Lesson 1

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Copyright © 2015 - 2018, Victorian Institute of Technology.

The contents contained in this document may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, without the written permission of VIT, other
than for the purpose for which it has been supplied. VIT and its logo are trademarks of Victorian Institute of Technology.
ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 1

UNIT OVERVIEW
• Outline
– The units presents a systems approach for managing projects within various industry
sectors. It covers project life cycle, problem definition, project evaluation, project
planning, risk management and project issues. Students will also be able to apply
conceptual methodologies using techniques such as networking, resource planning
and control, team coordination, including a range of management strategies.
– Students will be prepared to adapt their knowledge and understanding over time to
ensure sound theoretical understanding of the issues relevant to project management.
Due reference will be made to the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge)
to facilitate student’s fundamental understanding of project management principles
and theory.
• References:
– The course descriptor provides a list of reference material that would be used in this unit.
The students would be referred to these and other research/industry based articles by the
Lecturer. The examples, notations, figures & cross-references in this lecture notes are
adapted from the books: Project Management for Engineering and Technology, David L.
Goetsch.

Project Management Overview
Copyright © 2015 - 2018, Victorian Institute of Technology.

The contents contained in this document may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, without the written permission of VIT, other
than for the purpose for which it has been supplied. VIT and its logo are trademarks of Victorian Institute of Technology.

Introduction
• We start with the an overview to Project Management and

Project Managers
• WEEK 1 focuses on:
– Overview
– What’s a project?
– Roles and responsibilities

Introduction
• Many organizations today have a new or renewed interest

in project management
• Computer hardware, software, networks, and the use of
interdisciplinary and global work teams have radically
changed the work environment
• The world as a whole spends nearly $10 trillion of its $40.7
trillion gross product on projects of all kinds
• More than 16 million people regard project management
as their profession

Project Management Statistics
• The overall information and communications technology

market grew by 6 percent to almost $3 trillion in 2010
• In the U.S. the size of the IT workforce topped 4 million
workers in 2008, and the unemployment rate for IT
professionals is half the rate for the overall labor market
• In 2011 the total compensation for the average senior
project manager in U.S. dollars was $105,000 per year in
the United States and $160,409 in the Switzerland.
• The number of people earning their Project Management
Professional (PMP) certification continues to increase. 44
percent of employers listed project management as a skill
they looked for in new college grads, behind only
communication and technical skills
Motivation for studying
• IT Projects have a terrible track record, as described in the

What Went Wrong?
• A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS) found that only

16.2% of IT projects were successful in meeting scope,
time, and cost goals; over 31% of IT projects were
canceled before completion
• A PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that overall half of
all projects fail and only 2.5% of corporations consistently
meet their targets for scope, time, and cost goals for all
types of project.

Advantages of Using Formal Methodology
• Better control of financial, physical, and human

resources
• Improved customer relations
• Shorter development times
• Lower costs
• Higher quality and increased reliability
• Higher profit margins
• Improved productivity
• Better internal coordination
• Higher worker morale

What Is a Project?
• A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to

create a unique product, service, or result” (PMBOK®
Guide, Fifth Edition, 2012)
• Operations is work done to sustain the business
• Projects end when their objectives have been reached

or the project has been terminated
• Projects can be large or small and take a short or long

time to complete
• A project is a fully-coordinated group of interdependent
tasks that are completed by people using resources
and processes.
What is a Project? (cont’d)
• Project managers are needed in engineering and

technology firms for the same reason conductors are
needed in orchestras.
• Projects consist of tasks that must be planned,
scheduled, budgeted, staffed, and coordinated.
continued on next slide

Examples of IT Projects
• A team of students creates a smartphone application and

sells it online
• A company develops a driverless car
• A small software development team adds a new feature
to an internal software application for the finance
department
• A college upgrades its technology infrastructure to
provide wireless Internet access across the whole
campus

Top Strategic Technologies for 2012 (Gartner)
• Media tablets and beyond

• Mobile-centric applications and interfaces
• Contextual and social user experience
• Internet of things
• Cloud computing

A snapshot of unproductive apps
• Gartner predicts that by 2014, there will be more than 70

billion mobile application downloads every year
• All of the top iPhone apps in early 2012 (Temple Run, Angry
Gran, Zombie Farm, Words With Friends, Angry Birds, etc.)
and most of the top iPad2 apps can be considered
unproductive in most work environments
• The challenge is to develop useful apps and get workers to
focus on them instead of the many distracting options
available

Project Attributes
• A project
– has a unique purpose
– is temporary
– is developed using progressive elaboration
– requires resources, often from various areas
– should have a primary customer or sponsor
• The project sponsor usually provides the direction and funding
for the project
– involves uncertainty

Overview
• Projects that are properly managed are completed

on time, within budget, and according to
specifications.
• There are four interrelated and interdependent
components of any project:
– scope
– schedule
– resources
– leadership

Overview
Figure 1.2 Competing project demands (traditional model on left, modern model on right),
summarizing the relationships between the natural competing demands of
projects.
From Project Management Absolute Beginner’s Guide, Third Edition by Gregory M. Horine
(ISBN: 0789750104) Copyright © 2013 Que Publishing. All rights reserved.

