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Project Management

Introduction to Project Management

Lecture 1

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Learning Objectives

Understand the growing need for betterproject management, especially forinformation technology projects.

Explain what a project is, provideexamples of information technology

projects, list various attributes ofprojects, and describe the tripleconstraint of projects.

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Learning Objectives

Describe project management and discuss keyelements of the project managementframework, including project stakeholders, theproject management knowledge areas,

common tools and techniques, and projectsuccess factors.

Understand the role of the project manager by

describing what project managers do, whatskills they need, and what the career field islike for information technology projectmanagers.

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IT projects have a terrible track record.

A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS) found

that only 16.2 percent of IT projects weresuccessful in meeting scope, time, and costgoals.

Over 31 percent of IT projects were canceledbefore completion, costing over $81 billion in theU.S. alone.*

*The Standish Group, The CHAOS Report (www.standishgroup.com)(1995). Another reference is Johnson, Jim, CHAOS: The Dollar Drain of IT

Project Failures,Application Development Trends (January 1995).

Motivation for Studying InformationTechnology (IT) Project

Management

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Advantages of Using FormalProject Management

Better control of financial, physical, andhuman resources.

Improved customer relations.

Shorter development times. Lower costs.

Higher quality and increased reliability.

Higher profit margins. Improved productivity.

Better internal coordination.

Higher worker morale (less stress). 5


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What Is a Project? A projectis a temporary endeavor undertaken

to create a unique product, service, or result.*

Operations is work done to sustain thebusiness.

A project ends when its objectives have beenreached, or the project has been terminated.

Projects can be large or small and take a shortor long time to complete.

*PMI,A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge

(PMBOK Guide) (2004), p. 5.

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Project Attributes

A project: Has a unique purpose.

Is temporary.

Is developed using progressive elaboration. Requires resources, often from various

areas.

Should have a primary customer or sponsor.

The project sponsorusually provides thedirection and funding for the project.

Involves uncertainty.

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Project and Program Managers Project managers work with project sponsors,

project teams, and other people involved inprojects to meet project goals.

Program: A group of related projects

managed in a coordinated way to obtainbenefits and control not available frommanaging them individually.*

Program managers oversee programs andoften act as bosses for project managers.


(PMBOK Guide) (2004), p. 16.

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The Triple Constraint Every project is constrained in different

ways by its:

Scope goals: What work will be done?

Time goals: How long should it take tocomplete?

Cost goals: What should it cost?

It is the project managers duty to balance

these three often-competing goals.9


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Figure 1-1. The Triple Constraint ofProject Management

Successful projectmanagement meansmeeting all threegoals (scope, time,and cost)and

satisfying theprojects sponsor!

Not easy!!!

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What is Project Management?

Project managementis the applicationof knowledge, skills, tools and techniquesto project activities to meet project

requirements.*


(PMBOK Guide) (2004), p. 8.

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Figure 1-2. Project ManagementFramework

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Project Stakeholders

Stakeholders are the people involved inor affected by project activities.

Stakeholders include: Project sponsor

Project manager

Project team

Support staff

Customers Users

Suppliers

Opponents to the project13


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Nine Project Management Knowledge Areas Knowledge areas describe the key competencies

that project managers must develop. Four core knowledge areas lead to specific

project objectives (scope, time, cost, andquality).

Four facilitating knowledge areas are themeans through which the project objectives areachieved (human resources, communication,risk, and procurement management).

One knowledge area (project integrationmanagement) affects and is affected by all ofthe other knowledge areas.

All knowledge areas are important! 14


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Project Management Tools and Techniques

Project management tools and techniquesassist project managers and their teams invarious aspects of project management.

Specific tools and techniques include:

Project charters, scope statements, and WBS(scope).

Gantt charts, network diagrams, critical path

analyses, critical chain scheduling (time). Cost estimates and earned value

management (cost).

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Project Success Factors*

1. Executive support2. User involvement

3. Experienced projectmanager

4. Clear businessobjectives

5. Minimized scope

6. Standard softwareinfrastructure

7. Firm basicrequirements

8. Formal methodology

9. Reliable estimates

10. Other criteria, suchas small milestones,proper planning,

competent staff, andownership

*The Standish Group, Extreme CHAOS (2001).

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Define scope of project.

Identify stakeholders,decision-makers, andescalation procedures.

Develop detailed task list(Work BreakdownStructures WBS).

Estimate timerequirements.

Develop initial projectmanagement flow chart.

Identify requiredresources and budget.

Evaluate projectrequirements.

Identify and evaluate risks.

Prepare contingency plan.

Identify interdependencies.

Identify and track criticalmilestones.

Participate in project phasereview.

Secure needed resources.

Manage the change controlprocess.

Report project status.

