• Project: Temporary, produces a unique product, result, or service & has progressive elaboration [as time progresses, something is becoming more elaborated/detailed]

  • Project Management: application of knowledge, skills, tools & techniques to satisfy project requirements

    • justify the business case
    • estimating resources & times
    • development + implementation of the plan
    • leading + motivating project delivery team
    • risk, issues, changes — manage these
    • monitoring progress against plan
    • closing the project when appropriate

  • Program: Group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits + control that are not available from managing them individually

    • must be added value in managing them together
    • project might not always be part of the program, but a program always has projects
    • focuses on the projects’ interdependencies and helps determine the best approach

  • Project Management Office[PMO]: standardizes the processes & facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools & techniques

    • supportive types: support the PM, providing templates, training, learnings, etc.
    • controlling: determines the framework/methodology
    • directive: controls the project. PM will be assigned and report to the PMO

  • Portfolio Management: a collection of projects, programs, subsidiary portfolios, and operations managed to achieve strategic objectives. works directly with senior management.

  • Operations Managing: always ongoing production of goods/services. For ex: sales, accounting, IT, financing, support, etc.

  • Value of projects: what value will it bring, and why should we do it?

  • Projects enable changes, they take a company from its current to its desired state & can be a vehicle for change in an organization — which is ALWAYS needed to evolve

  • Phases & Deliverable

    • a phase is a collection of logically related project activities that culminate in the completion of one or more deliverables. different phases’ deliverables lead to the project output [type & complexity depends]
    • deliverable is any unique & verified product, service or result, that must be accepted by the customer/sponsor for the phase. it is the output of the phases.

  • Project life cycle: a representation of the phases that a project goes through from start to finish. Can be either predictive or adaptive. Phases are created by PM, in the end always going to get the same result

  • Project Governance: framework within which project decisions are made. 3 key pillars are structure, people, and information. No governance structure is the same within companies, its unique.

  • Stakeholders: individuals, groups, or orgs. that may affected, be affected, or perceive to be affected by the project [positive OR negative]. Key stakeholders:

    • Project manager
    • Customer: uses the deliverable, MOST IMP stakeholder
    • project team
    • project sponsor: provides resources & support, sign-off, acceptance, etc.
    • functional manager: dept manager [VP, IT head, head of accounting, etc.]. According to PMBOK, many issues arise between PM and functional manager [scheduling/resources]

  • Project Manager Roles:

    • Initiator: someone who takes the first step & proposes an idea/action
    • Negotiator: engages in discussions or formal negotiations to reach agreeable solutions
    • Listener: someone who pays attention to other’s ideas, thoughts, etc.
    • Coach: who guides/supports people in achieving their goals, enhancing skills, etc.
    • Working member: actively participates as a member of a team [do the work]
    • Facilitator: manages group processes, and discussions, to ensure effective communication, collaboration, and decision-making.

  • Milestones: Significant event or achievement in a project that marks a key point or completion of a major deliverable. No rules, determined by the project [subjective]

  • Task duration is the time taken to complete the activity. The task duration is 0, it means it’s a milestone. For example, taking the exam for 3 hours is a task, but passing it is a milestone.

  • Project Bosses

    • Sponsor/Champion: internal/external + funds the project + makes decision
    • Program manager: senior to PM, may be responsible for multiple projects, may be used to resolve conflicts in the projects.
    • Product Owner [agile]: similar to the sponsor

  • Product vs. Project Management:

    • project management is part of the product management life cycle. it is just one component.
    • product: encompasses the planning, development, and lifecycle management of a product or service
    • product: involves understanding market needs, defining product strategy, gathering requirements, and overseeing product development, launch & ongoing optimization
    • product: responsible for the overall success of the product, aligning it with business objectives & customer demands
    • project: successful execution and delivering within a defined scope, timeline & budget. plan it, coordinate it, manage it & achieve project goals.
    • project & product managers work closely together.

  • Areas of a project:

    1. scope
    2. schedule
    3. cost
    4. quality
    5. resources [people & material]
    6. risk [identify & respond over the lifecycle of the project]
    7. procurements [acquiring from outside the project team]
    8. communication [correct info at the right time]
    9. engagement [keeping active & alert]

  • PM Approaches: Predictive/Traditional/Waterfall method/approach

    • involves detailed planning & documentation upfront with a focus on predicting & defining scope, objectives, timeline & deliverables
    • extensive upfront planning
    • sequential execution
    • emphasis on control & documentation
    • limited flexibility, limited changes with a well-defined change control process

    Adaptive/Agile/Iterative

    • focus on flexibility, collaboration, and iterative development
    • embraces change throughout the project & emphasizes continuous feedback & improvement
    • iterative [built all at once but has multiple versions] & incremental development [release portions of project one by one]
    • customer collaboration — we get tons of feedback
    • Emphasis on adaptability
    • Self-organizing teams