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Project Management > Project Management > Flashcards

Project Management Flashcards

1
Q

Project Management and Managers

A
  • Results oriented management style that builds collaborative relationships among different groups - It is a professional discipline with distinct skills and knowledge - helps to implement and achieve the strategic goals of the org - Most people don’t get project manager title, more of a critical job requirement
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2
Q

A project manager…

A
  • Manages temporary, non repetitive activities that are normally independent from the formal org
  • Coordinate and direct project teams and is responsible for success of project
  • Secures resources and deals with customers directly
  • Must have the right people at the right time to address the right issues with the right decisions
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3
Q

Program and Program Management

A
  • Program is related projects that continue over extended time that are to achieve a common goal
  • Program management involves managing these projects in a coordinated way to achieve results you wouldn’t get from managing them individually
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4
Q

Technical and Sociocultural Dimensions

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  • Technical - science of project management - formal, disciplined, logical (WBS, Scope, schedule, budget etc) - Sociocultural - the art of project management - creating temp social system to combine everyone’s skills (leadership, problem solving, team work etc)
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5
Q

What is a project

A
  • Temporary endeavour to create a unique product, service or result 5 Main characteristics - Has an established objective - Defined life span - Usually involves many departments and individuals - Normally doing something that hasn’t been done before - Specific time, cost and performance requirements
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6
Q

Project Life Cycle

A
  1. Defining stage - define specifics and objectives, form teams and assign responsibilities 2. Planning stage - benefits and outcomes identified, clients and stakeholders engaged, plans developed for quality and budget, increased effort 3. Executing stage - work is done, product or service is produced, time/cost/specifications used, reporting and forecasts completed 4. Closing stage - deliver final product or service, team and resources get redeployed, review project
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7
Q

Team Dynamics & Development

A
  • Forming - meet, learn about task and roles - Storming - learn to work together and about abilities, leader focuses team - Norming - roles evolve into helping the team succeed - Performing - work hard towards goal and help each other
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8
Q

Drivers of Project Management

A
  • Compression of the Product Life Cycle - speed is a competitive advantage -
  • Knowledge explosion - integration of divergent technologies is supported by PM
  • Triple Bottom Line - people, planet, profit
  • Corporate downsizing - changed the way orgs approach projects
  • Increased customer focus
  • Small projects represent big problems - concurrent projects can share resources with little alignment
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9
Q

Benefits of Centralized Project Management

A
  • An overview of all project management activities
  • Shows big picture how resources are being used
  • Risk assessment for projects
  • Can measure project improvements against others in the industry
  • Links senior management with actual project execution
  • Projects become normal for implementing strategy
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10
Q

Problems with “piecemeal” project management systems

A
  • Don’t tie together overall strategies of the org - Doesn’t allow for projects to be selected based on the importance of their contribution to the org - Doesn’t match project planning with org culture to make changes to support projects
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11
Q

Organizations & Strategy

A
  • Orgs use projects to convert strategy into products, services and processes for success - PMs need to think/act strategically - Clear focus, best use of scarce resources and improved communications across org happens when strategy and projects are linked
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12
Q

Strategic Management Process

A

Provides theme and focus of firm’s future direction. Need strong links between missions, goals, strategy and implementation through projects 1. Review and define the org mission 2. Analyze and formulate strategies - what needs to be done to reach objectives, consider risks 3. Set objectives to achieve strategy - SMART objectives 4. Implement strategies through projects

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13
Q

SMART objectives

A

Specific Measurable Assignable Realistic Time related

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14
Q

Implementation strategies through projects

A
  • Allocation of resources to complete tasks - Formal and information organization that complements and supports strategy/projects - Planning and control systems must be in place - Motivating project contributors - Portfolio management and prioritizing projects
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15
Q

Project Portfolio Management system

A
  • Without a priority system to review potential projects and standard evaluation criteria you cannot properly select the most beneficial projects. Problems arise:
  1. The implementation gap - top and middle management have a lack of understanding on strategy
  2. Organization politics - selection is based on the people proposing the project rather than sound reasoning
  3. Resource conflicts and multitasking - multi project environments use shared resources which results in the starting, stopping and restarting of projects
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16
Q

Benefits of Project Portfolio Management

A
  • Builds discipline into project selection process - Links project selection to strategic metrics - Prioritizes project proposals across a common set of criteria not politics or emotion - Gives resources to projects that align with strategic direction - Balances risk across all projects - Justifies killing projects that don’t support strategy - Improves communication and supports agreements on project goals
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17
Q

Classification of a project

A
  • Compliance - must do or penalties are not implemented - Operational - needed to support current operations - Strategic - directly support the long run mission
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18
Q

Selection Criteria

A
  • Financial models - payback, net present value - Non financial models - strategic importance to org
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19
Q

Risk Management

A
  • Consider categories of risk like the other 9 PMBOK knowledge areas - PESTLE risks - political, economic, social, technical, legal, environment
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20
Q

Risk and Types of Projects

A
  • Bread and butter projects - easy to accomplish - involve evolutionary improvements to current projects - Pearls - low risk/high payoff - generally proven technical advances - Oysters- high risk/high value - technological breakthroughs - White elephants - showed promise but no longer viable
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21
Q

