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# Ch. One, Two & Three

# Ch. One
1. A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or
result.
2. Program is defined as a group of related projects, subsidiary programs, and program
activities managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits not available from
managing them individually. Programs are not large projects.
3. A very large project may be referred to as a megaproject. As a guideline, megaprojects
cost US$1billion or more, affect 1 million or more people, and run for years.
4. Portfolio is defined as projects, programs, subsidiary portfolios, and operations
managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives. Portfolio management is defined
as the centralized management of one or more portfolios to achieve strategic objectives.
5. Program and project management focus on doing programs and projects the “right”
way. And Portfolio management focuses on doing the “right” programs and projects.
6. Organizational Project Management (OPM)
 is defined as a framework in which portfolio, program, and project
management are integrated with organizational enablers in order to achieve
strategic objectives.
 The purpose of OPM is to ensure that the organization undertakes the right
projects and allocates critical resources appropriately and ensure that all levels
in the organization understand the strategic vision.
7. Project life cycle is the series of phases that a project passes through from its start to its
completion. It provides the basic framework for managing the project.
8. Project life cycles can be predictive or adaptive, within a project life cycle, there are
generally one or more phases that are associated with the development of the product,
service, or result. These are called a development life cycle (they can be predictive,
iterative, incremental, adaptive, or a hybrid model).
 Predictive life cycle (Waterfall): the project scope, time, and cost are
determined in the early phases of the life.
 Iterative life cycle: project scope is generally determined early in the project
life cycle, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified.

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 Incremental life cycle deliverable is produced through a series of iterations

that successively add functionality within a predetermined time frame and it’s
considered complete only after the final iteration.
 Adaptive life cycles are agile, iterative, or incremental. The detailed scope is
defined and approved before the start of an iteration. Adaptive life cycles are
also referred to as agile or change-driven life cycles.
 Hybrid life cycle is a combination of a predictive and an adaptive life cycle.
Those elements of the project that are well known or have fixed requirements
follow a predictive development life cycle, and those elements that are still
evolving follow an adaptive development life cycle.
9. Project life cycles are independent of product life cycles, which may be produced by a
project.
10. Project Phase: Collection of logically related project activities that culminates in the
completion of one or more deliverables. The phases in a life cycle can be described by
a variety of attributes.
11. Phase gate: is held at the end of a phase. The project’s performance and progress are
compared to project and business documents. Also Called (phase review, stage gate, kill
point, and phase entrance or phase exit).
12. Project data are regularly collected and analyzed throughout the project life cycle. The
following definitions identify key terminology regarding project data and information.
13. Work performance data: The raw observations and measurements identified during
activities performed to carry out the project work, such as (Percent of finished work,
Start and finish dates, number of change requests, actual costs and durations). Project
data are usually recorded in a Project Management Information System (PMIS).
14. Work performance information: Performance data collected from various controlling
processes, analyzed in context and integrated based on relationships across areas, such
as (status of deliverables, implementation status for change requests, and forecast
estimates to complete).
15. Work performance reports: The physical or electronic representation of work
performance information compiled in project documents, which is intended to generate
decisions or raise issues, actions, or awareness, such as (status reports, memos,
justifications, information notes, electronic dashboards, recommendations, and
updates).

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16. Project sponsor is generally accountable for the development and maintenance of the
project business case document. The project manager is responsible for providing
recommendations and oversight,
17. Business case
 is a documented economic feasibility study used to establish the validity of
the benefits of a selected component lacking sufficient definition and that is
used as a basis for the authorization of further project management activities
it lists the objectives and reasons for project initiation.
 It helps measure the project success at the end of the project against the project
objectives The business case may be used before the project initiation and may
result in a go/no-go decision for the project.
 may include (Business Needs, Analysis of the situation (Required, Desired,
Optional), Evaluation).
18. Project benefits management plan is the document that describes how and when the
benefits of the project will be delivered, and describes the mechanisms that should be
in place to measure those benefits.

# Ch. Two
19. Two major categories of influences are enterprise environmental factors (EEFs)
and organizational process assets (OPAs).
20. EEFs originate from the environment outside of the project and often outside of the
enterprise. EEFs may have an impact at the organizational, portfolio, program, or project
level. EEFs refers to conditions not under the control of the project team and it could
Internal and External.
21. Internal:
 Organizational culture, structure, and governance.
 Employee capability.
 Resource availability.
22. External:
 Commercial databases.
 Financial considerations.
 Social and cultural influences and issues.

