Introduction to Project Management (workshop) - v.2

INTRODUCTION TO
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
Basics of Success - Workshop
By
Mena Mostafa
Mar-
2015

Who Am I?
Mena Mostafa
 Instructor, Coach & Advisor
 15 years experience (software development field)
 Project Manager, Business Analyst & Developer
 Worked in the enterprises world (ASSET, ITWorx,
etisalat…)
 Managed over 150 projects (simple websites, portals,
ERP, eCommerce, games…)
 Led teams (co-located, remote, vendors)
 Joined the entrepreneurship & the world of
startups

Who Are You?
 What have you heard about project
management?
 Have you managed projects?
 What would you like to know?

Introduction
Key Definitions
Break (30 mins)
The Theory
The Project (workshop & breaks)
Lessons Learned
What’s Next?
The Plan

 Switch off/silent your mobile phones
 Leave titles at the door
 Participate
 Ask questions
 Share your experience
 Make mistakes & learn from them
 Request a break when you need to
 Have fun!
The Deal

… Congratulations 
So… Have you failed before?

What is a Project?
 Unique endeavor
 To achieve a specific
goal/objective
 Having a defined beginning
and end date
 Governed by a budget

• Construction project
• Blue prints
• Circumstances (weather, location…)
Unique

• Solve a problem
Specific goal

• Solve a problem
• Take advantage of an opportunity
Specific goal

d
• Shouldn’t run for ever
• Goal is crucial to identify when the project is done
Beginning and end
Jan
22
Aug
25

d
Beginning and end
Jan
22
Sep
25

d
Beginning and end
Jan
22
Oct
25

d
Beginning and end
Jan
22
Nov
25

d
Beginning and end
Jan
22 GOAL

d
• Not only money
• Other constraints: people, tools and time
Budget

What is Project Management?
The art and science of
planning, organizing, and
managing resources
to bring about the
successful completion of
specific project goals and
objectives

Who is the Project Manager?
Project managers bear ultimate responsibility for
making things happen. A PM must have a range
of skills:

 Leadership
 People management
(customers, suppliers,
functional managers and
project team)
 Effective communication
(verbal and written)
 Influencing
 Negotiation
 Conflict management
 Estimating
 Planning
 Time management
 Contract management
 Problem solving
 Creative thinking
Who is the Project Manager?
Project managers bear ultimate responsibility for
making things happen. A PM must have a range
of skills:

What Do Project Managers Do?
 Define the project, reduce it to a set of
manageable tasks, obtain appropriate
resources and build a team to perform the
work
 Set the final goal for the project and motivate his
or her team to complete the project on time
 Inform all stakeholders of progress on a regular
basis
 Assess and monitor risks to the project and
mitigate them
 No project ever goes exactly as planned, so
project managers must learn to adapt to and

Who is the Project Team?
A group of professionals committed to achieving
common objectives, who work well together and
who relate directly and openly with one another
to get things done.
 Project team membership
 Project manager (chosen before Initiation)
 Core team (chosen before Planning)
 Supporting team (chosen before Launching)

Why Projects Fail?
Many things can go wrong in project
management:
 Poor
communication
 Disagreement
 Misunderstandings
 Bad weather
 Union strikes
 Personality
conflicts
 Poor management
 Poorly defined
goals and
objectives

Stakeholder
 Any person or organization that is actively
involved in a project
 Or whose interests may be positively or
negatively affected by execution or
completion of the project
 It can be the client
end-user, top management,
team…

Role
 Although projects are different, there are
commonly occurring roles that exist in most
projects
 Sometimes individuals occupy more than one
role
 Common roles
 Business owner

Role
projects
role
 Common roles
 Business owner
 Project manager

Role
projects
role
 Common roles
 Business owner
 Project manager
 Quality team

Communication
 An essential component for good project
management
 Ensure that all stakeholders are equally informed
of:
 How
 When
 Why
communication will happen
 Communication is a very effective way to:
 Solve problems
 Deal with risks
 Ensure that tasks are completed on time

Scope
 Description of the work that will be done
 What will not be done (useful to avoid
confusion)
 Be very specific when writing it

Requirement
 Demands, necessities,
needs, or parameters that
must be met or satisfied
 Crucial for the success of
the whole project

Deliverable
 List of deliverables produced by the project
 Describe deliverables in an unambiguous manner
 Examples:
 Project Plan
 Requirements Document
 Design Document
 Source Code
 Test Plan
 Test Cases
 Release Notes
 User Guides

Baseline
 Baseline is the value or condition against which
all future measurements will be compared
 Baseline is a point of reference
 Three baselines
 scope baseline
 schedule baseline
 cost baseline
 The combination of all three baselines is
referred to as the performance measurement
baseline

