Project Management Fundamentals

A project is a unique, transient endeavour, undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits. A project is usually deemed to be a success it follows some of these basic fundamentals:

• Project management always needs to be tailored to fit the needs of the project.

• Functional managers provide management for an ongoing business unit, and an Operational manager is responsible for the efficiency of operations.

• Project Managers are NOT involved in the actual management of the company, but JUST the PROJECT itself.

• Project Sponsor is ULIMATELY responsible for the project, NOT the project manager.

• On a very basic level, project management includes the planning, initiation, execution, monitoring, and closing of a project.

• Many different types of project management methodologies and techniques exist, including traditional, waterfall, agile, and lean.

• Project management is used across industries and is an important part of the success of construction, engineering, and IT companies.

Questions to ask yourself before starting a project witin your organization:

Buy-In - Is there acceptance, support, and enthusiasm for the proposed delivery approach?

Trust - Are there high levels of trust that the project team is capable of and committed to delivering the project outcomes?

Empowerment - Is the project team trusted, supported, and encouraged to own and develop its working environment, agreements, and decisions?

Organizational Culture - Do the organizational values and culture align with the project approach? This includes empowering versus specifying and checking, trusting local decision making versus requesting external decision making, etc.

This top level body of project-related governance processes and organizes sharing of resources, etc. This office has a wide range of functions from support to direct management of a project. The layers beneath this governing body are as follows:

Level 1 - Portfolio: Collection of Projects OR Programs OR Portfolios OR Operations managed as a Group.

Level 2 - Program: Group of related projects, and subsidiary programs, that are managed, in a COORDINATED manner, to obtain benefits that are NOT AVAILABLE from managing them individually.

Level 3 - Project: The Project itself is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or a tangible or intangible result. It has a definite beginning and end and are undertaken to fulfill objectives by producing deliverables, which create value and benefits. Projects drive change in organizations. From a business perspective, a project is aimed at moving an organization from one state to another state in order to achieve a specific objective.

Level 4 - Operations Management: Operations Management is about the continued/ongoing business activities and is not a part of Project Management.

Predictive (or Waterfall)

The scope, time and costs are determined in the early phases and done only ONCE via the Project Scope Statement. This is similar to traditional project management but includes the caveat that each task needs to be completed before the next one starts. Steps are linear and progress flows in one direction—like a waterfall. Because of this, attention to task sequences and timelines is very important in this type of project management. Often, the size of the team working on the project will grow as smaller tasks are completed and larger tasks begin.

Iterative

Scope is determined early on, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified as the understanding of the project increases.

Incremental

The deliverable is produced through a series of iterations that add to the functionality within a predetermined time frame.

Adaptive (Agile)

The scope is defined before the start of an iteration, CONTINUOUSLY defined and redefined. The computer software industry was one of the first to use this methodology. With the basis originating in the 12 core principles of the Agile Manifesto, agile project management is an iterative process focused on the continuous monitoring and improvement of deliverables. At its core, high-quality deliverables are a result of providing customer value, team interactions, and adapting to current business circumstances.

Hybrid

Combination of Predictive and Adaptive.

Project management can be broken down into the following 5 steps:

Below are the qualities inherent in any good Project Manager, and utilizing these characteristics on your Project is our top priority:

• Manages scope and baseline changes throughout the initiative utilizing formal change control and requirements traceability

• Lead, facilitate, and assist documenting the development of Portfolio as well as subsidiary Program and Project plans

• Works with the Sponsor and other Program-wide Project Plan managers to combine and compile an enterprise Project plan

• Posesseses strong understanding of business procedures, financial services products, and computer platforms

• Owns deliverables, timelines, and communications of progress while applying Agile methodology principles of incremental business value delivery

• Constant utilization of Statement of Work and Change order constructs to establish work performed is in scope

• Identification, managing, resolving and mitigating key risks and issues impacting the project delivery

• Acting as a gatekeeper function that establishes effective transfer to Operations in compliance with the transition process for all new services introduced

• Establishing an effective set of performance metrics and service levels are delivered for new services

• Properly assign and monitor resources to ensure project efficiency and maximization of deliverables

• Excellent communicator, able to write and present information in a clear, concise and compelling manner that is tailored to the stakeholders

• Confirming new services have a fully developed end to end support structure, including Processes, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and monitoring commensurate with business requirements and priorities

• Report project outcomes and/or risks to the appropriate management channels and escalate issues, as necessary, according to project work plan

Good project management is all about tailoring the resources to fit the speecific needs of the project. As we have historically discovered, certain factors tend to creep into a project, creating what should be a somewhat simple endeavor into an overly complicated, years-long nightmare. We strive to avoid the below concepts, at all costs:

Parkinson’s Law

The amount of work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

Student Syndrome

People applying themselves at the last possible minute before a deadline.

Law of Diminishing Returns

When one factor/resource is increased while all others remain fixed eventually leading to a point at which additions of that one factor/resource will start to yield smaller outputs.

Certified Scrum Master (CSM)

The scrum master on a scrum team fosters an effective and productive working environment. One way they do so is by guiding others to understand scrum values and practices. Some of the common characteristics of a scrum master are:

• People-oriented

• High emotional intelligence

• Enjoys helping people grow and learn

A scrum master's day may include facilitating conversations, managing impediments to the team's progress, and coaching individual team members in the use of scrum; however, this accountability is certainly not limited to those activities!  A scrum master's day-to-day activities and overall objectives will look different from organization to organization. When you work in this accountability, your duties and focus are derived from the goal of improving team and organizational agility.

Project Management Professional (pmp)

The PMP acknowledges candidates skilled at managing the people, processes, and business priorities of professional projects. PMI, the world’s leading authority on project management, created the PMP to recognize project managers who have proven they have project leadership experience and expertise in any way of working.rsations, managing impediments to the team's progress, and coaching individual team members in the use of scrum. 

A scrum master's day-to-day activities and overall objectives will look different from organization to organization. When you work in this accountability, your duties and focus are derived from the goal of improving team and organizational agility.

PMP certification validates that you are highly skilled in:

• Motivating people and teams through all phases of a successful project.

• Using predictive, agile and hybrid approaches to determine which way of working is best for each project.

• Highlighting the success of a project and its impact on overall strategic organizational goals.