PMI Book Head First

Steps to "Cooking up a project"

1. Figure out what you're going to make. 2. Make all of your plans. Make a list of everything you need. 3. Start cooking (Execute). Maintain 4. Deliver the good.

PM Job Hunting Checklist

1. I should have authority over my own projects 2. I am allowed to assign work to people on my project team. 3. I am in control of my project's budget. 4. I focus on managing projects, not irrelevant tasks. 5. I shouldn't spend my whole day filing stuff. 6. I can assign work to my project team without having to clear it with their bosses.

Order of process groups

1. Initiation: Figure out what the high level goals of the project are 2. Planning : this is where you figure out how you will do the work. 3. Execution: Where work gets done 4. Monitoring & Controlling : Tracking the work, looking for problems, and fixing them before they derail your project 5. Closing: Fill out your final paperwork, and get paid.

Needs (Pre-Process Groups)

Figure out what you need.

Choose neglected characteristic: Your project was delivered early but it didn't have all of the features that the customers asked for. The VP had suggested a new requirements gathering technique but the PM shot it down because he'd never heard of it

Knowledge: If you pay attention to what's going on in the field of project management, you can learn from everyone's successes and mistakes so that you can be better at your job.

Project or operation Going to a gym 3 times a week

Operation

Program, Portfolio, or Project? A company wanted to build a better reporting interface so that it could have more accurate data on year- end goals.

Project

What defines a stakeholder?

Someone who is affected positively or negatively by the cost, time, scope, resource, risk, or quality of your project.

Projectized organization

Teams are organized around projects. Project maangers estimate and track budget and schedule. Project managers choose the team members, and release them when the project is over.

Portfolio definition

■ A portfolio is a collection of projects or programs.

The way teams are run in functional vs projectized organizations example (book-keepers)

A bookkeeping project run by the Admin department: The head of Admin is the one ultimately responsible for what happens to the project. If a project manager is called to help out, she's just there to keep things straight for the Admin department manager. The team members report to the Admin department manager. That's a functional organization. Bookkeeping project run by a consulting company that specializes in bookkeeping, contracted to do a job. They would assemble a team of bookkeepers and assign a project manager to lead them. When the project was over, the team would dissolve, and the team members would go join other teams working for the other project managers. That's how a projectized organization works. The team is organized around a project and not around a job function.

Portfolio

A group of projects or programs that are linked together by a business goal. If an architecture firm was venturing into remodelling existing buildings as well as designing new ones, they might split their firm's efforts into separate New Construction and Remodelling portfolios since the goals for each are quite different

Program

A group of projects that are closely linked, to the point where managing them together provides some benefit. The ifrm knows from experience that creating huge skyscrapers is dramatically different than building residential homes, so residential home construction would be its own separate program. Projects in a program are often dependent on each other. Program management focuses on these interdependences

On PMP exams mentioning a PM, assume that the question is asking about what kind of organization?

A matrix organization, unless it states which kind of organization is being described. Functional organizations are typically painted in a negative light, because they tend to give less authority to project maangers.

Which organization does the PMP exam assume you work within

A matrix organization.

3. An energy company is investing in a series of initiatives to look for alternative energy sources so that the company can be competitive in 10 years. The initaitives are tracked and managed together because this goal is vital to the success of the company. This is an example of...

A portfolio ( book says portfolio, but I believe this is an error, maybe program? Ah if they're tracked together because of a shared business goal that is a portfolio, if tracked together because of efficiency improvements, program) Since the initiatives are being managed together because of a strategic business goal, you can tell that this is a portfolio. Portfolios are organized around business goals and programs are organized around a shared benefit in managing them together.

Program definition

A program is a collection of projects that should be managed together in order to achieve a specific goal or benefit to the company.

Program definition

A program is a group of projects that are managed together because of a shared benefit. A program has projects that need to be managed together.

Operation definition

A project gathers a team together to do work that's temporary, creates a unique result, and is progressively elaborated.

Project definition

A project gathers a team together to do work that's temporary, creates a unique result, and is progressively elaborated.

Ch 2 Exam Q Which of the following is NOT an example of operational work? A. Building a purchase order system for accounts payable B. Submitting weekly purchase orders through a purchase order system C. Deploying weekly anti-virus software updates D. Yearly staff performance evaluations

A. Building a purchase order system for account payable Building a purchase order system for accounts payable is a project. It's a temporary effort that has a unique result.

Ch2 Exam: A project coordinator is having trouble securing programmers for her project. Every time she asks her boss to give a resource to the project he says that they are too busy to help out with her project. Which type of organization is she working in? A. Functional B. Weak Matrix C. Strong Matrix D. Projectized

A. Functional Project "coordinator" tips me off here. Since the project manager has to ask permission from the functional manager and can't overrule him, she's working in a functional organization.

Which process group contains the Develop Project Charter process and the Identify Stakeholders process? A. Initiating B. Executing C. Monitoring and Controlling D. Closing

A. Initiating The first things that are created on a project are the charter (which you create in the Develop Project Charter process) and the Stakeholder Register (which you create in the Identify Stakeholders process). You do those things when you're initiating the project.

You're a project manager for a construction project. You've just finished creating a list of all of the people who will be directly affected by the project. What process group are you in? A. Initiating B. Planning C. Executing D. Monitoring & Controlling

A. Initiating; this is where you come up with the list of stakeholders (Identify Stakeholders) People who will be directly affected by the project are stakeholders, and when you're creating a list of them you're performing the Identify Stakeholders process. That's one of the two processes in the Initiating process group.

8. You're managing a project to remodel a kitchen. You use earned value calculations to figure out that you're going to run $500 over budget if your project continues at the current rate. Which of the following core characteristics of a project manager are you using to find the problem? A. Knowledge B. Performance C. Personal D. None of the above

A. Knowledge Your knowledge of Earned Value Management techniques is how you can predict that the project will be over budget. Knowing that could let you plan ahead to avoid further cost overruns. Minimally, it can help you to reset expectations with your stakeholders so they have a better idea of what's coming.