Fifteen Project Management Job Functions*

*Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies, Building a Foundation for Tomorrow: Skills Standards

for Information Technology, Belleview, WA, 1999. 17


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Suggested Skills for ProjectManagers

Project managers need a wide variety of skills.

They should:

Be comfortable with change.

Understand the organisations they work in and

with.

Lead teams to accomplish project goals.

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Suggested Skills for ProjectManagers

Project managers need both hard and

soft skills.

Hard skills include product knowledge andknowing how to use various projectmanagement tools and techniques.

Soft skills include being able to work withvarious types of people.

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Suggested Skills for Project Managers Communication skills: Listens, persuades,

presents. Organizational skills: Plans, sets goals,

analyzes.

Team-building skills: Shows empathy,

motivates, promotes esprit de corps.

Leadership skills: Sets examples, providesvision (big picture), delegates, positive, energetic.

Coping skills: Flexible, creative, patient,persistent.

Technology skills: Experience, projectknowledge.

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Most Significant Characteristics ofEffective and Ineffective Project

Managers Leadership by example

Visionary

Technically competent Decisive

Good communicator

Good motivator

Stands up to uppermanagement whennecessary

Supports team members

Encourages new ideas

Sets bad example

Not self-assured

Lacks technical expertise Poor communicator

Poor motivator

Effective Project Managers Ineffective Project Managers

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UK Jobs Market

Project Managers >50k www.itjobswatch.co.uk as at 15/01/08 22
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/


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A key management tool - Sample Gantt Chart

The WBS is shown on the left, and each tasks start and finish dates

are shown on the right. First used in 1917, early Gantt charts were

drawn by hand. (Use MicroSoft Project or similar tool)

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

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Each box is a project task from the WBS. Arrows show dependencies

between tasks. The bolded tasks are on the critical path. If any task on the

critical path takes longer to complete than planned, the whole project will

slip unless something is done. Network diagrams were first used in 1958

on the Navy Polaris project before project management software was

available.

Sample Network Diagram

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Project Management Software There are currently hundreds of different

products to assist in performing projectmanagement.

Three main categories of tools:

Low-end tools: Handle single or smallerprojects well; cost under $200 per user.

Midrange tools: Handle multiple projects andusers; cost $200-500 per user; MS Project 2003

most popular (includes an enterprise version). High-end tools: Also called enterprise project

management software; often licensed on a per-user basis; VPMi Enterprise Online

(www.vcsonline.com). 25


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Project Management Process Groups A process is a series of actions directed

toward a particular result.

Project management can be viewed as anumber of interlinked processes.

The project management process groupsinclude:

Initiating processes

Planning processes Executing processes

Monitoring and controlling processes

Closing processes

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Table 3 1 Relationships Among Process Groups


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Table 3-1. Relationships Among Process Groupsand Knowledge Areas

PMBOK Guide 2004, p. 69

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Table 3-1. Relationships Among Process Groupsand Knowledge Areas (contd)

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Project Initiation Initiating a project includes recognising and

starting a new project or project phase. Some organisations use a pre-initiation phase,

while others include items such as developing abusiness case as part of the initiation.

The main goal is to formally select and start offprojects.

Key outputs include:

Assigning the project manager.

Identifying key stakeholders.

Completing a business case.

Project charter completion and getting signatures on it.29


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Project Planning The main purpose of project planning is to guide

execution. Every knowledge area includes planning

information (see Table 3-5 on pages 87-89).

Key outputs included in projects include:

A team contract.

A scope statement.

A work breakdown structure (WBS).

A project schedule, in the form of a Gantt chart withall dependencies and resources entered.

A list of prioritised risks (part of a risk register). See sample documents on pages 90-98.

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Sample Intranet Site ProjectBaseline Gantt Chart

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Sample List of Prioritised Risks

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Part of Sample Milestone Report

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Project Monitoring and Controlling Involves measuring progress toward project

objectives, monitoring deviation from theplan, and taking corrective action to matchprogress with the plan.

Affects all other process groups and occursduring all phases of the project life cycle.

Outputs include performance reports,requested changes, and updates to various

plans. 34


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Project Closing

Involves gaining stakeholder and customeracceptance of the final products and services.

Even if projects are not completed, they should beformally closed in order to reflect on what can belearned to improve future projects.

Outputs include project archives and lessonslearned, which are part of organisational process

assets. Most projects also include a final report and

presentation to the sponsor or seniormanagement.

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Further Information

Refer to X-Stream Project Management modulefor further references & materials

Recommended Reading:

Information Technology Project Management 4th edby K Schwalbe

Introduction to Project Management by

K Schwalbe

A hackers Guide to Project Management

by A Johnston

PRINCE 2 a practical handbook by Colin Bentley

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