Project Management

What is project management?

• Project management is the application of processes, methods, skills, knowledge
and experience to achieve specific project objectives according to the project
acceptance criteria within agreed parameters. Project management has final
deliverables that are constrained to a finite timescale and budget.
• A key factor that distinguishes project management from just 'management' is that it
has this final deliverable and a finite timespan, unlike management which is an
ongoing process. Because of this a project professional needs a wide range of skills;
often technical skills, and certainly people management skills and good business
awareness.
(Source: APM Body of Knowledge 7th edition)

What is a project?
• A project is a unique, transient endeavour, undertaken to achieve planned objectives,
which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits. A project is
usually deemed to be a success if it achieves the objectives according to their
acceptance criteria, within an agreed timescale and budget. Time, cost and quality are
the building blocks of every project.
• Time: scheduling is a collection of techniques used to develop and present schedules
that show when work will be performed.
• Cost: It ensures the funds acquired and finances managed.
• Quality: It renders fitness for purpose of the deliverables and management processes
be assured.

Principles project management

• Create clear and concise project goals.
• Manage your risks.
• Establish a performance baseline.
• Establish and maintain healthy communication.
• Clearly define team responsibilities.

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Why is project management important?
1. Realistic project planning
• The importance of project planning cannot be overstated. Too often, organizations
overestimate how quickly they can achieve deliverables, underestimate the costs, or
both—a recipe for failure. A good project manager considers the big picture and sets
realistic and achievable goals, budgets, and timelines. Without careful management, a
project can quickly get off track before it has even begun.
2. Clear focus and objectives
• A lack of clear goals is the most common reason for project failure. Project managers
help organizations hone in on their priorities and define their project objectives. The
scope and objectives can quickly get cluttered when project management is left to the
team to handle. Unclear focus can lead to scope creep, missed deadlines, and
overspending.
3. Strategic alignment
• One of the most important reasons to use project management is to align projects with
business strategy. In other words, project management is a driver of organizational
strategy. Strategic alignment at every level of the project keeps each stakeholder on
the same page and ensures your initiatives drive the organization forward.
4. Managed process
• Project management is a proactive process that seeks to help the right people do the
right tasks at the right time. Without a set project management method, many teams
tend to work reactively-handling issues as they arise rather than proactively
planning for known risks and setting project goals and parameters from the beginning.
5. Quality control
• Quality control is an essential component of project management. The proposed
project could meet all parameters for time and budget, but if the quality standards
aren’t met, the project will be deemed a failure.
6. Reduced costs
• Project management reduces project costs by improving efficiency, mitigating risks,
and optimizing resources. Even with the added cost of investing in a project manager,
organizations stand to gain much more.

What is the project life cycle?

• The Project Life Cycle refers to the four-step process that is followed by nearly all
project managers when moving through stages of project completion.
• A standard project typically has the following four major phases (each with its own
agenda of tasks and issues): initiation, planning, implementation, and closure.

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 Taken together, these phases represent the path a project takes from the beginning to
its end and are generally referred to as the project “life cycle.”
• According to the Project Management Institute, the project life cycle is critical for any
managers hoping to deliver projects to clients successfully.

The Project Phases Involved

• Phase 1 The Conceptualization Phase
• Phase 2 The Planning Phase
• Phase 3 The Execution Phase
• Phase 4 The Termination Phase

Phase #1 The Initiation Phase

• This can also be referred to as the ‘conceptualization phase’ and is the starting point
of any project or idea.
• During the first of these phases, the initiation phase, the project objective or need is
identified; this can be a business problem or opportunity. An appropriate response to
the need is documented in a business case with recommended solution options. A
feasibility study is conducted to investigate whether each option addresses the project
objective, and a final recommended solution is determined.
• Issues of feasibility (“can we do the project?”) and justification (“should we do the
project?”) are addressed.

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Phase #2 The Planning Phase
• The next phase, the planning phase, is where the project solution is further developed
in as much detail as possible and the steps necessary to meet the project’s objective
are planned. In this step, the team identifies all of the work to be done.
• The project’s tasks and resource requirements are identified, along with the strategy
for producing them. This is also referred to as “scope management.”
• A project plan is created outlining the activities, tasks, dependencies, and
timeframes. The project manager coordinates the preparation of a project budget by
providing cost estimates for the labour, equipment, and materials costs. The budget
is used to monitor and control cost expenditures during project implementation.
• Once the project team has identified the work, prepared the schedule, and estimated
the costs, the three fundamental components of the planning process are complete.
• This is an excellent time to identify and try to deal with anything that might pose a
threat to the successful completion of the project. This is called risk management. In
risk management, “high-threat” potential problems are identified along with the
action that is to be taken on each high-threat potential problem, either to reduce the
probability that the problem will occur or to reduce the impact on the project if it
does occur.
• This is also a good time to identify all project stakeholders and establish a
communication plan describing the information needed and the delivery method to
be used to keep the stakeholders informed.

