Project Management JumpStart E-Book

Kim Heldman

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 579

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The much-anticipated new edition of the popular project management introductory book The role of the project manager continues to become more diverse and demanding, placing strong project management skills in high demand. This in-depth introductory guide offers aspiring project managers the essential fundamentals of project management. Fully revised since the previous version, this new edition includes updated project management methods and practices as well as new examples and study questions. Project management guru Kim Heldman presents you with a clear, concise, and enjoyable writing style so that you can approach project management from a practical?rather than theoretical?standpoint. * Serves as an introduction to the fundamentals of project management * Provides completely updated and revised material on project management methods and practices * Features new examples and study questions * Addresses how to create project schedules and budgets and define project goals * Covers project management principles, Project Management Institute?s project management standards, and practical application of project management for the workplace Whether you're considering a career in project management or simply wish to expand your understanding of general project management principles, Project Management JumpStart, Third Edition is ideal reading.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Credits

Copyright

Publisher's Note

Dedication

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

Who Should Read This Book

What This Book Covers

Making the Most of This Book

Chapter 1: Building the Foundation

The Project Management Journey

Benefiting from Project Management Practices

Twenty-first Century Project Management

Where Do You Go from Here?

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 2: Developing Project Management Skills

A Little Bit of Everything

Communicating Your Style

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 3: Initiating the Project

Selecting Projects for Success

Creating the Project Charter

Holding the Project Kickoff Meeting

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 4: Defining the Project Goals

Agreeing on the Deliverables

Discovering Requirements

Identifying Assumptions and Constraints

Creating the Project Scope Statement

Creating the Communications Plan

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 5: Breaking Down the Project Activities

Constructing the Work Breakdown Structure

Defining Tasks and Activities

Determining Milestones

Constructing the Responsibility Assignment Matrix

Estimating Activity Durations

Establishing Dependencies

Constructing a Network Diagram

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 6: Planning and Acquiring Resources

Planning the Project Team

Acquiring Materials, Supplies, and Equipment

Contracting for Resources

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 7: Assessing Risk

Identifying Risks

Risk Analysis Techniques

Planning for Risks

Responding to Risks

Contingency Planning

Risk Management Plan

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 8: Developing the Project Plan

Creating the Project Schedule

Quality Management Plan

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 9: Budgeting 101

What Makes Up a Budget?

Estimating Techniques

Estimating Costs and Finalizing the Budget

Establishing a Cost Baseline

Call It a Plan

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 10: Executing the Project

Assembling the Team

Negotiation and Problem-Solving Techniques

Project Manager’s Role in Team Development

Progress Reporting

Taking Corrective Action

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 11: Controlling the Project Outcome

Change Happens

Establishing Change Management Control Procedures

Assessing the Impacts of Change

Monitoring and Controlling Project Processes

Is the Project in Trouble?

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Chapter 12: Closing the Books

Happy Endings

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

Documenting Lessons Learned

Obtaining Project Sign-off

Is the Customer Happy?

Archiving Project Documents

It’s Party Time!

Terms to Know

Review Questions

Appendix A: Answers to Review Questions

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Appendix B: Sample Project Management Forms

Appendix C: Sample Project Management Checklists

Glossary

Index

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Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Project Management JumpStart, Third Edition. This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

Sybex was founded in 1976. More than 30 years later, we’re still committed to producing consistently exceptional books. With each of our titles, we’re working hard to set a new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available.

I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. I’d be very interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how we’re doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at [email protected]. If you think you’ve found a technical error in this book, please visit http://sybex.custhelp.com. Customer feedback is critical to our efforts at Sybex.

Best regards,

Neil Edde

Vice President and Publisher

Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley

To BB, my best friend and forever love

Acknowledgments

Writing a book, like any project, requires a dedicated team of folks working together to produce the end product. Once again I’ve had the privilege to work with the talented staff at Sybex to write the third edition of this book. They’re the best project team around.

First, I’d like to especially thank Neil Edde, vice president and publisher, for giving me the opportunity to write this book. Thank you to Agatha Kim, acquisitions editor. Her support and encouragement were a great help to me. Kim Beaudet, our developmental editor, was terrific. She kept me on track and managed this process like a true project manager. Eric Charbonneau, production editor, kept a keen eye on my grammar and sometimes not-so-funny puns. His insights were very helpful.

Another special thanks to Terri Wagner, who reviewed every word of this book for accuracy and adherence to sound project management principles. Terri is an expert in the field of project management, and her suggestions based on her consulting and training experience helped make the book stronger and clearer. Thanks again, Terri, for another great job.

As always, there’s a host of behind-the-scenes folks who put a great deal of effort into making this book the best that it can be. Thanks to these folks as well: Pete Gaughan, editorial manager; Connor O’Brien, editorial assistant; and Kim Wimpsett, copy editor.

Last but not least, thank you to my husband and best friend, BB. You are truly an inspiration to me, and without your support, encouragement, and prayers, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

About the Author

Kim Heldman, PMP, is an IT Director for the Governor’s Office of Information Technology, State of Colorado. She oversees delivery of information technology services to four departments including Natural Resources, Public Health and Environment, Agriculture, and Local Affairs. She has more than 20 years of project management experience in the information technology field. She’s managed small, medium, and large projects over the course of her career and shares her breadth of experience and knowledge in her books through examples, stories, and tips.

