[Music]

hi we're so excited that you're here I'm

Emilio and I'm a program manager on the
responsible Innovation team here at
Google and I'd like to officially
welcome you to Google's certificate
program in project management let's
start with a simple exercise take a
moment and think about some of the
different tasks that you've completed in
your life
maybe you planned your wedding or a
birthday party or you filed your annual
tax returns maybe you moved from one
state to another or maybe you're the
family member who somehow every year is
tasked with organizing the annual family
reunion believe it or not you've been
developing all kinds of skills through
these tasks that'll help you become a
successful project manager for any
organization or your own business
with this program in project management
by Google we've put together a set of
courses activities quizzes and exercises
that'll teach you the fundamentals of
project management
and of course help you get a job or
advance in your career wondering how I
started my own career in project
management well in college I always
gravitated towards things that were more
Hands-On and action oriented and less
theoretical
I wanted to make an impact in whichever
career I took on
so my first job out of college was as a
Spanish and Leadership teacher in Los
Angeles California
my main objective in guiding the student
leadership team at the school was to
identify mobilize and Inspire the
student leaders after two years of
teaching I realized that the moments
when I felt the most energized were when
I was building a vision for how to get a
big project done or when I was working
to bring different groups together
around a common goal
that's when I realized I had a lot of
core project management skills and I
could focus on growing and developing
them in the business world I'm grateful
that I get to be here for the start of
your journey when I was first starting
to think about my career project
management wasn't even on my radar
it was one of those professions that I
didn't even know existed until I entered
the business world and experienced how
great of a need there is for folks who
are organized action-oriented diligent
and strategic
I hope that by the end of this program
you'll be as excited as I am about the
prospects of a career in project
management
okay let's get into it we'll start with
an important question
what exactly is project management
project management is the application of
knowledge skills tools and techniques to
meet the project requirements and
achieve the desired outcome
it's possible that you've been project
managing every day on some level without
even knowing it
in this course you'll learn how to hone
those skills to become a truly great
project manager and the awesome thing
about project management is that it
spans a lot of Industries and Company
types and it doesn't require deep
technical knowledge
this means that any job or life
experience you've gained so far will
help you in building those skills to
become successful in a project
management career there are a lot of
people around the world like you who are
hoping to learn the skills to get a
project management role whatever your
reason for being here we're glad you've
joined us this program is rooted in a
belief that a strong foundation in
project management can help anyone start
a great career as a project manager
this program includes six industry
relevant courses that focus on topics
like project management fundamentals
goals objectives and deliverables risk
management Team Dynamics project
management methodologies
data-driven decision making and more
each course is made up of personal
anecdotes reading materials quizzes and
case studies and you can go through the
program at your own pace skip the
sections that you might already know and
review the videos again if you need a
refresher you'll be doing a lot of
Hands-On learning you'll build project
plans and timelines you'll learn how to
manage budgets and meet the needs of the
people involved in the project and
you'll learn different project
methodologies like agile scrum and
waterfall
you'll use tools like kanban and learn
about project management software like
Asana you'll also develop your soft
skills some of which you likely already
have don't worry even if you aren't
quite sure how to tap into them yet
we'll explore which skills are
transferable to a project management
role above all this program will help
get you ready for a new job
but we're taking it one step further
when you complete this program you'll
have the opportunity to share your work
with Google and other top employers
aiming to hire project management
professionals and the best part is
you'll have professional work examples
you can share with them to Showcase what
you've learned along the way you'll hear
from Google employees like me we'll
share personal stories about how we
became project managers and how our
foundations in project management
launched our careers
we'll also share what we do at work
every day and give you tips for job
interviews we've got a truly amazing
group of course instructors for you to
learn from ready to meet them
hi I'm Joanne a senior program manager
on cloud Security Programs I'm your
instructor for course two where we'll
learn more about what's needed to set
the stage for a successful project
hey there my name is Rowena a senior
program manager in Google Cloud
I'm your instructor for course 3 project
planning putting it all together where
we'll learn about the importance of
thorough project planning identifying
key milestones and dependencies
documenting project plans scheduling
budgeting and risk management
I'm Elita a senior engineering program
manager at Google and I'm your
instructor for course four project
execution running a project where we'll
learn about communicating effectively
managing risks understanding Team
Dynamics using data to inform decision
making and tracking progress
hi I'm Sue I'm a technical program
manager for Google's support platform
I'm your instructor for course five
agile project management where we'll
gain a deeper understanding of agile
project management including principles
and practices the benefits and costs of
agile Transformations the Dynamics of
agile teams and the process of running
Sprints and releases
and I'm Dan a program manager in Google
research I'm really excited to be your
instructor for course six applying
project management in the real world
where we'll take all the knowledge
skills and understanding you've built up
throughout this certificate and apply it
to an advanced project scenario
ready to get started let's go
so far we've previewed what you can
expect throughout this program
in this video we'll discuss the details
of this course and you'll have a greater
understanding for which types of jobs
are suitable for Learners like you
we'll cover some key project management
terms and the roles and responsibilities
of any entry-level project manager plus
we'll discuss the kinds of jobs you can
pursue after you complete this program
one thing you'll learn soon is that
there's other roles in jobs outside of
just project manager that this program
will prepare you for
later in this course we'll have a video
on how to search for those roles and how
to view project management as both a
position
and a skill but for now we'll start by
going even deeper into what a project is
what a project manager is and what kinds
of skills they have will provide real
life examples to help illustrate that
you probably already have learned some
of the skills required to become a
successful project manager
then you'll learn more about adding
value to projects and tips on being a
successful project manager from real
life googlers
pretty exciting right
we'll also cover the Project's life
cycle you'll learn all about a Project's
different phases the corresponding tasks
in each phase different methodologies
for completing tasks and which is
effective for a given project and
finally
you'll learn about different types of
organizational structures and cultures
how to impact project management
coming up we'll start exploring the
concept of a project and the project
management field as a whole are you
ready to crank things up a notch see you
soon
hey again let's get back into it in this
video we'll Define a project Define
project management and explain its value
to an organization
let's start by defining exactly what a
project is
a project is a unique Endeavor and
usually includes a set of unique
deliverables it's also a temporary
Pursuit it has a defined beginning and
an end
to put it another way a project is a
series of tasks that need to be
completed to reach a desired outcome
reaching that desired outcome takes
collaboration and careful planning that
keeps the project on track and on budget
that's where project management comes in
project management is critical to the
success of projects both big and small
so let's break it down into the what the
why and the how
so what is project management
why is project management an important
part of an organization and how is it
vital to a Project's success
as I mentioned project management is the
application of knowledge skills tools
and techniques to meet the project
requirements and achieve the desired
outcome
project management is valuable to
businesses because it helps ensure that
a project delivers the expected outcomes
both on time and within budget
to demonstrate what I mean I'll take you
through a real life example of project
management imagine a school district
signs a deal with a Telehealth company
to make sure students don't have to miss
school for simple health issues like
fevers or headaches
the deal will be completed by the end of
the school year
the students can now interact with the
doctor through a tablet smartphone or
computer while they're at school
implementing this technology into the
school's procedures is the project
it's got a clear outcome and start and
end date so how is that project managed
well this project has several tasks and
each one has to be carefully planned out
and tracked or managed in order for the
project to be completed
for example to start you can organize
training sessions for faculty to get
them better acquainted with the
technology policies and procedures
you can budget for tablets computers and
other vital equipment to facilitate the
virtual checkups and you can maintain
strong communication with doctors the
Telehealth company and School staff
members and so much more
to successfully launch the product in
the schools all of those things need to
get done and that is project management
seems pretty important to an
organization's success right
more and more companies are starting to
understand how project management can
save them lots of money and time
poor project management can lead to
trillions of wasted dollars every year
for organizations around the world
more specifically poor project
management can lead to 48 percent of
projects missing delivery dates 43
missing budget targets and 31 failing to
meet an organization's goals
as a company that serves so many
different purposes in communities it's
no surprise that project Management's a
huge part of Google
but here many of our project managers
are described as program managers
because they manage multiple projects
for specific products teams or programs
there's thousands of people here with
the job of keeping projects and programs
running smoothly people like me
I'm a responsible Innovation program
manager my team is responsible for
ensuring that the technology we produce
the research we pursue and the
Publications we put out are all done
with Google's artificial intelligence
principles in mind
I review the processes for each of these
types of Technologies and I give ideas
for how to continue innovating
responsibly to meet our organizational
goals
so my job adds value to Google through
the core aspects of project management
we've mentioned planning and organizing
managing tasks and budgeting and
controlling costs
hopefully you have a better sense of
what a project is what project
management is and why project management
is an important part of every company
and how it's vital to a project success
next up we'll learn more about what a
project manager does
hey so we've covered what project
management is and why it's important to
organizations now let's learn more about
what project managers do on a day-to-day
basis
project managers usually follow a
process that involves planning and
organizing managing tasks budgeting and
controlling costs and other factors
everything they do helps make sure the
project can be completed on time and on
budget
in Broad terms a project manager also
needs to make sure that the project
outcome is bringing value to the company
a project manager can add value in many
different ways whether that's creating a
new service for customers or modifying
an old service so it's more tailored to
the customer's needs
no matter what the task is a successful
project will always add value
and it's the project manager's job to
make sure that project is both valuable
and successful you may be asking
yourself well if I'm a project manager
how do I add value to an organization
every day
what does the day-to-day life of a
project manager look like
well a project manager's
responsibilities can vary depending on
the project the industry and the company
they're working in
are you constructing a new building are
you project managing a renewable energy
product in a startup or are you setting
up your own event management company
your tasks will be different in each
scenario but here's a general overview
of what a typical day might look like
a project manager's daily
responsibilities always includes some
version of the following planning and
organizing
an example of that might be gathering
requirements from teammates or customers
this means figuring out what exactly
your Project's trying to accomplish you
might have a kickoff meeting or send a
survey from here you may also work on
creating project plans creating project
plans is a key part of project
management it helps set the tone of the
project keeps everyone on Pace and
aligned and helps move tasks along
which leads me to my second Point
managing tasks once the project is
underway the project manager helps
manage tasks for the team members and
communicates key Milestones to the
larger team or customers
this helps keep team members and
customers updated on how the project is
progressing
the third piece is budgeting and
controlling costs and other factors
managing the budget and controlling
costs is a common responsibility that
project managers have to understand to
keep the project on track and within
budget
this is a full-time job because the plan
you've created and managed may change
causing unexpected costs to come up and
that's just to name a few I could go on
for days but the most important thing to
know about the day-to-day of a project
manager is this
you'll use different tools techniques
and methodologies every single day
there's never a dull moment personally
my favorite part about being a project
manager is that I get to watch the
Project's growth from start to finish
it's really special to create something
from nothing working from the ground up
it's a really satisfying feeling
as a project manager you'll use a
variety of skills every day and a lot of
these skills you might already have and
we'll discuss this more coming up see
you there
welcome back let's get right into it and
explore the variety of skills you'll use
have you ever been tasked with planning
a loved one surprise birthday party
there's usually a lot of pressure and
responsibility but when you get it right
it feels amazing
that's still true even if there were a
couple of issues
maybe the guest of honor arrived home
earlier than expected and nearly ruined
the surprise but if you made someone
feel special on their birthday you
probably planned a successful project
as you chose the venue sent out
invitations and calculated your budget
based on your number of guests you were
using several project management skills
like planning and organizing managing
tasks budgeting and controlling costs
and more
or maybe you've never planned a party
have you ever worked in the retail space
or in the service industry then you
might have experience that'll translate
into the project management field too
for example you might have been in
charge of managing several employees
schedules to do that you had to plan and
organize which employees work Styles
would complement each other in a
productive way you also had to make sure
that all duties and responsibilities
would be covered during each shift
plus you had to be aware of all
employees availability doesn't sound
familiar
well have you ever had to relocate for a
new job and planned a big move
to successfully move all of your
belongings you may have coordinated
friends and family to help
you would have had to budget and control
costs for moving companies boxes and
miscellaneous expenses and you probably
packed your boxes one room at a time and
clearly labeled the boxes so that you
knew what each box was when you arrived
at the new place
you had to manage all of these tasks
simultaneously you've likely handled
several tasks like these in your
lifetime
and in studying project management
you'll learn to further advance and
sharpen these skills so that you'll be
equipped to manage even bigger more
daunting tasks the abilities that helped
you complete these past projects are a
great selling point for yourself as a
future project manager
so be sure to bring up these examples in
job interviews to demonstrate your
skills for instance if you're asked
questions like tell me about a time when
you had to juggle several tasks at once
or tell me about a time when you had to
influence a customer or a teammate it's
good to have examples that demonstrate
your skills with time management and
leadership in both your everyday life
and previous workplaces
are you thinking about all of the skills
that you already have and can use in
your future project management role
perfect up next we'll learn more about
the types of project management roles
that you'll be qualified for after this
program
we'll also discuss how to start
exploring the various job opportunities
out there for you see you soon
hey everyone my name is X yes just the
letter and at Google I'm a program
manager for a department called
responsible Innovation most of us in our
everyday life use program management
when you have only a couple hours left
in a day and you have to figure out well
do I clean my house or do I go to the
grocery store and how long will each of
those tasks takes those are just
different elements or variations of
program management and project
management my path to program management
is pretty non-traditional I didn't go
graduate from a great College in fact I
dropped out of high school and I dropped
out of college so a GED is like the
highest credential that I have so after
I dropped out of high school I taught
myself how to code I built a whole bunch
of websites but realized like I didn't
have the responsible skills to make me a
mature adult so I ended up joining the
military after spending eight years in
the Army I traveled the World building
apps for really big companies and
governments around the world when I came
into Google I realized I could still be
technical but then I'm just using the
skills I already have so how can I grow
myself as a person by learning new
skills and that's when I heard about the
program manager role the program manager
role at Google is super cool because it
varies depending on which team you're on
so if you're a program manager in Google
Cloud that could look very different if
than being a program manager in YouTube
that switch up and that change from
coding all day long in front of a
computer screen was something that was
really really attractive to me some of
the biggest skills from my past and my
history that helped me become a program
manager and make that transition from
somebody who was managed by program and
project managers it's actually becoming
one myself was taking a little bit more
accountability in my personal life
there's lots of things I want to learn
in life and I started doing things like
making schedules to practice like
different instruments like the bass
guitar and each of my roles whenever I
worked with the project or program
manager I also made sure to check in
with them about why they were doing what
they were doing I'm someone who doesn't
really learn from books if you can't
tell by me dropping out of school so I
always found somebody who was willing to
teach me why they were doing what they
were doing because that's how I learn I
tend to be more kinetic I learn as I go
program management to me was a natural
calling not because I like to run around
and make sure everyone you know tell
everybody what to do but because I have
a real personal passion for bringing
people together and getting everybody on
the same page to move towards the same
goal whether that's convincing all my
friends to go to my favorite vegan spot
in downtown L.A like four times a week
or whether that's getting us all
together to resolve conflict or to work
on an idea and collaborate on projects
on the sides together those skills that
you use in your everyday life to keep
your tasks together can apply to program
in project management very easily you
just have to be a little bit more
intentional around them and there's a
lot more paperwork involved
welcome back now that you have a general
understanding of what a project manager
does let's focus on the types of jobs
that you may be qualified for after
completing this program
start I've got a question for you
how many open roles do you think are out
there for project managers
hint
the answer is a very big number project
managers are in high demand in 2017 a
study by the project management
Institute found that by the year 2027
employers will need
87.7 million people filling project
management aligned roles according to
that same study the industries with the
most growth are manufacturing and
construction information services and
Publishing management and Professional
Services
finance and insurance
utilities
and oil and gas
project management plays a big part in
helping all of these industries grow
in some Industries you'll find the term
project manager grouped with a more
industry-specific qualifying word for
example
construction project manager or IT
project manager or engineering project
manager don't worry these are all still
project manager roles they're just
specific to an industry
and it's important to keep in mind that
the skills you learn in one industry can
be applied to another industry new
projects are popping up every single day
across all Industries we notice that new
technology is introduced which leads to
processes changing and a need to manage
those processes
so all kinds of companies need people
like you who can tackle a variety of
projects from start to finish to help
them navigate these changes by now you
might have noticed that you already have
some of those skills like organizing or
planning an event problem solving or
even managing a budget and you use them
effectively in your everyday life
reflect on some of those skills
we mentioned earlier and ask yourself
what are some of the parts of project
management that you're drawn to while
you may not have the answer just yet
thinking about these things can help you
find suitable roles later as you keep
going in this program try to keep track
of the lessons and activities you prefer
and the ones you didn't like as much
this will help you narrow your choices
as you search through job boards later
the beauty of project management is that
you don't need to be an expert on a
focused technical topic you just need to
be able to manage projects you could be
a construction or technology project
manager or you could enter the
healthcare industry and work in patient
management you could also enter the
energy sector and act as an
environmental project manager the
possibilities are almost endless what's
equally exciting is that you could even
end up with a completely different title
altogether for instance there are roles
that entail a sequence of ongoing
projects that are considered programs or
operations in the industry in this case
the role may not be described as a
project manager but instead something a
little more Evergreen like operations
manager or program manager other titles
that might make sense for you could
include operations assistant project
assistant
project coordinator and program
assistant
when it comes to job duties your
responsibilities might change depending
on the type of company you choose
for example
the workload and specific tasks at a
small agency will be different from
those at Google it's also important to
keep in mind that as the world continues
to change and evolve so do Industries
and the job opportunities you'll find
there so be sure to cast a wide net
you'll be able to find more and more
jobs you're qualified for in addition to
being qualified for project management
related jobs there's plenty of other
roles or paths that may interest you
internships can sometimes be a good
place to start an internship is a
short-term way to get hands-on
experience in an industry
plus internships are a great way to help
boost your resume and set yourself apart
from other candidates one of the key
benefits of internships is that you get
real work experience while
simultaneously networking with people in
that industry it's a win-win now some
internships in your field might not
technically be project manager roles but
a lot of roles are easily transferable
for example something like an events
manager intern role can become a
full-time project manager position later
on internships aren't great for
everyone's lifestyle but if you can make
them work they're a fantastic option
another path you can take is contract
work
working for companies on a contract
means you'll work with them on a project
by project basis but you won't be a
full-time employee this kind of work is
a great way to get your foot in the door
and build your portfolio plus it gives
you the flexibility to try your hand at
a few different projects at once
depending on the commitment level
required for that
another benefit of Contracting is that
it lets you explore different kinds of
companies and project types since it's a
temporary position you can explore what
type of company is the best fit for you
maybe you find you like working with a
large or a small team or you find you
enjoy specific types of projects
and if you find a situation that suits
you and the organization your contract
position might just lead to a full-time
position as you keep charging forward
try thinking about the type of job you
might be interested in going after when
we're done here
every new topic you discover brings you
one step closer to your first role in
project management and one step closer
to where you want to be and the next
video we'll learn how to identify and
search for job titles best suited for a
project manager we'll see you there
hi again let's discuss how to search for
a job in the project management field
it's no secret that job searching can be
a challenge even the most detailed
specific job listings can leave you
wondering what the company is really
seeking in a candidate don't worry we've
all been there and we're here to help
you sort through the lingo and the
confusion the more job listings you find
the more buzzwords you'll likely notice
too words like data driven team player
self-starter understanding all the
buzzwords and job listings will help
figure out if a job is right for you up
to now we've discussed project
management as a role but many companies
actually list it as a skill
here's some more good news you'll soon
be qualified for a position as a project
manager and a position that lists
project management as a skill here's the
even better news if you have the skills
to manage projects you'll be qualified
for program manager or operational roles
that require you to manage an end-to-end
system or Department two which asks for
the same skill set now let's check out
different types of jobs that use your
project management skills when job
hunting keep your options open as I just
mentioned you don't have to limit
yourself to just project manager titles
there's lots of other titles you're
qualified for too
you'll know what's a good fit for you by
reading the job descriptions so cast a
wide net depending on the field you
choose you might find roles like
operations manager program manager
operations associate or project
assistant
all of these could be a great fit for
your skills for example
let's say you're searching a job board
for project management roles when you
notice a community operations manager
role for a small City open up the job
title isn't project manager but you'll
notice that the job functions match your
skill set and years of experience also
match the job requirements the job
description may include a list of
required skills like organizational
management strong planning and
communication skills budget preparation
and monitoring sound familiar
maybe you'll even start to notice that
the job's responsibilities seem like
tasks you've covered in this course like
creating monthly status reports helping
to implement new and necessary
Technologies tracking work plans and
performance metrics assisting other
members of the operations team on given
projects and ensuring timely responses
to requests for information
these Duties are nearly a perfect match
for your project management skills and
there are plenty more listings like
these two how great is that the skills
that go into project management are used
in all kinds of roles and professions
Believe It or Not we've all worked with
or learned from a project manager at
some point in the past can you guess who
that is it's your teachers think about
it everything that goes into being a
teacher takes project management skills
designing a curriculum that's accessible
to students with unique needs managing a
budget communicating with others like
parents department heads or School
admins developing processes to make
things run efficiently in the classroom
and so on for example when I went for my
first interview at Google I highlighted
my experience as the founder and advisor
to a student leadership group
I told them about how I assembled and
led a team of 20 students to plan and
execute events like fundraisers
Community Gatherings and academic
assemblies for over 300 students during
the Academic Year
I even kind of surprised myself looking
back at how much relevant project
management experience I had now I'm sure
you'll think back on your own
experiences and feel the same thing
one more thing to call out is networking
networking is when you meet other people
in a professional setting with the goal
of learning sharing knowledge and
creating new business connections
displays a big role in job hunting so it
is a great tool to start learning and
perfecting
the skills you learn here will prepare
you for all kinds of project management
jobs knowing how to search for jobs will
make it even easier to match those
skills with the best opportunities for
you
my name is Gilbert and I'm a talent
Outreach specialist here at Google
talent can mean many things it can mean
folks that have never envisioned
themselves at Google and so part of our
team's remit is to identify talent that
Google or other companies may not
necessarily reach out to or consider for
roles in the past and helping them
navigate the interview process but could
also mean candidates that are already
interested or have expressed interest in
opportunities at Google in the past and
engaging them to support them through
the interview process today okay Google
you have to wear the program and project
management hat regardless of what role
you're in
and that's definitely been the case for
me so in my role I've had to practice
skills such as communicating to
stakeholders managing a budget managing
a project timeline in many different
projects within my role an example of
this could be organizing events for
University students to come to Google's
campus and hear from guest speakers
about the projects we work on the roles
and their career Journeys and so as you
can imagine this is a can be a complex
project my first job out of college was
completely unrelated to what I'm doing
now I was an assistant manager at a big
box retailer and so a lot of the skills
that I actually learned in that role
have translated to support me in my role
and allowed me to have success so some
of these skills are being able to talk
to and have difficult conversations
being able to manage a budget managing
resources and managing your time these
are especially important in the retail
setting I started applying a lot of
these project management Frameworks or
practices even into the smallest
projects
maybe it's related to my goals for the
next three months setting a project plan
based around that right I was the only
stakeholder I was the only one reviewing
maybe this documentation but the
practice of being able to do this really
helped me so that when I had to do it
for a project at Google with multiple
stakeholders with multiple timelines
competing priorities
it was already second nature to me
because I even applied it just in my
day-to-day
so I think one of the biggest support
that I had as far as
working through imposter syndrome or
like lack of confidence as I stepped
into a lot of these skills is is really
just practice and you can practice it in
many different ways in your personal
life and your professional life and
anything in between so that was really
important for me as I've gone through
this journey of upskilling as a program
in project manager but I'd say that by
joining this course and and stepping
into this you're already taking the
first step and I think that's just as
important right like not letting fear or
fear of failure get in the way of of new
opportunities for you and the second
piece is don't be afraid to ask for help
I think that
folks are generally willing to to help
and support you so the biggest thing
that you can do is reach out and not be
afraid to ask questions not be afraid to
do an informational interview task for
resume tips to ask for advice from
people that are maybe already in the
role that you're hoping to step into or
in the field that you're looking to work
in just reach out to them ask them
questions I think people like to connect
with folks that are intuitive that are
curious and are just eager to learn
and so if you can leverage those two
pieces I think that you're going to have
success in whatever you do
foreign
and just like that you're done with the
first module congrats on hitting this
exciting Milestone you're one step
closer to becoming a rock star in
project management
let's revisit the concepts we've learned
so far we started by discussing how
project management is the application of
knowledge skills tools and techniques to
meet the project requirements and
achieve the desired outcome
then we learned that project management
is alive in nearly every industry and
Company so you're working on an
incredibly useful and versatile
certification we also learned what a
project is
a unique Endeavor and temporary Pursuit
carefully planned out to achieve a
particular goal hopefully by now you're
familiar with the idea that every
project has a defined time frame cost
scope and dedicated resources
we've covered some broad Concepts and
key terms that'll help you become a
successful project manager and we've
gone over how to search for jobs when
that time comes
we've also discussed how to effectively
translate your past experiences into
talking points for why you'll be a
successful project manager we talked
about how you can transfer skills from
your previous job into your new project
management role and how that'll really
set you apart everything from juggling a
to-do list to budgeting for a loved
one's birthday party demonstrates that
you probably already have some of the
skills to be a phenomenal project
manager but no worries if you don't
we're starting from scratch here by the
end of this course you'll have the
skills but also the experience
and knowledge to find the role you want
whether that's contract work internships
or general project management positions
you'll be able to figure out what's the
best fit for you and as we go forward I
want to encourage you to keep thinking
about what kind of work you might like
to do in the future and let's not forget
the most exciting news we learned about
project management
just about everyone needs a project
manager this position's in high demand
and that demand just keeps growing wow
okay that's a lot of ground we covered
and we've just barely scratched the
surface I hope you've enjoyed the course
so far because it's about to get even
more fun
coming up we have your first graded
assignment and I know you'll Ace it
remember take your time and relax trust
yourself you've got this
don't forget you can always review your
notes and readings or go back and
re-watch some of the videos if you're
unsure about an answer
good luck and I'll see you again soon
welcome back let's start by reviewing
what we've discussed so far earlier you
were introduced to project management as
a career path we discussed how this
course can help you advance your career
goals with a project management
certification
and we also discussed some of the basics
of project management like how to define
a project and its different components
then we went over some distinct project
management careers roles and
responsibilities
now it's time to gain a deeper
understanding of a project manager's
role
by the end of this module you'll be able
to explain the unique value a project
manager brings to their team
you'll also be able to describe a
project manager's roles and
responsibilities enlist their core
skills
this course will help you continue to
recognize the skills that you already
have that will help you become a
successful project manager it will also
help you identify new skills that you
may need to learn in preparation for
your new career ready let's get started
earlier in this course we introduce you
to the world of project management we
discussed how project management spans
Industries and companies of all kinds
from large corporations to small
businesses now let's define what a
project manager is and describe how they
add value to their teams and
organizations let's start with the
definition project managers Shepherd
projects from start to finish and serve
as guides for their team using their
impeccable organizational and
interpersonal skills every step of the
way as you learned earlier project
managers usually follow a process that
involves planning and organizing
managing tasks budgeting and controlling
costs so that the project can be
completed within the approved time frame
we'll dig deeper into these topics
throughout this program what you need to
know right now is that project managers
play a crucial role in their
organizations project managers add value
to their teams and organizations in key
ways that include prioritization
delegation and effective communication
so let's break these down
first we'll discuss prioritization
project managers add value to their
teams and organizations through
effective prioritization of tasks
required to complete a project they're
experts at helping team members identify
and break down large tasks into smaller
steps there will be times when a project
manager may not know which task to
prioritize to determine which ones are
the most critical to the success of the
project they'll connect with their teams
and with stakeholders to gather
information and make a plan
stakeholders are people who are
interested in and affected by the
Project's completion and success like
the leader of an organization
you've probably used prioritization to
complete work in the past in any kind of
project personal or professional there
are tasks with different levels of
priority for example let's imagine that
you've decided to rent a house and plan
to repaint the rooms you've picked out
your paint and you're eager to get
started while it may be tempting to
start painting right away you'll need to
prioritize tasks like laying out drop
cloths to protect the floors and
Furniture
applying blue tape to the room's edges
and much more
those preliminary steps are critical and
need to come before painting other
related steps like choosing new face
plates for your light switches can come
later in the process or be switched out
of the project entirely if you run out
of time or money when you choose to take
care of these preliminary steps before
wedging open the paint can you're
prioritizing the tasks or steps of your
project you're also increasing the
likelihood that you'll be satisfied with
your newly painted rooms
this process is similar for professional
projects when you effectively prioritize
important tasks you set up your team and
yourself for a better project outcome
now let's discuss delegation
project managers use delegation to add
value to their teams and organizations
by matching tasks to individuals who can
best complete the work
let's return to our house painting
example for a second here
painting multiple rooms can be a time
consuming project so it's possible that
you might enlist a few friends to help
you get it done
maybe one friend has professional
painting experience now with that in
mind you might ask her to handle the
more challenging aspects of the project
like painting the ceiling or the
detailed molding you might also schedule
her to paint the molding before another
friend Paints the walls
so by delegating this task to the person
with the right skills to complete the
work and ordering the tasks
appropriately you're applying knowledge
of your team's strengths to the planning
of your project that makes sense right
finally let's talk about effective
communication
project managers deliver value through
effective communication both with their
team and with key stakeholders this
refers to being transparent which means
being upfront with plans and ideas and
making information readily available
project managers keep in regular contact
with their team about the progress of
the work and help identify areas where a
teammate may need support in our house
painting example this might involve
checking in with your friends
periodically to ask if they have enough
paint or supplies left to complete their
tasks checking in regularly means you'll
know if you need to buy more paint
before the can is empty which ensures
that the project stays on track in
addition to keeping up with teammates
project managers keep in regular contact
with people outside of the team like
company leaders who are invested in the
project outcomes
for example you might reach out to your
landlord to get permission to paint and
to share the days you'll be working on
this project
though your landlord isn't directly
involved in the Project's execution the
outcomes will affect her property and so
it's important to keep her informed
without your project management skills
you might run out of paint halfway
through the project your walls might get
painted without drop cloths to protect
the floors and your landlord could be
caught off guard about your plans so
it's a good thing you're here to keep
the project running smoothly and
efficiently
great now you should be able to Define
what a project manager is and explain
how they use prioritization delegation
and effective communication to deliver
value to their organizations
coming up you'll hear about the career
path of a real life project manager at
Google
their Journey To Me is fascinating and
we can't wait to share it with you
my name is Joanne I'm a senior program
manager at Google I'm a first generation
Chinese American
my family and I came to the United
States when I was young my parents
worked really hard when I was growing up
and I spent a lot of time by myself
basically just having to take care of
myself you know planning my meals doing
my homework taking care of chores so I
feel like I got a little bit of my
program management skills from just
being really organized like having to be
really organized all the time my path to
being a project manager really started
as a business systems analyst I was
writing requirements or gathering
requirements for our customers and
translating them into documentation for
our Engineers so that they could
implement it through that process I
became a project manager I started to
manage the timelines manage the tasks
understand all the pieces and who needed
to be involved
and there you go you have a project
manager I think the funnest part about
being a project manager is really
working with people you get to meet all
different kinds of people different
personalities sometimes you get to
travel to places to meet them but even
when you don't I think just
meeting new people and understanding how
how we interact how people interact and
and behave is fascinating I think if you
build a relationship focus on the
relationship and really understand what
their style where they're coming from
what their concerns are it will help
your relationship your working
relationship much better you can
communicate with them in the style
that's necessary you can work with them
in the style that's more receptive to
them and that would just make the
project better all around
foreign
welcome back I hope you enjoyed that
last story because for me it's always
helpful to hear about someone else's
career path maybe you even noticed a few
parallels between their career path and
your own or you felt inspired to pursue
a specific area of project management
so far we've discussed the types of
project management roles you'll be
qualified for and how to search for them
and earlier we discussed the value that
project managers bring to their teams
and their organizations
now let's learn more about the roles and
responsibilities of a project manager
earlier you learned that project
management is the application of
knowledge skills tools and techniques to
meet the project requirements and
achieve the desired outcome
so
how does that actually happen well
that's where you come in Project
managers usually follow a process that
involves planning and organizing
managing tasks budgeting and controlling
costs and other factors so that the
project can be completed within the
approved budget and time frame
let's break these down into examples of
responsibilities that you might find in
a job listing for a project management
role we'll start with planning and
organizing one responsibility that falls
under the umbrella of planning and
organizing is making use of productivity
tools and creating processes during the
planning and execution of a project you
might need to use certain tools and
develop processes to improve information
sharing across the team you may also
need to create plans timelines schedules
and other forms of documentation to
track project completion and you'll
usually need to maintain those documents
throughout the entirety of the project
the next task is budgeting and
controlling costs and other factors as
the project is underway changes to the
plan and budget are bound to come up
believe me this will require you to
Monitor and manage the budget track
issues and risks as they arise and
manage quality by mitigating those
issues and risks one way to do this is
by removing unforeseen barriers that
come up now by barriers we mean things
that can get in the way of project
progress for example if your teammates
lack the resources needed to complete a
task you might identify that issue or
barrier up front escalate the issue to a
stakeholder and work to secure the
resource so your team can move forward
another huge piece of the project
manager's role is managing tasks a
project task is an activity that needs
to be accomplished within a set period
of time by you your team or your
stakeholders
keeping track of tasks is a great way to
help manage the team's workload and
ensure that things are getting done
keeping track of tasks is also a great
tool for demonstrating progress to
people outside the immediate team like
your stakeholders
back when I was a program manager in
student development here at Google one
of our goals was to create Pathways for
students who identify with communities
that are underrepresented in the
technology industry a large part of my
day-to-day responsibilities involved
working with two separate engineering
teams to create our technical curriculum
to manage the tasks associated with this
project I created separate project
trackers for each team that outlined the
vision for the curriculum these trackers
kept both teams in the loop about the
timeline for delivery
the categories and subcategories for
work and the team members assigned to
each task I also made sure to update our
stakeholders every step of the way by
actively managing tasks throughout the
Project Life Cycle I was able to keep
tabs on everyone's work and efficiently
inform stakeholders which allowed us to
achieve our project goal with minimal
issues
nice job now you should be able to
describe the roles and responsibilities
of a project manager coming up we'll
discuss a project manager's role within
the extended team including how to work
alongside the people tasked with
executing the project catch you in a bit
hey and welcome back earlier you learn
more about the responsibilities of a
project manager and while it might seem
like a lot to keep track of it's
important to know that you as the
project manager won't need to do
everything on your own
let's discuss the role of the project
manager and how that role relates to
other roles within the project team
it's easier to hear the term manager and
immediately think of your boss but a
project manager is not often the direct
manager of the people working on a
project team
here we're discussing the project
manager as someone who manages the tasks
of a project
but what does that really mean right
well although you might have a few
teammates working with you on a project
you're probably not their day-to-day
boss
with the help of your team you can get a
lot more done together
everyone on your team will have their
own set of roles and responsibilities
and you'll come together to ensure that
everyone is able to do their part to
advance the project
each person will be an expert on their
portion of the project but no one will
be an expert on every aspect of the
project and honestly neither will you
for instance the graphic designer will
focus on graphic design but probably
won't be an expert on copywriting
similarly you'll be an expert on project
management but may not be an expert on
marketing here's another way to think
about it imagine that you're organizing
a camping trip you might be the person
in charge of planning the trip but that
doesn't mean you have to be a camping
expert maybe you've never been camping
before but your partner grew up spending
every summer by the campfire in that
case you might assign them the task of
picking out the right number and style
of tens for your group
so in this example you are planning the
trip by giving your partner the job of
finding the right number of tenths and
the right size tense to make sure
everyone's covered you aren't doing the
research or the task yourself but you're
making sure that things are getting done
it's similar in the workplace
as the project manager you won't be an
expert in every project role and that's
okay as we said your job isn't to be the
expert on everything instead you're
responsible for guiding your team and
making sure that they have the support
that they need in order to complete the
project
so how does a project manager go about
doing that let's discuss using a few
more examples of the required
responsibilities you might find in a job
listing first you'll need to hold all
team members accountable for their
assigned tasks managing tasks will help
you hold your team members accountable
by giving them ownership over specific
pieces of the project
second you'll need to ensure that issues
and risks are tracked and visible and be
able to establish escalation paths
Now by escalation paths I mean that you
should know how you'll communicate risks
to the right people at the right time
third you'll need to understand and help
teammates adopt the right workflows and
project management styles
as the project manager you'll likely
have the best idea of which style is
best for the work
it's your job to ensure that the team
adheres to that style and the other
systems in place
and fourth you'll need to collaborate
with other teams at the organization to
meet the requirements based on Project
scope
schedule and budget
in other words a project may affect not
only your team but other teams at an
organization as well say the marketing
or the finance team
so you'll need to work with those teams
to ensure that everyone is happy with
the project outcomes
you'll learn more about working with
other stakeholders in a later course
catch all that
let's recap you've learned that a
project manager isn't always the direct
manager of each member of the project
team
rather they're responsible for guiding
those people and ensuring they have the
support they need to complete the
project now that you have a good sense
of the way that a project manager fits
into the project team
let's move a little bit ahead where
we'll discuss the types of skills that a
project manager needs to succeed meet
you there
a great project manager is some funky
combination of EMT ninja and jazz
musician
an EMT who can show up on a scene that's
full of Chaos
figure out what needs to happen now
triage all of the things on site and
then develop a plan of action while also
participating in that action
a ninja because you kind of have to be
stealth about how you go about
influencing other people overt action or
pushing people too hard isn't
necessarily received well and a jazz
musician
particularly a jazz drummer who keeps a
steady beat as a lot of things are
happening around you on a team you're
going to be surrounded by a bunch of
talented people
a trombone player a bass player a
trumpet player a Pianist and you keeping
the beat and making sure that everybody
is working in time I spend most of my
days with my product and Engineering
counterparts talking a lot about
strategy updating status to key
stakeholders and trying to figure out
what comes next for our product some
things about my job never change from
this day to my very first day
the fact that I communicate with a lot
of people in a day a lot of different
types of people from Engineers to
product managers to Partnerships to
sales and marketing all of that's the
same the biggest difference is the
number of people that I communicate with
and the complexity of the topics I cover
the most important thing for you to keep
in mind is staying organized the more
organized you are and your actions the
more organized your team is in their
thinking and their actions
what I do to stay organized is list list
list lists all day long I have posted
notes I have electronic lists I have
lists and emails and those lists help me
stay on top of what actions need to
happen now what actions need to happen
next and which I can put off for a few
more days I do use the list to help
manage my time I think one of the things
my lists are most important for is
making sure I know what needs to be done
today and then once my list is made and
I'm sure of what needs to be done today
I budget time for those things a
stand-up is a quick meeting usually at
the start of the day but you can have
them really at any time my stand-ups
usually happened in the morning around 9
30 or 10 o'clock depending on when the
engineering team got in they lasted for
about 15 minutes so that we were clear
on what had gotten done the day before
and what was on the docket to get done
today
and then we usually checked in again
quickly around lunch to make sure that
people were still on track or ran into
any technical issues that might require
a longer time to finish the task
I think the thing that makes me a great
project manager is a bias to action and
resilience one of my favorite phrases is
pick it and stick it in part because I
think it's important to make a decision
to get yourself unstuck to follow
through on that action learn some things
and decide to take a new action once
you've learned something
the latter half of that is resilience
I am resilient and my teams are
resilient so if we've taken a bad action
we've learned that we can learn and
change our mind with new information
I'm Elita a senior engineering program
manager at Google
hey and welcome back now that you've
learned about the roles and
responsibilities of a project manager
let's discuss the core skill sets that a
project manager should bring to the role
well there are lots of different skills
a project manager can bring to their
role there are four specific skill sets
that we think can help a project manager
be successful those are enabling
decision making communicating and
escalating
flexibility and strong organizational
skills
first let's talk about enabling decision
making
the ability to enable decision making on
the team or gathering decisions from the
appropriate leader is crucial to keep
projects on task and achieve their goals
lots of the day-to-day decisions within
the project will likely Fall to you and
your teammates to discuss and agree on
you'll ensure that projects stay on
schedule by gathering information from
teammates and using those insights to
help the team make informed decisions
you'll also make sure that those
decisions are communicated to the
necessary co-workers whether that's the
immediate team or company leaders for
example you might provide relevant data
or feedback to help your teammates make
an informed decision between Choice a
and choice B
the second skill is communicating and
escalating
as a project manager you'll use your
communication skills in just about
everything you do this might look like
documenting plans sending emails about
the status of the project or holding a
meeting to escalate risks or issues to
stakeholders the third skill is
flexibility as a project manager knowing
how to be flexible when changes are
needed is key plans definitively will
change even with careful upfront
planning for example maybe the goals of
your company change or maybe a member of
your team unexpectedly takes a new
position at another company a good
project manager knows that unpredictable
moments like these are almost always
guaranteed
a quote we love here at Google is the
only constant is change and that's true
by staying cool Under Pressure you'll be
able to adjust while helping your team
stay calm too and finally a successful
project manager needs strong
organizational skills as you learned
earlier the role of a project manager
requires using a lot of different
processes to keep the project on track
having strong organizational skills
means having the ability to organize
these processes and the core elements of
a project to ensure nothing gets lost or
overlooked which trust me can and does
happen to prevent this you might decide
to track daily tasks in a spreadsheet or
send frequent status updates or
reminders there are many ways to stay
organized and hone your organizational
skills and we'll talk more about them
throughout the program to recap
decision making communicating and
escalating flexibility and strong
organizational skills are for core skill
sets that are essential to successful
project management
you can continue to build on these
skills by becoming familiar with
industry knowledge that applies to most
project management roles
knowledge of helpful tools and templates
and familiarity with popular project
management styles like waterfall and
agile can help you organize and document
the project throughout its life cycle
we'll learn about these throughout this
program
hopefully you feel better equipped to
explain the core skills a project
manager should bring to the role these
skills really help enforce team morale
and accountability for the tasks of a
project we'll discuss this coming up see
you soon
my name is Rachel I'm a senior program
manager in Google New York Google hired
me out of a bar in the East Village
about 12 years ago for about three years
a group of NY Ops and SRE drank at my
bar and like everyone at the bar they
asked the bartender for advice so I gave
them advice and helped them through a
lot of problems and also became friends
with them I really admired them they
were incredibly smart and charming and
really good Drinkers and tippers
eventually I
um wanted something different from my
life than standing behind a bar all
night long and there was an opportunity
to apply for an admin role on their team
so I joined Google in 2008. they hired
me first as an administrator for site
reliability and Engineering Ops in New
York City
after about two years transferred into
program management Google's hiring is a
little more conventional now but the
skills that I polished while being a
bartender inform my everyday work
a wise old bartender that I knew on the
Lower East Side once told me that a bar
was a room full of tables and chairs and
some beer and a meeting room was the
same a room full of tables and chairs
people come into a bar like they come