Phase #3 The Implementation (Execution) Phase

• During the third phase, the implementation phase, the project plan is put into motion
and the work of the project is performed. It is important to maintain control and
communicate as needed during implementation.
• Progress is continuously monitored, and appropriate adjustments are made and
recorded as variances from the original plan. In any project, a project manager spends
most of the time in this step.
• During project implementation, people are carrying out the tasks, and progress
information is being reported through regular team meetings. The project manager
uses this information to maintain control over the direction of the project by
comparing the progress reports with the project plan to measure the performance of
the project activities and take corrective action as needed.

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 • The first course of action should always be to bring the project back on course (i.e., to
return it to the original plan). If that cannot happen, the team should record variations
from the original plan and record and publish modifications to the plan.
• Throughout this step, project sponsors and other key stakeholders should be kept
informed of the project’s status according to the agreed-on frequency and format of
communication. The plan should be updated and published on a regular basis.

Phase #4 The Closing Phase (Termination)Phase

• The fourth and final phase is called Termination Phase, also referred to as Project
Closure.
• During the final closure, or completion phase, the emphasis is on releasing the final
deliverables to the customer, handing over project documentation to the business,
terminating supplier contracts, releasing project resources, and communicating the
closure of the project to all stakeholders.
• The last remaining step is to conduct lessons-learned studies to examine what went
well and what didn’t. Through this type of analysis, the wisdom of experience is
transferred back to the project organization, which will help future project teams.

The Termination Phase typically involves

• The disbandment of the project team.
• Personnel and tools are reassigned to new duties.
• Resources released back to the parent organization.
• Project transferred to intended users.

Project management tools and techniques

• SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats.
• SWOT analysis is a technique for assessing
the performance, competition, risk, and
potential of a business, as well as part of a
business such as a product line or division, an
industry, or other entity.
• Using internal and external data, the
technique can guide businesses toward
strategies more likely to be successful, and
away from those in which they have been, or
are likely to be, less successful. Independent SWOT analysts, investors, or

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 competitors can also guide them on whether a company, product line or industry
might be strong or weak and why.

Internal
• What occurs within the company serves as a great source of information for the
strengths and weaknesses categories of the SWOT analysis. Examples of internal
factors include financial and human resources, tangible and intangible (brand name)
assets, and operational efficiencies.
External
• What happens outside of the company is equally as important to a company’s success
as internal factors. External influences, such as monetary policies, market changes,
and access to suppliers, are categories to pull from to create a list of opportunities
and weaknesses.

Stakeholder matrix
• A stakeholder matrix is used to map stakeholders regarding their importance and
potential impact on programme or project activity. Stakeholders are the individuals or
groups who will be affected by activity, programme or project.
• They could include senior managers
whose business areas are directly or
indirectly involved end-users, including
customers outside the organization
suppliers and partners.

In a stakeholder analysis, there are two variables

which affect the project more than any other:
Power and Interest.
• Power is the ability of the stakeholder to
stop or change the project. For example,
a government regulatory approval
authority has a very high level of power.
• Interest is the size of the overlap between the stakeholder’s and the project’s goals.
For example, a landowner whose house has to be removed to make way for a project
has a very high interest.

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The position allocated to a stakeholder on the grid shows the actions need to take with them:
• Stakeholders with high power and high interest are major stakeholders that are
heavily invested in the project. They must be actively managed. Example: Directors,
Executive leadership, Business owners
• Stakeholders with high power but low interest must be kept satisfied. They can
derail the project over seemingly minor issues. Examples of this type of stakeholder
includes such entities as building plans department that have to issue construction
permits and perform inspections; they aren’t particularly interested in the outcome of
your project one way or another, but still wield significant power over your ability to
execute on time and budget.
Executive leadership, functional managers will also fall in this category.
• Stakeholders with low power but high interest must be kept informed. They can
create high influence (i.e., raise a stink) if they don’t get what they want. Example:
Customers, end-users, team members, community
• Stakeholders with low power and low interest must be monitored, in case they
become more powerful and affect the project in the future. Example: General public.

