This document provides an introduction to project management concepts. It begins with introductions from the presenter and the audience. It then defines key project management terms like project, project management, stakeholders, roles, scope, requirements, deliverables, change, risk and lessons learned. It discusses the triple constraints of scope, time and cost. It also outlines the typical project lifecycle phases of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling and closing. The document concludes with discussing next steps like certifications and tools to use in project management.
2. Who Am I?
Mena Mostafa
Freelance consultant
15 years experience (software development field)
Project Manager/Business Analyst/Developer
Wrote my first app in ‘88
Graduated from faculty of Engineering ‘99
Worked in ASSET, ITWorx, etisalat…
Managed over 150 projects (simple websites, portals,
ERP, eCommerce, games…)
Led teams (co-located, remote, vendors)
3. Who Are You?
Who heard about project management?
Have you managed projects?
What would you like to know?
5. I need your ears, eyes and minds
I need your participation
The envelope
Microphones
If you are not interested, please feel free to
leave at any time
The Deal
14. d
• Shouldn’t run for ever
• Goal is crucial to identify when the project is done
Beginning and end
Jan
22
GOAL
15. d
• Not only money
• Other constraints: people, tools and time
Budget
16. Projects are not Operations
Always has
start & end date
Produces a
unique product,
service or result
Projects
Is an ongoing
process of
functions
Always
produces the
same product,
service or result
Operations
17. What is Project Management?
The art and science of
planning, organizing, and
managing resources
to bring about the
successful completion of
specific project goals and
objectives
18. Who is the Project Manager?
Project managers bear ultimate responsibility for
making things happen. A PM must have a range
of skills:
19. Who is the Project Manager?
Project managers bear ultimate responsibility for
making things happen. A PM must have a range
of skills:
Leadership
People management
(customers, suppliers,
functional managers and
project team)
Effective communication
(verbal and written)
Influencing
Negotiation
Conflict management
Planning
Contract management
Estimating
Problem solving
Creative thinking
Time management
20. What Do Project Managers Do?
Define the project, reduce it to a set of
manageable tasks, obtain appropriate
resources and build a team to perform the
work
Set the final goal for the project and motivate his
or her team to complete the project on time
Inform all stakeholders of progress on a regular
basis
Assess and monitor risks to the project and
mitigate them
No project ever goes exactly as planned, so
project managers must learn to adapt to and
21. Who is the Project Team?
A group of professionals committed to achieving
common objectives, who work well together and
who relate directly and openly with one another
to get things done.
Project team membership
Project manager (chosen before Initiation)
Core team (chosen before Planning)
Supporting team (chosen before Launching)
22. Why Projects Fail?
Many things can go wrong in project
management:
Poor
communication
Disagreement
Misunderstandings
Bad weather
Union strikes
Personality
conflicts
Poor management
Poorly defined
goals and
objectives
24. Stakeholder
Any person or organization that is actively
involved in a project
Or whose interests may be positively or
negatively affected by execution or
completion of the project
It can be the client
end-user, top management,
team…
25. Role
Although projects are different, there are
commonly occurring roles that exist in most
projects
Sometimes individuals occupy more than one
role
Common roles
Business owner
26. Role
Although projects are different, there are
commonly occurring roles that exist in most
projects
Sometimes individuals occupy more than one
role
Common roles
Business owner
Project manager
27. Role
Although projects are different, there are
commonly occurring roles that exist in most
projects
Sometimes individuals occupy more than one
role
Common roles
Business owner
Project manager
Quality team
28. Communication
An essential component for good project
management
Ensures all stakeholders are equally informed of:
How
When
Why
communication will happen
Communication is a very effective way to:
Solve problems
Deal with risks
Ensure that tasks are completed on time
29. Scope
Description of the work that will be done
What will not be done (useful to avoid
confusion)
Be very specific when writing it
31. Deliverable
List of deliverables produced by the project
Describe deliverables in an unambiguous manner
Examples:
Project Plan
Requirements Document
Design Document
Source Code
Test Plan
Test Cases
Release Notes
User Guides
32. Baseline
Baseline is the value or condition against which
all future measurements will be compared
Baseline is a point of reference
Three baselines
scope baseline
schedule baseline
cost baseline
The combination of all three baselines is
referred to as the performance measurement
baseline
33. Change
The nature of projects makes change inevitable
Changes impact project’s budget & schedule
(sometimes outcome)
To cope with changes use a formal change
control procedure
34. Re-work
A rework can arise due to:
Change in scope
Quality of the deliverables not up to the mark
Change in requirements that is essentially a
change in scope
Impact on time and budget depends on change
request time
35. Risk
A risk is any factor that may