into a meeting room wanting to leave
feeling something else so as a program
manager my job was to help people
through that experience the aesthetic
experience of meeting with each other
making decisions and coming to
conclusions together very similar to
bartending and helping people have a
better night my role as a program
manager started by someone taking a risk
on me my engineering partner picked me
out of the admin pool because he knew
that I could build community with his
Engineers when you work at a bar you
have to talk to anyone who comes into
the bar anyone who walks through that
door is your customer you have to
understand what they want what they want
to drink
whether they can continue drinking
whether they might be done drinking all
of these things when you are working
with a subject matter expert an engineer
a product designer a ux person the same
things apply so you have to be able to
talk to any engineer on your team any
product manager you need to work with
and you have to understand their unique
needs
program management isn't just about the
um the process and the artifacts that
you create it's about how you relate to
people understanding what you've learned
in other parts of your life whether it
was in a bar or Art School these are the
experiences that you bring into the job
that make your work unique your skills
at talking to people or de-escalating
conflict or understanding what people
need this is what makes you a great
program manager
thank you
earlier you learned about the role of
the project manager and the core skills
you'll need to be successful in that
role you've also learned more about your
role within the project team
now let's discuss a few key skills that
you'll use to build relationships with
your teammates and stakeholders using
your interpersonal skills is key to
building relationships with the people
involved in your project
by developing these relationships you'll
learn about the needs and concerns of
the team this will help you determine
the priorities of the project and
motivate your team throughout the
process
possessing strong interpersonal skills
is a huge part of good leadership even
if you've never held a formal leadership
position having these skills will help
you when you need to guide a team
this is called influencing without
Authority which refers to a project
manager's ability to guide teammates to
complete their assigned work without
acting as their direct managers
there's a few key interpersonal skills
that you can use to accomplish this and
guide the project outcomes even without
the authority of being your teammate's
boss
these skills include communication
negotiation
conflict mediation and understanding
motivations so let's break these down
first up is a key skill we've mentioned
a few times now communication
in the context of leading a team
communication can include checking in
with teammates to understand how they're
progressing on a task and providing
clear feedback on the quality of a
teammate's work
next is negotiation
negotiation might include working with
the teammate to compromise on a new
deadline when they tell you that they
won't be able to complete their work on
time now trust me I know this can be
frustrating but you'll need to use your
negotiation skills often with your
teammates and stakeholders to balance
their needs and what is best for the
project
another important skill is conflict
mediation as we mentioned project plans
can change and issues will arise this
can sometimes lead to tension and
conflict within the team
so conflict mediation is a great skill
to practice and develop to ensure the
project does not suffer as a result
this might involve setting up a meeting
with two teammates who are struggling to
agree upon the best way to handle a
shared task
and finally there's understanding
motivations this means getting to know
your teammates and figuring out what
pushes them to do their best work
understanding motivations might also
include learning how your teammates
prefer to receive feedback and how they
like to receive recognition for doing a
great job
you would use that individualized
information to motivate and encourage
each person on your team
so to recap communication negotiation
conflict mediation and understanding
motivations are all interpersonal skills
that will help you influence without
Authority
during job interviews for project
management positions you might be asked
to discuss a time when you influenced
without Authority
and it's possible that you've already
noticed ways that you've used these
skills in your personal life without
even realizing it for example let's say
you have a co-worker who's constantly
late to every meeting and I mean every
meeting while you can't force them to
arrive on time
it's likely that you've thought about
ways to motivate them to want to be on
time
in doing so you might have also wondered
how to change the way you communicate
with your co-worker to influence them to
be on time
maybe you've tried asking them to arrive
15 minutes earlier than the rest of the
group or maybe you've told them how this
Behavior impacts the rest of the team
both of these strategies are examples of
influencing without Authority and they
serve to encourage specific behavior
influencing without Authority is one of
the most critical and one of the most
challenging aspects of project
management
as you've just learned you'll need to
leverage your interpersonal skills in
order to do it effectively
in later courses we'll review and learn
more about using your interpersonal
skills to manage various projects we'll
see in the next video
[Music]
I'm Ellen and I'm a director of
technical program management and that
means I lead a team of program managers
at Google I love project management
because I really like this idea that you
can do more together as a team with a
group of people than you could do alone
by bringing a bunch of people together
and you know getting organized getting
aligned around a common goal we can do
some pretty amazing things I think a
successful project manager is somebody
who really knows how to pull together a
group of people
to me there's really two parts of
project management one is is this this
laser-like focus on executing on this
goal but then the other part is the
people and so a successful project
manager can do both when I first started
managing project managers it was really
about you know everyone works on their
own project how do I just guide them
give them guidance and and help them
with their projects over the years I've
shifted to co you know to mentoring on
project management to mentoring project
managers and what I mean by that is it's
it's different I'm no longer saying
here's what you should do on your
project I'm really trying to help them
think about how to think about their
projects one of the things that I think
about a lot as I'm building a project
management team is having a really
diverse set of folks who with different
uh different backgrounds
different experiences
and you know we're a global company so
we're really trying to make sure we are
a global team as well
and when I talk about diversity of
background and experience like it really
is about you know
working in different types of
environments with different
types of teams when I
chat with new project managers
um and they say like how you know how do
I how do I continue to grow as a project
manager my answer is like work on
different projects right
work on as many projects as you can but
like don't be afraid to try different
different areas different domains work
with different people with every project
you work on you're going to really learn
something
nice work so far you've started learning
all about project managers and the value
they bring to their teams we also
introduced you to a few program managers
here at Google who spoke about their own
experiences working in the field
you also learn more about the day-to-day
responsibilities of a project manager
and how they guide their teammates to do
their best work
and you learned about the types of
skills you'll need to succeed in a
program management role
as we move forward you'll develop and
hone lots of the skills needed for the
daily tasks of a project manager
and hopefully you've also identified the
skills you already have that can help
you become a great project manager and
an asset to employers
next up we'll discuss the Project Life
Cycle
you'll learn more about the different
phases of a project and the tasks
associated with each phase
you'll also learn more about some of the
most popular project management
methodologies used across Industries
today
and how to choose the best one for your
project
see you soon
welcome back before we move on let's
recap what's already been covered you
learn how to define project management
what a project is what it isn't and how
to explain its value to businesses you
also discussed when and why it's
necessary to have a project manager the
role and day-to-day responsibilities of
a project manager and the core skills
needed to be a successful project
manager
now's a good time to stop and recognize
how much you've learned
by now you're familiar with the job of
project management and you've started
learning what it takes to Be an
Effective project manager
now you'll go a little further and learn
some of the ins and outs of the job and
before you know it you'll be ready to
guide any project successfully are you
ready
well coming up I'll introduce you to the
two most popular approaches to project
management waterfall and agile we'll
also cover the project management life
cycle and phases and you'll learn about
the different styles scenarios and
factors that can impact a project and
its tasks at any given phase when we're
done you'll be able to explain and
follow the life cycle of a project
Define and outline a Project's phases
and each phases tasks compare different
project management methodologies to
determine which methodology is most
effective for a project and finally
organize how a project is run according
to different program management
methodologies
ready let's get started
no two projects are exactly the same
which means there are many different
ways to manage them each project comes
with its own needs and factors that
impact how you'll take action and
achieve your goals
there are many ways to manage projects
and not always one right way to do so
picture this your project managing a
political campaign for a local candidate
to make it happen you need to think
about things like your available
resources the people you'll be working
with the election date
and the location you need to be aware of
lots of details to successfully complete
your project
because so many different things can
impact a project it's important to
understand its basic structure we call
this structure the Project Life Cycle
the life cycle is a great way to guide
your project in the right direction so
that you and your project stay on track
and end up in the right place
most project life cycles have four major
phases each with their own set of tasks
and concerns check it out
the main phases of a project are
initiate the project
make a plan
execute and complete tasks
and finally close the project let's talk
about the first phase initiate the
project this is the launch pad for the
entire process of your project in this
phase you'll Define project goals and
deliverables
identify the budget and resources you'll
need
the people involved in your project
and any other details that can impact
the successful completion of your
project
you'll document all this information in
one place to showcase the Project's
value and hopefully get approval to move
forward with it once the project is
approved it's time to get rolling next
you'll make a plan for how you'll meet
the goals of your project there are all
kinds of ways to plan your project and
we'll get into some different methods
and techniques later on but right now
the important thing to know is that for
every single project creating a plan of
how you're going to meet your goals is
absolutely 100 percent essential think
about it you can't hire a contractor to
build a house without planning what
it'll look like or how much you have to
spend
these same considerations apply to any
project that you manage
to be effective your plan needs to
include a lot of things for example a
budget a breakdown of all the tasks that
you need to be completed ways to
communicate team roles and
responsibilities
a schedule
resources and what to do in case your
project encounters problems or needs to
change and that's just to name a few
once you have your plan in place it's
time to execute and complete those tasks
it's important to point out that your
project team has the job of completing
the project tasks now as a project
manager Your Role is a little different
while you might be in charge of
completing certain tasks in the project
your primary tasks as the project
manager are to monitor progress and keep
your team motivated
you'll also remove any obstacles that
might come up so that the tasks are
executed well and on time
finally when all the tasks have been
completed all the resources have been
accounted for and the project has
crossed the finish line
it's time to close the project
why is it important to close well one
big reason is so your team has a moment
to celebrate all of their hard work but
closing the project is also a chance to
evaluate how the project went
you can make note of what worked and
what didn't so you can plan better for
next time
even if the project was a massive
success it's helpful to take time to
reflect closing the project is also a
great way to connect with anyone outside
your team who may have had interest in
the Project's goal you can let everyone
know what was completed and what you
accomplished
some projects like the campaign example
will have a firm end date once the
project is finished that's it there's no
more work to do
other projects have different Finish
Lines
for example a project where you're
implementing a new ordering system at a
restaurant is complete after the system
is set up and the employees know how it
works at that point your goals are
completed now it's time to hand over the
project to another group whose job it is
to provide support and make sure the
system stays running on a day-to-day
basis
another example of this is I once
project managed the creation of a
dashboard that would be used by various
stakeholders in my organization
this dashboard would show pertinent
information to each stakeholder
depending on the team that they were a
part of in our broader organization
iproject managed the beginning from
writing out the vision for the project
to the end where we delivered the
dashboard
now once I passed off the final product
I transitioned the continued update of
each team's data and the corresponding
dashboard page to the respective teams
think of it like turning over the keys
of a newly built house to its new owner
the project of building the house is
complete and now it's up to the owner to
take care of The house's maintenance and
the upkeep so there you have it the
Project Life Cycle the exact name for
each phase might change depending on the
type of project or organization you work
for
but the general idea stays the same and
following the project processes you will
learn in this course will set you up for
project management success
next we'll take a closer look into what
happens during each phase of the
traditional Project Life Cycle
now that we've discussed the Project
Life Cycle we're going to explore some
of the different tasks that match up
with each life cycle phase but first
let's review The Phases the Project Life
Cycle phases are initiate the project
make a plan
execute and complete tasks
and close out the project
okay great let's get back to the tasks
that need to be accomplished during each
phase for this video we're going to
focus on the first two Project Life
Cycle phases initiating the project and
making a plan
it's important to call out that the name
or tasks for each phase might change or
may be a little different depending on
the type of project or the organization
where you work
at Google we use a mix of different
project management methods which you'll
learn more about later in the course
but regardless of the method all
projects share a lot of the same tasks
needed to get the job done
so let's get into it the first step of
the Project Life Cycle is to initiate
the project
during initiation you'll organize all of
the information you have available to
you about your project this way when
you're ready to continue on you'll be
prepared for the next phase when you can
create your plan
defining project goals makes the details
of your project clear so that you and
your team can successfully complete the
project
for example
if the project goal is to manage a
political campaign then some
deliverables which are specific tasks or
outcomes might be to raise five thousand
dollars or get 500 signatures in support
of your candidate's cause with this in
mind you'll need to do some research to
come up with ideas that will help you
meet your goals you'll also need to find
out what resources are available
resources can include people equipment
software programs vendors physical space
or locations and more
anything you need to actually complete
the project is considered a resource
now as a project manager you'll record
all of these details in your project
proposal and then get them approved by a
decision maker or group of decision
makers at your company so that you can
move ahead with your project plans
now in some cases you may be the
decision maker so be sure to consider
the same set of factors when initiating
your project before moving to the next
stage
no worries you will learn all the
details about how to create a project
proposal we will be getting into more
detail of what this is and how to create
one later in the course
voila once your project is approved
you'll move into the second step of the
Project Life Cycle which is to make a
plan
in this phase you'll create a budget
and set the project schedule you'll
establish the project team
and determine each person's roles and
responsibilities
let's pause for a second you may be
thinking uh why can't we just get
started but that's the thing with
project management deliberate planning
is critical to a Project's success a
crucial part of project management is
planning for risk and change an
experienced project manager knows that
plans always change
this ability to adapt is all about
thinking and planning ahead scheduling
delays budget changes technology and
software requirements legal issues
quality control and access to resources
are just some of the more common types
of risks and changes that a project
manager needs to consider
so it's important to keep in mind that
planning is key to reducing those risks
but don't worry if the idea of risk
seems a little overwhelming right now in
later courses we'll teach you all about
understanding risks just know that it's
really important not to skip this step
and to always make a plan
again the success of your project
depends on it
once you have a plan you'll communicate
all of this information to your team
that way each member will know which
tasks they'll own and what to do if they
have questions or if they run into
problems
you'll also communicate your plan with
others who have an interest in the
Project's success so that they are aware
of your plans and your progress as the
project continues to move forward
nice job we've made it halfway through
the steps of a Project Life Cycle
up next we'll check out the remaining
two phases executing and completing
tasks and closing the project catch you
in a bit
welcome back we just learned about the
core tasks that need to be completed and
the first two phases of the Project Life
Cycle
initiating the project and making plans
now it's time to put your plans into
action remember it's not your job to
actually do all the tasks your primary
job is the project manager is to manage
the progress of the project as a whole
this means you'll oversee your team's
efforts and make sure everyone
understands what's expected of them what
tasks need to be done and how and when
to complete those tasks
it's also your job to help remove any
obstacles and to alert the right people
if it looks like there might be a delay
to the project this means you'll need to
communicate with your team and anyone
else involved in your project through
meetings written Communications like
memos emails or internal chat tools and
other working documents like task
reports quick Pro tip if in doubt err on
the side of over communication
as your project progresses you'll make
adjustments to the schedule budget and
allocation of resources clearly
communicating updates all along the way
when all the tasks are complete and
you've met the project goal it's time to
close the project
this phase is usually overlooked because
it's easy to assume that once the
project goal has been delivered everyone
can move on but hold up
there's still a lot that needs to be
done
first check to make sure all tasks have
been completed including any work that
was added along the way
be sure any outstanding invoices have
been paid resources are returned and
accounted for and project documentation
has been submitted
next and this is very important
get confirmation that the final outcome
of your project is acceptable to the
people you're delivering it to it is
crucial to your Project's success that
the person who asked you to manage the
project is satisfied with the end result
once your project has been accepted as
meeting its goals
take some time to reflect on what went
well and maybe what didn't go so well
this reflection is usually called a
retrospective and it's a chance to note
best practices and learn how to manage a
project more effectively next time
even if everything went great
the notes from your retrospective are
also valuable to the people or
organization receiving the end result of
the project that's because they can use
that information to inform decisions
about their business the next time they
consider a project
now it's time to collect all the project
documentation that you've created or
collected along the way including all of
your plans and Reflections and share the
final results of your project with your
stakeholders
remember
stakeholders are people who are
interested in and affected by the
Project's completion and success
depending on the type of project
stakeholders could include a department
or organizations management team clients
or customers of your product or service
users of your new tool or process or
even the community at large if you're
planning a community town hall meeting
protip stakeholders play a huge role in
the development and success of your
project
you'll learn a lot more about these key
players later on but for now just know
that they are like the VIPs of your
project
next take some time to celebrate the
effort your team invested in the project
celebrations help people feel good about
the work they've done and think of the
work as uplifting and rewarding because
it truly is
some ideas for small celebrations are a
company or a team-wide email thanking
the team and acknowledging individual
efforts now for big projects you may
even consider a company party to
celebrate the team and the project
success
to wrap up you and your team can
formally move on from the project so
that you can pursue new projects in the
future well as you can see being a
project manager is a lot of work but
it's very rewarding and it's all well
manageable when you follow through with
the Project Life Cycle
you can see how the organization
communication and improvements you add
to various areas of a project can make
the entire team more effective and
efficient and you can have an impact on
many areas of a project in a way that's
greater than if you focused on any one
task on the project
similar to a coach with a sports team
even though you aren't actually playing
a direct role in the game
your guidance your communication and
your team building can make the
difference in a happy High performing
and successful team
in later courses we'll discuss each of
these project phases and you'll learn
methods techniques and tools to help you
for now we just want you to become
familiar with the general project
management process and we'll share some
of the terms and Concepts used in the
field that you'll need to know as you
develop your project management skills
up next we'll introduce you to two of
the more popular project methodologies
waterfall and agile see you soon
welcome back as we've already discussed
not all projects are alike different
types of projects will benefit from
applying different project management
approaches or methodologies a project
management methodology is a set of
guiding principles and processes for
owning a project through its life cycle
project management methodologies help
guide project managers throughout a
project with steps to take tasks to
complete and principles for managing the
project overall we will talk through two
different types linear and iterative
linear means the previous phase or task
has to be completed before the next can
start
a linear approach would work well for a
project like building a house you'd need
the blueprint created before you can
begin laying the foundation you've got
to know exactly what the house will look
like its dimensions and what type and
how many resources you'll need then
you've got to finish the foundation
before you put up the walls and the
walls before you put up the roof and so
on before you have the finished project
which is a bungalow style home
there's also a clear goal you know
exactly what the house will look like
it's unlikely that in the middle of
building the house your client is going
to decide they'd rather have a
multi-level Victorian instead of a
single level bungalow
what's more even if they wanted the
change
it's too late you already laid the
foundation and built the walls for the
Bungalow
done and done a bungalow is what they
wanted and a bungalow is what they'll
get using this type of linear project
management approach completing each step
in order and sticking to the agreed upon
specific results and being able to
deliver just what the client ordered for
a project like producing a new show for
a television company on the other hand
it might be more effective to use a
methodology that uses an iterative more
flexible approach where some of the
phases and tasks will overlap or happen
at the same time that other tasks are
being worked on
your team comes up with an idea for a
show and films a pilot
you run several tests of the pilot in
different locations and time slots
as your team gathers feedback about the
pilot adjustments to the show are made
at the same time you're able to make
decisions and start working on other
parts of the project like hiring
permanent actors starting Film
Production and working on Advertising
even while the final version of the show
is being worked on
and even though the overall goal is
clear
produce a new show
the type of show could end up being
different from the original idea
your team may have started out creating
a one-hour show but during testing they
realized half hour show would actually
be more popular
or maybe a supporting character got a
lot of positive feedback so you want to
make them one of the main characters
what's more important is that you
produce a show that audiences are going
to watch
because of the iterative approach plans
remain flexible and you're able to make
adjustments as you go along
each of these projects benefits from a
different approach to how tasks will be
carried out in order to best meet the
Project's goals linear projects don't
require many changes during development
and have a clear sequential process
if you stick to the plan it's likely
you'll finish your tasks within the time
schedule and all other criteria
iterative projects allow for more
flexibility and anticipate changes
you're able to test out parts of the
project to make sure they work before
the final result is delivered and you
can deliver parts of the project as they
are completed rather than waiting for
the entire project to be done
over the years the field of project
management has developed many different
methods that project managers can choose
from that will help them manage most
effectively Google takes a hybrid
approach to project management
we mix and match from different methods
depending on the type of project
our project managers are encouraged to
adapt their own style to what makes the
most sense to their project and their
team
so are you starting to see how different
approaches might benefit the projects
you'll be working on now pretty soon
you'll become a pro at picking an
approach or combining approaches to fit
with your project
up next we'll learn about the most
well-known and most used project
management methods that you can add to
your project management toolbox
two of the most popular project
management methodologies are waterfall
and agile each of these methods has a
rich and complex history in fact you
could take an entire certificate on just
one of these methods alone you'll have a
chance to learn more about waterfall and
agile methods in the upcoming courses of
this certificate so be sure to check
those out after completing this one to
learn more for now I'll just give you a
brief introduction and provide you with
some examples that illustrate how
different types of projects can be more
successful or easier to manage when you
consider which method to use
first let's take a look at the waterfall
approach waterfall as a methodology was
created in the 70s and refers to the
sequential ordering of phases you
complete one at a time down the line
like a waterfall starting at the top of
a mountain and traveling to the bottom
remember the definition and example of
linear from that last video well
waterfall has a linear approach
at first waterfall was used in the
physical engineering disciplines like
manufacturing and construction
then software emerged as an important
field of engineering and waterfall was
applied to those kinds of projects as
well
it still used a lot in engineering
Fields including product feature design
and application also known as app design
over time other Industries like event
planning and Retail have adapted
waterfall phases to fit their projects
there are now many styles of waterfall
and each style has its own specific set
of steps what they all have in common
though is that they follow an ordered
set of steps that are directly linked to
clearly defined expectations
resources and goals that are not likely
to change let's take a closer look the
phases of a waterfall Project Life Cycle
follow the same standard Project Life
Cycle flow that you learned about
earlier initiating planning executing
which includes managing and completing
tasks and closing
so when would you want to use a
waterfall approach to project management
well when the phases of the project are
clearly defined or when there are tasks
to complete before another can begin or
when changes to the project are very
expensive to implement once it's started
for example if you were catering an
event for a client on a very tight
budget you might want to use waterfall
methodology
this way you could confirm the number of
guests first
then very clearly Define the menu
get approval and agreement on the menu
items and costs
order the unreturnable ingredients and
successfully feed the guests
because the budget is limited you can't
afford to make changes or waste food the
traditional method won't allow for the
client to make changes to the menu once
the order has been placed
you can also Reserve tables chairs and
dishes because you know exactly how much
and what kind of food is being prepared
a well thought out traditional approach
to managing a project can help you reach
your desired outcome with as little pain
as possible during the project
implementation
by spending extra effort thinking
through the entire project up front
you'll set yourself up for success
now in an Ideal World
following this approach will help you
identify the right people and tasks plan
accordingly to avoid any hiccups along
the way create room for documenting your
plans and progress and enable you to hit
that goal
however plans don't always go well
according to plan in fact they rarely do
the waterfall method has some risk
management practices to help avoid and
deal with project changes
luckily there are other methodologies
that are entirely built for Change and
flexibility one of these is agile
another popular project management
approach
the term agile means being able to move
quickly and easily it also refers to
flexibility which means being willing
and able to change and adapt
projects that use an agile approach
often have many tasks being worked on at
the same time or in various stages of
completion which makes it an iterative
approach
the concepts that shaped agile
methodology began to emerge in the 90s
as a response to the growing demand for
faster delivery of products mainly
software applications at that time but
it wasn't officially named agile until
2001. the phases of an agile project
also follow the Project Life Cycle
stages we described earlier generally
speaking however rather than having to
always go in order or wait for one phase
to end before starting the next
agile project faces overlap and tasks
are completed in iterations which in
scrum are called sprints
scrum is a form of agile that you'll
learn more about in the course focused
entirely on agile and by Sprint we do
not mean running a race as fast as
possible
in this case Sprints are short chunks of
time usually one to four weeks where a
team works together to focus on
completing specific tasks
what's important to understand is that
agile is more of a mindset than just a
series of steps or phases
it's concerned with building an
effective collaborative team that seeks
regular feedback from the client so that
they can deliver the best value as
quickly as possible and adjust as
changes emerge
projects that are best suited for an
agile approach are those where the
client has an idea of what they want but
doesn't have a concrete picture in mind
or they have a set of qualities they'd
like to see in the end result but aren't
as concerned with exactly what it looks
like
another indicator that a project May
benefit from agile is the level of high
uncertainty and risk involved with the
project
we'll talk more about those things later
an example of a project that would work
well with an agile approach might be
building a website your team would build
the different parts of the website in
Sprints and deliver each part to the
client as they are built this way the
website can be launched with some parts
say the main home page that are complete
and ready for public view while other
parts may be the company blog or the
ability to book online appointments
continue to get built out over time
this allows the team to get feedback
early on about what works and what
doesn't make adjustments along the way
and reduce wasted efforts and this same
website example the waterfall method
will plan for and require the whole
website to be complete before it can
launch
having a basic understanding of
waterfall and agile will help you figure
out an effective way to organize and
plan out your project
and knowing about these two
methodologies will come in handy during
future job interviews because you'll be
able to demonstrate a solid
understanding of the project management
landscape
waterfall and agile are two of the more
common and well-known project management
methodologies but they are by no means
the only or the best ones and the next
videos you'll learn about lean Six Sigma
another way to approach projects
here at Google believe it or not we
select from many of these methodologies
for project management
hey again now you've got waterfall and
agile methodologies in your project
manager toolbox lean Six Sigma is one
more you can add It's a combination of
two parent methodologies lean and Six
Sigma the uses for lean Six Sigma are
common in projects that have goals to
save money improve quality and move
through processes quickly
it also focuses on team collaboration
which promotes a positive work
environment
the idea is that when your team feels
valued motivation and productivity
increases and the whole process
functions more smoothly
there are five phases in the lean Six
Sigma approach they are defined measure
analyze improve
and control commonly known as dmaic
dmaic is a strategy for process
Improvement meaning you're trying to
figure out where the problems are in the
current process and fix them so that
everything runs more smoothly
the goal of each step is to ensure the
best possible results for your project
just like with waterfall and agile there
are more specific details for using
dmaic and the lean Six Sigma approach
but what's great about the DM AIC
process is that it can be used to solve
any business problem let's break it down
the first phase is to define the project
goal and what it will take to meet it
this first phase is very similar to the
initiation phase of traditional project
management let's take a real scenario to
illustrate imagine that you are brought
on as a project manager for a large
travel company to help streamline and
minimize customer service wait times
that have been surging due to a recent
sales promotion
before you begin working on tackling the
issue you're going to need to define the
project goal and talk to stakeholders
about expectations for the project
in this case the goal is to take average
wait times down to less than 10 minutes
on average compared to 30 minutes
next it's time to measure how the
current process is performing in order
to improve processes
dmaic focuses on data here you want to
map out the current process and locate
exactly where the problems are and what
kind of effect the problems have on the
process
using our example you're trying to
figure out why it's taking so long for
the travel company to address a customer
service issue
to do this you look at company data like
average wait times number of customers
per day and seasonal variations
then you'll set a plan for how you'll
get that data and how often to measure
it this could look something like having
the company generate reports on a weekly
monthly quarterly basis
in other situations you might have
employees or customers fill out surveys
or look at inventory shipping and
tracking records things like that
once you have the data and measurements
you can move on to the next phase which
is analyze
here you'll begin to identify gaps and
issues in our example after mapping out
the process and data points you may see
that Staffing is inadequate on days
where customers are the highest data
analysis is important for project
managers regardless of which method you
choose and we will learn more about that
in an upcoming course
from your data you'll have a strong
understanding of causes and solutions to
get to the next stage improve
oftentimes project managers may want to
LEAP straight to this phase but really
projects and process improvements should
only be made after a careful analysis
this is the point where you present your
findings and get ready to start making
improvements in our example this could
be modifying Staffing to address
customer needs
the last step of this cycle is control
you've gotten the process and project to
a good place and now it's time to
implement it and keep it there
controlling is all about learning from
the work you did up front to put new
processes and documentation in place
and continue to monitor so the company
doesn't revert back to the old
inefficient way of doing things
to sum it all up you can remember dmaic
like this
defining tells you what to measure
measuring tells you what to analyze
analyzing tells you what to improve and
improving tells you what to control
lean Six Sigma and the dmaic approach
are ideal when the project goal includes
improving a current process to fix
complex or high-risk problems like
improving sales conversions or
eliminating a bottleneck
which is when things get backed up
during a process
following the dmaic process prevents the
likelihood of skipping important steps
and increases the chances of a
successful project
and as a way for your team to discover
best practices that your client can use
going forward
it uses data and focuses on the customer
or end user to solve problems in a way
that builds on previous learning so that
you can discover effective permanent
solutions for difficult problems
there are many ways out there that break
the flow of project management into
digestible phases and approaches all
with the same end goal of accomplishing
the desired outcome as smoothly as
possible and delivering the best value
like I said earlier at Google we follow
a lot of different approaches for
instance an engineering team releasing a
customer focused product May primarily
use agile when creating the product but
decide to plug in some of the aspects of
waterfall project management for
planning and documentation
a customer service team might focus on
using lean Six Sigma to improve an
experience for our users like offering
new features based on a recent analysis
but the team might develop parts of the
code and roll out the features using
agile iterations and Sprints to allow
for change
or one of our internal Education and
Training teams May Focus solely on
waterfall project management to achieve
a targeted goal of having all employees
complete an annual compliance training
here waterfall makes sense since the
requirements of the training program are
fixed and so is the deadline and goal
the biggest takeaway is to know the
various methods and tools to be able to
confidently apply what works best for
you
your team
and the end goal there is no real
prescription for how to execute a
project perfectly because there are
always pieces you can't 100 control but
the good news is you can get pretty
close with the skill sets you developed
through learning about these different
Frameworks
congrats on completing this module on
the Project Life Cycle and project
management methodologies so what did you
think
hopefully this introduction to a few of
the core project management
methodologies and hearing from a googler
about the way we approach project
management here at Google has you
interested and excited to keep on
learning one of the great things about
project management is that it can be
really creative and present you with
challenging problems to solve that have
a rewarding impact you get to work with
teams full of interesting skilled and
dedicated people who help with the
problem solving and idea generating
process
every project is an opportunity to learn
and try something new
waterfall agile and lean Six Sigma are
solid foundations from which to build
your understanding of project management
each methodology has its own set of
rules values and processes there is no
such thing as a right or a wrong
methodology there is no
one-size-fits-all approach to take
and there's almost no limit to the
number of ways you can blend different
approaches to fit the needs of your
project
your goal in choosing a methodology is
to maximize the use of resources and
time
the method or combination of methods
will help you reach your goal in the
most efficient and effective way
this might feel like Choice overload
right here but hang in there
with time and practice you'll become
more comfortable with the benefits and
limits of different methodologies and
you'll be able to approach your project
assignments with confidence
next you'll build on these foundations
by learning how an organization's
structure and culture can impact the way
you manage your project see you soon
hey there how are you feeling so far
we're nearing the end of this course and
honestly you've done a great job
previously we talked about the life
cycle of a project the task breakdown of
phases and some different methodologies
you can use as a project manager to help
and share your project success
you also heard from my colleagues about
some of the ways we manage projects at
Google
here you'll learn about organizational
structure and culture and how they
impact the way you set up and execute
your project
I'll describe some common types of
structures that you're likely to
encounter during your project management
career you'll also learn about change
management which refers to the way you
present the final project to the
organization and get them to accept and
Implement your project outcome
these are important elements to ensure
that your project is adopted and lives
on are you ready
let's get into these Concepts
welcome back in this video I'm going to
talk about the concept of organizational
structure and the project manager's role
within a given structure keep in mind
that your role won't be the same for
every team or organization because many
companies are structured differently
but this overview will serve as a
foundation for wherever you work so what
is organizational structure
organizational structure refers to the
way a company or organization is
arranged or structured
this structure also tells you how job
tasks are divided and coordinated and
how all the different members of the
organization relate to one another in
other words organizational structure
gives you a sense of who reports to who
but organizational structure is much
more than that understanding the
different types of organizational
structures can serve as a map to help
you determine where you fit in who you
should communicate with and how
frequently to communicate with them
now that we have a basic overview of the
definition of organizational structure
let's look at the various organizational
hierarchies that you may encounter at
work an organization's structure is most
commonly mapped out using a reporting
chart or org chart which is short for
organizational chart
reporting charts show the relationship
between people and groups within the
organization and details who each person
or group reports to
there are a few different types of
organizational structures but for this
course we're going to focus on two of
the more popular ones classic and Matrix
let's start with classic the classic
grouping includes what are usually
called functional or top-down structures
the classic grouping follows a typical
chain of command where the chief
executive officer also known as CEO and
other executives are at the top followed
by directors or managers then their
direct reports and so on
each of these directors or managers
typically oversee teams within their
function of the organization like
Marketing sales or human resources you
can see this type of structure in effect
by looking at a branch of the military
take the Army for example you may enter
the Army as a private and Report up to a
sergeant who oversees multiple people in
your squad and that Sergeant ultimately
reports up to a lieutenant and so on
if your organization Works in this
structure as the project manager you
might communicate regularly with your
manager the person directly above you
and also with your peers who work on the
same types of projects as you
but it isn't always a straightforward
top-down approach there are other
factors at play that make organizational
structures a bit more complicated than
we can see on paper
for instance you may have project teams
that sit across different functions this
is common in many companies Google
included and is usually referred to as
the Matrix structure you might think of
a matrix structure as a grid where you
still have people above you but you also
have people in adjacent departments who
expect to hear updates on your work
progress
these people may not be your direct
bosses but you are responsible for
communicating with them since they may
inform changes to your work
for example at Google we have the major
functions of Marketing sales and more
with the traditional reporting chain but
we also have programs for our products
like Google search where project teams
consist of program managers Engineers
user experience or ux designers and so
on and each team member reports to their
own management chains
another example is my organization it's
called Global Affairs I have a direct
manager who oversees the work I do in my
core role and who is responsible for
delivering my performance reviews
but because I work with multiple people
across other teams and Specialties I
often get asked to manage projects where
I'm informally working with lead program
managers in other organizations
similar to my own manager I provide
updates to that program manager seek
their approval and solicit feedback on
our partnership and progress
so to recap the classic structure
follows a traditional top-down system of
reporting and the Matrix structure has
direct higher ups to report to and
stakeholders from other departments or
programs
knowing which kind of organizational
structure you're working in plays a
major role in how you prepare for it and
carry out your project or even in an
interview
during an interview you can ask about
the type of organizational structure the
company uses and where your role will
fit in this will help you in the
interviewer communicate clearly about
the people you will engage with daily
and the expectations for the role and
the next course you'll hear from a
googler about a third type of structure
project management office which you
might see in some of the organizations
where you work or interview enjoy
hey again ready to keep going the
previous videos explained that knowing
what kind of organizational structure
you're working in plays a major role in
how you prepare for and carry out your
project
an organization's structure provides the
framework for accountability and
communication
as the project manager it's vital that
you understand who you're reporting to
on each project
and just as importantly who the members
of your team report to
knowing the organizational structure
also tells you how and where to get the
resources you'll need so you can get the
project done efficiently
when you understand the organization's
structure you'll be able to identify how
it impacts the way you manage the
project
one-way organizational structure can
impact the way you manage a project is
by the amount of authority given to the
project manager
Authority has to do with your ability to
make decisions for the project that
impact the organization
in some cases you might have the
authority to do things like select the
vendors who provide services or Goods
for the project
other times you might have a set of
vendors selected for you
your level of authority and
responsibility will vary from Project to
project
another way organizational structures
can impact project management is through
resource availability
managing a project is a lot easier when
you know how to access the people
equipment and budget that you need
let's explore how different structures
can affect the way you manage a project
in a classic structure you might find
yourself with less Authority and a
tighter scope
you may need to rely on getting approval
from the appropriate managers directors
and department heads in order to move
forward and complete certain tasks
in this case it's likely that these
people are in charge of the people on
your team and the resources you need
as a project manager working in a
classic structure you may depend on the
managers in your organization to approve
resources in other words the amount of
people working on your project or the
budget that you have allocated to your
project is decided by the leaders of
your department or function
in a classic structure you may have to
go through a chain of approvals and
advocate for more resources if you need
them for example if you need a budget
increase you would report this to your
manager then your manager might escalate
this up to their management chain to get
approval that's the classic structure a
traditional top-down arrangement of
employees and Authority
now let's explore the Matrix structure
the main difference with a matrix
structure is that employees often have
two or more managers or leaders they'll
need to work with and update your team
members will have their functional
manager and you the project manager if
members are working on multiple projects
they may have even more managers this
can affect your Authority as a project
manager as you will need to cooperate
with more than one leader in the
organization you may need to share
resources and negotiate priorities the
key is to make sure you know who your
stakeholders are and who controls what
since the chain of command isn't always
as clearly defined as in the classic
structure because there isn't always a
clear chain of command in a matrix
structure you need to make sure you have
identified and communicated with anyone
you might need to report to and get
approval from well before the project
begins once this is established though
your project within a matrix structure
should be able to run efficiently
Matrix structures emphasize a strong
project Focus from the team and the
organization so you as the project
manager generally have more autonomy to
make decisions and gather resources as
needed
as I hope you've noticed the way an
organization is structured can have a
big impact on the planning and execution
of your project
understanding all of this will help you
run and manage a project much more
efficiently
next I'll tell you about organizational
culture another factor that impacts how
you manage your project catch you in a
bit
hi I'm Lon I'm a director of program
management at Google a program
management director has a team of
project managers to help execute and
bring products to our users I work on
the project management team or the pmo
team for a group called Geo and in Geo
we bring geospatial products to our
users things like Google Maps and Google
Earth and the team that I'm a part of
actually works on all of the data and
imagery that powers all of those
products a project management office is
a team of project managers we are a
group that coordinates all of the
different parts of a project together
including folks who work on our product
engineers and many business functions
and we help bring all of those ideas to
life
my role specifically in working in a pmo
is ensuring that we're connecting all of
the different parks that are associated
with projects to ensure that they're all
connected together sometimes we find out
when projects are happening there's a
piece of it here and a piece of it there
and they may not even know about each
other one of the most critical things
that project managers get to do is they
get to have a bird's eye view of
everything that's happening in a project
so that's a lot of my role in what I'm
working on with my team is ensuring that
all of the pieces that need to connect
together actually do connect together
I've had many different roles inside of
many different pmos inside my career all
the way from taking just a piece of a
part of a project when I was really
early in my career and then expanded
that into taking a full end-to-end
project which were smaller and then
building up my career and then moving
into really large complex projects and
at each stage of these I had loved every
piece of it so even from the time that I
had only a part of a project I got to go
really deep inside of some of those
Technologies and have really deep and
meaningful relationships to the with the
teams that I have been working with and
that's not always possible when you're
working on a really large project that
has hundreds of people you won't be able
to develop deep relationships across
that large group on the flip side when
you're working on a large complex
project you get to see all of the
different gears turning inside of a
large ecosystem of things that are
happening but that took a long time in
my career to build up but at each phase
of it I realized I was learning a little
bit more and I was learning how to work
a little bit more broadly and think a
little bit more differently but really
ensuring how do you continue to keep the
execution and rigor of a project to
ensure that ideas were coming to life
one of the biggest benefits I see in
working in a pmo is that you get to
share a lot of best practices with each
other one of the downsides I think for
project management is typically we don't
get to work with each other because
we're working with a lot of client teams
and we're working with other disciplines
but a huge benefit in working in a pmo
is that you get to connect with other
project managers where you can share
your challenges and see how somebody
else had gotten through it or you can
share templates or tools that you may
take time to develop on your own but
somebody else already has handy so you
can borrow or just steal their tool for
your own use but the best part is you
have a community of people who think the
same way about problems in a very
methodical in a very task oriented in a
very action-oriented and goal-oriented
way which is not typically true if
you're working across all other
disciplines all the time
hey again let's begin with two quick
questions what do you know about culture
and how do you define culture
when I hear the term culture the first
things that come to mind are things like
languages food clothing and types of
dress
it's important to note that there are
other maybe less obvious but just as
impactful parts of culture like beliefs
traditions and Customs when we learn
about someone's culture we gain a much
deeper insight and more complete picture
into who they are and how they navigate
the world
the same can be true for organizations
and organization's culture provides
context and acts as a guide for what
their people value how they operate on a
daily basis how they relate to one
another and how they can be expected to
perform there are many ways to Define
organizational culture some definitions
emphasize teamwork and Innovation While
others focus on attention to detail and
achievement entire thesis papers
workshops and conferences are dedicated
to defining and analyzing organizational
culture
we only have a few minutes here so I'll
do my best to sum it up organizational
culture is in part the values employees
share as well as the organization's
values Mission history and so on in
other words organizational culture can
be thought of as the company's
personality
understanding an organization's culture
will help you navigate your team more
effectively toward achieving the
Project's goal
it also impacts the way you plan your
project you'll need to be familiar with
an organization's culture so that you
can minimize conflict and complete the
project with as much support and Harmony
as possible an organization's Mission
and values can provide clues to its
culture if you can demonstrate how the
project supports the company's Mission
or how the project aligns with the
company's values you'll have more
support from Executives and stakeholders
to get the approvals and resources you
need pay attention to what leaders in
the organization value when conducting
business does the management team care
about speed over perfection
how do people within the organization
make decisions do they thoroughly
examine every option for every decision
this will help inform which values are
the most important to them and how you
can approach your decision making
if you're ever stuck in your project and
need guidance about making a certain
decision or are unsure how to
communicate with someone in the
organization
reviewing the mission and values may
help direct you toward the right way to
handle that situation
here's an example if the company values
stability and user feedback it might
encourage expanding the project timeline
to allow for testing and then making
decisions based on those testing results
if the company values Innovation and
revenue growth
it might encourage a shorter timeline to
get the product out faster and taking
some risks to try out new ideas
as a project manager when you understand
the different types of values and what
to prioritize you'll have an idea of how
you can better prepare for conversations
within the organization ideally you'll
want to have a good sense of an
organization's culture before you start
the first phase of your project
if you are interviewing for a project
management position asking about the
culture is a great way to get more
information about the company
it also shows the interviewer that
you're knowledgeable about the impact
culture can have on a project to help
you gain a better sense of an
organization's culture consider the
following questions
how do people prefer to communicate is
it primarily through scheduled meetings
via email over the phone how are
decisions made majority vote or top-down
approvals what kinds of rituals are in
place when someone new comes to the
office are they taken out to lunch given
a tour of the building or introduced to
the staff how are projects typically run
do they prefer classic do they prefer
Matrix or some other style of project
management and finally what kinds of
practices behaviors and values are
reflected by the people in the
organization
is overtime or weekend work and
expectation
are there companies sanctioned social
events
finding out what the company values will
tell you a lot about the culture and how