Change
 The nature of projects makes change inevitable
 Changes impact project’s budget & schedule
(sometimes outcome)
 To cope with changes use a formal change
control procedure

Re-work
 A rework can arise due to:
 Change in scope
 Quality of the deliverables not up to the mark
 Change in requirements that is essentially a
change in scope
 Impact on time and budget depends on change
request time

Risk
 A risk is any factor that may
potentially interfere with successful
completion of the project
 A risk is not a problem. A problem
has already occurred, a risk is the
recognition that the problem will
occur
 By recognizing potential problems,
the PM can attempt to avoid a
problem through proper actions

Assumption
 Assumptions are
circumstances and events
that need to occur for the
project to be successful, but
are outside the total control
of the project team
 Assumptions should be
validated
 Assumptions are accepted
as true and are often without
proof or demonstration
✔

Constraint
 Constraints are things that
might restrict, limit, or
regulate the project
 Generally constraints are
outside the total control of
the project team

Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS)
 1st step in project planning
 An effective tool to list all project tasks
 Allows to group all tasks under main activities
 Ensures a clear overview of what to execute
Project
Task
Work
Work
Task
Work
Work
Task
Work
Work

Estimate
 Before proceeding in planning, estimate
project’s activities & tasks
 Based on the WBS, estimate effort each
task/activity will take regardless of resources
 Time and cost estimates are important for the
success of the project

Dependency
 Tasks in a project are related to each other
 The relationships between them drive the
schedule for the project
 Types:
 Causal/logical
 Resources constraint
 Discretionary/preferential
Task A
Task B
FS

Task A
Task B
FF
Dependency
 Types:
 Causal/logical

Dependency
 Types:
 Causal/logical
Task A
Task B
SS

Dependency
 Types:
 Causal/logical
Task A
Task B
SF

Schedule
 The project schedule is the tool that
communicates:
 What work needs to be performed
 Which resources of the organization will perform the
work
 The timeframes in which that work needs to be
performed
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
Design
Build
Test

Critical Path
 Succession of connected tasks that will take the
longest to complete
 The Critical Path is the longest path to complete
the project
Crack
eggs
Wait for eggs to poach
Mak
e
meal
Eat
mea
l
Slice
bread
Wait for bread
to toast
Butter
toast
Fill
kettle
Wait for kettle to
boil
Make
tea
Time

Earned Value
 Approach to monitor:
 Project plan
 Actual work
 Work-completed value
to see if a project is on track (performance &
progress)
 EV indicates how much budget & time should
have been spent, with regards to the amount of
work done to date
 EV answers the “What did we get for the money
we spent?”

Forecasting
 How the future will turn out based on:
 Progress
 Earned value
 Risks
 Assumptions

Quality
 The degree to which the project fulfills
requirements

Acceptance/Signoff
 Acceptance criteria represents specific and
defined list of conditions that must be met
before a project has been considered completed
and the project deliverables can and will be
accepted by the assigning party

Lessons Learned
 The purpose of
lessons learned is
to bring together
any insights gained
during a project
that can be usefully
applied on future
projects
Unintended
but
successful
Planned
and
successf
ul
Planned
but
failed
Failed
and not
planned
Success
Failure
Unplanned
Planned

Project Management
Project Management involves understanding the
fundamentals of a project:
 What business situation is being addressed?
 What do you need to do?
 What will you do?
 How will you do it?
 How will you know you did it?
 How well did you do?

Triple Constraints
Quality Req.
Risk
Resource
s
Scope
Scope
Project size, goals,
requirements
Time
Task durations,
dependencies, critical path
Resources
People, equipment, material
Money
Costs, contingencies, profit

Triple Constraints
Quality Req.
Risk
Resource
s
Scope
 Good + Fast
 Good + Cheap
 Cheap + Fast

Project Success
 Projects must be within cost
 Projects must be delivered
on time
 Projects must be within
scope
 Projects must meet customer
quality requirements

Project Lifecycle
Initiatin
g
Plannin
g
Closing
Monitorin
g &
Controllin
g
Executin
g

Project Lifecycle
Initiatin
g
Plannin
g
Closing
Monitorin
g &
Controllin
g
Executin
g
Initiating
Everything that is needed
to set-up the project
before work can start

Project Lifecycle
Initiatin
g
Plannin
g
Closing
Monitorin
g &
Controllin
g
Executin
g
Planning
Detailed plans of how the
work will be carried out
including time, cost and
resource estimates

Project Lifecycle
Initiatin
g
Plannin
g
Closing
Monitorin
g &
Controllin
g
Executin
g
Executing
Doing the work to deliver
the product, service or
desired outcome

