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[Music]

hi

we're so excited that you're here

i'm emilio and i'm a program manager on

the responsible innovation team here at

google and i'd like to officially

welcome you to google's certificate

program in project management let's

start with a simple exercise

take a moment

and think about some of the different

tasks that you've completed in your life

maybe you planned your wedding or a

birthday party or you filed your annual

tax returns maybe you moved from one

state to another or maybe

you're the family member who somehow

every year is tasked with organizing the

annual family reunion

believe it or not you've been developing

all kinds of skills through these tasks

that'll help you become a successful

project manager for any organization or

your own business

with this program in project management

by google

we've put together a set of courses

activities quizzes and exercises that'll

teach you the fundamentals of project

management

and of course help you get a job or

advance in your career wondering how i

started my own career in project

management well in college i always

gravitated towards things that were more

hands-on and action-oriented and less

theoretical

i wanted to make an impact in whichever

career i took on

so my first job out of college was as a

spanish and leadership teacher in los

angeles california

my main objective in guiding the student

leadership team at the school was to

identify mobilize and inspire the

student leaders

after two years of teaching i realized

that the moments when i felt the most

energized were when i was building a

vision for how to get a big project done

or when i was working to bring different

groups together

around a common goal

that's when i realized i had a lot of

core project management skills

and i could focus on growing and

developing them in the business world

i'm grateful that i get to be here for

the start of your journey when i was

first starting to think about my career

project management wasn't even on my

radar

it was one of those professions that i

didn't even know existed until i entered

the business world and experienced how

great of a need there is for folks who

are organized action-oriented diligent

and strategic i hope that by the end of

this program you'll be as excited as i

am about the prospects of a career in

project management

okay let's get into it we'll start with

an important question

what exactly is project management

project management is the application of

knowledge skills

tools and techniques to meet the project

requirements and achieve the desired

outcome

it's possible that you've been project

managing every day on some level without

even knowing it

in this course you'll learn how to hone

those skills to become a truly great

project manager

and the awesome thing about project

management is that it spans a lot of

industries
and company types and it doesn't require

deep technical knowledge

this means that any job or life

experience you've gained so far

will help you in building those skills

to become successful in a project

management career there are a lot of

people around the world like you who are

hoping to learn the skills to get a

project management role

whatever your reason for being here

we're glad you've joined us

this program is rooted in a belief that

a strong foundation in project

management can help anyone start a great

career as a project manager

this program includes six industry

relevant courses that focus on topics

like project management fundamentals

goals objectives and deliverables

risk management

team dynamics

project management methodologies

data-driven decision-making and more

each course is made up of personal

anecdotes reading materials quizzes and

case studies

and you can go through the program at

your own pace skip the sections that you

might already know

and review the videos again if you need

a refresher you'll be doing a lot of

hands-on learning you'll build project

plans and timelines

you'll learn how to manage budgets and

meet the needs of the people involved in

the project

and you'll learn different project

methodologies like agile scrum and

waterfall

you'll use tools like kanban and learn

about project management software like

asana

you'll also develop your soft skills

some of which you likely already have

don't worry even if you aren't quite

sure how to tap into them yet we'll

explore which skills are transferable to

a project management role

above all

this program will help get you ready for

a new job

but we're taking it one step further

when you complete this program

you'll have the opportunity to share

your work with google and other top

employers aiming to hire project

management professionals and the best

part is you'll have professional work

examples you can share with them to

showcase what you've learned

along the way you'll hear from google

employees like me we'll share personal

stories about how we became project

managers and how our foundations in

project management launched our careers

we'll also share what we do at work

every day and give you tips for job

interviews we've got a truly amazing

group of course instructors for you to

learn from ready to meet them

hi i'm joanne a senior program manager

on cloud security programs

i'm your instructor for course 2 where

we'll learn more about what's needed to

set the stage for a successful project

hey there my name's rowena a senior

program manager in google cloud

i'm your instructor for course 3 project

planning putting it all together where

we'll learn about the importance of

thorough project planning

identifying key milestones and

dependencies

documenting project plans

scheduling

budgeting and risk management

i'm elita a senior engineering program

manager at google and i'm your

instructor for course four project

execution running a project where we'll

learn about communicating effectively

managing risks understanding team

dynamics using data to inform decision

making and tracking progress

hi i'm sue i'm a technical program

manager for google support platform i'm

your instructor for course five agile

project management where we'll gain a

deeper understanding of agile project

management including principles and

practices the benefits and costs of

agile transformations the dynamics of

agile teams and the process of running

sprints and releases

and i'm dan a program manager in google

research i'm really excited to be your

instructor for course 6 applying project

management in the real world where we'll

take all the knowledge skills and

understanding you've built up throughout

this certificate and apply it to an

advanced project scenario

ready to get started let's go

so far we've previewed what you can

expect throughout this program

in this video we'll discuss the details

of this course and you'll have a greater

understanding for which types of jobs

are suitable for learners like you

we'll cover some key project management

terms and the roles and responsibilities

of any entry-level project manager plus

we'll discuss the kinds of jobs you can

pursue after you complete this program

one thing you'll learn soon is that

there's other roles in jobs outside of

just project manager that this program

will prepare you for

later in this course we'll have a video

on how to search for those roles and how

to view project management as both a

position

and a skill but for now we'll start by

going even deeper into what a project is

what a project manager is

and what kinds of skills they have

we'll provide real-life examples to help

illustrate that you probably already

have learned some of the skills required

to become a successful project manager

then you'll learn more about adding

value to projects and tips on being a

successful project manager from real

life googlers

pretty exciting right

we'll also cover the project's life

cycle

you'll learn all about a project's

different phases the corresponding tasks

in each phase

different methodologies for completing

tasks

and which is effective for a given

project and finally

you'll learn about different types of

organizational structures and cultures

and how they impact project management

coming up we'll start exploring the

concept of a project and the project

management field as a whole

are you ready to crank things up a notch

see you soon

hey again let's get back into it in this

video we'll define a project define

project management and explain its value

to an organization

let's start by defining exactly what a

project is

a project is a unique endeavor and

usually includes a set of unique

deliverables it's also a temporary

pursuit it has a defined beginning and

an end

to put it another way a project is a

series of tasks that need to be

completed to reach a desired outcome

reaching that desired outcome takes

collaboration

and careful planning that keeps the

project on track and on budget

that's where project management comes in

project management is critical to the

success of projects both big and small

so let's break it down into the what the

why and the how

so what is project management

why is project management an important

part of an organization and how is it

vital to a project's success

as i mentioned project management is the

application of knowledge skills tools

and techniques to meet the project

requirements and achieve the desired

outcome

project management is valuable to

businesses because it helps ensure that

a project delivers the expected outcomes

both on time

and within budget to demonstrate what i

mean i'll take you through a real-life