Kim Heldman is the author of other project management books, including the best-selling PMP: Project Management Professional Study Guide, 6th Edition, and co-author of CompTIA Project+. You can learn more about Kim at her website: http://KimHeldman.com.

Introduction

This book was written with those of you in mind who are exploring the project management field or perhaps have been assigned to your first project.

Project management encompasses almost all aspects of our lives, not just our working lives. If you think about it, many things you do — from organizing a dinner party to planning a child’s birthday celebration to bringing a new product to market — are projects. The principles you’ll learn in this book will help you with all the project work you’ll find yourself involved with.

Project management crosses all industries. My own personal searches on some of the popular job-hunting websites have shown that organizations are understanding the importance of employing skilled project managers. In these tight economic times, organizations are less likely to take on risky projects, and they want assurances that if they do take on a new project, it will be successful. Reading this book will give you a solid footing in project management practices. If you apply the principles you’ll learn here, you’ll give your future projects a much better chance at success.

If you find that this topic interests you and project management seems like a career worth pursuing, I strongly recommend you consider becoming certified through the Project Management Institute (PMI). They are the de facto standard in project management methodologies. You’ll find in your own job searches that many organizations now require a PMP certification. PMP stands for Project Management Professional and is the designation that PMI bestows on those who qualify and pass the exam.

Reading this book will give you a jump start on understanding the principles of project management. From here, you can build on this knowledge by taking project management classes, reading other books on project management, and networking with others in your organization or community involved in project management work. This book is based on the project management guidelines recommended by PMI, and many of the terms, concepts, and processes you’ll read about in this book are based on PMI’s publication, Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), 4th Edition.

For a more detailed exploration of project management in general and the PMP certification specifically, pick up a copy of another book I’ve written called PMP: Project Management Professional Study Guide, 6th Edition, also published by Sybex.

Whether you choose to pursue certification or not, a basic understanding of project management practices is invaluable. During the course of your career, you’ll be involved in several projects. Even if you are not the one managing the project, understanding how project management works, what a project life cycle is, and how to plan and execute a project will enhance your ability to communicate with others on the project team and know what process should be followed to assure a successful outcome.

Who Should Read This Book

This book was written for those of you fairly new to project management and lays the foundation for an understanding of the basic principles of good project management methodologies. Even if you’ve had some experience in the project management field, you’ll find the example projects, templates, and checklists included in this book immediately applicable to your next project.

The fact that you purchased this book means you’re interested in learning new things and furthering your career. Having a solid understanding of project management practices will help you increase your marketability. Your knowledge and practice of the principles outlined in this book will help assure employers that you understand how to bring a project to a successful closure, thereby saving them time and money. If you choose to take this endeavor one step further and become certified, you will increase your chances for advancement and improve your odds for landing the higher-paying project management positions. Potential employers will interpret your pursuit of project management knowledge and certification as assertive and forward-thinking, and they know that this will ultimately translate to success for their organization.

What This Book Covers

This book walks you through the project life cycle from beginning to end, just like projects are performed in practice. We’ve included many useful examples, tips, and hints that will help you solve common project management dilemmas. The chapters are designed to follow the project life cycle. Here’s a high-level overview of what this book entails:

Chapters 1–2 These chapters lay the foundation of project management and delve into definitions, project life cycles, and the skills that all good project managers need for success.

Chapters 3–4 This section deals with the Initiation and Planning processes of the project life cycle. Here you’ll learn why project charters are important and how to set project goals and document the requirements.

Chapters 5–7 These chapters walk you through breaking down the work of the project into manageable components, acquiring resources, and identifying and planning for risks.

Chapters 8–9 A large part of the planning work is done. Now you’ll pull it all together into a final project plan, including a project schedule, final estimates, and the project budget.

Chapters 10–11 Now the work of the project begins. Here we’ll cover the Executing and Monitoring and Controlling processes, including such tasks as team building, reporting project status, monitoring project performance, and taking corrective action.

Chapter 12 Finally, the book wraps up with the project closeout process.

Making the Most of This Book

At the beginning of each chapter, you’ll find a list of topics that the chapter will cover. You’ll find new terms defined in the margins of the pages to help you quickly get up to speed on project management–specific terminology. In addition, several special elements highlight important information.

Notes provide extra information and references to related information.

Tips are insights that help you perform tasks more easily and effectively.

Warnings let you know about things that you should do — or shouldn’t do — as you perform project management tasks.

You’ll find several review questions at the end of each chapter to test your knowledge of the material covered. You can find the answers to the review questions in Appendix A. You’ll also find a list of terms to know at the end of each chapter that will help you review the key terms introduced in each chapter. These terms are defined in the glossary toward the end of the book.

We’ve also provided all the templates you’ll encounter throughout the book in Appendix B. Appendix C contains all the checklists. These are ready for you to use or modify according to your needs.

Chapter 1

Building the Foundation

The definition of project managementDifferent organizational structuresThe project management process groupsProject criteriaConstraints and their impactsProject management certification

Welcome to the world of project management. Chances are you’ve already had some experience with project management, whether you’ve called it that or not. Maybe you’ve helped organize your company’s annual conference or been involved with a new product launch. At some point in your personal or professional life, you’ve probably used some sort of process to get from the beginning of the project to the end results.

