Project Framework Chapter 1

PMBOK Guide and Project Management

Take Notes:
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) is a project
management guide, and an internationally recognized standard, that provides the
fundamentals of project management as they apply to a wide range of projects. The
PMBOK Guide was first published by the Project Management Institute (PMI) as a white
paper in 1987 in an attempt to document and standardize generally accepted project
management information and practices. The first edition was published in 1996 followed
rd
by the second edition in 2000. Subsequently in 2004 PMI released the 3 edition and in
th
December 2008 the 4 edition was published.
The ability to manage Projects and successfully deliver desired results is project
management. PMI and PMBOK guide defines Project and Project Management in depth.

What is a project?

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or

result. Temporary doesn’t necessarily mean short in duration, It means a definitive end.
The temporary nature of a project indicates a definite start and end date. When a
projects’ objectives are completely met or when a project management team decides
that the project objectives can no longer be met the project will terminate. Another
feature is the uniqueness in the end result. Projects are undertaken only to provide a
new and unique product or service to the organizations’ bottom line.

Most projects that end prematurely are due to lack of funds, time and change in market
conditions or if the project is no longer profitable.

Some examples of projects are

 Developing a new product or service

 Developing or acquiring an information system
 Constructing a building or infrastructure
 Implementing a new business process or procedure

Operations
We have learned projects are temporary initiatives which are undertaken to achieve a
unique product or service to increase the bottom-line of the organization. It doesn’t
mean the organization can survive just by creating new products they must be able to
produce them, market, sell and manage those products.

We need organizational support to manage and maintain developed products. This type
of continuous work is known as an operation. Organizations survive on sustain based
operations. For example: customer service, managing products and services, production
lines to produce products and the examples continue to unlimited work in an
organization.

What is a project management?

Simply put, project management is nothing but managing project constraints to
achieve the desired results. This includes managing resources, issues, risks, budgets,
schedules etc… Finally, we need the end result. The Project Management Institute
categorically breaks project management into process groups, knowledge areas,
professional and social responsibility.

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Take Notes: The process groups follow the process of project management: initiating, planning,
executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. The knowledge areas are project
management framework, project management nt processes and integration, scope, time,
cost, quality, human resource, communications, risk and procurement management.

Why do we need projects? Any one of the following situations might be a reason for a
project. It can be market demand, legal requirements, organizational
rganizational need
need, technical
advancement or a customer request.

Organizations and Strategic fit for Projects:

• Each organization will have a “Mission to Achieve”
• “Strategies” will be made to achieve the set mission
• Each strategy will be achieved
ach by one or more projects.

Delivery structure
To deliver a project and meet set targets a project delivery organization is required. It
does not always need to follow the same hierarchy, but here is a commonly used project
management organization hierarchy
Portfolios  Programs Projects Portfolio

A program is a group of related projects. Their Program

management is coordinated because the projects are
related. This coordination may provide decreased
risk, economies of scale, and improved management
Projects
that could not be achieved if the project were not
managed as part of a program.
A portfolio can be generally described as a group of programs to achieve a specific
strategic business goal. The programs may not be related other than the fact that they
are helping to achieve
ach that common strategic goal.

PMO is a department that centralizes the management of projects. A PMO usually takes
one of three roles:
 Provides the policies, methodologies, and templates for managing projects within
the organization
 Provides support and guidance to others in the organization on how to manage
projects, trains others in project management or project management software,
and assists with specific project management tools
 Provides project managers for different projects, and is responsible for the results
of those projects (All projects, or projects of a certain size, type, or influence, are
managed by this office)

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Project Framework Chapter 1

Role of a Project Manager:

Take Notes:
A Project Manager is supposed to have 3 key attributes to manage the project.
 Knowledge
 Performance
 Personal Traits
 Attitude, personality characteristics, leadership, ability to guide
a project team, balancing project constraints
 The main role of the project manager is to be the integrator. As the
project integrator, the project manager will have to have a wide
knowledge base in order to be effective.
 A Project Manager is supposed to possess general management and
Interpersonal skills to manage projects
 The following are known as general management skills:
 Planning, organizing, staffing, executing, and controlling enterprise
 Financial management
 Purchasing and procurement
 Sales and marketing
 Contract and commercial law
 Strategic, tactical and operational
 Organizational structures, behaviors, compensation and benefits
 Information technology
 Health and safety practices
 Project Managers are supposed to have the following eight
interpersonal skills:
 Leadership
 Team building
 Motivation
 Communication
 Influencing
 Decision making
 Political and cultural awareness
 Negotiation
Progressive Elaboration: Because of the potential for change, project planning is
iterative and goes through several cycles, it is called progressive elaboration. Each and
every aspect of the project will not be available on day one; progressive elaboration
involves continuously improving as more detailed and specific information becomes
available.

Enterprise Environmental Factors:

Both internal and external factors surrounding the project influence the project
outcome and success. The influence can be positive or negative depending on the
factors, the organization and time. The factors may enhance or constrain the project
management activities.