Q:Is every knowledge area in only one process group?

A: Every process belongs to exactly one process group, and every process is in exactly one knowledge area. But a knowledge area has lots of processes in it, and they can span some, or all, of the groups. Think of the processes as the core information in the PMBOK® Guide, and the process groups and knowledge areas as two different ways of grouping these processes

Q: Can a process be part of more than one process group?

A: No, each of the processes belongs to only one process group. The best way to figure out which group a process belongs to is to remember what that process does. If the process is about defining high-level goals of the project, it's in Initiating. If it's about planning the work, it's in Planning. If you are actually doing the work, it's in Executing. If you're tracking the work and finding problems, it's in Monitoring & Controlling. And if you're finishing stuff off after you've delivered the product, that's Closing.

Q: Do you do all of the processes in every project?

A:Not always. Some of the processes only apply to projectized organizations or subcontracted work, so if your company doesn't do that kind of thing, then you won't need those processes. But if you want to make your projects come out well, then it really does make sense to use the processes. Even a small project can benefit from taking the time to plan out the way you'll handle all of the knowledge areas. If you do your homework and pay attention to all of the processes, you can avoid most of the big problems that cause projects to run into trouble!

Q: Can you use the same input in more than one process?

A:Yes. There are a lot of inputs that show up in multiple processes. For example, think about a schedule that you'd make for your project. You'll need to use that schedule to build a budget, but also to do the work! So that schedule is an input to at least two processes. That's why it's really important that you write down exactly how you use each process, so you know what its inputs and outputs are.

Proccess Framework definition

All of the work you do on a project is made up of processes. Includes Process groups and knowledge areas

Monitoring & Controlling process group

Another large part of the project management. Keep an eye on everything that's happening and adjust processes as needed. So as you're mixing, check that the consistency is right and you keep an yee on the oven temperature while baking. Is in a feedback look with the executing process group. Of the 42 process, these belong to planning (when a process starts with "control" it belongs in the Monitoring & Controlling section): 1. Control Scope 2. Control Schedule 3. Monitor and Control Project Work

Project

Any work that produces a specific result as is temporary. Projects always have a beginning and an end. Building a house is a classic example of a project. Projects can be part of programs or portfolios, but portfolios and programs can't be part of a project

A stakeholder is: What responsibility does the project manager have wrt stakeholders?

Anyone affected by the outcome of your project. People affected: - The sponsor who's paying for the project - The team who'se building it. - The people in management that give the project the green light. A project manager's job is to find all of the stakeholders who are influential in their project, and keep them updated on where the project is going. Making sure that stakeholder expectations are managed can be the difference between your project succeeding and failing.

Enterprise Environmental Factors

Apply to organization of all sizes. It's the set of external factors that can impact how you manage your project Involve 5 factors: 1. People: The skills and organizational culture where you work 2. Market: The way your company is performing in the market can affect the way you manage your project 3. Databases: Where you company stores its data can make a big difference in the decisions you make on your project. 4. Risk Tolerance: Some companies are highly tolerant of risks, while others are risk averse. 5. Standards: Some companies depend on government standards to run their business, and when those standards change, there may be a big impact

5. Which of the following is NOT a Process Group? A. Monitoring and Controlling B. Gathering Requirements C. Initiating D. Closing

B. Gathering Requirements The process groups categorize all of the activities that a project goes through in its lifecycle. They are Initiatng, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing.

A project manager is running a software project that is supposed to be delivered in phases. She was planning on dividing the resources into two separate teams to do the work for two phases at the same time, but one of her senior developers suggested that she use an Agile methodology instead, and she agrees. Which of the following BEST describes the relationship between her project's phases? A. Sequential relationship B. Iterative relationship C. Constrained relationship D. Overlapping relationship

B. Iterative: Agile = iterative Agile development is a really good example of an iterative approach to project phases. In an Agile project, the team will typically break down the project into phases, where they work on the current phase while planning out the next one.

Ch 2 Exam Q: Which of the following is NOT a Project Constraint? A. Quality B. Scale C. Time D. Cost

B. Scale Scale is not a project constraint. The constraints are Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Resource, and Risk.

Ch2 Exam Q: Which of the following is used for identifying people who are impacted by the project? A. Resource List B. Stakeholder Register C. Enterprise Environmental Factors D. Project Plan

B. Stakeholder Register This lists all of the stakeholders you foresee (people affected positively or negatively by your project & its 6 constraints) The stakeholder register is where you identify all of the people who are impacted by your project.

2. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a project? A. Temporary B. Strategic C. Specific result D. Progressively elaborated

B. Strategic A project doesn't have to be strategic or critical. It only needs to be temporary, have a specific result and be progressively elaborated.

CH2 Exam: A project manager is having trouble securing programmers for her project. Every time she asks the programming manager for resources for her project, he says they're all assigned to other work. So she is constantly having to go over his head to overrule him. Which type of organization is she working for? A. Functional B. Weak Matrix C. Strong Matrix D. Projectized

B. Strong Matrix The Project Manager in this scenario can overrule the functional manager, so she's working in a Strong Matrix organization. If it were a projectized organization, she wouldn't have to get permission from the functional manager at all because she'd be the person with authority to assign resources to projects.

Which of the following is NOT true about overlapping phases? A. Each phase is typically done by a separate team B. There's an increased risk of delays when a later phase can't start until an earlier one ends C. There's an increased risk to the project due to potential for rework D. Every phase must go through all five process groups

B. There's an increased risk of delays when a later phase can't start until an earlier one ends The phases aren't sequential so this isn't as much of an issue If there's an increased risk of a project because one phase can't start until another one ends, that means your project phases aren't overlapping. When you've got overlapping phases, that means that you typically have multiple teams that start their phases independently of each other. Also, take another look at answer C, because it's an important point about overlapping phases. When your phases have an overlapping relationship, there's an increased risk of rework. This typically happens when one team delivers the results of their project, but made assumptions about what another team is doing as part of their phase. When that other team delivers their work, it turns out that the results that both teams produced aren't quite compatible with each other, and now both teams have to go back and rework their designs. This happens a lot when your phases overlap, which is why overlapping phases have an increased risk of rework.

