Final Summary

Chapter 1  Project Management Concepts

Summary

A project is an endeavor to accomplish a specific objective through a unique set of interrelated tasks and the effective utilization of resources.

The successful accomplishment of the project objective could be constrained by many factors, including scope, quality, schedule, budget, resources, risks, and customer satisfaction.

The project life cycle has four phases: initiating, planning, performing, and closing the project.

Project management is planning, organizing, coordinating, leading, and controlling resources to accomplish the project objective. The project management process involves two major functions: first establishing a plan and then executing that plan to accomplish the project objective.

The ultimate benefit of implementing project management techniques is having a satisfied customer—whether you are the customer of your own project or a business (contractor) being paid by a customer to perform a project.

Planning and communication are critical to successful project management. They prevent problems from occurring or minimize their impact on the achievement of the project objective when they do occur.

Taking the time to develop a well thought-out plan before the start of the project is critical to the successful accomplishment of any project.

A project must have a clear objective of what is to be accomplished and defined in terms of end product or deliverable, schedule, and budget; and is agreed upon by the customer.

Involve the sponsor or customer as a partner in the successful outcome of the project through active participation during the project.

Achieving customer satisfaction requires ongoing communication with the customer to keep the customer informed and to determine whether expectations have changed.

The key to effective project control is measuring actual progress and comparing it to planned progress on a timely and regular basis and taking any needed corrective action immediately.

After the conclusion of a project, the project performance should be evaluated to learn what could be improved if a similar project were to be undertaken in the future. Feedback should be obtained from the sponsor or customer and the project team.

Learning and understanding the culture and customs of other project participants will demonstrate respect, help build trust, and aid in developing an effective project team; and it is critical for successful global project management.

Chapter 2 Identifying and Selecting Projects

Summary

The initiating phase of the project life cycle starts with recognizing a need, problem, or opportunity for which a project or projects are identified to address the need.

Sometimes organizations identify several or many needs but have limited funds and people available to pursue potential projects to address all of those needs. In such cases, the company must go through a decision-making process to prioritize and select those projects that will result in the greatest overall benefit.

Project selection involves evaluating potential projects and then deciding which should move forward to be implemented.

Once a project is selected, it is formally authorized using a document referred to as a project charter, sometimes called a project authorization or project initiation document.

In some cases, an organization does not have the expertise or staff capacity to plan and perform the project or major portions of the project, and therefore decides to have the project completed by an external resource (contractor) and prepares and RFP.

Once the RFP has been prepared, the customer solicits proposals by notifying potential contractors that the RFP is available.

Not all project life cycles include the preparation of a written request for proposal by a customer and subsequent submittal of proposals from contractors. Some endeavors move from the initiating phase, where a project is identified and selected, into the planning and performing phases of the life cycle.

Critical Success Factors

The need must be clearly defined before preparing a request for proposal (RFP).

When selecting a project from among several needs or opportunities, the decision should be based on which project will provide the greatest overall benefits compared to its costs and possible consequences.

Having a well-understood evaluation and selection process and a well-rounded committee will increase the chances of making the best project selection decision.

Establish quantitative project success criteria, or expected benefits.

A good RFP allows contractors to understand what the customer expects so that they can prepare a thorough proposal that addresses the customer’s needs and requirements.

A request for proposal should include a statement of work, customer requirements, expected deliverables, and the criteria by which the customer will evaluate proposals.

An RFP should provide instructions for the format and content of contractor proposals so that the customer will be able to make a consistent and fair comparison and evaluation of all the proposals.

Customers must be careful not to provide information to only some of the contractors because it would give these contractors an unfair competitive advantage in preparing their proposals.

Chapter 3 Developing Project Proposals

Summary

Interested contractors develop proposals in response to a customer’s RFP.

Relationships establish the foundation for successful funding and contract opportunities. Relationship building requires being proactive and engaged.