You’ll discover through the course of this book that you may already use some of the processes we’ll talk about, but you may never have realized they were formalized procedures. I’ll add some new twists and tricks to those processes that you’ll want to try. You’ll also learn some new techniques and procedures that will enhance your project management experiences and help you run your next project smoothly and effortlessly. (OK, that might be stretching it a bit, but your project will run more efficiently.)

In this chapter, we’ll start building the foundation of good project management processes.

The Project Management Journey

Start your engines — we’re ready to lay the foundation for building and managing your project. In this chapter, we’ll start with a definition of a project, and then we’ll take a high-level look at some of the processes and plans you’ll build throughout the rest of the book and how you’ll benefit from using solid project management techniques when managing your next project. We’ll also cover organizational foundations before moving on to the project processes themselves. Here we go.

project management The process of applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to describe, organize, and monitor the work of the project in order to accomplish the goals of the project.

Is It a Project?

How do you know whether your new work assignment is a project or whether it’s going to benefit from project management techniques? If you’re like most of us, once you get to work and settle in for the day, you check your email and voice mail and touch base with some of the other folks on your team. The boss may drop by and ask for a status report on a problem you’ve been working on, gently nudging you to get back to it. All of these tasks are everyday work. They don’t really have a beginning or end; they’re ongoing. Projects are not everyday work. In order for work to be considered a project, it must meet a certain set of criteria.

Projects set out to produce a unique product or service that hasn’t been produced before. They have a limited timeframe and are temporary in nature. This means that projects have a definite beginning and ending. You can determine that a project is complete by comparing its end result or product to the objectives and deliverables stated in the project plan.

Everyday work is ongoing. Production processes are an example of ongoing operations. Maybe you love popping a handful of chocolate drops into your mouth mid-afternoon for a quick treat. Producing those chocolate drops is an example of ongoing operations. The production line knows how many candies to produce, what colors to coat them with, how many go in a package, and so on. Every day, hundreds of thousands of those little drops make their way into bags, onto the store shelves, and eventually into our mouths — yum. But the production of these candies is not a project.

Now let’s say that the management team has decided it’s time to introduce a new line of candy. You’ve been tasked with producing the new candy flavor and shape. You assemble a research team to come up with a new candy formula. The marketing team gathers some data, which shows that the new candy has real potential with the consumers. The candy is produced according to plan, monitored for adherence to the original formula and design, and shipped to the stores. Is this a project or ongoing operations?

The answer is, this is a project even though candy making is something the company does every day. The production of chocolate drops is considered an ongoing operation. The new candy, however, is a unique product because the company has never produced this flavor and shape of candy. Remember that projects are originated to bring about a product or service that hasn’t existed before. The new candy project was kicked off, carried out, monitored, and then ended when all the requirements were met. Candy production didn’t stop there, though. At the end of this project, the production of the candy was turned over to ongoing operations and absorbed into the everyday work of the company. The project ended in this case by being assimilated into the ongoing operations of the company. Table 1-1 recaps the characteristics of projects versus ongoing operations.

Table 1-1: Projects versus ongoing operations

Projects Ongoing operations Definite beginning and end. No definitive beginning and end. Temporary in nature. Ongoing. Produces a unique product, service, or result. Produces the same product, service, or result over and over. Resources are dedicated to the project. Resources are dedicated to operations. Ending is determined by specific criteria. Processes are not completed.

Where Are We Going?

When you start out on a journey, it helps to have the destination in mind. We’ve embarked on a project management discovery journey, so I’d like to start by describing where we’ll be when we’ve finished.

customer The end user or recipient of the product, service, or result of the project. Customers may be internal or external to the organization.

The end of the project is the time to reflect on the processes used to complete the activities, to determine whether the customer is satisfied with the product the project set out to produce, and to document the lessons learned throughout the course of the project (among other things). You will be able to use this book to guide you from start to finish through your next small or medium-sized project so that you can easily assess those factors not only at the end of the project but as you progress through the project as well. (I consider large projects to be along the lines of building rocket ships, constructing major highways, or writing the latest, greatest software program that will automatically do your grocery shopping and monitor your golf swing all at the same time.) If you’re just starting out in project management, you probably aren’t heading up a large-scale project. But rest assured that all those small and medium-sized projects will teach you a great deal about project management and will start you well on the way to bigger and better opportunities as your experience grows.

When you’re just starting out, don’t discount the experience you’ll gain by working on small projects. Large projects are really a lot of smaller projects all lumped into one. The stepping stones to large project work are created by a history of success with small and medium-sized projects.

Included in this and each subsequent chapter you’ll find discussions of the process at hand, examples so that you can apply what you’re learning, and templates that you can use or modify to complete your project documentation. Now let’s take a high-level look at a completed project.

A Bird’s-Eye View

Our first example of a project is this book you’re holding. You haven’t yet read the entire book (unless, of course, this is your second time through). No doubt you’re asking yourself, “Will this book give me the information I’m looking for?” or perhaps, “Will I be able to run my next project more efficiently as a result of reading this book?” Of course, I think the answer to both of these questions is, “Yes,” but you don’t know that yet. After you’ve finished the book, you’ll know the answers to these questions and be able to reflect and discover that you did learn some new things and your project management tool bag is much better equipped for your next project. In other words, you’ve satisfied your curiosity and increased your knowledge of project management.

