Chapter 3: Project life cycle and initiating projects Flashcards
Development Approaches and Project Life Cycles
*Predictive (Traditional/Waterfall)
*Iterative
*Incremental
*Agile
Predictive (development approach)
*Requirements are defined up-front before development begins
*Deliver plans for the eventual deliverable. Then deliver only a single final product at the end of project timeline
*Change is constrained as much as possible
*Key stakeholders are involved at specific milestones
* Risks and costs are controlled by detailed planning of mostly knowable considerations
Iterative / Incremental (development approaches)
*Requirements can be elaborated at periodic intervals during delivery
*Delivery can be divided into subsets of the overall product
*Change is incorporated at periodic intervals
*Key stakeholders are regularly involved
*Risk and costs are controlled by progressively elaborating the plans with new information
Agile
*Requirements are elaborated frequently during delivery
* Delivery occurs frequently with customer-valued subsets of the overall product
* Change is incorporated in real-time during delivery
* Key stakeholders are continuously involved
* Risk and cost are controlled as requirements and constraints emerge
Iterative
The customer provides feedback after every iteration often done in a set of time “the whole evolves”
Incremental
Each increment builds on top of the previous one “adding completed parts”
Project Life Cycle Definition
A project life cycle is a series of phase a project passes through from its starts to its completion
Project Phase
A project phase is a collection of logically related project activities that culminate in the completion of one or more deliverables
Project Management Process Groups Definition
Progress from initiating activities to planning activities, executing activities, monitoring and controlling activities, and closing activities.
Process Definition
A process is a series of actions directed toward a particular result
Description of Process Groups
*Initiating processes include actions to begin projects and project phases
*Planning processes include devising and maintaining a workable scheme to ensure that the project meets its scope, time, and cost goals as well as organizational needs
*Executing processes include coordinating people and other resources to carry out the project plans and produce the deliverables of the project or phase
*Monitoring & controlling processes measure progress toward achieving project goals, monitor deviation from plans, and take corrective action to match progress with plans and customer expectations
*Closing processes include formalizing acceptance of the project or phase and bringing it to an orderly end.
Characteristics of the process groups
*Executing: requires the most resource and time
*Monitoring & Controlling: done throughout the project’s life span
*Initiating and closing: the shortest
Importance of top management commitment
*Without top management commitment many project will fail
* How top managers can help project managers succeed:
-provide adequate resources
-approve unique project needs in a timely
manner
-encourage cooperation from people in other
parts of the organization and deal with
political issues
-mentor and coach them on leadership
issues
-develop and enforce organizational
standards
-support a project management office
What drives success?
*Personal impact (50%)
*Business (25%)
*Professionalism (25%)
Pre-initiating
- After a project is approved, senior manager
should meet to accomplish the following
tasks:
-Determine scope, time, and cost constraints
-Identify the project sponsor
-Select the project manager
-Develop a business case for the project
-Review processes/expectations
-Determine if the project should be divided
into two or more smaller projects
Project owner
Project director/manager
Review team
Project owner: decides, governance
Project director/manager: execute (steering team)
Review team: helps to make the right decision (CFO, HR)
Business case for a project
- A business case is a document that provides financial justification for investing in a project
*Typical content:- Introduction/Background
- Business Objective
- Current Situation and Problem/Opportunity
Statement - Critical Assumptions and Constraints
- Analysis of Options and Recommendations
- Preliminary Project Requirements
- Budget Estimate and Financial Analysis
- Schedule Estimate
- Potential Risks
- Exhibits
Initiating process
*Identifying project stakeholders
*Creating the project charter
*Creating the assumption log
*Holding a kick-off meeting
Identifying stakeholders
*Project stakeholders are the people involved in or affected by project activities
*Internal project stakeholders
*External project stakeholders
Contents of a project charter
-The project’s title and date of authorization
-The project manager’s name and contact information
-A summary schedule or timeline, including the planned start and finish dates; if a summary
milestone schedule is available, it should also be included or referenced
-A summary of the project’s estimated cost and budget allocation
-A brief description of the project objectives, including the business need or other justification for
authorizing the project
-Project success criteria or approval requirements, including project approval requirements and who
signs off on the project
-A summary of the planned approach for managing the project, which should describe stakeholder
needs and expectations, overall project risk, important assumptions and constraints
-A roles and responsibilities section
-A sign-off section for signatures of key project stakeholders
-A comments section in which stakeholders can provide important comments related to the project*
Contents of an assumptions log
*An assumption log is a document used to record and track assumptions and constraints throughout
the project life cycle.
*It aids in communicating information to key stakeholders and avoids potential confusion.
*Most projects include several assumptions that affect the scope, time, cost, risk, and other
knowledge areas.
*It is important to document and validate these assumptions.
Holding a project kick-off meeting
*It is crucial to get projects off to a great start.
*A kick-off meeting is a meeting held at the beginning of a project so that stakeholders can meet each other, review the goals of the project, and discuss future plans.
*There is often a fair amount of work is done to prepare for the meeting:
*Invitation (date, time, venue or virtual setup,
etc.)
*Agenda
*Review and/or prepare project charter
*Clarify roles
*Dress professional
Scrum pillars and values
*Three pillars
-Transparency
-Inspection
-Adaptation
*Five values
-Commitment
-Focus
-Openness
-Respect
-Courage
Identify key stakeholders (Agile/Hybrid projects)
*Senior managers to identify key people for agile/hybrid projects:
-The product owner: is responsible for
maximizing the value of the product created
by the development team by managing the
product backlog
-The scrum master is responsible for
promoting and supporting the Scrum
process as defined in the Scrum guide
-The development team or developers are
professionals who do the work of delivering
a potentially releasable increment of a
product at the end of each sprint
