1. What Are Project Management Processes?

Whether it’s constructing a building, launching an app, or rolling out a marketing campaign, every
project requires a series of processes to bring it to fruition. These processes are pretty consistent, regardless of
the industry or the type of deliverable. So what are these project management processes, and what do they
consist of?

The five project management processes

The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) breaks down the overarching
process of managing a project into five stages, or “process groups.” These process groups are typically defined
as:

 Initiating: During this phase, the project is conceptualized, and feasibility is determined. Some
activities that should be performed during this process include defining the project goal; defining the
project scope; identifying the project manager and the key stakeholders; identifying potential risks, and
producing an estimated budget and timeline.
 Planning: Next, the project manager will create a blueprint to guide the entire project from ideation
through completion. This blueprint will map out the project’s scope; resources required to create the
deliverables; estimated time and financial commitments; communication strategy to ensure stakeholders
are kept up to date and involved; execution plan; and proposal for ongoing maintenance. If the project
has not yet been approved, this blueprint will serve as a critical part of the pitch.
 Executing: During this phase, the project manager will conduct the procurement required for the project
and staff the team. Execution of the project objectives requires effective management of the team
members on the ground. PMs are responsible for delegating and overseeing the work on the project
while maintaining good relationships with all team members and keeping the entire project on time and
budget. The PM must, therefore, be highly organized and an exceptional leader. That’s because they’ll
need to address team concerns and issues that arise along the way, requiring frequent and open
communication with all team members and stakeholders.
 Monitoring and control: During this process group, project managers will closely measure the project's
progress to ensure it is developing properly. Documentation such as data collection and verbal and
written status reports may be used. “Monitoring and controlling are closely related to project planning.
While planning determines what is to be done, monitoring and controlling establish how well it has been
done,”
 Closing: The closing process group occurs once the project deliverables have been produced and
the stakeholders validate and approve them. During this phase, the project manager will close
contracts with suppliers, external vendors, consultants, and other third-party providers. All
documentation will be archived, and a final project report will be produced.

2. Write a note on Activity Planning.

The objectives of activity planning:

We looked at methods of effort required for a project - both for the project as a whole and for individual
activities. A detailed plan for the project, however, must also include a schedule indicating the start and
completion times for each activity. This will enable us to:

o ensure that the appropriate resources will be available precisely when required;
o avoid different activities competing for the same resources at the same time;
o produce a detailed schedule showing which staff carry out each activity;
o produce a detailed plan against which actual achievement may be measured;
o produce a timed cash flow forecast;
o replan the project during its life to correct drift from the target.
 To be effective, a plan must be stated as a set of targets, the achievement or non- Project monitoring
is achievement of which can be unambiguously measured. The activity plan does discussed in more detail in
this by providing a target start and completion date for each activity. Within which each activity may be carried
out). The starts and completions of activities must be clearly visible and this is one of the reasons why it is
advisable to ensure that each and every project activity produces some tangible product or 'deliverable'.
Monitoring the project's progress is then, at least in part, a case of ensuring that the products of each activity are
delivered on time.

One effective way of shortening project durations is to carry out activities in parallel. Clearly we cannot
undertake all the activities at the same time - some require the completion of others before they can start and
there are likely to be resource constraints limiting how much may be done simultaneously. Activity scheduling
will, however, give us an indication of the cost of these constraints in terms of lengthening timescales and
provide us with an indication of how timescales may be shortened by relaxing those constraints. It is up to us, if
we try relaxing precedence constraints by, for example, allowing a program coding task to commence before
the design has been completed, to ensure that we are clear about the potential effects on product quality.

When to plan

Planning is an ongoing process of refinement, each iteration becoming more detailed and more accurate than
the last. Over successive iterations, the emphasis and purpose of planning will shift.

During the feasibility study and project start-up, the main purpose of planning will be to estimate timescales
and the risks of not achieving target completion dates or keeping within budget. As the project proceeds beyond
the feasibility study, the emphasis will be placed upon the production of activity plans for ensuring resource
availability and cash flow control.

Throughout the project, until the final deliverable has reached the customer, monitoring and replanning must
continue to correct any drift that might prevent meeting time or cost targets.
Project schedules
Before work commences on a project or, possibly, a stage of a larger project, the project plan must be
developed to the level of showing dates when each activity should start and finish and when and how much of
each resource will be required. Once the plan has been refined to this level of detail we call it a project
schedule. Creating a project schedule comprises four main stages.