Projects work the same way. As the project manager, your primary concern throughout the project and particularly at the end of the project is, “Did I meet the customer’s requirements to their satisfaction?” If you’ve followed the appropriate project management processes correctly, you’re well on your way to having a successful answer to that question. At the end of the project, you’ll document the things you’ve learned for use in future projects, which will help you improve the process the next time around.

Projects come about as a result of a need, and that need relates to the customer’s expectations concerning the end result. But how do we get there? How do we know the customer is going to be satisfied? Table 1-2 is a bird’s-eye view checklist that outlines the plans we’ll create and the processes we’ll practice during the course of a project. Don’t worry that you may not understand everything on this list — I’ll describe each of these areas in detail as we go. We’ll revisit this list in a similar format one more time later in this book in Appendix C, “Sample Project Management Checklists.”

You can also download this checklist of project processes from www.sybex.com/go/projectmanagementjumpstart3.

Table 1-2: Checklist of project processes

Complete Process or document name Notes Project charter Created by project manager with input from the project sponsor and key stakeholders. Describes project purpose and outcomes. Cost-benefit analysis Created by project manager with stakeholder input. Determines whether the project is financially beneficial to the organization. Sometimes this is done prior to the project to determine whether the project should even be undertaken. Assumptions and constraints Created by project manager with stakeholder input. Describes assumptions and project constraints. Project scope statement Created by project manager. Signed by project sponsor and stakeholders. Project manager works with project team and stakeholders to define and document project deliverables in the scope statement. Critical success factors Defines what must be done to determine whether the project will be deemed successful. Can be included with the scope statement. Communications plan Created by project manager. Describes the information needs of stakeholders and the project team and how the information is distributed. Work breakdown structure (WBS) Created by project manager. Formatted as a deliverable-oriented hierarchy that defines the work of the project. Roles and responsibility matrix Created by project manager. Ties roles and responsibilities of project team members with WBS elements. Resource plan Created by project manager. Describes physical resources and human resources needed to complete the project. Procurement plan Created by project manager or procurement team. Describes resources or services to be purchased from an outside provider. Risk management plan Created by project manager or risk analysis team. Identifies, describes, and plans for project risks. Quality plan Created by project manager or quality team. Describes how quality will be assured and measured. Project schedule Created by project manager. Displays task dependencies, task durations, and milestones. Used to determine the critical path. Project budget Created by project manager or financial team. Determines targeted costs of project. Change management plan Created by project manager. Describes how changes will be identified and managed. Implementation checklist Created by project manager. Describes issues to be discussed at turnover to internal departments or the customer. Lessons learned Created by project manager with input from sponsor, stakeholders, and team members. Provides information to improve performance on future projects.

Charters and schedules and budgets, oh my! If you’re thinking this looks like a great deal of work, you’re correct. But anything worth doing is worth the time and effort to perform correctly and thoroughly. And remember that the size of the project will dictate how much effort should go into each of the items on the checklist. You might be happy to know that some of these processes can be combined or scaled back for small projects, depending on the project and the impact on your career growth if the project isn’t successful.

This list may appear daunting right now, but by the end of this book you’ll have a better understanding of the importance of each of these elements and why you need to incorporate them into your next project.

Know the Structure of Your Organization

It’s important for project managers to understand the kind of organization they work in. Each structure has its own pluses and pitfalls that influence your effectiveness as a project manager. Organizations and their cultures are as unique as the projects they carry out. Functional organizations are the most traditional company structure. However, there can be deep layers of bureaucracy in this type of culture, and project managers may find themselves having little to no authority to make work assignments or complete the tasks needed to finish the project. Projectized organizations are structured with a project-oriented focus, but they also have their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Matrix organizations are yet another type of structure that mixes some of the features of the functional organization with the projectized organization. Let’s take a further look at each of these organizational structures.

functional organizations A traditional organizational structure that is hierarchical in nature. Employees report to one manager who reports to a higher-level manager.

Functional Organizations

Functional organizations group similar work operations together into departments. For example, there’s an accounting department, staffed with folks who know how to count the money and keep track of expenditures and such; maybe a human resources department; an information technology department; and so on; in this type of organization. The departments themselves are organized around similar work processes, and the employees who work in these departments have similar skill sets, albeit ranging from beginners in the field to seasoned experts.

Chances are you work for a person, known as the boss, who has some level of authority over your work assignments. Chances are your boss works for a boss who works for the big boss. This is an example of a functional organization. All the employees report up through their own departments to bosses who report to the big cheese at the top. Most organizations are structured this way; it’s the most common form of organizational structure.

Project managers who work in functional organizations usually have other responsibilities besides the project at hand. When the manager of human resources receives approval to undertake a project implementing an automated leave request system, not only will she have to manage the project, but she’ll also continue to manage the duties of her regular position. This makes the project management tasks easier since she’s the one who assigns the work to her staff, but her job responsibilities become more complicated since she’s juggling functional duties and project management duties. Here is a typical organizational chart for a functional organization:

If you find yourself working as a contract project manager in this type of organization, be aware that corporate culture may dictate strict adherence to the chain of command. This means you must speak with the functional managers directly and should not go over their heads for answers unless they instruct you to do so. And rather than taking the initiative and rallying the employees in the department around the project, you’ll likely need to get permission from their boss before you speak to them.