potentially interfere with successful
completion of the project
A risk is not a problem. A problem
has already occurred, a risk is the
recognition that the problem will
occur
By recognizing potential problems,
the PM can attempt to avoid a
problem through proper actions
36. Assumption
Assumptions are
circumstances and events
that need to occur for the
project to be successful, but
are outside the total control
of the project team
Assumptions are accepted
as true and are often without
proof or demonstration
✔
37. Constraint
Constraints are things that
might restrict, limit, or
regulate the project
Generally constraints are
outside the total control of
the project team
38. Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS)
1st step in project planning
An effective tool to list all project tasks
Allows to group all tasks under main activities
Ensures a clear overview of what to execute
Project
Task
Work
Work
Task
Work
Work
Task
Work
Work
39. Estimate
Before proceeding in planning, estimate
project’s activities & tasks
Based on the WBS, estimate effort each
task/activity will take regardless of resources
Time and cost estimates are important for the
success of the project
40. Schedule
The project schedule is the tool that
communicates:
What work needs to be performed
Which resources of the organization will perform the
work
The timeframes in which that work needs to be
performed
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
Design
Build
Test
41. Earned Value
Approach to monitor:
Project plan
Actual work
Work-completed value
to see if a project is on track
EV indicates how much budget & time should
have been spent, with regards to the amount of
work done to date
EV answers the “What did we get for the money
we spent?”
42. Forecasting
How the future will turn out based on:
Progress
Earned value
Risks
Assumptions
44. Acceptance/Signoff
Acceptance criteria represents specific and
defined list of conditions that must be met
before a project has been considered completed
and the project deliverables can and will be
accepted by the assigning party
45. Lessons Learned
The purpose of
lessons learned is
to bring together
any insights gained
during a project
that can be usefully
applied on future
projects
Unintended
but
successful
Planned
and
successf
ul
Planned
but
failed
Failed
and not
planned
Success
Failure
Unplanned
Planned
47. Project Management
Project Management involves understanding the
fundamentals of a project:
What business situation is being addressed?
What do you need to do?
What will you do?
How will you do it?
How will you know you did it?
How well did you do?
50. Project Success
Projects must be within cost
Projects must be delivered
on time
Projects must be within
scope
Projects must meet customer
quality requirements
57. Project Lifecycle
Initiatin
g
Plannin
g
Closing
Monitorin
g &
Controllin
g
Executin
g
Initiating
Everything that is needed
to set-up the project
before work can start
Planning
Detailed plans of how the
work will be carried out
including time, cost and
resource estimates
Executing
Doing the work to deliver
the product, service or
desired outcome
Monitoring &
Controlling
Ensuring that a project
stays on track and taking
corrective action to
ensure it does
Closing
Formal acceptance of the
deliverables and
disbanding of all the
elements that were
required to run the
project
58. Initiating
Develop and gain approval of a general
statement of the goal and business value of the
project:
Eliciting the needs
Documenting the needs
Writing a one-page description of the project
Gaining approval to plan the project
59. Planning
Identify work to be done and estimate time, cost and resource
requirements and gain approval to do the project:
Defining all of the work
Estimating how long it will take to complete this work
Estimating the resources required to complete the work
Estimating the total cost of the work
Sequencing the work
Building the initial project schedule
Analyzing & adjusting the project schedule
Writing a risk management plan
Documenting the project plan
Gaining approval to launch the project
60. Executing
Recruit/assign the team and establish team
operating rules:
Recruiting the project team
Establishing team operating rules
Establishing the scope change management
process
Managing team communications
Finalizing the project schedule
Writing work packages
61. Monitoring & Controlling
Respond to change requests and resolve problem
situations to maintain project progress:
Monitoring project performance
Establishing the project performance and
reporting system
Monitoring risk
Reporting project status
Processing scope change requests
Discovering and solving problems
Forecasting issues impact
62. Closing
Assure attainment of requirements and issue
deliverables:
Gaining approval of having met project
requirements
Planning and issuing deliverables
Writing the final project report
Conducting the post-implementation
audit/review
65. Step #0: Project Definition
Activities
Agree on project
name
Allocate high level
budget
Set high level
timeframe
Output
Set meeting with
vendor
66. Step #1: Project Initiation
Activities
Meet with client to
understand project
Define stakeholders
Define scope
Output
Project signoff
Scope
High level budget
High level timeframe
71. Project Management Tools
Depends on the nature, size and complexity of the project
There are different tools to manage:
Requirements
Resources
Time
Tasks
Documents
Issues
Defects
Billing
Reports
Calendars
Meetings
…
Varying from paper and pen to complex software