Contractors should develop relationships with potential customers long before customers prepare an RFP.

Because the development and preparation of a proposal take time and money, contractors interested in submitting a proposal in response to an RFP must be realistic about the probability of being selected as the winning contractor.

It is important to remember that the proposal process is competitive and that the proposal is a selling document that should be written in a simple, concise manner. In the proposal, the contractor must highlight the unique factors that differentiate it from competing contractors.

Proposals are often organized into three sections: technical, management, and cost.

Customers evaluate contractors’ proposals in many different ways.

Once the customer has selected the winning contractor, the contractor is informed that it is the winner, subject to successful negotiation of a contract: fixed-price and cost reimbursement are the two types of contracts.

Contractors measure the success of their proposal efforts by the number of times their proposals are selected by customers and/or by the total dollar value of their proposals that are selected.

Critical Success Factors

Customers and partner organizations prefer to work with people they know and trust. Relationships establish the foundation for successful funding and contract opportunities.

Establishing and building trust is key to developing effective and successful relationships with clients and partners.

The first impression one makes on a client is pivotal to developing a continuing and fruitful relationship.

Pre-RFP/proposal efforts are crucial to establishing the foundation for eventually winning a contract from the customer.

Do not wait until formal RFP solicitations are announced by customers before starting to develop proposals. Rather, develop relationships with potential customers long before they prepare their RFPs.

Working closely with a potential customer puts a contractor in a better position to be selected as the winning contractor. Learn as much as possible about the customer’s needs, problems, and decision-making process during pre-RFP/proposal marketing.

Becoming familiar with the customer’s needs, requirements, and expectations will help in preparing a more clearly focused proposal.

Be realistic about the ability to prepare a quality proposal and about the probability of winning the contract. It is not enough just to prepare a proposal; rather, the proposal must be of sufficient quality to have a chance of winning.

A proposal is a selling document, not a technical report. It should be written in a simple, concise manner and should use terminology with which the customer is familiar.

In a proposal, it is important to highlight the unique factors that differentiate it from competitors’ proposals.

Proposals must be realistic. Proposals that promise too much or are overly optimistic may be unbelievable to customers, and may raise doubt about whether the contractor understands what needs to be done or how to do it.

When bidding on a fixed-price project, the contractor must develop accurate and complete cost estimates and include sufficient contingency costs.

Chapter 4 Defining Scope, Quality, Responsibility, and Activity Sequence

Summary

•The planning process is based on the project objective, which establishes what is to be accomplished.

•The project scope defines what needs to be done.

•The project scope document usually contains the customer requirements, statement of work, deliverables, acceptance criteria, and a work breakdown structure.

•The quality plan must include or reference the specifications, industry or government standards, and codes that must be used and met during the performance of the project work.

•The work breakdown structure establishes the framework for how the work will get done to produce the project deliverables.

•A responsibility assignment matrix defines who will be responsible for the work.

•Activities define more specifically how the work will get done.

•A network diagram defines the sequence of how and when the activities will be performed.

•Project planning is a critical activity in developing an information system (IS).

•A project management planning tool or methodology, called the systems development life cycle (SDLC), is often used to help plan, execute, and control IS development projects.

•Numerous project management information systems are available to help project managers plan, track, and control projects in a completely interactive way.

Critical Success Factors

Plan the work and then work the plan. It is important to develop a plan before starting to perform the project. Taking the time to develop a well-thought-out plan is critical to the successful accomplishment of any project.

Participation builds commitment. By participating in the planning of the work, individuals will become committed to accomplishing it according to the plan.

The project must have a clear objective of what is to be accomplished. The objective should be defined  in terms of end product or deliverable, schedule, and budget, and it must be agreed upon by the customer and the project team that will perform the project.

The project scope document is valuable for establishing a common understanding and agreement among project stakeholders regarding the scope of the project.