example of project management

imagine a school district signs a deal

with a telehealth company to make sure

students don't have to miss school for

simple health issues like fevers or

headaches

the deal will be completed by the end of

the school year

the students can now interact with the

doctor through a tablet smartphone or

computer while they're at school

implementing this technology into the

school's procedures is the project

it's got a clear outcome and start and

end date

so how is that project managed

well this project has several tasks and

each one has to be carefully planned out

and tracked or managed in order for the

project to be completed

for example to start you can organize

training sessions for faculty to get

them better acquainted with the

technology

policies and procedures you can budget

for tablets computers and other vital

equipment to facilitate the virtual

checkups

and you can maintain strong

communication with doctors the

telehealth company and school staff

members and so much more

to successfully launch the product in

the schools all of those things need to

get done and that is project management

seems pretty important to an

organization's success right

more and more

companies are starting to understand how

project management can save them lots of

money and time

poor project management can lead to

trillions of wasted dollars every year

for organizations around the world

more specifically poor project

management can lead to 48 of projects

missing delivery dates 43 missing budget

targets and 31 failing to meet an

organization's goals

as a company that serves so many

different purposes in communities it's

no surprise that project management's a

huge part of google

but here many of our project managers

are described as program managers

because they manage multiple projects

for specific products

teams or programs

there's thousands of people here with

the job of keeping projects and programs

running smoothly people like me

i'm a responsible innovation program

manager

my team is responsible for ensuring that

the technology we produce

the research we pursue and the

publications we put out are all done

with google's artificial intelligence

principles in mind

i review the processes for each of these

types of technologies and i give ideas

for how to continue innovating

responsibly to meet our organizational

goals

so my job adds value to google through

the core aspects of project management

we've mentioned

planning and organizing

managing tasks

and budgeting and controlling costs

hopefully you have a better sense of

what a project is what project

management is and why project management

is an important part of every company

and how it's vital to a project's

success next up we'll learn more about

what a project manager does

hey so we've covered what project

management is and why it's important to

organizations

now let's learn more about what project

managers do on a day-to-day basis

project managers usually follow a

process that involves planning and

organizing

managing tasks

budgeting

and controlling costs and other factors

everything they do helps make sure the

project can be completed on time and on

budget

in broad terms a project manager also

needs to make sure that the project

outcome is bringing value to the company

a project manager can add value in many

different ways whether that's creating a

new service for customers or modifying

an old service so it's more tailored to

the customer's needs

no matter what the task is a successful

project will always add value

and it's the project manager's job to

make sure that project is both valuable

and successful you may be asking

yourself well if i'm a project manager

how do i add value to an organization

every day

what does the day-to-day life of a

project manager look like well a project

manager's responsibilities can vary

depending on the project the industry

and the company they're working in

are you constructing a new building are

you project managing a renewable energy

product in a startup or are you setting

up your own event management company

your tasks will be different in each

scenario but here's a general overview

of what a typical day might look like

a project manager's daily

responsibilities always include some

version of the following planning and

organizing

an example of that might be gathering

requirements from teammates or customers

this means figuring out what exactly

your project's trying to accomplish

you might have a kickoff meeting or send

a survey

from here you may also work on creating

project plans

creating project plans is a key part of

project management it helps set the tone

of the project keeps everyone on pace

and aligned and helps move tasks along

which leads me to my second point

managing tasks

once the project is underway the project

manager helps manage tasks for the team

members and communicates key milestones

to the larger team or customers

this helps keep team members and

customers updated on how the project is

progressing

the third piece is budgeting and

controlling costs and other factors

managing the budget and controlling

costs is a common responsibility that

project managers have to understand to

keep the project on track and within

budget

this is a full-time job because the plan

you've created and managed may change

causing unexpected costs to come up and

that's just to name a few i could go on

for days but the most important thing to

know about the day-to-day of a project

manager is this

you'll use different tools techniques

and methodologies every single day

there's never a dull moment

personally my favorite part about being

a project manager is that i get to watch

the project's growth from start to

finish

it's really special to create something

from nothing working from the ground up

it's a really satisfying feeling

as a project manager you'll use a

variety of skills every day and a lot of

these skills you might already have

and we'll discuss this more coming up

see you there

welcome back

let's get right into it and explore the

variety of skills you'll use

have you ever been tasked with planning

a loved one's surprise birthday party

there's usually a lot of pressure and

responsibility but when you get it right

it feels amazing

that's still true even if there were a

couple of issues

maybe the guest of honor arrived home

earlier than expected and nearly ruined

the surprise

but if you made someone feel special on

their birthday you probably planned a

successful project

as you chose a venue sent out

invitations and calculated your budget

based on your number of guests

you were using several project

management skills like planning and

organizing managing tasks budgeting and

controlling costs and more

or maybe you've never planned a party

have you ever worked in the retail space

or in the service industry

then you might have experience that'll

translate into the project management

field too
for example you might have been in

charge of managing several employees

schedules to do that you had to plan and

organize which employees work styles

would complement each other in a

productive way

you also had to make sure that all

duties and responsibilities would be

covered during each shift

plus you had to be aware of all

employees availability

doesn't sound familiar

well have you ever had to relocate for a

new job and planned a big move

to successfully move all of your

belongings you may have coordinated

friends and family to help

you would have had to budget and control

costs for moving companies boxes

and miscellaneous expenses

and you probably packed your boxes one

room at a time

and clearly labeled the boxes so that

you knew what each box was when you

arrived at the new place

you had to manage all of these tasks

simultaneously

you've likely handled several tasks like

these in your lifetime

and in studying project management

you'll learn to further advance and

sharpen these skills so that you'll be

equipped to manage even bigger more

daunting tasks

the abilities that helped you complete

these past projects are a great selling

point for yourself as a future project

manager

so be sure to bring up these examples in

job interviews to demonstrate your

skills

for instance if you're asked questions

like

tell me about a time when you had to

juggle several tasks at once or tell me

about a time when you had to influence a

customer or teammate

it's good to have examples that

demonstrate your skills with time

management and leadership in both your

everyday life and previous workplaces

are you thinking about all of the skills

that you already have and can use in

your future project management role

perfect

up next we'll learn more about the types

of project management roles that you'll

be qualified for after this program

we'll also discuss how to start

exploring the various job opportunities

out there for you see you soon

hey everyone my name is x yes just a

letter and at google i'm a program

manager for a department called

responsible innovation most of us in our

everyday life use program management

when you have only a couple hours left

in a day and you have to figure out well

do i clean my house or do i go to the

grocery store and how long will each of

those tasks takes those are just

different elements or variations of

program management and project

management my path to program management

is pretty non-traditional i didn't go

graduate from a great college in fact i

dropped out of high school and i dropped

out of college so a ged is like the

highest credential that i have so after

