The books for this course are A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) 5 th Edition and Effective Project Management Traditional, Agile, Extreme/7 th Edition Author: Robert Wysocki 1. What does it mean to refer to project management as a discipline? Provide examples and supporting discussion. 2. Identify and describe the 5 phases of the project lifecycle as defined by PMBOK. Provide examples and supporting discussion. 3. Identify and describe 3 skills that an effective project management should possess. Provide examples and supporting discussion. 4. Identify and describe the two main methods of project evaluation. Provide examples and supporting discussion. 5. Identify, compare and contrast the three different methodologies of project management traditional, agile and extreme - as reviewed in the Effective Project Management text. Provide examples and supporting discussion. 1. What does it mean to refer to project management as a discipline? Provide examples and supporting discussion. It is the body of knowledge concerned with principles, techniques, and tools used in planning, control, monitoring, and review of projects. The systems development life cycle is one example of a methodology for guiding the project management process from an initial feasibility study through maintenance of the completed application. Various approaches include the waterfall model, which was the original method 2. Identify and describe the 5 phases of the project lifecycle as defined by PMBOK. Provide examples and supporting discussion. Phase 1: Project Initiation This is the start of the project, and the goal of this phase is to define the project at a broad level. phase usually begins with a business case. This is when you will research whether the project is feasible and if it should be undertaken. If feasibility testing needs to be done, this is the stage of the project in which that will be completed. Important stakeholders will do their due diligence to help decide if the project is a \"go.\" If it is given the green light, you will need to create a project charter or a project initiation document (PID) that outlines the purpose and requirements of the project. It should include business needs, stakeholders, and the business case. Note: There are plenty of PID templates that adhere to PMBOK guidelines available online that you can download to help you get started. Phase 2: Project Planning This phase is key to successful project management and focuses on developing a roadmap that everyone will follow. This phase typically begins with setting goals. Two of the more popular methods for setting goals are S.M.A.R.T. and CLEAR: S.M.A.R.T. Goals - This method helps ensure that the goals have been thoroughly vetted. It also provides a way to clearly understand the implications of the goal-setting process. Specific - To set specific goals, answer the following questions: who, what, where, when, which, and why. Measurable - Create criteria that you can use to measure the success of a goal. Attainable - Identify the most important goals and what it will take to achieve them. Realistic - You should be willing and able to work toward a particular goal. Timely - Create a timeframe to achieve the goal. Collaborative - The goal should encourage employees to work together. Limited - They should be limited in scope and time to keep it manageable. Emotional - Goals should tap into the passion of employees and be something they can form an emotional connection to. This can optimize the quality of work. Appreciable - Break larger goals into smaller tasks that can be quickly achieved. Refinable - As new situations arise, be flexible and refine goals as needed. During this phase, the scope of the project is defined and a project management plan is developed. It involves identifying the cost, quality, available resources, and a realistic timetable. The project plans also includes establishing baselines or performance measures. These are generated using the scope, schedule and cost of a project. A baseline is essential to determine if a project is on track. At this time, roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, so everyone involved knows what they are accountable for. Here are some of the documents a PM will create during this phase to ensure the project will stay on track: Scope Statement - A document that clearly defines the business need, benefits of the project, objectives, deliverables, and key milestones. A scope statement may change during the project, but it shouldn't be done without the approval of the project manager and the sponsor. Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS) -This is a visual representation that breaks down the scope of the project into manageable sections for the team. Milestones - Identify high-level goals that need to be met throughout the project and include them in the Gantt chart. Gantt Chart - A visual timeline that you can use to plan out tasks and visualize your project timeline. Communication Plan - This is of particular importance if your project involves outside stakeholders. Develop the proper messaging around the project and create a schedule of when to communicate with team members based on deliverables and milestones. Risk Management Plan - Identify all foreseeable risks. Common risks include unrealistic time and cost estimates, customer review cycle, budget cuts, changing requirements, and lack of committed resources. Phase 3: Project Execution This is the phase where deliverables are