Chapter 6: Project Planing -> Resource, Risk & Quality Management Flashcards
Project Resource Management
*Many corporate executive have said “people are our most important asset, people determine the success and failture of organizations and projects”
*Project resource management is concerned with making effective use of the people involved with a project as well as physical resources (materials, facilities, equipment, and infrastructure)
Team Management Plan
*Key components include:
-Project organizational chart
-Responsibility assignment matrix
-Resource histogram
-Staffing management plan
Project organizational charts
*Similar to a company’s organizational chart, a project organizational chart is a graphical representation of how authority and responsibility is distributed within the project
*The size and complexity of the project determines how simple or complex the
organizational chart is
Responsibility Assignment matrix (RAM)
*A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) is a matrix that maps the work of the project as described in the work breakdown structure (WBS) to the people responsible for performing the work
*For smaller projects, it is best to assign WBS activities to individuals; for larger projects, it is more effective to assign the work to organizational units or teams
*RACI charts are a type of RAM that show Responsible (who does the task), Accountable (who signs off on the task or has authority for it), Consulted (who has information necessary to complete the task), and Informed (who needs to be notified of task status/results) roles for project stakeholders
Staffing Management Plans
*A staffing management plan describes when and how people will be added to and removed from a project
*It describes the types of people needed to work on the project, the numbers needed for each type of person each month, and how these resources will be acquired, trained, rewarded, and reassigned after the project
Team Charter
*Many companies believe in using team charters to help promote teamwork and
clarify team communications.
*After core project team members have been selected, they meet to prepare a team charter to guide how the team will function.
It is crucial to emphasize the importance of the project team throughout the project’s life cycle, and the team charter should be updated as needed
Estimating Activity Resources
*Estimating activity resources involves estimating the type, quantity and characteristics of team resources and physical resources (i.e., materials, equipment, and supplies) required to complete the project.
*This process is closely related to estimating activity durations and costs.
*It is important that the people who help determine what resources are necessary
include people who have experience and expertise in similar projects and with the
organization performing the project.
*Resource estimates should be updated as needed during the project
Important Questions to Answer in Activity Resource Estimating
*How difficult will it be to perform specific activities on this project?
*Is there anything unique in the project’s scope statement that will affect resources?
*Are there specific resources better suited to perform the activities?
*What is the organization’s history in doing similar activities? Have they done similar
activities before? What level of personnel did the work?
*Does the organization have appropriate people, equipment, and materials available
for performing the work? Are there any organizational policies that might affect the
availability of resources?
*Does the organization need to acquire more resources to accomplish the work? Would it make sense to outsource some of the work? Will outsourcing increase or decrease the amount of resources needed and their availability?
* What assumptions have been made or need to be made?
Empathic Listening
*Good project managers are empathic listeners they listen with the intent to understand!
*Project professionals need to develop empathic listening and other people skills to
improve relationships with users and other stakeholders
* Exercise: have a look at the separate slide on “Empathic Listening
Developing the team: Tuckman model
*The main goal of team development is to help people work together more effectively to improve project performance
*It takes teamwork to successfully complete most project
Developing the team: Tuckman Model
*The main goal of team development is to help people work together more effectively to improve project performance
*It takes teamwork to successfully complete most project
*Tuckman model of team development
-Forming involves the introduction of team
members, either at the initiation of the
team or as new members are introduced.
This stage is necessary, but little work is
actually achieved
-Storming occurs when team members have
different opinions for how the team should
operate. People test each other, and there is
often conflict within the tea
-Norming is achieved when team members
have developed a common working
method, and cooperation and collaboration
replace the conflict and mistrust of the
previous phase.
-Performing occurs when the emphasis is on
reaching the team’s goals rather than
working on team process. Relationships are
settled, and team members are likely to
build loyalty toward each other. At this
stage, the team is able to manage tasks
that are more complex and cope with
greater change.
-Adjourning involves the break-up of the
team after it successfully reaches its goals
and completes the work.
Agile considerations to Project Resource Management
*One of the biggest differences in resource planning between predictive and agile projects is that instead of having a project manager assign people to tasks, agile teams self-manage, meaning they decide who will work on tasks themselves.
*The team should have all the skills and authority to complete the work in the product backlog. This makes selecting the team very important.
*Creating resource histograms and cross-training employees can help agile organizations ensure they have adequate and skilled workers
Project Risk Management
*PMI defines a project risk as an uncertainty that can have a negative or positive effect
on meeting project objectives
*Note that some people only view risks as negative and call positive risks opportunities
-Negative risk events include the
performance failure of a product produced
as part of a project, delays in completing
work as scheduled, increases in estimated
costs, supply shortages, litigation against t
the company, and strikes
-Positive risk events include completing
work sooner than planned or at an
unexpectedly reduced cost, collaborating
with suppliers to produce better products,
and obtaining good publicity from the
project
*The main planning processes are planning risk management, identifying risks, performing qualitative risk analysis, performing quantitative risk analysis, and planning
risk responses
*You can also plan to reduce procurement-related risks by making risk-related contract
decisions
* A risk management plan documents the procedures for managing risk throughout
the life of a project
Risk Management Essentials
*Plan risk management
*Identify risk
*Assess risk (qualitative or quantitative)
*Respond to risk
*Monitor & control risk
Plan risk management
*Deciding how to approach, plan and
execute the risk management activities
for the project’
*methodology for risk management,
*roles and responsibilities,
*budget and schedule estimates for
risk-related activities,
*risk categories,
*likelihood and impact matrices, and risk
documentation
