Has a beginning and an end.

Creates a unique product, service and/or result.

Has specific time, cost and performance requirements.  Intended to create something permanent. 

Initiate - Plan - Execute - Close 

Monitor and Control 

1. Project Integration Management

2. Project Scope Management

3. Project Time Management

4. Project Cost Management

5. Project Quality Management

6. Project Human Resources Management

7. Project Communications Management

8. Project Risk Management

9. Project Procurement Management

10. Project Stakeholder Management 

• Multidisciplinary

• Complex

• Often involve conflicts

• Part of programs

• Achieving strategic goals

• Achieving routine goals

• Improving project effectiveness

• Virtual projects

• Quasi-projects

Project budgeting differs from standard budgeting in the way budgets are constructed.

Budgets for non-projects are primarily modifications of budgets for the same activity in the previous period.

Project budgets are newly created for each project and often cover several “budget periods” in the future

• When large firms establish manufacturing plants or distribution centers in different countries, a management team is established on site

• For projects, globalization has a different meaning

• Members of project teams may be spread across countries and speak different languages

• Some project team members may never have a face-to-face meeting

• Routine work of organizations takes place within a well-defined structure (the divisions, departments, sections, and similar subdivisions of the total unit)

• Typical project cannot thrive in this structure

• The need for technical knowledge, information, and special skills requires that departmental lines be crossed (Another way of describing the multidisciplinary character of projects)

Negotiation

3 Types  

With little authority, the project manager depends on negotiation skills to gain the cooperation of departments in the organization.Those departments have their own objectives, priorities, and personnel. The project is not their responsibility and the project tends to get the leftovers.

1.Win-Win

2.Lose-Lose

3. Win-Lose 

1. Scope

2. Cost

3. Time

All projects are always carried out under conditions of uncertainty(Projects are all about uncertainty).

Effective project management requires an ability to deal with uncertainty.

Projects are complex and include interfaces, interdependencies, and assumptions, which may turn out to be wrong (People add to the uncertainty).

• Time required to complete a project

• Availability and cost of key resources

• Timing of solutions to technological problems

• Macroeconomic variables

• The whims of clients

• Actions taken by competitors

The first step in managing risk is to identify potentially uncertain events and likelihood of occurrence = Called risk analysis.

Different organizations approach this differently.

The essence of risk analysis is to make assumptions about key risk parameters and to use models to evaluate the desirability of certain managerial decisions

• Ability to resolve conflicts

• Creativity and flexibility

• Ability to adjust to change

• Good planning skills

• Negotiation skills

All organisms have a life cycle, they are born, grow, wane, and die. So do projects=

Some projects follow an S-shaped curve - They start slowly, develop momentum, and then finish slowly. (The Project Life Cycle)

Other project follow a J-shaped curve - They start slowly , proceed slowly, and then finish rapidly. (An Alternative Project Life Cycle) 

Methodical way of documenting changes in activities, policies, procedures and requirements.Project changes:

Internal = Scope

External = End Users

Baseline 

3 Types 

1. Schedule Baseline

2. Cost Baseline

3. Scope Baseline

Compilation of all three = performance measurement baseline

A baseline is a fixed schedule used to measure performance of a project. 

• Aligned to Business goals (strategic alignment)

• Expressed clearly in definitive terms

• Easily understood

Projects are initiated due to?

Internal business needs

External influences

Projects are selected based on?

Business value justification 

Project selection is process of evaluating projects and choosing them so firm objectives are met

Ensure that several conditions are considered:

1. Is the project potentially profitable?

2. Is the project required

3. Does firm have the skills to complete the project

4. Does the project involve building strategic competencies

5. Does it have capacity to carry out the project

6. Can project be economically successful 

There are many different methods for selecting projects. They may be grouped into two fundamental types:

1. Nonnumeric: does not use numbers for evaluation

2. Numeric: uses numbers for evaluation

The Sacred Cow: a pet project advocated by a senior executive of the firm. The operating/competitive necessity. Comparative benefits:

- Rank-ordering a small number of projects is not difficult

 - When the number of projects exceeds 15 or 20, the difficulty of ordering the group rises rapidly

- A Q-sort is a convenient way to handle the task

Financial assessment methods

1. Payback period

2. Discounted cash flow

3. Future opportunity analysis

Scoring methods

1. Unweighted 0-1 factor method

2. Weighted factor scoring method

Initial Fixed Investment

Annual Net Cash Inflows

1. Establish a project council

2. Identify project categories and criteria

3. Collect project data

4. Assess resource availability

5. Reduce the project and criteria set

6. Prioritize the projects within categories

7. Select the projects to be funded and those to be held in reserve

8. Implement the process

Derivative projects

Platform projects

Breakthrough projects

R&D projects

1. “Ready, fire, aim” - Tom Peters

2. “Paralysis by analysis”

There is a happy medium that everyone would like to strike

• Primary function of a project plan is to serve as a roadmap

• Should include the business case and strategic reasons for the project

• Should contain sufficient information to know the status of the project at any time

• Also needs the project’s history to date

1. Purpose

2. Objectives

3. Overview

4. Schedules

5. Resource requirements

6. Personnel and stakeholders

7. Risk management

8. Evaluation methods

• Business case for the project (Strategic reasons for the project,Expected profitability, Competitive effects, Desired scope, Any other technical results).

• Intent is to communicate to stakeholders the reasons for the project.

• Intended for senior management

• Brief description of project

• Deliverables

• Milestones

• Expected profitability and competitive effects

• Technological and managerial approaches

• Agreements with the client or any third party

• Summary of schedules and milestones

• Work breakdown structure (WBS)

• Time to complete each task

• Estimates of project expenses (Capital and operating)

• Costs associated with each task

• Overhead and fixed charges

• Appropriate account numbers

• Project budget

• Stakeholders, sponsor, project manager, and some team members

• Special skill requirements

• Necessary training

• Special legal arrangements, such as non-disclosure agreements

Listing of potential disasters: Major and minor, Late subcontractor deliveries, bad weather, unreasonable deadlines, equipment failure and changes in project scope.

Contingency plans are described:

• Does not stop disasters

• Softens the impact

• Evaluation procedures and quality standards

• Procedures for monitoring, collecting, and storing data on project performance

1. Develop and evaluate the concept of the project

2. Carefully identify what project deliverables must have to be successful

3. Create a system

4. Test the prototype

5. Integrate the deliverable into target system

6. Validate the deliverable

7. Let client test it

8. Make sure client understands operating and maintenance requirements

Project Scope:

• Work performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions

• How you are building it 

Product Scope:

• Features and functions that characterize a product, service or result

• What you are building

• Scope management is the function of controlling a project in terms of its goals and objectives

• It defines what is and is not included in the project 

A narrative description of the major deliverables, assumptions, constraints and description of work

• Provides a documented basis for making future decisions and a common understanding of the project requirements among stakeholders

• Product scope description

• Acceptance criteria

• Deliverables

• Project exclusions

• Constraints

• Assumptions

 Must keep senior management up to date

Keep management informed of any problems

Or anything likely to affect the project in the future

Never surprise the boss (or someone else will)

• Facilitate the work of the team

• Help the team succeed

• Serve as advisor, counselor, confessor, and interested friend

• Effective persuaders must be credible to those they are trying to persuade

• Effective persuaders must find goals held in common with those being persuaded

• Effective persuaders must use “vivid” language and compelling evidence

• Effective persuaders must connect with the emotions of those they are trying to persuade