Having a quality plan at the outset of the project is extremely beneficial because it will help prevent incurring additional costs and schedule extensions due to rework caused by work and deliverables that fail to meet quality requirements and customer expectations.

The key to quality control is to monitor the quality of the work early and regularly throughout the performance of the project, rather than waiting until all the work is completed before checking or inspecting for quality.

The network diagram is also is a communication tool for the project team because it shows who is responsible for each activity and how each person’s work fits into the overall project.

Chapter 5 Developing the Schedule

Summary

•The scheduling function depends on the planning function.

•The estimated types and quantities of resources required for an activity, together with the availability of those resources, will influence the estimated duration for how long it will take to perform the activity.

•The estimated duration for each activity must be the total elapsed time—the time for the work to be done plus any associated waiting time.

•The estimate should be aggressive yet realistic.

•It may be easier to estimate the durations for near-term activities, but as the project progresses, the project team can progressively elaborate the estimated the durations as more information becomes known to allow for more accurate estimated durations.

•A project schedule provides a timetable for each activity and shows the earliest start (ES) and earliest finish (EF) times and the latest start (LS) and latest finish (LF) times for each activity.

•The total slack for a particular path of activities through the network is common to and shared among all activities on that path.

•The critical path is the longest (most time-consuming) path of activities in the network diagram.

•The key to effective project control is measuring actual progress and comparing it to planned progress on a timely and regular basis and taking any needed corrective action immediately.

•Actual progress—whether faster or slower than planned—will have an effect on the schedule of the remaining, incomplete activities of the project.

•Any type of change—whether initiated by the customer, the contractor, the project manager, a team member, or an unanticipated event—will require a modification to the plan in terms of scope, schedule, and/or budget.

•Schedule control involves four steps: analyzing the schedule to determine which areas may need corrective action, deciding what specific corrective actions should be taken, revising the plan to incorporate the chosen corrective actions, and recalculating the schedule to evaluate the effects of the planned corrective actions.

•One of the most important factors in effective scheduling is estimating activity durations that are as realistic as possible.

Critical Success Factors

The person who will be responsible for performing the activity should estimate the duration for that activity. This generates commitment from the person.

The estimated duration for an activity must be based on the types and quantities of resources required to perform the activity.

Activity estimated durations should be aggressive yet realistic.

Activities should not be longer in estimated duration than the time intervals at which the actual progress will be reviewed and compared to planned progress.

Project management involves a proactive approach to controlling a project to ensure that the project objective is accomplished even when things do not go according to plan.

Once the project starts, it is important to monitor progress to ensure that everything is going according to plan.

The key to effective project control is measuring actual progress and comparing it to planned progress on a timely and regular basis and taking any needed corrective action immediately.

The key to effective schedule control is to address any paths with negative or deteriorating slack values aggressively as soon as they are identified. A concentrated effort to accelerate project progress must be applied to these paths.

The amount of negative slack should determine the priority for applying these concentrated efforts.

When attempting to reduce the duration of a path of activities that has negative slack, focus on activities that are near term and on activities that have long estimated durations.

Addressing schedule problems early will minimize the negative impact on scope and budget.

If a project falls too far behind, getting it back on schedule becomes more difficult, and usually requires spending more money or reducing the scope or quality.

If corrective actions are necessary, decisions must be made regarding a trade-off of scope, time, and cost.

A regular reporting period should be established for comparing actual progress to planned progress.

The shorter the reporting period, the better the chances of identifying problems early and taking corrective actions.

During each reporting period, data on actual performance and information on changes to the project scope, schedule, and budget need to be collected in a timely manner and used to calculate an updated schedule and budget.

Chapter 8 Managing Risk

Summary

•Risk is an uncertain event that, if it occurs, can jeopardize accomplishing the project objective.

•Risk management involves identifying, assessing, and responding to project risks in order to minimize the likelihood of occurrence and/or potential impact of adverse events on the accomplishment of the project objective.