Advantages of a functional organization include the following:

Clear Chain of Command Project team members have one supervisor, and they clearly understand the lines of authority.

Cohesive Team Team members know one another because they work in the same department. Because their skills and talents are known, task assignment is easier.

Separation of Functions This setup allows team members to fine-tune specific skills and eventually become experts.

Disadvantages of a functional organization are as follows:

Project Managers Are Typically Functional Managers Also This arrangement tends to pull a manager in several directions and can cause projects to suffer from lack of attention. If the project manager is not a functional manager, the project team may not respect their authority, which can lead to poor project performance.

Layers of Bureaucracy This structure slows down the project progress because of the time it takes to get approval or make decisions.

Competition for Resources When multiple priorities and projects are undertaken, the department can become stretched thin under the load, which can adversely affect all the work of the department. (To be honest, this problem can occur under any organizational structure.)

Project Managers Have Limited Authority Project managers in a functional organization usually have to rely heavily on negotiating skills in order to obtain resources from functional managers. They also typically have little or no authority to hold team members accountable.

projectized organizations Projectized organizations focus on the project itself, not on the work of the functional department. Project managers have the most authority in this type of structure, and other functions, such as accounting or human resources, may report to the project manager.

Projectized Organizations

Projectized organizations are structured just the opposite of functional organizations. If you’re a project manager in this type of organization, you probably report directly to a vice president of project managers or perhaps to the CEO.

In this type of environment, the project manager has full authority over the project, and supporting functions such as accounting and human resources report to the project manager instead of to a functional manager in that area of expertise. Organizational structures like this focus on projects as their top priority. As a result, project managers have the authority to form project teams, assign resources, and focus on the work of the project. All the team members assigned to the project report directly to the project manager, and their sole responsibility involves project-specific activities. At the conclusion of the project, team members are assigned to new projects or to other assignments.

collocated Project team members are physically located together at the same site.

Project teams are typically collocated in a projectized environment. This facilitates communication and decision-making processes because everyone works together and reports to the same project manager. The following graphic is a typical org chart for a projectized organization.

Projectized structures can exist within an otherwise functional organization. Perhaps the company is undertaking a mission-critical project and needs a dedicated team of folks to work on nothing but that project. A project manager is appointed who reports directly to an executive manager, the team is chosen and assigned, and off you go with a projectized team structure within the functional organization.

Advantages of a projectized organization include the following:

Project Managers Have Ultimate Authority Team members have one boss (you and only you) and clearly understand the lines of authority. Teams are typically collocated, which makes communication very clear.

Project Managers Are the Primary Decision Makers This makes communication, problem resolution, and priority setting clear-cut. The buck stops here.

The Focus of the Organization Is Project Work Resources are focused on the projects and the work of the project. Loyalties are formed to the project and to you as the project manager.

Disadvantages of a projectized organization are as follows:

Reassignment of Team Members When the work of the project is complete, team members need to find new assignments. There may not be another project available to the team members right away.

Idle Time Team members with highly specialized skills may be required only at certain times or for specific activities on the project. What they do with their time otherwise is a tough issue to resolve in this type of organization.

Competition Project managers compete against each other for the best resources available within the organization when forming their teams and acquiring materials. This could have a negative effect on the external customer who is unfortunate enough to have the project manager who drew all the short straws for their project.

matrix organizations An organizational structure where employees report to multiple managers, including one functional manager and at least one project manager.

Matrix Organizations

Matrix organizations are a result of combining the best of the functional and projectized organizations while downplaying the disadvantages inherent in both. Many organizations use this type of structure for project work. Like the projectized organization, projects are the focus of the work in a matrix structure.

The biggest disadvantage of this type of structure is that project team members report to more than one manager. I don’t know about you, but having one boss is difficult enough, let alone two or three. (Sorry, boss!)

The idea here is that project team members are assigned to the project and thus report to the project manager for all project activities. They may still have duties to fulfill at their old functional job and thus report to their functional manager regarding those duties.

Let me give you an example. Suppose your project is to install a new piece of equipment in the remittance processing area. (They’re the folks who take your money and credit your account for making the payment.) This project cuts across the lines of several departments: remittance processing, information technology, customer service, and accounting. In order to accomplish this project, team members from each of these functional areas are assigned to the project. Let’s say you’re the project manager and must make sure all the team members focus on this project to meet the implementation deadline. However, Sara in accounting really doesn’t want to work on this project and has a particular loyalty to her functional manager. She spends most of her time on her functional duties, claiming priority issues or emergencies, and never seems to get her project activities completed on time. I think you’re getting the picture.

Organizations operating under a matrix structure that place a strong emphasis on project work can eliminate the problem discussed in the preceding paragraph. When the emphasis is on project work, team members are relieved of their old functional duties during the course of the project. Functional managers are responsible for collecting time reports and monitoring the low-level administrative work of their team members. However, project assignments come from the project manager. At review time, the project manager will deliver an evaluation of project team members to their respective functional managers. This becomes input into the employee’s annual review. Functional managers are responsible for holding formal reviews and rating their employees.