Project Lifecycle
Initiatin
g
Plannin
g
Closing
Monitorin
g &
Controllin
g
Executin
g
Monitoring &
Controlling
Ensuring that a project
stays on track and taking
corrective action to
ensure it does

Project Lifecycle
Initiatin
g
Plannin
g
Closing
Monitorin
g &
Controllin
g
Executin
g
Closing
Formal acceptance of the
deliverables and
disbanding of all the
elements that were
required to run the
project

Project Lifecycle
Initiatin
g
Plannin
g
Closing
Monitorin
g &
Controllin
g
Executin
g
Initiating
Everything that is needed
to set-up the project
before work can start
Planning
Detailed plans of how the
work will be carried out
including time, cost and
resource estimates
Executing
Doing the work to deliver
the product, service or
desired outcome
Monitoring &
Controlling
Ensuring that a project
stays on track and taking
corrective action to
ensure it does
Closing
Formal acceptance of the
deliverables and
disbanding of all the
elements that were
required to run the
project

Initiating
Develop and gain approval of a general
statement of the goal and business value of the
project:
 Eliciting the needs
 Documenting the needs
 Writing a one-page description of the project
 Gaining approval to plan the project

Planning
Identify work to be done and estimate time, cost and resource
requirements and gain approval to do the project:
 Defining all of the work
 Estimating how long it will take to complete this work
 Estimating the resources required to complete the work
 Estimating the total cost of the work
 Sequencing the work
 Building the initial project schedule
 Analyzing & adjusting the project schedule
 Writing a risk management plan
 Documenting the project plan
 Gaining approval to launch the project

Executing
Recruit/assign the team and establish team
operating rules:
 Recruiting the project team
 Establishing team operating rules
 Establishing the scope change management
process
 Managing team communications
 Finalizing the project schedule
 Writing work packages

Monitoring & Controlling
Respond to change requests and resolve problem
situations to maintain project progress:
 Monitoring project performance
 Establishing the project performance and
reporting system
 Monitoring risk
 Reporting project status
 Processing scope change requests
 Discovering and solving problems
 Forecasting issues impact

Closing
Assure attainment of requirements and issue
deliverables:
 Gaining approval of having met project
requirements
 Planning and issuing deliverables
 Writing the final project report
 Conducting the post-implementation
audit/review
 Get paid!

Workshop Setup
Project
Team
Business
Owners
Project
Managers
Quality Testers
Workers
Designers

Step #0: Project Definition
Activities
 Agree on project
name
 Define project
objectives/goals
 Allocate high level
budget
 Set high level
timeframe
Output
 Set meeting with
vendor

Step #1: Project Initiation
Activities
 Study resources
 Anticipate cost
 Meet with client to
understand project
 Define stakeholders
 Define scope
Output
 Project signoff
 Scope
 High level budget
 High level timeframe
 Payment terms

Step #2: Project Planning (1)
Activities
 Objectives
 Requirements
 Deliverables
 Assumptions
 Constraints
 Risks
 Communication plan
Output
 Requirements
document
 Requirements
signoff

Step #3: Project Planning (2)
Activities
 WBS
 Build team
 Estimate
 Cost
 Schedule
Output
 Project plan
 Baseline set
 Kickoff meeting

Work
Test
Fix
Re-work
Demo
Time
Team
Output
Risks
Conflicts
Earned value
Progress
reports
Step #4, 5 & 6
Corrective actions
Change requests
Forecasting
Executin
g
Monitorin
g &
Controllin
g
Planning

Step #7: Project Closure
Activities
 Acceptance test
 Retrospective
meeting
 Final payment
Output
 Project
signoff/acceptance
 Assess performance
(gain & loss)
 Lessons learned

Project Management Tools
 Depends on the nature, size and complexity of the project
 There are different tools to manage:
 Requirements
 Resources
 Budget
 Time
 Tasks
 Documents
 Issues
 Defects
 Billing
 Reports
 Calendars
 Meetings
 …
Varying from paper and pen to complex software

Further Readings
 Budget Planning
 Business Analysis
 Change
Management
 Client
Management
 Crisis
Management
 Communication
Skills
 Conflict
Management
 Customer
Satisfaction
 Decision Analysis
 Decision Making
 Influencing People
 Leadership
 MoM
Documentation
 Motivation
 Negotiation Skills
 Presentation skills
 Requirements
Management
 Risk Management
 Strategic Planning
 Stress
Management
 Task Estimation
 Team Building
 Time Management

Certifications
 PMP: Project Management Professional
 CAPM: Certified Associate in Project
Management
 CompTIA Project+ Certification
 MPM: Master Project Management
 CPM: Certified Project Manager Certification

Thank you 
Would you like to become a
PM?