i dropped out of high school i taught

myself how to code i built a whole bunch

of websites but realized like i didn't

have the

responsible skills to make me a mature

adult so i ended up joining the military

after spending eight years in the army i

traveled the world building apps for

really big companies and governments

around the world when i came into google

i realized i could still be technical

but then i'm just using the skills i

already have so how can i grow myself as

a person by learning new skills and

that's when i heard about the program

manager role the program manager role at

google is super cool because it varies

depending on which team you're on so if

you're a program manager in google cloud

that could look very different than

being a program manager in youtube that

switch up and that change from coding

all day long in front of a computer

screen was something that was really

really attractive to me some of the

biggest skills from my past and my

history that helped me become a program

manager and make that transition from

somebody who was managed by program and

project managers to actually becoming

one myself was taking a little bit more

accountability in my personal life

there's lots of things i want to learn

in life and i started doing things like

making schedules to practice like

different instruments like the bass

guitar and each of my roles whenever i

worked with a project or program manager

i also made sure to check in with them

about why they were doing what they were

doing i'm someone who doesn't really

learn from books if you can't tell by me

dropping out of school so i always found

somebody who was willing to teach me why

they were doing what they were doing

because that's how i learn i tend to be

more kinetic i learn as i go program

management to me was a natural calling

not because i like to run around and

make sure everyone you know tell

everybody what to do but because i have

a real personal passion for bringing

people together and getting everybody on

the same page to move towards the same

goal whether that's convincing all my

friends to go to my favorite vegan spot

in downtown l.a like four times a week

or whether that's getting us all

together to resolve conflict or to work

on an idea and collaborate on projects

on the side together those skills that

you use in your everyday life to keep

your tasks together

can apply to program and project

management very easily you just have to

be a little bit more intentional around

them and there's a lot more paperwork

involved
welcome back

now that you have a general

understanding of what a project manager

does let's focus on the types of jobs

that you may be qualified for after

completing this program to start i've

got a question for you

how many open roles do you think are out

there for project managers

hint

the answer is a very big number

project managers are in high demand in

2017

a study by the project management

institute found that by the year 2027

employers will need 87.7

million people filling project

management aligned roles according to

that same study the industries with the

most growth are manufacturing and

construction information services and

publishing

management and professional services

finance and insurance

utilities

and oil and gas

project management plays a big part in

helping all of these industries grow

in some industries you'll find the term

project manager grouped with a more

industry specific qualifying word for

example

construction project manager

or it project manager

or

engineering project manager

don't worry these are all still project

manager roles they're just specific to

an industry

and it's important to keep in mind that

the skills you learn in one industry

can be applied to another industry

new projects are popping up every single

day

across all industries we notice that new

technology is introduced which leads to

processes changing and a need to manage

those processes

so all kinds of companies need people

like you who can tackle a variety of

projects from start to finish to help

them navigate these changes by now you

might have noticed that you already have

some of those skills like organizing or

planning an event

problem solving or even managing a

budget

and you use them effectively in your

everyday life
reflect on some of those skills

we mentioned earlier and ask yourself

what are some of the parts of project

management that you're drawn to

while you may not have the answer just

yet thinking about these things can help

you find suitable roles later

as you keep going in this program try to

keep track of the lessons and activities

you prefer and the ones you didn't like

as much this will help you narrow your

choices

as you search through job boards later

the beauty of project management is that

you don't need to be an expert on a

focused technical topic

you just need to be able to manage

projects you could be a construction or

technology project manager or

you could enter the healthcare industry

and work in patient management you could

also enter the energy sector and act as

an environmental project manager the

possibilities are almost endless what's

equally exciting is that you could even

end up with a completely different title

altogether for instance there are roles

that entail a sequence of ongoing

projects that are considered programs or

operations in the industry in this case

the role may not be described as a

project manager

but instead something a little more

evergreen like operations manager or

program manager

other titles that might make sense for

you can include

operations assistant project assistant

project coordinator and program

assistant

when it comes to job duties your

responsibilities might change depending

on the type of company you choose

for example

the workload and specific tasks at a

small agency will be different from

those at google

it's also important to keep in mind that

as the world continues to change and

evolve

so do industries and the job

opportunities you'll find there

so be sure to cast a wide net you'll be

able to find more and more jobs you're

qualified for in addition to being

qualified for project management related

jobs there's plenty of other roles or

paths that may interest you internships

can sometimes be a good place to start

an internship is a short-term way to get

hands-on experience in an industry

plus

internships are a great way to help

boost your resume and set yourself apart

from other candidates one of the key

benefits of internships is that you get

real work experience while

simultaneously networking with people in

that industry it's a win-win now some

internships in your field might not

technically be project manager roles

but

a lot of roles are easily transferable

for example

something like an events manager intern

role can become a full-time project

manager position later on internships

aren't great for everyone's lifestyle

but if you can make them work they're a

fantastic option

another path you can take is contract

work

working for companies on a contract

means you'll work with them on a

project-by-project basis but you won't

be a full-time employee this kind of

work is a great way to get your foot in

the door and build your portfolio plus

it gives you the flexibility to try your

hand at a few different projects at once

depending on the commitment level

required for that

another benefit of contracting is that

it lets you explore different kinds of

companies and project types

since it's a temporary position you can

explore what type of company is the best

fit for you maybe you find you like

working with a large or a small team

or you find you enjoy specific types of

projects

and if you find a situation that suits

you and the organization your contract

position might just lead to a full-time

position as you keep charging forward

try thinking about the type of job you

might be interested in going after when

we're done here

every new topic you discover brings you

one step closer to your first role in

project management and one step closer

to where you want to be in the next

video we'll learn how to identify and

search for job titles best suited for a

project manager we'll see you there

hi again let's discuss how to search for

a job in the project management field

it's no secret that job searching can be

a challenge

even the most detailed specific job

listings can leave you wondering what

the company's really seeking in a

candidate don't worry we've all been

there and we're here to help you sort

through the lingo and the confusion the

more job listings you find the more

buzzwords you'll likely notice too

words like data driven team player

self-starter understanding all the

buzzwords and job listings will help

figure out if a job is right for you up

to now we've discussed project

management as a role

but many companies actually list it as a

skill

here's some more good news you'll soon

be qualified for a position as a project

manager

and a position that lists project

management as a skill

here's the even better news

if you have the skills to manage

projects you'll be qualified for program

manager or operational roles that

require you to manage an end-to-end

system or department too which ask for

the same skill set now let's check out

different types of jobs that use your

project management skills

when job hunting keep your options open

as i just mentioned you don't have to

limit yourself to just project manager

titles there's lots of other titles

you're qualified for too

you'll know what's a good fit for you by