developed and completed. This often feels like the meat of the project since a lot is happening during this time, like status reports and meetings, development updates, and performance reports. A \"kick-off\" meeting usually marks the start of the Project Execution phase where the teams involved are informed of their responsibilities. Tasks completed during the Execution Phase include: Develop team Assign resources Execute project management plans Procurement management if needed PM directs and manages project execution Set up tracking systems Task assignments are executed Status meetings Update project schedule Modify project plans as needed While the project monitoring phase has a different set of requirements, these two phases often occur simultaneously. Phase 4: Project Performance/Monitoring This is all about measuring project progression and performance and ensuring that everything happening aligns with the project management plan. Project managers will use key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine if the project is on track. A PM will typically pick two to five of these KPIs to measure project performance: Project Objectives: Measuring if a project is on schedule and budget is an indication if the project will meet stakeholder objectives. Quality Deliverables: This determines if specific task deliverables are being met. Effort and Cost Tracking: PMs will account for the effort and cost of resources to see if the budget is on track. This type of tracking informs if a project will meet its completion date based on current performance. Project Performance: This monitors changes in the project. It takes into consideration the amount and types of issues that arise and how quickly they are addressed. These can occur from unforeseen hurdles and scope changes. 3. Identify and describe 3 skills that an effective project management should possess. Provide examples and supporting discussion. Skill No. 1: Be highly organized and a good multi-tasker. A good project manager knows how to "manage multiple projects or tasks and track issues on a daily basis," says Hilary Atkinson, director of the Project Management Office a business solutions provider. between the success or failure of a project is often "the difference between a project manager who is highly organized and one who is not," she says. "If a project manager is spending more time trying to figure out where information is rather than productively managing their project, failure is eminent." Skill No. 2: Take charge and know how to lead. "Project managers need to be good leaders," says Lew Sauder, senior project manager Geneca, which develops custom enterprise software. Specifically, "project management is about leading stakeholders and vendors to a successful outcome," states Brian Lee, partner at Navigate, a management consulting firm. "Projects need to be led in a fashion that builds consensus while also fleshing out the real risks and roadblocks," he says. "Effective project managers paint a picture of a better tomorrow and inspire confidence in their team's abilities to realize that vision. They build credible relationships with key stakeholders to ensure alignment to the project's objectives and exude the confidence necessary to hold everyone participating in the project accountable." Skill No. 3: Be an effective communicator. "Being an outstanding communicator requires the project manager to consistently ensure they are clearly understood by all stakeholders; that all stakeholders understand what is expected of them throughout the project lifecycle; and that all stakeholders communicate effectively with one another as well as with the project manager," says Dr. Greg Thomas, CMC, PMP and CEO of Roos Technologies International, a management consulting firm. "They also need to be able to distinguish who needs to know what, when they need to know it and how that information will be delivered," she says. "For example, a slight scheduling delay may need to be communicated to internal teams but not to the client if the key client review dates are not affected." Skill No. 4: Know how and when to negotiate. "Project managers must be excellent negotiators," says Brock Boddie, an associate program director at Huge, a global digital agency. "You're very often dealing with people who have divergent interests from your own or who appear to have no interest in understanding what you're trying to accomplish and why they should help you or fully participate," he says. "A good project manager will invest time to understand and negotiate these relationships and figure out these stakeholder's interests, so that she can triangulate what will make her project continue to move forward. Without these negotiating skills, you may spoil or ignore these critical relationships, making project success highly unlikely," Boddie says. Skill No. 5: Be detail-oriented. "Project management is all about the details--big ones and small ones," says Aziz Kara, head of Product Management and Design at Xtreme Labs, a mobile app and product developer. Therefore, project managers must be "meticulous about managing the details of every project and the impact each detail may have on the overall project success. Details can make or break a project, and the effective PM recognizes that." Skill No. 6: Recognize and solve problems quickly. "Inevitably, there will be times when problems and obstacles arise that involve immediate solutions," notes Michael Pesochinsky, cofounder and vice-president of