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Our Expertise and Commitment – Driving your Success

Project Management Brown BagOctober 2014

Offices in New York and Northern VA

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What are we discussing today?As part of every Actualize project our consultants manage tasks, schedules, deliverables, resources, risk, issues, etc.  In other words we manage the project and contribute greatly to the success of each initiative.  The goal of this presentation is to:

Define a project and project manager

Discuss why projects fail and tips for success

Deep dive into some of project responsibilities using Project

Management Body of Knowledge guidelines to help non-

project managers manage projects.

Introduce the PM Community at Actualize Consulting

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What is project management?

Application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project

activities to meet project requirements

What is a project?

A “temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product,

service or results”

Definite beginning & end

Team is formed & reassigned at completion Vs. operations –

ongoing, repetitive

Progressively elaborated

Overview – Project

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Project Challenges

Why are projects challenging?

Unique, something new, no blueprint

Sometimes difficult to define – what is it, when does it end

Working with people

Too much to do, too little time

As soon as you start, something changes

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Why do Projects Fail?Some Top Reasons for Project Failure :

Lack of clear project objective or business benefits

Lack of defined scope or constantly changing scope

Inadequate project resources or project resources without appropriate skillset

The wrong business requirements have been understood, addressed, or

communicated

Business Case is unattainable

Stakeholders are not engaged or properly identified

Poor Project Governance

Poor Project Implementation

People lose focus on the project's benefits

The environment changes

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Group Examples

Group Discussion – Examples of Projects that you

have been on that have failed.

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Tips for a successful project:

It’s not enough simply to manage your project competently, and deliver a good quality product. To avoid failure:

Make sure you have identified the right business requirements

Created an achievable business case

Strong project governance

High-quality implementation

Continuously manage project benefits throughout the lifecycle

of the project

Monitor your changing environment

Manage the expectations of your stakeholders

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Why are Project Managers Important?

Manage projects from conception to completion.

Assists organization to carry out projects and other initiatives:

On time

On budget

With minimal disruption to the rest of the business.

Meets objectives and achieve business benefits

Evaluates changing project scope and executes appropriate

change management process (minimize scope creep)

Ensures appropriate resources are allocated to the project

Address project risks and issues (escalating when necessary)

Develop and manage project governance structure.

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Project Governance

Project Managers need to work with internal policy and stakeholders to

determine the correct level of project governance, escalation channels, and

project reporting.

Enough to achieve end goal with balance between becoming burden or

impediment.

Common forms of Project Governance:

System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Provides a framework that describes the activities performed

during each phase of a project.

Proper amount of SDLC on a given project should come from and

be governed by the internal Project Management Office (PMO).

Project Steering Committee

Provides executive oversight, advocacy, support and decision

making for single projects, multiple projects or an entire project

portfolio

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Project Triple Constraint

Project Managers need to properly manage the “Triple Constraint”. One side of the triangle cannot be changed without affecting the others.

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Project Management Knowledge Areas

Developed by the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)1. Integration Management2. Scope Management3. Time Management4. Cost Management5. Quality Management6. Risk Management7. Human Resource Management8. Communications Management9. Procurement Management

Each of the nine knowledge areas requires:

Inputs from other areas

Processes that need to be completed

Output to other areas In order to achieve effective project management. Each of these areas fall into the 5 process groups.

Note: Bolded Subjects to be expanded further in presentation

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1. Initiating2. Planning3. Executing4. Controlling (and monitoring)5. Closing

Project Management Process

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Project Integration Management

Collection of processes required to ensure that the various elements of the projects are

properly coordinated. It involves making trade-offs among competing objectives and

alternatives to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations.

Project Charter / Project Definition / Business Case

What are you doing?

What are you NOT doing?

Why are you doing this?

How will you know when you’re done?

Stakeholder Buy-In

Identifies Project Champion and leadership support

Project Scope Statement – Outlines the high level scope of the project

Project Management Plan – Defines and Coordinates all planning efforts

throughout the life cycle of the project.

Integrated Change Control – Coordinating changes across the project

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Scope Management

Ensure that the project includes all the work, and only all the

work required to complete the project successfully.

Develop Requirements – In order for the project scope to be

fully identified detailed requirements should be drafted and

understood

Define Scope

Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) – breaking the

scope in to smaller tasks to divide work in to more

manageable concepts

Scope monitoring and changes to baseline

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Time Management

Defining and sequencing activities and estimate the duration and resources

needed for each activity. The goal is to build the project schedule

subsequently manage changes and updates to the schedule.

Develop Project schedule – once scope is identified the items can put

together to develop detailed plan.

Define activities

Sequence activities

Estimate activities resources

Estimate activities duration

Control Project Plan - tracking and reporting on the progress of work, as

well as adjusting time outputs to address shifts and changes in the

project plan.

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Cost Management

Effectively planning and controlling the costs involved in a

project

Estimating Costs

Determine Budget

Monitor Costs

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Risk Management

Identification of risks and plan how to respond to the risks if

they occur.

Identification (what could happen)

Risk analysis (likelihood, impact, cost )

Risk planning (mitigation, contingency)

Risk monitoring

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Communication Management

What information needs to flow in and out of the project?

Who needs what information?

When is the information needed?

What is the format of the information?

Who will be responsible for transmitting and providing the

information?

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PM Community at ActualizeShare project management experiences, challenges, approaches, and

lessons learned

Provide project management tips, tool, and templates to Actualize

consultants

Provide project management training, coaching, and mentoring

Provide access to project management deliverables from previous

projects 

Provide specific guidance for obtaining

your Project Management Professional (PMP) designation

Provide centralized repository on the Actualize Consulting Google Docs

site – https://sites.google.com/a/actualizeconsulting.com/project-

management-community-of-practice/

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Project Management Certification

Project Management Institute (PMI) www.pmi.org

Project Management Body of Knowledge – PMBOK

9 knowledge areas – Inputs, Methods, and Outputs

5 process groups and the relation to the 9 knowledge areas

Project Management Professional (PMP) Requirements

A four-year degree (bachelor’s degree or the global equivalent)

three years of project management experience, with 4,500 hours

leading and directing projects

35 hours of project management education.

Pass Exam

Actualize PMP’s

Kurt Rasmussen, Jean Ballard, Krishna Ravula, John Pomaranski