Portfolios contain

Both programs and projects. A portfolio manager monitors the combined performance of all of the programs and projects to tell how the portfolio is doing

The project manager for a construction project discovers that a new water line is being created in the neighborhood where he's managing a project. Company policy requires that a series of forms for city environmental changes need to be filled out before his team can continue work on the project. This is an example of: A. A portfolio B. A program C. An enterprise environmental factor D. A project

C. An enterprise environmental factor Since the project manager is filling out forms because of company policy, this is a good example of an enterprise environmental factor.

Exam 3 Q: You're a project manager working on a software engineering project. The programmers have started building the software, and the testers have started to create the test environment. Which process group includes these activities? A. Initiating B. Planning C. Executing D. Closing

C. Executing The Executing process group is the one where the team does all the work. You'll get a good feel for the process groups pretty quickly!

10. A project manager is having trouble with his project because one of his team members is not performing, which is causing him to miss an important date he promised to a stakeholder. He discovers that the team member knew about the project problem, but didn't tell him because the team members are all afraid of his bad temper. Which BEST describes how the project manager can avoid this situation in the future? A. Increasing his knowledge of the PMBOK® Guide B. Measuring personal performance C. Improving his personal skills D. Managing stakeholder expectations

C. Improving his personal skills The way that the project manager interacts with the people on his team interfered with his work getting done. This is a good example of how a lack of personal skills can lead directly to major project problems down the line, and it's why this particular project manager needs to work on his personal skills.

Ch2 Exam: You want to know specifically which business goal a group of projects and programs are going to accomplish. Which is the best place to look for this information? A. Project Plan B. Project Charter C. Portfolio Charter D. Program Charter

C. Portfolio Charter A portfolio charter will give the business goal that a group of projects and programs will accomplish as part of a portfolio.

A project manager runs into a problem with her project's contractors, and she isn't sure if they're abiding by the terms of the contract. Which knowledge area is the BEST source of processes to help her deal with this problem? A. Cost Management B. Risk Management C. Procurement Management D. Communications Management

C. Procurement Management The Procurement Management knowledge area deals with contracts, contractors, buyers and sellers. If you've got a question about a type of contract or how to deal with contract problems, you're being asked about a Procurement Management process.

9. At the beginning of a project, a software team project manager is given a schedule with everyone's vacations on it. She realizes that because the software will be delivered to the QA team exactly when they have overlapping vacations, there is a serious risk of quality problems because there won't be anyone to test the software before it goes into production. What BEST describes the constraint this places on the project? A. Quality constraint B. Time constraint C. Resource constraint D. Risk constraint

C. Resource constraint This is a resource constraint, because the project manager's resources - in this case, the people who will be testing the software - are not going to be available to her when she needs them. Yes, this will cause problems with the quality, introduce risks, and cause schedule problems. But they're not schedule, time or risk constraints, because there's no outside limitation placed on the project quality, schedule or risks. The only outside limitation is the resource availability. If they were available, there wouldn't be a problem!

Which of the following is NOT a project? A. Repairing a car B. Building a highway overpass C. Running an IT support department D. Filming a motion picture

C. Running an IT support department. This is ongoing, no start or finish, so is a The work of an IT support department doesn't have an end date—it's not temporary. That's why it's not a project. Now, if that support team had to work over the weekend to move the data center to a new location, then that would be a project!

Ch 2 Exam Q: A project manager is running a data center installation project. He finds that his stakeholder is angry because he's run over his budget because the staff turned out to be more expensive than planned. The stakeholder's unhappy that when the project is over, the servers won't have as much drive space as he needs. Which of the following constraints was not affected by this problem? A. Quality B. Resource C. Time D. Cost

C. Time There is no mention of the project being late or missing its deadlines in the example. The project was over budget, which affects the project's cost. The project won't meet the stakeholder's requirements, which is a quality problem. And the staff was more expensive than planned, which is a resource problem.

Closing process group

Closing out a project means making sure you get paid. And closing out a recipe means making sure you get to eat good food! Of the 42 process, these belong to planning: 1. Close project

Which knowledge area: Making sure that everybody knows what they need to know to do the job right. Tracking how people talk to each other and dealing with gaps if they happen.

Communication Management

Projectized organization typical business

Contractors and consulting companies are usually organized as projectized organizations.

Constraint affected: The project manager didn't take software license fees into account, which caused the budget to balloon out of control.

Cost It's the project manager's job to always look after the bottom line.

Project definition: measurability

Creating a unique result When you create the product of your project, it is measurable. If you start a project to create a piece of software or build a building, you can tell that software or that building from any other one that has been produced.

CH2 Exam Q: Your manager asks you where to find a list of projects that should be managed together. What is the BEST place to find this information? A. Project Plan B. Project Charter C. Portfolio Charter D. Program Charter

D. A program is a group of projects that should be managed together because of interdependencies. A program charter fits the description in this question.

7. Which of the following is NOT true about portfolio management? A. The portfolio manager judges success of the portfolio by combining data from all of its programs and projects B. A portfolio can contain projects and programs C. A portfolio is organized around a business goal D. A portfolio is always a group of programs

D. A portfolio is always a group of programs. (remember that projects are not always grouped together into programs, so portfolios can consist of both projects and programs) Remember: A portfolio is a group of projects or programs that are linked together by a business goal. A portfolio manager will monitor the combined performance of all of the programs and projects to tell how the portfolio is doing. Since a portfolio can be a group of programs and projects, option D is the one that's not true. It can be a group of programs, but it doesn't have to be.

6. Which of the following is NOT a knowledge area? A. Scope B. Integration C. Procurement D. Initiating

D. Initiating Initiating is a process group, not a knowledge area. The process groups help you to think about all of the different stages a project goes through from the time it is first imagined until it is completed. The knowledge areas are all the things you need to think about as your project goes through those stages.

