Our Expertise and Commitment – Driving your Success
Project Management Brown Bag
October 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 nonproject managers manage projects.
Introduce the PM Community at Actualize Consulting
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Overview – Project
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
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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 Management
2. Scope Management
3. Time Management
4. Cost Management
5. Quality Management
Note: Bolded Subjects to be expanded further in presentation
6. Risk Management
7. Human Resource Management
8. Communications Management
9. 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.
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Project Management Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Initiating
Planning
Executing
Controlling (and monitoring)
Closing
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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 Actualize
Share 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/projectmanagement-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
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