•Risk identification includes determining which risks may adversely affect the project objective and estimating what the potential impacts of each risk might be if it occurs.

•Assessing each risk involves determining the likelihood  that the risk event will occur and the degree of impact the event will have on the project objective, and then prioritizing the risks.

•A risk response plan is a defined set of actions to prevent or reduce the likelihood of occurrence or the impact of a risk, or to implement if the risk event occurs.

•Regularly review and evaluate all risks to determine if there are any changes to the likelihood of occurrence or the potential impact of any of the risks, or if any new risks have been identified

Critical Success Factors

•Identify risks and their potential impacts before the project starts.

•Involve the project team or experts in assessing risks.

•Assign high priority to managing risks that have a high likelihood of occurrence and a high potential impact on the project outcome.

•Develop response plans for addressing high priority risks.

Chapter 9 Closing the Project

Summary

•The fourth and final phase of the project life cycle is closing the project.

•An important project closing action is staff recognition and evaluation.

•Conduct post-project evaluation meetings within the project team or organization with individual team members and a group meeting with the project team to gather team feedback for improved future performance.

•Identify and document lessons learned to capitalize on the knowledge and experience gained on the project in order to improve performance on future projects.

•The project team or contractor should ensure that copies of appropriate project documentation are properly organized, filed, and archived so that they can be readily retrieved for future use.

•Conduct a post-project evaluation meeting, or distribute a customer evaluation survey to the customer  or sponsor to determine whether the project provided the customer with the expected benefits; assess the level of customer satisfaction; and obtain any feedback that would be helpful in future business relationships with this customer or with other customers.

•Projects may be terminated before completion for various reasons.

Critical Success Factors

Recognize the project team and celebrate accomplishments throughout the project.

Regularly ask the customer about the level of satisfaction with the performance and progress of the project and take corrective action at the first hint that the customer is not satisfied.

After the conclusion of a project, the project performance should be evaluated to learn what could be improved if a similar project were to be done in the future. Feedback should be obtained from the customer and the project team.

Capture and document lessons learned throughout the performance of the project.

Establish a knowledge base of lessons learned and ensure that they are communicated and used on future projects.

Organize and archive project documentation and analyze key data that could be helpful in bidding, planning, or performing future projects.

Retain customer evaluation and feedback information that could be valuable in developing proposals for other projects for the same customer in the future.

Chapter 10 The Project Manager

Summary

•It is the responsibility of the project manager to make sure that the customer is satisfied that the work scope is completed in a quality manner, within budget, and on time.

•The project manager has primary responsibility for providing leadership in planning, organizing, and controlling the work effort to accomplish the project objective.

•The project manager is a key ingredient in the success of a project and needs to possess a set of skills that will help the project team succeed.

•Project manager competence can be developed through a number of activities, individually or with others.

•Project managers need to be good delegators.

•The project manger manages and controls changes to minimize any negative impact on the successful accomplishment of the project objective.

Critical Success Factors

     Successful project managers accept responsibility for making sure the customer is satisfied and the work scope is completed in a quality manner, within budget, and on time.

     The project manager needs to be proactive in planning, communicating, and providing leadership to the project team to accomplish the project objective.

     The project manager needs to inspire the project team to succeed and to win the confidence of the customer.

     By involving the project team in developing the project plan, the project manager ensures a more comprehensive plan and gains the commitment of the team to achieve the plan.

     Successful project managers are proactive in addressing problems. They do not take a “let’s wait and see how things work out” approach.

     The project manager needs to have a project management information system that distinguishes accomplishments from busy-work.

     Effective project managers have strong leadership ability, the ability to develop people, excellent communication skills, good interpersonal skills, the ability to handle stress, problem-solving skills, negotiating skills, and time management skills.

     Successful project management requires a participative and consultative leadership style in which the project manager provides guidance and coaching to the project team. The effective project manager does not tell people how to do their jobs.