You're the project manager for an industrial design project. Your team members report to you, and you're responsible for creating the budget, building the schedule, and assigning the tasks. When the project is complete, you release the team so they can work on other projects for the company. What kind of organization do you work in? A. Functional B. Weak matrix C. Strong matrix D. Projectized

D. Projectized In a projectized organization, the project manager has the power to assign tasks, manage the budget, and release the team.

4. Which of the following is NOT a responsibility of a project manager? A. Managing stakeholder expectations B. Managing project constraints C. Gathering product requirements D. Sponsoring the project

D. Sponsoring the project (the sponsor does this) The sponsor is the person who pays for the project. The project manager doesn't usually play that role.

2. Which of the following is not a stakeholder? A. The project manager who is responsible for building the project B. A project team member who will work on the project C. A customer who will use the final product D. A competitor whose company will lose business because of the product

D. The competitors The project manager, the team, the sponsor (or client), the customers and people who will use the software, the senior managers at the company—they're all stakeholders. Competitors aren't stakeholders, because even though they're affected by the project, they don't actually have any direct influence over it.

You're a project manager working in a weak matrix organization. Which of the following is NOT true? A. Your team members report to functional managers B. You are not in directly charge of resources C. Functional managers make decisions that can affect your projects D. You have sole responsibility for the success or failure of the project

D. You have sole responsibility for the success or failure of the project n a weak matrix, project managers have very limited authority. They have to share a lot of responsibility with functional managers, and those functional managers have a lot of leeway to make decisions about how the team members are managed. In an organization like that, the project manager isn't given a lot of responsibility. This is why you're likely to find a project expediter in a weak matrix

Project phases: definition

Each phase of the project goes through all five process groups, from Initiating to Closing. The end of a phase is typically a natural point where you want to assess the work that's been done, so that you can hand it off to the next phase.

Project constraints

Every project has this. Time, scope, cost, quality, resources, and risk are the 6 types of constraints If the PM doesn't manage these constraints at the same time, the project will be either late, over budget, or unacceptable to her customers.

Iteration in phases

Executing one phase while planning the next. You would use this when dealing with an uncertain environemnt, or when rapid change. Between sequential and overlapping. It mean you have one team that's performing the initating and planning processes for one phase of the project, while also doing Executing process for the prvious phase. That way when the processes in the Executing and Closing process groups are finished, the team can jupm straight into the next phase's Executing processes. Really effective way to run certain kinds of software projects. Agile software development is based on the iterative phases.

A bird's-eye view of a project

First you get assigned to a project -Here's where every project or sub-project begins - This is done by the process in the Initiating group Then you plan out all the work that will get done Then you make sure the work is done properly, dealing with changes along the way -Three Executing and Monitoring & Controlling processes make sure the project runs smoothly And once it's finished, you close out the project Every project follows the same kind of pattern. First it gets initiated, then planned, then executed (and monitored), and finally closed. That's why the process groups are so useful—they're a good way to think about how you do the work. For a large project, you'll often see this pattern repeated several times. Each major chunk of deliverables is treated as its own sub-project that goes through all of the process groups and processes on its own. - So you always need to use the processes in the Closing group, even when it's a sub-project of a larger project

What kind of organization is the interviewer looking for? We're looking for someone who can work with our development manager to deliver our products on time. We have a good programming team; they just need a little encouragement to meet their deadlines. You'll be expected to keep really good status meeting notes. If you run into any trouble with the team, just kick it back to the Dev Manager, and she'll address the problem.

Functional organization - This is just like Kate's job. This "Project Manager" is really a project expediter, no authority.

Functional vs Projectezied Organization

Functional organization: - Project managers don't have the authority to make major decisions on projects in a functional organization. - In a functional organization, the teams working on the project don't report directly to the project manager. Instead the teams are in departments, and the project manager needs to borrow them for the project In functional organizations: Project managers spend half their time doing admin tasks Project managers need to clear major decisions with department managers. Project managers don't set the budget Projectized organization: - Projectized organiztions give all of the authority for projects over to the Project Manager - In Projectized organizations, the team reports to the project manager, who has a lot more authority.

Functional organization

Functional organizations are set up to give authority to functional managers. P

A day in the life of a project manager

Gather product requirements Being a project manager almost always means figuring out what you're going to build. It's one of the first things you do when you start to plan the project! But as you go, you are always learning more and more. Sometimes that can mean changes to your product, while other times it's just more detail on what you already knew. Manage stakeholder expectations There are a lot of people involved in making most projects happen: the team that actually does the work, the people who pay for it, everybody who will use the product when you're done, and everybody who might be impacted by the project along the way. Those people are called your stakeholders. And a big part of the PM's job is communicating with everybody and making sure their needs are met. Deal with project constraints Sometimes there will be constraints on the project that you'll need to deal with. You might start a project and be told that it can't cost more than $200,000. Or it absolutely MUST be done by the trade show in May. Or you can only do it if you can get one specific programmer to do the work. Or there's a good chance that a competitor will beat you to it if you don't plan it well. It's constraints like that that make the job more challenging, but it's all in day's work for a project manager.

Which knowledge area: Knowing how much you're able to invest in the project and making sure you spend it right.

How well you keep to your budget can be the difference between success and failure for your project.

Which knowledge area: Getting the people to work on the team and helping them stay motivated. Rewarding them for a job well done and resolving conflicts that come up.

Human resource management: Since the PMBOK® Guide covers projectized organizations, it talks about actually acquiring your team as a process, too. People in most organizations don't get a chance to do that. The team is often determined by the time you get assigned to it.

If question on pmp exam doesn't state an organization, do what:

If a question on the exam doesn't state an organization type, assume it's referring to a matrix organization. That means the PM is responsible for making budgets, assigning tasks to resources, and resolving conflicts.

Quality Constraint

If your product doesn't do what its supposed to do you wont succeed.

Project phases: When would you use project phases?

If your project is really big, or has to be done in stages becuase of external constraints

In a functional organization, functional managers have how much of the power?