to handle communication manage
expectations and identify potential
conflicts as you work through your
project
once you begin working on a project here
are some ways to navigate company
culture that will help you get the most
out of your team and ensure that your
project is supported as I just discussed
make sure to ask questions
As You observe the culture try asking
your peers what they think is going well
and what they would change your peers
may have the same opinion as you and if
not you may learn something new you
didn't learn in the interview process
either way you'll be in a better place
to assess risk adjust your current
project or be more prepared for projects
in the future it's also a good idea to
make observations it's important to
understand how things work and what
people like and respect about the
company's culture when working in
different geographies it's also
important to be aware of established
Customs like bowing shaking hands or
wearing head coverings this will help
you gain understanding and form
respectful relationships lastly
it's important to understand your impact
be aware of your role as a change agent
a change agent is someone who helps the
organization transform by focusing on
improving organizational Effectiveness
and development
you and your project will most likely
affect the organization in some way
sometimes just the presence of a project
manager creates changes in the office
environment or employee Dynamics
if your project requires major changes
that the organization must adapt to
be mindful of how extreme those changes
could be and seek feedback and approval
early on the company may not agree with
certain kinds of changes that don't seem
to fall in line with their Mission
Vision or culture
it's important to recognize the limits
or boundaries of changes to implement
and understand what would be the most
beneficial for the project and the
company overall as you can see
organizational culture has a strong
influence over how decisions are made
about the project
the way an organization is structured
usually influence the type of culture
that exists so it's important to
consider both structure and culture when
planning and carrying out your project
coming up we'll talk about the way your
project can create change in the
workplace and how to get stakeholders
and employees on board with implementing
your project
[Music]
hi I'm Amar I'm a senior engineering
program manager at Google shopping and
on a day-to-day basis I drive programs
which spans across multiple products at
Google the way I look at program
management it's more like means life is
program management right everything in
life is programmed having kids building
a house buying car everything we do
there's a start and end kind of a deal
and what we see across the board in
anything and everything we do there's a
tremendous amount of like friction in
the system in the decision making in the
budgeting everything in life right and
that goes that applies equally to
software program management or even if
you are in a construction industry if
you see right from starting the
construction project to really getting
the beds and all this stuff right
there's a tremendous amount of chaos
from the perspective of that okay you
know what are the right people connected
or the right decision making people in
the uh in the meeting
are there right number of like approvals
that we have in a timely basis so there
are many of these things that I had
witnessed during my career and the
previous companies and even at Google
that those were not efficient and those
were really adding a huge risk or
exposing the risk late in the uh
development cycle and that is what kind
of I had seen as a chaotic world and I
really felt that you know what I can
really uh help out in solving some of
those Chaos on a day-to-day basis I work
on bringing order into chaos
this chaotic world out there in the
software program development so we as a
program manager make sure that we bring
that together when I started my program
management Journey one of the main thing
what I was looking for and thanks to the
mentors you know um I really cherish the
mentors one of the things they taught me
that you know what Amar when you're
coming to work every day ask what are
the top three challenges that you want
to solve today and to date I follow I
always follow
um the thing about what are the top
three things that I want to address
today big ones impactful ones as well as
I also look at and also help my team
understand on a weekly basis how success
looks like every Monday morning I'll
have meeting with strategic folks very
strategic discussions on how does
success looks like in this week how
would we Define the week is successful
and that is how I start my week it
worked miracles uh in the program
delivery and overall in life so I love
those aspects
foreign
welcome back let's talk about change
management
sometimes the deliverable of a project
is a new tool or new process that must
be adopted by the organization you've
just learned that understanding
organizational structure and culture
will help you plan for and manage your
project
it will also help you roll out changes
from your project to an organization in
project management the process of
delivering your completed project and
getting people to adopt it is called
change management
understanding change management can
ensure that a project is completed
successfully and that the organization
accepts and adopts the recommendations
from the project for example if you are
launching a new time tracking system for
employees the project wouldn't be
successful if the employees didn't adopt
the new system
when you understand change management
and your role in the process it can
ensure a smooth roll out of changes and
easier adoption adoption is often the
first step to your project having the
desired impact once it goes live so
let's get started
as a new project manager you may not be
responsible for planning all of the
required change management for your
project but regardless you can help the
success of the project by understanding
your role in the process and how your
organization May react to that change
it's important to recognize that it's
the people in an organization who are
directly impacted by any changes in the
workplace implementing a new project can
mean changes to processes budgets
schedules and employee roles and
responsibilities even aesthetic changes
like building a new Wing renovating the
lobby or switching to a new company logo
means employees will have to adjust to
something new and different something as
simple as adding a new logo can lead to
a major headache for the employees who
have to swap out all the old stationary
and make sure everyone in the office is
using the new logo correctly when you
consider the success of your project
it's important to keep in mind the
changes that people will need to
implement as a result
thinking through these changes will set
you up for success in getting your
project accepted and adopted there are
many change management models and
strategies and a quick internet search
will provide you with more explanations
and examples than you will probably ever
need
while we have additional readings on
change management coming up feel free to
read on any articles on the topic from
well-respected project management
organizations to keep learning though
there are lots of different models they
all share the same general concepts
change management in project management
is centered around three Core Concepts
and best practices the first core
concept is creating a sense of ownership
and urgency around the project ownership
means getting others to feel like they
are empowered to take responsibility for
the successful completion of their tasks
urgency means getting them to understand
that the project is important and to
identify what actions need to be taken
to move the project along
when team members feel a sense of
ownership and urgency around a project
it increases interest motivation and
engagement with the project outcome
another core concept is to figure out
the right combination of skills and
personalities When selecting the people
who will work on your team
find people whose Knowledge and Skills
complement one another if your team is
selected for you see if you're able to
choose who gets assigned which tasks and
if that's not possible then it's extra
important for you to find ways to
connect with your team this will get
them excited about the project so then
they can be advocates for change when
it's needed one effective way of
motivating your team is to communicate
clearly your vision and approach for the
project
then you can share how you see everyone
working together as a team to make it
happen
communicating this idea clearly allows
others to share in your vision and take
ownership in bringing it to life
the final core concept is that ever
important one effective communication
and I can't stress this enough
communication is key having effective
communication with your team means being
transparent and upfront with your plans
and ideas and making information
available
make sure your team along with the rest
of the organization is kept up to date
on your progress this will allow
everyone to feel like they are included
in part of the project
once your project is complete you may
experience some resistance or a few
roadblocks remember change doesn't
happen overnight so don't give up on it
yet if you do get some pushback you can
move the process Along by helping folks
adjust rewarding their efforts
and reminding them of the overall value
the project is providing long term
understanding the change process can
help you determine how you can support a
successful response to your project for
example
understanding the importance of
communication will help you be mindful
of clearly communicating project plans
to your team as well as communicating
the expected impact of the project with
the rest of the organization
remember learning about agile project
management well since it's a popular
methodology that you'll probably use at
some point I wanted to point out that
many of the principles of agile project
management align with successful change
management how might an agile team
approach change management you ask well
being receptive to change is a core
value in agile teams so you will often
find that they are in a state of
evolution or are constantly adapting to
change
if this seems like a lot to remember no
stress we'll continue learning more
about these Concepts throughout the
course just know as the project manager
you can enact effective change
management approaches in all of your
interactions
in the next video we'll discuss the
differences between managing and
participating in the process see you
soon
hey welcome back in the previous video
we talked about the process of change
management change management is actually
a huge undertaking and a project in
itself
as mentioned you may not always be
responsible for leading and planning the
entire end-to-end change management
process instead you may ask a member of
the project team your manager or another
senior leader to help take on that
transition if you are participating in
change management then someone else is
responsible for successfully
implementing the changes
let's say you've just completed the
project of creating the new check-in
system
the project is now at the point where it
needs to be installed and adopted by the
organization but you don't have the
formal Authority or influence to enact
this change your role as a project
manager then doesn't include getting
employees to use the new system that's
someone else's job but just because you
are not the one directly calling for or
leading the change there are still ways
in which you can and should participate
and that's what this section is about
the process of handing off the project
and the ways in which you as the project
manager who created the new system can
stay involved being empathetic to the
challenges of change management can help
you support the process in subtle ways
in this case participating in change
management might mean communicating with
employees throughout the project about
how the system will provide a better
experience for their customers
you support the process by providing
employees with information so they feel
prepared to adjust to changes once the
system is ready to launch since
participating in change management is
such a big part of being a successful
project manager
I want to take you through a few
examples so you can see how this might
play out in different types of
organizations you'll see how to combine
your knowledge of organizational
structure and culture to make decisions
about planning for the change management
process
let's explore the same Pharmacy check-in
project in two different organizational
structures and with different team
cultures to understand how these ideas
are applied
say the pharmacy chain is a classic
organizational structure and has an
informal corporate culture the final
project requires a name change from the
old check-in system called Speedy care
to the new system called Speedy check-in
getting this change implemented is an
example of change management
as the project manager you need to
participate in the change management
process by communicating the project
needs through the appropriate channels
in this case the chief executive officer
or CEO sends an email to the c-suite now
these are all the chief level officers
in an organization
the CEO lets them know that the name
must be changed and to please inform
their teams to implement the name change
since this is a classic structure within
a hierarchical organization the budgets
are managed separately
and the marketing department needs to
request an extra ten thousand dollars to
change all of their printed posters for
the stores
this request goes back up to the Chief
Financial Officer or CFO there may be
other cost adjustments and process
changes that need to happen across the
organization to ensure a successful
system name change in this instance you
may need to have multiple meetings with
others to help them understand what is
changing and why now suppose that the
pharmacy chain is a matrix organization
structure and has a formal corporate
culture what does change management look
like in this scenario
well you might meet with representatives
from marketing and Technology to explain
the overall budget impact for all the
necessary changes
with the formal culture you might write
a document that describes all budget
timeline and training impacted by the
name change
then you might circulate that document
to get feedback and Alignment from all
the stakeholders and share that feedback
with the CEO so they can understand the
full scope of the name change the
feedback and Alignment from the
stakeholders will tell the CEO how the
change management process went did
everyone agree on the implications was
the feedback positive or was there
resistance
then when the CEO needs to communicate
the name change to the entire
organization
she may have someone on her team write
up a formal memo that describes why the
name change needs to happen and share
out the memo to her staff and their
teams keep in mind these are just
examples and every organization's
structure team culture and change
management processes are going to be
different
but understanding this framework can
help you navigate how to effectively
participate in and support change
management this understanding can allow
you to ask yourself questions that will
inform change management such as how
will the organization react to change
which influencers can affect change
what are the best means of communication
what change management practices will
lead to the successful implementation of
my project and so on the answers to
these questions will help you prepare
for a variety of possible scenarios and
craft solutions to effectively support
the adoption of your project
they will also help you navigate
possible challenges along the way and
lead your project through a successful
change management process
I know this is a lot
but you're doing a great job we'll
continue to talk about these Concepts
throughout the course so no sweat if
you're still processing all this new
information see you in a bit
hi I'm Lon Harmon and I'm a program
management director here at Google
during my career Journey here I've
supported products like Google Maps and
Google Earth and I've had a ton of fun
creating maps for our users earlier in
my career I held many different roles
that were not project management jobs
busing tables at a chain restaurant
interning at the forest service and
working as a business analyst and I was
even a software engineer
my journey into project management has
not been the most straightforward but it
has been fulfilling
your career Journey will be a unique one
as well
once you complete the project management
program you'll have a new set of skills
and knowledge that hiring managers look
for in Project managers deciding what
you'd like to do with all that new
knowledge is an exciting prospect and
the great thing about project management
is that it's a life skill that's useful
at almost any organization
wherever your interests lie whether
that's gaming or biotech or something
totally different there's a good chance
that your desired industry needs project
managers
finding the right job takes effort
consistency and a little expert advice
to help you along the way and that's why
I'm here
throughout the program there will be a
collection of career-based videos
included to help you find your next
opportunity in project management
we'll cover some Basics such as building
a resume and interviewing
we'll also include additional tips for
creating an online professional presence
through sites like LinkedIn as well as
tips on communicating and interviewing
remotely
while you can find a lot of General job
search and Career Information online the
purpose of these videos is to give you
insight into specific industry relevant
information as it relates to project
management in addition to what you have
already learned about searching for
these types of roles I'll offer some of
my own tips and best practices on how to
take it a step further to help you
navigate through the job search process
Breeze through the interview and land
your next opportunity sounds exciting
right enjoy the rest of the content and
I'll see you soon
congratulations on completing course one
foundations of project management you're
off to a strong start you've just
learned a lot of new information and
you're already starting to apply that
knowledge to the field of project
management so let's do a quick recap in
this course you learned what project
management is along with the role and
value of a project manager next you
learn the life cycle of a project and
the tasks to manage a project from start
to finish then you learned about
different project management
methodologies and tips for choosing the
right method for your project you also
learn how creating simple team
connections can lead to a successful
project outcome
lastly you learned how organizational
structure and culture can impact your
project these topics provide the
foundation for beginning any new project
and you now have the knowledge and tools
to build informed plans and set up your
projects for Success after all that's
why we created this specialization to
give you the Newbie project manager the
tools you need to confidently move
forward with your career this is just
the beginning keep at it and you'll have
more opportunities to put your learning
in action and develop the skills and
mindset you need to manage lots of types
of projects the skills you've learned so
far give you a big picture view of
project management you'll use these
skills to focus your learning for the
next course where you'll start creating
analyzing and making decisions about
project plans all on your own
in the next course we're going to kick
off the Project Life Cycle and break
down all you need to know and do to get
a project off to a great start it's time
for me to say so long it's been a blast
being your guide to project management
and sharing my passion for projects and
people with you best of luck and maybe
I'll see you on a project someday
hi there welcome this course is all
about initiating a project successfully
if you haven't gone through our
foundational course yet we recommend
checking it out it covers the
foundations of project management and
contains lots of helpful information for
anyone wanting to start a career in this
field there are lots of people around
the world like you who are hoping to
learn the skills to get a project
management role
maybe you prefer to take a specialized
certification rather than a four-year
degree
maybe you're looking for an affordable
way to Stand Out Among competition
maybe you're interested in changing your
career
whatever your reason for being here we
are glad you've joined us
this program is rooted in the belief
that a strong foundation in project
management can help anyone start a great
career as a project manager
before we begin this course let me
introduce myself
my name is Joanne and I'll be your
instructor for this course
as a senior program manager at Google
for the past eight years I have worked
on cross-functional projects involving
product managers software Engineers user
experience designers network operations
customer support and more to build
software used at Google and use by
Google Cloud customers
I began my career working as a liaison
between customers and engineers
documenting requirements on software
development projects
as it became involved in larger projects
I started to manage the timelines of the
projects and coordinate the work of the
different teams that had to get involved
to finish the project
before I knew it I was the de facto
project manager
I have accumulated my knowledge through
formal and informal training finding
practical application and finance
insurance and tech companies I'm super
excited to be sharing with you more
about the project management discipline
during this course you'll learn all the
steps for kicking off a project
we'll start with an overview of
initiation which is the phase that
allows ideas to come together and form
the beginnings of a plan for a project
you'll identify the individual
components of initiation like the
project scope goals and deliverables
you'll also learn how to measure the
success of a project
this is a super important piece of the
puzzle
after all you want to be able to meet or
exceed all of the requirements for a
successful project right
later we'll talk about how to identify
stakeholders
stakeholders have a direct interest in
the Project's completion and success
we'll teach you about some really
helpful tools you can use to define
project rules and responsibilities and
more tools and resources you typically
need to complete the work of a project
finally we'll introduce documentation
that can help your team prepare for
project kickoff exciting right
the skills you learn in this course will
help you start projects of your own we
can't wait to get into these topics with
you so let's get started meet me in the
next video
welcome back in the last course you
learned that initiation is the first
phase within the Project Life Cycle
followed by planning executing and
closing
makes sense right
regardless of your chosen methodology
all projects have to start somewhere
let's talk more about initiation and why
it's important for the success of a
project
because initiation is the first phase of
the project it's really important to get
it right
a well-planned initiation results in a
strong foundation for your project and
sets it up for success
initiation begins after a problem or
opportunity has been identified within
an organization
often stakeholders like senior leaders
at a company will initiate a project to
address a specific need for the business
for example perhaps the company would
like to roll out a new product improve
employee well-being or reduce costs in a
certain Department
it's your responsibility as the project
manager to help identify the project
goals resources and other details based
on initial discussions with the project
stakeholders even though someone else
might come up with an idea for the
project it's still your job to figure
out all the important pieces that need
to come together in order to get the
work done
the initiation phase is a crucial time
for asking stakeholders to write
questions
performing research determining
resources and clearly documenting the
key components of a project
doing this will help you solidify the
scope or the boundary of the project
if this seems a bit overwhelming don't
worry we'll talk more about project
scope later on in this course
if the project isn't initiated properly
things can go wrong pretty fast
for example without sufficient
understanding of the Project's goals you
might underestimate what resources you
need or how long the project might take
or without agreeing with stakeholders on
what success looks like you might think
the project was completed successfully
while the stakeholders might think it
didn't accomplish their goals getting on
the same page and gaining Clarity during
the initiation phase can save a lot of
time and extra work for everyone
throughout the project
proper initiation also helps ensure that
the benefits of the project outcomes
will outweigh the costs of the project
to determine this you do what's called a
cost benefit analysis
which is the process of adding up the
expected value of a project the benefits
and comparing them to the dollar cost
to do this you will work with
stakeholders to consider a few questions
to determine the benefits of a project
those questions might include
what value will this project create
how much money could this project save
our organization
how much money will it bring in from
existing customers
how much time will be saved
how will the user experience be improved
and to determine the costs of a project
those questions might include
how much time will people have to spend
on this project
what will be the one-time costs
are there any ongoing costs
what about long-term costs
the benefits of a project should always
outweigh the costs so it's really
important that you consider these
questions early on
coming up we'll talk more about the
initiation phase and explore the key
components of initiating a project
bye for now
hello and welcome back you just learned
about the initiation phase of the
Project Life Cycle and why it's so
important to get it right
next I'll teach you about the key
components that make up initiation and
how these pieces lead to the planning
phase of a project there are several key
components of initiation that you need
to consider in order for your project to
be successful
goals scope deliverables success
criteria stakeholders and resources
first you need to consider the goals of
a project
the goal is what you've been asked to do
and what you're trying to achieve
all projects should have clear goals and
often those will be determined by senior
company Leaders with your help from
there you will begin to consider the
Project's scope this is the process to
define the work that needs to happen to
complete the project
you also need to think about project
deliverables there are products and
services that you will create for your
customer client or project sponsor
deliverables can be anything from
product features and functionalities to
documentation processes and more
anything that enables the goal of your
project to be achieved
deliverables are submitted to help you
reach your project goals
also it's important to keep in mind that
deliverables can be tangible or
intangible
an example of a tangible deliverable
might be submitting a chapter of a
manuscript if the goal is to publish a
textbook
or if your project goal is to finish
implementation of a new point of sale
software at a retail store scheduling
staff training sessions could be an
intangible deliverable
once the goals scope and deliverables
are determined you need to consider
success criteria
success criteria are the standards by
which you measure how successful a
project was in reaching its goals
another important consideration is your
stakeholders
stakeholders are key to making informed
decisions at every step of the project
including the initiation phase
they're the people who both have an
interest in and are affected by the
completion and success of a project
as a result they're often instrumental
in determining the goals objectives
deliverables and success criteria of a
project from coming up with the idea to
outlining the expectations of its
results
As you move through the initiation phase
it's your job to ensure that you
understand the needs of the project
stakeholders early on
it's also your role to ensure that all
stakeholders are in agreement on the
goals and overall mission of the project
before moving on to the next phase now
let's talk about resources
resources generally refer to the budget
people materials and other items that
you'll have at your disposal
it's super important to think carefully
about these pieces early on
no one wants to get started on a project
only to realize halfway through that
they don't have enough money or enough
people to complete the work that would
be a mess finally once you've
established your goals scope
deliverables success criteria
stakeholders and resources it's time to
create a project Charter
project Charter is a document that
contains all the details of a project
Charters clearly Define the project and
its goals and outline what is needed to
accomplish them
a project Charter allows you to get
organized set up a framework for what
needs to be done and communicate those
details to others
once you've drafted the charter you
would then review the document with key
stakeholders to get their approval to
move into the planning stage
coming up you'll learn more about
project Charters and even get the chance
to create one yourself hopefully you're
starting to see how the key components
of initiation help lay the foundation of
a solid project to quickly recap you
gather information about your goals
scope deliverables success criteria
stakeholders and resources
and you document that information in the
project Charter during the rest of this
course we'll talk more about each of the
components outlined so far
you've come so far and learned so much
keep up the great work
hi my name is Jeff Sheen I'm the
director of core capacity at Google
where we support some of our key
products such as Google Maps Google
photos Google search and many more
ultimately what we're doing is we're
managing the supply and demand for our
products in the resource space so
specifically compute
storage machine learning and networking
resources ultimately our goal is to
provide the fuel for these products so
we can support our billions of users I
often look at establishing the project
goals and tied to the goals is
discussing the criteria what's a
successful project whether measurables
involved in the project space
and then lastly I always want to look at
the
stakeholders that are involved maybe our
clients our key stakeholders and so on
and make sure that they're thought of
during the formation of the project I'm
meeting with the stakeholders I'm trying
to understand what they're trying to
achieve what we're trying to achieve and
the goal if you will is a critical
aspect of setting the scope when I'm
trying to set the goals of a project I
apply very in-depth active listening I'm
doing a lot of
socializing with of a stakeholders I'm
meeting a lot of players to understand
what's the landscape like I really am
it's an active listening experience so I
have a recent example of a project
that in my view did not do the proper
initiation phase uh last week in fact a
group approached me with a
process or feature that they were going
to launch I reviewed it and immediately
realized that they were they were so far
off
they had not discussed the topic with
any of my team members or myself and
they were
day minus one from launching the feature
as a total Miss and it really
illustrates the point about when you
initiate a project you can't invest
enough time in meeting with stakeholders
meeting with your your colleagues
you know listening to them actively
listening someone uh taught me recently
the value of of building that listening
to learn muscle
and to in the project initiation phase
to me that is such a valuable Talent
there are those that have it there are
those that haven't learned it another
those they'll never do it and I believe
it's a it's a training trainable skill
but it requires you to really slow down
and look at the landscape in front of
you foreign
nice work you're on your way to becoming
a great candidate for roles in project
management we're so glad you've stuck
with us and we hope you're proud of the
progress you've made so far
in the last few videos we've given you a
primer on kicking off a project
successfully
to recap you learn more about initiation
the first phase of the Project Life
Cycle
hopefully you're starting to see how
important this phase is for the overall
health of a project
as we talked about earlier a lack of
preparation during the initiation stage
can lead to problems later on in the
Project Life Cycle like a budget
shortage a misdead line or too few
teammates to complete the work
but with early planning you can set your
team up for success
we also introduce you to the major
factors you should consider during the
initiation phase including goals scope
deliverables success criteria
stakeholders and resources
all of these come together in the early
plans for our project and are documented
in a project Charter
now that you understand the basic
elements of initiation let's dive deeper
next up we'll talk about identifying
goals and deliverables and learn more
about measurement and success criteria
you're doing great and we'll see you
soon
[Music]
welcome back by now you should have a
better sense of how the different parts
of the initiation come together to form
the beginnings of a project
so far you've outlined the key
components of project initiation and
most importantly you've learned that a
lack of preparation during the stage can
lead to problems later on
we're going to continue honing your
project preparation skills
once we're done here you'll be able to
Define and create project goals and
deliver goals guiding stars of your
project you'll also be able to Define
project scope the boundaries of your
project that state what is and is not
part of your project you'll be able to
identify what's in scope and out of
scope for a project and you'll be able
to recognize scope creep something
you'll need to keep a close eye on to
help you reach your project goal finally
you'll be able to explain different ways
of defining and measuring your Project's
success criteria before we get started
I'd like to talk through an example that
will follow for the rest of this course
imagine that you're the lead project
manager at off the screen a commercial
landscaping company that specializes in
plant decor for offices and other
businesses the director of product at
office screen has an idea for a new
service called plant Pals
to offer high volume customers small low
maintenance plans like little cacti
leafy ferns for their desks as the
project manager you've been tasked with
managing the rollout of this new service
as we go through this course we'll
return to your role as the project
manager at office screen to help teach
you about project goals deliverables and
success criteria you'll also see the
role your team and stakeholders play in
creating and following these three
important components
at the end you compile everything you've
learned into a shared document that you
can use as a portfolio to share with
future employers after this course move
on to the next phases of the Project
Life Cycle and so will your office Green
project
enjoy
welcome back in this video I'll Define
project goals and deliverables and
explain why they're important then I'll
teach you how to determine whether a
goal or deliverable has been well
defined which means it's got enough
detail and information to guide you
towards success
first things first to set up a project
for success and to make your job easier
you want to figure out what needs to be
done before you actually get started
you need to Define exactly what your
goals and deliverables are so that
you'll be able to tell your team members
what to do
you need a clear picture of what you're
trying to accomplish how you're going to
accomplish it and how you know when it
has been accomplished let's define
project goal so that you can start to
figure out what your project team needs
to reach it
the project goal is the desired outcome
of the project
it's what you've been asked to do and
what you're trying to achieve
for example your goal could be to
improve the response time to customer
inquiries via email by 20 percent
the goal of your office screen project
might be to increase Revenue by five
percent through a new service called
plant Pals that offers desk plans to top
customers by the end of the year goals
are important because they give you a
roadmap to your destination
without a clear goal in mind how can you
know where to go or how to get there now
one of the biggest differences between
what makes a good goal and a not so good
goal is how well it's defined meaning
how clear and specific is the goal if
the goal is your destination are you
confident you'll know when you've
arrived the examples I mentioned before
to improve the response time to customer
increase via email by 20 percent
and to increase the office screen
Revenue by five percent or two
well-defined goals because they tell you
what you're trying to achieve but wait
there's more
these goals also tell you how to do what
you've been asked to do
in this case it's via email and through
a new service offering
and that's not all these goals clarify
the goal even further by saying to
improve by 20 and increase by five
percent
now we know where we're going
well-defined goals are both specific and
measurable they give you a clear sense
of what you are trying to accomplish
really great goals have even more detail
but I'll get to that soon when you start
a project take time to review your goals
and make sure they're well defined
to do this you might need to get more
information from your stakeholders
talk to them about their vision for the
project
ask how this aligns to the company's
larger goals and Mission
by the end of that conversation you and
your stakeholders should agree to
support the project goals in order to
avoid running into issues later on
here's an example from my own experience
as a project manager our team had
finished a new product feature
our stated goal was to deliver an early
version of this feature and collect user
feedback when we deliver the feature to
one of our key customers for user
feedback the customer didn't have anyone
available to try it out
our team debated whether or not we had
met the goal if we hadn't collected user
feedback some felt that we hadn't
achieved the stated goal While others
thought we did
the customer was satisfied with our
team's ability to deliver a feature in
the timeline stated but our internal
team wasted valuable time going back and
forth about it
that said make sure that before you
start your project you your stakeholders
and your team are all clear on the
project goals so that you know you're
making the right kind of progress
I'll teach you a process for how to do
this coming up
once you have the goals nailed down it's
time to examine the project deliverables
project deliverables are the products or
services that are created for the
customer client or project sponsor
in other words but deliverable is what
gets produced or presented at the end of
a task event or process take the goal to
improve customer response time
a deliverable for that goal could be the
creation of email templates for
responding to typical questions
your office screen project goal to
increase revenues could have these two
deliverables launching the plant service
and a finished website that highlights
the new kinds of plants being offered
these are considered deliverables
because they describe tangible outputs
that show stakeholders how additional
revenues will be generated there are all
sorts of project deliverable examples
a pretty common one is a report
when a goal is reached you can visibly
see the results documented in a chart
graph or presentation
deliverables help us quantify and
realize the impact of the project
just like meeting well-defined goals you
need well-defined deliverables for
pretty much the same reasons
deliverables are usually decided up
front with the stakeholders or clients
involved in the project
they hold everyone accountable and are
typically a big part of achieving the
goal make sure to ask questions about
what the deliverable should be and have
everyone share their vision and
expectations of the deliverables so that
you're all on the same page
coming up you practice the art of
defining your goals even further
following the smart method enjoy
welcome back by now you know that goals
are important to the success
hi there so far you've been learning to
Define and create measurable project
goals and deliverables
as you broaden your understanding of
project management and the different
tools available to help you succeed I
want to teach you about a popular tool
used in many organizations and here at
Google
objectives and key results or okrs
in this video I'll discuss what okrs are
how they are used by organizations
and how they help Focus A team's time
and effort on activities that drive
success
you've just learned about and practiced
a smart method for defining project
goals
like the smart method okrs help
establish and clarify goals or
objectives for an organization
Department project or person
okrs take smart goals a step further by
combining a goal and more detailed
metrics to determine a measurable
outcome
they not only state clearly what the
goal is
they provide specific details that allow
you to measure the success of the goal
one way to think about okrs is that they
separate the different components of
smart goal and clarify them even further
rather than grouping everything into one
statement
let's break this down
the O stands for objective and defines
what needs to be achieved
it describes a desired result or outcome
such as an increase in customer
retention or an improvement in the
employee onboarding process
KR stands for key results
these are the measurable outcomes that
Define when the objective has been met
for example
if your objective is to improve customer
retention then the key result might be
to have 90 percent customer satisfaction
rating by the end of the first quarter
recall that one of the smart criteria is
attainability
which means it's practical to achieve
the goal
key results however should be a little
more ambitious
here at Google we actually use okrs to
set stretch goals as a way to challenge
ourselves to do something we haven't
accomplished before
if we actually accomplish all of our key
results we may have made our okrs a bit
too easy
let's review quickly objectives Define
what needs to be achieved and describe a
desired outcome
key results Define how you'll know
whether or not you've met your objective
so how do okrs work in practice
and how do you use them to manage a
project
organizations often set okrs at
different levels such as the company
level department or Team level and
project level
company level okrs are commonly shared
across an organization so that everyone
is clear on the company's goals
they are usually updated on an annual
basis to help Drive the organization in
the direction it wants to go
these high-level okrs support the
mission of the organization project
level okrs should support and be aligned
with company level okrs
an example of a company level objective
at office screen is increase customer
retention by adapting to the changing
workplace environment
this is a big big aspirational goal that
applies to the entire company and all of
its endeavors
in order to focus their efforts to reach
this objective office Reading might
develop key results that include 95
percent of phone chat and email customer
support tickets are resolved during the
first Contact
top three most requested new offerings
for distributed office environments are
in Pilot by the end of the second
quarter
and sales and support channels are
available 24 7 by the end of the year
some of these company level key results
could become the basis for projects for
example the key result top three most
requested new offerings for distributed
office environments are in Pilot by the
end of the second quarter could become
the plant Pals project
team or Department level okrs support
the company's broader okrs and help
Drive team performance
apartments May develop okrs that are
more specific to their job function as
well
for example the company level key result
sales and support channels are available
24 7 by the end of the year
could lead to a related sales department
objective like increase the sales team
presence Nationwide and the key result
new sales offices are open in 10 cities
by the end of the year
project level okrs are set during the
initiation phase to help Define
measurable project goals
their track throughout the planning and
execution stages to measure project
success
project level okrs need to align with
and support both company and Department
level okrs
for example
in order to align with office screen's
company-wide objective to increase
customer retention by adapting to the
changing workplace environment
a project objective for plant Pals might
be to enroll existing customers in the
plant pal service
a key result for this objective might be
25 percent of existing customers sign up
for the plant Pals pilot
let's recap
okr stands for objectives and key
results
they combine a goal and a metric to
determine a measurable outcome
objectives Define what needs to be
achieved and describe a desired outcome
key results Define how you will measure
the outcome of your objective
company level okrs are shared across an
organization so that everyone can align
and focus their efforts to help the
company reach its goals
project level okrs help Define
measurable project goals
they need to align with and support both
company and Department level okrs
great now that you have a better idea of
what okrs are and how they function you
can practice creating okrs on your own
welcome back project scope is a really
important concept that I want to tell
you about
you'll hear it come up time and time
again throughout each phase of the
Project Life Cycle
in fact you may even find yourself
defending it so let's get acquainted
with scope in this video you will learn
how to define and determine scope simply
put your project scope includes the
boundaries of a project
the way we Define it at Google is an
agreed upon understanding as to what is
included or excluded from a project
scope helps ensure that your project is
clearly defined and mapped out
that means knowing exactly who the
project will be delivered to and who
will be using the end result of the
project
you also need a firm understanding of
the Project's complexity
is it straightforward with an easily
manageable list of tasks or will it
require extensive research multiple
rounds of approvals and a large-scale
production process that will take years
to complete
scope also includes the project timeline
budget and resources
you'll need to clearly Define these so
that you can make sure you're working
within those boundaries and what's
actually possible for the project to
work
poorly defined scope or major changes to
your scope can cause changes to the
budget timeline or even final outcome of
the project
let's look at the scope of your office
screen project as an example
as a reminder the new plant Pals service
offers customers small load maintenance
plans like cacti and leafy ferns that
they can place on their desks customers
can order them online or from a print
catalog an office screen will ship the
plants straight to the customer's work
address
things to consider for your scope then
might be whether or not to provide
replacement plans which customer
segments will be offered the service
whether or not the online catalog is an
app a website or both
and how to ensure customers can purchase
from the online catalog whether by phone
PC Mac iPhone or Android
you might also consider the dimensions
of the paper catalog and whether it
needs to be in color or black and white
and on what kind of paper
now how do you actually figure out the
scope of your project
it's simple
talk to your sponsors and stakeholders
understand what their goals are and find
out what is and this is really important
what is not included in the project
we've covered a number of different ways
to help you determine scope
here are a few more helpful questions to
add to the list
where did the project come from why is
it needed
what is the project expected to achieve
what does the project sponsor have in
mind
who approves the final results
now you really be set
as for timing defining project scope
should happen during the initial
planning stage
you want to start figuring out the scope
early on so that everyone can agree to
the same set of expectations
it will help mitigate the risk of big
changes down the line although you can
always adjust the scope as planning
continues if you need to
once you understand your Project's scope
you want to document all the details so
that anyone can refer back to it
throughout the life cycle of the project
we'll talk about some best practices for
that at the end of this module
let's recap
a clearly defined scope describes all
the details of a project and regulates
what can be added or removed as it
progresses
while it's ultimately the project
manager's responsibility to monitor the
project and make sure all the work and
resources fall within its scope
team members and stakeholders can be
encouraged to do their part by focusing
on the tasks that are the most important
to reaching the Project's goal the next
video talks about the concepts of in
scope and out of scope
and the phenomenon called scope creep
all three will help with ensuring your
project stays on track and within budget
stay tuned
hi there as you now know an important
part of project management is keeping an
eye on your Project's scope and knowing
which tasks are truly part of the plan
and which aren't
tasks that are included in the project
and contribute to the Project's overall
goal are considered to be in scope
tasks that aren't included are called
out of scope
it's your job as a project manager to
set and maintain firm boundaries for
your project so that your team can stay
on track
for example if the copywriters or
designers of the plant Pals catalog came
up with the idea to expand the type of
plants being offered to top customers
you would have to point out that their
suggestion is out of scope and would
take extra time and add to your budget
costs
as you progress through the Project Life
Cycle you're going to encounter
unexpected challenges or have new
details or ideas brought to your
attention that could impact your
Project's success
changes growth and uncontrolled factors
that affect a project scope at any point
after the project begins or referred to
as scope creep
scope creep as a common problem and it's
not always easy to control
it's one that we struggle with on every
single project
it can happen on any project in any
industry
imagine you're working in a tech company
and your project involves working with
designers and Engineers to update the
language icons design on a mobile
keyboard app for a smartphone while the
team is making the update they realize
that the search icon and the voice input
icon also need a design refresh these
are very small features and while
technically not in scope the team feels
it would take minimal effort and provide
lots of value so they go ahead and make
the updates
during a stakeholder review it's pointed
out that there is a keyboard in English
but no keyboards for other languages and
the suggestion is made to design
additional keyboards
at this point the project scope is in
danger of expanding from a fairly simple
icon update to a complex rollout of
multiple keyboard layouts
adding the keyboards would impact the
team's timelines causing the project to
take longer to finish it would also
impact resourcing because you would need
to hire more people or existing team
members would have to work overtime
and it would increase the budget since
the team did not anticipate costs for
extra working hours or keyboard
translations
this is just one example of scope creep
sometimes it's subtle just design one or
two more icons or more obvious hey can
you tack on designing keyboards for
other languages
by identifying scope creep and being
proactive you protect your project and
your project team
to help you combat scope creep it's good
to know that there are two major sources
from which it comes external and
internal external sources of scope creep
are easier to recognize
for example if you're working on a
project with one main customer
the customer might request changes
or the business environment around you
might shift or the underlying technology
you're using might change
while you can't control everything that
happens there are some useful tips to
keep in mind
first make sure the stakeholders have
visibility into the project
you want them to know the details of
what's going to be produced what
resources are required how much it will
cost and how much time it'll take
also get clarity on the requirements and
ask for constructive criticism of the
initial product proposal
it's important to get this information
before any contracts are signed be sure
to set ground rules and expectations for
stakeholder involvement once the project
gets started
come to an agreement on each of your
roles and responsibilities during
execution and Status reviews
once you're clear on the project scope
come up with a plan for how to deal with
out of scope requests
agree on who can make formal change
requests and how those requests will be
evaluated accepted and performed
and finally be sure to get these
agreements in writing this way you
always have a documentation to point to
if you a stakeholder or the customer
have a disagreement down the line one of
the leading causes of external scope
creep is not being clear on the
requirements before defining the scope
and getting formal approval to move
forward with the project
this is where those specific
immeasurable goals and deliverables come
into play
if the requirements aren't specific and
if you haven't agreed on the Project's
processes deliverables and Milestones
then you're almost guaranteed to be
dealing with scope creep once the
project begins internal sources of scope
creep are trickier to spot and harder to
control
this kind of creep comes from members of
the project team who suggest or even
insists on process or product changes or
improvements
it's possible that a product developer
will justify a decision on the grounds
of making the product better
even though it's going to cost more
or a team lead might decide that a
certain process is more efficient
without realizing the impact the change
in process will have on other team
members tasked with different parts of
the project
what you need to make clearer to your
team is that any change outside of the
project scope comes off the bottom line
threatens the schedule and increases
risk
there are no small impacts to project
scope
anytime a team member takes on an
unplanned task Moore is lost than just
the time spent working on that task it's
your responsibility as the project
manager to maintain the limits of the
project
the best defense is to know the details
of your project in and out so you always
prepared with the most appropriate
response to a new idea or request let's
recap
monitor your project scope and protect
it at all costs even the most minor
change can be major risks to your
Project's success coming up I'll tell
you about the triple constraint model
and how you can use it to help determine
how your project changes affects scope
stay tuned
hi and welcome back in this video we're
going to talk about managing project
scope
managing scope goes hand in hand with
goal setting for example redefining the
scope can change the goal and a revision
of the goal can change the scope the
concept of project scope is important
throughout the project while your
project will have its own specific goals
the overall goal for you as the project
manager is to deliver the project
according to the scope agreements this
includes delivering the project within
the given deadline and the approved
budget
you'll quickly find that this is easier
said than done as you progress through
your project you will continually need
to make compromises and weigh trade-offs
as new challenges and changes and
factors present themselves anytime a
team member takes on an unplanned task
more is lost than just the time spent
working on that task
in order to decide if a scope change is
acceptable and what impact it will have
project managers usually refer to the
triple constraint model the triple
constraint model is the combination of
the three most significant restrictions
of any project
scope time and cost we've talked a bit
about what scope is so let's focus now
on time and cost
time refers to the project schedule and
deadlines cost includes the budget and
it also covers resources and the people
who will work on the project
both time and budget have to be
carefully managed alongside scope all
three of these are linked
you can change one without having an
impact on the others
for example
a decrease in cost means a change in
time or scope
an increase in time means a change in
scope or cost or both
understanding how changing one impacts
the other two constraints is key it's
important to consider what trade-offs
you're willing to make as the project
progresses to do this successfully you
need a clear understanding of the
project priorities
you have to know what is most important
when it comes to scope time and cost
if there's a specific deadline that must
be met then you'll need to limit any
changes to the scope that might cause
the project to go past the deadline
If the product must look or function in
a certain way
then the requirements are a priority and
you could justify changes in costs or
time in order to meet the scope
requirements but just because you can
make a change that doesn't mean you
necessarily should make a change
and even though the limits of scope time
and costs have been set you can still
make changes if there's a good reason to
do so
don't worry you won't have to decide on
these changes all by yourself
if there are scope decisions that need
to be made the project manager will
likely need to consult with the project
sponsor and stakeholders to get their
approvals let's go through a few
scenarios so you can get familiar with
weighing the value of a trade-off and
understanding the impacts of any changes
in the first scenario a request has been
made to improve the plant Pal's product
features
the director of Prada at office Green
wants to use pots that indicate when the
plants need to be watered
making changes to the product is a scope
change
you know that you can't change the
budget but you can extend the timeline
so you can accept the scope change
request and extend the timeline as long
as the budget doesn't increase
here's another possible scenario
a request has been made to reduce the
budget without making any changes to the
scope the final outcome of plant Pals
still needs to look and function as you
all originally agreed
if you're going to reduce the budget and
keep the scope you may need to extend
the timeline okay here's another
scenario
there's a request to tighten up the
timeline and finish early but you can't
increase the budget
in order to do this you need to make
changes to the scope like limiting
shipping options
doing this will give your project more
time because you'll have one less
shipping contract to negotiate
the end result won't be exactly what was
originally agreed on but it means
getting it out earlier as requested and
within budget
let's try one more
in this last scenario the director of
product informs you that the project
deadline must be met it's the most
important thing in this case your
stakeholders are willing to increase the
budget and make any necessary changes to
the scope requirements in order to meet
the deadline in the end it's all about
prioritizing which element of the
triangle matters the most in the project
are you getting the hang of trade-offs
keeping in mind scope time and costs as
you manage a project will help you
navigate different conditions while
still achieving your goals
remember
change is inevitable when managing
projects
and understanding this framework
can set you up to plan and communicate
accordingly so your project will secede
when you understand the triple
constraint model you'll have the tools
to evaluate scope changes understanding
how changes will be evaluated accepted
and performed is key to scope management
don't worry if you still have questions
we'll be sure to talk more about this
concept and course 4.