Project managers working in this environment should be certain to work closely with the functional managers when preparing project plans, setting schedules, and determining the staff members needed for specific activities. If you don’t work closely with the functional manager or are lacking in negotiating skills, you may mysteriously find that the resources you need are never available when you need them.

When the functional department managers have good working relationships with the project managers and the company culture is focused more on the work of the project than on departmental work, this structure can work well. A project-focused matrix organization is known as a strong matrix organization. Project managers usually have more authority in a strong matrix structure than the functional department managers, and that makes it easier to settle disputes, assign resources, and focus on the work of the project. Here is a typical org chart for a matrix organization:

Advantages of a strong matrix organization include the following:

The Focus of the Organization Is Project Work Resources are focused on the work of the project.

Specialty Skills Can Flourish Employees with specialized skills are able to use these skills across the organization in various projects and remain up-to-date in their specialty. This benefits both the employee and the organization.

Opportunities for Growth Employees just starting out their careers are exposed to various departments within the organization, which isn’t as easy to do in a functional organization. They become well rounded in their perspectives and have a better understanding of how the organization operates.

Disadvantages of a strong matrix organization are as follows:

More Than One Boss Team members report to more than one manager, which can lead to conflicts or delayed project activities later if they feel a strong loyalty to one manager.

Confusing Duties Team members may be easily confused about their work priorities if the project managers and functional managers are not working together well.

Conflicts Between Managers Struggles over resources and priorities can affect the relationships between project managers and functional managers, thereby jeopardizing the project. If the managers have a particular dislike for one another, things can get very interesting.

As a project manager, it’s important for you to understand the kind of organization, or project reporting structure, you’re working under. Knowing the structure will help you understand your level of authority and why it’s harder to get things done in certain organizations. Just being aware of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of organization will help you to navigate through some of the bumps in the road that you’ll inevitably encounter.

Benefiting from Project Management Practices

We’ll begin our journey into the world of project management by discussing what project management is and how to take advantage of established practices and tools of the trade. Perhaps you’ve been recruited to work on your organization’s upcoming annual conference. You’re working as an assistant to the project manager in charge of making arrangements for the vendors to attend, assigning their exhibit spaces on the conference room floor, and assisting them in making arrangements with the hotel for their hospitality functions on different evenings during the conference. Things progress relatively well until the evening before the conference begins and you discover that several of the vendors’ booths are not wired for electricity. To make matters worse, the hotel informs you that it has another conference going on at the same time in another area of the hotel and all its personnel are busy working on those issues and they’ll get to you when they get to you.

Applying good project management processes and techniques to your project could have prevented this mishap. That’s not to say you’ll never experience problems during your projects, but using good project management techniques will make you much better equipped to deal with problems as they arise. And, if you’ve really done a good job with project planning in particular, you won’t be taken by surprise because you will have already accounted for the unexpected.

Project management means applying skills, knowledge, and established project management tools and techniques to your project and the processes used to carry out the project to produce the best results possible. You’re going to learn all about those tools and techniques throughout the remainder of this book. Applying these skills once you’ve learned them is up to you. One thing I can assure you is if you’re currently practicing project management by the seat of your pants, you’ll notice a big difference in the way your projects play out, and in their success, if you’ll apply some of the strategies outlined here (particularly the planning processes). If you haven’t yet delved into project management, following the processes and techniques you’re about to learn will make you look like an old pro.

You might be thinking that this whole project management process sounds like a lot of extra time added to the project. Why not just jump in and get started with the real work? In reality, that thinking is incorrect. Remember that time is money, as the old saying goes. Properly planning, executing, and monitoring your project along the way will save you lots of time in the long run. You’ll have the tools at hand to measure your success as you go (and to know what you’re looking for in the first place). Proper planning and follow-up will prevent mistakes or unplanned events that could creep up on you unexpectedly. At the very least, the impact of those unplanned events (also known as risks) is lessened if they do occur. And if you’ve saved the company time, what else have you saved?

Utilizing good project management techniques puts you in the driver’s seat. Instead of your project running wildly out of control and bumping into every obstacle in its path, you’ll steer it to a successful completion by applying the tools and techniques of an established project management process.

Again, good project management techniques put you in the driver’s seat. They allow you to control and apply the resources of the project and assure that you and your team are headed for the right destination. As the project manager, you’ll realize several advantages when working through your next project by employing good project management techniques. Here’s a brief list of the advantages of establishing sound processes in your organization:

Improves overall project performanceReduces the time to complete projectsReduces project riskIncreases qualityImproves communication and provides an open environment for communicationProvides standard methodologies for everyone in the organization to followEnsures consistency in reportingImproves accuracy of project reports

Today, there are several established project management processes to pick from. A host of vendors and companies exist solely to sell you their solution and/or consulting time, to establish project management procedures in your organization. If your company doesn’t have an in-house project management expert, this might be one way to get a framework for project management established. Most of these products and processes are easily adaptable to your organization’s needs. There are also consultants aplenty who will gladly come in and organize project management processes for your company.

Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Institute is a worldwide organization dedicated to promoting the use of standardized project management techniques across industries.

You don’t have to purchase someone else’s solution, however. With a little time, some elbow grease, and the blessing of your management team, you can develop your own procedures following standards already set out by such organizations as the Project Management Institute (PMI). PMI is the international de facto standard for project management, and I’ll rely heavily on PMI guidelines, process, and terminology throughout the rest of this book. There are other project management methodologies besides PMI that will work just as well. Later in this chapter, I’ll list several websites you can visit to look at their ideas and approaches to project management.