In a functional organization, functional managers have all the power.

In a projectized organization, how much power do the project managers have?

In a projectized organization project managers have all the power.

Functional organization: 6 point definition relating to project managers

In this kind of organization, project team members always report to a functional manager, who calls all the shots. Project management decisions need to be cleared with functional managers. Project managers are assistants to the functional managers, in getting the work done. Project managers spend a lot of time doing administrative tasks and often only work as PM's part of the time You're likely to find project expediters in functional organizations. All of the project work typically happens within a particular department, and that department's manager is completely in charge of everything.

Initiating process group

Initiate your project- research and decide what you're going to build and fulfill the project's needs Develop project charter Identify Stakeholders

Q:It seems like the Initiating and Planning process groups would be the same. How are they different?

Initiation is high level Planning is more detail oriented A: Initiating is everything you do when you first start a project. You start by writing down (at a very high level) what the project is going to produce, who's in charge of it, and what tools they need to do the work. In a lot of companies, the project manager isn't even involved in a lot of this. Planning just means going into more detail about all of that as you learn more about it, and writing down specifically how you're going to do the work. The Planning processes are where the project manager is really in control and does most of the work.

Input,output, or tool: You log in and check your company's vacation calendar to see how much vacation time you have for your trip.

Input

Input,output, or tool:You verify your bank account balance to make sure you have enough money to pay for everything.

Input You had to know this to know how much you could spend on your trip. It's an input.

Input,output, or tool:You have some hotel reservation documents you created on the travel web site, too. You'll use those when you check into your hotel.

Input and Output

Which knowledge area: Coordinating all of the work so that it happens correctly. Making sure changes are approved before they happen.

Integration management This knowledge area includes processes to direct and manage project work as well as monitor and control it.

List the Knowledge areas

Integration: Making sure all the right parts of the project come together in the right order, at the right time Time:Preparation and cooking time Quality:Checking that the cookies taste right Communication: Making sure you're not mixing metric and imperial measurements Scope: Could you have decorate the cookies? Or made more batches? Cost: Budgeting for the cookie project Human Resource:Making sure your schedule is clear and your honey is going to be home on time Risk: Could you burn the cookies or yourself on the range? Are the eggs fresh? Procurement: Selecting the right store to supply your ingredients

What characteristics must a project possess to be considered a project?

It only needs to be temporary, have a specific result and be progressively elaborated.

Project Expediter vs Project Manager

Kate's job is to document what's happening on a project, but she doesn't have the authority to make decisions on it. The PMBOK® Guide calls this role a project expediter. She may work on projects, but she's certainly not managing anything.

Kate's being asked to do operational work:

Kate: Hi, Ben. I'm excited to be here. It's such a relief to be hired as a project manager, and not just a project expediter any more. Ben: We're excited too, since you'll be taking care of our main software development project. It's in maintenance mode right now. Kate: Sounds great. How do we handle that here? Ben: Well, we're constantly getting business reports from the field, and when people think of new ideas, we just add them to the project. Kate: Umm... So how do you know when you're done? Ben: We're never really done; we try to release new versions as often as possible.

In a functional organizations project managers have high or low authority compared to matrixed or projectized organizations?

Low authority, impact, comapred to matrixized or projectized organizations. Project managers in a functional organization are not responsible for success and failure of a project, nor have much influence on the team, budget, and schedule for those projects.

Ranch Hand games: Porfolio Charter

Market research shows that console gaming and PC gaming will not increase as fast as the online market in the coming fiscal year. Ranch Hand has launched a number of programs to target the online gaming market and increase our market share by 10% in the next 15 months. The following Programs and Project are included: Programs: * Online Arcade Program * Online Gaming Sales and Marketing Program * Server Upgrade Program Projects: *Cows Gone Wild II *Zarthak and the Flugelhorn

What kind of organization is the interviewer looking for? We have a project coming up that's needed by our customer service team. The project is a real technical challenge for us, so we've assembled a team of top-notch programmers to come up with a good solution. We need a project manager to work with the programming manager on this one. You would be responsible for the schedule, the budget, and managing the deliverables. The programming manager would have the personnel responsibilities.

Matrix Share authority between the project manager and the functional manager

Matrix organizations

Matrix organizations share responsibility and authority between

Portfolio Manager Role

Monitors the combined performance of all of the programs and projects to tell how the portfolio is doing

Do project coordinators and expediters exist in a projectized organization

No

Is an itinerary a plan?

No because it doesn't detail any of the problems that could arise in the course of a project. The plan does.

Q: I've heard of an old saying: "Faster, cheaper, better—pick two," but doesn't that mean that there are only two constraints that you can manage at any given time?

No, that's an old (and somewhat cynical) project management saying. When a project manager says it to a customer or stakeholder, what he is saying is that there's no way to reduce cost, shorten the schedule, and increase quality all at the same time. At least one of those things absolutely has to give... but the saying is a little disingenuous! We already know that all six of the constraints are related to each other, and there's almost never an easy, obvious trade-off where you can sacrifice one to improve the others.

Do project constraints just mean restrictions on time and cost?

No. A project constraint is any limitation that's placed on your project before you start doing the work. It's true that project managers are really familiar with time and cost constraints, because those are really common. But there are lots of other kinds of constraints, too. Example: Let's say that some of your team members won't be availble for three weeks because they have to attend a mandatory training session. That's called a resource constraint, because some of your project resources (people you need) are restricted. There are lots of other kinds of constraints, too: risk constraints, scope constraints, and quality constraints.

Identify Stakeholders

One of the first steps of starting a project is to figure out who your stakeholders are and write down their goals and expectations in Stakeholder Register. That's part of the "Identify Stakeholders Process". Even though you do this work up front, you'll find new stakeholders are always popping up, and you'll need to make changes to your Stakeholer Register to include them as you learn about them.

When should you think about a project?

One of the keys of project management is thinking a project through before starting the work, so problems that could arise down the line are anticipated ahead of time. That's why so much of project management is spent planning.