up next we'll talk more about
successfully launching and Landing your
project
see you soon
[Music]
hi I'm Tori and I'm an education program
manager at Google
specifically I work on our digital
literacy curriculum called apply digital
skills that helps Learners of all ages
learn the Practical digital skills
needed for the jobs of today and
tomorrow so scope is important because
if you have a well-defined scope in the
beginning of a project it'll help make
sure that your team members your
stakeholders are all aligned and on the
same page right from the start and you
can avoid any issues down the line that
may come up that you might not have been
aware of some challenges of staying
within scrope could be what we like to
call scope creep and these things can
happen if for example you have some
stakeholders that have some certain
needs desires or requests that may
actually end up changing the scope scope
creep is when the scope changes after
you've already started the project
and this can be really challenging to
manage if you don't keep an eye on it
from the beginning I was recently
working on a project where we were
hoping to actually reach underserved
communities with our digital literacy
curriculum and the initial project
Scopes started off focusing on middle
and high school students but at some
point down the line after the project
started there were some stakeholders who
actually wanted to expand the audience
to adult Learners and so we had some
trouble trying to figure out how we were
going to manage that were we going to
change the scope were we going to keep
it the same and ultimately we decided to
keep the scope the same and referenced
back to our original goal in the
beginning because if you think about it
changing the audience would make the
project goals and our strategies for
reaching those audiences drastically
different so ultimately we ended up
keeping the scope and communicating that
to our stakeholders some best practices
for managing scope is just make sure you
document everything in the beginning and
share it with all of your state
stakeholders and team members and make
sure everybody's in agreement on that
scope
there are times where the scope may need
to change and that's okay but you have
to be able to make sure that you can
also change in a potentially change your
timeline your resources or even the
budget to accommodate that scope change
welcome back at this point you've
learned a bit about setting smart goals
along with defining and managing the
scope
it may be tempting to think that you're
ready to kick off this project with
these two important pieces but there is
one common element that ensures you'll
achieve these goals within scope and
that key element is knowing when your
project is delivered and you can call it
a success
many people think the time to decide if
a project is successful is when you've
produced the final outcome and presented
it to the client
that's getting close delivering the
final result of your project to the
client or User it's what's called a
project launch
you finish building or creating a
project the tasks are completed and the
deliverables are done you've hit your
goal the project is successful and
consider complete in that sense
but does it work well
did it achieve your desired outcome
the real deciding factor of project
success is when you put the final
outcome to the test
Landing is when you actually measure the
success of your project using the
success criteria established at the
outset of the project
this is a crucial part of goal setting
that is often overlooked in the
initiation phase
for example
think about taking a trip on an airplane
it's not enough for the pilot to be able
to get the plane off the ground
to arrive safely at your destination
they've got to know how to land
your success has to continue beyond the
point of delivering the final project
you need to be able to measure whether
the project functions as intended once
it's put into practice
let's take the example of your project
plant Pals
you've managed to launch the new service
with success the website has launched
the catalogs have been printed and
delivered orders have been received and
revenue is starting to go up
it will be easy to call this a win and
move on
but what happens if the customers are
unhappy once the plants are delivered
what if the plants start to wilt and
discolor after a couple of weeks
just because launching the project and
getting it out the door looks like
success on paper
that doesn't mean the project has
managed to land for most projects a
launch itself isn't a meaningful measure
of success
it's what comes after the launch that
really counts launches are only a means
to an end and looking beyond the launch
it's important to ensure the launch
achieves your overall goals
if you start off looking beyond the
launch to The Landing
you're more likely to get where you're
trying to go
since Landing is a concept and not a
finite definition
it's important to Define what a
successful Landing looks like for a
particular project
luckily we have a way to measure and
help you ensure the success of your
project
it's called success criteria
and if you can manage to follow it
through the life cycle of your project
you'll ultimately have a smooth Landing
the success criteria includes all the
specific details of your goals and
deliverables
and it can be a guide so you know
whether you've accomplished what you set
out to do
success criteria will set the standards
for how your project will be judged
in the next video I'll outline what you
need to know about defining success
criteria and communicating project
success
see you in a bit
hello again we've learned about the
differences between launching and
landing and we've also learned about the
differences between delivering your
project and finding out if the outcome
performs as expected
but how exactly do you know that your
project is a success
how do you know if you've actually
landed
at the beginning of the project you
define goals and deliverables that are
measurable
meaning that you can determine if they
were met
similarly you need to define success
criteria that can also be measured
so you'll know whether they were met
the success criteria will tell you
whether or not the project as a whole
was successful
they are the specific details of your
goals and deliverables that tell you
whether you've accomplished what you set
out to do
they are the standards by which the
project will be judged once it's been
delivered to stakeholders and customers
defining success criteria also clarifies
for your team what they're trying to
accomplish Beyond just launching
something to users
is it to increase customer satisfaction
with the service so they can continue to
purchase more products
enhance an existing feature to retain
customers
depending on the project the answers
will be different
but it's important that a team is
aligned and working towards a shared
goal
sometimes forcing the conversation and
clarifying what the end result looks
like can bring to like questions and
areas of disagreement
there isn't a set process for
determining success criteria but I'll
break down a couple of key points to
consider
remember the measurable part of your
smart goals
one of the questions to ask when making
your goals measurable is how will I know
when it is accomplished
the same question applies to your
project
how will you know when it's done
only in this case you want to ask how
will I know when it's successfully
accomplished
you can measure to determine your
project success in a similar way to
measuring a goal
so go through your project goals and
deliverables review the scope and
identify the measurable aspects of your
project
these are going to be any of the metrics
used in the goals and deliverables along
with your budget and schedule details
another thing you'll need to do is get
clarity from stakeholders on the project
requirements and expectations
this is key
there are lots of people involved with
any project and that means lots of ideas
about what success looks like to each
person you want to ask questions such as
who ultimately says whether or not the
project is successful
what criteria will be measured to
determine success
what's the success of this project based
on
CE you've collected clarifying
information document and share all of it
so that you your team and your
stakeholders can refer to it later
let's try creating success criteria with
the office Green project
for example
the goal is to increase Revenue by five
percent by the end of the year
one of the deliverables is a website
with a gallery of the different plant
selections that are offered
it's not enough just to make a list of
criteria
you need a process for measuring success
from start to finish throughout the
entire Project Life Cycle
this way you can make adjustments and
ensure success by the time you're ready
to land
there are many metrics you can use and
for some products it will make sense to
use more than one
the metrics you choose should be as
closely aligned to your Project's goal
as possible
for example happiness metrics measure
user attitudes and satisfaction or
perceived ease of use
and you can measure these through
surveys
for the plant Pals project we may
consider a customer satisfaction rate of
85 percent within the first three months
of launching as a way to measure success
you can also consider customer adoption
and engagement metrics along with more
business oriented metrics that track
things like sales and growth
adoption refers to how the customer uses
and adopts a product or service without
any issues
engagement refers to how often or
meaningful customer interaction and
participation is over time
adoption metrics might include launching
a new product to a group of users and
having a high amount of them use or
adopted
engagement metrics might include
increasing the daily usage of a design
feature or increasing orders and
customer interactions
using the office screen example tracking
how many customers initially sign up for
and use the plant pal service is an
adoption metric
tracking how many customers renew their
plant pal service post about it or share
feedback or engagement metrics
once you've defined the metrics that
you'll be measuring think about how you
track these metrics
evaluate which tools can help you
collect the data you need to ensure
you're staying on track
for example if you're measuring business
metrics like Revenue
consider tracking that in a spreadsheet
or dashboard where you can easily spot
gaps and trends
if you're measuring customer
satisfaction you can think of a way to
incentivize customers to participate in
regular email surveys
and create a system to measure their
responses when they participate
you can also utilize your project
management tools to check on efficiency
metrics like what percent of tasks are
completed or whether the project is
progressing alongside the plan timelines
it's smart to measure success with your
team as a project or product is in
progress
for example you can hold a project
review once a month have team members
complete task checklist by certain
deadlines
or whole life feedback sessions with
your users or customers
there are many different ways to measure
success
the key is to pick the methods that work
best for your success criteria
it's a good idea that along with each
success criteria on your list to also
include the methods for how success will
be measured how often it's measured and
who's responsible for measuring it share
your success criteria document with your
stakeholders and ask if they agree with
how the project success will be
determined
it's also a good idea to have the
appropriate stakeholders sign off on the
success criteria this way everyone will
be clear on who is responsible for which
tasks and you all thoroughly understand
what the path to success entails
keep this documentation visible
throughout the duration of the project
and clearly communicate it with your
team every step of the way
they're the ones who will be attempting
to meet all the different requirements
so don't keep them in the dark about
what they're supposed to do or how
they're supposed to do it
if done correctly
defining your success criteria
should create greater alignment within
the team and give everybody better
visibility into how to achieve success
Clarity around success metrics also
helps teams prioritize which efforts are
most impactful to their users
defining project success is a complex
but crucial part of project management
with more and more practice this process
will come more natural to you in the
planning stages and throughout your
project
we'll continue exploring and talking
more about these Concepts throughout the
course
nice job you're almost done with module
two
I'll see you in a bit to review what
we've covered
you're doing great you've completed this
module and have set yourself up for
Success way to go defining goals and
managing scope and ensuring a successful
Landing might seem tricky to master at
first
but the smart method and the triple
constraint triangle tools and methods
for measuring success criteria and
clearer communication will help you
every step of the way
in the next module we will talk about
the roles and responsibilities that come
along with each project so that everyone
knows how they contribute to reaching
the Project's goals
welcome back in this module we'll learn
all about stakeholders and their
importance to a project
and the last set of videos you learn the
ins and outs of project scope
while exploring how a project can be in
scope or out of scope you learned about
setting smart goals we also discussed
launching a project getting it started
versus Landing a project whether or not
it was successful
and there are a lot more exciting topics
to come
in this module you'll learn more about
stakeholders
remember that stakeholders play a
pivotal role they are people who are
interested in and affected by the
Project's completion and success
you'll see that each person involved has
a set role and set responsibilities to
help bring the project to a landing
those roles include project sponsors
customers team members and of course you
the project manager
you'll also find out about things like
stakeholder mapping and Analysis and
racy charts
these are tools that help clarify roles
and responsibilities and prevent
confusion on who takes ownership of
which tasks
throughout this module you'll have
plenty of Hands-On activities discussion
prompts and readings to really help you
master how to start a project
as we go through each new skill imagine
checking off a to-do list there's almost
nothing more satisfying than Crossing
off a to-do
Hello nice to meet you
my name is Holly and I will be your
accessibility instructor for this course
accessibility should be incorporated
into every role at a company whether a
product designer Communicator developer
or a yes project manager
in my role of accessibility education
program manager at Google I help ensure
all googlers are educated on
accessibility from building accessible
products for the entire world to
communicating accessibility with you
throughout this course I'm deaf myself
so I am able to share my experiences as
the person with a disability too and
help others understand that having a
disability isn't a barrier in itself
is the world around us that we must
strive to make accessible for everyone
accessibility can be defined a number of
different ways to me it means actively
removing any barriers that might prevent
persons with disabilities from being
able to access technology information or
experiences and leveling the playing
field so everyone has an equal chance of
enjoying life and being successful
a disability is often defined as a
physical or mental condition the
substantially limits and major life
activities such as walking talking
seeing hearing or learning over 1
billion people in the world have a
disability
1 billion that's more than the
population of the United States Canada
France Italy Japan Mexico and Brazil
combined disability is diverse and
intersectional someone can be born with
a condition or acquire it later in life
disability can affect us all in some way
whether directly or indirectly and at
any time from permanent like deafness to
Temporary like a broken leg to
situational like trying to operate a TV
remote control in the dark
when you create solutions for persons
with disabilities you are not only
serving the critical audience of people
with permanent disabilities you are also
unlocking secondary benefits for
everyone who may move in and out of
disability over time as you progress
through this course it's also important
to keep in mind your fellow classmates
setting the expectation that you'll be
interacting with others that learn and
work differently is a key strength of
working with accessibility in mind
asking others what they need from you to
learn and communicate and also sharing
what you need if you have a disability
yourself it's important to working well
together as a team
in project management you yourself
people on your project team or people
highly invested in your project may have
a disability whether visible or
invisible as a project manager you are
responsible for making sure a group of
people can come together to achieve a
common goal using shared tools and
systems in order to be successful you
need to make sure the infrastructure and
culture you've set up works for everyone
knowing this is a key element of project
management I'll teach you how to make
your work and content accessible I'll
also help you become a better project
manager by considering accessibility in
your future projects I'll offer tips and
best practices throughout the program
starting with this one did you know that
many technologies that we all enjoy
started out as an accessibility feature
think about the Google Assistant which
allows you to control your home with
your voice or closed captioning which
makes it possible to watch the TV above
a crowded noisy bar
by considering accessibility you can
impact everyone's lives for the better
I'm excited to share more with you
throughout the program while you learn
more about project management and
prepare for a career in this field see
you later
in this video I'll take you through the
process of choosing roles and
responsibilities of all the people on
your project team
in order to decide who does what on a
project we have to consider and outline
our needs
choosing the right people for a team is
a big task and one every project manager
should take seriously
after all these are the people who do
the work on the project so we want to
make sure we have the right people lined
up
when identifying people's resources we
need to carefully consider the project
needs and use that info to guide our
decision making
first a project manager will make a list
of roles that they'll need on their team
to complete each task
in the same way that a project manager
is accountable for the overall
initiation planning execution and
completion of a project
the person in each role is accountable
for specific tasks within the Project
Life Cycle
for example a home construction project
team might include roles on their list
like an architect
site manager and multiple construction
workers
once the tasks are clearly laid out
project manager decides how many people
they'll need on their team
this can vary greatly depending on the
Project's size for small projects a team
may only need three or four people to
complete the deliverables on time
and for larger projects a team might
include dozens
at Google we sometimes have hundreds of
googlers working on the same project
getting the team size right is important
for a bunch of reasons
for example when there's a lot of people
on a project communication sometimes
become difficult
that makes it more likely for someone to
miss important details
but if your team is too small there
might not be enough people to finish all
the tasks
once you know how many people you need
on your team you have to think about who
does what
to decide on the right person for each
role a project manager needs to think
carefully about skills makes sense right
if you're managing the construction of a
house you want to know that the
construction workers who are building
the frame or installing the drywall have
the skills needed to do it properly
it's on the project manager to ensure
that everyone on the team has the right
skills to do the job
but it's also important to remember that
skills can be taught
if someone doesn't have a certain skill
initially they might still be a great
fit for the team
maybe this person brings a positive
attitude and attention to detail
perfectly good reasons to have them on
your team
just keep in mind that if a teammate
doesn't have the necessary skills
it's important that they are trained in
time so not to cause project delays
when choosing teammates a project
manager also has to factor in each
person's availability and whether
they'll feel motivated to complete their
assigned tasks
for example you might know a fantastic
site manager who'd make a great asset to
the team
but if they're already staffed on
another big project they might not have
the time to commit to yours
or even if they do have the time they
might not feel like this project will
give them the visibility they need for a
promotion
motivation is a key ingredient to great
work
so it's a good idea to pick people who
are excited to get involved
but of course we don't always get to
choose our resources
sometimes another manager or team lead
might just assign people to roles
when this happens it's the project
manager's challenge to deliver the best
work with what we're given
let's check in on our project at off the
screen where we're rolling out a new
service
as a project manager it's up to you to
decide who you need on your team
you have to ask yourself questions on
things like staff experience
availability
the workspace team member workload on
other projects and more
for example who on the team has office
Landscaping experience
who's local to the city where the launch
will happen
who can be fully dedicated to this
project for the next eight weeks
there's no exact formula for putting
together the right team which makes it a
little tricky
every situation is different and calls
for a different set of skills experience
and perspectives
it can be helpful to look deeper into
each task on the project
always ask yourself these key questions
how many people do I need on my team
each step of the way
which team members do I need them when
are those experts already busy on other
projects
who makes the final decisions on Project
resources
so there's a lot to think about when
putting together your dream team
up next we'll learn more about all the
different roles on a project see you
there
as we mentioned in the last video when
you're managing a project to meet
certain goals having the right team
around you is a must
why is it so important it's because
there can be so many moving Parts on a
project
that means you really need to have
confidence and trust that the people
around you have the skills and
motivation to do the work well
to feel confident in your team you need
to know each person's role from the
start
clearly laying out the responsibilities
for each role helps everyone know what
project tasks they're accountable for
odds are you can't complete this project
on your own even if you're the best
project manager of all time which we
know you will be
before we jump into the specific rules
on a project we want to call out that
some rules aren't fixed sometimes team
members need to adapt and take on more
than one role at a time
this usually happens if the company is
small or resources are limited
for example at a small firm you might be
the project manager designer and
marketer whether they're fixed or not we
always have these project rules
project sponsors
team members
customers or users
stakeholders and of course the project
manager
let's learn more about each of them a
project sponsor is the person who is
accountable for the project and who
ensures the project delivers the
agreed-upon value to the business they
play a vital leadership role throughout
the process
sometimes they fund the project
the sponsor will probably communicate
directly with managers and key
stakeholders team members are the heart
of the operation they're the people
doing the day-to-day work and making the
project happen the customers are the
people who will get some sort of value
from a successfully landed project since
the project aims to deliver something
useful to the customers the customers
needs usually Define the Project's
requirements you can think of them as
the buyers of the project
in some situations we have both
customers and users for a project and we
need to differentiate between the two
simply put users of the people that
ultimately use the product that your
project will produce
to make the distinction nice and clear
for you think of it this way
software company has created a type of
software that allows teams to
communicate with each other in an
instant message application
software is purchased by Corporation ABC
they are the customer
but the users are everyone within
Corporation ABC that will be using the
instant message application every day
holders are anyone involved in the
project
those who have a vested interest in the
project success
primary stakeholders are people who
expect to benefit directly from the
Project's completion
while secondary stakeholders play an
intermediary role and are indirectly
impacted by the project
secondary stakeholders may be
contractors or members of a partner
organization
both primary and secondary stakeholders
help project managers Define project
goals and outcomes and finally we can't
forget the project manager the person
who plans organizes and oversees the
whole project that's you
let's now plug these rules into our
office screen project
recall that office screen is a
commercial Plant company that does
interior landscaping and plant design
for offices and other commercial
businesses
we're launching our new plant service so
if you recall our smart goal which must
be specific measurable attainable
relevant and time-bound
is to roll out a new service to provide
office plans to top clients by the end
of the year
there's a lot to do when launching a new
service
plants need to be ordered and delivered
every few days new clients will need to
be familiarized with office screen and
its procedures
and there will be ongoing updates to the
website and app for office greens launch
our project sponsor is the director of
product
they approve the Project's budget and
ensure that everything stays aligned to
the vision which in this case is that
inexpensive and easy to maintain live
plans are provided in order to improve
the employee work environments
the teams made up of people from across
departments and they're all working
together to support the project
for example the marketing department has
assigned some people to the team because
they'll need to tell customers about
this new service
on this project the landscape designer
is also the website designer
this is an example of where a team
member plays more than one role and you
you're the project manager
you're the one managing the information
people and schedule to carry this
project to a successful Landing our
customers for this project are buyers at
offices who might be interested in
office Green services
such as office managers or procurement
teams
however the users or the employees who
work at the offices because they're the
ones who enjoy the plants
and finally all of these people are
project stakeholders
secondary stakeholders won't play active
roles throughout All Phases of the
project
but still need to be informed as they
are a component of what the project
needs to succeed for example these
include office screens investors who are
helping to fund the new service launch
and the office screen receptionists who
will answer a lot of customer questions
about the new service once it's launched
so now that we know why it's so
important to decide on these rules early
on and how these roles work within a
project let's put them into action
[Music]
my name is John filie and I'm a
technical program manager for Google in
the Chicago office I've worked at a
couple different companies I've worked
at startups I've worked at grocery terms
of design I worked at Google and what
I've found is that some companies what
you find is that there's Engineers that
kind of come in and what they're looking
for is Direction they want to be told
what to do they want to be handed the
task and and just execute on it at
Google people are really invested in
their product we call Google a bottom up
kind of culture you know a lot of
companies you have this directed from
the top saying this is what we're going
to do but at Google people are so
passionate about the industry and what
they're working on that the ideas really
come up and Bubble Up From The Bottom
what I always tell folks is that the
technical and hard skills of program
management you can pick up in a book you
can learn about agile you can learn
about extreme programming you can learn
about all these things planning
retrospectives all these great terms and
tools and stuff like that at the end of
the day that's all they are though
they're just a tool and you can't use a
hammer for a screw it's the same thing
with program management you can't use
the same tools for every project you
have to learn what's going on in a given
team a good given project and a given
group of people and so at the end of the
day really the challenge is is
understanding the Dynamics of the people
that you work with I like to say that
the key about program management is
people and context you have to
understand the people that you're
working with you have to understand the
context and only then can you apply the
skills that you learned you won't always
have the opportunity to pick and choose
what people you want to work on a
project and that's okay because you know
you can just use those tools that you've
gained in the past to understand the
backgrounds and the style and the
personalities of the people that you're
working with the most important part
about program management is understand
the personalities of the people you work
with so that you can tailor your
approach to make sure that you're
working effectively with them think
about this way you might be working with
an introverted person that person needs
different types of attention than an
extroverted person an extroverted person
wants to talk about their ideas and
their project plans in a meeting an
introverted person you might want to get
their feedback offline or have an async
kind of form or opportunity for them to
voice their opinion it's really not
going to be cut and dry every time you
work on a project and that's why it's
really really important that you're
flexible in your approach you want to
have people that are you know
challenging the choices that we make but
at the end of the day we all need to
agree on a common goal and a common
Vision so that we can move forward we
don't want distractions because that's
the thing that the one thing that can
slow things down you know at the end of
the day technical problems aren't that
hard people problems are really hard and
making sure that your team is sold and
bought in on a vision and the project is
super super important it's your goal and
your job role as a program manager to
motivate the team and make sure that
everyone's on the same page
foreign
we just saw how important stakeholders
are to the project and how both primary
and secondary stakeholders help project
managers Define project goals and
outcomes
as a quick refresher primary
stakeholders are people who will benefit
directly from the project success
while secondary stakeholders are
indirectly impacted by the Project's
success
having all these different people
involved on a project can get confusing
and that's where a stakeholder analysis
comes in handy
this is a visual representation of all
the stakeholders it helps you avoid
surprises
Bill necessary Partnerships and ensure
you're involving the right people at the
right time
when done well your stakeholder analysis
helps you see all the opportunities for
success and the potential risks it
illustrates which stakeholders are
taking on which responsibilities
and it can help you include the right
people and important conversations
which is key to getting the support you
need throughout the project
there are three key steps to kicking off
a stakeholder analysis
first make a list of all the
stakeholders that the project impacts
then determine the level of interest and
influence for each stakeholder and
finally assess their ability to
participate and find ways to involve
them in the second step we talk about
influence and interests
what do those terms mean here
influence measures how much power a
stakeholder has and how much the
stakeholders actions affect the project
outcome
in our office screen example the
director of product who first initiated
the project and oversees new products
and services has a huge amount of
influence while the vendor providing the
greenery has less influence
interest is pretty much what it sounds
like
how much are the needs of the
stakeholder affected by project
operations and outcomes
for example office screen's human
resources department might not have as
much interest in the product launch as
the sales department does
power grid is a super useful two by two
grid used for conducting a stakeholder
analysis
we use the power grid to assign each
stakeholders level of importance to the
project measuring their interest and
influence
the position of the stakeholder on the
grid usually determines their active
role in the project
the higher the interest and influence
the more important the stakeholder is to
the Project's success
without their support it's unlikely that
the project will successfully land
these people are our key stakeholders
now that you have a better idea of each
stakeholder's position on the team
you can plan how to best manage everyone
there are four different techniques you
can use for managing stakeholders the
first group of stakeholders are the key
players or key stakeholders
you'll find these people in the top
right corner of the grid
best managed key stakeholders you want
to closely partner with them to reach
the desired outcomes
of course not everyone's a key
stakeholder
but each role even the non-key
stakeholder gets a spot on the grid
you find stakeholders with higher
influence but lower interest and the top
left corner of the grid
to manage these stakeholders you want to
consult with them and meet their needs
their opinions and input are important
to the project
the director of Prada has high influence
but may not be vested into day-to-day
activities and therefore will have a
lower interest
stakeholders with lower influence but
High interest are in the bright bottom
corner of the grid for these
stakeholders you want to show
consideration for them by keeping them
up to date on the project
it's unlikely they'll need to say what's
going on but keeping them informed is
important for example the customer
success team may have lower influence
the high interest since they'll work
directly with clients on the new product
lasso we have stakeholders with low
influence and low interest you'll find
these in the bottom left corner they're
the least important of the stakeholders
but this doesn't mean that they don't
matter
it might just be that for this
particular project they aren't as
integral
so for this project you mainly want to
monitor them keeping them in the know
creating a grid like this is an
effective way to track who should be
communicated with and when
this grid here is an example of how that
might play out depending on the project
and the stakeholders you may also want
to create a steering committee made up
of a high influence and high interest
stakeholders
these people will be the most senior
decision-making body on any project
they have the authority to make changes
to budget and approve updates to
timeline or scope the project manager
isn't a member of the committee but
they're responsible for bringing the
right project information to the
steering committee so that decisions can
be quickly made
how you engage your stakeholders from
this point on depends on your particular
situation
there are different ways to involve each
stakeholder and you have to be strategic
to get helpful and relevant input from
the right people at the right time you
want to meet with some stakeholders
every single day
and others you just send periodic
updates too stakeholder buy-in is the
process of involving these people in
decision making to hopefully reach a
broader consensus on the organization's
future
to get stakeholders to buy in on the
project you'll have to pay particular
attention to your high impact
stakeholders and make sure they feel
looped in you want to explain to them
how the project will help them achieve
their goals
and you'll want to have their support
later on if any issues come up
here are some important things to keep
in mind when communicating with
stakeholders if you have one main
stakeholder that stakeholder is likely
to be highly influential and needs
constant communication
but if you're on a larger project with
numerous stakeholders
they won't be quite as involved in the
day-to-day tasks for stakeholders who
need time to make decisions about the
project
over communicate early on
for example hold frequent meetings and
send daily end of day progress emails
this way they have enough time to weigh
the options and make decisions
think about the level of project details
each stakeholder needs
you don't want to spend time diving deep
with stakeholders that just need a
project summary
for example the facilities team that
delivers the product doesn't need daily
updates on vendor pricing or website
issues
on the flip side do spend time updating
key members that need frequent updates
the sales team will need to know pricing
and availability changes so a weekly
check-in might make sense here
great work you just completed your own
stakeholder analysis
up next we'll check out another tool
racy charting
see you there
in the last video we saw how a
stakeholder analysis shows us how to
best work with stakeholders and when to
communicate with all the different
people involved in the project
in this video we're going to check out
another handy tool called a racy chart
a racy chart helps to Define roles and
responsibilities for individuals or
teams to ensure work gets done
efficiently
it creates clear roles and gives
direction for each team member there are
four types of participation included in
a racy chart
these are responsible accountable
consulted and informed
let's take a look at each
responsible refers to those doing the
work to complete the task
accountable refers to those making sure
the work gets done
consulted includes those giving feedback
like subject matter experts or decision
makers
and lastly we have informed which
includes those just needing to know the
final decisions or that a task is
complete
here's an image of how this breaks down
in a chart form
when creating your racy chart you'll
need to write down each task or
deliverable for your project and then
assign it the appropriate role for each
stakeholder
to do this first think about who's
involved in the project
write the roles or people's name in a
row across the top of your chart
Pro tip use roles rather than names if
some people might take on more than one
role
next write down the tasks or
deliverables in a column on the left
try not to get too specific here you
want the chart to be simple and easy to
read
after that go through each task and
deliverable and ask who's responsible
for doing this
who's accountable if it doesn't get done
who will have strong opinions to add and
therefore should be consulted about how
this gets done
and who needs to be informed of the
progress or decisions made about this
assign the letters r a C and I based on
your answers
for example as a project manager on
office screen's new service launch one
of your tasks is to create different
price points for different packages and
delivery frequencies
the head of finance will be accountable
because the project needs to stay in
budget and make money
but it's the financial analyst who's
responsible
as they're the person doing the work in
determining optimal pricing
the director of product will be
consulted on the matter
as they oversee the product offerings
and finally team members like those on
the sales team need to be informed of
the final pricing
it's possible there are several rules
that fall into the informed and
consulted categories
one thing that will always remain
constant
is there will never be more than one
person designated as accountable
this prevents confusion because having
one person accountable clearly defines
ownership
however the same person that is
accountable may also be responsible
there are several other factors that can
cause rule confusion
for example
there might be unbalanced workloads
which means some people might be doing
more work or less work than others on
the team
or there could be an unclear hierarchy
when people aren't sure who to seek help
from if a task doesn't get done
or unclear ownership of decisions where
people aren't sure who makes the final
call on a project
another issue could be overlapping work
this is when teams or individuals feel
that they're responsible for the same
work
when this happens things can get
confusing fast
and the same goes for excessive
communication
while communication is usually a good
thing
too much communication can actually make
things more complicated
it can cause information overload where
people don't know what to pay attention
to and so they miss something important
wow there's a lot of things that might
cause confusion but all these issues can
be resolved or even prevented with a
racy analysis
be proactive and do this work up front
and you'll help ensure the success of
your project
if something is stumping you or you feel
stuck at a certain aspect there's always
someone else who's going through the
same thing anytime I started to feel
overwhelmed by information or like I
just wasn't getting it I wasted so much
time being unsure of myself that I
should have just listened to my friends
and family when they said just do it you
can do it one of the greatest thing that
helped me to get back motivated is the
accessibility of the course on my phone
I was just able to go into the app and
listen to a few videos because I can
learn on the go having a network of
people that motivates you it's so
fundamental you know even if it's a
friend or if it's a family member that
you can get from the beginning and it
can be there for you on your corner like
a coach then don't be afraid to ask for
help whether it be from your peers from
your coaches friends family there's
always someone who knows more and you
can learn from them
[Music]
Kudos you finish another module that was
a fun one we covered a lot of topics
that were likely new to you so let's
recap in our first video we checked out
each individual rule associated with
projects you learned that as a project
manager you'll have to ask yourself key
questions to make sure you build a
successful team
you have to consider things like team
size necessary skills availability and
motivation
then you completed a stakeholder
analysis
this helps you understand how you might
manage communication with each person on
the project next came the racy chart
which defined rules and responsibilities
for individuals or teams this helps
people get work done efficiently and it
creates clear liens and instruction for
each team member to operate Within
it does this by assigning which roles
are responsible accountable informed and
consulted overall you learn some really
useful concrete tools to help you stay
organized throughout the project
you can use these charts as you work
with your stakeholders
and if your project is ever evolving as
some are stakeholder mapping and racy
charting will help you stay on top of
the tasks and communicate effectively in
the next module you'll learn about other
useful resources for managing projects
and discover how to know which tool to
use when
see you soon
welcome back and congrats on completing
that graded assessment in the previous
module you learn all about project roles
and responsibilities and we introduce
you to some tools that you can use to
ensure team accountability like
stakeholder analysis and racy charts
coming up we'll talk about project tools
and resources and the value of
documentation by the end of this module
you'll understand the types of resources
available to a project manager you'll be
able to document information in a formal
project Charter and you'll be able to
compare and use various project
management tools ready to get started
meet me in the next video
so far you've learned how to determine
project goals and scope and how to
identify the right stakeholders for a
project
now it's time to add another important
ingredient resources as a project
manager understanding your resource
needs is crucial to achieving your goals
so during the initiation phase it's
important to ask yourself what are the
things we still need to acquire in order
to complete our project project
resources usually include budget people
and materials you'll use tools to manage
all those resources as you think about
the goals and the scope of the project
you figure out the different resources
you will need to meet those goals it's
important to figure out your resources
before the project gets rolling
this makes it easy for everyone on your
team to get their work done
and that's your job as a project manager
you won't be doing the work directly but
you'll support the people who do
figuring out resources early on also
helps you avoid accidentally
understaffing your project which can
seriously slow down team progress and
eat away at the overall timeline even
worse if you're not careful with your
resource planning you could wind up
underestimating the budget meaning you
might not have enough money to purchase
necessary materials hire vendors or
support overtime requests planning your
resources early is a great way to set
your team up for Success because when
your teammates have what they need to do
their work on time and on budget they're
better set up to meet the Project's
goals now let's break down some of the
resources that project managers
typically work with first let's talk
about budgets a budget is an estimate of
the amount of money a project will cost
to complete almost all projects have
budgets because they need funding for
expenses like buying the right materials
or software hiring vendors to complete
jobs or doing marketing once the
Project's done during the initiation
phase you'll talk to the stakeholders
and the people working on the project to
figure out the tasks needed to get the
project done here you might ask
questions to help uncover hidden costs
for example are there any taxes on
products that you need to account for
what about extra fees all this
information will help you create a
budget which you can use to source and
compare proposals from vendors
figure out upcoming costs and track all
the money moving in and out of your
project you often include the budget and
the project Charter and the stakeholders
review it for approval
we'll talk more about what goes into
creating the project budget and creating
a project Charter later on
when we talk about resources we're also
talking about the team of people who
help execute the tasks of a project for
example you as the project manager are a
resource so is the marketing manager who
might create advertisements for this new
product
other resources can include people
outside of your company who have unique
skills and can do certain tasks that
people in your organization can't do
personally
then you have materials
these are items you need to help get the
project done for example project
materials might include the lumber
needed to complete a construction
project okay
so you know that project resources
include budget people and materials
how do you organize these resources
that's actually a nice transition into
our next topic which is tools tools are
AIDS that make it easier for a project
manager or team to manage resources and
organize work they help you do things
like track tasks manage budgets and
collaborate with teammates
there are all kinds of tools out there
including productivity tools like Google
Docs and work management software like
Asana we'll talk more about these tools
later in this program tools are
essential for tracking progress
so you want to keep them top of mind at
all phases of your project let's talk
about how you might determine your
resources during the initiation phase of
your project at off the screen as a
reminder the plant pal service offers
customers small low maintenance plans
like cacti and leafy ferns that they can
place on their desks customers can order
them online or from a print catalog an
office screen will ship the plants
straight to the customer's work address
the project goal is to increase Revenue
by five percent so how do you get
started
well you might do some research to
figure out the cost of launching the new
plant service
that might include the estimated prices
of developing a new website a new
promotional materials as well as
shipping and delivery costs you also
might want to budget for specific tools
like a project management software that
will help you track progress on this
complex project with that information
you can start to build a realistic
budget and you'll also need to figure
out who's working on this project with
you to do this you might make a list of
people and external vendors who will
help complete all the projects tasks for
example the person who manages client
Communications with customers or a new
plant supplier that can provide you with
your product great hopefully you're
getting more comfortable with the types
of resources you will need not only to
get stuff done but to achieve your
Project's goals too in the next video
we'll talk about documentation another
important topic for anyone who manages
projects professionally
by now you've probably noticed that a
big part of project management is
guiding decision making
even if you're not the one making final
decisions on major aspects of the
project it's still your job to keep
track of every new decision and use
those decisions to create a plan and as
you've learned there are a lot of
important decisions to keep track of
that includes everything from
identifying project goals and
deliverables to choosing the right
people to add to a team it's way too
much for any one person to mentally keep
track of
it's also important information for
everyone on the team to be aware of not
just the project manager if a decision
affects a member of the team's tasks
they'll need to know about it right
that's why documentation is such an
important part of a project manager's
role while your team may work deeply on
specific areas of the project you might
be the only person on the team who is
aware of and communicating across all
the different areas of the project clear
and consistent documentation can ensure
transparency and clear communication
documentation helps set the stage for
the project
it communicates the answers to key
questions for example what problem are
you trying to solve what are the project
goals what are the scope and
deliverables and who are the project
stakeholders
and lastly what resources does the team
need to complete their work this is all
crucial information for anyone who's
working on a project regardless of their
role documentation also helps preserve
decisions made early on in the project
and can serve as a reference point for
team members who might join later in the
Project Life Cycle it's your job to
ensure that this information is easily
accessible through some kind of formal
documentation like an email a
presentation or digital document also
documenting decisions can help you
uncover tasks timelines or costs you
hadn't previously considered and lastly
this process provides a historical
record that can be reviewed at the end
of your project
you can apply the lessons you've learned
in the future okay let's get into
different types of documentation
up next we'll look at project proposals
and project Charters two types of
documents that can set you up for
Success early on
see you soon
hello and welcome back earlier we
discussed the value of documentation an
effective project management now let's
talk about two common types of
documentation you could use to keep
track of details and keep your
stakeholders informed
these are the project proposal and the
project Charter a project proposal is a
form of documentation that comes at the
very beginning of the project this
document's purpose is to persuade
stakeholders that the project should
begin and typically a senior
organizational leader creates the
proposal so you might not need to worry
about creating the proposal but you will
have to keep track of the proposal's
progress the project proposal is a great
starting point to help you understand
the desired goals and impact a proposal
may be a formal document a presentation
or even a simple email to get others on
board with the idea then we have the
project Charter
far more document that clearly defines
the project and outlines the necessary
details to reach its goals
a project Charter helps you get
organized set up a framework for what
needs to be done and communicate those
details to others
so how do these documents differ a
project proposal is created earlier in
the project lifecycle than the project
Charter The Proposal kicks off the
initiation phase by influencing and
persuading the company to move forward
with the project the the project Charter
serves a similar purpose and often comes
at the end of the initiation phase
however at school is to more clearly
Define the key details of the project
another difference between these two
documents is that a charter will often
serve as a point of reference throughout
the life of a project The Proposal is
only used at the earliest stages