reading the job descriptions so cast a

wide net depending on the field you

choose

you might find roles like operations

manager program manager operations

associate or project assistant

all of these could be a great fit for

your skills for example

let's say you're searching a job board

for project management roles when you

notice a

community operations manager role for a

small city open up the job title isn't

project manager but you'll notice that

the job functions match your skill set

and years of experience also match the

job requirements the job description may

include a list of required skills like

organizational management strong

planning and communication skills budget

preparation and monitoring sound

familiar
maybe you'll even start to notice that

the jobs responsibilities seem like

tasks you've covered in this course like

creating monthly status reports helping

to implement new and necessary

technologies tracking work plans and

performance metrics assisting other

members of the operations team on given

projects and ensuring timely responses

to requests for information

these duties are nearly a perfect match

for your project management skills and

there are plenty more listings like

these too how great is that the skills

that go into project management are used

in all kinds of roles and professions

believe it or not we've all worked with

or learned from a project manager at

some point in the past can you guess who

that is it's your teachers

think about it everything that goes into

being a teacher takes project management

skills designing a curriculum that's

accessible to students with unique needs

managing a budget communicating with

others like parents department heads or

school admins

developing processes to make things run

efficiently in the classroom and so on

for example when i went for my first

interview at google i highlighted my

experience as the founder and advisor to

a student leadership group

i told them about how i assembled and

led a team of 20 students to plan and

execute events like fundraisers

community gatherings and academic

assemblies for over 300 students during

the academic year i even kind of

surprised myself looking back at how

much relevant project management

experience i had now i'm sure you'll

think back on your own experiences and

feel the same thing

one more thing to call out is networking

networking is when you meet other people

in a professional setting with the goal

of learning sharing knowledge and

creating new business connections

this plays a big role in job hunting so

it is a great tool to start learning and

perfecting

the skills you learn here will prepare

you for all kinds of project management

jobs

knowing how to search for jobs will make

it even easier to match those skills

with the best opportunities for you

my name is gilbert and i'm a talent

outreach specialist here at google

talent can mean many things it can mean

folks that have never envisioned

themselves at google and so part of our

team's remit is to identify talent that

google or other companies may not

necessarily reach out to or consider for

roles in the past and helping them

navigate the interview process it could

also mean candidates that are already

interested or have expressed interest in

opportunities at google in the past and

engaging them to support them through

the interview process today

at google you have to wear

the program and project management hat

regardless of what role you're in

and that's definitely been the case for

me

so in my role i've had to practice

skills such as communicating to

stakeholders managing a budget

managing a project timeline in many

different projects within my role

an example of this could be

organizing

events for university students to come

to google's campus

and hear from guest speakers about the

projects we work on the roles and their

career journeys

and so as you can imagine this is a can

be a complex project my first job out of

college was completely unrelated to what

i'm doing now i was an assistant manager

at a big box retailer

and so

a lot of the skills that i actually

learned in that role have translated to

support me in my role and allowed me to

have success

so some of these skills are being able

to talk to and have difficult

conversations

being able to manage a budget

managing resources

and managing your time these are

especially important in the retail

setting

i started applying a lot of these

project management frameworks or

practices even into the smallest

projects

maybe it's related to my goals for the

next three months setting a project plan

based around that right i was the only

stakeholder i was the only one reviewing

maybe this documentation but the

practice of being able to do this really

helped me so that when i had to do it

for a project at google with multiple

stakeholders with multiple timelines

competing priorities it was already

second nature to me because i even

applied it just in my day-to-day

so i think one of the biggest

support

that i had as far as

working through imposter syndrome or

like lack of confidence as i stepped

into a lot of these skills is is really

just practice and you can practice it in

many different ways in your personal

life and your professional life and

anything in between so that was really

important for me as i've gone through

this journey of upskilling as a program

and project manager i'd say that by

joining this course and and

and stepping into this you're already

taking the first step and i think that's

just as important right like not letting

fear

or fear of failure get in the way of of

new opportunities for you and the second

piece is don't be afraid to ask for help

i think that

folks are generally willing to to help

and support you so the biggest thing

that you can do is reach out and not be

afraid to ask questions not be afraid to

do an informational interview to ask for

resume tips to ask for advice from

people that are maybe already in the

role that you're hoping to step into or

in the field that you're looking to work

in

just reach out to them ask them

questions i think people like to connect

with folks that are intuitive that are

curious and are just eager to learn

and so if you can leverage those two

pieces i think that you're going to have

success in whatever you do

and just like that you're done with the

first module congrats on hitting this

exciting milestone

you're one step closer to becoming a

rock star in project management

let's revisit the concepts we've learned

so far

we started by discussing how project

management is the application of

knowledge skills tools and techniques to

meet the project requirements and

achieve the desired outcome

then we learned that project management

is alive in nearly every industry and

company so you're working on an

incredibly useful and versatile

certification we also learned what a

project is

a unique endeavor and temporary pursuit

carefully planned out to achieve a

particular goal hopefully by now you're

familiar with the idea that every

project has a defined time frame cost

scope

and dedicated resources

we've covered some broad concepts and

key terms that'll help you become a

successful project manager

and we've gone over how to search for

jobs when that time comes

we've also discussed how to effectively

translate your past experiences into

talking points for why you'll be a

successful project manager we talked

about how you can transfer skills from

your previous job into your new project

management role and how that'll really

set you apart everything from juggling a

to-do list to budgeting for a loved

one's birthday party

demonstrates that you probably already

have some of the skills to be a

phenomenal project manager but no

worries if you don't we're starting from

scratch here

by the end of this course you'll have

the skills but also the experience

and knowledge to find the role you want

whether that's contract work internships

or general project management positions

you'll be able to figure out what's the

best fit for you and as we go forward i

want to encourage you to keep thinking

about what kind of work you might like

to do in the future

and let's not forget the most exciting

news we learned about project management

just about everyone needs a project

manager

this position's in high demand and that

demand just keeps growing wow okay

that's a lot of ground we covered

and we've just barely scratched the

surface

i hope you've enjoyed the course so far

because it's about to get even more fun

coming up we have your first graded

assignment and i know you'll ace it

remember take your time

and relax

trust yourself you've got this

don't forget you can always review your

notes and readings or go back and

re-watch some of the videos if you're

unsure about an answer

good luck and i'll see you again soon

welcome back let's start by reviewing

what we've discussed so far

earlier you were introduced to project

management as a career path

we discussed how this course can help

you advance your career goals with a

project management certification

and we also discussed some of the basics

of project management

like how to define a project and its

different components

then we went over some distinct project

management careers roles and

responsibilities

now it's time to gain a deeper

understanding of a project manager's

role

by the end of this module you'll be able

to explain the unique value a project

manager brings to their team

you'll also be able to describe a

project manager's roles and

responsibilities and list their core

skills

this course will help you continue to