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23. OPAs are internal to the organization. These may arise from the organization itself, a
portfolio, a program, another project, or a combination of these. Organizational process
assets (OPAs) are the plans, processes, policies, procedures, and knowledge bases.
24. Examples of OPA’s:
 Guidelines and criteria for tailoring.
 Specific organizational standards such as policies.
 Traceability matrices.
 Issue and defect management procedures.
 Historical information and lessons learned.
 Issue and defect management data.
25. A project management office (PMO) is an organizational structure that standardizes
the project-related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources,
methodologies, tools, and techniques.
 Supportive PMOs provide a consultative role to projects by supplying
templates, best practices, training, access to information, and lessons learned
from other projects. This type of PMO serves as a project repository. The
degree of control provided by the PMO is low.
 Controlling PMOs provide support and require compliance through various
means. The degree of control provided by the PMO is moderate. Compliance
may include (Adoption of project management frameworks or methodologies,
use of specific templates, forms, and tools, conformance to governance
frameworks).
 Directive PMOs take control of the projects by directly managing the projects.
Project managers are assigned by and report to the PMO. The degree of control
provided by the PMO is high.

 # Ch. Three

26. The role of a project manager is distinct from that of a functional manager or
operations manager.
27. The functional manager focuses on providing management oversight for a functional
or business unit.

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28. Operations managers are responsible for ensuring that business operations are
efficient.
29. talent triangle focuses on three key skill sets:
 Technical project management. The knowledge, skills, and behaviors
related to specific domains of project, program, and portfolio management.
The technical aspects of performing one’s role.
 Leadership. The knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to guide, motivate,
and direct a team, to help an organization achieve its business goals.
 Strategic and business management. The knowledge of and expertise in the
industry and organization that enhanced performance and better delivers
business outcomes.
30. There are numerous forms of power at the disposal of project managers:
 Positional (sometimes called formal, authoritative, legitimate) (e.g., formal
position granted in the organization or team);
 Informational (e.g., control of gathering or distribution);
 Referent (e.g., respect or admiration others hold for the individual, credibility
gained);
 Situational (e.g., gained due to unique situation such as a specific crisis);
 Personal or charismatic (e.g., charm, attraction);
 Relational (e.g., participates in networking, connections, and alliances);
 Expert (e.g., skill, information possessed; experience, training, education,
certification);
 Reward-oriented (e.g., ability to give praise, monetary or other desired
items);
 Punitive or coercive (e.g., ability to invoke discipline or negative
consequences);
 Ingratiating (e.g., application of flattery or other common ground to win
favor or cooperation);
 Pressure-based (e.g., limit freedom of choice or movement for the purpose
of gaining compliance to desired action);
 Guilt-based (e.g., imposition of obligation or sense of duty);
 Persuasive (e.g., ability to provide arguments that move people to a desired
course of action); and

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 Avoiding (e.g., refusing to participate).

31. The style a project manager uses may change over time based on the factors in
play. Major factors to consider include but are not limited to:
 Leader characteristics (e.g., attitudes, moods, needs, values, ethics);
 Team member characteristics (e.g., attitudes, moods, needs, values, ethics);
 Organizational characteristics (e.g., its purpose, structure, and type of work
performed); and
 Environmental characteristics (e.g., social situation, economic state, and
political elements).
32. Research describes numerous leadership styles that a project manager can adopt.
Some of the most common examples of these styles include but are not limited to:
 Laissez-faire (e.g., allowing the team to make their own decisions and
establish their own goals, also referred to as taking a hands-off style);
 Transactional (e.g., focus on goals, feedback, and accomplishment to
determine rewards; management by exception);
 Servant leader (e.g., demonstrates commitment to serve and put other people
first; focuses on other people’s growth, learning, development, autonomy, and
well-being; concentrates on relationships, community and collaboration;
leadership is secondary and emerges after service);
 Transformational (e.g., empowering followers through idealized attributes
and behaviors, inspirational motivation, encouragement for innovation and
creativity, and individual consideration);
 Charismatic (e.g., able to inspire; is high-energy, enthusiastic, self-confident;
holds strong convictions); and
 Interactional (e.g., a combination of transactional, transformational, and
charismatic).

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