now that you know the difference between
these two documents let's take a closer
look at the project Charter which you'll
learn more about in this module the
project Charter makes clear that the
benefits of a project outweigh the costs
as you learned earlier in this course
there are a few questions you might ask
yourself when performing a cost-benefit
analysis that includes questions like
what value will this project create
how much money could this project save
my organization
and how much time will people have to
spend on this project you will include
the answers to these questions in your
Charter including this type of
information ensures that you and your
stakeholders agree on the project value
the charter also helps ensure that you
and your stakeholders agree on the
details of the project project Charter
approval means that management is
supportive and it's also a key step to
ensure that the project matches the
needs of the organization
after the stakeholders and project
sponsor has reviewed and approved the
project Charter
you now have the authority to move
forward with the project project
Charters can be formatted in a few ways
and can contain different information
depending on the project and the
organization
the information in a charter might also
be tailored to its audience or the needs
of specific stakeholders for example if
you're writing a project Charter for a
stakeholder who is a marketing executive
the charter might include information
about how the project will impact the
organization's brand or if the
stakeholders achieve technology officer
the charter might include information on
the costs of engineering resources
needed to maintain the project
regardless of the format or the audience
creating a project Charter is a best
practice for ensuring that everyone
agrees on how to move forward before
entering the planning phase
the project Charter is a living document
this means that it can involve as the
project progresses
as the project manager you'll review and
refine the charter throughout the
process
now that you know more about the value
of a project Charter it's time to learn
how to create one
meet me in the next video to get started
hi again let's talk about how to create
a project Charter
in the last video we discussed how
project Charters are a valuable document
for project managers
project Charters are key for securing
approval from stakeholders and moving
forward
project Charters can also be formatted
in many different ways and there are
many different templates available
online for you to choose from
here we'll use a template that's similar
to one that program managers often use
at Google
and to fill in each section we'll use
details from your project at office
screen
ready
let's take a look
at the top of your Charter you want to
add in the name of your project
let's add in the name of your project at
office Green it's called project plant
Pals
you'll also want to add in a brief
summary let's type that in
our plan is to offer high volume
customers small low maintenance plans
that can thrive in an office environment
next up let's fill in the section
labeled project goals remember that
goals should be smart
let's add in the goal for project plant
Pals which is to increase Revenue by
five percent by rolling out a new
service that provides office plants to
top clients by the end of the year
great now let's add in the project
deliverable remember that a deliverable
is a tangible outcome from a project
as you learned earlier our deliverables
for this project are to send 1 000
plants to 100 customers and to launch a
new website for orders and customer
support
okay now let's add in the business case
which captures the reasoning for
initiating this project
let's type in this is a top requested
service from our customers and it will
also improve customer satisfaction and
retention
the business case is supported by the
cost-benefit analysis and we'll add that
in now
let's start with the benefits the
benefits or expected gains of the
project include improving customer
satisfaction and an increase in Revenue
now we'll move on to the costs the costs
include the price of the sourcing
products developing a website and
marketing materials
let's type in 250 000 for the estimated
budget
nice we've now outlined some of the
benefits and costs of this project
keep in mind that these are simple
examples to teach you the basics of
filling out a charter
when running a real project you perform
a more detailed analysis to determine
the benefits and costs
the key takeaway here is that benefits
should always outweigh the cost
fantastic let's keep going next we're
going to add in the project scope as
well as what's considered out of scope
for this project
remember scope is an agreed upon
understanding of what is included or
excluded from a project
an item that is in scope includes
creating a service to deliver small
plants to last year's top clients
an item that is out of scope and
therefore not available to customers
includes plant care after they're
delivered
amazing hopefully you can see how
stating what's in scope and what's out
of scope helps everyone working on the
project understand where they should
focus their efforts
great now let's add in your project team
let's see here
the project sponsor is office screen's
director of product so let's add that in
who is the Project Lead well that's you
the project team may include marketing
Associates website developers and
external plant vendors and more
so we can add in a few important project
team members here
awesome let's move on to additional
stakeholders
additional stakeholders may include the
vice president of customer success who
is accountable for customer feedback and
corresponding product requests
we can also add in the account manager
who will leverage their existing
relationships with top clients
and let's also add in the Fulfillment
manager who will help acquire the plants
needed to launch this service
we're almost done let's add in how we'll
measure success
here we'll type in that we want to see a
five percent increase in Revenue by the
end of the year
let's also type in that we want to hit a
customer satisfaction rate of 95 percent
three months after launch
that's it the project Charter is filled
in and now it's ready to be reviewed by
your stakeholders now you're done you've
seen how documentation helps form the
roots of a project and how it
contributes to the Project's ultimate
success
like nurturing a plan you're learning to
nurture a project to ensure it's the
best it can be up next we'll talk about
the tools that project managers rely on
to guide their teams and ensure that
they complete their tasks see you soon
as a project manager tools are some of
the most helpful resources you have at
your disposal
they're essential for tracking progress
so it's important to keep them top of
Mind throughout the entire project let's
talk more about why tools are so useful
and why it's important to choose the
right ones for your needs
there are lots of different tools out
there and you'll learn more about them
later
as a reminder tools are AIDS that make
it easier for a project manager or team
to manage resources and organize work
they're useful because they can help you
track detailed information about all
kinds of tasks and they make it easy to
communicate with lots of different
people
and remember effective communication and
tracking are huge parts of a project
manager's day-to-day responsibilities
just think about how much tougher your
job would be without help from
collaboration tools like email or
digital documents created in Google Docs
or Microsoft Word
let's imagine this in the context of our
project at office Green
as lead project manager you have tons of
information about the company's plan to
provide office friendly plants to top
clients
but what would happen if you wrote every
project detail on a whiteboard instead
of a shared online document
well every member of your team will have
to stop by your desk to get the latest
information
and that's definitely not the most
efficient use of anyone's time
but if you store this information in
easily accessible online documents you
save everyone on the team time energy
and a major headache today's tools have
made it so much easier to share
information with teammates
even better with project management
tools information sharing goes both ways
that means team members can also easily
update you on their progress without the
need for extra meetings or phone calls
how great is that
when you choose the right tool for a
project you make it easy for teammates
to let you know if a task is on schedule
or if it's delayed which lets you
quickly see how any changes might affect
the rest of the project
project management tools increases
visibility and transparency for everyone
including stakeholders
you can use a variety of tools to
accomplish many different things like
tracking progress on tasks deliverables
and Milestones
tools can also help you manage a budget
build helpful charts and diagrams manage
contracts and licenses and keep
stakeholders informed
tools can be straightforward like
digital spreadsheets or documents or
they can be more sophisticated like
scheduling and work management software
it's important to think about the needs
of the project when choosing which to
use
one thing to keep in mind is that if you
choose a more sophisticated tool your
teammates and stakeholders will need
some time to get familiar with it
for small projects that might be more
trouble than it's worth
so for small projects a straightforward
tool might be more effective
but if a project has a big scope then it
might be worth the team's time to learn
and ultimately work with a more
sophisticated project management tool
you should also keep in mind that
sometimes you won't have a choice about
the types of tools you use
if an organization has already decided
to use a specific tool then you will
need to work with what they give you
it's all about remaining flexible
are you starting to see how you can use
tools to keep projects on track
whether they're straightforward or
sophisticated tools have the power to
help you communicate and manage more
effectively
next up we'll cover some of the most
common types of tools for Effective
project management
see you there
hi there so you've learned about how
tools can make you more effective now
let's learn more about the different
types of tools used in project
management
these include scheduling and work
management software and tools for
productivity and collaboration
let's get started
one common tool type is scheduling and
work management software
there are lots of different types of
work management software on the market
including popular tools like these
certain tools may work better for your
project depending on a bunch of things
for example
the project methodology you're running
or the number of tasks and people
involved
so why would you choose to use
scheduling and work management software
well it can be really useful for
assigning tasks to multiple teammates
and for tracking progress on that work
it can also help you visualize your
team's progress
for example if you're using work
management software to assign and track
tasks you're more likely to notice if
your team completes 50 tasks one week
and just three tasks the following week
that's a clear sign that you need to
check in to see if there's a problem
that's blocking progress
if you hadn't been tracking their tasks
you might not have noticed the issue
that's part of the reason why work
management software is so useful
it provides an overview of how the
project is going so you know when you
need to check in with your teams to get
tasks back on track
another type of project management tool
we'll discuss is tools for productivity
productivity tools can be very helpful
for you and your team
this includes word processing tools like
Microsoft Word or Google Docs you can
use these to create shared documents
with the team like the project tartar we
taught you how to fill out earlier
you can also use these tools to build
documents like meeting agendas and
status updates and we'll talk more about
these in a later course
spreadsheets are another useful
productivity tool
they're versatile and you can use them
to make documents like racy charts and
project plans as well as other helpful
charts you'll learn more about in the
later course
and presentations created in tools like
Microsoft PowerPoint keynote or Google
Slides can be a great way to package
your project in a visual easily
digestible way
now let's discuss collaboration tools
which you'll probably rely on to work
closely with your teammates
these include tools you're probably
familiar with like email and chat
tools like this can help you quickly and
efficiently check in with each other on
questions comments and other topics
related to the project
productivity tools like documents and
spreadsheets and collaboration tools
like email and chat are all pretty
simple
which means they're great for smaller
projects with fewer tasks and teammates
to keep track of
scheduling and work management software
is better for bigger projects with a
larger number of tasks and a bigger team
of people to manage
cool you've learned more about the types
of tools Available to You including
scheduling and work management software
productivity tools and collaboration
tools
we'll spend the next video diving a bit
deeper on some of the most popular
project management tools out there
meet you there
earlier you learned about different
types of project management tools from
scheduling and work management software
to tools for productivity and
collaboration
now let's discuss a few popular tools
you might be expected to use or at least
be familiar with
there are many different types of work
management software that automatically
make project planning and tracking a lot
easier and that are much more efficient
the manual project tracking
one tool that we'll focus on in this
program is Asana
Asana is a Work Management platform that
helps teams plan and coordinate their
work from daily tasks to strategic
initiatives
Asana provides a living system and a
source of Truth where everyone's work
lives with Asana everyone can see
discuss and manage team priorities
giving teams Clarity on who is doing
what by when
it's great for building project plans
assigning tasks automating workflows
tracking progress and communicating with
stakeholders
as a project manager you can use Asana
to create a log of tasks like Gathering
cost estimates from external vendors and
assign a task to people on the team
all tasks are visible and organized in
the format of the project manager's
choice
like in a list or on a calendar
and designed to drive transparency and
connection with all the tasks related to
the overall goal
it's easy to use with external
stakeholders as well because within
Asana you can share status updates and
other Communications with people outside
your company
another great tool we'll focus on
throughout this program is the
spreadsheet
spreadsheets are extremely versatile and
you can use them for a wide range of
tasks from creating timelines and
building charts to managing budgets and
tracking tasks
you can add and view project information
in a variety of formats depending on
what you need in the moment
for example
let's say you enter a list of tasks due
dates completion statuses and task
owners into a spreadsheet
from there it's very simple to sort the
list by due date to see what's due next
you can then filter the list of tasks by
task owner so that you'll only see the
things you're responsible for
you can also highlight the rows of the
sheet in different colors to visually
illustrate the tasks with the least
progress
with spreadsheets you can easily
transform visualize and manipulate
information
spreadsheets and more comprehensive
tools like Asana are just two options
for Effective project management
and it's a good idea to get a basic
understanding of a variety of software
options out there
then if your company doesn't have a
standard software tool you can choose
the right one for the project needs
being able to recommend the right tool
for the job can be a great way to add
value to your team at the beginning of a
project
keep in mind however that software
options are constantly changing
from the addition of new features to the
launch of new tools
there's no way for you to know every
software available and no company would
expect that of you
many of these tools have similar
functionality like task tracking and
task assignment
so if you understand one tool deeply you
should be able to easily adapt to a new
tool on the job
now that you've learned a bit more about
Asana and the power of spreadsheets take
some time to explore these tools since
we'll be working with them later in the
program
coming up you hear from a project
manager who will tell you all about
their experience using tools during
their day-to-day role at Google
stay tuned
[Music]
hi I'm Amar I'm a senior engineering
program manager at Google shopping and
on a day-to-day basis I drive programs
which spans across multiple products at
Google as a project manager tools are
our best friends
tools and the tools which will help us
drive the execution those are really
should be near and dear to us and those
are near and dear to me what I look at
is what tools which help me create the
body of work there are like a lot of
Open Source tool as well as free tools
like you know Google spreadsheets are
there Google Docs is there so many of
these tools are out there and there are
some other supporting tools also like
jira and all
these will help you create the body of
work this will help you define that what
needs to be delivered and when this will
help you create the timeline like there
are timeline tools like Gantt chart
Gantt tools that you will find out and
then there are tools which will help you
drive the visibility across the board
and the drive the dependent ecosystem we
want to make sure when we are starting
at the project we'll look at the
available tool set so that we are not
defragging the system that much we are
not really kind of
adding too many complexities or new
tools in the ecosystems we want to make
sure that okay what are the current
tools which are out there have a look at
those tool set
find out are those supported find out
what's the current adoption rate and
look at what are the gaps if there are
gaps go for new tools propose new tools
to improve productivity but if there's
existing tool set which our team is
following which your team is following
try to learn those tools because those
are the tools which will get quick
adoption and those will be an amazing
tool set to have with you
nice work getting through all this
material is a huge accomplishment
take a moment to consider how much
you've learned so far about the ins and
outs of successfully kicking off a
project
you dug deeper on initiation the first
phase of the Project Life Cycle and how
important it is to determine your
Project's scope including what's in
scope and what's not
you also learned about project goals and
deliverables
and you learn how to measure project
success by creating success criteria
early on
then you learn to Define project rules
and responsibilities
choosing the right people for a project
team is a big decision and one you'll
always want to consider carefully
you now know how to create a stakeholder
analysis that tells you how and when to
communicate with different stakeholders
and you learn how to create and track
team accountability using a racy chart
you also studied the final steps of the
initiation phase identifying resources
creating documentation and selecting
tools
you learned about the resources that
project managers rely on to achieve the
goals of a project from budgets to
people to the materials needed to
complete a deliverable
you also learn the value of documenting
your work using a project Charter which
is a key step to getting approval to
start your project
lastly you learned about the many types
of tools that can help you be a more
efficient project manager from
straightforward tools like email to
sophisticated tools like Asana
completing this course is no small feat
and you've put in hours of work give
yourself a pat on the back you've earned
it
in the next course you'll jump right
into the next phase of the Project Life
Cycle and my colleague Rowena will be
your guide
get ready to have some fun as Rowena
shows you the ropes of serious project
planning
hello welcome to this course called
planning putting it all together
if you've already completed our previous
courses then you have a great foundation
for what it takes to initiate a project
and kick off the planning phase
before we get started let me introduce
myself my name is Rowena and I'll be
your instructor for this course
I work as a senior program manager in
Google Cloud on a variety of projects I
mostly focus on systems and productivity
enhancements for my team which consists
of around 100 full-time employees and
more than 300 contractors around the
world some of the larger scale projects
that I work on impact Google Cloud sales
and Global sales support teams which are
made up of thousands of people but I
didn't start out Building Solutions for
thousands of people at a global company
I left school at the age of 17 with no
college degree and no real plan
before Google I worked in retail
hospitality and even in the airline
industry as a crew member when I joined
the corporate world I noticed something
the processes were just as messy as the
stock rooms of the retail stores where
I'd worked
there was so much room to improve I came
to realize that every business is
complicated and that there's always room
to create order so I started thinking
about ways to automate my day-to-day
tasks I was emailing ideas to my manager
and colleagues working with teams across
the company brainstorming solutions to
problems coordinating training for my
co-workers and so much more that's when
it became clear I was Project managing
I transferred into a role focused
entirely on program management at
Google's headquarters in Mountain View
California in my job interview I focused
on examples of how I applied these
transferable skills from my previous
roles and how I could leverage the
knowledge I gained from my experience
four years later I'm here and I'm so
excited to be partnering with you on
this Learning Journey from the outside
big global companies can seem as though
they have it all figured out but there's
always room for new processes and you
likely have the skills and insights from
your previous experiences that can be
useful so keep going you're heading in
the right direction
this course is focused on the planning
phase
I'll share the tools and techniques to
complete this phase first up I'll
demonstrate how to kick off the planning
phase then we'll explore the importance
of setting and reaching milestones
for every Milestone there'll be a set of
tasks to complete so I'll teach you some
tips for breaking down and distributing
the workload later we'll discuss the
budget and how the overall budgeting
process works
we'll learn about people or companies
outside of your organization that may
play a role in determining the budget
and we'll discuss the importance of
sufficiently documenting your budget
then we'll discuss the various risks and
the possible impact those risks can have
on the project
nothing ever goes quite as planned but
risk management is a great way to make
sure you know what could go wrong and
how you'll address it
this includes communicating possible
risks to your stakeholders creating a
mitigation plan and then keeping an eye
on those risks to make sure they don't
store your projects last but not least
documentation ties it all together
keeping all your project plans
documented and organized not only helps
you but it also helps those involved
knowing their responsibilities
documentation also provides stakeholders
with a window into the development of
the project it has always been important
to the success of my own projects at
Google and I'm excited to explore this
topic with you
ready to get started meet you in the
next video
hi again in the previous course you
learned about the initiation phase
during the initiation phase the project
manager is gathering all of the
necessary preliminary information needed
to get stakeholder approval and plan the
project
a few key things need to happen during
this time first the project manager gets
assigned that's you then the goals of
the project have to be approved as well
as the scope of the project and its
deliverables a number of people will
need to be assigned to the project and
you'll have a good sense of their
individual roles and responsibilities
you'll also need stakeholder sign off on
your project Charter if all of these
criteria have been met then you're set
to begin planning planning is a
significant part of ensuring a Project's
success
so let's take some time to discuss why
it's so important
planning is important for any project
large or small
while planning your project you and
other members of the team will determine
the processes and workflows needed to
meet your goals and put together ideas
about how to make the project a success
while planning you might draw from
previous project experience but don't be
afraid to think of new ways to get
results
every project is different so new and
different approaches may be just the
thing you need planning has many
benefits as we've discussed planning
helps you map out the full project it
helps you understand the work needed to
achieve your goals planning also helps
coordinate efforts and timelines with
other teams contractors and vendors
another huge benefit of planning is that
it gives you time to identify and
prepare for risks that could impact your
project those might include things like
a delay in the timeline the departure of
a critical team member or a change in
Project direction from a primary
stakeholder planning also gives you the
chance to brainstorm ways to mitigate or
address those risks there are less
obvious benefits too for example the
planning phase can help you get buy-in
from Key members of the project team
getting buy-in means that you've gained
their support for your plans
planning also demonstrates to
stakeholders that the team is taking
care to start the project with a
detailed plan
but one of the most significant benefits
of planning is teamwork which will help
you push your project across the finish
line by working together in the planning
phase individuals assigned to the
project can become a strong team by the
time the planning is done and the work
is about to start planning together
creates a shared understanding among all
parties involved in the project so to
recap planning has many benefits from
helping the team to understand the work
needed to achieve their goals to
providing project plans to the
stakeholders now that you know a bit
more about planning we'll learn how to
launch the planning phase meet you in
the next video
hello again
in the last video we discussed the
importance of planning now let's get
into the details of how to launch the
planning phase as you learned earlier
the planning phase is the second phase
of a Project's life cycle this can be a
challenging time for a project manager
because there's so much to consider
but it's important to know that project
plans don't have to be perfect the very
first time and even if you do a great
job with your plans the first time
around it's likely that the plan will
change as the project evolves the
planning phase May differ from Project
to project but generally three big
things are worked out during this stage
the schedule the budget and the risk
management plan
we'll discuss each of these in Greater
detail later on in the course
but for now here's some general
information so you can understand why
these three elements are so crucial to
planning let's start with the schedule
the schedule is basically a timeline of
the project it includes the start date
the end date and the dates for things
that will happen in between you'll use
time estimation techniques to determine
these dates let's imagine scheduling in
our example project at office Green as a
reminder you're the lead project manager
for project plant Powers a new service
that will provide top clients with desk
friendly plants you want to launch the
service by the end of the year so the
planning phase for this effort should
include a number of key dates those
dates might include when your request
proposals from plant vendors
they might also include the date you'll
kick off with the web designers and
developers who are creating a new
website for the service
it should also include important dates
during the project execution phase like
when the plants need to be ready for
delivery or when the new web page design
needs to be approved
and you'll need to include the target
date for the launch of the service
another part of the planning phase is
setting the budget
the budget will account for the total
cost to complete the project
the total cost needs to be broken down
to determine how much has to be spent on
different elements of the project
for project plant Powers the budget will
need to include items like the cost of
Designing and launching a web page the
cost of hiring your plant vendor and
much more the third component of the
planning phase is risk management which
means searching for possible problems
and planning ahead to mitigate these
risks let's face it risk is inevitable
in every project what's not inevitable
is how the risk impacts your project
good project planning means searching
for places where trouble might occur
where might the schedule get off track
where might the budgets exceed your
estimates your work with your team to
consider answers to these questions and
prepare a risk management plan based on
whatever you discover let's go back to
the office screen example while putting
together the initial schedule you may
realize that your estimates from your
developers put you way beyond your
launch date to manage that risk you
might try to reduce or adjust the
project scope to still meet your
deadline or even negotiate a new launch
date with your stakeholders these are
two simple examples of how you might
mitigate a scheduling risk so to recap
you'll spend the planning phase building
your schedule setting your budget and
preparing your risk management plan but
first you need to get the whole team on
board
next we'll discuss the project kickoff
meeting
which is where the project really gets
going
meet you there
hello again
in this video you'll learn how to
schedule a kickoff meeting once you're
ready to shift into planning mode it's
important to schedule a meeting that
will serve as a formal start to project
planning you might be wondering what a
kickoff meeting is and how it differs
from other types of meetings that's a
great question a project kickoff meeting
is the first meeting in which a project
team comes together to ground everyone
in a shared Vision gain a shared
understanding of the Project's goals and
scope and to understand each person's
individual roles within the team
so who's invited to the kickoff meeting
well that would be the team members
identified in a racy chart created
during the initiation phase
as a reminder a racy chart helps to
Define roles and responsibilities for
individuals or teams to ensure that the
work gets done efficiently
during the kickoff meeting team members
will learn more about how they'll
contribute to the project and how
they'll gain a deeper understanding of
how the team will work together to reach
the Project's goals you should also
invite your stakeholders and your
sponsor to the meeting so that they have
a chance to understand the high-level
plan for the project can share their
perspective and you can ensure that
everyone is on the same page now you
might be wondering why do I need a
kickoff meeting can't my team learn
everything they need to know from the
project Charter
we get it meetings can be time consuming
and there are definitely situations when
a quick email or a chat to a teammate
will suffice
but when you're kicking off a project
especially larger projects with multiple
people involved it's important to get
together to establish a shared Vision a
line on the scope and build team Rapport
this is also an opportunity for
teammates to ask questions and offer
insights and it's a great time for you
to set expectations with the team about
how each person will individually
contribute to the project
now let's discuss how to plan and run a
kickoff meeting
there are lots of templates for kickoff
meeting agendas online
but most follow a similar structure and
last about an hour
keep in mind that this is just a
suggestion and you should feel free to
schedule as much or as little time for
each agenda item according to the needs
of your project and the team
most meetings start with brief
introductions you can allocate about 10
minutes for everyone in the group to
introduce themselves and their roles and
if time allows share a fun fact to help
build team rapport
then you'll spend about five minutes
giving an overview of the background of
the project this covers details like how
the project came to be and why the
project matters you'll also use this
time to set a shared Vision next spend
about five minutes sharing the goals and
the scope which refers to the boundaries
around a project
that includes making it clear what work
is considered in scope and what work is
considered out of scope this is also a
good place to share the target launch
date and highlight any important
Milestones the team need to be aware of
once you've covered goals and scope it's
time to discuss everyone's roles
it's a good idea to spend about five
minutes making sure that everyone is
clear on what work they'll be
responsible for throughout the duration
of the project
next it's time to address collaboration
which is how the team will work together
on the project this is a great time to
go over tools that'll serve as a
communal source of information for the
team like a project plan created in a
spreadsheet or a work management
software tool like Asana it's also a
great time to determine how the team
will communicate with one another like
through daily email updates a team chat
room and weekly team check-in meetings
you should spend about 10 minutes on
this topic
when that's all set it's time to discuss
what comes next now that you've
discussed the details of the project
thus far you should spend about 10
minutes setting expectations with your
teammates for what's coming up you'll
also use this time to make clear to each
teammate what actions they'll need to
take next finally it's really important
to set aside about 15 minutes for
questions from the group
this is your team's chance to gain
Clarity on any of the topics you've
discussed so far it's also your chance
to hear from the team and ensure that
the project is benefiting from diversity
of thoughts experiences and ideas
for example in addition to Fielding
questions out loud in the meeting I
might invite teammates to input their
questions or feedback in a shared
document this practice can help create
space for collaboration I also like to
poll my teammates for confidence on the
topics discussed that day
I ask what their confidence level is on
a scale of one to five
one being I'm not confident at all and
five being I'm extremely confident if
they're not confident I ask them what I
can do to help change that
this practice can give the team a
stronger sense of support because they
know I'm there to help them through
roadblocks
if you try this practice in your
meetings be sure to deliver on any
promises you make there your reputation
as a project manager to get things done
and remove roadblocks is critical to
building and maintaining relationships
so to recap the kickoff meeting will
cover introductions
project background
goals and scope
roles collaboration and what comes next
and the meeting will leave time for
questions from the group at the end
once you've finalized the meeting agenda
document this information into a meeting
agenda template and send it to attendees
a day or two ahead of the meeting
as the project manager you'll be leading
the majority of this meeting and when
you're presenting it's difficult to take
notes and present at the same time
so at the start of the meeting ask a
teammate to take notes on key points you
discussed throughout the session and to
record each teammate's action items
in some cases it may be beneficial to
record this meeting so that attendees
can revisit it later especially if you
have a large or dispersed team
just be sure to get each attendee's
permission to record ahead of time
after the meeting don't forget to send a
follow-up email to the group summarizing
key points and outcomes from the meeting
as well as any action items to the
attendees
in your follow-up email be sure to also
invite attendees to reach out if they
have any additional questions
while there's a lot that goes into the
kickoff meeting
remember that this is an exciting moment
for the team and especially for you as
the project manager
all of the careful thinking and hard
work that you've done during the
initiation phase comes together to form
the foundation of your project
coming up we'll learn about Milestones
tasks and how they differ meet you in
the next video
hi again as we've discussed throughout
this program the project manager is
responsible for assigning work to the
team and keeping track of the Project's
progress
when we discuss assigning work we'll use
a few key terms project milestones and
project tasks let's break these down
a project Milestone is an important
Point within the project schedule that
indicates progress and usually signifies
the completion of a deliverable or phase
of the project
these are significant checkpoints in
your project and keeping track of them
helps ensure that your project is on
schedule to meet its goals
for example a milestone might include
completing the first draft of a report
and the goal may be to ultimately
publish the report another example of a
milestone is receiving sign off or
approval from your customer on a major
deliverable
let's discuss how Milestones differ from
Project tasks
a project task is an activity that needs
to be accomplished within a set period
of time
the work of a project is broken down
into many different tasks
in order to reach a milestone you and
your team must complete multiple tasks
for example if a milestone is completing
the first draft of a report the tasks
required to get to that Milestone might
include hiring a writer conducting
research and drafting different sections
of the report
let's imagine milestones and tasks in
the context of project plant powers that
off the screen
one of your project deliverables is to
launch a website for your new service
where customers will be able to place
orders and get customer support
some of the Milestones leading up to
that launch will include securing
approval on the website design and
implementing feedback from user testing
to achieve those Milestones your team
needs to complete multiple project tasks
for example in order to reach the design
Milestone your website designer will
need to create initial mock-ups of the
proposed website design
you will need to review those mock-ups
and the designer will need to implement
your feedback
each of these items is a project task
and you won't reach your Milestone until
they're complete
to review Milestones are important
points within the project schedule and
project tasks are activities that need
to be accomplished within a set period
of time to help reach those milestones
milestones and project tasks are
interconnected
tasks ladder up to Milestones which are
crucial for project tracking now that
you know more about Milestones project
tasks and how the two differ we'll learn
more about the importance of milestones
in the next video I'll meet you there
great to see you again
so you've learned that a milestone is an
important Point within the project
schedule that highlights progress and
usually marks the completion of a
deliverable or phase in the project
but now let's talk about why setting
Milestones within your project is so
important
while it might seem tempting to make a
quick to-do list and get on with the
project it's really important that you
take the time and effort to break your
project down piece by piece
here's why first setting Milestones
gives you a clear understanding of the
amount of work your project will require
the active setting Milestones forces you
to break your project down into more
manageable chunks the further you go the
better you'll be able to see how much
work will be needed to meet the project
goals
at first glance it might seem simple to
launch a new website
but it might be more work than you think
and if you break that deliverable down
into milestones and those Milestones
into tasks you will have a better sense
of the true amount of work that needs to
be done this will help you better manage
the project workload another reason
Milestones are so great is that they can
help keep your project on track when you
set a milestone you assign clear
deadlines for when certain project
deliverables need to be completed
then as you work through the execution
phase you can look back at these
deadlines to make sure that the project
is progressing at the right pace
the third reason you'll want to set
Milestones is that they help you uncover
areas where you might need to adjust
scope
timelines or resources to meet your
goals for example if you realize that
reaching a milestone will require more
tasks than you'd anticipated you might
ask a stakeholder for permission to
reduce the scope of the project and cut
down on the number of tasks
and finally there's one more reason
Milestones are so important actually
reaching Milestones can seriously
motivate your team and illustrate real
progress to your stakeholders with big
projects that go on for months you'll
want to keep the team's motivation High
a milestone signifies the completion of
an important chunk of work and provides
a moment of celebration for the team
even if there's more work ahead
Milestones also serve as a great
check-in point to highlight your
progress to stakeholders it gives them
the opportunity to see the work that's
been completed so far and lets them see
everything is on track and up to their
standards
it's also important to remember that
Milestones must be completed on time and
in sequential order because usually
reaching the next Milestone is dependent
on completing a previous milestone
think about this in terms of project
plant Powers at office Green
as we discussed earlier in order to
launch a website for a new plant service
there are a few Milestones you need to
hit like securing approval of a website
design
completing development of the website
and implementing user feedback
these Milestones must happen in this
order here's why the web developer can't
build the website if the design hasn't
been approved by stakeholders and you
can't Implement feedback from user
testing if there's no website to test so
we know it's important to reach
milestones in sequential order
but it's just as important that you
reach them on time
if the team misses the mark to complete
a deliverable tied to a specific
Milestone it could set back your
Project's schedule meaning your team
might need to work overtime or add
additional resources to catch up for
example if you need to secure
stakeholder approval on a website
designed by Friday but the web designer
hasn't completed the design yet you
might have to wait until after the
weekend to secure stakeholder approval
this will delay the start of the
development phase giving your team less
time to build the website even worse
this delay could affect the project
budget if completing this deliverable
directly ties to a payment from the
client if you miss the deadline you'll
likely delay receipt of that payment
you might even risk losing the payment
altogether though deadlines are
sometimes flexible it's important to be
extra mindful of Milestones where the
deadline is non-negotiable and that's
that
hopefully you understand why Milestones
are important to any project coming up
we'll discuss how to set milestones for
your project
see you there
hi again okay so you know that
Milestones are pretty important they
help give you a clear picture of the
amount of work required they help your
projects stay on track uncover areas
where you might need additional
resources motivate your teammates and
show progress to your stakeholders
so now let's talk about identifying
Milestones within your project and how
you can set deadlines for each one the
first step to setting a milestone is to
evaluate your project as a whole
it helps to refer back to your project
Charter to remind yourself of the
project goal then make a list of what
your team needs to do to achieve that
goal the big items that indicate
progress are your Milestones these are
the key points within the project
schedule that signify the completion of
a project deliverable or a phase in the
project
smaller items like any item that a
stakeholder wouldn't need to review for
example are tasks
your plan for these once you've
separated them out from the milestones
so let's go back to our office screen
example one of the project deliverables
is a new website and as we determined
earlier some milestones for our office
screen website scenario includes
securing approval of website design
completing development of the website
and implementing user feedback mocking
up initial designs or building a landing
page are smaller items on your list
so those are marked as tasks
try to keep in mind that some projects
might have many Milestones While others
might just have two or three there's no
one right number of Milestones to set
the number will vary from Project to
project
once you've determined your Milestones
the next step is to assign each one a
deadline
reaching each of your Milestones is
dependent on the completion of multiple
project tasks
so to make sure you give your team a
fair amount of time to complete each of
those tasks you'll need to space your
Milestones out accordingly
for a larger months-long project like
project plant Pals you shouldn't expect
to meet multiple milestones in the span
of a week
mocking up website designs and
collecting insights from user testing
are big tasks that take time
you need to space Milestones out to give
your team room to complete their work to
get a good sense of timing you can
connect with teammates to discuss the
tasks required to reach each Milestone
and get their estimates for how long
these tasks will take
with those estimates in mind
you can make an informed decision about
reasonable deadlines for each milestone
when you set deadlines for Milestones
you'll also want to consider the needs
of your stakeholders ask yourself when
they'll expect to see a certain project
deliverable and consider the answer when
choosing a deadline
your stakeholders will want to see
regular indications that the team is
making progress and Milestones are a
great way to show that progress
so to recap you set Milestones by
looking at your project as a whole and
pulling out important checkpoints that
show progress
then you assign deadlines to each
Milestone while keeping the needs of
your stakeholders top of mind
next up we'll discuss a helpful tool for
breaking down the tasks that ladder up
to each milestone
see you there
so we've discussed how to set Milestones
now we'll learn how to account for the
many tasks that ladder up to each
milestone
you can do this by creating a work
breakdown structure
let's start with the definition a work
breakdown structure often abbreviated to
WBS is a tool that sorts the milestones
and tasks of a project in a hierarchy in
the order they need to be completed
this is a helpful tool because it helps
break down the sometimes intimidating
challenges of a project into more
manageable chunks big projects like
publishing a report or organizing a
conference seem a lot less daunting when
the work required to get there is broken
down step by step with a clear pathway
from the beginning of the project to the
end
let's look at an example of a basic work
breakdown structure there are lots of
different ways to design a work
breakdown structure but one common way
is to create a tree diagram of project
tasks let's say that we're creating a
work breakdown structure for the project
plant Powers website launch at the top
of the diagram is the name of the
project the second level of our diagram
breaks the project down into three
milestones
these include securing design approval
developing the site and implementing
user feedback
at the third level of the chart we can
see each of those Milestones gets
further broken down into a series of
project tasks for example tasks listed
Beneath Your Design approval Milestone
include mocking up designs and
collecting feedback
this is a very simple example of a work
breakdown structure
here we've only created a work breakdown
structure for a new website which is
just one of the project plant Powers
deliverables keep in mind that in future
project management roles you'll likely
create a WBS that outlines the tasks for
an entire project
it's also important to note that while
creating a work breakdown structure is a
helpful exercise for visualizing the
tasks of a project you wouldn't
typically include this type of diagram
in your official project plan instead
you'd input the tasks identified through
this exercise into a spreadsheet or your
chosen work management software where
you can more easily assign owners to
each task
okay so after completing a work
breakdown structure and organizing those
tasks in a spreadsheet a few things
should be clearer to you first you
should have a set of discrete project
tasks that ladder up to each of your
milestones you and your teammates will
know exactly what needs to happen to
reach your first Milestone and the
Milestones after that second you're now
in a good position to assign those tasks
to members of the project team
each person should have a clear
understanding of the tasks they own and
the order in which they need to complete
them
let's break down how to assign tasks
tasks are typically assigned according
to a person's role in the project
for example in our office Green scenario
the web designer is assigned to the task
of mocking up the initial website design
you are assigned to the task of
reviewing that design and providing
feedback
and the designer is assigned to the task
of implementing your feedback
a web developer will be assigned to the
next task of developing the site itself
sometimes your team will have multiple
teammates working in the same type of
role
to assign tasks between two or more team
members with the same roles you might
take into consideration each person's
familiarity with the tasks at hand
for example if you have multiple web
developers working on the new website
you might task one developer with
creating the landing page and task the
other developer with creating the
contact us page when assigning tasks you
should also consider each teammate's
workload think about how much time
they're meant to be spending on the
project compared to work outside the
project that they might also be
responsible for
it's important to keep everyone's
workloads balanced
you'll want to make sure that a single
teammate isn't assigned more work than
others
you'll also want to make sure that no
one is assigned more work than they can
handle when people feel overloaded the
quality of their work may suffer or they
might need more time to complete the
number of tasks putting the timeline and
the overall project schedule at risk
as the project manager you will ensure
that your teammates are clear on their
assigned tasks you can do this by
assigning tasks with help from project
management tools like Asana which I use
a lot in my day-to-day role at Google
when you manage a project in Asana
you'll add tasks to represent actionable
pieces of work needed to complete the
project
as a best practice it's good to start
each task with a verb for example
instead of just typing website make
clear the task is to mock up the website
or add images to the website another
thing to think about when assigning
tasks is timeline
be sure to add an assignee and a due
date to each task so it's clear who's
doing what by when
finally be sure to include as much
details surrounding the task as possible
to avoid miscommunication in Asana you
can click into the task details to add
helpful information
here you can add a description link to
corresponding files or attachments or
even comment on the work related to the
task there's so many benefits to
assigning tasks but the biggest one is
that it frees you up to focus on
managing your project
this way you can feel confident in the
knowledge that your teammates are
responsible for specific work
but there's also some less obvious
benefits of assigning tasks let's
explore these more now
one less obvious benefit of assigning
tasks is that it creates a sense of
personal responsibility for members of
the team
when you assign a teammate to a task you
enter into an agreement with that person
that they'll own the task until it's
completed
creating a sense of ownership for
members of the team is important because
it makes them feel more invested in the
project
it also gives them space for personal
growth plus it supports your own skill
building as a manager who's a supportive
delegator
and on top of that it keeps your team
motivated and invested in completing
their work on time and while each team
member should have a sense of
responsibility for their assigned task a
complete sense of ownership might feel
overwhelming for some teammates
if that's the case it's a good idea for
a project manager to encourage teammates
to support one another on their tasks
this is also great for building overall
team Rapport got all that great
so to recap you've learned about work
breakdown structures and how to assign
tasks to people on your team
meet us in the next video for a recap on
what we've covered over the past few
videos
hi again over the past few videos we've
discussed how to launch the planning
phase of the Project Life Cycle