recognize the skills that you already

have that will help you become a

successful project manager

it will also help you identify new

skills that you may need to learn in

preparation for your new career ready

let's get started

earlier in this course we introduced you

to the world of project management

we discussed how project management

spans industries and companies of all

kinds from large corporations to small

businesses

now let's define what a project manager

is and describe how they add value to

their teams and organizations

let's start with the definition

project managers shepard projects from

start to finish and serve as guides for

their team using their impeccable

organizational and interpersonal skills

every step of the way

as you learned earlier project managers

usually follow a process that involves

planning and organizing

managing tasks

budgeting and controlling costs so that

the project can be completed within the

approved time frame

we'll dig deeper into these topics

throughout this program what you need to

know right now is that project managers

play a crucial role in their

organizations

project managers add value to their

teams and organizations in key ways that

include

prioritization

delegation and effective communication

so let's break these down

first we'll discuss prioritization

project managers add value to their

teams and organizations through

effective prioritization of tasks

required to complete a project

they're experts at helping team members

identify and break down large tasks into

smaller steps

there will be times when a project

manager may not know which tasks to

prioritize

to determine which ones are the most

critical to the success of the project

they'll connect with their teams

and with stakeholders to gather

information and make a plan

stakeholders are people who are

interested in and affected by the

project's completion and success like

the leader of an organization

you've probably used prioritization to

complete work in the past in any kind of

project personal or professional there

are tasks with different levels of

priority

for example let's imagine that you've

decided to

rent a house and plan to repaint the

rooms you've picked out your paint and

you're eager to get started

while it may be tempting to start

painting right away

you'll need to prioritize tasks like

laying out drop cloths to protect the

floors and furniture

applying blue tape to the room's edges

and much more

those preliminary steps are critical and

need to come before painting

other related steps like choosing new

face plates for your light switches can

come later in the process

or be switched out of the project

entirely if you run out of time or money

when you choose to take care of these

preliminary steps before wedging open

the paint can you're prioritizing the

tasks or steps of your project

you're also increasing the likelihood

that you'll be satisfied with your newly

painted rooms

this process is similar for professional

projects

when you effectively prioritize

important tasks you set up your team and

yourself

for a better project outcome

now let's discuss delegation

project managers use delegation to add

value to their teams and organizations

by matching tasks to individuals who can

best complete the work

let's return to our house painting

example for a second here

painting multiple rooms can be a time

consuming project so it's possible that

you might enlist a few friends to help

you get it done

maybe one friend has professional

painting experience

now with that in mind you might ask her

to handle the more challenging aspects

of the project like painting the ceiling

or the detailed molding

you might also schedule her to paint the

molding before another friend paints the

walls

so by delegating this task to the person

with the right skills to complete the

work and ordering the tasks

appropriately you're applying knowledge

of your team's strengths to the planning

of your project that makes sense right

finally let's talk about effective

communication

project managers deliver value through

effective communication

both with their team

and with key stakeholders this refers to

being transparent which means being

upfront with plans and ideas and making

information readily available

project managers keep in regular contact

with their team about the progress of

the work and help identify areas where a

teammate may need support

in our house painting example this might

involve checking in with your friends

periodically to ask if they have enough

paint or supplies left to complete their

tasks

checking in regularly means you'll know

if you need to buy more paint before the

can is empty which ensures that the

project stays on track

in addition to keeping up with teammates

project managers keep in regular contact

with people outside of the team

like company leaders who are invested in

the project outcomes

for example you might reach out to your

landlord to get permission to paint and

to share the days you'll be working on

this project

though your landlord isn't directly

involved in the project's execution the

outcomes will affect her property and so

it's important to keep her informed

without your project management skills

you might run out of paint halfway

through the project your walls might get

painted without drop cloths to protect

the floors

and your landlord could be caught off

guard about your plans

so it's a good thing you're here to keep

the project running smoothly and

efficiently

great

now you should be able to define what a

project manager is and explain how they

use prioritization delegation and

effective communication to deliver value

to their organizations

coming up you'll hear about the career

path of a real life project manager at

google

their journey to me is fascinating and

we can't wait to share it with you

my name is joanne i'm a senior program

manager at google i'm a first-generation

chinese-american

my family and i came to the united

states when i was young my parents

worked really hard when i was growing up

and i spent a lot of time by myself

basically just having to take care of

myself you know planning my meals doing

my homework

taking care of chores so i feel like i

got a little bit of my program

management skills from just being really

organized like having to be really

organized all the time my path to being

a project manager really started as a

business systems analyst i was writing

requirements or gathering requirements

for our customers

uh and translating them into

documentation for our engineers so that

they could implement it through that

process

became a project manager i started to

manage the timelines manage the tasks

understand all the pieces and who needed

to be involved

and there you go you have a project

manager

i think the funnest part about being a

project manager is really working with

people you get to meet all different

kinds of people different personalities

sometimes you get to travel to places to

meet them but even when you don't i

think just

meeting new people and understanding how

how we interact how people interact and

behave is fascinating i think if you

build a relationship focus on the

relationship and really understand what

their style where they're coming from

what their concerns are

it will help your relationship your

working relationship much better you can

communicate with them in the style

that's necessary you can work with them

in the style that's more receptive to

them

and that would just make the project

better all around

welcome back i hope you enjoyed that

last story because for me it's always

helpful to hear about someone else's

career path maybe you even

noticed a few parallels between their

career path and your own or you felt

inspired to pursue a specific area of

project management

so far we've discussed the types of

project management roles you'll be

qualified for and how to search for them

and earlier we discussed the value that

project managers bring to their teams

and their organizations

now let's learn more about the roles and

responsibilities of a project manager

earlier you learned that project

management is the application of

knowledge

skills

tools and techniques to meet the project

requirements and achieve the desired

outcome

so

how does that actually happen

well that's where you come in

project managers usually follow a

process that involves planning and

organizing managing tasks

budgeting and controlling costs and

other factors so that the project can be

completed within the approved budget and

time frame

let's break these down into examples of

responsibilities that you might find in

a job listing for a project management

role we'll start with planning and

organizing

one responsibility that falls under the

umbrella of planning and organizing is

making use of productivity tools and

creating processes

during the planning and execution of a

project you might need to use certain

tools and develop processes to improve

information sharing across the team

you may also need to create plans

timelines schedules and other forms of

documentation to track project

completion and you'll usually need to

maintain those documents throughout the

entirety of the project

the next task is budgeting and

controlling costs and other factors

as the project is underway changes to

the plan and budget are bound to come up

believe me this will require you to

monitor and manage the budget track

issues and risks as they arise and

manage quality by mitigating those

issues and risks

one way to do this is by removing