     Project managers show they value the contributions of team members when they seek advice and suggestions from team members.

     Project managers can foster motivation through recognition. People want to feel they are making a contribution and need to be recognized. Positive reinforcement helps stimulate desired behavior; behavior that is recognized or rewarded gets repeated.

     The effective project manager does not monopolize, seek the spotlight, or try to take credit for the work of others.

     Capable project managers are optimistic and have high, yet realistic, expectations of themselves and each person on the project team.

     Projects should be fun. Project managers should enjoy their work and encourage the same positive attitude on the part of the project team members. The project manager should set a positive example for the team in terms of expected behavior.

     A good project manager provides opportunities for learning and development by encouraging team members to take the initiative, take risks, and make decisions. Rather than create a fear of failure, the project manager realizes that mistakes are part of the learning and growth experience.

     Good project managers spend more time listening than talking. They listen to the needs expressed by the customer and the ideas and concerns expressed by the project team.

     Communication by project managers needs to be timely, honest, and unambiguous.

     The project manager should create an atmosphere that fosters timely and open communication without fear of reprisal, and must be understanding of differing viewpoints.

     When unforeseen events cause turmoil on a project, effective project managers remain composed and do not panic.

     Effective project managers recognize that the best solution often emerges from differences of ideas, viewpoints, experiences, and opinions.

     The project manager must maintain integrity and respect for the other party throughout the negotiating process.

     To make effective use of their time, project managers need to have self-discipline, be able to prioritize, and be willing to delegate.

     At the start of a project, the project manager needs to establish a change control system to define how changes will be documented, approved, and communicated. 

Chapter 11 The Project Team

Summary

•A team is a group of individuals working interdependently to accomplish the project objective.

•Project teams evolve through various stages of development: forming, storming, norming, and performing.

•The project manager should schedule a project kickoff meeting with the project team as early as possible during the forming stage of team development to inform the members, reduce anxiety, manage expectations, and inspire the team.

•Effective project team characteristics include a clear understanding of the project objective, clear expectations of each person’s role and responsibilities, a results orientation, a high degree of cooperation and collaboration, and a high level of trust.

Barriers to team effectiveness include: unclear vision and objective, unclear definition of roles and responsibilities, lack of project structure, lack of commitment, poor communication, poor leadership, turnover of project team members, and dysfunctional behavior.

•Team building is the responsibility of both the project manager and the project team.

•Diversity is about acknowledging, understanding, and valuing differences, and creating a work environment that recognizes, respects, and harnesses differences among team members for the benefits of accomplishing a shared goal, such as the project objective.

•Ethical behavior is necessary within a project organization and is crucial in project business relationships with the customer, suppliers, and subcontractors.

•Dealt with properly, conflict can be beneficial because it causes problems to surface and be addressed.

•A good nine-step problem-solving approach is to develop a problem statement, identify potential causes of the problem, gather data and verify the most likely causes, identify possible solutions, evaluate the alternative solutions, determine the best solution, revise the project plan, implement the solution, and determine whether the problem has been solved.

•Good time management is essential for a high-performance project team.

Critical Success Factors

     Project success requires an effective project team. Although plans and project management techniques are necessary, it is the people—the project manager and project team—who are the key to project success.

     Putting a group of people together to work on a project does not create a team. Helping these individuals develop and grow into a cohesive, effective team takes effort on the part of the project manager and each member of the project team.

     Project teams should be kept as small as feasible throughout the project.

     A project kickoff meeting should be held as early as possible to inform members, reduce anxiety, manage expectations, and inspire the team.

     Characteristics of effective project teams include a clear understanding of the project objective, clear expectations of each person’s roles and responsibilities, a results orientation, a high degree of cooperation and collaboration, and a high level of trust.

     Each member of the project team needs to help create and foster a positive project environment.

     Effective team members have high expectations of themselves. They plan, control, and feel accountable for their individual work efforts.