Project or operation Running an assembly line

Operation

Project or operation Shelving books at library

Operation (no defined end point)

Project vs Operation (Operation Definition)

Operations are ongoing. If you're building cars on an assembly line, that's a process. If you're designing and building a prototype of a specific car model, that's a project.

Input,output, or tool: You create an itinerary on a travel web site. You'll use the itinerary when you board your flight.

Output and Input The itinerary was an output of the Develop Project Management Plan process but an input to the Direct and Manage Project Work process.

The project was late because the team cut corners that led to sloppy work, and they had to go back and fix all of their mistakes.

Performance

The project manager refused to learn to use the scheduling software and templates the company had bought for the team. Instead, he kept track of the schedule in his head and on his whiteboard. Near the end of the project, he realized that he'd forgotten about some important tasks and his ship date slipped by two months.

Performance or Knowledge

Choose neglected characteristic: The project was late because the team couldn't meet the company's standards for productivity. They were always coming into work late and leaving early and taking long lunches. It seemed like the project manager just didn't think the project was important.

Performance: You and your team will have to work hard to deliver a successful project, too.

The project team had so many conflicts about the project that they couldn't work together. They made decisions that undercut each other, and in the end they couldn't deliver anything at all.

Personal Skills

The project manager thought his job was to meet the deadline above all else. So he demanded that the product be released on the date it was due, regardless of quality. The team wanted to create a high quality product, and they fought with the PM throughout the project to try to get him to change his mind. In the end, the team washed their hands of the product after it was released and refused to support it.

Personal Skills : Since you're managing people, you've got to pay attention to what motivates them and what makes things harder on them. Your job as a PM is to make personal connections with your team and help keep everybody on the right track.

Program, Portfolio, or Project? A consulting company wanted to increase the amount of billable time for each consultant so they started several company-wide programs to help consultants to get more productivity out of each year.

Portfolio

Program, Portfolio, or Project? A software game company wanted to build up its online presence. So, it started several marketing and sales initiatives, created some new games, and re-wrote some old ones in order to reach more gamers online.

Portfolio

Which knowledge area: Finding contractors to help you do the work. Setting the ground rules for their relationships with your company.

Procurement management Procurement management is all about selecting suppliers,contractors, and vendors, and setting up contracts with them.

Program, Portfolio, or Project? A university wanted to build admissions web sites for all of their departments. They realized that all of the sites would be feeding into the same registration interface and decided to manage all of them together in order to save time.

Program

Program, Portfolio, or Project? A company wanted to switch from a paper-based Human Resources group to a software-based one. They spent some time looking into the best software packages for the job, and decided to manage all of the HR functions together since they needed the same people to help with all of the work.

Program (sharing)

Project definition: Progressively elaborated

Progressively elaborated You learn more and more about a project as it goes on. When you start, you have goals and a plan, but there is always new information to deal with as your project goes on and you'll always have to make decisions to keep it on track. While you do your best to plan for everything that will happen, you know that you will keep learning more about your project as you go.

Program, Portfolio, or Project? A construction company bid on several parking garage projects at the same time. They won one of the bids and built the garage a month under schedule and $5000 under budget.

Project

Project or operation Baking a wedding cake

Project

Project or operation Organizing a large conference

Project

Project or operation? 1. Building an extension on your house

Project

Ranch Hand Games: Project Charter

Project Description: Cows Gone Wild II This is a follow up to the hugely successful Cows Gone Wild title. It will include an online gaming component. Project Requirements * Must allow for up to 8 online players per team * Real time text and voice communication between players Summary Milestone Schedule Requirements complete Mar 4 Code complete Jun 1 Alpha release for internal testing Jun 20 Beta release Aug 31 General release Nov 15

Ranch Hand Games: Program Charter

Project Description: The online Arcade Program. This is a targeted re-write of all our early games from late 1980's. Since many of thse games were created using shared code, they'll need to be managed together to make configuration management easier and coordinate development activities. Projects: - - -

Balanced Matrix Organization: 3 Point Definition

Project Managers share authority with the functional managers Project Managers run their people-management decisions by the functional managers, but the functional manager runs his project decisions by the Project Manager as well. Folks who work in a balanced matrix organization report to a Project Manager AND a functional manager equally.

Project coordinators: Definition

Project coordinators are like expediters, except that coordinators typically report to higher-level managers and have some decision-making ability. Expediters have no authority at all.

Project expediter vs project coordinator bullet points

Project expediter keeps track of project status only. Project coordinator and usually reports to someone higher up in the company. Neither role has as much power or authority as a real project manager, even though they may have "Project Manager" written on their business cards.

Strong Matrix Definition

Project managers have more authority than functional managers but the team still reports to both managers The team might be judged based on performance on their projects as well as on their functional expertise. In a strong matrix, delivery the project is most important.

Weak Matrix : 3 point definition

Project managers have some authority, but they aren't in charge of the resources of the project. Major decisions still need to be made with the functional manager's cooperation or approval. Project expediters (like Kate) and project coordinators can work in weak matrix organizations too.

Integration Management process definition:

Project managers make projects run well. They plan for what's going to happen on the project. A big part of the job is watching closely to make sure the plan is followed, and when things go wrong, making sure they're fixed. And sometimes the plan itself turns out to be inadequate! Project managers look for those kinds of problems, and fix them too.

What kind of organization is the interviewer looking for? We need someone who can manage the whole effort, start to finish. You'll need to work with the client to establish goals, choose the team, estimate time and cost, manage and track all of your decisions, and make sure you keep everybody in the loop on what's going on. We expect the project to last six months.

Projectized -This project manager has the responsibility, and everyone on the team moves from project to project

What kind of organization is the interviewer looking for? Most of the work you'll be doing is contract work. You'll put together three different teams of software engineers, and you'll need to make sure that they build everything our customer needs. And don't forget: you've got to stay within budget, and it's got to be done on time! It's a big job, and it's your neck on the line if things go wrong. Can you handle that?