this is where you'll build your schedule
set your budget and prepare your risk
management plan
you also learned about an important part
of the planning phase the project
kickoff meeting this is a key moment
where you can meet with your team and
stakeholders to establish a shared
Vision a line on scope build rapport ask
questions and set expectations
we also discussed Milestones which are
important points within the project
schedule that indicate progress
and we also learned about tasks which
are activities that need to be
accomplished within a set period of time
then you learned about the value of
milestones and how to set them
and you learned how to take those
Milestones break them down into tasks
and record that information in a work
breakdown structure
next we'll explore estimating time and
setting a schedule
see you soon
hi my name is clinita and I'm a senior
engineering program manager at Google so
the planning phase of project management
is essentially the time where you take
step back and you reflect on what's the
scope of the project so what are the
problems that we need to solve when you
look at planning for projects it's
critical to understanding what you're
building who you're building for and how
long you have to build it we look at our
risk to make sure that we know what
potentially could derail the project and
if possible create mitigation that will
circumvent any risk that we may come in
contact with or or just be aware of
things like scope we also look at timing
is there a time a deadline that we need
to hit and if so do we have enough time
to hit that deadline we assess the work
that needs to be done to understand if
the work that needs to be done in order
to meet the requirements fits into the
timeline that that we have we also look
at testing what the testing plan looks
like what is success going to look like
so we know what the target is so that
when we hit the target and we validate
it we already know what metrics we
expect to get I'm a planner like it's
just in my nature planning sets a tone
for what we're actually doing together
it creates a sense of Team the planning
also aligns everybody to understanding
what it is we're all shooting for what
it is our goals are what what success is
going to look like it really is the
place where we come together to ensure
that we're all on the same page and
we're all going in the same direction
when you don't have that
um things get lost you you're not
talking to the right people you have
miscommunications
um things get delayed and you don't
really understand why people aren't
comfortable communicating what you know
what progress is happening there aren't
they really aren't comfortable in
communicating when their problem comes
up
um so you want to just set a tone of
like we're all in this together we're
all going to be successful together
um and we are going to run into
roadblocks we are going to run into
problems but we're going to work it out
and figure it out as a team
[Music]
hi welcome back
in the previous section we learned more
about the planning phase which is the
second phase of the Project Life Cycle
we introduced you to kickoff meetings
which is the first meeting for the
project team
we also discussed Milestones tasks and
how to set these within a project
coming up we'll explain why it is
necessary to create and manage a project
plan
we'll discuss the definition of a
project plan and we'll learn what
typically goes into one
this includes the project schedule which
will help guide your team to the finish
line
we'll also share how to use time
estimation methods to prevent project
failure we'll introduce you to a few
time estimation techniques which can
help you build an accurate project
schedule
and finally we'll examine tools and best
practices you can use to build out a
project plan
ready to get started
meet me in the next video
a project plan can be useful for any
project big or small since it helps you
document the scope tasks milestones and
overall activities of the project
at the center of the project plan is the
project schedule
the project schedule can help you
estimate the amount of time it will take
to complete the project and it can
provide the team with a way to track the
Project's progress against your goals
what goes into a project plan may vary
from company to company but most plans
contain these five basic elements these
are tasks Milestones people
documentation and time
let's break those down
a project plan will include tasks and
Milestones
two topics we discussed before
tasks are activities that need to be
accomplished within a set period of time
they're assigned to different members of
the team according to their roles and
skills
and Milestones are important points
within the schedule that indicate
progress they usually signify the
completion of a deliverable or phase of
the project
a project plan will also include the
people working on your team and their
roles it's important that each team
member understands their role and the
tasks they're responsible for completing
ensuring that everyone is clear on their
assigned task frees you up to focus on
managing the project
and creates a sense of personal
responsibility for members of the team
a project plan is a good place to link
to relevant documentation this includes
documents like your racy chart which
helps to Define roles and
responsibilities for individuals on your
team
you can also link to your Charter which
clearly defines the project and outlines
the details needed to reach your goals
relevant documentation can also include
documents like your budget and risk
management plan we'll discuss more about
those later on in the course
lastly a project plan should include the
estimated time that will be spent on the
project this forms the basis of the
schedule which is the anchor of your
project plan
the estimated time includes dates on
which tasks should be started and
completed
and the dates when you hope to reach
various milestones
it also includes the start and end dates
of the project which are important in
determining which resources you'll need
and when you'll need them
so how exactly do you estimate how long
these things will take meet me in the
next video to find out
as the project manager you aren't
responsible for completing every task
what you are responsible for is
identifying and helping assign those
tasks and then estimating how long
they'll take to complete
these estimates come together to
determine the overall project schedule
so how do you estimate the amount of
time a given task will take
you do this with the help of your team
time estimation is a prediction of the
total amount of time required to
complete a task
effort estimation is a prediction of the
amount and difficulty of active work
required to complete a task
effort estimation differs from time
estimation in that effort quantifies the
amount of time it will take a person to
complete work on a task on the flip side
time refers to the overall duration of
the task from start to finish that
includes inactive time
here's an example the effort estimation
for painting a wall might be 30 minutes
but time estimation might be 24 hours
that's because in addition to the 30
minutes of active painting time there
are also 23 and a half hours of inactive
drying time
it's important to understand the
difference between time estimation and
effort estimation because it can help
you be more efficient with your
available resources
if there's idle time baked into a given
task your teammate is effectively free
to do other things
a painter can do other tasks while the
wall is drying like painting the mailbox
or the window trim
an unrealistic effort estimate can
negatively impact a Project's schedule
generally this happens when you
underestimate the amount of time it will
take to complete a task
often the culprit for underestimating
effort is optimism and listen optimism
is a wonderful trait for a project
manager to possess but too much optimism
can lead you to overlook potential risks
that could set your plans behind
schedule
though it might be tempting to make the
optimistic assumption that tasks will be
executed exactly according to plan there
is always a possibility that there will
be setbacks
so how do you try to avoid making
unrealistic effort estimates you can do
this by communicating with teammates
assigned to each task
your teammates will have the most
realistic understanding of the amount of
work required to complete a task and
should be able to provide you with the
best estimate
let's imagine this scenario in the
context of our plant Pals project at
office Green the as a reminder you're
launching a new service to provide top
office Green customers with small low
maintenance plants that they can place
on their desks
you might assume that creating a contact
list of top customers is relatively
straightforward and can be completed in
a single day
but it's important to really consider
certain subtasks required to complete
work in your planning
subtasks refer to smaller tasks that are
required to complete a larger task for
example this might include meeting with
the global sales team to identify
clients Gathering contact information
determining client language preferences
and building a spreadsheet to house this
information
asking the teammate assign to the task
for their estimate is likely to yield a
more accurate estimation since they'll
have a deeper understanding of the work
and the nuances of what's required to
complete the task
you might learn that creating the
contact list may take two days to
complete which could be double the time
you originally expected
of course you can usually ask follow-up
questions or even gently push back on
their estimate as needed
later on we'll discuss more of the
techniques you can use to get more
accurate estimates from your teammates
now even though task owners tend to have
the strongest sense of how much time
they'll need to complete a task the fact
is that effort estimates are just that
estimates
meaning that sometimes those estimates
won't be accurate
for example in our plant power scenario
your teammate estimates that it will
take two days to create a contact list
of top customers
but let's say that the sales team is out
of the office for a team building
exercise and unable to meet about The
Client List until after the weekend
this will create a task delay
and as a result the original estimate is
no longer accurate
luckily there's a helpful tool called a
buffer that you can use during the
planning phase to protect against
inaccurate effort estimates
a buffer is extra time added to the end
of a task or a project to account for
unexpected slowdowns or delays in work
progress
buffers are important because they can
provide some leeway just in case your
time and effort estimates turn out to
fall a bit short
with a buffer you can add extra time
into your schedule and your projects
shouldn't Fall Off Track when task
delays inevitably arise
there are two types of buffers you can
use when planning your schedule
task buffers and project buffers
first we have task buffers which refer
to extra time tacked onto a specific
task
buffers should be used primarily for
tasks that are out of the project team's
control
for example you might ask a potential
plant vendor to provide you with a cost
estimate by Monday
you might assign them this deadline
knowing that you won't actually need the
estimate until Thursday
the time between Monday and Thursday is
your buffer and it provides your team
with extra time just in case the vendor
sends their estimates to you a day or
two late task buffers should be used
more sparingly for tasks within the
project team's control
for example you might choose to add
buffers only to tasks that are difficult
to complete or that have an element of
unpredictability like the length of time
it will take plants to grow
adding a buffer to every task could
lengthen your project schedule
unnecessarily leaving you your team and
your stakeholders with an unrealistic
timeline
this is where project buffers come in
handy project buffers differ from task
buffers in that they provide extra time
to the overall project schedule
rather than adding a buffer to every
task you can add extra time as a buffer
towards the end of your project schedule
then you can use that extra time two to
three days for example as needed
throughout the project
for instance if a teammate misses a
deadline here and there the project
buffer gives you space in the overall
schedule to make up for lost time
I use buffers often in my day-to-day
role at Google for example on a recent
project at Google I was working with a
new hire who was great at coding but
kept missing deadlines I realized they
weren't giving themselves enough buffer
time to do testing I started to ask
questions about their current workload
and the complexity of their tasks and
based on their answers to those
questions I was able to gather insights
about their work and determine where I
needed to add buffer to their tasks
ultimately my goal is to ensure that I'm
setting a realistic timeline for the
project
after all if you hit your project goal
two months later than expected your
organization may not consider the
project a success
time estimation effort estimation and
buffers can help you build realistic
plans for reaching the project goal
hi again
Okay so we've discussed time estimation
which is a prediction of the total
amount of time that will be required to
complete a task
and we've also discussed effer
estimation
which is a prediction of the amount and
difficulty of active work required to
complete a task
these techniques can help you estimate
the length of time it will take to
complete a task
once you have that information you'll
need to determine if you have the right
number of people to get the work done
to figure this out you can use a
technique called capacity planning
first let's Define capacity
capacity refers to the amount of work
that the people or resources assigned to
the project can reasonably complete in a
set period of time
a person can only do so much
and it's important to keep in mind each
person's capacity when assigning work
this is where capacity planning comes in
capacity planning refers to the act of
allocating people and resources to
project tasks and determining whether or
not you have the necessary resources
required to complete the work on time
during this process you might find that
you need more resources to speed up the
project timeline
like a second web developer or a third
writer
let's imagine capacity planning in the
context of our plant Pals project at
office Green if you know that you'll
need to deliver plants to 100 customers
over a period of five days then you will
need to determine if you've hired enough
delivery drivers to meet that deadline
if one driver averages four deliveries
within an eight hour workday then you
know you'll need to hire at least five
drivers to complete the work on time
even if a person on your project team is
spending 100 of their time at work on
your project they'll have limited
capacity for the amount of work they
should be expected to complete each day
between meetings unexpected urgent tasks
and other elements of a typical work day
there's only so much each person can
complete
so how do you decide where a teammate
should focus their priorities and make
the most of their capacity
you can prioritize their time by
plotting the critical path of your
project timeline
the critical path refers to the list of
project Milestones that you must reach
in order to meet the project goal on
schedule as well as the mandatory tasks
that contribute to the completion of
each milestone
anything else is considered off the
critical path
for example tasks on the critical path
for launching project plant Powers might
include hiring plant vendors developing
a new website and fulfilling deliveries
a task like adding flowers to your
product lineup is nice to have but might
not have much impact on the overall
success of your project
because this task isn't crucial to your
launch
these tasks aren't part of the critical
path
to summarize your critical path includes
the bare minimum number of tasks and
Milestones you need to reach your
project goal
if your team is unable to complete any
of those tasks on time that might result
in a project delay
to determine the critical path of a
project you'd start by listing all the
tasks required to complete the project
and the Milestones they feed into
this is a perfect time to think back to
your work breakdown structure or WBS
which is a chart that sorts all the
milestones and tasks of a project into a
hierarchy according to the order in
which they need to be completed
this includes a detailed overview of
every project task
then you determine which tasks on the
list absolutely can't begin until
another task is complete
this is called a dependency
and we'll discuss this topic in more
detail later on
next you'll work with your team to make
time estimates for each task and map
each task from start to finish
the longest path is your critical path
there are a few factors that can impact
capacity and capacity planning first you
need to be able to identify which tasks
can happen in parallel which means they
can happen at the same time as other
tasks
you will also need to identify which
tasks can happen sequentially meaning
they must happen in a specific order
when you identify which task can happen
in parallel it helps you create
efficiencies within your project
schedule
by demonstrating where you can complete
multiple tasks at the same time
identifying sequential tasks help you
identify the tasks that you need to
prioritize early on in the project
for example a sequential task for your
plant Powers project may include needing
budget approval before hiring a vendor
and two parallel tasks might include
hiring delivery drivers and the
development of a website
these tasks have no relationship to one
another as they focus on different
portions of the project and can be
completed by different members of the
team
that means that one task can begin even
if the other task hasn't been completed
and so the work to complete these tasks
can happen at the same time
you also need to determine which project
tasks have a fixed start date
a fixed start date refers to the date on
which you must start work on your task
in order to achieve your goal
identifying whether or not your task
have a fixed start dates can help with
capacity planning because it helps
ensure that you'll have the right number
of people available to complete tasks on
time
for example let's imagine that your
contract says you'll need to deliver 100
plants on a specific date
that means that the task of picking up
those plants has a fixed start date of
one day prior to delivery alternatively
some tasks might have an earliest start
date
an earlier start date refers to the
earlier state in which you can begin
working on a task
identifying an earlier start date can
set accurate expectations for when
vendors and team members will be up and
running on the project
this can help you plan your work and
prioritize your work accordingly for
example if you're working with a new
vendor you need to wait until contracts
are signed and the purchase order is
approved and created before the vendor
can start
let's say that at office Green this
process can take about three weeks
based on this information you can
determine that the earliest start date
for your vendor will be three weeks from
the kickoff meeting with your vendor
another best practice for capacity
planning and creating a critical path
includes identifying if a task has float
also sometimes known as Slack
float refers to the amount of time you
can wait to begin a task before it
impacts the project schedule and
threatens the project outcome these are
high priority tasks that have low to no
wiggle room
this helps reinforce what is and what is
not on your critical path
for instance tasks on the critical path
should have zero float meaning there is
no room for delays and tasks that do
have float are not a part of the
critical path
for example the shipment of plants to a
priority customer who's requested their
delivery on a specific date is a task
that has zero float
great you've now learned a bit more
about how to define capacity capacity
planning and critical path
we also discussed the techniques used to
identify critical path in a project and
the various factors that can impact
capacity and capacity planning in the
next video we'll continue learning how
to create viable estimates in a project
plan you'll also find out how your soft
skills can help the effectiveness of
your team
meet you there
hi again ready to get back into it let's
go
time estimation effort estimation and
capacity planning are all helpful
techniques for creating your project
schedule
and at the center of all this planning
is your team
throughout the schedule planning process
you're working with teammates to gather
estimates and you're taking into account
each person's capacity when building the
Project's schedule
it makes sense to involve your teammates
at this stage after all the person
assigned to the given task is likely to
have the best sense of how long it will
take to complete that task
they'll also have the best sense of
their own capacity for taking on the
work
but these conversations are a two-way
discussion and you'll need to tap into
your soft skills to get the most
accurate estimate from your team
soft skills are personal characteristics
that help people work effectively with
others
these include crucial communication and
interpersonal skills we've discussed
over the course of this program
soft skills can be important when trying
to understand what might be blocking
someone's ability to do their best work
let's go over three ways to use soft
skills and gather accurate estimates
from your teammates these are asking the
right questions negotiating effectively
and practicing empathy
let's start with asking the right
questions
think of conversations around the time
estimation as a kind of interview
you're connecting with your teammates to
learn more about how they work on
specific tasks and you'll use this
information to build your schedule
to aim to get the most relevant
information from these conversations
you'll want to be certain that you're
asking effective open-ended questions
that lead to the answers you're seeking
an open-ended question is a question
that cannot be answered with a yes or a
no
the answer provides the relevant details
of what you need to know
let's imagine this in the context of
your project at office Green
you've discussed the design of the new
website with your web designer
and you'd like to know how long it will
take them to mock up designs for your
review
now let's say you start the conversation
by asking a question like can you
complete the mock-ups in one week
this is a closed-ended question and
might elicit a simple yes or no answer
which doesn't tell you much about the
task of Designing a website or about
your teammate's working Style
now imagine if you had started this
conversation with an open-ended question
for example
you might ask the web designer something
like
how long does it typically take you to
mock up a website design like this one
this is an open-ended question and is
more likely to elicit a more detailed
response
from there you can ask follow-up
questions like how complex are the steps
to complete this task
what are the risks associated with this
task and
when do you think you can have this
ready
by asking your teammates effective
open-ended questions about their
assigned tasks you can learn more about
how they work and what they do
as you have more of these conversations
you'll develop a better sense of your
teammates roles and their tasks and
you'll be able to rely Less on your team
to make accurate estimates
another way to use soft skills to gather
estimates from teammates is to negotiate
effectively
part of your job as the project manager
is to bridge the gap between high-level
goals of the project and the day-to-day
perspective of your team
while your project might be your number
one priority it's possible that people
on your project team have competing
priorities on other teams to keep track
of as well
negotiating effectively can help you
influence a team member to make your
project their priority by collaborating
to find an outcome that works for
everyone
for example let's imagine that the
website designer estimates it will take
them two weeks to mock up the website
design for review
but perhaps you were hoping that their
estimate might be closer to one week
to arrive at an estimate that works for
both you and the designer you might
gently challenge the estimate by asking
follow-up questions perhaps you'd ask if
their estimate includes mocking up
designs for multiple Pages if so you
might ask if the designer is able to
share one or two pages with you sooner
than their proposed deadline
by asking questions you can determine if
their estimate is flexible
or if you need to bring in an additional
designer to support the schedule
by negotiating effectively with your
teammates you can create a sense of
shared ownership over the project
outcomes and create a schedule that
aligns with everyone's workload
now let's discuss the value of
practicing empathy
empathy refers to a person's ability to
relate to the thoughts and feelings of
others
practicing empathy at work can be a very
effective way to build trust with your
team
your teammates are humans and each
person can only do so much
when you're discussing estimates with
the team you might practice empathy by
asking each person about their workload
including work outside of your project
and the overall work-life balance
you might also ask if they've scheduled
vacation or leave during the duration of
the project or if there are crucial
holidays in which they won't be working
this can help you avoid assigning tasks
when teammates are unable to complete
them on time
for example the web designer might tell
you that they're also designing a
website for another team at office
screen and that the timeline for both
projects overlap So to avoid overloading
your designer with work you might work
with the other project manager to
balance workloads across the teams
people like to feel their work is valued
so part of empathy is remembering to
always be appreciative of the work
collaboration and support that you're
getting from the team
so to recap asking the right questions
negotiating effectively and practicing
empathy can help you get viable accurate
estimates from your teammates about
project tasks
coming up we'll discuss putting these
estimates to good use in the project
plan
foreign
and I'm a program manager at Google I'm
a mechanical engineer by degree and
I my first boss out of school said
you're you're an okay engineer but your
people skills are off the charts and
having a technical background and having
really good people skills is hard to
find
soft skills to me have a lot to do with
emotional intelligence so being able to
read other people and then ultimately
really knowing yourself and being able
to read the team read what they need but
then at the same time you know what am I
doing you know either influencing the
team in a good way in a bad way or just
a different way just asking sometimes
people that don't usually kind of raise
their hand to give input
goes a long way because a lot of times
the folks that are maybe a little more
quiet are genuinely thinking about the
problem and may have a lot of insights
that if you didn't kind of catch on that
or ask them you could miss out and so to
me soft skills just meanings just really
understanding kind of the emotional
needs of the team and that can really
help with you know whether it's
estimations
or costs whether it be labor or Dollar
Wise
get kind of the full view from the team
of what that might look like when it
comes to task estimation and time
estimations the other thing is just
asking good questions so not just you
know I need you to go faster but really
saying hey how much faster could you go
if I gave you this
what is stopping you from going faster
you know what teams would you need to
get involved to kind of help this right
or hey we have an issue are there
similar issues in other parts of this
project and do we need to get together
in a larger group to kind of bring that
together I think as a program manager
that's really Your Role is to kind of
see patterns in a project and see kind
of where things are either slowing down
or at a complete stop and having those
soft skills to be able to bring the team
together to to solve that problem
and to even just see it right just to
acknowledge that there is a problem and
instead of you know blaming is really
just digging in and kind of how do we
learn from this how do we fix this how
do we move on some of the things that
also help is just relating to your team
members
and if you've either been in a similar
situation or just trying to get
understand what their process is
sometimes just having people walk
through the estimate out loud can
sometimes come up with realizations of
oh we can't save more time or could
improve this just by talking it out I've
been a project manager
you know for machines that make labels
to locomotive engines to how you make
plywood so project management skills you
know don't necessarily need to be
all about kind of the field that you're
in it's really more about kind of the
method and the process and kind of how
you structure a team and get people to
work together
hi again
it's videos we took you through a few
different time estimation methods now
you can relate how to use time
estimation methods to prevent project
failure
let's discuss how to pull all of this
information into a project plan to help
you and your team stay on track to meet
your goals
even the simplest projects can benefit
from a clear plan and an anchor of a
good project plan is a clear schedule
containing all the tasks of a project
their owners and when they need to be
completed
once you have your project schedule you
can build a solid plan around that
schedule using tools like spreadsheets
and Asana
we'll explain these tools in a few
moments but first let's discuss building
a project schedule
there are many helpful tools that you
can use to create a project schedule but
let's focus on one that we sometimes use
here at Google called a Gantt chart
a Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart
that Maps out a project schedule
fun fact the chart gets its name from
American engineer Henry Gantt who helped
popularize the chart in the early 1900s
so why did people working in project
management find this chart useful
well it's a highly visual representation
of a Project's tasks with clear
breakdowns of who's responsible for the
work and when those tasks are due
for many people a visual aid that builds
upon written directions can be a helpful
way to understand and synthesize the
work they need to do when they need to
complete it and how their individual
tasks connect to the other tasks in a
project
Gantt charts are almost like calendars
they feature the start and end dates of
each task and the bars align with how
much time is devoted to each of those
tasks
for example let's say that your teammate
Leon is tasked with creating a project
Charter and another teammate Kylie is
tasked with reviewing and editing the
charter when Leon is finished
using a Gantt chart you'll use colored
bars to illustrate the days that they'll
be working on these tasks
with this method you and the rest of
your team can determine that Leon has
Friday Monday and Tuesday to work on the
chart and Kylie has Wednesday to
complete any revisions
the bars Cascade down the chart to
illustrate the passing of time and the
blocks of time in which the tasks are
completed
Gantt charts can be a helpful tool for
tracking schedules
but what kinds of tools can you use to
make a Gantt chart
there are a few options but we're going
to focus on the straightforward
spreadsheet
creating a Gantt chart in a spreadsheet
is pretty simple
you can organize your left columns by
items like task title
task owner start date due date duration
and percent of task complete
this is a great place to list the tasks
and Milestones previously identified in
a work breakdown structure
you all include relevant information in
the rows below organized by start date
on the right side of your sheet you will
order your columns by the week's
estimated to complete the project from
start to finish
in the rows below that you will include
bars representing the dates when certain
tasks will take place kind of neat right
spreadsheets are helpful here because
they can hold more information than just
the Gantt chart
though the project schedule serves as
the central component of the project
plan you can use separate tabs on your
spreadsheet to house or link to other
documents you'll want to include in your
plan
like a racy chart or a project Charter
you may also opt to include your plans
for risk management and communication
here too
with a spreadsheet you can simply add a
tab for your documents keeping every
document for the project in one
spreadsheet saves time helps everyone
stay organized and reduces the burden of
having to search through emails for
information
alternatively you can also opt to use a
digital document to link out all the
relevant documents
while Gantt charts are a useful tool
they are far from the only option for
your project plan and there are plenty
of reasons why this form of
documentation might not work for you or
your project team
for a simple project you might find that
your team responds better to a digital
document that features a list of tables
or tasks their owners due dates and
links to other relevant planning
documents
or perhaps your team works best with
kanban boards
which uses cards to track and visualize
the progress of your tasks
regardless of your chosen tool if your
plan includes the Project's goals its
tasks owners start and end dates and
relevant planning documentation then
you'll be able to keep everyone on the
same page
now you know a bit more about the tools
that can be used to create a project
schedule
up next we'll discuss best practices for
building a project plan meet you in the
next video
hi again earlier you learned about
creating a project plan based on a
project schedule that lists all of the
Milestones tasks and deadlines of a
project and that clearly outlines the
people responsible for each task
you also learn about Gantt charts which
are simple visual ways to create your
schedule
so how can you help make sure that your
plan works for you and your team
let's discuss five best practices for
building a great project plan that will
remain useful throughout the execution
and closing phases of your project
those include ensuring careful review of
project deliverables milestones and
tasks
giving yourself time to plan
recognizing and planning for the
inevitable things will go wrong
staying curious and championing your
plan
first you'll want to ensure that you've
carefully reviewed the Project's
deliverables milestones and tasks
during the initiation phase you'll
recall that you created a project
Charter with important information
regarding your project like your goal
scope and deliverables
when a project enters the planning phase
your plans become more granular
let's discuss this in the context of
your project at office Green
in your plan you need to break this
information down further
you're creating a new website for the
service so you'll need to break that
deliverable down into smaller Milestones
like kicking off a meeting with the web
developer and gaining stakeholder
approval
and those Milestones will break down
into smaller tasks like mocking up a
design of the new website and developing
a landing page
each of these tasks will be assigned to
a teammate and given a start and end
date
now a new website isn't the only project
plant Powers deliverable
you will need to break down every
deliverable into milestones and tasks to
ensure that you and your team have a
clear picture of what needs to be done
to meet your Project's goals
your plan revolves around completing
each and every tiny task so you should
take your time to get this piece right
this brings me to my second tip
give yourself time to plan beside the
project there's a reason that planning
is its own phase of the Project Life
Cycle it's a Time intensive process
especially for larger projects with
multiple deliverables
planning gives you and your team some
time to think realistically about what
your team can and cannot accomplish
within a certain time frame
you're not a machine and neither are
your teammates there are limits to the
amount of work any one person can do in
a given time frame
using the strategies that we've shared
earlier like effort estimation and
capacity planning can help you and your
team get a realistic sense of how long
the project will take and when you'll be
able to hit your milestones
it's also important to allow for buffer
time since projects rarely go exactly as
planned
later in the project you'll be grateful
that you initially plan for some
built-in flexibility around timing
that leads nicely into my third tip
recognize and plan for the inevitable
things will go wrong
even with thorough planning your
projects will still experience
unexpected setbacks and bumps in the
road
you can't plan for every problem but the
team can identify the risks that will
most likely occur and create plans to
prevent or mitigate those risks
as we mentioned before buff is a helpful
tool for mitigating issues related to
slowdowns in progress
you'll learn more about how to create a
risk management plan that goes into your
project plan later on in this course
on to my fourth tip stay curious
though you may be the sole expert on
your project overall it's extremely
unlikely that you're an expert on every
task of the project that's why it's so
important to sit down with your
teammates during a planning phase and
ask lots and lots of questions as we
mentioned earlier asking your teammates
questions about their work can give you
deeper insights into their tasks for the
project
their input will help you build a
stronger plan and the back and forth
dialogue will help you build trust
between you and your teammates
to keep the project running smoothly
it's also important to understand the
expectations priorities risk assessments
and communication styles of your
stakeholders and vendors
for example you might ask stakeholders
how to best keep them in the loop on the
Project's plans
and you might ask your vendors about
their availability to complete work for
the project
now on to my fifth tip Champion your
plan
while deciding how to organize your plan
you'll want to ask yourself a few
questions like can your teammates use
the tool you used to build your plan is
the information clear enough for your
stakeholders
well using this plan as a single source
of Truth save your team and stakeholders
the time and energy when they need to
find information on the project
if the answer to each of these questions
is a strong yes then you're on the right
track
to achieve buy-in from your teammates
and stakeholders on your project plan
Champion it
tell your team why it benefits them to
stay on top of the plan by doing so you
may influence your teammates to stay on
track and update the plan regularly
so to recap
you can set your project plan up for
Success if you review your deliverables
milestones and tasks
give yourself time to plan prepare for
things to go wrong
stay curious and Champion your plan once
it's finalized
coming up we'll recap what you've
learned over the past few videos see you
there
nice work let's recap what we've just
covered
first we took you through why it's
necessary to create and manage a project
plan at the center of the project plan
is a project schedule and we discussed
methods for determining realistic time
and effort estimates for each task
you also learn more about the power of
soft skills to help you gather time and
effort estimates from members of your
team we also introduced you to a Gantt
chart which is a useful tool for
visualizing a project schedule
and I shared my best practices for
creating a project plan that will serve
as a useful source of information
throughout the planning phase and
execution phase
coming up we'll take you through
managing costs and budgets see you soon
welcome back previously we learned about
creating and managing a project plan and
using time estimation to prevent project
failure
coming up we're going to shift the
discussion to the inner workings of a
project budget so let's discuss money
as mentioned before a lot of project
management skills May overlap with
common skills that you already use in
your everyday life
and you may already have some kind of
budgeting experience
budgeting in the project management
world is a complex process involving
many different parties and documentation
I'm going to teach you how to create and
manage a real-world project budget
we'll discuss the many components of a
budget and how stakeholders play a role
in the budgeting process
you'll learn about the importance of
procurement in project management if you
don't know what that means yet sit tight
you'll understand that concept soon
enough you'll also learn about vendor
management and procurement in both the
agile and the traditional methodology
settings
there will be several new Concepts
around legal and contractual
documentation introduced throughout such
as ndas rfps and sows
you'll learn that project managers are
fluent in acronyms and soon you will be
too I will explain each of these
acronyms coming up we'll also teach you
about the role that legal teams and
ethics play in procurement I'll give you
a hint it's a big one
starting a new project and sourcing
materials and vendors without
considering the ethical implications can
get project managers into hot water
so you'll learn more about legal teams
and ethics to help you avoid these
tricky situations the best part you'll
get pretty Hands-On here since you'll
create your own documentation using our
templates are you ready we'll get
started in the next video
let's get back to budgeting
you may already set a budget to help you
stay on track with your monthly expenses
and your personal life many people do
because it allows them to feel prepared
and in control of their finances
the same is true about project budgeting
project budgeting is a little more
complex than your personal budget we'll
help you understand and go a little
deeper into what a project budget
entails a project budget is the
estimated monetary resources needed to
achieve the Project's goals and
objectives when reviewing a project
budget you need to consider all of the
potential and projected costs needed to
complete the project
you break the budget down by Milestones
which are important points within the
project schedule that indicate progress
and usually signifies the completion of
a deliverable or phase of the project
and list activities and tasks alongside
their Associated costs
this ensures that you calculate the
correct expenses for a particular period
of time
this is considered a forecast a forecast
for your project budget is a cost
estimate or a prediction over a period
of time
you'll frequently review your project
budget and it will evolve throughout the
Project Life Cycle
these budgets usually contain items such
as labor operating costs and costs
associated with obtaining necessary
materials like Hardware software or
equipment
the importance of a project budget
focuses on more than just saving money
in project management a budget is
considered a deliverable
it is a success metric the project
budget is a tool to communicate exactly
what is needed and when it is needed
with stakeholders
the budget will have a direct effect on
the company's Financial viability
so as you can probably tell by now it's
an integral part of project management
budget creation takes place in the
initiation phase of your project
keep in mind that the budget will be
adjusted as needed throughout the life
cycle of the project
depending on your role in the company
you won't always be the sole creator of
the budget
your ownership over things like budget
and vendor relationship may vary
depending on factors such as size of the
company or support team or the team
organizational chart
although you may not always manage the
budget from start to finish budget and
Milestones go hand in hand
so it's important for you to know the
ins and outs of the budget throughout
the project
as a project manager you may be tasked
with obtaining approvals for spending
most companies have a signing or
spending policy
this usually outlines who has the
authority to commit resources or incur
costs or other obligations on behalf of
the company
this is important because you won't be
able to continue with some of your
deliverables or action items if you
don't know how much certain activities
will cost and whether you have the
necessary funds available
it wouldn't make any sense to rent a
property without checking on the rental
cost first right that's especially true
if the rental price is higher than your
budget
the same thinking is applicable for your
project budgeting the budgeting process
usually happens in conjunction with the
scheduling process because the steps of
the scheduling process are highly
dependent on the costs
the project manager will collaborate
with people on the project to create
their estimations
for the most part after the cost
estimating process has been completed
it's common for the Project's sponsor or
another key stakeholder to review and
approve estimation costs and if
necessary adjust and reallocate funds
for the project this could mean that
either the CEO or the CEO are the ones
giving the okay or the final sign off
for example in our office Green project
the director of product has sign off
approval as we mentioned before the
project manager will most likely need
some kind of sign off from the finance
department
this may vary from company to company so
just make sure you're aware of your
company's processes
project budgeting is never a
one-size-fits-all operation
as the project manager you will have to
prioritize where you allocate funds
within the project to ensure maximum
output
ultimately most projects are created to
improve Workforce productivity increase
revenue or attempt to save costs within
an organization
budgeting is one of the most important
aspects of project management and when
you start to stay on budget is one of
the trickiest tasks it's important not
to go over budget and cost the company
extra money
and it's equally important not to be
under budget either
since that might affect the company's
budget for the next year
when it comes to high profile businesses
such as publicly traded companies like
Google or public sector organizations
such as your local education department
they may have a requirement to report on
their financial performance to
shareholders or auditors
going too far over or under budget will
change the way the company budgets for
the next year potentially leaving you
with less money to work with in the
future
in other words a project manager must
show the requested amount of money was
used in order to secure enough budget
for future projects
for smaller businesses there may be a
tighter budget in which case it's
especially critical to be careful about
spending too much money on a project
than initially allocated
it's really helpful to your overall
success as a project manager to
understand budgeting so in the next
video we're going to learn the specific
ins and outs of what's included in a
budget see you soon
now that you have an understanding of
what a budget is let's discuss some
specific components in a budget
there are so many things to factor into
project budgeting unfortunately it's not
quite as simple as a company saying we
have five thousand dollars so that's our
budget when you go to the grocery store
in the same way that you don't determine
how much apples will cost businesses
can't just decide that they want to
spend two hundred dollars on a project
if the market rate for a project of the
same caliber is two thousand dollars
instead project managers must account
for understanding stakeholder needs
budgeting for Surplus expenses
maintaining adaptability and reviewing
and reforesting throughout the entire
project
and these are only some examples of what
you'll need to take into account
let's imagine some of these factors in
our office Green project
in terms of understanding stakeholder
needs it's important to know exactly
what stakeholders expect from this
project in order to deliver as a company
the ultimate goal is typically to make a
profit and to save money and time
so the project sponsor the director of
product in this case needs the project
to come in at a certain cost in order to
make profit
as the project manager you will also
need to budget for surprise expenses
let's say several Planters arrive from
the vendor broken and cracked maybe the
plant is cracked during delivery process
and it isn't the vendor's fault
in that case you'll have to order some
additional Planters to fulfill orders
and that may be an added cost
as your project continues along you'll
have to review your budget and sometimes
reforcast which means creating a
separate revised budget based on how
your project is tracking
keeping on top of the budget will help
you stay organized and reforcasting is a
way to recalibrate the budget if
necessary as the project manager Office
screen you might find that you need to
shift costs to different resources and
categories within your project budget
maybe you initially overestimated the
cost of plants from the vendor and
underestimated the costs of marketing
your new launch so you can reallocate
these dollars as necessary
that's a great example of how to review
and reforcast
there are several factors to consider
when creating a budget including
resource cost rates Reserve analysis
contingency budget and cost of quality
you'll need to determine resource cost
rates resource cost rates are exactly
what they sound like the cost of a
resource
some examples of resources are labor
tools equipment materials and software
so you'll want to ask yourself how much
will each of these resources cost the
company sometimes a project can be
derailed because the project manager
didn't adequately include funds for
reserves or buffers performing a reserve
analysis will help you account for any
buffer funds you may need a reserve
analysis is a method to check for
remaining project resources
in performing a reserve analysis you'll
review all potential risks to your
project and determine if you need to add
buffer funds
These funds are necessary because new
costs that you didn't originally foresee
will arise
this is also known as contingency budget
contingency budget in the context of
project management is money that is
included to cover potentially unforeseen
events that aren't accounted for in a
cost estimate
the purpose is to compensate for the
uncertainty that occurs in cost and time
estimates as well as unpredictable risk
exposure
the cost of quality refers to all of the
costs that are incurred to prevent
issues with products processes or tasks
the cost of quality includes prevention
costs appraisal costs internal failure
costs and external failure costs
once you've applied these factors
resource cost rates Reserve analysis
contingency budget and the cost of
quality into your budget you can
estimate what your project might cost
remember your budget will most likely
change starting with an initial estimate
is one way to ensure that you are at
least on track
and it's okay if your budget does change
that's why we review and reforcast
hopefully you're starting to notice the
framework for creating a budget in the
next lesson we'll begin to piece a
budget together
let's put all of your notes in newly
acquired knowledge to use
see you soon
now that we've learned about budgeting
let's find out how it all works together
by now we know that project budgets help
to control costs throughout the duration
of the project
they help project managers establish the
main objectives of their project and
keep them within a reasonable framework
to ensure that project makes Financial
sense for the company
so what's the best way to start making a
project budget
you'll find that as you get further
along in the process there are various
resources and tactics that you can use
to make sure you aren't overestimating
or underestimating
you'll use techniques like researching
historical data leveraging experts the
bottom-up approach confirming accuracy
and setting your Baseline
for starters you can always review past
projects that are similar to yours to
get an idea of what your project could
entail
we'll refer to that as referring to
historical data this way you can find
out what past project managers did right
and wrong the more experienced you
become as a project manager the more
historical data you'll have to draw upon
and the better your estimations will be
in a similar vein you can leverage
experts in the field
to leverage something means to use it to
its maximum Advantage so leveraging
experts means Gathering their insights
to do something more effectively
reaching out to colleagues who worked on
a similar project in the past will be a
great resource for you as an entry-level
project manager
if you're asking someone outside of your
company for advice be sure to avoid
sharing any confidential company
information with them
another approach to take is the
bottom-up approach this means thinking
about all the parts of a project from
the beginning to the end including
making a list of every material resource
contract worker or anything that comes
with an Associated cost and adding all
of that together you should also ask the
vendors you're thinking of working with
for quotes so you can get a rough
estimate of how much their work will
cost
after you've created your budget with
these resources you'll want to double
check everything to confirm accuracy
of course the work doesn't stop once
you've created the budget next you'll
have to set the Baseline
your Baseline is the dollar amount that
you'll use to measure against to find
out if you're on track or not and to
measure the success of your project
once you've set your Baseline you'll
have to revisit that number and adjust
it to match where the project is
currently
making adjustments in real time is
something you have to do a lot as a
project manager the size of the
projecting company will determine how
often you should re-examine and update
the budget
creating a thorough budget is important
to the success of your project with
project plant Powers we suggest breaking
the project down into tasks that's the
bottom-up approach
from there we estimate the cost of each
item add those estimates together add
contingency and tax and seek overall
approval on our budget from our key
stakeholders
since we're creating a new service we'll
need to hire designers and developers to
build out the website and develop the
app for our customers
once these tasks are laid out you'll
have to negotiate employee allocations
contractor rates and shop around for
vendors and delivery services
this will help you assign cost estimates
to each task
now that the tasks have been broken down
and assigned you'll need to account for
material costs
do your team members and stakeholders
need equipment
maybe an employee with a disability
requires modifications to accommodate or
enhance their workplace
maybe some remote workers need the
hardware and accessories necessary to
work from home
this is where you'll include everything
from computers to software related to
the launch
will you need storage space for
miscellaneous plants or supplies
miscellaneous is a term that we use to
represent additional items that are not
included in any of the other areas
usually there are minor items or items
where there are only one or two of them
and that they are not a major budget
line be sure to add these items to your
expenses
you'll also need a few more line items
start with the fixed cost that won't
change over the course of the project
let's say you're paying to advertise the
web developer role to a job board
it may cost you about fifty dollars to
post that job description
that's an example of a fixed one-time
cost
next you'll need a line item for things
like travel expenses and meals
and finally we'll want to account for
buffers and Reserves
you'll need to factor in unexpected
costs that may come up later on
be sure to leave yourself with some
buffer room
we've chosen to account for five percent
of the overall project budget as our
buffer this is a standard practice and
depending upon how much detail you know
about the project already you can raise
or lower your percentage for Reserves
the client needs to be aware of this
buffer in case spending starts to become
excessive in which case you need to
problem solve with the client and agree
to adjust the scope
you'll want to include a planned cost
versus actual cost column 2. this way
you can keep track of your cost every
step of the way
we'll provide you with concrete budget
templates in the readings associated
with this section so you can fully
immerse yourself in the process
remember every project will have an
estimated cost and a final cost your
goal is to get your estimated cost as
close to the final cost as possible
you may have to recalibrate your
estimations during the project
that's when the estimated cost to
complete the project comes in the final
cost of your project differs from the
forecasted or estimated cost if you
weren't exactly on target with your
budget
remember while your goal is to get as
close to the original estimate as
possible that won't always be the case
each time you're placed on a new project
it will be helpful to look back on the
final costs of previous projects and see
how close you came to your goal
now you know the best way to create a
project budget up next we're going to
talk about maintaining a budget see you
there
now that you have an idea of how to
create a budget we're going to discuss
how you'll manage that budget and
explore some challenges that you might
face like being under or over budget as
mentioned previously you'll want to
check in on your budget regularly
but what exactly does that mean what are
you checking for
how can you tell if you're staying
within your budget or not monitoring the
budget is crucial for a project manager
to enforce accountability in terms of
spending
by monitoring your budget regularly
you'll be able to tell if the plans you
set into action are actually being
implemented on both a financial and
operational level
as you may recall from previous video a
milestone is an important Point within
the project schedule that indicates
progress and usually signifies the
completion of a deliverable or phase of
the project
Milestones are a metric for tracking
progress in the project Milestones are a
great opportunity to re-review the
budget to identify if anything needs to
be reset or Revisited throughout the
project
that said Milestones can act as a
checkpoint for Budget management and
payment
you may have agreed in your contract
that you get paid at certain Milestones
rather than at the end of the project
fixed contracts are usually paid for
when certain Milestones are reached
whereas time and materials contracts are
usually paid for monthly based on the
hours worked and other fees associated
with the work like travel and meals as
you monitor your budget you'll want to
be on top of cost control
cost control is a practice where a
project manager identifies factors that
might impact their budget and then
creates effective actions to minimize
variances
think of it this way it's proactive
budget management it is much better to
be proactive with your budget than to be
reactive with your budget if you are
reacting instead of anticipating then
you may already have some kind of
problem with the budget
in order to control costs you should
establish a sign-off plan and inform the
appropriate stakeholders of any changes
that occur
you'll have to ask yourself which
stakeholders or sponsor will be
approving the contractor or vendor
timesheets what about invoices you'll
also need to make sure any changes
within the project budget are agreed
upon for example you shouldn't approve a
new cost or item if it hasn't been
agreed upon or if it isn't within the
scope and you shouldn't be spending
money if it's not pre-approved by your
stakeholder or project sponsor
it is also important to make sure
there's good business case before
bringing it to the stakeholder you'll
also need to manage changes as they're
made this involves updating forecasts or
estimates and tracking everything you
never want to be surprised by budget
changes and you don't want to have to
keep asking stakeholders for more money
you can prevent that by revisiting these
numbers on a regular basis you'll also
want to accept that budget misses will
happen it's your job to bring the
expected cost overruns within acceptable
limits
before the project starts collaborate
with the project sponsors and key
stakeholders to determine an acceptable
limit is it one percent ten percent
you'll decide together in a previous
video we talked briefly about what
happens when a project goes over or
under budget having a project go over
budget May mean that the company will
have less funds for other areas within
the business so let's dig a little
deeper into the effects on a company
when a project goes under budget even
though it seems like going under budget
would be a project manager's dream it
actually isn't
if you go under budget it's an indicator
of less than satisfactory project
management
going under budget indicates that you
may not have done a good job at
initially estimating going under budget
could also indicate that you could have
spent more money on the project meaning
that you could have possibly had extra
resources or better quality output
and it may mean that the budget for
future projects will be slashed
the company May figure that since you
did this project under budget you'll be
able to do future projects under budget
too so that's not a totally desirable
situation to be in either the best
option is to adequately account for
adapt and manage your budget with that
risk in mind
later on we'll cover other strategies
more in depth that you could use to save
the company money and time you'll also
learn the ins and outs of identifying
and managing risks a little later on in
the course
in the next lesson we'll learn about
procurement see you in a bit
in the past we've compared project
management to starting a new hobby
let's say you're trying to take up
painting
in order to paint you'll need to
purchase or in other words procure paint
supplies and materials so first you ask
yourself what supplies will you need
what kind of paint will you start with
do you want to try oil paint watercolor
or acrylic
will you paint on canvas wood or paper
you need to research these choices
before you procure your materials once
your research is done you can start
procuring materials scheduling courses
watching tutorials and voila you're on
your way to becoming the next Frida Kalo
so as you may have guessed by now
procurement means obtaining all of the
materials services and supplies required
to complete the project you'll need to
procure vendors as well vendors are
individuals or businesses who provide
essential goods and services therefore
think of vendor management as
procurement for individuals or
businesses
vendor management covers the activities
included in researching and sourcing
vendors
instead of materials vendor management
is often a matter of sourcing for a
specific service or talent and then
managing that relationship sourcing
Talent includes researching and
obtaining estimated costs from different
partner companies you may use on a
project you'll typically use vendors
when they provide specialized skills
that aren't available within your
company
vendor management entails sourcing
vendors getting quotes for their work
deciphering which vendors will best
fulfill your needs negotiating their
contracts setting deadlines for them
evaluating performance and ensuring
payments are made
it also entails familiarizing yourself
with regulations like the Americans with
Disabilities Act if you're working in
the U.S for example
and if you're somewhere else being aware
of similar regulations in that country
keep in mind that not every project will
require vendors or contractors and so
every project won't require vendor
management let's revisit the example of
contract workers in the context of
project plant Powers at office Green
like many companies office Green doesn't
have a copywriting department so for the
launch of project plant Powers you'll
need to use external resources to supply
a contracted copywriter this person is a
necessary team member on the project
because office Green doesn't have
copywriters or internal employee
resources required to finish this task
this contractor or team of contractors
will draft copy for the website for a
slated amount of time
and then their work on this particular
project will be complete awesome now
that you know about procurement in the
next video we'll discuss the different
phases of the procurement process and
how procurement differs depending on
your approach to project management see
you then
while not every single project will
require procurement it's important to be
prepared for it if and when procurement
does come up so how do you get started
there are typically five steps that make
up the procurement process
let's go over them first is initiating
which is the planning process of
defining what help you may need outside
of your current resources to hit the
project goals in this step you'll also
make a case for getting extra resources
via the procurement process
second is selecting which entails
deciding what supplies you need and
which vendors you'll go through the
third step is contract writing which is
where the contracts are developed
reviewed and signed
the fourth step is control which is when
you make payments set up Logistics and
requirements to maintain quality and
ensure the service agreement is being
met the fifth and final step is
completing which is where you'll measure
the success of the procurement
that's a quick overview of the
procurement process this high-level
cycle of procurement will make more
sense as we continue on through this
course
one thing to note is the procurement
process can seem a little different
depending on the project management
methodology
there are differences in procurement in
the context of agile versus traditional
agile procurement management is often
more collaborative with both the project
team and the end supplier than
traditional approaches there is a heavy
emphasis on the relationship between
these parties the whole project team
plays a larger role in identifying what
needs to be procured rather than
featuring contracts that are based on
fixed deliverables agile procurement
management tends to have a living
contract that can be adapted based on
the evaluation of the project if you
think of the word agility which means to
move easily and quickly you'll be able
to remember that agile procurement can
change more easily than traditional
procurement methods
in this process the team reviews the
project or deliverables on a reoccurring
basis and consistently addresses
feedback this way of working is
important to communicate to your
suppliers so they understand this style
of working and agree to maintain
flexibility again it is so important to
have a positive relationship with the
procurement supplier
this is critical since a contract may
need to be renegotiated at multiple
points during the project
on the other hand traditional
procurement management tends to focus on
standard contracts with clear terms and
deliverables when it comes to
traditional approaches the project
manager may be responsible for
end-to-end procurement instead of the
entire team providing input the
contracts May feature lengthy and
extensive documentation that include
fixed requirements and comprehensive
detail of the services and deliverables
while this may appear more rigid the
benefit is you've outlined clearer work
streams and deadlines
this way you're much more protected from
unforeseen circumstances and may not
have to pay for unpredictable changes
in traditional approaches the
negotiation process can be a little bit
trickier you won't necessarily have the
room to renegotiate contracts if
something changes so you may have to
start the whole process over again
that's why being as detailed as possible
and spending more time in the
negotiation phase is incredibly
important in a more traditional project
management approach as you may have
guessed procurement can become pretty
complex
but there are some official documents
that can help guide you through the
procurement process
in the next video you'll learn more
about those documents and processes see
you there
are a few important documents that help
a project manager navigate through each
phase of procurement
for instance in the initiating phase a
project manager will create a
non-disclosure agreement otherwise known
as an NDA
in a selecting phase a project manager
creates a request for proposal or an RFP
in the Contracting phase a statement of
work or an sow is created
now let's learn more about these
acronyms and documents the first
important document is a non-disclosure
agreement also known as an NDA
ndas are standard within a lot of
companies and it's best practice to ask
external contract workers to sign an NDA
the purpose of an NDA is to keep
confidential information within the
organization
so for instance if a company is using
some kind of proprietary technology on a
project or preparing for a sensitive
product launch they want to ensure that
any conversations or information
surrounding that technology doesn't leak
out to competitors or to the public
before the company is ready to launch
for example in project plant Pals
vendors might be required to sign an NDA
because the project is new to Market and
hasn't been made public yet then we have
a request for proposal or an RFP a
document that outlines the details and
requirements of an organization's
project to be passed on to vendors rfps
are used to solicit bids from vendors so
that you can then select which vendor
might be the best for your project a RFP
is widely used within different
departments in a company and across
various Industries an RFP typically
includes an overview of the project the
desired outcomes and goals budget
deadlines milestones and contact
information so each vendor can get back
to you with a detailed proposal of how
they plan to tackle the job
when creating an RFP make sure to add
the following headers to your document
the overview
treat this section like a general
summary what is the purpose of this
project What problems will it solve what
new doors will open for the company
your goals
what are some measurable results you can
aim to achieve throughout the process
next is the scope of work
what are the specifics of the project
how are you going to achieve those goals
and make sure the project launches
successfully then include milestones
make sure to highlight the key
Milestones your project will include
lastly include submission requirements
like please submit the RFP as a
presentation and include three
prototypes as well as the questions
you'd like the vendor to answer as part
of the process
this helps you properly assess potential
vendors
for instance you might want to know what
issues a contractor sees up front or how
the costs will break down
after the RFP is sent out various
vendors will review it and if they feel
they can fulfill your Project's needs
they'll provide a proposal
for example you may create an RFP for
project plant powers to Source plant
providers
in this case you'll want to send out
rfps to all possible plant providers to
ensure that you're getting the best
price quality and overall value you may
hear RFP being used as a verb as in has
this been rfped yet that's really a way
of asking if an RFP has been sent out to
vendors yet
it's important to note that both the NDA
and the RFP are fixed and remain the
same throughout the process
this means that there's not a lot of
room for customization and it won't be
changed once it's submitted
lastly there's a third important
document called a statement of work or
an sow
an sow is sent after the vendor is
selected and evolves as the project goes
on
we'll continue discussing these Concepts
and further explore the importance of a
statement of work in the next video I'll
see you there
let's continue learning about the
necessary documents required for a
successful project
after you've sent a request for a
proposal to clients and you've selected
the vendor client or contractor you want
to work with you'll also send them an
sow or a statement of work a statement
of work is a document that clearly lays
out the products and services a vendor
or contractor will provide for the
organization an sow also provides a
description of the contractor's needs
and requirements to properly perform the
agreed upon services
although the sow covers the customer's
needs it's equally as important to
include the organization's needs and the
vendors needs too
it's critical that all parties involved
understand what is expected from each of
them in order to deliver the best
possible products or services
the project manager is tasked with
developing the sow but often asks for
input from subject matter experts or
smes for technical expertise that the
project manager may not have
your organization's legal advisors will
review this document with you and may
even be crafting it alongside you
let's discuss how to create an sow in
the example of project plant powers
you'll want to start by including page
headers with your company name project
and creation date on them
at the top of the page make sure to
include important stakeholders like
yourself as the project manager and the
name of the sponsor which in this case
is the director of product
next you'll construct a table for
revisions
the sow will likely go through a few
rounds of revisions because several
stakeholders May review it and suggest
changes you'll detail those changes in
this box here
next you'll create a purpose section
where you'll go into detail about
exactly what the desired outcomes are
make sure to include a section regarding
your target audience and make sure it's
inclusive of everyone
for instance in this case the purpose of
the project is to launch a new service
that provides desk plans to offices and
Commercial businesses
if you have more specific goals you can
list them here too
next is the scope section where you'll
include what the service entails
you may write that the service includes
providing customers with small low
maintenance plants that they can place
on their desks
customers can order plants online or
from a print catalog office screen will
ship the plants to the customer's work
address the types of plants in scope
include six inch leafy ferns small cacti
and 5-inch bonsai trees
keeping this vendor in mind some major
activities may be
storing the plants in a warehouse
maintaining the health of the plants by
providing them with water and Light
sourcing the vases and ensuring that the
vases are in near perfect condition upon
delivery
you'll also want to mention what's out
of scope or in other words what the
project doesn't include
this will eliminate any potential room
for confusion and help set expectations
with the vendor
for instance you may write that the
project doesn't include annual reporting
or custom plant orders that are not
mentioned in the scope
this helps draw clear lines and sets the
right expectations with the vendor for
deliverables you'll want a concise
statement about what your project will
deliver
for example your office Green project
deliverables could include the vendor
providing maintenance guides on how to
take care of the plants or that the
vendor will be responsible for
developing a support page on office
Green's website to address any questions
or concerns
since Milestones are such an integral
part of tracking progress budget and
scope they'll need to be included here
too
examples of milestones in project plant
Powers could be to fulfill the first
quarter of plant orders delivered to all
of the top customers launch customer
satisfaction surveys collect and report
on any insights from customer feedback
you'll want to make it really clear on
how many hours are needed for the
completion of this project here and you
will want to designate a particular date
that you need their services performed
by here at the bottom you'll typically
add terms and conditions and any other
disclaimers it's good to have a
disclaimer stating that revisions may
take place as the project goes on this
is important to include just in case the
scope changes because of unforeseen
issues
it's a good idea to add revisions into
the disclaimer because as a project
manager it's best not to over promise
and under deliver you always want to be
clear that you intend to stick to the
schedule unless circumstances outside of
your control intervene Another Part Of
Your sow is payment terms this outlines
when your suppliers need to be paid
ensuring that suppliers are paid on time
will promote strong relationships
generally good procurement practice
would be to pay your vendors and
contractors upon delivery of goods and
service not before unless a
circumstantial agreement has been made
for instance if office greens plant
provider requested to be paid when each
Milestone was completed instead of after
the entire project is finished
great job now you know more about sows
next up we'll discuss the importance of
partnering with your legal team during
the procurement process see you there
now that you have a better understanding
about ndas rfps and sows let's discuss
how you can get support from other
departments and team members as
procurement goes forward the procurement
process doesn't end after you've
selected vendors and signed contracts
you'll use performance trackers and
meetings like quarterly business reviews
to track and evaluate overall
performance to ensure that both parties
are living up to their initial agreement
and when there are contracts and
paperwork with terminology that you may
not be familiar with you'll enlist the
help of a legal team
depending on the company's size the
legal situation may vary
some companies usually well established
and larger businesses will have a legal
team
some businesses May Outsource their
legal team
some startups or smaller companies may
not have a legal team but they might
reach out to Legal advisors as needed
again this all depends on the company
where you work laws surrounding
manufacturing products and consumerism
will vary from country to Country
but there will nearly always be laws in
place that you'll need to follow around
topics like fair and ethical trade
most companies have a mission or value
statement
sometimes a team of people in the ethics
and compliance departments are tasks
we're ensuring that the day-to-day
operations are adhering to their value
statement and governmental policies
these team members will also be tasked
with duties like working to prevent
discrimination and making sure that the
company is practicing adequate corporate
social responsibility also as a project
manager you'll need to ensure that the
various stakeholders who are
representing the business are adhering
to these policies and processes too
you'll all need to be aware of any
pertinent meetings regarding legal or
compliance issues and you as a project
manager will have to remind the team
about when those meetings are being held
looping in the appropriate stakeholders
is especially critical if there's some
kind of necessary approval since it'll
have an impact on the project one way or
another like most projects for project
plant Pals looping in legal and
compliance for review and approvals is
really important for instance let's say
some of the offices where you're
delivering plants are pet friendly
in your contract with the supplier
you've specified that you want to offer
non-toxic plants only unfortunately the
supplier provided a plant with leaves
that are harmful to animals office Green
could potentially be liable and in legal
trouble because this critical detail was
missed pretty crucial consideration
right
so regardless of your future company's
legal team or advisory having contracts
reviewed in some capacity make good
business sense and should be a priority
for you as a project manager
now you're on your way to becoming your
own lawyer only kidding but you
hopefully have a better grasp of the
importance of your legal team and having
them review your contracts next up we'll
discuss the importance of checking in
with your vendors
and we'll find out what compliance has
to do with the procurement process I'll
see you soon
welcome back
we've learned a bit about the ins and
outs of Contracting with vendors so
let's learn more about the importance of
Ethics when partnering with vendors
failing to be mindful when choosing
vendors can lead to significant
consequences
if you've seen a company in the news
that's been entangled in a scandal that
usually means that the team probably
should have done more research in the
procurement process
so what does that entail
there's a lot that can be done to ensure
that businesses are operating in an
ethical way
project managers have a big job when
deciphering whether or not every aspect
of their project is sourced ethically it
helps if the project manager thoroughly
oversees the project to make sure the
safety economic and environmental
ethical risks are mitigated in other
words doing a lot of research monitoring
and evaluating throughout the project is
a project manager's job there are a
couple of steps to safeguard ethical
procurement the first is knowing your
business's legal requirements
you'll want to have a deep understanding
of what is required of you legally as a
project manager for your business you
can also seek out the code of ethics for
your profession
which in this case is for project
managers
for instance the project management
Institute also known as PMI has a code
of ethics that you can access as a
member or credential holder
this will help you understand some
parameters for how to assess ethical
versus unethical procurement according
to the pmi's code of ethics honesty
responsibility respect and fairness are
the values that drive ethical conduct
for the project management profession
so when you become a project manager if
you aren't totally sure if something is
ethical first try to use your best
judgment based on what you believe those
words mean and continue to do the
required research if you still aren't
sure don't hesitate to ask a subject
matter expert such as someone from the
legal team as a starting point some
unethical issues or risks you may run
into may include bribery or corruption
some regulations in other countries may
not be the same as regulations in your
country so for example you'll want to
make sure labor is involved in
production are treated fairly working in
good conditions and are compensated
adequately for their work
it is a good idea to consult your legal
team to ensure that you don't run into
these situations and to be aware of the
regulations surrounding your processes
you'll also want to be aware of possible
issues with sole supplier sourcing
in some scenarios you may need to
perform non-competitive procurement
which is when a company restricts the
bidding process to one supplier this may
be common for companies who are more
cautious about exposing Trade Secrets
but regardless of your reasoning you'll
need to be able to justify exactly why
you are choosing to restrict bidding to
one supplier there's also interaction
with state-owned entities
you'll want to be vigilant when dealing
with government agencies and officials
government agencies may have tighter
restrictions and regulations in regard
to sourcing and you don't want to do
anything unethical without even knowing
it a project manager monitors the
Project's ethics throughout the whole
process
in the initiating phase you'll need to
decide whether the project is ethical in
the first place
does it meet your business's code of
ethics does the project meet
environmental ethics laid out by
governmental agencies
is the labor going to be ethically
sourced you'll need to review government
regulations and policies assess
potential risks and put together a
diverse team that you trust to be
ethical before the contracts are signed
you'll want to figure out whether the
suppliers you're thinking of hiring are
ethical you'll want to make sure that
you're procuring them in an ethical way
and are paying them a fair rate
and you'll also want to completely
understand the supply chain if there is
one after the contracts have been signed
by your contractors make sure to carry
out your Assurance duties this may
include things like auditing each task
and cost executing quality control or
even approving invoices during the
production of your service or product
focus on the day-to-day relationships
with vendors to make sure they're aware
of and meeting your deliverables and
keeping you informed of any potential
roadblocks after you've done all the
research that you possibly can on
whether your project is ethical remember
to trust yourself
if something feels wrong it probably is
as you know there's a lot to keep track
of as a project manager by keeping these
ethical principles in mind as you begin
your project you'll save yourself and
the company from a lot of headaches
later on of course you can usually go to
your legal team or key stakeholders if
you ever have a question or need a
second opinion in the next video we're
going to review and wrap up everything
we've just covered I'll see you there
wow we really covered a lot here we
learned all about managing costs and
budget
we learned that a project budget is the
estimated monetary resources needed to
achieve outline goals and objectives
we learned that a project budget is much
more nuanced than just aiming to save
money it's a success metric that's used
to track project performance and
remember it's not desirable to be over
budget or under budget we also learned
that cost control involves several
stakeholders sign off from Key
stakeholders and actively managing
changes and we definitely went in depth
from procurement and vendor management
which involves obtaining the necessary
supplies materials and external
resources for your Project's success
we learned the important steps
initiating selecting contract writing
control and completing
we now know that procurement will be
different depending on which methodology
you're using an agile procurement
approach differs from a traditional
procurement approach
it's more relationship based because the
negotiation stays open the whole time
an agile procurement requires more
frequent communication with vendors
because the contracts may be reviewed
and adjusted regularly
the traditional approach is typically
done during a procurement stage and ends
there
we learned about ndas rfps and sows and
we created an sow together
finally you learned a bit about how to
think critically when it comes to ethics
and procurement
you learned how to adhere to a code of
ethics when to use your own judgment and
the importance of researching the ethics
of procurement
nice job
next up you're going to learn about
different types of risks how to identify
risk and how to mitigate risk see you
there
welcome back earlier we covered managing
costs and a project budget
we discussed what the components of a
project budget are how the budget
process works and how to track and
estimate a budget
you also learned about the procurement
process
coming up we will discuss risk
management and why it's important to
help prevent project failure
knowing how to anticipate and alleviate
commonly known as mitigate the potential
problems is your best bet for keeping a
project on track
you will learn how to define and relate
risk management Concepts and explain how
risk management can help protect your
project from failing
you'll also identify risk types and how
to measure their impact on a project and
communicate and resolve identified risks
using a mitigation plan
ready to get started great meet me in
the next video
think about a time in your life when you
managed a project
maybe it was a professional project like
creating an employee schedule or a
personal project like planning a family
celebration
now ask yourself this did everything go
according to plan
if I had to guess I would bet there was
at least one hurdle you had to deal with
that's because no project goes 100
according to plan even when they are run
by the most experienced project managers
maybe you planned that employee schedule
perfectly and then someone caught a cold
forcing you to rearrange the schedule at
the last minute
or maybe just as family members started
arriving for that celebration you
realized you forgot to buy ice to keep
the drinks cold and hey these things
happen as we told you earlier
flexibility is an important skill for
managing projects
due to the nature of the project and
really life in general it's also
important that you identify and plan for
risks that could impact your project
let's discuss what a risk actually is
a risk is a potential event which can
occur and can impact your project
when you think about risk in the context
of project management
you'll think about them as hypothetical
in other words these aren't events that
will definitely happen but because
there's a possibility that they could
happen it's your responsibility as the
project manager to identify and plan for
those risks
next let's discuss issues
an issue is a known or real problem that
can affect the ability to complete a
task
so what's the difference between a risk
and an issue
think of it like this a risk is an event
that could potentially happen if the
event actually happens then the risk
becomes an issue in other words risks
are the big what ifs and issues are
things that currently impact a project
it is clear that risks and issues can
pose a threat to your project how you
manage those risks is known as risk
management
risk management is the process of
identifying and evaluating potential
risks and issues that could impact a
project
it's not a one-time exercise it's
something that you'll need to do
regularly to address potential risks
risk management is a crucial part of the
planning process
by giving you an understanding of what
could go wrong with your project
it also tells you who you need to
consult about the risk
it helps you determine how the potential
risk could be mitigated
this way if or when something goes wrong
you'll have a plan prepared and ready to
go part of being proactive and planning
ahead is identifying potential risks and
how to solve for them
this way you'll set up your project with
better chances for success
failing to engage in meaningful risk
management can have a few big
consequences for your project
first if you don't plan ahead you may
put your project at risk of not meeting
its project goal its timelines or
success criteria
for example if your goal is to publish a
research report and your research
analyst quits halfway through the
project you'll likely miss the deadline
if you don't have a backup plan ready to
go
additionally by failing to plan for
risks you also fail to Think Through the
many different ways that your project
could pivot and still meet its goals
even if an issue does arise there often
isn't just one way to meet your project
goals and success can come in many forms
risk management helps you determine how
flexible or rigid your plan is and then
make necessary adjustments
for example
if your project requires a large product
shipment having a backup supplier ready
means you could quickly pivot if our
main supplier is unable to fulfill your
order finally
risks can affect projects in a variety
of ways that are difficult to foresee
for example A supplier you've hired may
not have adequate stock to cover your
purchasing needs or the budget for your
project could be cut unexpectedly
the risk management process helps reduce
the impact of unexpected events freeing
up resources to focus on activities that
benefit the project
let's imagine risk management in the
context of plant Powers at office Green
which is a new service that will provide
customers with small low maintenance
desk plants one potential project risk
is the possibility that the web page for
the new service won't be live in time
for the launch
another potential risk could be a
fulfillment shortage
what would you do if the plant supplier
runs low on the cacti and ferns that you
need
to prepare for these potential risks you
will need to think about ways to
mitigate these issues before they happen
or how you will address these issues if
they actually occur
hopefully these things won't be a
problem but if they are you'll be
prepared
I also want to stress the issues will
come up throughout the project you did
not or could not have planned for and
that's okay when these moments arise it
is important to keep calm figure out the
root cause of the problem and come up
with a solution
risk management is a really important
topic for project managers to understand
identifying risks and issues prepares
you for the unknown
it also positively impacts you as the
project manager because you'll feel more
prepared less stressed and more
confident in your approach if an issue
does occur
up next we will discuss ways that you
can identify risks I'll meet you there
hi I'm Stanton and I'm a program manager
at YouTube thinking back to one of the
first projects I ever worked on
we're actually in charge of building
this Sports highlight app but it wasn't
just an app it was an IOS app it was an
Android app it was a website and I
remember the very first meeting I went
to I was just fiercely taking down notes
and trying to understand what the heck
was going on and immediately after I
thought okay this is my first project I
have to get all the details right
I have to make sure we know every little
thing that was going to happen
the launch date needed to be perfect we
had to get all the bugs down to zero I
was just totally consumed with getting
everything right the first time
I think what I've realized since then is
you're probably not going to get your
first project plan correct because
there's just so many things that can
change
um you might find a bug last minute
before launch
your client might come in and say they
want a different requirement like the
screen needs to be blue instead of red
and then you find out that it's not
really that easy to change from Blue to
Red if I could go back and and tell
myself what to do at that point or or
what
um what I could have done differently
um I would have just told myself
don't worry so much changes happen it's
how you react and respond to those
changes that's more important I think
one of the the best compliments I've
gotten is
you know even throughout all this mess
you're cool you're calm and you're
collected you think through what are the
issues that
have happened how do we resolve them and
you know you do your program management
thing you're not always going to have
the right answer the very first time
things can change at the last minute
if you're able to stay cool and calm
make sure you understand everything else
that's going on on the project all these
years have taught me that
um you can always reuse some things
you're always going to have to react to
some things but no matter what try to
think proactively try to figure out what
those issues are going to be and you'll
you'll be the better for it
foreign
it is to plan for risks even the
simplest projects can carry some kind of
risks
remember those risks shouldn't deter you
from pursuing the Project's goals
the key is to be prepared
let's discuss tools and techniques you
can use to identify risks including
brainstorming and risk assessment
brainstorming is one of the most
effective techniques for identifying
risks with the team because it allows
groups to spontaneously share ideas
without judgment
as a project manager you will be
responsible for bringing a group of
people together to imagine potential
risks
have your racy chart at the ready to
refer to when you decide who to invite
to this meeting
speaking from experience the best team
for this task is a diverse one which
includes individuals from various roles
backgrounds and experiences diverse
teams bring different perspectives
experiences and skill sets and this may
help you to identify risks that you may
not have thought of on your own
for example one member of your team
might have experienced working on
multiple projects while another newer
team member might bring a fresh
perspective from their previous
experience on other teams
a great tool that you can use during
brainstorming is called a cause and
effect diagram
also sometimes known as a fishbone
diagram
cause and effect diagrams show the
possible causes of an event or risk and
are very useful at risk management for
example
in the diagram scene here the effects
listed is a supplier missing its
deadlines
this is a risk to your project
on the left your brainstorm potential
causes that would lead to the effect
like poor delegation or a lack of
tracking tools
in other words cause and effect diagrams
can help identify all the ways that
things could go wrong by identifying a
potential risk known as the effect and
working backwards to consider the
potential causes of that risk
by categorizing and breaking them down
into further causes you are able to
identify areas that could lead to a
potential problem
like exceeding your budget or allowing
scope creep to impact your timeline as a
reminder scope creep refers to changes
growth and uncontrolled factors that
affect a Project's scope at any point
after the project begins
during these brainstorming sessions you
might find that your list of potential
risks is quite long and that's okay it
is a reality you and your team cannot
account for every single problem that
can occur during your project so how do
you decide which risks to focus on
list the outcomes from the brainstorm in
a risk register
a risk register is a table or chart that
contains your list of risks
next you will adopt a risk assessment
technique risk assessment is the stage
of risk management where qualities of a
risk are estimated or measured
by qualities we're mainly referring to
How likely the risk is to occur and its
potential impact on a project
we'll come back to this point in a
moment there are a few ways to assess
risks but one we'll focus on is creating
a probability and impact Matrix a
probability and impact Matrix is a tool
used to prioritize project risks I
personally love this technique and use
it all the time in my role at Google
earlier I mentioned that you'll need to
assess the likelihood that a risk will
happen and its potential impact this
Matrix will help you do just that
to create a probability and impact
Matrix you'll need to think about the
level of impact
impact refers to the damage a risk could
cause if it occurs
impact is also determined on a scale of
high medium and low
High means that if the risk occurs it
will substantially alter the project
low means if the risk occurs it will
have a slight impact but it's not likely
to derail the project
you'll also need to think about
probability
probability is the likelihood that a
risk will occur
we also determine probability on a scale
of high medium and low
in this case high probability means
there's a high likelihood of this
happening
low probability means you've identified
a risk that could happen but it isn't
likely that the risk will occur these
two considerations come together to
determine the inherent risk rating
inherent risk is the measure of a risk
calculated by its probability and impact
measuring the inherent risk gives us a
method for understanding a risk inherent
risk is also determined on a high medium
and low scale
so basically if a risk has a low impact
and a low probability it has a low
inherent risk rating
these are the types of risks you don't
need to worry too much about
but if a risk has a high impact and a
high probability then it carries a high
inherent risk rating
medium to high risks are the risks you
should focus on and create detailed
mitigation plans for
when you're creating a probability and
impact matrix it's important to ensure
you create a matrix that meets
accessibility guidelines and has
information and formatting that everyone
can easily and quickly understand one
way to do this is to use both color and
distinct shapes or text to communicate
levels of risk
you can learn more about accessibility
communication by visiting course
resources
the way you view and manage each risk
will be determined based on your
organization's risk appetite which
refers to the willingness of an
organization to accept the possible
outcomes of a risk
you your team and your stakeholders may
have different appetites for each risk
we'll discuss how risk appetite plays
into risk mitigation in just a bit
certain low-level risks that could
result in minor setbacks are much more
tolerable than high-level risks that
have the potential to completely derail
your project
once you've completed your risk
assessment you'll update the risk
register to include high medium and low
ratings for some examples of risks that
you've identified for this project
great now that we've covered how to
identify and assess risks we will go on
to the next video where we'll discuss
some of the types of risks you'll run
into during your role as a project
manager meet you there
hi again
let's discuss some common types of risks
that you might plan for while managing a
project though there are many different
types of risks that could impact your
project the big ones that you want to be
aware of are time risks budget risks and
scope risks let's break those down
first we have time risks
time risk refers to the possibility that
project tasks will take longer than
anticipated to complete
you'll need to be aware of time risks
because time is money
poor time management May deplete your
budget and upset your stakeholders by
causing delays
next we have budget risk budget risk
refers to the possibility that the cost
of a project will increase due to poor
planning or expanding the Project's
scope
you need to be aware of budget risk
since budgeting provides the basis for
project costs control
for example if you overspend you might
not be able to pay your suppliers
this could also result in some
reputational damage for the company
then we have scope risk scope risk
refers to the possibility that a project
won't produce the results outlined in
the project goals
you need to be aware of scope risks
because the deliverables of your project
might not be acceptable to your
stakeholders or customers
and that may defeat the purpose of the
entire project
while time budget and scope risks are
very common there are other types of
external risks that you should be aware
of
by external risks we're referring to
risks that result from factors outside
of the company that you have little to
no control over
for example your project could be
impacted by an environmental risk like a
major storm or a legal risk like a
change in regulatory requirements
and it's also important to know that
there are endless types of risks
there will never be a prescription for
how to identify and manage every single
possible risk but if you have a plan
you'll be better set up to deal with
whatever comes your way
okay now let's discuss a certain type of
risk known as a single point of failure
a single point of failure is a risk that
has the potential to be catastrophic and
halt work across a project
these are risks that have the power to
stop an entire team in its tracks
meaning that no one can make progress on
their tasks until the issue is resolved
for example in our office Green scenario
a single point of failure might be a
power outage that takes down the
internal database where every piece of
information about the project is stored
until the database is back up and
running your team won't have access to
any of the information they need to do
their jobs
as a result your team won't be able to
complete any of their assigned tasks
to mitigate this risk you might budget
for a separate cloud service to serve as
your backup for all of your project
documentation and information
as the project manager you will need to
identify and monitor potential single
points of failure in your project since
they can be detrimental to the project
timeline budget and scope
another source of risk to be aware of
are dependencies
a dependency is a relationship between
two project tasks where the start or
completion of one depends on the start
or completion of the other in other
words dependencies are like links that
connect one project task to another
a dependency must be addressed before
the task can be completed or before
another task can begin
because dependencies are the links that
connect one project task to another they
are often a huge source of risk to a
project
for example imagine that you've tasked a
teammate with hiring a local plant
supplier
until they've signed a contract with the
supplier your team can't place any
orders that's a dependency
now here's where the risk comes in if
your teammate doesn't meet the hiring
deadline and then goes on vacation for a
week this could delay your project
timeline not great right
if you don't plan for dependencies you
might risk an impact to your budget
schedule or project outcome
to prevent something like this from
happening you might ask a teammate to
share their out of office plans with you
at the start of the project
this helps you to stay aware of
everyone's schedules ensuring that there
are backup plans in place to maintain
your project schedule
there are two types of dependencies
internal and external internal
dependencies refer to dependencies
within the project that you and your
team have control over for example
you'll need to secure approval on a
website design before development can
begin
on the other hand external dependencies
are dependencies that you have no
control over
for example the farm that your plant
vendor works at might have experienced a
lighter rain season this year meaning
that they'll have fewer plants to sell
there are many different risks that can
impact your project from time risks to
budget risks to scope risks but remember
no project is risk-free
and with careful upfront planning you
can do your best to prevent risks from
occurring
in the next video we'll discuss how to
mitigate risks I'll meet you there
hi and welcome back
okay so you've learned how to identify
your Project's risks and assess them
using a probability and impact Matrix
now that you know which risks require
your attention how do you determine what
to do about them
this is where risk mitigation planning
comes in
risk mitigation planning is about
finding ways to eliminate or reduce the
impact of potential risks to your
project
there are four common ways to mitigate
risk
you can avoid it
accept it reduce or control it or
transfer it
let's discuss each option using the
office screen example
sometimes you can avoid the risk
altogether
for example if you learn that a certain
contractor you've considered working
with on your office Green project has a
poor reputation for meeting deadlines
then you might choose to avoid that risk
by hiring a different contractor
you can also accept the risk especially
ones that you deem low in probability
and impact in this case you're accepting
the possibility that this risk can
happen
you've agreed to monitor it throughout
the project and you'll ultimately be
okay with the risk if it does happen
for instance maybe your plant supplier
tells you that one of the planter Styles
you've requested is back ordered
the supplier is confident that they'll
have time to restock the Planters
without delaying your Project's schedule
but if there is an issue with their
restock shipment this could delay
deliveries to your clients by up to two
days
rather than starting over with a new
supplier you decide that it makes more
sense to accept the risk
it wouldn't be ideal for this delay to
occur but you're flexible and you know
that accepting this risk will save you
and your team the headache of onboarding
