Project Management - Introduction

What is a project

A project is a temporary endeavor

undertaken to create a unique product or
service

– Temporary: having definite beginning and the

ending

– Unique: product or service is different than others

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Characteristics of a Project

 Performed by people

 Constrained by limited resources

 Planned

 Executed

 Controlled

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Projects …

 Undertaken at all levels of the Organization

 Involve a single person or many

 Duration ranges from few weeks to more

than 5 years

 May involve a single unit of Organization or

may cross Organizational boundaries

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Project Management

 Itis the application of knowledge, skills, tools

and techniques to the project activities in
order to meet project requirements –
balancing the following
– Scope, time, cost, risk and quality
– Stakeholders’ expectations
– Requirements (needs) v/s unidentified
requirements (expectations)

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Project Management

 ProjectManagement is accomplished
through the use of processes
– Initiation
– Planning
– Executing
– Monitoring and controlling
– Closing
 The Project Management processes in
general are iteratively performed throughout
the project
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Related Endeavors

 Program – It is a group of projects managed

in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not
available from managing them individually

 Subprojects – Projects are frequently divided

into more manageable components, called
as subprojects

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Key aspects of Project Management

 Project phases and the Project Life Cycle

 Project Stakeholders

 Organizational Influences

 Key General Management Skills

 Social – Economic – Environmental

Influences
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Project phases and the Project Life
Cycles

 Projects are generally divided into smaller

manageable pieces, to improve management
control and provide links to the ongoing
operations are called as Project phases

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Characteristics of Project phases

 Each project phase is marked by one or

more deliverables

 Conclusion of a project phase is marked by a

review of both key deliverables and the
project performance, to
– Determine if the project should continue in the
next phase
– Detect and correct errors, cost effectively

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Project Life Cycle

 ProjectLife Cycle serves to define the

beginning and the end of a project

 It includes
– What technical work should be done in each
phase
– Who should be involved in each phase

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Common Characteristics

 Cost and staffing levels are low at the start,

higher towards the middle and drops rapidly
as the project comes to an end
 Probability of successful completion of the
project is lowest and hence risks and
uncertainties are highest at the start of the
project
 Stakeholders influence is highest at the start
of the project

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Representative Project Life Cycle

 Defense acquisition

 Construction

 Pharmaceuticals

 Software Development

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Defense Acquisition

 Concept and Technology Development

 System Development and demonstrations

 Production and Deployment

 Support

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Construction

 Feasibility

 Planning and design

 Construction

 Turnover and startup

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Pharmaceuticals

 Discovery and screening

 Preclinical development

 Registration(s)

 Postsubmission activity

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Software Development

 Requirements Understanding
 Analysis
 Design
 Coding and Unit Testing
 Testing
 Implementation
 Maintenance

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Project Stakeholders

 Project Manager

 Customer

 Performing Organization

 Project Team Members

 Sponsor

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Key General Management Skills

 Provide
foundation for building project
management skills

 These skills are as follows

– Leading
– Communicating
– Negotiating
– Problem Solving
– Influencing the Organization
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Leading

 Leadership involves
– Establishing direction
– Aligning people
– Motivating and Inspiring people
 Leadership is not limited to Project Manager
 It is demonstrated at all levels of the project
as
– Project leadership
– Technical leadership
– Team leadership
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Communicating

 Exchange of information
 Sender is responsible for making the information
– Clear
– Unambiguous
– Complete
 Dimensions of communication
– Written or oral, listening or speaking
– Internal (within the project) or external (to customer)
– Formal or informal
– Vertical (top to bottom) or horizontal (with peers)

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Negotiating

 Itinvolves conferring with others to come to

terms with them or reach an agreement
 Negotiations occur
– around many issues
– At many times
– At many levels of the project
 Different types of negotiations
– Scope, cost and schedule related
– Contractual terms
– Assignments
– Resources
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Problem Solving

 Itinvolves a combination of problem

definition and decision making

 Problem definition requires distinguishing

between causes and symptoms

 Decision making includes analyzing the

problem to identify viable solutions and then
making a choice from among them

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Influencing the Organization

 It involves the ability to “get the things done”

 It requires understanding of both the formal
as well as informal structures of all the
organizations
involvedhttp://www.aptitudetest.in/aindex.htm

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Questions?