Projectized Most contractors are projectized organizations. The PM builds the team and makes sure the work gets done

What a project is not

Projects are NOT: always strategic or critical Projects are NOT: ongoing operations (or processes) Projects are NOT: always successful

Projects vs operations. Projects are ___ whereas operations are ____ .

Projects are always temporary, whereas operations are always ongoing. Projects have a start and finish, operations do not. Operations do the long-term maintenance, whereas as projects make the product.

Does a project always need to build a high-quality product?

Projects have varying levels of quality requirements.

Constraint affected: The team wanted to add more testers to find defects, but the project manager overruled them.

Quality Any time you're talking about tests and defects, you're talking about quality..

Which knowledge area: Making sure you work as efficiently as you can and don't add defects into the product.

Quality management: Quality is about preventing defects and working efficiently

Constraint affected: The company didn't have enough money to invest in the project, so they had to draft people from other departments to work part time to get the job done

Resources Resources are people or materials that you need for your project, and when you cut corners you end up straining them.

Constraint affected: A construction project manager assumed that the weather would cooperate with the plans to complete the job, but thunderstorms have derailed the project.

Risk Whenever you make assumptions about a project, you're introducing risk.

Which knowledge area: Figuring out how to protect your project from anything that could happen to it. Dealing with the unexpected when it does happen.

Risk Management Risk Management can also be about making sure that you are in the right position to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way.

9 knowledge areas

Risk: Planning for things that could happen (positive or negative) and dealing with them when they do Quality: Making sure you build the right product and that you do it as efficiently as possible. Communication: Figuring out who should talk with whom to keep everybody in the loop on your project Scope: Defining the tasks that will (and won't) be done on the project Procurement: Defining contracts and choosing a contractor to work on your project Time: Estimating the time it will take to complete your project and making sure you meet the deadlines you set. Cost: Budgeting your project and tracking the money you are spending Human Resources: Getting the people who will do the work and keeping them motivated. Integration: Keeping everyone working toward the same goal and dealing with changes.

Constraint affected: The project was running late, so the project manager decided to release it on time even though it was missing some of its features.

Scope The PM stuck to the original budget and schedule, but released a product that wasn't complete. That means the scope was affected.

Which knowledge area: Figuring out what work needs to be done for you project. Making sure your end product has everything you said it would.

Scope Management If you nail down your scope in the beginning, you have a much better chance of success in the end.

Project coordinator vs project expediter

Similar. A project expediter is someone who keeps track of status but has no decision-making authority on a project at all. A project coordinator is someone who does pretty much the same thing, but does get to make some of the minor decisions on the project, without having to run them by the functional manager. Coordinators usually report to someone high up. Expediters are more like assistants to the functional manager (less high up). Both usually exist in weak-matrix or functional organizations

Q: I've heard project constraints referred to as the triple constraint. But there are six of them here. What gives?

Some project managers focus on Cost, Scope, and Time as the main constraints of a project. But just thinking about those three constraints doesn't give a clear picture of all of the constraints you need to account for when planning a project. The important thing here is to understand that Cost, Time, Scope, Quality, Risk, and Resources are all related to each other. You need to pay attention to all of them and if you manage your project in favor of one of them, it will affect the others.

Negative Stakeholders. What should a project manager do?

Sometimes the people you're working with think that your project might bring negative consequences for them. A project manager should manager the negative stakeholder's expectations and work with him to set goals that make sense to him, in order to bring him around to support her work. You need to know what's motivating all of your project stakeholders if you're going to understand the influence they'll have over your project. A negative stakeholder is not necessarily bad, if you as the PM can turn them around to an ally.

Overlapping relationships in phases:

Sometimes you need team to work independently on different parts of the project, so that one team delivers their results as another team is still working. Even though phases overlap, and may not even start at same time, they still need to each go through all 5 process groups Can become complicated to manage, and therefore increase risk, because your team may need to do a lot of rework.

Projectized organization example

Teams are organized around projects. When a project is done the team is released, and the team members move to another project. The project makes all of the decisions about a project's budget, schedule, quality, and resources. The PM is responsible for the success or failure of their project.

Project definition (temporary or ongoing?)

Temporary Projects always have a start and a finish. They start when you decide what you are going to do, and they end when you create the product or service you set out to create. Sometimes they end because you decide to stop doing the project. But they are never ongoing.

A matrix organization means that the PM is responsible for:

That means the PM is responsible for making budgets, assigning tasks to resources, and resolving conflicts.

Knowledge areas vs Process Groups

The process groups help you organize the processes by the kind of work you do. The knowledge areas help you organize by the subject matter you're dealing with. The following nine elements of the cookie process are the PMBOK® Guide Knowledge areas. The processes are organized in two ways—the process groups are about how you do the work, and the knowledge areas are there to help you categorize them and help you learn

One of the most important stakeholders is

The sponsor. That's the person who provides financial and political support for the project.

The six Integration Management processes

They're what people usually think of as a project manager's "core" responsibilities. 1. Develop Project Charter - The very first thing that's done on a new project is the development of the project charter. That's the document that authorizes you to do your work. But you're not always involved in making it—oftentimes it's handed to you by the sponsor. - The sponsor is the person who pays for the project - Without the Project Charter, you don't have the authority to tell your team what to do and when to do it 2. Develop Project Management Plan - The project management plan is the most important document in the entire PMBOK® Guide because it guides everything that happens on the project. It spans all of the knowledge areas. - A big part of the Project Management Plan is that it tells you how to handle changes when problems come up 3. Direct and Manage Project Execution - After you're done planning, it's time to do the work. Your job is to make sure that everybody is doing what they should be doing, and that the products or services your project creates meet the needs of the stakeholders. - Here's where the work gets done. It's where all of the planning you'll do in all of the other knowledge areas comes together so that you can actually make stuff. It's the day-to-day work that you help your team do and make sure gets done. 4. Monitor and Control Project Work - A good project manager is constantly monitoring every single thing that goes on in the project. Remember, the later you find a problem, the harder and more expensive it usually is to fix. - Keep everyone satisfied by catching problems as early as possible.

Q: I don't quite get this whole negative stakeholder thing. Why do I care about people who aren't helping me with my project?

Think of it this way: sometimes a project might have really good overall outcome for your company, but it might make some of the people who are impacted by it uncomfortable. (Here's a quick example: think about another project manager who won't get to use the resources he planned on because they're taken up by your project.) Change can be really hard for people to adapt to, and sometimes your stakeholders are not going to be happy about changes that your project is making. It's important to know how negative stakeholders feel and understand why they're resistant to your project. You need to identify and manage the expectations of all of the stakeholders who have influence over your project if you're going to succeed. So don't take it personally if there are people out there who aren't as enthusiastic about your project as you are. Use it as an opportunity to find out what your project can do to get buy-in from the negative stakeholders out there.

CH 2 Exam Q: You're managing a project to build a new accounting system. One of the accountants in another department really likes the current system and is refusing to be trained on the new one. What is the BEST way to handle this situation? A. Refuse to work with him because he's being difficult B. Appeal to the accountant's manager and ask to have him required to take training C. Get a special dispensation so that the accountant doesn't have to go to the training D. Work with him to understand his concerns and do what you can to help alleviate them without compromising your project

This is an example of a negative stakeholder, whom you should always address by figuring out why they are resistant to your project, and working to resolve their complaint or change their perspective. D. Work with him to understand his concerns and do what you can to help alleviate them without compromising your project. When a stakeholder is negatively impacted by your project, you need to manage his expectations and help him to buy into your project.

Constraint affected: About halfway through the project, the PM realized that the money was running out faster than expected. She went through the schedule to try to find ways to move up the deadline.

Time There are lots of ways to change how long it'll take to do your project, but sometimes there simply isn't enough time.

Which knowledgeable are: Figuring out the time it will take to do your work and the order you need to do it in. Tracking your schedule and making sure everything gets done on time.

Time management A lot of people think that this is all a project manager does, but it's only one of the nine knowledge areas!

Q: You mentioned that it's possible to "turn around" a negative stakeholder. How does that work?

Today's negative stakeholders can become tomorrow's advocates if you make sure their needs are met. By listening to them, taking their needs into account, and making changes to your project so that those needs are satisfied, those previously negative stakeholders will feel good about what you're doing... and they'll often become your closest allies in the future.

Input,output, or tool:You use a hotel feedback web site to review your stay in the hotel once you get back home.

Tool Here's the tool you used to give feedback about your hotel in the Close Project process.

Input,output, or tool: You use a travel web site to book the plane, hotel, and sights you'll see on your trip.

Tool This one was the tool you used to book your tickets and hotel reservations.

Risk Constraint

Unexpected obstacles can wreck your project if you don't deal with risk constraints.

Enterprise Environmental Factors trigger concepts

When you're talking about things like the people in your organization, the market you compete in, your company's risk tolerance, and standards that your company needs to meet (like government-imposed standards for any contractor bidding on a government project), you're talking about Enterprise Environmental Factors.

Sequential relationship in phases

When your project has phases that happen one after another and don't overlap. Each phase starts after the previous phase is 100% complete (aka that previous phase has finished the Closing process group)

Q: What if I know that a change will impact just scope, but not schedule or cost or any of the other constraints. Can I go ahead and make it?

Whenever you are making a change that affects the project constraints, you need to be sure that the change is acceptable to your stakeholders. They're the people who will be impacted by your project. The term applies to your team, your customer, your sponsor, and anybody else who is affected by the change. A lot of project management is about evaluating what a change is going to do to your project constraints, and using that impact analysis to help stakeholders make choices about what to do when changes come up. Sometimes a change that affects the quality of your product is completely unacceptable to your stakeholders, and they would rather delay the project than sacrifice the product's quality.

Executing process group

Where the bulk of the work gets done. This is where you mix the ingredients, put the dough on the cookie sheet, pop the sheet in the over. Of the 42 process, these belong to planning: 1. Direct and maange project execution 2. Distribute information (Because Executing process is where you do you work).

Anatomy of a process

You can think of each process as a little machine. It takes the inputs—information you use in your project—and turns them into outputs: documents, deliverables, and decisions. The outputs help your project come in on time, within budget, and with high quality. Every single process has inputs, tools, and techniques that are used to do the work, and outputs. Inputs are where you put all the information you need to do your work (like templates for your documents or policies and rules that your company follows—that kind of thing). Tools & Techniques: All the project work happens here. The tools and techniques take the inputs and turn them into outputs. Outputs:All the things you make during your project are outputs— documents, plans, schedules, budgets, and the actual product that you're building.

Planning process group

You determine the "ingredients" you already have and which ones you still need. You figure out where to get those missing resources, and determine their costs Of the 42 process, these belong to planning: 1. Develop project management plan 2. Identify risks 3. Plan quality 4. Estimate activity durations

Resources Constraint

You have to have the people and materials to get the work done.

Process vs operation

You might also see the word "process" instead of "operation." A team might run a project to build software, but the company might have an ongoing process for keeping the servers that run the software from going down. In fact, the group that keeps those servers running is often called "IT Operations." Get it?

Scope Constraint

You need to manage the scope of work you do for the project

Time Constraint

Your project needs to get done on schedule

Cost Constraint

Your project needs to stay in budget.

Q: So what's the difference between process groups and knowledge areas?

they don't really overlap each other! A: The process groups divide up the processes by function. The knowledge areas divide the same processes up by subject matter. Think of the process groups as being about the actions you take on your project, and the knowledge areas as the things you need to understand. In other words, the knowledge areas are more about helping you understand the PMBOK® Guide material than about running your project. But that doesn't mean that every knowledge area has a process in every process group! For example, the Initiating process group only has two processes, and they both show up in the Integration Management knowledge area. The Risk Management knowledge area only has Planning and Monitoring & Controlling processes. So the process groups and the knowledge areas are two different ways to think about all of the processes, but they don't really overlap.