1
MIDTERM NOTES Ch 1, 2, 3, 13, 4, 5
Ch 1 - Introduction to Project Management
Introduction
● Worldwide IT spending was $3.5 trillion in 2017, a 2.4 percent increase from 2016 spending
● The Project Management Institute reported that the number of PM jobs reached almost 66 million
in 2017 (87.7 million By 2027).
● In 2017, the average annual salary in the project management profession was $112,000 in the
U.S. and $130,866 in Switzerland (it’s a high paying job)
● The top skills employers look for in new college graduates are all related to project management:
teamwork, problem-solving, and verbal communications
● Organizations waste $97 million for every $1 billion spent on projects, according to PMI’s Pulse
of the Profession® report
Advantages of Using Formal Project Management
● Better control of financial, physical, and Human Resources —> better management of your resources
● Improved customer relations —> if you have a good project manager there is a high chance that the customer
would be happy and satisfied because they know how to satisfy customers and meet their needs
● Shorter development times —> manage time and make sure they don’t go over schedule by monitoring and
controlling
● Lower costs and improved productivity —> every period of time they look at the value they have generated
and they make sure that they are not wasting resources
● Higher quality and increased reliability —> the quality of software that we are delivering to customer is high
quality and reliable and don’t has problems while customer is using it therefore testing is important
● Higher profit margins —> while we are studying the project we make sure that we go through a number of
evaluation methods that the project would generate profit and add value
● Better internal coordination —> coordination between the different subgroups within the project, because some
tasks rely on other tasks so there is interdependence
● Positive impact on meeting strategic goals —> you have to make sure before selecting the project that it has
a positive impact on the strategic goals of the org
● Higher worker morale —> motivation teams members and making sure they have high morale
What Went Wrong?
● IT Projects have a terrible track record, as described in the What Went Wrong?
● A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS) found that only 16.2% of IT projects were successful in
meeting scope, time, and cost goals; over 31% of IT projects were canceled before completion
● A PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that over half of all projects fail and only 2.5% of
corporations consistently meet their targets for scope, time, and cost goals for all types of the
project
A lot fail not because they are following a good methodology for project management
What is a Project?
● A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result”
(PMBOK® Guide, Sixth Edition, 2017)
● Operations is work done to sustain the business
● Projects end when their objectives have been reached or the project has been terminated so it
temporary
, 2
Examples of IT Projects (1 of 2)
● A team of students creates a smartphone application and sells it online
● A company develops a driverless car
● A government group develops a system to track child immunizations
● A global bank acquires other financial institutions and needs to consolidate systems and
procedures
● Top Strategic Technologies for 2018 (Gartner): AI, IoT, Cloud, Immersive Experience
A project:
● has a unique purpose
● is temporary
● drives change and enables value creation —> you are creating that new product or. Service in order to bring
in to improve work processes or to bring in some kind of a change. So there is a reason to bring in the product and it
should bring in value
● is developed using progressive elaboration —> as you go through the stages of project you will build up
capacity to sliver the final output, you’ll have progress, you’ll create value
● requires resources, often from various areas —> in order to deliver the value you’ll need resources and these
resources are Human Resources, software resources, knowledge resources
● should have a primary customer or sponsor —>it also needs a user that will be using the software or product
and this user has set of requirement so you should be aware of their requirement and needs. The sponsor is someone
who will be supporting and providing resources to the project and they approve the project. Sponsor can also provide
direction of what should be delivered.
○ The project sponsor usually provides the direction and funding for the project
● involves uncertainty —> things may not go as planned there may be risks, so that’s why one area of project
management are managing risk
Project managers: work with project sponsors, team, and other people involved in a project to achieve
project goals —> needs to work with all the stakeholders and coordinate among them and mange their expectations and
motivate them
Project Constraints
Every project has 3 constraints that the project manager has to deal with carefully
1. Cost
2. Time
3. Scope (functionality)
So deliver on time within approved budget and deliver what we have agreed and promised
to deliver
Why do we say that this is a constraint? Because managing 1 may effect the other. You
may be trying to reduce the cost but in doing that you will affect the scope. Ex. You are
building a specific functionality and there are a lot of errors that needs to be correct so
these errors when you try to correct them it would either involve more time or more cost if
you’ll have someone from outside to fix it
, 3
What is Project Management? (1 of 2)
● Project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project
activities to meet project requirements” (PMBOK® Guide, Sixth Edition, 2017)
● Project managers strive to meet the triple constraint (project scope, time, and cost goals) and also
facilitate the entire process to meet the needs and expectations of project stakeholders
What is Project Management? (2 of 2)
Project Stakeholders
● Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected by project activities
● Stakeholders include
○ the project sponsor —>. Most important stakeholder as they provide direction and fund the project.