Overview
• The project scope summarizes everything members

of the project team need to know to fully
understand the project.
• A project’s scope includes a project overview,
deliverables, features and functions, acceptance
criteria, restrictions/constraints, and uncertainties.

Overview
• The schedule for a project includes the beginning

and ending times and duration for all project tasks.
• Project resources include any and all assets needed
to complete the project on time, within budget, and
according to specifications.

Overview
• Internal project are initiated by engineering and

technology firms for the purpose of enhancing the
firm’s competitiveness.
• External projects are initiated by customers that
need a project and/or service.

Overview
• Projects have five distinct phases:

– Initiation
– Planning
– Execution
– Monitoring/control
– Closeout

Overview
Figure 1.1 Project management process relationships.
From Project Management Absolute Beginner’s Guide, Third Edition by Gregory M. Horine

Figure 1.2 Phases and elements of
the project management process.

Overview
• People skills needed by project managers include:

– Teambuilding
– Leadership
– Motivation
– Communication

Overview
• People skills needed by project managers include:

– Time management
– Change management
– Dealing with diversity
– Leading times in times of adversity

Chapter Two
Roles and Responsibilities of Project

Managers

Roles and Responsibilities
• Project managers perform both process and people

functions. Both types of functions are necessary for
effective project management.

• Process functions fall into the following groups:

– initiating
– planning
– executing
– monitoring and controlling, and
– closing out projects

• People functions include:

– leadership
– teambuilding
– motivation
– communication
– time management
– change management
– diversity management
– adversity management

Figure 2.1 Project managers provide the
leadership in carrying out these process
functions.

Figure 2.5 People functions are
half of a project manager’s job.

• Effective project managers have the following

characteristics:
– advanced process skills
– advanced people skills
– intellectual curiosity
– commitment
– vision
– insight
– people orientation
– character

• Effective project managers do the following:

1. focus on solutions
2. practice decisive and participatory management
3. focus on the customer
4. focus on win-win outcomes
5. lead by example
6. elicit the best from all stakeholders
(From Duncan Brodie of ProjectSmart)

• Project managers may work in organizations that

have a functional, matrix, or project-oriented
structure.
– In functional organizations (Hierarchical or line structure),
projects managers typically do not have line authority over
members of project teams.

• Project managers may work in organizations that

have a functional, matrix, or project-oriented
structure.
– In matrix organizations each department (e.g. engineering,
manufacturing, etc.) is considered a pool from which project
team members are drawn as needed.
– Project managers do not have line authority over team
members in matrix organizations.

• In organizations with a project structure all work

revolves around projects. In this type of
organization, project managers have line authority
over their team members.

• Various project management certifications are

available from the Project Management Institute.
• For information about certification requirements and
levels go to www.pmi.org

Summary
Figure 1.3 Project management overview.
From Project Management Absolute Beginner’s Guide, Third Edition by Gregory

M. Horine
Summary
From Project Management Absolute Beginner’s

Figure 2.1 Project manager overview. Guide, Third Edition by Gregory M. Horine
(ISBN: 0789750104) Copyright © 2013 Que
Publishing. All rights reserved.

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Copyright © 2015 - 2018, Victorian Institute of Technology.

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 1

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 2

Copyright © 2015 - 2018, Victorian Institute of Technology.

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 3

• We start with the an overview to Project Management and

• WEEK 1 focuses on:

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 4

• Many organizations today have a new or renewed interest

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 5

• The overall information and communications technology

• IT Projects have a terrible track record, as described in the

• A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS) found that only

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 7

• Better control of financial, physical, and human

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 8

• A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to

• Operations is work done to sustain the business

• Projects end when their objectives have been reached

• Projects can be large or small and take a short or long

• Project managers are needed in engineering and

continued on next slide

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 10

• A team of students creates a smartphone application and

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 11

• Media tablets and beyond

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 12

• Gartner predicts that by 2014, there will be more than 70

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 13

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 14

• Projects that are properly managed are completed

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 15

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 16

• The project scope summarizes everything members

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 17

• The schedule for a project includes the beginning

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 18

• Internal project are initiated by engineering and

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 19

• Projects have five distinct phases:

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 20

Figure 1.1 Project management process relationships.

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 21

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 22

• People skills needed by project managers include:

continued on next slide

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 23

• People skills needed by project managers include:

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 24

Roles and Responsibilities of Project

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 25

• Project managers perform both process and people

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 26

• Process functions fall into the following groups:

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 27

• People functions include:

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 28

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 29

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 30

• Effective project managers have the following

ITSU 2006 [ Lesson 1 ] Copyright © 2018 VIT, All Rights Reserved 31

• Effective project managers do the following: