creating something new and innovative.

a dual hierarchy is the salient feature of a:

matrix structure

SMART criteria for projects

specific measurable assignable realistic time-related

maslow's hierarchy of needs

(bottom to top) 1. biological and physiological 2. safety 3. love and belongingness 4. esteem needs 5. self-actualization

work breakdown structure (WBS)

- Gives Clarity on the project needs in terms of deliverables and success criteria (it highlights the "what" of the project) - Organizes the project scope, puts a defined decomposing structure around it -Gives more simplicity and break-up of the activity to be performed using its each hierarchical decomposed level -Successively subdivides the scope into manageable components in terms of size, duration, and responsibility -Is a structured diagram portraying the hierarchical listing of overall project requirements into increasing levels of detail -Aids in assigning responsibilities, resource allocation, and monitoring and controlling the project -Is an important instrument for reviewing the decomposed scope (with defined deliverables) with the project stakeholders. It also gives a meaningful pictorial view of the scope and deliverables of the project.

crashing a project

- always involves adding resources, so the direct costs of the project will increase when a project is crashed - may lead to overall savings for the project if there are incentives for getting the project done on time (or avoiding penalties). savings can also be realized by a reduction in the total indirect costs (which accumulate with time) - in order to crash a project, the project managers evaluated which critical path tasks can be crashed for the least amount of money. depending on the complexity of the network, multiple tasks may have to be crashed in order to reduce the project time - crashing can be used to get a project back on track or can be used when planning to calculate the optimum schedule for the project - resource availability and staffing will have to be accounted for in a crashed schedule

project managers aligned with theory y

- believe that team members put forth their best efforts without being closely managed, will ask questions without prompting, have a desire to meet their goals, and will take responsibility for their work - will trust their team and not try to micromanage - will be able to establish trust with team members and lead them from the formation of a team to becoming a high performing team

history of project management

- can be traced back to the building of the pyramids in egypt - post-ww2 industrial boom of 1950s when project managers started to develop tools and techniques used in modern project management

initiating processes

- develop project charter - identify stakeholders

planning processes

- develop project management plan - plan scope management - collect requirements - define scope - create WBS - plan schedule management - define activities - sequence activities - estimate activity resources - estimate activity durations - develop schedule - plan cost management - estimate costs - determine budget - plan quality management - plan human resource management - plan communications management - plan risk management - identify risks - perform qualitative risk analysis - perform quantitative risk analysis - plan risk responses - plan procurement management - plan stakeholder management

executing processes

- direct and manage project work - perform quality assurance - acquire project team - develop project team - manage project team - manage communications - conduct procurements - manage stakeholder engagement

develop project charter inputs

- enterprise environmental factors (for example, organizational structure and culture) - project contract (if applicable) - project statement of work - organizational process assets (lessons learned from other projects, etc)

project management body of knowledge

- project integration management - project scope management - project time management - project cost management - project quality management - project human resource management - project communications management - project risk management - project procurement management - project stakeholder management

develop project charter tools

- project management information systems - project management methodologies (PMBOK standards for example) - project selection methods - expert judgement (the experience of project managers)

project scope triangle (primary constrains on any project)

- time: the amount of time we have to complete our project - cost: the budget for our project - scope: the features that our end product will have (pmi has added risk, quality, and resources to list of constraints)

matrix organizations

- tries to combine the strengths a functional organization provides for operations management with the strengths a projectized organization provides for project management - functional and project manager share authority and responsibility - employees can have 2 supervisors to which they have to report, breaking the rule of a solitary chain of command - employees have to balance their work between the needs of the projects they are working on, and their functional unit - supervisors may find that it is more difficult to achieve a consistent rate of progress since employees are often pulled in different directions - costs and communication channels can increase advantages: - significantly disrupts communication "silos" of a functional organization, creating a more horizontal structure for teams and increasing flow of information - allows people to concentrate on their areas of speciality, and bring that strength to current projects

project managers aligned with theory x

- will think that employees generally try to avoid work when they can, don't take responsibility for getting work done, and may be incompetent or incapable of performing good quality work - will try to micromanage their employees - often leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby employees become unmotivated because they are not trusted

characteristics of an effective project manager

1. great communication and interpersonal skills 2. knowledge of project management processes 3. supports his or her team members 4. welcomes new ideas 5. has a tolerance for ambiguity 6. creative problem solver

6 defining characteristics of a project

1. is a temporary endeavor, with a defined start and end 2. has a specific objective 3. has customers or stakeholders 4. has constraints, such as time, cost and scope 5. has measures for success 6. includes some amount of uncertainty

rough order of magnitude

rom estimates are made at the initiation of the project and can be +/- 50 percent from the actual or final cost

generic project management life cycle

starting the project --> organizing and preparing --> carrying out the work --> closing the project

how to create a WBS

step 1: list out the highest level requirements/scope deliverables step 2: break up each high level requirement into major deliverable categories step 3: break up each major deliverable into single or multiple measurable activities step 4: review work packages for completeness of scope coverage

why should an organization not rely on only ROI to select products?

strategic aspects of the project might yield a competitive advantage

one advantage to the balanced matrix operation for project management is:

successful project completion and maintenance of ongoing operations are given equal weight

pmi definition of project management

the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements

scope

the core need for all projects- this is the real thing that needs to be understood and implemented for the project the connecting factor for the rest of the project parameters of time, cost, resources, etc

simple average

the estimate for the optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time periods can be used to calculate a simple average. avetime = (a+m+b)/3

project portfolio management (ppm)

the method used to judge proposed projects based on an organization's strategic goals

program management

the process of managing all these coordinated projects

PMBoK stands for

the project management body of knowledge

tom is a project manager with the ABC corporation. each morning, and throughout the day, he checks up on his team members to make sure they are doing their job. which theory of motivation do you think tom's attitude best fits

theory x

jane is a project manager with the DEF corporation. each morning she goes straight to her work, trusting that the project team is working on what they need to and will ask her if they need guidance. which theory of motivation do you think jane's attitude best fits

theory y

a PMO is NOT used:

to replace the project manager as being responsible for the project

budget estimate

used in project planning and can be within a range from -10 to +25 percent from the actual or final cost

function point analysis

used to estimate time and labor costs in very large software projects. very similar to parametric estimating.

precedence diagram method (aka activity on node)

uses boxes (nodes) to represent activities, and arrows to show dependencies. once the network is diagrammed, we can calculate a # of important pieces of info: critical path slack time for non-critical activities early and late start times early and late finish times

parametric estimating (ratio method)

uses historical info or industry benchmarks as the basis for making an estimate. made by multiplying the size of a project by an established cost per unit.

analogous estimating

uses info form a previous project to estimate the cost of completing a similar project in the future. this provides a quick estimate, but should be used with caution. only works when comparing projects that are similar in scope and will be completed in similar conditions

fast-tracking

way to compress a project schedule w/out increasing direct costs. used: - before a project is started. good project managers will explore all the possibilities for the project network schedule. however, they need to use their expert judgement to balance the benefits of fast tracking with the risks (include increased cost and increased length of project) - when a project is falling behind and needs to get back on schedule usually activities can be fast-tracked up to 33%

when are the most expensive defects most likely to be introduced into a product?

when the product is being designed

the project team

works with the project manager to develop the project management plans, schedule the work of the project, acquire the needed resources, monitor project progress, and see the project through to its successful completion. team members may be devoted solely to working on the management aspects of a project, or may also be performing the work of the project. how well the project team works together will determine the success or failure of a project.

balanced matrix

PM & functional managers equally share authority over resources and staff. allows organization to experience "best of both worlds" by receiving benefits of a projectized organization and functional organization at the same time. challenges: - functional managers and PMs have to work well together and maintain regular communications - staff has 2 managers to whom they have to report, breaking the concept of the chain of command and organization - if functional and project managers have conflicting priorities, subordinates may be unable to meet expectations

work breakdown structure

a hierarchal decomposition of the scope/work that needs to be estimated and executed during the course of the project in order to accomplish the project objectives and deliverables has enormous strength and influence to convert complex requirements/scope into small and easier pieces for project estimation, planning, and execution

delphi technique

a method used to drive a group of experts to reach a consensus or at least come to a closer agreement.