○ banks and other financial institutions —> managing and providing funds for the project
○ the project manager —> based on his skill set the project will success
○ the project team —> the team does the actual work
○ support staff —> sometimes we have a knowledge manager for the team who documents (summarizes of
meetings)
○ suppliers —> they provide software or consultancy
○ opponents to the project
Project Management Knowledge Areas
● Knowledge areas describe the key competencies that project managers must develop —> you also
need to have a methodology (phases) of the project and every single phase has steps to follow
● Project managers must have knowledge and skills in all 10 knowledge areas (scope, schedule,
cost, quality, resource, communications, risk, procurement, stakeholder, and project integration
management) a methodology tells you how to manage all the 10 knowledge areas
Project Management Tools and Techniques (1 of 2)
so we have tools to manage and assist everything
and the team
, 4
Project Management Tools and Techniques (1 of 2)
● PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition lists tools and techniques based on their purpose:
○ Data gathering
○ Data analysis
○ Data representation (present it)
○ Decision making
○ Communication
○ Interpersonal and team skills (manage the team effectively)
○ Ungrouped
What Went Right?
In 2015 there is some kind of improvement than 1995 as they started
to manage projects more effectively. But large and medium projects
need some improvements
Agile is dividing the projects into small set of tasks. It’s less risky
Project Success
- Deliver what we promised, on time, and within budget.
- Satisfying the sponsor and maintaining a good relationship
with them because if you lose that you’ll lose the funding of the project.
- Project must meet its objective, generate value, and help the
org meet their objective.
What Helps Projects Succeed?
Factors of Success Points
Executive sponsorship 15
Emotional maturity 15
User involvement 15
Optimization 15
Skilled resources 10
Agile processes 7
MIDTERM NOTES Ch 1, 2, 3, 13, 4, 5
Ch 1 - Introduction to Project Management
Introduction
● Worldwide IT spending was $3.5 trillion in 2017, a 2.4 percent increase from 2016 spending
● The Project Management Institute reported that the number of PM jobs reached almost 66 million
in 2017 (87.7 million By 2027).
● In 2017, the average annual salary in the project management profession was $112,000 in the
U.S. and $130,866 in Switzerland (it’s a high paying job)
● The top skills employers look for in new college graduates are all related to project management:
teamwork, problem-solving, and verbal communications
● Organizations waste $97 million for every $1 billion spent on projects, according to PMI’s Pulse
of the Profession® report
Advantages of Using Formal Project Management
● Better control of financial, physical, and Human Resources —> better management of your resources
● Improved customer relations —> if you have a good project manager there is a high chance that the customer
would be happy and satisfied because they know how to satisfy customers and meet their needs
● Shorter development times —> manage time and make sure they don’t go over schedule by monitoring and
controlling
● Lower costs and improved productivity —> every period of time they look at the value they have generated
and they make sure that they are not wasting resources
● Higher quality and increased reliability —> the quality of software that we are delivering to customer is high
quality and reliable and don’t has problems while customer is using it therefore testing is important
● Higher profit margins —> while we are studying the project we make sure that we go through a number of
evaluation methods that the project would generate profit and add value
● Better internal coordination —> coordination between the different subgroups within the project, because some
tasks rely on other tasks so there is interdependence
● Positive impact on meeting strategic goals —> you have to make sure before selecting the project that it has
a positive impact on the strategic goals of the org
● Higher worker morale —> motivation teams members and making sure they have high morale
What Went Wrong?
● IT Projects have a terrible track record, as described in the What Went Wrong?
● A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS) found that only 16.2% of IT projects were successful in
meeting scope, time, and cost goals; over 31% of IT projects were canceled before completion
● A PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that over half of all projects fail and only 2.5% of
corporations consistently meet their targets for scope, time, and cost goals for all types of the
project
A lot fail not because they are following a good methodology for project management
What is a Project?