Those factors include:

 Organizational culture, structure, processes
 Govt. or Industry standards
 Infrastructure
 Existing human resources
 Personal administration

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Chapter 1 Project Framework
 PMIS / Work authorization systems
Take Notes:  Political climate, stakeholder tolerance
 Marketplace conditions
 Commercial databases (cost estimation data, risk study information.)
 And many more.

Triple Constraints
A project
roject manager must handle or
juggle many things to accomplish a
project. And those are time, costs,
risks,, scope, quality, resources, and
any other factor that limits
limit options,
such as customer satisfaction.
Examples of constraints may include
the date a milestone
m or the project
must be completed or the maximum
allowable risk a project may have.
Constraints are used to help evaluate
competing demands.
Traditionally 3 constraints are considered as “Triple Constraints” which are crucial to
project management success. Those are TIME, COST and SCOPE. Altering any an one of
these three constraints alters the other two. Many others argue Risk, Quality, and
Stakeholder
takeholder Satisfaction as other constraints that need to be monitored closely.

Process Groups and Interactions

PMI defined 5 process groups
to manage project activities.
Those are initiation, planning,
execution, controlling, and
closing. Activities (Processes)
in these groups are iterative
and interact with each other
before they achieve the
desired results. The image
shows how those process
groups are connected to
achieve the desired results.

Phase to Phase interactions:

interactions A project
roject can be sub divided into phases and those interact
with each other. Those interactions can be categorized in the following three ways:
 Sequential relationship
A phase can only start once the previous phase is complete
 Overlapping relationship
A phase can start prior to the completion of previous phase
 Iterative relationship
Only one phase is planned at any given tim
time
e and planning for the next is carried out
as work progresses on the current phase

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Project Framework Chapter 1

Project Cost and Staffing Level

Take Notes:
Project resources are not required in
full except projects are getting
initiated or in the final stages.
People/Resources are required when
projects are being executed or during
the intermediate phases. That means
Project costs are higher during
intermediate phases when compared
to initiation or closing phases.

Stakeholders
Stakeholders are people or organizations, who are actively involved in the project or
whose interests may be positively or negatively affected by the performance or
completion of the project. The project management team must identify both internal
and external stakeholders in order to determine the project requirements and
expectations of all parties involved. The following groups of people are called
stakeholders.

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Chapter 1 Project Framework

Take Notes:

Stakeholder Influence: Stakeholder can be any one who is involved in the project;
sponsors,
ponsors, project teams,, customers or anyone who is directly impacted by the project,
project
negatively or positively. Stakeholders can influence project progress throughout the
lifetime. Their influence would be high at the beginning of the project and gradually
diminishes towards the end. As things are being completed their ability to influence will
also be reduced.
reduce
In the same way at the beginning when nothing is done, the cost
ost of a change is very low.
But as things are being executed the cost to change completed
ted items will also rise.

Organizational Structure:
A project does not operate in a vacuum. Projects are impacted by, and have impact on,
the cultural norms, management policies, and procedures of the organizations of which
they are a part. The best project managers look for these influences and manage them to
the benefit of the project and the organization.
One of the main forms of influence is how the company is organized. This will dictate who
the project manager goes to for help with resources, how communications must be
handled, and many other components
components of project management. Organizational structures
can be defined in terms of the project manager's level of authority. One should understand
the following organizational types
type and where the power resides.
 Who has the power in each type of organization—the
organization project manager or the
functional manager?
 What are the different types of organizations?
 What are the advantages of each type of organization?
 What are the disadvantages of each type of organization?

Broadly organizations can be 3 types: Functional, Matr

Matrix
ix and Projectized. Furthermore,
Further
the Matrix has 3 flavors, Weak Matrix, Balanced Matrix and Strong Matrix.

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Project Framework Chapter 1

Functional: This is the most common form of an organization. The organization is

grouped by areas of specialization within different functional areas (i.e., accounting, Take Notes:
marketing, and manufacturing); in other terms these are "silo organizations”. Projects
generally occur within a single department. If information or project work is needed
from another department, the request is transmitted up to the head of the department,
who communicates the request to the other departments’ head. Otherwise,
communication stays within the project. Team members complete project work in
addition to normal departmental work

In a Projectized organization, the entire company is organized by projects. The project

manager has control of the projects. Personnel are assigned and they report to a project
manager. Project team members have "no home” Team members complete only project
work, and when the project is over, they will go back to their home department.
Communication generally occurs only within the project.

Matrix This form is an attempt to maximize the strengths of both the functional and
projectized forms. One who is reporting to the matrix form of an organization, will have
easy identification is they will have "two bosses, the project manager and the functional
manager (i.e., VP Engineering, etc.). Communication goes from team members to both
bosses. Team members do project work in addition to normal departmental work

In a strong matrix, power rests with the project manager. In a weak matrix, power rests
with the functional manager, and the power of the project manager is comparable to
that of a coordinator or expediter. In a balanced matrix, the power is shared between the
functional manager and the project manager.

The project manager's role in a weak matrix might be more of a:

 Project Expediter: The Project expediter acts primarily as a staff assistant and
communications coordinator. The expediter cannot personally make or enforce
decisions.
 Project Coordinator: This position is similar to the project expediter except the
coordinator has some power to make decisions, some authority, and reports to a
higher-level manager

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