PMI definition of a project

a project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result

program

a set of coordinated projects

dedicated project team

advantages: - organizations can maintain functional organization overall, while still having high performing teams - intense focus on the project - excellent use of time and money disadvantages: - where does the staff go after the project is over? - lack of support from functional organizations (harder to tap into that knowledge base) - antagonistic relations w/ functional operations can emerge

matrix

advantages: - project is made a priority (more focus on the project) - staff don't leave their functional groups - resources can be balanced between functional and project goals disadvantages: - violates the "chain of command" w/ employees reporting to 2 different managers - high level of cooperation and communication required between functional and project managers

functional organizational structure

advantages: - subject matter experts are well organized and have support of peers in their department - maximize efficiency in terms of ongoing operations disadvantages: - not focused on the project goals - inefficient use of time and money in regards to project goals - lack responsibility or ownership of the project

qualitative scoring methods for project selection

allow for the solicitation of input from many people about the projects up for review. there are 2 basic scoring methods: a simple checklist and a weighted scoring model

total slack

amount of time that a path in a project network can be delayed without causing a delay to the project completion date

free slack

amount of time that a task in a project network can be delayed without causing a delay to subsequent tasks

single point estimate

an estimate obtained from just one estimator. quick to generate and summarize a project plan. risk is that the estimator will overlook some aspect of the work and inadvertently provide an inaccurate estimate

one of your contractors sends you an email request to use high-quality raw materials in your project stating that this will be value-added and improve quality. what should the project manager do first?

ask the contractor to put forth a change request

three point estimate

asks estimator to provide 3 time estimates for each activity: - an optimistic time estimate - the most likely time estimate - a pessimistic time time estimate

agile project management

broad term for project management techniques that are iterative in nature. use short development cycles in which features of high value are developed first and a working project/software can be reviewed and tested at the end of the cycle (20-40 days) allows the customer to verify that the features are being developed as they want, and to suggest improvements also offers the customer the opportunity to release the product or software earlier than originally planned if the version presented at the end of a cycle is deemed good enough favored for software development

project priority matrix

can be used to make sure the trade-offs between time, scope, and cost are clear and that the project manager has some guidance on the project priorities

in which organizational form would the project manager process the least amount of authority?

classical/functional

economic scoring methods for project selection

compare the costs and benefits of different projects. all of these models are objective as long as the inputs are not biased

projects are usually classified into all but one of the following categories. which one is not one of the typical classifications?

compliance operational strategic POLITICAL NECESSITY

total cost of ownership

cost of operating or maintaining product after project is complete

sunk costs

costs that have been put into a project and can't be recovered

which of the following activities is NOT considered a project

developing a new software program designing a space station preparing the site for the olympic games PRODUCTION OF AUTOMOBILE TIRES developing a new advertising program

project charter

developing project charter is an initiating process designed to produce a document that outlines a project's framework and major goals, provides initial identification of project stakeholders and risks, and authorizes the project manager to move forward with the project. developing the project charter produces a clear mandate for a successful project

benefit-cost ratio

discounted value of benefits/discounted value of costs <1 costs are greater than benefits (reject) >1 benefits are greater than costs (highest should be selected) =1 project will break even

agile methods

extreme programming (xp) lean software development kanban scrum

definitive estimate

generated as the project progresses and the variability of the estimate is reduced. definitive estimates are within a range from -5 to +10 percent from the actual or final cost

operational projects

improve current operations

5 main groups of processes that are used in project management

initiating --> planning --> executing <--> monitoring and controlling --> closing

construction project life cycle

initiation --> planning --> execution --> closure

what is the duration of a milestone?

