Introduction to
Project Management
By
Dr. Muhammad Elrabaa
General Project Map
• Build a plan:
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Define a project
Plan project activities
Plan for and procure resources
Plan project costs
Plan for quality and risks
Plan communication and security
Optimize a project plan
Distribute a project plan
• Track and manage a project:
– Track progress
– Manage a schedule
– Manage resources
– Manage costs
– Manage scope
– Manage risks
– Report project status
• Close a project:
– Review final project information
Defining Project Objectives
• Define a clear, specific and measurable project
objective. Avoid vague objectives such as "Create
state-of-the-art deliverables."
• A project's objectives may include:
– A list of project deliverables. A deliverable is a
tangible and measurable result, outcome, or item
that must be produced to complete a project or part
of a project. Both, project team and project
stakeholders must agree on the deliverables before
the project can start. Stakeholders are individuals
or organizations that are actively involved in the
project or whose interests might be affected by the
project.
• Contd.
– Specific due dates, both for the ultimate
completion of the project and for
intermediate milestones. Milestones are
reference points marking major events in a
project and are used to monitor the
project’s progress
– Specific quality criteria that must meet.
– To begin planning, you make educated
guesses and then use those estimates to
create your schedule. Project stakeholders
can critique them and then formally agree
to a set of project assumptions. Update the
schedule when you have additional
information on these factors.
• Contd.
– List your project's constraints to ensure
that all project stakeholders are aware of
them and have the opportunity to comment
on the list. Your projects have a specific
finish date, scope and perhaps budget
(project triangle).
Cost
– The project's scope is the combination of
all project goals and tasks, and the work
required to accomplish them.
Planning project activities
• Define phases and create a task list
– A task is a specific activity that has a
quantifiable (measurable) outcome and a
duration (a beginning and an end). A project is
made up of tasks.
– A phase is a group of related tasks that
complete a major step in the project
– A milestone is a reference point marking a
major event in a project and used to monitor
the project’s progress.
• Show the project's organization (using
task charts, Gantt charts, network
diagrams …etc.)
• Organize a project into a master project
• Contd.
• Estimate task durations
• Set task dependencies and
constraints
– There are many types of task
relationships (e.g. one task can only
start when another finishes because it
depends on its outcome)
– Identify and monitor critical paths
(sequence of interdependent tasks that
might cause project
delays/incompletion)
• Create interrelationships between