Keep in mind that the exact process you use isn’t what’s important. What is important is that you follow an established procedure and that you properly plan and monitor the work of your project and follow through with good communicating skills and documenting techniques.

Tools of the Trade

Just as there are established project management standards and practices in existence today, there are several tools and resources available to assist you in various stages of the project. Project management tools are no different from the tools you’d buy if you were building a shed out in your backyard. You should know how the tool is used to derive the most benefit from it, and you shouldn’t expect one tool to do everything. You wouldn’t use a hammer to screw hinges to the door frame; in the same way, you shouldn’t expect a project-scheduling tool to perform risk analysis for you. Above all, no tool takes the place of a good project plan. You can pick up that hammer and start nailing away at boards all day long, but if you don’t have a good plan to work from, you may end up with a doghouse instead of a shed.

No tool, no matter how whiz-bang it is, will take the place of good project management practices.

With that caveat behind us, let’s take a look at a few of the tools available to help make your next project a success.

Project Management Software

Go ahead, check it out for yourself. Bring up your favorite Internet search engine and type in the words project management software. You’ll be greeted with a host of products from scheduling to time tracking to risk assessment and more. The products abound. Are they all necessary? Are they all good? Well, that depends.

Way back in ancient times, there weren’t any computers and thus no computer software programs. People did everything on — can you guess — paper! The point here is that the tool is only as good as the effort you put into it. Automating processes certainly helps your scheduling, planning, and tracking functions (to name a few), but you still need an understanding of how the results you see on the screen are produced. Elementary schools all over the country today teach children how to perform math calculations by hand and require them to memorize the multiplication tables. Why do they do that when they could issue calculators to every child on the first day of school? It’s because the kids need to understand why 4 pops up on the calculator screen when they plug in 2 × 2. (And that always brings up the question, what happens when the aliens invade and mess with Earth’s electromagnetic field and all the computers become art deco paperweights? Who will do all those calculations?) If you understand the formulas, processes, and theories used to produce the results, you’ll have a much better grasp of the impact changes and risk may have on the project.

One of the best-known project management software tools is Microsoft Office Project. In later chapters, we’ll be looking at different aspects of this software and how it can make project scheduling easier for you. This product is widely used in many different industries today and has practically made Gantt chart a household term. The strongest features of this product are its scheduling ability and its resource assignment and usage functions. We’ll dive into these functions later in the book.

Other software packages are available that perform some of the same functions as Microsoft Office Project, and I encourage you to check them out. Remember that the outputs from these software packages are not the project plan itself — they are part of the overall project plan. One more thing you should remember is that if you plug bad information into the tool, you’re going to get bad information out.

Templates for Project Forms

Did you ever play with stencils when you were a kid? You’d take your trusty No. 2 pencil in one hand, hold the stencil down tight against your paper, and trace away, drawing almost perfect shapes. Templates are like stencils. They provide a consistent format to follow for everything from scope statements to progress reporting and are reusable from project to project. You’ll be seeing several examples of templates throughout this book. If these whet your appetite and you’d like to see more, you can search for templates, information, and articles on project management on several websites. Here are a few to check out:

www.gantthead.com

www.techrepublic.com

www.tenstep.com

www.pmi.org

www.allpm.com

www.projectconnections.com

Pull up your favorite search engine to see if you can find more.

Project Notebooks

This is one of my favorite tools. Project notebooks are a handy way to maintain all of your project documentation and archive projects in the project library. You can quickly pull them off the shelf when the boss pops in unexpectedly asking about the project.

Project notebooks should be organized the way your project logically unfolds. Order a few of those trusty three-ring binders, available in any office-supply store, and some divider tabs. Start the notebook with a minimum of eight tabs, adding more as you build the project. The first section contains all the documents pertaining to the origination of the project, the next section contains the project planning documents, and so on. You’ll get more familiar with each of these documents and the project notebook sections as we proceed through the coming chapters.

Printing and filing documents in a three-ring binder may seem antiquated to you, but I know many project managers who still use this method today, along with their electronic storage counterparts. Microsoft’s SharePoint product is perfect for storing, sharing, and controlling project documents. Set up separate folders that correspond to your project processes and save your documents to the SharePoint site as the documents are created and modified. The goal is to maintain all the project information in one place that’s easily accessible to the people who need it.

For long-term archiving, I recommend saving all project information on your organization’s server. You’ll need to check with your IT group to find out the procedures for storing information you want to keep long term.

Understanding Project Processes

All projects progress through five project management process groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. We’ll take a closer look at each of these momentarily. First, let’s see how they all work together in the big picture.

The production and printing of this book is an example of a project. This book started with an idea that was submitted for approval and then given the “go” after examination and selection based on various selection criteria (Initiating). Then a plan was produced that also received a review and approval (Planning). Each chapter was written (Executing) and reviewed by technical experts for accuracy. When errors were found or passages discovered that could be clarified, notification was sent to the author for correction (Monitoring and Controlling). Corrections were made and resubmitted for review and approval (repeat of the Executing and Monitoring and Controlling processes). Finally, the book was completed, reviewed, approved, printed, and distributed to local booksellers (Closing).

project life cycle All the phases of a project when taken together from the beginning of the project through the end.