GovernmentBargains.com, a free site that compiles and provides information about government auctions. "How a project manager handles these problems will separate him from the others." Skill No. 7: Possess the necessary technical skills. To be a good project manager, you "must have solid knowledge of the platforms, software and programs that your company regularly works with, even if your job is not actually technical," says Joel Gross, the founder and CEO of Coalition Technologies, a Web design and marketing firm. And "a great project manager needs to have enough technical knowledge about areas of the project to be able to assign themselves to some of the tasks," adds Bob Herman, the owner of Tropolis Group, which provides IT, mobile and social media management services to companies. Why? "Assigning yourself to some of the project tasks and successfully completing those tasks on time helps you earn the respect you need to successfully manage the project team." 4. Identify and describe the two main methods of project evaluation. Provide examples and supporting discussion. Simple Rate of Return: The SRR is a commonly used criterion of project evaluation. It basically expresses the average net profits (Net Cash Flows) generated each year by an investment as a percentage of investment over the investment's expected life. It is as SRR = Y/I Where Y = the average annual net profit (after allowing depreciation) from the investment I = the initial investment The calculated SRR should be compared with the investor's Required Rate of Return (RRR) to judge the profitability of the investment. The investment will be accepted if SRR.RRR, otherwise it will be rejected. When the SRR of all the investment opportunities is greater than the RRR of the investor, then the investment yielding the highest SRR should be selected Internal Rate of Return (IRR) Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is that discount rate which just makes the net present value (NVP) of the cash flow equal zero. It is considered to be the most useful measure of project worth and used by almost all the institutions including World Bank in economic and financial analysis of the project. It represents the average earning power of the money used in the project over the project life. It is also sometimes called yield of the investment. Mathematically, IRR is that discount rate 'i' such that n (Bn - Cn ) / (1 + i) = 0 i.e. NVP = 0 n Where Bn = Costs in each year of the project. Cn = Costs in each year of the project. n = number of years in the project. i = interest (discount) rate. A project is profitable or feasible for investment when the internal rate of return is higher than the opportunity cost of capital. The computation of IRR for project involves a trial and error method. Here alternative discount rates are used to the cash flow streams of the project under consideration till the NPV of the project reaches zero. However, it is not always possible to get a discount rate which makes the NPV exactly equal to zero through this trial and error method. We may get discount rate, which makes the NPV nearer to zero i.e. either positive or negative. Under such situation, we use interpolation to estimate the true value. Interpolation is simply finding the intermediate value between too discount rates we have chosen. The rule for interpolating the value of the internal rate of return lying between two discount rates too high on the one side and the too low on the other is. 5. Identify, compare and contrast the three different methodologies of project management - traditional, agile and extreme - as reviewed in the Effective Project Management text. Provide examples and supporting discussion. Extreme methodlogy is one of the most discussed subjects in the software development community. But what makes XP extreme? And how does it fit into the New World of agile methodologies? This tutorial will establish the underpinnings of agile methodology and explain why you might want to try one. Then we will see how XP uses a set of practices to build an effective software development team that produces quality software in a predictable and repeatable manner. Some of the differences will depend on the agile methodology being used and the other roles and responsibilities that are assigned on a team. However, one of the biggest differences that appears universal to all agile methodologies is the concept of embracing change. In traditional project management, the scope of the project is defined and estimated up front, so changes to that scope (referred to as "scope creep") cause problems for the team. Another difference lays in responsibility and accountability. In many traditional environments, the project manager is held accountable for the success of the project. Many teams operate under the "one throat to choke" rule, in which they feel it's important to have a single person that is held accountable. Agile environments operate in an environment in which the whole team is held responsible for the success or failure of the project. In Lyssa Adkins' book, "Coaching Agile Teams," she describes the difference between a project manager and the role of an agile coach. "A project manager plans and controls, supervising throughout. A coach guides. A project manager's success equals the success of the project. An agile coach's success equals the team's continual improvement and their pursuit of high performance. The two are focused on completely different things and thus act completely differently."