The first step in producing the plan is to decide what activities need to be carried out and in what order they are
to be done. From this we can construct an ideal activity plan - that is, a plan of when each activity would ideally
be undertaken were resources not a constraint.
3. Agile approach of software development.
Agile is a type of software development methodology that anticipates the need for flexibility and applies
a level of pragmatism to the delivery of the finished product. Agile software development requires a cultural
shift in many companies because it focuses on the clean delivery of individual pieces or parts of the software
and not on the entire application.
Benefits of Agile include its ability to help teams in an evolving landscape while maintaining a focus on the
efficient delivery of business value. The collaborative culture facilitated by Agile also improves efficiency
throughout the organization as teams work together and understand their specific roles in the process. Finally,
companies using Agile software development can feel confident that they are releasing a high-quality product
because testing is performed throughout development. This provides the opportunity to make changes as
needed and alert teams to any potential issues.

The most popular and common examples are Scrum, eXtreme Programming (XP), Feature Driven
Development (FDD), Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Adaptive Software Development
(ASD), Crystal, and Lean Software Development (LSD). Teams generally pick one or two methods. The most
widely used methodologies are Scrum and XP, which dovetail nicely.

Scrum is a hands-on system consisting of simple interlocking steps and components:

 A product owner makes a prioritized wish list known as a product backlog.

 The scrum team takes one small piece of the top of the wish list called a sprint backlog and plans to
implement it.
 The team completes their sprint backlog task in a sprint (a 2-4 week period). They assess progress in a
meeting called a daily scrum.
 The ScrumMaster keeps the team focused on the goal.
 At the sprint’s end, the work is ready to ship or show. The team closes the sprint with a review, then
starts a new sprint.
eXtreme Programming. Often used with scrum, XP is an example of how Agile can heighten customer
satisfaction. Rather than deliver everything the customer could ever want far in the future, it gives them
what they need now, fast. XP is entered on frequent releases and short development cycles. It uses code
review, pair programming, unit testing, and frequent communication with the customer.
 Here’s an example of how XP works: Bill builds a list of customer requirements by having the customer
tell “user stories” that outline the features. From these, he builds a software release plan. The software
will be delivered in iterations, with one delivered every couple weeks. The team works in programmer
pairs, using daily meetings to smooth roadblocks. The customer delivers feedback in the form of more
user stories. The cycle repeats until the software is delivered.

4. What is risk planning?

A risk plan ensures that risks are managed properly. The goal is to reduce impact of negative risks
and to increase the impact of opportunities. The risk management plan provides a tool for reporting
risk to senior managements as well as the project sponsor and team.

The risk management plan does not identify projects risks.

A Risk management plan details how the team will manage risk (Newton, 2015). It describes the
level of risk that is tolerable for the organization (Newton, 2015). It ensures that the level of risk
management is commensurate with the identified risks and the organization’s appetite for risk.

The risk management plan includes the methodology that will be used to manage risk
including the tools and data sources. It also identifies the owners of risks and what their responsibilities are
to manage those risks. Budgeting for risk management is also included so that resources and funds are
available to manage the risks. Risk categories are identified as well as definitions of risk probability and
risk impact. The plan may also describe the reporting formats that will be used in the project as well as the
process of communicating risk to stakeholders. Risk management plans will also include a probability and
impact matrix to assess impact on project objectives (Newton, 2015).

A risk management plan is developed early on in the project, but is reviewed and updated throughout the
project. The development of the risk management plan begins with looking at project assumptions
including data, staffing, etc. (Kendrick, 2015). Risk identification is integrated into all the processes of the
project to help uncover additional risks and to decrease the unknowns (Kendrick, 2015). It is critical to
review stakeholder tolerance for risk in the beginning of the project so that plans can be made to address
the stakeholder need for precise estimates, clearly defined deliverables, and frequency of communication
(Kendrick, 2015).

The risk management plan is integrated with other project management plans. It needs to be aligned with
the other documents beginning with the project charter. Certain kinds of projects have specific kinds of
risks associated with them. The cost plan determines how risk may be carried into a project through
budgeting, procurement and expenditure. The schedule plan will highlight risk that is carried into a project
because of tight timelines or the level/complexity of activities. The communication plan has information
about key stakeholders and their concerns about specific risks and the frequency with which they must be
updated.

5. Cost Estimation and Effort estimation Technique