What is Project Management?

Presented by:Mike Cottmeyer PMP, CSM, APL

Product Consultant and Agile Evangelist for VersionOne

Introducing Mike Cottmeyer

• Product Consultant and Agile Evangelist for VersionOne

• Senior Project Manager for CheckFree and John Harland Co.

• PMP, CSM, and DSDM Agile Project Leader certifications

• Board member of APLN and founder of APLN Atlanta

APLN Atlanta

• Local chapter of the Agile Project Leadership Network

• The mission of APLN is to connect, develop, and support great project leaders

• Formed in late 2007 as a way to help mobilize the agile project management community in Atlanta

APLN Atlanta Objectives

• Bring in nationally recognized speakers in partnership with Agile Atlanta

• Presenting topics on project management and agility in a lunch and learn format

• Quarterly open space conference and an annual leadership summit

What is Project Management?

• When will the project be done? • How much will it cost? • Do we all agree on what done

looks like?• What are the risks to getting

done on time and on schedule?• How will we mitigate these risks

so we can get done

A look at Traditional Project Management

Balancing the Triple Constraints

• There is a dynamic relationship between time, cost, and scope

• When one of the three variables change, there is necessarily a change in one or more of the other two

• Understanding and managing the relationship between these variables the primary job of the Project Manager

Managing Project Scope

• Project scope is the set of deliverable the project is approved to build

• Defined at a high level in the business case or project charter

• Defined in greater detail in a product requirements document or a work break down structure

Managing Project Costs

• Project cost is the sum of all capital expenditures, contractor expenses, and internal cost of labor

• Project managers track project expenses in relationship to the budget

• Responsible for making sure the project is spending money at the right rate and time

Managing the Schedule

• The project schedule defines when all the deliverables should be completed and who is going to do them

• The project schedule also defines the order of the deliverables and is used to track physical percent complete.

Building the Project Schedule

• Scope for the project is defined and the size of the deliverables are estimated

• Deliverables are sequenced and resource needs are calculated

• Based on the size of the project, available budget, dependencies, and constraints; the project timeline can be calculated

Project Baseline and Critical Path

• Once the project sponsors agree to the schedule, the schedule is locked and becomes the baseline

• Once the project has a baseline, the project manager will calculate the critical path and begin tracking earned value

• Earned value measures how much the project is spending relative to time and deliverables

Project Risk Assessment

• What are the factors that could impact our ability to meet our project objectives

• Risk can be categorized by likelihood of occurrence, impact severity, and ability to detect

• The project managers prioritizes risk based on these factors and creates mitigation strategies

Other Responsibilities

• Facilitating project meetings, creating the agenda, and summarizing the minutes

• Manage issues and action items• Project status reports• Lessons learned sessions• Administrative closedown• Project documentation

Hiring Traditional Project Managers

• Strong organization skills and attention to detail

• Superior oral and written communication skills

• Strong track record of success• Certification is a plus but only

in the presence of solid project experience

• Domain knowledge

Primary Traditional Project Constraints

• Scope is typically the primary driver… time and cost are calculated based on the size of the project

• Focus is on managing matrixed resources, assigning tasks, and staying on plan at all costs

A look at Agile Project Management

A Fundamental Paradigm Shift

• Not all projects are predictable• Market uncertainty drives

change• The less certain we are about

our requirements, the more we need to plan to adapt

The Cost of Change

• Cost of traditional change management is too high in many project contexts

• Change control is bureaucratic and slow

• We become resistant to change when we should embrace change

Still focused on the five questions…

• When will the project be done? • How much will it cost? • Do we all agree on what done

looks like?• What are the risks to getting

done on time and on schedule?• How will we mitigate these risks

so we can get done

…but take a difference approach

• Do less work that could change• Keep the evolving product highly

visible• Deliver working product in short

cycles• Inspect outcomes frequently • Change our product or process

as we learn more as to ensure an acceptable outcome

…a change in focus

• Focus less on predictive up front planning

• Focus more on collaboration with the business

• Focus more on engaging the team and creating an empowered team culture

Primary Agile Project Constraints

• Time and cost are the real drivers… scope may vary

• Agile is a framework, a new way of looking at product development, that gives the project team the ability to inspect outcomes and adapt accordingly

Scope

Time Cost

Scope

Other Responsibilities

• Team building• Creating a healthy project

culture• Managing more the

process than the people• Getting the team what

they need to be successful• Servant leadership

Hiring Agile Project Managers

• Strategic thinkers• Collaborative• Able to deal with uncertainty• Servant leadership• Team builders• Certification is emerging for

agile project managers… CSM, CSP, and DSDM APL

Resources

• Traditional Project Management– http://www.pmi.org

• Agile Project Management– http://www.versionone.com– http://www.apln.org– http://agilealliance.org

• How to contact me– Cell number: 404-312-1471– email: mike@cottmeyer.com– Blog: http://www.leadingagile.com