Let’s Keep in Touch
 Twitter: @menameissa
 Blog: A Project Manager’s Diary

References
 http://www.lynda.com/Business-Business-Skills-
tutorials/Project-Management-Fundamentals/80780-2.html
 http://www.lynda.com/Business-Business-Skills-
tutorials/Defining-project/80780/95043-4.html
 http://www.slideshare.net/MurftheSurf/project-management-
101-2487817
 http://www.innobiz.dk/Project_Management.html
 http://management.about.com/cs/projectmanagement/a/PM1
01.htm
 http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/introduction-to-project-
management.php
 http://blog.geekmanager.co.uk/presentations/Project-
Management-Basics-for-Busy-Geeks-BarCampLondon2-Feb-
07-FINAL.pdf

References
 http://oe.ucdavis.edu/local_resources/docs/projectmanageme
nttraining.pdf
 http://www.esi-intl.com/courses-and-
certifications/courses/project-management/introduction-to-
project-management
 http://www.slideshare.net/tsierra/project-management-basics
 http://glossary.tenrox.com/baseline.htm
 http://www.cioarchives.ca.gov/itpolicy/pdf/pm3.10_planning_ri
sk_management.pdf
 http://apmsdiary-pm.blogspot.com/
 https://ocio.wa.gov/pmframework/initiation/organization/assu
mptions
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_value_management

References
 http://www.projectinsight.net/project-management-basics/project-
management-schedule
 http://www.i-leadonline.com/newsletter/what-is-quality-on-
projects.htm
 http://project-management-
knowledge.com/definitions/a/acceptance-criteria/
 http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/lessons-learned.php
 http://www.managementstudyguide.com/rework-and-scope-
management.htm
 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/requirements.html
 http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/project-management-
certifications,2-670.html
 http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/anyanswers/question/your-ground-
rules-training/182983
 https://ebgconsulting.com/Goodies/Assets/WrkshpGroundRules.pdf

References
 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2008/0
7/29/back-to-basics-understanding-task-
dependencies.aspx
 http://management.about.com/od/projectmana
gement/g/Critical-Path.htm
 http://timtyler.org/on_the_critical_path/graphics
/cp_meal_1.png

Images Credit
 http://pmosystem.tumblr.com/post/11070115081/quotes
 http://www.clipartpanda.com/categories/project-20clipart
 http://recruitshop.com.au/how-much-does-recruitment-
advertising-really-cost-you/
 http://imgarcade.com/1/kleenex-clipart/
 http://www.lerelaisdechasse.com/w/70dc57c53e
 http://www.clker.com/cliparts/A/u/e/g/J/3/community-md.png
 http://memespp.com/mechanic-tools-clip-art/
 http://findicons.com/icon/65569/wooden_slick_drives_time_m
achine
 http://www.clipartlord.com/category/miscellaneous-clip-
art/pirate-clip-art/page/2/
 http://pixshark.com/backyard-fence-clipart.htm

Images Credit
 http://www.hypebot.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201a3fc7a5c0a970
b-popup
 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140721041448-66876514-
project-management-tools-the-grand-limitation
 http://www.clker.com/clipart-thumb-down.html
 http://www.ospreserje.si/index.php/zaposleni
 http://organizingtoronto.com/blog/enhance-your-living-space-with-
basement-remodels/
 http://activerain.trulia.com/blogsview/4469929/new-housing-starts-
jump-15-7--in-july-of-2014
 http://www.funinmarriage.com/page/3/
 http://pixgood.com/people-communicating-clipart.html
 http://imgarcade.com/1/project-scope-clipart/
 http://bethanylutheranpreschool.org/news-events/

Images Credit
 http://angiemakes.com/free-feather-clip-art/
 http://www.clipartguide.com/_pages/0511-1202-0214-4644.html
 http://www.clker.com/clipart-note-with-pin.html
 http://clipart-finder.com/clipart/no-u-turn-sign.html
 http://www.thewindowworks.com/do_it_yourself.html
 http://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/value.html
 http://www.clipartpanda.com/categories/handshake-20clipart
 http://www.vickidonlan.com/Womens-Business-Blog/bid/85470/3-
Lessons-Learned-for-Women-Entrepreneurs-in-2012
 http://4vector.com/free-vector/bbq-tools-clip-art-115846
 http://www.clker.com/clipart-7963.html
 http://cabinet.gov.krd/p/page.aspx?l=13&s=000000&r=432&p=363&
h=1&t=0
 http://www.gograph.com/stock-illustration/profit-forecasting.html

Introduction to Project Management (workshop) - v.2

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Introduction to Project Management (workshop) - v.2

Similar to Introduction to Project Management (workshop) - v.2 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Introduction to Project Management (workshop) - v.2

Editor's Notes