Every project, whether it’s building a bridge, publishing a book, constructing a building, or creating a new software program, progresses through a project life cycle. The phases of the life cycle will differ depending on the industry. For example, the construction industry has phases within a project life cycle with titles such as initiating, designing, building, and so on. At the end of each phase, the project manager and others determine whether the project should continue to the next phase. This phase-to-phase progression is called a handoff. Each phase serves as a checkpoint of sorts to determine whether the project is on target before the handoff to the next phase occurs. If things are not progressing as planned, decisions need to be made to determine whether some of the phases should be repeated or the project should be scrapped altogether.

handoff The transition between each phase of the project life cycle.

The project management process groups work much the same way. Each process has its own characteristics and produces outputs that serve as inputs into the next group of processes or, in the case of the Closing process, serve as the final approval for the project. Let’s take a quick look at the purpose of each process and what it produces.

Initiating process Initiating is the first process group and is where the project is requested, approved, and begun.

Initiating Process

Project initiation begins at the beginning. The Initiating process determines which projects should be undertaken. It examines whether the project is worth doing and if it is beneficial to the company when all is said and done. Most important, the Initiating process acknowledges that the project should begin and commits the organization’s resources to working on the project. Some of the things that are accomplished during this process are:

Defining the major goals of the projectDetermining project selection criteriaAssigning the project managerWriting the project charterObtaining sign-off of the project charter

Planning process Project plans are created and documented, the project deliverables and requirements are defined, the project budget is established, and the project schedule is created.

Planning Process

Project planning is the heart of the project management processes. The Planning process tells everyone involved where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. I’m a strong advocate for a good project plan. It isn’t unheard of to spend a good deal of project time in the Planning process; however, for the record, the majority of project time and costs is usually spent in the Executing process. The documents produced during the Planning process will be used throughout the remaining project processes to carry out the activities of the project and monitor their progress. Some of the things that are accomplished during this process are:

Determining project deliverablesWriting and publishing a scope statementEstablishing a project budgetDefining project activities and estimatesDeveloping a scheduleDetermining the special skills and resources needed to accomplish project tasksIdentifying project risks and creating plans to address them

Executing process In this process group, team members perform the work of the project. Teams are assembled, tasks are assigned, and the work is carried out.

Executing Process

Executing is the process where the work of the project is produced. Here, you’ll put all the plans you devised during the planning processes into action. Your team members are assigned and raring to go, and the project manager keeps them on task and focused on the work of the project. The Executing process is where most of the project resources are utilized and most of the budget is spent. Be aware that this process is where you’ll likely run into scheduling conflicts. Some of the things that are accomplished during this process are:

Developing and forming the project teamDirecting and leading the project teamObtaining other project resourcesConducting status review meetingsCommunicating project informationManaging project progressImplementing quality assurance procedures

Monitoring and Controlling process This process group concerns monitoring project performance to make certain that the outcomes meet the requirements of the project. Change requests are monitored and reviewed during this process.

Monitoring and Controlling Process

The Monitoring and Controlling process of the project is where performance measures are taken to determine whether the project deliverables and objectives are being met. If not, corrective actions are taken to get the project back on track and aligned with the project plan. This means you might have to revisit the project Planning and Executing processes in order to put the corrective actions into place. Change management also takes place during this process and involves reviewing, managing, and implementing changes to the project. Some of the things that are accomplished during this process are:

Measuring performance against the planTaking corrective action when measures are outside the limitsEvaluating the effectiveness of the corrective actionsEnsuring that project progress continues according to the planReviewing and implementing change requests

Many project managers, including myself, sometimes collapse the Executing process and the Monitoring and Controlling process into one process. Some projects, especially small projects, lend themselves well to this approach. My projects are information technology–based and usually involve some type of new programming and/or the installation of hardware and such. Combining Executing with Monitoring and Controlling makes a lot of sense on this type of project because you need to test and control outcomes as you go. Other projects or industries may not lend themselves well to this structure. Be aware that these processes are not set in stone, nor are the templates you’ll come across throughout the book. Use good judgment to decide what’s appropriate for your project. If you’re in doubt, it’s better to err on the side of too much planning and monitoring throughout the project than too little.

Closing process The last process group, where final approval is obtained for the project, the books are closed, and the project documentation is archived for future reference.

Closing Process

The Closing process is the process that is most often skipped. It seems that once the product of the project has been produced and the customer is satisfied, the books are closed and everyone moves on to the next project. However, Closing is an important process. It’s during this process that you’ll want to celebrate the success of the project, document what you’ve learned, and obtain a final sign-off on the project deliverables. Some of the things that are accomplished during this process are:

Obtaining acceptance of project deliverablesDocumenting the lessons learned over the course of this projectArchiving project recordsFormalizing the closure of the projectReleasing project resources

You may have a substance for poison control hiding in the back of your medicine cabinet called syrup of ipecac. You can easily remember the project management process groups with this mnemonic: IPECC (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling, Closing), which sounds like the syrupy lifesaver. (Note, you’ll have to remember to add “Monitoring and” back to the Controlling term to make this work.) Effectively using these processes on your next project could be a project lifesaver.