a new supplier which could take two
weeks another way to mitigate a risk is
to reduce or control it
personally I like to use a decision tree
when building mitigation plans
a decision tree is a flowchart that
helps visualize the wider impact of a
decision on the rest of your project for
example you decide to hire the
contractor with a reputation for missing
deadlines because you know they do great
work in this case you might create a
quick flowchart that visualizes the
risks and potential options for
addressing it like checking in with the
contractor daily either by email or
through meetings
ultimately you might then choose to have
daily check-in meetings with the team to
ensure that they're staying on top of
their tasks finally you can choose to
transfer the risk
for example you've determined that it's
too risky to attempt to grow plants on
site at office Green due to the
possibility that bad weather or pests
could negatively impact your product
instead you've made a decision to
transfer the risk to another party or
parties
by Outsourcing plant production to local
suppliers you have the power to change
supplies if there's an issue with
quality when you transfer the risk you
don't risk losing out on time resources
and money
so to recap four common ways to mitigate
a risk are to avoid it accept it reduce
or control it or transfer it
using one of these four strategies can
help you effectively take control of the
risks to your project
coming up we'll discuss how to document
these risks in a risk management plan
now that you know your options for
mitigating potential risks let's discuss
how to document your risk planning
decisions
as you've been learning throughout this
program documentation is a crucial part
of your role as a project manager
this is especially true when identifying
risks and creating a plan to mitigate
them
a risk management plan is a living
document that contains information
regarding high-level risks and the
mitigation plan for each of those risks
this plan helps ensure that teammates
and stakeholders have a clear
understanding of potential problems and
a plan to address them should they occur
risk management is an ongoing practice
that you'll take part in throughout the
planning and execution of a project
since risk management evolves throughout
the project the plan should be updated
regularly to add newly identified risks
remove risks that are no longer relevant
and include any changes in the
mitigation plans
let's review an example of a risk
management plan similar to the one we
sometimes use here at Google
at the top of the document we include
the name of the company and below it the
name of the project
we also include the document author so
that anyone reviewing the plan knows
exactly who to reach out to if they have
any questions
this template also designates a spot for
the document status
as you're building your plan you can
list the status as in progress
once the plan is complete you can change
the status to final
we've also included helpful details like
when the document was created and when
it was last updated
details like these might seem small but
it's best practice to include them
that's because being transparent about
dates provides stakeholders with a sense
of how up-to-date the document is below
these details we have the document
objective here we've written that our
objective is to outline mitigation plans
for project plant Pals below that we've
added an executive summary of our
project executive summaries should
include a brief introduction to the
normal conditions of a project
and an outline of the potential risks
that could impact the project
now on to the really important stuff the
risks and how we'll mitigate them
this document also includes the risk
register you learned about earlier which
is a table or a chart that contains your
list of possible risks
here we've outlined one of the potential
risks to project plant Powers which is
the potential for the vendor to fall
behind on a deadline
we've given this risk a medium inherent
risk rating
remember that inherent risk is the
measure of a risk calculated by its
probability and impact
a mitigation plan has also been included
for this risk which is to hold daily
meetings with the vendor to help them
stay on task down in the appendix of the
document you'll find the probability and
impact charts as well as the probability
and impact Matrix that we use to assess
our risks
once you've filled out the risk
management plan you'll share it with
your team and stakeholders to get their
input and to ensure that they are
aligned with your plans coming up we'll
dig deeper into the topic of
communicating risks to stakeholders
see you there
hello as you've learned in the past few
videos identifying and assessing risks
is a crucial part of the project
planning process
these exercises help clarify the most
important risks for you and your team
and ensure that everyone agrees on which
risks to plan for
but it's not enough for you and your
teammates to simply be aware of the
biggest risks to a project
you also need to communicate these risks
to your project stakeholders whether
through documentation email meetings or
other forms of communication you've
deemed appropriate your stakeholders
need to be aware of the risks facing a
project because if you don't tell your
stakeholders about important risks they
may be less equipped to help you if an
issue does arise for example they might
not be able to provide you with more
budget should you need it or with more
resources should you require them even
worse your stakeholder might be caught
off guard by an issue unpleasant
surprises like these can erode their
trust in you as a leader of the project
they'll likely want to know if you were
aware of the possibility that this risk
could occur and they might wonder why
you didn't share this information with
them sooner
that's why it's important to communicate
early and often with stakeholders about
medium and high level risks
it sets expectations with stakeholders
about what to potentially expect during
the project execution phase
and demonstrates that you've taken steps
to mitigate and plan for those risks
should they come up
it also gives you the opportunity to
suggest ways they might be able to help
you if a risk does arise so how do you
communicate risks to stakeholders during
a planning phase
well that depends on the severity of the
identified risk
for low-level risks something as simple
as an email might suffice
for example when sending out weekly
planning updates to a project
stakeholder you might list a few
low-level risks that are relevant to
their interests and briefly explain how
you address these risks if they arise
for medium level risks you might
increase your level of communication to
a direct email between yourself and the
stakeholder in which you outline the
risk with more specifics and provide a
detailed explanation of your plan to
mitigate the risk
you might also link to your risk
management plan to provide them with
more information
and you might write urgent in the
subject line to stress the email's
importance
the serious nature of high-level risks
requires a thorough and direct level of
communication
when you're meeting with stakeholders to
go over the project plan you might add
an agenda item to present serious risks
and your plans to mitigate these risks
you can also use this time to collect
feedback on your risk management plan
and ask for insights from stakeholders
on how they suggest handling these
high-level risks
your stakeholders might have prior
experience planning for similar risks
and strategies that you hadn't
considered before
risk communication is a big part of my
role here at Google
as a program manager I am constantly
writing emails and delivering
presentations on the status of my
projects
often with the goal of sharing known
risks and my risk mitigation plans
and in discussing these plans with my
stakeholders we often uncover other
risks that I hadn't even considered
for example in a recent meeting I was
presenting a potential new product to a
stakeholder on a different team
in the meeting the stakeholder flagged
their concerns that my solution might
create time and resource risks that
could have a negative impact on their
team
this discussion gave me deeper insights
of my colleagues potential risks and of
the products users needs
which made me realize that I needed to
ask my project sponsors for additional
budget and resources
so it's always a good idea to discuss
your plans with your stakeholders they
may have a different perspective
so to recap it's important to
communicate risks to stakeholders so
that they're better able to help you
should want to rise and you should
tailor your communication style
according to the severity of the risk
up next we'll review and wrap up all
that we've covered meet me there
my name is Aji and I'm a senior program
manager at Google program management
spans a lot of different Industries a
lot of different applications
at its core it means that we bring order
to chaos so at Google for me
I work on product launches I also
develop new processes and procedures for
teams so I work across different
functional areas so that could be
engineering it could be ux it could even
be people Ops
to help launch products to me risk
management means looking ahead and
trying to anticipate issues so I liken
it to the analogy of you know being on a
ship and being the person looking ahead
to make sure there's no rocks right a
lot of our projects I would say for the
most part at least in my experience are
never just done in a silo like there are
other dependencies right in other teams
that are depending on you to execute so
it's very important to
to de-risk to look ahead to manage those
risks to communicate those risks to to
the appropriate stakeholders to make
sure that you're delivering on your
commitments I think that that's the the
first step
um is identifying the problems bringing
in the right people so that you know
that you have a good kind of
comprehensive list
and then from there
man trying to figure out how to manage
those issues and again that can be and
that should be a very collaborative
thing right because everybody on your
team needs to be equally vested and
making sure that the project executes
successfully so I have a project right
now that I'm I'm working on and with
this project after we determine what our
strategy was going to be and what our
end state was going to be from a product
strategy perspective
The Next Step was creating what we call
ux MOX or ux designs and so basically
that's just image pictures of what we
want our end state to be like what's our
ideal state right in a visual format as
a program manager my job is to kind of
take a step back and make sure okay what
are the potential landmines like what
could go wrong
as I started going through the designs
and looking at them I realized that in
my mind it was hard for me to kind of
reconcile and say okay
um this is what we're doing today this
is what's going to change it wasn't very
clear to me and I'm less of a visual
person and more of like a you know I
like spreadsheets and all of that and
have you know things
um in detail and so in my mind I was
like okay if I'm having this issue
trying to reconcile between okay you
know visually we say we're going to
design this but this is where we are
like what's the difference if I'm having
this issue then maybe other people are
having this issue as well
and okay if other people are having this
issue maybe our Engineers are having
this issue as well and so you know when
I set up the meeting within five minutes
we we started to realize that there were
differences in how they were
interpreting what we were supposed to do
so we had gone down this road where
these two teams were executing on things
in different way we wouldn't have
realized it until the end and then it
would have been too late I love program
management
um I love coming into a a problem being
given a problem that's very ambiguous
um and not well thought through right
and it's a huge pain point and then
coming up with a solution to that
problem
nice work let's recap what we've
discussed so far
you learned about risks which are
potential events that could impact your
project
you also learned how risks differ from
issues which are known and real problems
that may affect the ability to complete
a certain task
and I introduced you to risk management
which is the process of identifying
potential risks and issues that could
impact a project and evaluating and
applying steps to address their effects
we've discussed brainstorming as a
technique for identifying risks and I
introduce you to tools you can use to
identify assess and document risks like
a probability an impact Matrix a risk
register and a risk management plan
and finally we discuss the importance of
communicating risks to your stakeholders
in order to set expectations and
demonstrate your work to plan for and
mitigate potential problems with the
project
coming up we'll discuss documentation
and communication
see you soon
welcome back
we're in the last section of this course
on planning and it's finally time to tie
together everything you've been working
on so far we've covered the key
components of the planning stage how to
set a schedule create and manage a
budget and how to identify and manage
risks
up next I'll discuss the importance of
project communication plans
there are many ways to effectively
communicate during the planning phase
and Beyond
here I'll teach you some great
communication strategies and I'll show
you how to create a successful
communication plan for any project
let's get started
okay let's start with an example
imagine you've planned a surprise party
for your best friend's birthday
you've been working on it for a month
and finally it's the big day
you show up at the restaurant where the
party is happening but there's an issue
the host says the reservation was
canceled because no one confirmed
a friend shows up with the birthday cake
but you'd ask them to bring cupcakes
another friend texts you saying they're
looking forward to seeing everyone
tomorrow night tomorrow
and then in the middle of all the
confusion you look over to see that your
best friend has already been seated on
the other side of the restaurant
not exactly the surprise party you had
in mind
what happened
poor communication happened
the friend who made the reservation
forgot to tell you to confirm 24 hours
in advance
the friend who ordered the cake never
saw your email asking him to get
cupcakes and you assumed everyone in the
group text message got the update that
the party was on Friday not Saturday
fortunately your best friend appreciated
the effort and was surprised anyway
but whilst you and your best friend can
have a good laugh about the party
planning breakdown if something like
this happens at work your boss and
co-workers might not think the same
communication is very important to every
project I'd even argue that it's the
most important tool in making sure your
project runs smoothly
many times what contributes to the
success or failure of a project team
comes down to whether or not everyone
understands what's happening and how
their tasks contribute to the Project's
goals
as project manager you play a big part
in making sure everyone knows what their
roles and tasks are
you're also the person that team members
come to when they're just in need of a
quick answer so being able to
communicate clearly and effectively is
key
it's important to remember that without
effective communication the project is
at risk of missing important
opportunities or even failing altogether
during a project I recently worked on my
stakeholders allocated a few design
Specialists to work with me
in the first week of the project I
noticed that one specialist wasn't
attending any of the project meetings I
decided to approach the individual about
their absence
when asked they stated that they were
well over capacity with the current
workload and were unable to commit to
the short deadlines I had been assigning
there were a couple of breakdowns in
communication here
first between the specialist and their
manager
and second between a specialist and me
the project manager
ideally The Specialist and their manager
would have communicated better with each
other about the specialist's ability to
take on the workload if I had not
communicated with the specialist their
continued absence at meetings could have
resulted in lots of lost time the
project being delayed or not being able
to deliver the project in a satisfactory
way
as it turned out we only ended up losing
a week of work due to the lack of
communication
however since I followed up quickly we
were able to Pivot and assign another
specialist to the project
so we know communication is very
important
but what is communication exactly
to put it simply communication is the
flow of information it includes
everything that's shared how it's shared
and with whom good effective
communication is always clear honest
relevant and frequent
but not too frequent
there is such a thing as information
overload
effective communication makes it
possible for your project to run on time
and up to the expectations outlined in
the project plan
so take full advantage of tools like
meetings emails phone calls written
documents and formal presentations and
make sure they are accessible by
everyone
it's also important to remember that
communication is not a one-time event or
a one-way route it needs to happen
throughout the entire life cycle of the
project
from the project team and stakeholders
as well as from you
so be sure to clarify goals and client
expectations follow up on action items
add communicate delays as the project
progresses
this will help you avoid issues and
setbacks
as the project manager you're
responsible for creating a consistent
flow of communication throughout the
project
setting the tone for team communication
and working to make sure everyone's on
the same page every step of the way
gives your project the best chance to
succeed
okay hopefully it's clear that
communication is incredibly important to
manage a project
coming up I'll show you how to make a
communication plan that will help you
manage all important communication
see you in a bit
so far you've learned some common ways
of communicating during a project
let's take that a step further by
learning how to create a communication
plan that will help you manage all the
different kinds of communication that
will happen during a project
trust me there's going to be a lot of
communication so you'll need a plan to
help you stay aware of it all and to use
as a tool for communicating effectively
a communication plan organizes and
documents the process types and
expectations of communication for the
project
the size and complexity of your
communication plan will be different for
every project but it is always good to
have one especially with multiple
stakeholders different phrases and
change management are involved
it will really help you your project and
the stakeholders
just like other plans related to the
project your communication plan needs to
address these questions
what needs to be communicated
who needs to communicate when
communication needs to happen why and
how to communicate and where the
information communicated is stored
let's break down each question with a
sample communication plan that I've
created for a plant Pals project
first off your communication plan should
include what you're communicating on or
in other words the type of communication
this could include things like status
updates issues feedback from users daily
check-ins and other types of project
meetings
then you need to identify who you'll
communicate with these are the
recipients of the information like key
stakeholders and the core project team
for each type of communication record
when to communicate
this includes the frequency which is how
often you'll communicate and key dates
like deadlines or major meetings
one thing to keep in mind is that not
everyone needs to receive the same
amount of information at the same time
generally speaking your key stakeholders
will get their information less often
like in a monthly high level summary
email or project review meeting
but your core project team could receive
more detailed info through daily email
updates or quick virtual check-ins
next include how you'll communicate or
what delivery method you'll use
this could be email in person or virtual
meetings or a formal presentation
your plan also needs to include the goal
of communicating
this is your why
so ask yourself why are you
communicating
is it to give a progress update identify
a risk and address barriers or perhaps
you need to figure out next steps detail
preparation plans and reflect on Lessons
Learned
the goal of communication could be a
combination of any of these or some
other reason altogether
in either case there must be a purpose
for communicating otherwise you risk
wasting valuable time
finally include where communication
resources are located along with any
other notes
I'll talk more about best practices for
storing information in the next video
but for now try to remember that
relevant information should be easily
accessible so that you your stakeholders
and your team can quickly find the
resources they need to make decisions
work on tasks get caught up or provide
updates
one more benefit to an effective
communication plan is that it allows for
continuity of the Project's operations
if a new project manager comes onto the
project and sees the plan they should be
able to quickly access past meeting
notes and documentation as well as
current and upcoming Communications
the communication plan also helps with
effective change management the process
of delivering your final project and
getting it successfully implemented
when others have access to the
communication plan after you leave the
project they'll be able to fix any
problems that might come up make
decisions or apply similar processes to
a new project
hopefully by now you're feeling more
familiar with the ways a communication
plan can lead your project to success
keep in mind this is just a basic plan
and there are lots of other ways to
structure one it all depends on what
kind of project you're working on
up next I'll take you through the
details of a communication plan and show
you how to use it to manage project
Communications effectively and
efficiently
now that you know what a communication
plan is and the basic categories that go
in it the next step is filling in your
plan
in this video you'll learn how to set up
a communication plan that works best for
all the different people involved with
your project and what kind of
information to include in your plan
things like who needs to be involved in
the project communication
what's the best way to communicate why
are you communicating and how often
should you communicate
there are a few key benefits to planning
your Communications up front
creating a communication plan helps
improve the overall effectiveness of
communication keeps people engaged and
motivated throughout the project and
gets stakeholders involved in effective
conversations
let's try building a sample
communication plan so you can see how it
helps with managing the different
aspects of project communication
we'll continue with the office green
plant Pals project here's an example of
a basic communication plan using a
spreadsheet before anything else think
about what types of communication you'll
be using throughout your project feel
free to refer back to your racy chart
and stakeholder map which are tools that
will help you figure out what type of
communication might work best for each
person group or role
in this example let's say the
stakeholders are busy senior Executives
who may not need day-to-day details so
instead of daily meetings it's better to
send a newsletter that summarizes key
milestones and project progress to date
let's type that in
the core team on the other hand May
benefit from a daily stand-up which is a
daily meeting designed to bring everyone
up to date on key information here each
team member briefly describes any
completed work and any barriers that
stand in their way
this is common in agile project
management as it helps the team stay
coordinated and move quickly throughout
the project
so we will go ahead and enter daily
stand-ups in this row
but sometimes daily meetings aren't
possible for given time zone
restrictions or other obligations
don't worry there are other ways to keep
communication flowing for example the
project team that created this program
had daily email status updates for the
whole team to report which action items
were being worked on for the day
they also used a project tracker for
tasks and Milestones to make sure
everyone's on the same page
next up think about who needs to receive
information about your project
these are the communication recipients
it helps to look back to the stakeholder
map and racy chart again
ask yourself who needs to be heavily
involved in the details
who has high interest in the project
who needs only to be informed of major
milestones
I already mentioned that key
stakeholders would be receiving a
monthly newsletter
so I'll type that in now
also we know that the core team will be
participating in Daily stand-ups so I'll
add that in as well
excellent we're moving right along
next up in recipients are the project
subgroups for marketing procurement and
product development
let's add separate meetings in for each
of those groups in addition to the core
team meetings
since those subgroups are not part of
the core team you might only want to
meet with them weekly instead of every
day
let's add weekly check-in to each of
these
great
another best practice is to list contact
information and time zones in your
communication plan
that way you know when people are
available for communicating
let's add that in
feel free to hide this column since it
contains sensitive information about
people involved in your project there
are other ways to list contact
information privately and Link it for
easy reference
I'll teach you how to do that in another
video
if you're having trouble deciding which
type of communication to use one way to
help you choose is by thinking about the
frequency
as I mentioned earlier a senior
stakeholder probably won't be able to
attend daily meetings and they don't
need every piece of information
instead you can communicate with a
senior stakeholder on a weekly or
monthly basis and you can focus on
high-level status updates like overall
progress recent wins or Milestones
reached and current metrics
in this case let's send out the project
newsletter once a month
if you're unsure it's always great to
ask senior stakeholders which method of
communication works best for them
when you work with your core team on a
project you need to get into more of the
day-to-day details
check in regularly and ask how
everything is going
how they're doing on tasks and do they
need your help with anything
adding a daily meeting for your core
team and a weekly meeting for the
subgroups
let's make that happen
great
meeting more frequently can help unblock
issues and keep the project on the right
track
this leads us to key dates
listing key dates and times are
important for coordination for example
if you're launching a product or new
process or giving a presentation you
should list the key dates keep in mind
not every type of communication needs a
specific key date listed
for example with daily or weekly
Communications you might not need to
specify the actual date every week you
could just list every Monday or
something like that let's add in key
dates to our plan
for the monthly newsletter let's send
that on the first Monday of every month
let's schedule the daily stand-ups at
noon
and the weekly check-ins are on
Wednesdays at 2 3 and 4 o'clock
wonderful
now let's talk about delivery methods
like email in person and virtual
meetings
a shared document that gets updated
regularly or a progress report that gets
presented
deciding the best way to communicate is
a skill
one thing I continuously need to adapt
and work to improve in my role as
project manager is communicating among
different teams and levels of authority
a director or executive may only have
five minutes so I need to be concise and
know exactly what I need from them
likewise I might be used to
communicating by instant message in
video chat with my core team
however one of the subgroups on the
project might respond better to emails
and in document comments
let me add in these methods for our
communication plan starting with email
s are a very common way to get people in
sync but write too much and you may lose
your audience after all no one really
wants to read a two-page email one way
to get around this is by adding a note
at the top of your email this will alert
readers that some details of a long
email may not be relevant to them with
this kind of email lead with key points
and action items limited to two to three
sentences then include a longer section
at the bottom for those who want or need
additional details the goal of
communicating is getting your point
across effectively
so think carefully about what you need
to accomplish with each type of
communication for high-level
stakeholders in particular I'm
constantly trying to answer so what
why should they care about my project
the same goes to my core team what
information is going to help make sure
they complete tasks on time and stay
motivated
thinking about these questions helps me
focus on the most important bits of
information to share
so let's fill this in in the
communication plan the goal of the
monthly newsletter for stakeholders is
to give a status update overview
great and goals for the daily stand-ups
with the core team would be to report
progress updates blockers and
determining next steps so let's add
those in as well
all set next you need to make sure
you're able to reach everyone you need
to communicate with so it helps if
communication is a team effort
especially on more complex projects you
shouldn't be the only one communicating
you want to enable other team members to
be involved in Communications based on
their expertise in the project I'll add
a column for sender and owner to
indicate who is responsible for each
communication
then I'll add the sender or owner for
each of these communication types
starting with the project manager as the
sender for the newsletter
great and we are all done keep in mind
it's always a good idea to check in with
everyone to make sure Communications
meet their needs
everyone absorbs information differently
what works best for you doesn't always
work best for others
some people are more Visual and want to
see charts and graphs some people might
prefer to listen to information through
a presentation or a meeting
some people may want to review and
analyze information on their own first
and then speak with someone about what
they've read
so if you're only presenting information
in just one or two ways you risk
engaging some people but not others
your goal as project manager is to
optimize and streamline Communications a
great way to optimize your
Communications for everyone on the team
is by sending a brief email or survey
that asks three questions
what is working in how we communicate
with you about the project
what is not working or is not effective
in our Communications
where can we improve our Communications
with you
this will give you plenty of useful
information on how you can adapt the
communication style to cater to each
team member
communication plans contain a lot of
important information and there are so
many different ways to set one up
depending on the size of your team and
the needs of your project
whichever system you choose to use the
most important thing is to make sure
your communication plan clearly
identifies who needs to be involved in
Project communication what methods are
being used to communicate
why are you communicating and how often
you are communicating
so that wraps up our discussion on how
to effectively fill in a communication
plan in the next video I'll share with
you some best practices for documenting
all the information you and your team
will be communicating throughout the
project
see you in a bit
great to see you again
now that you're here let's talk about
the importance of documentation and how
it serves as a form of communication for
others to reference and contribute to
I'll share an example with you once I
worked on a project that involved
several teams from quality insurance
testing design partner engineering and
program managers
each team was responsible for their own
set of deliverables
to keep all teams on the same page it
was important for everyone to store
their plans and reports in one
centralized place
this allowed any team member to quickly
find the documents they needed
documentation storage and sharing is
very important
having plans in one place makes
communication quicker easier and more
streamlined because everyone knows where
to find any information they need
and just as important is making sure
your files are stored with clear labels
or organized into folders for example on
my team we have certain reports stored
in one Central place
this makes it easier for teams in
different countries to find and share
their research with each other which
optimizes workflow and reduces duplicate
work
documenting and organizing plans also
provides visibility and accountability
your project plan is a great example of
this
each task has an owner and a due date
this creates visibility for the members
of the project team and accountability
for the task owner it's common for
members of the team and Senior
stakeholders to reference your project
plan and Associated documents when they
need a refresher on timelines or
milestones
so having up-to-date plans will help
ensure there's no room for
misinterpretation or miscommunication
once you've created a centralized
location for your documents it's time to
think about managing permissions of your
files and folders
someone isn't a core part of the project
team you might not want them to have
full access to all of the meeting notes
instead summarize the relevant
information into a status report for
those who need to stay informed of final
outcomes
but don't need all background
information
there's another big benefit to setting
up your project plans and centralizing
them in one place continuity
as the project manager there could be
times when you need to suddenly leave
the project say you got sick transfer to
another project or needed to take a
leave of absence
another project manager may need to step
in and if all the project information is
scattered across unorganized personal
notes it's not very helpful
but if you documented all the plans in
one place the new project manager can
find everything they need and pick up
right where you left off
so it's always useful to store guides
manuals meeting notes plans and
processes all in a centralized place and
clearly labeled
you'll also want to make sure the people
in relevant roles are granted access to
those documents so even if you're not
present the project can carry on
as project manager it's your job to
ensure that project data can be accessed
in the future by others
documenting your plans and making them
available is part of a project
management best practice called
Knowledge Management
if someone needs to review this project
for making decisions or planning similar
projects they should be able to easily
access the information they need
it also helps set the tone for future
projects and future project managers
which can be incredibly helpful if you
happen to be the one jumping onto a new
project for example if an architect is
working on a kitchen remodel and they
want to make a decision about the design
they can look at the old project plans
to understand why the decision was made
to put the sink in a certain location
or if a new architect comes in halfway
through the remodel they might want to
know why the other architect designed
the plumbing a certain way
by looking at the old plans they can go
back and get the information and context
they need to move forward with more
informed decisions
it's also important to determine what
kind of information to share with whom
and when
focus on the key information related to
what specific individuals need to know
think about this scenario a project
manager who's working with all the VPS
at their company decides to send out
daily updates from a communication
standpoint what could be the potential
impact of the project manager's decision
well since VPS get lots of emails
they're not likely to read the updates
that ends up being a waste of time for
you
also when you send a lot of unnecessary
information then it's hard to tell
what's really important
figuring out the right information to
share is even more important when you're
working on projects that have sensitive
data in those cases you need to be very
careful of how you share information
about your project with stakeholders who
do not have permissions to view
sensitive data
for example financial data or user
survey results are often highly
sensitive and should never be made
available to unauthorized viewers
here's another scenario let's say your
team is working on a high profile launch
of a brand new product say an electric
car
most people don't need to know all of
the thinking behind the project or see
all the draft versions but they do need
to know what the final design will look
like
the project is legally sensitive and you
want to avoid leaks and over sharing
classified data
if you share the entire project folder
with everyone who needs to know only the
end result you risk doing just that
revealing highly sensitive and
classified data
if this information gets leaked to the
wrong people project plans and Company
data could be made public ruining the
big launch of the electric car
you also risk violating company policy
and damaging your reputation as a
trustworthy and responsible project
manager
only share information on a need to know
basis it's your job to present the right
information at the right time to the
right people now let me show you an
example
in this sample communication plan one of
the resources is user feedback surveys
this resource contains raw data
collected from surveys submitted by
plant Powers test users which means it
has personally identifiable information
or pii pii is anything that possibly
reveals someone's identity like a screen
name password phone number email address
first or last name anything like that
for that reason only share that resource
with the members of the project team who
are approved to access this level of
information
then if anyone else tries to open the
document they will be alerted that they
need to request permission to access it
if you need to share results of these
surveys those can be presented in a
graph chart or summarized in a report
without any pii included
then you can share that information with
the broader team
now you have a better understanding of
how important documentation is to
project management
coming up next we'll learn the best way
to put your plan together and stay
organized
see you later
hi again so far in this course you've
filled in or created some different
project planning resources like the
project plan budget racy chart risk
management plan and now a Communications
plan
we also discussed the importance of
organizing your Communications and
having easy and appropriate access to
project plans now I'll show you one way
you can organize all your project
information in one centralized place
you'll be able to apply these same
general techniques to almost any type of
project management style or system
organizing your project plans makes
everyone's job easier and eliminates
opportunity for confusion
as a project manager your goal is to
have all of your project resources
documented and linked in a way to where
you or anyone on the project can access
what they need quickly a couple of Handy
ways to get organized are using a shared
file drive like Google Drive and
creating one resource like a document or
spreadsheet that links all of the files
and resources that your project uses
here's an example of how to organize
your files in Google Drive
but it doesn't matter which shared
system your project team uses you can
use the same process for pretty much all
of them first create a new folder and
label it with the name of your project
use this folder to store all your
project files
you can even create subfolders and store
them in the main project folder
you can also stay organized by creating
a centralized planning document that
links everything together this can serve
as a quick reference guide that you can
use to find all your frequently accessed
files in one place here's an office
screen example that's already been
started one at a time select a resource
name then link it
now you can access the file directly
from the centralized document
if your project uses multiple
spreadsheets and you want to avoid
having to open lots of separate files
you can group them within one sheet like
this
sheet has tabs for all the other sheets
that contain project information
you can add a new sheet at any time
it's helpful to include an overview
sheet and Link any non-spreadsheet files
this is also a good place to provide a
brief description of the project
instructions for how to use the sheet or
communication expectations
in this example the overview sheet is
called the dashboard
which is the same thing you can decide
how to label yours
there you have it now you're organized
and ready to show everyone what an
awesome project manager you are
foreign
hi I'm Chris I'm a Diversity Program
manager here at Google so I lead
diversity programming and strategy for
one of our business units here at Google
I focus in on diversity programming for
our most under represented googlers like
our black Plus or latinx and our native
populations here at Google we're going
to manage a world where every single day
I'm thinking about who needs to be
involved in the projects that I work on
who will care to invest in the programs
that I I want to roll out right because
I need to get buy-in for certain
programs to to get greenlit right so I'm
always thinking about uh how I'm
organizing my materials I'm always
thinking about packaging and telling a
story behind all of it so I can continue
to do the great work that I do an
artifact is anything that you physically
put together that describes or showcases
the work that you're doing so that could
be a document that is say an executive
brief or just an overview of of the the
work that you're doing or it could be
something as as tactical as a roles and
responsibility sheet right so breaking
down who on your team is handling what
and to whom you need to present it's
really important to keep that organized
because it's not just for my own use but
it's also for anyone who I engage right
so a stakeholder or someone who needs to
sign off on a project or it might be my
teammates on something I often bring in
either volunteers or full-time help to
help build the programs that I run
lastly you know say we have an outside
vendor they need to understand where
they fit into the larger picture but
also what they tactically need to do to
make the program successful so keeping
artifacts allows you to have the best
possible outcome in all program
management elements and regardless of
that piece you also want to be able to
Showcase your work at the end so that
when it comes time to possibly get more
budget for a program or to take the
program to the next level you have a
good Baseline to really understand from
where you started and to and how far
you've come when you have all those
artifacts and it's really important to
be able to speak to how those artifacts
allowed you to be successful
the artifacts are really what tangibly
show someone during a job interview that
you were the one that did the work to
make the program or the project
successful right so if you just talk
about a project or a program uh at a
high level in a job interview the
interviewer might
want to know more detail and the
artifacts allow you to show that detail
allow you to show not only what happened
with the project and how far it came but
also your contributions to it and it
physically shows your ability to conduct
the entire process from start to finish
you're the quarterback right and the
quarterback also holds the Playbook and
if you don't have the Playbook who on
the team is going to know what to do
other than you you run you run the show
and so effectively you want to make sure
that you're able to Showcase in any
setting whether it be why you're
currently working on a project or later
on during an interview all that you did
to make the program or project
successful
job search whether it's your first time
or your 10th is a common but unique
experience and whether you're looking
for an entry level position considering
a career switch or re-entering the
workforce after a Hiatus you need a
resume your resume will be a key
document throughout your job search it's
how recruiters can get an initial sense
of who you are as a potential employee
and so it's really important to pay
attention to the information on it most
resumes share many of the same core
elements these are your contact
information previous work and
educational experience and skills
documenting your experience in a resume
gives you the opportunity to stand out
to a potential employer not only do you
get to list your past and current
experiences but you get to highlight
your accomplishments as well
let's break down the elements of a
strong resume most resumes start with
contact information at the top of your
document you'll include your name email
address and other relevant contact
information you wish to include like a
phone number or address many resumes
also include a brief one to three
sentence summary of your experience this
summary is referred to as an objective
or sometimes as a profile summary for
example an objective might sound
something like a passionate and Customer
Center focused individual with three
years of experience launching new
products and managing processes it's
generally considered optional to add an
objective or profile summary to your
resume
some recruiters like them While others
don't think they're necessary
an objective or profile summary can be
helpful however if you're looking to
change careers and want to highlight
transferable experience to a recruiter
next up is the central element of most
resumes your current and previous
experience whether worker education
related when listing your work
experience you'll include your current
or previous employers and job titles and
for each job you'll also include start
and end dates and two to three bullet
points explaining your job
responsibilities and accomplishments
your educational experience isn't just
high school or college that can include
online degrees certificates and other
professional development you've
completed and finally you may choose to
include skills especially those that are
relevant to the project management roles
you're applying to as we've discussed
earlier some core skills that project
managers possess include enabling
decision making communicating
flexibility and strong organizational
skills I'd add that it also includes
skills like ability to manage tasks
effectively work well with others
follow through on tasks and hold
teammates accountable it could also
include industry knowledge like
experience with digital tools or work
management software
you can highlight these skills and more
on your resume either listed out in a
dedicated skills section or incorporated
into your section on current and
previous experience
another great skill that some people
forget to add are additional languages
spoken if you have a high level of
fluency in another language it's
definitely worth mentioning another way
to show off skills is to mention Hobbies
on your resume like volunteer work or
experience working in your community
sometimes listing hobbies that speak to
your interests and background can say a
lot about you and that can be helpful to
a hiring manager in addition to
highlighting what you're passionate
about many hobbies also require skills
that a project manager can use on the
job for instance some Hobbies I see on a
resume
coaching a youth sports team or teaching
an art class may tell me you're able to
solve problems and connect with people
things like that really stand out to me
because they show that you're someone
who has interests beyond their career
including a broad variety of items on
your resume can help show that you're
excited about learning new things
outside of work
personally I think this makes for
incredibly interesting candidates and
these are the kinds of qualities we look
for when hiring program managers at
Google
we are always looking for people who can
bring New Perspectives and life
experiences to our teams Google's
culture is diverse and inclusive and we
look for people who are open to learn
new things and are great collaborators
this is especially true in project and
program management
we look for candidates who are open to
trying new things because sometimes your
first attempt at something may not go as
planned and you'll need to try a
different tactic
and we look for people who can
effectively collaborate with other teams
outside their own project teams to help
everyone reach their goals
as you can see a strong resume can
really help you tell a powerful story
about yourself
providing a full picture of who you are
what your strengths are and what you're
passionate about before I wrap up it's
important to note that a resume isn't
the only way to document your abilities
you can also use online communities like
LinkedIn as an additional tool to
increase your opportunities
the same details on your resume should
be stressed in your LinkedIn profile
additionally recruiters and hiring
managers use LinkedIn to scout for
talent view a candidate's professional
journey and gain insights to skills
networks professional Associates things
that may not have been included in the
typical resume
a recent survey showed that 90 of
recruiters use LinkedIn to search for
qualified job applicants once you
document your experience you can begin
to search for and apply to jobs at
companies you want to get it right on
paper before you have the next
conversation you'll have the opportunity
to continue building this skill in the
associated readings and activities so
take advantage of these resources and
polish or create that new resume I'll
see you soon
I'm Dan and I'm a program manager at
Google research as a program manager in
research I work to make sure that all of
the teams I work with are on the same
page whether that's product teams who
are implementing the research or
research teams who need to understand
kind of what how to define their
research agenda for for future projects
so a lot of what I do is is effective
communication and trying to create kind
of detailed documentation so that
everyone can kind of connect the dots
one thing that I've observed as a
program manager is a kind of a
proliferation of documents or what I
like to call death by a thousand
documents so it becomes really important
to um to have one kind of Master
document where you centralize all the
kind of sub-documents or smaller docs
that you might need to execute a project
and then you can just go to the master
document and find what you need even if
that lives somewhere else so I can go
into my like kind of master tracker and
I can find the program Charter I can
find uh the budget I can find the agreed
upon scope any document that has like
approval matrices which is like a list
of all the approvals I need things like
that if I can link out to everything
from just one place I know that I'll
always be able to start there and find
what I need there's not a
one-size-fits-all approach to project or
program management
so you might need a risk management plan
for one project but not another and
there might be some other type of
documentation you need so really keeping
everything organized and and starting
from one place is is the most helpful
tip I can give the broader Trend in
program management uh or project
management documentation is that you
don't just take one pass at a document
you don't finish your your project plan
or your project Charter in one go you
have to constantly return to it revise
it
um
and continue to it's it's a living and
breathing document and the more detailed
you can be in your documentation the
fewer iterations you're going to need to
go through later on because uh they're
more likely to get things right the
first time
you've done a lot of work so far let's
take a moment to review all you learned
in this course
first you learn the key components of
the planning phase and explore how
proper planning ensures that milestones
and tasks are completed
next you learned why it is necessary to
create and manage a project plan
how to utilize time estimation methods
to prevent project failure
how to get viable estimates using soft
skills and which tools you can use to
build a project plan then you learned
what the components of a project budget
are
how the budget process works and the
concepts behind estimating and tracking
a project budget
and we discussed how the procurement
process flows to manage paperwork bids
proposals and performance
you also learned about risk management
and how it helps prevent project failure
you learned how to identify risks and
measure their impact on a project and
how to communicate and monitor potential
risks once they're identified
finally you learned how important it is
to document plans
you learned how to organize plans to
provide visibility and accountability
and what elements of a simple
communication plan are vital to project
success
in the next course you'll continue on to
executing and closing a project where my
colleague Elita will be your guide
she is going to teach you all about
tracking and measuring project progress
risk management using data to make
decisions and effective project
communication
I had a wonderful time sharing my
project management experience with you
best of luck
thank you