     Members of effective teams have open, frank, and timely communication. They readily share information, ideas, and feelings. They provide constructive feedback to each other.

     Effective team members go beyond just doing their assigned tasks; they act as a resource for each other.

     Diversity of the team brings unique ideas and perspectives to projects.

     Individual team members make a personal commitment to understand and value diversity and respect the differences of other team members.

     Diversity is valued as a strength that will enrich communication, foster better relationships, create an enjoyable workplace, and enhance team performance.

     Ethical behavior is crucial in project business relationships with the customer, suppliers, and subcontractors.

     The project manager and the project team need to acknowledge openly that disagreement is bound to occur during the performance of the project and reach consensus on how it should be handled.

     Effective project teams resolve conflict through constructive and timely feedback and positive confrontation of the issues. Disagreement is not suppressed; it is viewed as normal and as an opportunity for growth.

     Handled properly, conflict can be beneficial. It causes problems to surface and be addressed. It stimulates discussion and requires individuals to clarify their views. It can foster creativity and enhance problem solving.

     Conflict is not just for the project manager to handle and resolve; conflict between team members should be handled by the individuals involved.

     Each person must approach the conflict with a constructive attitude and a willingness to work in good faith with others to resolve the issues.

     To effectively manage their time, team members should establish weekly goals and make daily to-do lists.

Chapter 12 Project Communication and Documentation

Summary

•        Project communication takes various forms.

•        Face-to-face or via some medium

•        Verbal or written

•        Internal or external correspondence

•        Body language and tone are important elements in verbal communication.

•        Failure to listen can cause a breakdown in communication.

•        The three most common types of project meetings are status review, problem-solving, and design review meetings.

•        Before any meeting, the purpose of the meeting and the people who need to participate should be determined, an agenda drawn up and distributed, materials prepared, and room arrangements made.

•        In preparing for the presentation, it is important to determine the purpose of the presentation, find out about the target audience, make an outline, develop notes and visual aids, make copies of handout materials, and practice.

•        Written progress reports and final reports are often required during a project.

•        At the start of the project, a document tracking system needs to be established regarding how changes to documents will be documented, approved, and communicated.

•        A project communication plan defines the generation and distribution of project documents among stakeholders throughout the project.

•        Collaborative communication tools allow all or some of the members of the project team, including subcontractors and the customer to communicate with each other.

Critical Success Factors

     Effective and frequent personal communication is crucial to successful project management.

     A high degree of face-to-face communication is important early in the project to foster team building, develop good working relationships, and establish mutual expectations.

     Body language and customs reflective of cultural diversity must be considered in communications.

     Be careful not to use remarks, words, or phrases that can be construed to be sexist, racist, prejudicial, or offensive.

     The heart of communication is understanding—not only to be understood, but to understand. Half of making communication effective is listening. Failure to listen can cause a breakdown in communication.

     Communication should be clear, concise, honest, unambiguous, free of jargon, and not offensive.

     Achieving customer satisfaction requires ongoing communication with the customer to keep him or her informed and to determine whether expectations have changed. Regularly ask customers about their level of satisfaction with the progress of the project.

     Keep the customer and project team informed of the project status and potential problems in a timely manner.

     Project status meetings should be held on a regular basis. Have the team develop meeting guidelines at the project kickoff meeting at the beginning of the project so that everyone understands and is committed to what behavior is expected during project meetings.

     Do not confuse busyness and activity with accomplishment when communicating project progress.

     Reports must be written to address what is of interest to the readers, not what is of interest to the person writing the report.

     Make reports concise, readable, and understandable. Pay as much attention to format, organization, appearance, and readability as you do to the content.

     At the beginning of the project, prepare a project communication plan to ensure that all stakeholders will receive the information and documents they need.

     At the start of the project, a document tracking system needs to be established regarding how changes to documents will be documented, approved, and communicated.

     When documents are updated, they should immediately be distributed to all team members whose work will be affected.