unforeseen barriers that come up

now by barriers we mean things that can

get in the way of project progress

for example if your teammates lack the

resources needed to complete a task

you might identify that issue or barrier

upfront escalate the issue to a

stakeholder and work to secure the

resource so your team can move forward

another huge piece of the project

manager's role is managing tasks a

project task is an activity that needs

to be accomplished within a set period

of time by you

your team

or your stakeholders

keeping track of tasks is a great way to

help manage the team's workload and

ensure that things are getting done

keeping track of tasks is also a great

tool for demonstrating progress to

people outside the immediate team like

your stakeholders

back when i was a program manager in

student development here at google one

of our goals was to create pathways for

students who identify with communities

that are underrepresented in the

technology industry

a large part of my day-to-day

responsibilities involved working with

two separate engineering teams to create

our technical curriculum

to manage the tasks associated with this

project i created separate project

trackers for each team that outlined the

vision for the curriculum

these trackers kept both teams in the

loop about the timeline for delivery

the categories and sub-categories for

work and the team members assigned to

each task

i also made sure to update our

stakeholders every step of the way

by actively managing tasks throughout

the project life cycle

i was able to keep tabs on everyone's

work

and efficiently inform stakeholders

which allowed us to achieve our project

goal with minimal issues

nice job

now you should be able to describe the

roles and responsibilities of a project

manager coming up we'll discuss a

project manager's role within the

extended team including how to work

alongside the people tasked with

executing the project catch in a bit

hey and welcome back

earlier you learn more about the

responsibilities of a project manager

and while it might seem like a lot to

keep track of it's important to know

that you

as the project manager won't need to do

everything on your own

let's discuss the role of the project

manager and how that role relates to

other roles within the project team

it's easier to hear the term manager and

immediately think of your boss but a

project manager is not often the direct

manager of the people working on a

project team

here we're discussing the project

manager as someone who manages the tasks

of a project

but what does that really mean right

well although you might have a few

teammates working with you on a project

you're probably not their day-to-day

boss

with the help of your team you can get a

lot more done together

everyone on your team will have their

own set of roles and responsibilities

and you'll come together to ensure that

everyone is able to do their part to

advance the project

each person will be an expert on their

portion of the project but no one will

be an expert on every aspect of the

project and honestly neither will you

for instance the graphic designer will

focus on graphic design but probably

won't be an expert on copywriting

similarly you'll be an expert on project

management but may not be an expert on

marketing

here's another way to think about it

imagine that you're organizing a camping

trip

you might be the person in charge of

planning the trip

but that doesn't mean you have to be a

camping expert

maybe you've never been camping before

but your partner grew up spending every

summer by the campfire in that case you

might assign them the task of picking

out the right number and style of tents

for your group

so in this example you are planning the

trip by giving your partner the job of

finding the right number of tents and

the right size tents to make sure

everyone's covered you aren't doing the

research or the task yourself but you're

making sure that things are getting done

it's similar in the workplace

as the project manager you won't be an

expert in every project role and that's

okay

as we said your job isn't to be the

expert on everything

instead you're responsible for guiding

your team and making sure that they have

the support that they need in order to

complete the project

so how does a project manager go about

doing that

let's discuss using a few more examples

of the required responsibilities you

might find in a job listing

first you'll need to hold all team

members accountable for their assigned

tasks managing tasks will help you hold

your team members accountable by giving

them ownership over specific pieces of

the project

second you'll need to ensure that issues

and risks are tracked and visible and be

able to establish escalation paths

now by escalation paths i mean that you

should know how you'll communicate risks

to the right people at the right time

third you'll need to understand and help

teammates adopt the right workflows and

project management styles as the project

manager you'll likely have the best idea

of which style is best for the work

it's your job to ensure that the team

adheres to that style and other systems

in place

and fourth

you'll need to collaborate with other

teams at the organization to meet the

requirements based on project scope

schedule and budget

in other words a project may affect not

only your team but other teams at an

organization as well

say

the marketing or the finance team

so you'll need to work with those teams

to ensure that everyone is happy with

the project outcomes

you'll learn more about working with

other stakeholders in a later course

catch all that

let's recap

you've learned that a project manager

isn't always the direct manager of each

member of the project team

rather they're responsible for guiding

those people and ensuring they have the

support they need to complete the

project

now that you have a good sense of the

way that a project manager fits into the

project team

let's move a little bit ahead where

we'll discuss the types of skills that a

project manager needs to succeed meet

you there

a great project manager is some funky

combination of emt

ninja

and jazz musician

an emt who can show up on a scene that's

full of chaos

figure out what needs to happen now

triage all of the things on site and

then develop a plan of action while also

participating in that action

a ninja because you kind of have to be

stealth about how you go about

influencing other people

overt action or pushing people too hard

isn't necessarily received well and a

jazz musician

particularly a jazz drummer

who keeps a steady beat as a lot of

things are happening around you

on a team you're going to be surrounded

by a bunch of talented people

a trombone player a bass player a

trumpet player a pianist and you

keeping the beat and making sure that

everybody is working in time i spend

most of my days with my product and

engineering counterparts talking a lot

about strategy updating status to key

stakeholders and trying to figure out

what comes next for our product some

things about my job never change from

this day to my very first day

the fact that i communicate with a lot

of people in a day a lot of different

types of people from engineers to

product managers to partnerships to

sales and marketing

all of that's the same the biggest

difference is the number of people that

i communicate with and the complexity of

the topics i cover the most important

thing for you to keep in mind is staying

organized the more organized you are and

your actions the more organized your

team is in their thinking and their

actions

what i do to stay organized is lists

list lists lists all day long i have

post-it notes i have electronic lists i

have lists and emails and those lists

help me stay on top of what actions need

to happen now what actions need to

happen next and which i can put off for

a few more days

i do use the list to help manage my time

i think one of the things my lists are

most important for is making sure

i know what needs to be done today and

then once my list is made and i'm sure

of what needs to be done today i budget

time for those things a stand-up is a

quick meeting usually at the start of

the day but you can have them really at

any time my standups usually happened in

the morning

around 9 30 or 10 o'clock depending on

when the engineering team got in they

lasted for about 15 minutes so that we

were clear on what had gotten done the

day before and what was on the docket to

get done today

and then we usually checked in again

quickly around lunch to make sure that

people were still on track or ran into

any technical issues that might require

a longer time to finish the task

i think the thing that makes me a great

project manager

is a bias to action and resilience one

of my favorite phrases is pick it and

stick it in part because i think it's

important to make a decision to get

yourself unstuck to follow through on

that action learn some things and decide

to take a new action once you've learned

something

the latter half of that is resilience

i am resilient and my teams are

resilient so if we've taken a bad action

we've learned that we can learn and

change our mind with new information

i'm elita a senior engineering program

manager at google

hey and welcome back

now that you've learned about the roles

and responsibilities of a project

manager let's discuss the core skill

sets that a project manager should bring

to the role

well there are lots of different skills

a project manager can bring to their

role

