Project Management Fundamentals Flashcards
Framework: Project Management Institution (PMI), Project Management Body Of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide:
A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result
Framework: Association for Project Management (APM):
A project is a unique, transient endeavour, undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits
Framework: ISO 21500:2012
A project consists of a unique set of processes consisting of coordinated and controlled activities with start and end dates, performed to achieve project objectives
Framework: Prince2
A temporary organisation that is needed to produce a unique and predefined outcome or result at a prespecified time using predetermined resources.
Or a management environment that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified Business Case.
Key Project Characteristics
- Driven by business (organization) needs and have concrete objectives/results
- Temporary, have a definite Beginning and End
- Consume “Resources”
- Involve Risk
- Have defined Roles and Responsibilities
- Have Visibility
Programme:
A group related project managed in a coordinated way
Portfolio Management:
Selection, prioritisation and control of an organisation’s projects/programmes according to its strategic objectives and ability to deliver
Project Management:
The application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills and experience to achieve the project objectives
Project Processes:
Activities to be carried out during the project.
Or sequences of stages that each project goes through.
Main process groups of a project (from ISO 21500 AND PMI):
- Initiating
- Planning
- Controlling (monitoring)
- Implementing (executing)
- Closing
Environments for Developing:
Development Environment
Environments for Testing:
- Integration Environment
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Environment
- QA Environment, linked to Production/Live/Staging Environment
Environments for Release:
Production/Live/Staging Environment
Environments for Disaster:
• Disaster Recovery Environment
○ Will have a replica of the main data centre in another location in case of a disaster so the service can continue running
○ Disaster Test: once or twice a year, the main site is deliberately terminated and the service is completely run from the disaster site to supervise the functionality
The end product is intangible -
The end product is harder to be seen. IT Project Managers and other stakeholders cannot see progress by simply looking at the artefact that is being constructed
Degree of uniqueness -
Most software projects are usually different in a number of ways from previous projects. Even managers who have significant experience may find it difficult to anticipate issues. IT Systems are extremely hum intensive and humans are non linear systems
Degree of Uncertainty/Change -
Requirements of most IT projects change during the project due to a number of reasons (business needs, market changes)
Degree of Inter-dependencies -
IT Systems rarely live in isolation and there exists a significant degree of interdependencies to other systems/overall IT environment. A change of defect may trigger a cascade of effects
Communication/Common Terminology -
There is often a lack of common vocabulary between IT and Business people and even between IT people, mainly due to the proliferation of terms, lack of standardization, the pace of technology evolution, inter-alia