● A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result”
(PMBOK® Guide, Sixth Edition, 2017)
● Operations is work done to sustain the business
● Projects end when their objectives have been reached or the project has been terminated so it
temporary
, 2
Examples of IT Projects (1 of 2)
● A team of students creates a smartphone application and sells it online
● A company develops a driverless car
● A government group develops a system to track child immunizations
● A global bank acquires other financial institutions and needs to consolidate systems and
procedures
● Top Strategic Technologies for 2018 (Gartner): AI, IoT, Cloud, Immersive Experience
A project:
● has a unique purpose
● is temporary
● drives change and enables value creation —> you are creating that new product or. Service in order to bring
in to improve work processes or to bring in some kind of a change. So there is a reason to bring in the product and it
should bring in value
● is developed using progressive elaboration —> as you go through the stages of project you will build up
capacity to sliver the final output, you’ll have progress, you’ll create value
● requires resources, often from various areas —> in order to deliver the value you’ll need resources and these
resources are Human Resources, software resources, knowledge resources
● should have a primary customer or sponsor —>it also needs a user that will be using the software or product
and this user has set of requirement so you should be aware of their requirement and needs. The sponsor is someone
who will be supporting and providing resources to the project and they approve the project. Sponsor can also provide
direction of what should be delivered.
○ The project sponsor usually provides the direction and funding for the project
● involves uncertainty —> things may not go as planned there may be risks, so that’s why one area of project
management are managing risk
Project managers: work with project sponsors, team, and other people involved in a project to achieve
project goals —> needs to work with all the stakeholders and coordinate among them and mange their expectations and
motivate them
Project Constraints
Every project has 3 constraints that the project manager has to deal with carefully
1. Cost
2. Time
3. Scope (functionality)
So deliver on time within approved budget and deliver what we have agreed and promised
to deliver
Why do we say that this is a constraint? Because managing 1 may effect the other. You
may be trying to reduce the cost but in doing that you will affect the scope. Ex. You are
building a specific functionality and there are a lot of errors that needs to be correct so
these errors when you try to correct them it would either involve more time or more cost if
you’ll have someone from outside to fix it
, 3
What is Project Management? (1 of 2)
● Project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project
activities to meet project requirements” (PMBOK® Guide, Sixth Edition, 2017)
● Project managers strive to meet the triple constraint (project scope, time, and cost goals) and also
facilitate the entire process to meet the needs and expectations of project stakeholders
What is Project Management? (2 of 2)
Project Stakeholders
● Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected by project activities
● Stakeholders include
○ the project sponsor —>. Most important stakeholder as they provide direction and fund the project.
○ banks and other financial institutions —> managing and providing funds for the project
○ the project manager —> based on his skill set the project will success
○ the project team —> the team does the actual work
○ support staff —> sometimes we have a knowledge manager for the team who documents (summarizes of
meetings)
○ suppliers —> they provide software or consultancy
○ opponents to the project
Project Management Knowledge Areas
● Knowledge areas describe the key competencies that project managers must develop —> you also
need to have a methodology (phases) of the project and every single phase has steps to follow
● Project managers must have knowledge and skills in all 10 knowledge areas (scope, schedule,
cost, quality, resource, communications, risk, procurement, stakeholder, and project integration
management) a methodology tells you how to manage all the 10 knowledge areas
Project Management Tools and Techniques (1 of 2)
so we have tools to manage and assist everything
and the team
, 4
Project Management Tools and Techniques (1 of 2)
● PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition lists tools and techniques based on their purpose:
○ Data gathering
○ Data analysis
○ Data representation (present it)
○ Decision making
○ Communication
○ Interpersonal and team skills (manage the team effectively)
○ Ungrouped
What Went Right?
In 2015 there is some kind of improvement than 1995 as they started
to manage projects more effectively. But large and medium projects
need some improvements
Agile is dividing the projects into small set of tasks. It’s less risky
Project Success
- Deliver what we promised, on time, and within budget.
- Satisfying the sponsor and maintaining a good relationship
with them because if you lose that you’ll lose the funding of the project.
- Project must meet its objective, generate value, and help the
org meet their objective.
What Helps Projects Succeed?
Factors of Success Points
Executive sponsorship 15
Emotional maturity 15
User involvement 15
Optimization 15
Skilled resources 10
Agile processes 7