there are four specific skill sets that

we think can help a project manager be

successful

those are

enabling decision making

communicating and escalating

flexibility and strong organizational

skills

first let's talk about enabling decision

making

the ability to enable decision making on

the team or gathering decisions from the

appropriate leader

is crucial to keep projects on task and

achieve their goals

lots of the day-to-day decisions within

the project will likely fall to you and

your teammates to discuss and agree on

you'll ensure that projects stay on

schedule by gathering information from

teammates and using those insights to

help the team make informed decisions

you'll also make sure that those

decisions are communicated to the

necessary co-workers whether that's the

immediate team or company leaders

for example

you might provide relevant data or

feedback to help your teammates make an

informed decision between choice a and

choice b

the second skill is communicating and

escalating

as a project manager you'll use your

communication skills in just about

everything you do

this might look like documenting plans

sending emails about the status of the

project

or holding a meeting to escalate risks

or issues to stakeholders

the third skill is flexibility

as a project manager knowing how to be

flexible when changes are needed is key

plans definitively will change

even with careful upfront planning

for example

maybe the goals of your company change

or maybe a member of your team

unexpectedly takes a new position at

another company a good project manager

knows that unpredictable moments like

these are almost always guaranteed

a quote we love here at google is the

only constant is change and that's true

by staying cool under pressure you'll be

able to adjust while helping your team

stay calm too

and finally a successful project manager

needs strong organizational skills

as you learned earlier the role of a

project manager requires using a lot of

different processes to keep the project

on track

having strong organizational skills

means having the ability to organize

these processes and the core elements of

a project to ensure nothing gets lost or

overlooked which trust me can and does

happen
to prevent this you might decide to

track daily tasks in a spreadsheet or

send frequent status updates or

reminders there are many ways to stay

organized and hone your organizational

skills and we'll talk more about them

throughout the program to recap

decision making communicating and

escalating flexibility and strong

organizational skills are four core

skill sets that are essential to

successful project management

you can continue to build on these

skills by becoming familiar with

industry knowledge that applies to most

project management roles

knowledge of helpful tools and templates

and familiarity with popular project

management styles like waterfall and

agile can help you organize and document

the project throughout its life cycle

we'll learn about these throughout this

program

hopefully you feel better equipped to

explain the core skills a project

manager should bring to the role

these skills really help enforce team

morale and accountability for the tasks

of a project we'll discuss this coming

up see you soon

my name is rachel i'm a senior program

manager in google new york google hired

me out of a bar in the east village

about 12 years ago for about three years

a group of

ny ops and sre drank at my bar and like

everyone at the bar they asked the

bartender for advice so i gave them

advice and helped them through a lot of

problems and also became friends with

them i really admired them they were

incredibly smart and charming and

really good drinkers and tippers

eventually i

wanted something different from my life

when standing behind a bar all night

long and

there was an opportunity to apply for an

admin role on their team so i joined

google in 2008. they hired me first as

an administrator

for site reliability and engineering ops

in new york city

after about two years transferred into

program management google's hiring is a

little more conventional now but the

skills that i polish while being a

bartender inform my everyday work

a wise old bartender that i knew in the

lower east side once told me that a bar

was a room full of tables and chairs and

some beer and a meeting room was the

same a room full of tables and chairs

people come into a bar like they come

into a meeting room wanting to leave

feeling something else

so as a program manager my job was to

help people through that experience the

aesthetic experience of meeting with

each other making decisions and coming

to conclusions together

very similar to bartending and helping

people have a better night

my role as a program manager started by

someone taking a risk on me my

engineering partner picked me out of the

admin pool because he knew that i could

build community with his engineers when

you work at a bar you have to talk to

anyone who comes into the bar anyone who

walks through that door is your customer

you have to understand what they want

what they want to drink

whether they can continue drinking

whether they might be done drinking

all of these things

when you are working with a subject

matter expert an engineer a product

designer a ux

person the same things apply so you have

to be able to talk to any engineer on

your team

any product manager you need to work

with and you have to understand their

unique needs

program management isn't just about the

the process and the artifacts that you

create it's about how you relate to

people

understanding what you've learned in

other parts of your life whether it was

in a bar or art school

these are the experiences that you bring

into the job that make your work unique

your skills at talking to people or

de-escalating conflict or understanding

what people need

this is what makes you a great program

manager

earlier you learned about the role of

the project manager and the core skills

you'll need to be successful in that

role you've also learned more about your

role within the project team

now let's discuss a few key skills that

you'll use to build relationships with

your teammates and stakeholders using

your interpersonal skills is key to

building relationships with the people

involved in your project

by developing these relationships you'll

learn about the needs and concerns of

the team

this will help you determine the

priorities of the project and motivate

your team throughout the process

possessing strong interpersonal skills

is a huge part of good leadership

even if you've never held a formal

leadership position having these skills

will help you when you need to guide a

team

this is called influencing without

authority which refers to a project

manager's ability to guide teammates to

complete their assigned work without

acting as their direct managers

there's a few key interpersonal skills

that you can use to accomplish this and

guide the project outcomes

even without the authority of being your

teammate's boss

these skills include communication

negotiation

conflict mediation

and understanding motivations

so let's break these down first up is a

key skill we've mentioned a few times

now communication

in the context of leading a team

communication can include checking in

with teammates to understand how they're

progressing on a task and providing

clear feedback on the quality of a

teammate's work

next is negotiation

negotiation might include working with a

teammate to compromise on a new deadline

when they tell you that they won't be

able to complete their work on time now

trust me i know this can be frustrating

but you'll need to use your negotiation

skills often with your teammates and

stakeholders to balance their needs and

what is best for the project

another important skill is conflict

mediation

as we mentioned project plans can change

and issues will arise

this can sometimes lead to tension and

conflict within the team

so conflict mediation

is a great skill to practice and develop

to ensure the project does not suffer as

a result

this might involve setting up a meeting

with two teammates who are struggling to

agree upon the best way to handle a

shared task

and finally there's understanding

motivations

this means getting to know your

teammates and figuring out what pushes

them to do their best work

understanding motivations might also

include

learning how your teammates prefer to

receive feedback

and how they like to receive recognition

for doing a great job

you would use that individualized

information to motivate and encourage

each person on your team

so to recap

communication negotiation

conflict mediation and understanding

motivations are all interpersonal skills

that will help you influence without

authority

during job interviews for project

management positions you might be asked

to discuss a time when you influenced

without authority

and it's possible that you've already

noticed ways that you've used these

skills in your personal life without

even realizing it for example

let's say you have a co-worker who's

constantly late to every meeting and i

mean every meeting

while you can't force them to arrive on

time

it's likely that you've thought about

ways to motivate them to want to be on

time

in doing so you might have also wondered

how to change the way you communicate

with your co-worker to influence them to

be on time maybe you've tried asking

them to arrive 15 minutes earlier than

the rest of the group

or maybe you've told them how this

behavior impacts the rest of the team

[Music]