Cause and effect diagram

• Also known as fish-bone diagram, a cause-and-effect diagram can be used to

represent event causes and potential impacts. It is a graphical representation of the
causes of various events that lead to one or more impacts. Each diagram may possess
several start points (A points) and one or more end points (B points).

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 • Construction of the diagram may begin from an A point and work towards a B point
or extrapolate backwards from a B point. This is largely a matter of preference.

Risk map

• This is a simple representation of risk in terms of likelihood and impact. It requires

that the probability of a risk occurring is classified as low, medium or high, with a
similar classification for the impact if the risk materializes.
• A combined risk classification of high probability and high impact if the risk occurs is
clearly an important risk. The classification can be extended to include very low and
very high.

Summary risk profile

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 • A summary risk profile is a simple mechanism to increase the visibility of risks. It is a
graphical representation of information normally found on an existing risk register. In
some industry sectors it is referred to as a risk map.
• The project manager or risk manager needs to update the risk register on a regular
basis and then regenerate the graph, showing risks in terms of probability and impact
with the effects of mitigating action taken into account. It is essential for the graph to
reflect current information as documented in the risk register. The profile must be
used with extreme care and should not mislead the reader. If an activity has over 200
risks it will be impractical to illustrate all of the risks. It will be more appropriate to
illustrate the top 20 risks, for example, making it clear what is and is not illustrated.

Decision tree

• A decision tree is a useful tool for enabling

choice between several courses of action. It
provides a highly effective structure within
which options can be explored and possible
outcomes can be investigated. It also helps to
form a balanced picture of the risks and
rewards associated with each possible course
of action.
• A decision tree is particularly useful when
choosing between different strategies,
projects or investment opportunities,
particularly when resources are scarce.

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Radar chart

• Also known as a spider chart, a radar chart is a diagram that is used to show the
number of risks that different projects are exposed to. Initially, the data is placed in a
table that is subsequently converted into a chart. In a radar chart, a point close to the
center on any axis indicates a low value and a point near the edge is a high value.

Social competence
• The definition of “social competence” is difficult to put into a few simple words.
• “Social competence, often referred to as soft skills, is the totality of personal abilities
and attitudes that help to link individual action goals with the attitudes and values of a
group and in this sense also influence the behavior and attitudes of fellow human
beings. Social competence includes skills that are useful or necessary for social
interaction”.
• Social competence means:
to adapt one’s own behavior to the situation and flexibly to the behavior of the
people around him.

Composition of social competence

Team Competence
• Team competence means the ability to cooperate with members of a team according
to the situation, and to design and control team processes. This naturally includes the
mutual exchange of information, integrating oneself and others into the team,
agreeing and coordinating tasks within the team and, of course, presenting the results

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 of teamwork as a joint achievement. Since projects are always handled in teams, this
factor is an absolutely necessary criterion for project success.
Empathy
• Those who have the gift of putting themselves in other people’s shoes have a
considerable advantage in dealing and working with their fellow human beings.
Empathy or empathy means to understand others, to see and accept their views
and to react accordingly. If we feel understood, working together becomes much more
pleasant!
Problem solving ability
• To have empathy also means an improvement of the ability to solve problems,
because conflicts are seen from different perspectives and can therefore be solved
more constructively and faster.
Conflict ability
• The ability to deal with conflict means having the courage to actively address
conflicts, not to run away from them and not to immediately agree with everyone. To
represent one’s own opinion without devaluating the other person is evidence of
social competence. To perceive conflicts early, to assess them and to address them
quickly and to solve or de-escalate them.
Reflectivity
• Perception and reflection ability means to perceive situations sensitively and
appropriately, to recognize important signals and to be able to interpret the situation
appropriately. Those who are capable of reflection know and recognize their own sore
points and are also able to critically question their own position.
Critical ability
• This leads us to the next component of social competence, the ability to criticize, i.e.,
expressing but also accepting criticism. To have the right empathy, to dose criticism
correctly and to express it constructively is an essential success factor in cooperation
and in dealing with other people.
Leadership Competence
• Leadership competence is the direct and indirect influencing of the behavior of people
– mostly employees – to achieve goals. The goals are usually derived from the
organization or expectations of important stakeholders. The behavior of employees
can be influenced on the one hand by the personal relationship – responding to the
different motivations – and on the other hand by structural measures.

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