it has no duration

project selection methods

murder boards- group of experts attempt to murder a project proposal by pointing out its flaws and weaknesses qualitative scoring methods- scoring systems economic scoring methods- assess the ability of a project to help the bottom line, either by increasing profits or reducing costs constrained optimization methods- mathematically intensive means of analyzing a series of projects and are not easily generalized - linear programming - dynamic programming - branch and bound algorithms - integer programming

compliance projects

must be done in order to comply with an industry or governmental regulation or standard

arrow diagramming method

nodes or circles represent activity's start and stop time and also indicate the relationship between activities. major drawback: only shows finish-to-start relationships (a task must complete before the next task can begin, which is often not the case in complex projects)

stakeholders

not just those who are paying for, or will benefit from, our project. this includes anyone who can have an influence on our project.

net present value

one way to account for the time value of money in project selection.

portfolio

organizations typically keep a list of possible projects, and review this portfolio periodically to see if this is the right time to pursue a particular project

additional methods to reduce project time

outsource various tasks reduce scope reduce quality increase overtime have the owner take more responsibility do it twice: fast and then correctly

marketing project life cycle

planning --> risk analysis --> implementation --> evaluation

laddering

primarily used in situations where a lot of the project activities repeat, as in road construction, or building a series of houses in development, etc

PERT analysis

program evaluation and review technique. one of the first systems for diagramming and analyzing project networks. one PERT technique that is particularly useful is the one for analyzing the variability in project time estimates. estimate variability represents a substantial source of risk for any project. a PERT analysis can help project managers make better assumptions about the likely completion time for tasks and for the project. PERT analysis gives the project manager the info needed to address estimate variability by adding time buffers and allocating contingency funds

operations vs projects

project management- addresses temporary endeavors (constructing a new factory) operations management- focuses on improving ongoing operations (producing bicycle tires in that factory)

weak matrix

project manager has less over resources and people than functional managers. PM's may go by other titles such as project coordinator or scheduler

in which organizational form would the project manager process the greatest amount of authority

projectized

learning curves (improvement curves)

projects that require an activity to be repeated several times throughout the project will benefit from a so-called learning curve. are important when labor is one of our main resources.

software project life cycle

research --> design --> code --> test --> installation

tuckman's stages of team development

(left to right) 1. forming: group brought together for the first time. team is orienting themselves with task at hand. little agreement on how to approach project and team members may struggle with understanding purpose of project. project manager needs to provide guidance and direction 2. storming: team members trying to figure out roles in group. conflict and power struggles common. also a clearer vision for the group. project manager needs to provide support and coaching 3. norming: team will have developed a consensus regarding roles, processes and approach to work ahead. PM should participate by working as a facilitator for the group 4. performing: group has clear vision and purpose and is focused on meeting performance goals, project milestones, and other benchmarks. PM should be able to delegate more and more responsibility to the team, with less supervision 5. adjourning: project completed, team should collect lessons learned and transition to other projects or roles. PM should provide recognition of work done by the team and help them transition to their next project (provide recommendations, etc) *sometimes teams won't follow this model. dr. connie gersick observed a second model (phase 1, midpoint, phase 2)

fill in the blanks

1. recognizing the benefits that the project has by giving authority to the project manager, functional organizations often organize DEDICATED PROJECT TEAMS where a project manager can have authority over the staff assigned to that particular project 2. the most typical problem with a FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION project structure is that communication within the company can be rather rigid, making the organization slow and inflexible. communication in organizations with these structures can be rigid because of the standardized ways of operation and the high degree of formalization 3. project manager's authority is little or none in a functional organization or weak matrix 4. a project manager is primarily responsible for the project. functional managers provide technical expertise and assign resources as needed in a STRONG MATRIX 5. in a BALANCED MATRIX power is shared equally between the project manager and functional managers. it brings the best aspects of functional and projectized organizations. however, this is the most difficult system to maintain as the sharing of power is a delicate proposition 6. among all 3 matrix organizations, the project manager's authority is the weakest in a WEAK MATRIX 7. among all 3 matrix organizations, the functional manager's authority is the weakest in a STRONG MATRIX

organizational structures

3 broad structures by which an organization can be organized: functional (PM has very little authority), matrix, projectized (PM's have very broad power)