Project Organization - Functional Organizations

A
  • Different functional units handle different parts of project - Coordination is done through normal management channels - Used if one functional area dominates or has an increased interest in the project’s success - Default PM is manager with most content knowledge Advantages - No structural change, flexibility, in depth expertise, easy post project transition Disadvantages - lack of focus, poor integration, slow, lack of ownership/accountability
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22
Q

Project Organization - Dedicated Teams

A
  • Teams operate as separate units with full time PM - Projectized org where projects are the main for of business Advantages - Simple and clear, fast execution, cohesive, cross functional integration Disadvantages - Expensive, internal strife, limited technical expertise, difficult post project transition
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23
Q

Project Organization - Matrix Structure

A
  • Structure is overlaid with normal functional sturcuture - optimizes the use of resources - Allows participation on multiple projects while doing normal duties - Greater integration of expertise and project requirements - Usually a functional and project chain of command - Project participants report to both functional and project managers - Weak, balanced or strong from depending on the amount of control each manager has Advantages - efficient sharing of resources, strong project focus, easier post project transition, flexible Disadvantages - dysfunctional conflict, not everyone shares resources well, stressful, slow
24
Q

Organizational Culture

A
  • System of shared norms, beliefs, values and assumptions that create shared meaning - Personality of an org sets it apart from others - gives people a sense of identify, legitimizes the management system and clarifies standards of behaviour - Key dimensions defining an org’s culture - member identify, management focus, unit integration, control, reward criteria, conflict tolerance etc
25
Q

Defining the Project - Steps

A
  • Talking about scope - what is it going to do, what problem is it trying to solve Step 1 - defining the scope of the project Step 2 - establishing project priorities Step 3 - creating WBS Step 4 - integrating WBS with the org Step 5 - coding the WBS for the information system
26
Q

Defining the project scope

A
  • the end result or mission of project in specific, tangile and measurable terms - Clearly defines the deliverables for the end use - Focus the project on completing goals - Used as a planning tool and to measure success - What is out of scope is also important - removes potential for misunderstanding
27
Q

6 things for project scope

A
  1. Project objective - what, when, how much 2. Deliverables - measurable outputs of what is expected 3. Milestones - significant events, control points easy for everyone to recognize 4. Technical requirements - quality standards you need to meet 5. Limits and exclusions - in/out of scope captured in writing 6. Review with customer - what is the acceptance criteria for the end of the project and who will accepted it
28
Q

Establishing Project priorities - tradeoffs

A
  • PM needs to manage tradeoffs between time, cost and performance - Need to determine which area is the most flexible - Ex if you are asked to finish earlier - you need more money or you have to do a lower quality job
29
Q

Creating the WBS

A

Work breakdown structure (WBS) - Hierarchical outline that identifies the products and work elements involved in the project - Work is successively divided into smaller work packages until it is between 4 and 40 hours and assignable to one person - Defines the relationship of the final deliverable to its sub deliverables and their relationship to work packages - Project –> Deliverable –> Sub deliverable –> lowest sub deliverable –> Work package - This identifies the critical path which is the longest path through the project and defines the end date

30
Q

Effort vs duration

A
  • Effort is the amount of work required (ex 3 hours) and the duration is how long you’ve been working on it (ex 2 weeks)
31
Q

Work Package

A
  • Lowest final level of the WBS - Can string them together to create the schedule - Sequencing and dependencies - in what order does work need to be completed - Objective duration - how long will it take to complete all WPs in an objective - Project duration - how long will it take to complete all the objectives in the project
32
Q

Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS)

A
  • Depicts how the firm is organized to discharge its work responsibility for a project - Provides a framework for performance if lots of departments are involved - Identifies the org units responsible for WPs - Ties org units to cost control accounts
33
Q

WBS Coding System

A
  • Defines levels and elements of WBS - organization elements, WPs, budget, cost information - Allows reporting at any level
34
Q

Responsibility Matrix

A
  • Summarizes tasks and who is responsible for what - Lists project activities and participants - Provides clarification between units and individuals that need coordination - Allows all participants to view their responsibilities and agree on assignments - Clarifies the extend and type of authority each participant can use
35
Q

RACI Chart

A
  • Responsible - doer who performs the work, can be multiple - Accountable - ultimate approver for tasks - can only be one per task - Consulted - two way communication people consulted before final decisions - feedback provided - Informed - One way communication people kept in the loop after final decisions
36
Q

Steps in developing a communications plan

A
  1. Stakeholder analysis 2. Information needs 3. Sources of information 4. Dissemination modes 5. Responsibility and timing
37
Q

Stakeholder Identification

A
  • Can impact or be impacted in a positive or negative way by the project - Some have a lot of authority, others do not - Properly identifying and managing them can mean the difference between success and failure
38
Q

Stakeholder Analysis

A
  • Analyze levels of interest, expectations, importance and influence - Develop a strategy for approaching each stakeholder - Maximize positive influence or minimize negative ones - Assess how they will react to various situations
39
Q

Creating Project Estimates

A
  • Porcess of forecasting the time and cost - Top down (macro) - done by senior management based on the project goals - Bottom up (micro) - people doing the work, based on WPs - There is a tradeoff because estimates take time and resources - need to know how precise you need to be - Being more precise will take more time and cost Preferred approach is to: - Make rough top down estimates - Develop WBS/OBS - Make bottom up estimates - Develop schedules/budgets - Reconcile differences between the two
40
Q

Estimates are important because…

A
  • Support good decisions - Scheduling work - Determine how long the project should take and its cost - Determine if project is work doing - Develop cash flow needs - Determine how well the project is progressing - Establish project baseline
41
Q

Factors influencing the quality of estiamtes

A
  • Planning horizon - closer you are to the even the more accurate you will be - Project duration - if you are doing something new it can impact your estimates because you have nothing to compare it to - People - need to know the skills and abilities of people doing the estimates - Project structure and organization - the kind of org you are running your project in influences time/cost - Padding estimates - need to pad or add contingency, not both, otherwise it is not accurate - Organization culture - expectations of org - Other (non project) factors - vacation, equipment down time etc
42
Q

Estimating Guidelines

A
  • Responsibility - have people familiar with the tasks make estimates - Multiple people - discussion to reach consensus about estimates - Normal conditions - base estimates on normal levels - Time units need to be consistent - Independence - treat each tasks as independent - Contingencies - do not make allowances for contingencies - Risks - add risk assessments to avoid surprises
43
Q

Top Down estimating & approaches

A
  • Use experience and/or information to determine cost and duration - Normally made by top managers with little knowledge of processes to complete project - Best if you are uncertain about what the project is - helps get clarification from upper management Approaches - Consensus methods - pooled expertise of people who have done it before - Ratios and appropriation methods - consider past projects and ratios to form estimate - Learning curves - work takes less time the more you do it
44
Q

Bottom Up estimating & approaches

A
  • Check on cost elements by rolling up WPs and their costs to major deliverables at the WP level - More precise estimates and detailed information Approaches - Template methods - what makes your project same/different from last time - Parametric procedures applied to specific tasks - PERT - Pessimistic + Most likely + Optimistic — P+(4M)+O/6 - Phase estimating - recognizes that estimating is an iterative activity
45
Q

Types of costs

A
  • Direct - costs that are clearly chargeable to a specific WP (labour, materials, equipment) - Direct (project) overhead - costs incurred that are directly tied to an identifiable project deliverable (salary, rent, supplies) - can also be in kind costs which is a cost that doesn’t necessarily have a dollar associated with it - may not be paying but you are contributing to the work - General and admin overhead - costs not linked to a specific project that are represented in org costs (advertising, accounting)
46
Q

The Project Network

A
  • Flow chart that shows the sequence, interdependencies and start/finish times of WPs - Basis for scheduling labour/equipment - Enhances communication with project participants - Estimate of duration - Basis for budgeting cash flow - Highlights critical activities and critical path - Helps managers stay on plan
47
Q

Constructing a project network

A
  • Activity - element of the project that requires time - Merge activity - activity that has two or more preceding activities that it depends on - Parallel (concurrent) activities - can occur independently and if desired, not at the same time - Burst activity - has more than one activity immediately following it (or dependency arrows flowing from it) - Path - sequence of connected, dependent activities - Critical path - longest path through the network that allows for the completion of all project work - shortest expected time for completion, delays here will delay the entire project - Activity on node - uses a node to depict an activity (instead of an arrow)
48
Q

Forward Pass computation

A
  • Add activity times along each path in the network (ES+duration=EF) - Carry the early finish (EF) to the next activity where it becomes ES unless the next activity is merged, then the largest EF is selected
49
Q

Determining Free Slack or Float

A
  • Amount of time an activity can be delayed after the start of a longer parallel activity - Length of time an activity can exceed its early finish date without affecting early start date of successors - Allows flexibility in scheduling of scarce resources - Critical path is the network that has the least slack
50
Q

Risk & Risk Management

A
  • Risk - uncertain or chance events that planning cannot overcome or control - Risk management - proactive attempt to recognize and manage internal events and external threats that impact project success - Risk event - what can do wrong - Consequences - how to minimize the risk event’s impact - Anticipation - what can be done before an event occurs - Contingency plans - what to do when an event occurs
51
Q

Risk Event Graph

A
52
Q

Risk Management Benefits

A
  • Proactive not reactive
  • Reduces surprises and negative conseuqnces
  • Prepares PM to take advantage of risks (ex positive or opportunities)
  • Better control over the future
  • Improves changes of reaching objectives on time and in budget
53
Q

Managing Risk - Risk Identification

A
  • Generate a list of possible risks through brainstorming, problem identifcation and risk profiling
  • Macro risks first then specific events
54
Q

Managing Risk - Risk Assessment

A
  • Scenario analysis for even probability and impact
  • Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) = Impact x probability x detection = Risk Value - moderate, minor or major risks
  • Probability analysis
55
Q

Risk Assessment Matrix

A
56
Q

Risk Breakdown Structure

A

Project Management (1 decks)

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