both of these strategies are examples of

influencing without authority and they

serve to encourage specific behavior

influencing without authority is one of

the most critical

and one of the most challenging aspects

of project management

as you've just learned you'll need to

leverage your interpersonal skills in

order to do it effectively

in later courses we'll review and learn

more about using your interpersonal

skills to manage various projects we'll

see you in the next video

i'm ellen and i'm a director of

technical program management and that

means i lead a team of program managers

at google i love project management

because i really like this idea that you

can do more together as a team with a

group of people than you could do alone

by bringing a bunch of people together

and you know getting organized getting

aligned around a common goal

we can do some pretty amazing things i

think a successful project manager is

somebody who really knows how to pull

together a group of people

to me there's really two parts of

project management one is is this this

laser-like focus on executing on this

goal but then the other part is the

people and so a successful project

manager can do both when i first started

managing project managers it was really

about you know everyone works on their

own project how do i just guide them

give them guidance and and help them

with their projects over the years i've

shifted to co you know to mentoring on

project management to mentoring project

managers

and what i mean by that is it's it's

different i'm no longer saying here's

what you should do on your project i'm

really trying to help them think about

how to think about their projects one of

the things that i think about a lot as

i'm building a project management team

is having a really diverse set of folks

who with different

different backgrounds

different experiences

and you know we're a global company so

we're really trying to make sure we are

a global team as well

and when i talk about diversity of

background and experience like it really

is about you know

working in different types of

environments

with different

types of teams when i

chat with new project managers

um

and they say like how you know how do i

how do i continue to grow as a project

manager my answer is like work on

different projects right

work on as many projects as you can but

like don't be afraid to try different

different areas different domains work

with different people with every project

you work on you're going to really learn

something

nice work

so far you've started learning all about

project managers and the value they

bring to their teams

we also introduced you to a few program

managers here at google who spoke about

their own experiences working in the

field

you also learn more about the day-to-day

responsibilities of a project manager

and how they guide their teammates to do

their best work

and you learned about the types of

skills you'll need to succeed in a

program management role

as we move forward you'll develop and

hone lots of the skills needed for the

daily tasks of a project manager

and hopefully you've also identified the

skills you already have

that can help you become a great project

manager and an asset to employers

next up we'll discuss the project life

cycle

you'll learn more about the different

phases of a project and the tasks

associated with each phase

you'll also learn more about some of the

most popular project management

methodologies used across industries

today

and how to choose the best one for your

project

see you

soon

welcome back

before we move on

let's recap what's already been covered

you learn how to define project

management what a project is what it

isn't and how to explain its value to

businesses

you also discussed when and why it's

necessary to have a project manager the

role and day-to-day responsibilities of

a project manager

and the core skills needed to be a

successful project manager

now's a good time to stop and recognize

how much you've learned

by now you're familiar with the job of

project management and you've started

learning what it takes to be an

effective project manager

now you'll go a little further and learn

some of the ins and outs of the job and

before you know it you'll be ready to

guide any project successfully are you

ready

well coming up i'll introduce you to the

two most popular approaches to project

management waterfall and agile

we'll also cover the project management

life cycle and phases and you'll learn

about the different styles scenarios and

factors that can impact a project and

its tasks at any given phase

when we're done you'll be able to

explain and follow the life cycle of a

project

define and outline a project's phases

and each phases tasks

compare different project management

methodologies to determine which

methodology is most effective for a

project and finally

organize how a project is run according

to different program management

methodologies

ready let's get started

no two projects are exactly the same

which means there are many different

ways to manage them

each project comes with its own needs

and factors that impact how you'll take

action and achieve your goals

there are many ways to manage projects

and not always one right way to do so

picture this

your project managing

a political campaign for a local

candidate to make it happen you need to

think about things like your available

resources the people you'll be working

with the election date

and the location

you need to be aware of lots of details

to successfully complete your project

because so many different things can

impact a project it's important to

understand its basic structure

we call this structure the project life

cycle

the life cycle is a great way to guide

your project in the right direction so

that you

and your project stay on track

and end up in the right place

most project life cycles have four major

phases each with their own set of tasks

and concerns check it out

the main phases of a project are

initiate the project

make a plan
execute and complete tasks

and finally close the project

let's talk about the first phase

initiate the project

this is the launch pad for the entire

process of your project

in this phase you'll define project

goals and deliverables

identify the budget and resources you'll

need

the people involved in your project

and any other details that can impact

the successful completion of your

project

you'll document all this information in

one place to showcase the project's

value and hopefully get approval to move

forward with it once the project is

approved it's time to get rolling

next you'll make a plan for how you'll

meet the goals of your project

there are all kinds of ways to plan your

project and we'll get into some

different methods and techniques later

on but right now the important thing to

know

is that for every single project

creating a plan of how you're going to

meet your goals is absolutely one

hundred percent essential think about it

you can't hire a contractor to build a

house without planning what it'll look

like or how much you have to spend

these same considerations apply to any

project that you manage

to be effective your plan needs to

include a lot of things for example a

budget a breakdown of all the tasks that

you need to be completed ways to

communicate team roles and

responsibilities

a schedule

resources and what to do in case your

project encounters problems or needs to

change now it's just to name a few

once you have your plan in place it's

time to execute and complete those tasks

it's important to point out that your

project team has the job of completing

the project tasks now as a project

manager your role is a little different

while you might be in charge of

completing certain tasks in the project

your primary tasks as the project

manager are to monitor progress and keep

your team motivated

you'll also remove any obstacles that

might come up so that the tasks are

executed well and on time

finally when all the tasks have been

completed all the resources have been

accounted for and the project has

crossed the finish line

it's time to close the project

why is it important to close well one

big reason is so your team has a moment

to celebrate all of their hard work but

closing the project is also a chance to

evaluate how the project went

you can make note of what worked and

what didn't so you can plan better for

next time

even if the project was a massive

success it's helpful to take time to

reflect closing the project is also a

great way to connect with anyone outside

your team who may have had interest in

the project's goal

you can let everyone know what was

completed and what you accomplished

some projects like the campaign example

will have a firm end date once the

project is finished that's it there's no

more work to do

other projects have different finish

lines

for example

a project where you're implementing a

new ordering system at a restaurant is

complete after the system is set up and

the employees know how it works

at that point your goals are completed

now it's time to hand over the project

to another group

whose job it is to provide support and

make sure the system stays running on a

day-to-day basis

another example of this is iowan's

project managed the creation of a

dashboard that would be used by various

stakeholders in my organization

this dashboard would show pertinent

information to each stakeholder

depending on the team that they were a

part of in our broader organization

iproject managed the beginning

from writing out the vision for the

project to the end where we delivered

the dashboard

now once i passed off the final product

i transitioned the continued update of

each team's data and the corresponding

dashboard page to the respective teams

think of it like turning over the keys

of a newly built house to its new owner

the project of building the house is

complete and now it's up to the owner to

take care of the house's maintenance and

the upkeep so there you have it

the project life cycle the exact name

for each phase might change depending on

the type of project or organization you

work for

but the general idea stays the same and

following the project processes you will

learn in this course

will set you up for project management

success

next

we'll take a closer look into what

happens during each phase of the

traditional project life cycle

now that we've discussed the project

life cycle we're going to explore some

of the different tasks that match up

with each life cycle phase

but first

let's review the phases the project life

cycle phases are initiate the project

make a plan

execute and complete tasks

and close out the project

okay great

let's get back to the tasks that need to

be accomplished during each phase

for this video we're going to focus on

the first two project life cycle phases

initiating the project and making a plan

it's important to call out that the name

or tasks for each phase might change or

may be a little different depending on

the type of project or the organization

where you work

at google we use a mix of different

project management methods which you'll

learn more about later in the course

but regardless of the method all

projects share a lot of the same tasks

needed to get the job done

so let's get into it the first step of

the project life cycle is to initiate

the project

during initiation you'll organize all of

the information you have available to

you about your project

this way

when you're ready to continue on you'll

be prepared for the next phase when you

can create your plan

defining project goals makes the details

of your project clear so that you and

your team can successfully complete the

project

for example if the project goal is to

manage a political campaign

then some deliverables which are

specific tasks or outcomes

might be to

raise five thousand dollars or get 500

signatures in support of your

candidate's cause

with this in mind you'll need to do some

research to come up with ideas that will

help you meet your goals

you'll also need to find out what

resources are available

resources can include people equipment

software programs vendors

physical space or locations and more

anything you need to actually complete

the project is considered a resource

now as a project manager you'll record

all of these details in your project

proposal

and then get them approved by a decision

maker or group of decision makers

at your company so that you can move

ahead with your project plans

now in some cases you may be the

decision maker so be sure to consider

the same set of factors when initiating

your project before moving to the next

stage

no worries you will learn all the

details about how to create a project

proposal
we will be getting into more detail of

what this is and how to create one later

in the course

voila

once your project is approved you'll

move into the second step of the project

life cycle which is to make a plan

in this phase you'll create a budget

and set the project schedule

you'll establish the project team

and determine each person's roles and

responsibilities

let's pause for a second

you may be thinking ugh why can't we

just get started but that's the thing

with project management deliberate

planning is critical to a project's

success

a crucial part of project management is

planning for risk and change

an experienced project manager knows

that plans always change

this ability to adapt is all about

thinking and planning ahead scheduling

delays budget changes technology and

software requirements legal issues

quality control and access to resources

are just some of the more common types

of risks and changes that a project

manager needs to consider

so it's important to keep in mind that

planning is key to reducing those risks

but don't worry if the idea of risk

seems a little overwhelming right now in

later courses we'll teach you all about

understanding risks

just know that it's really important not

to skip this step and to always make a

plan

again the success of your project

depends on it

once you have a plan you'll communicate

all of this information to your team

that way each member will know which

tasks they'll own and what to do if they

have questions or if they run into

problems

you'll also communicate your plan with

others who have an interest in the

project's success so that they are aware

of your plans

and your progress as the project

continues to move forward

nice job we've made it halfway through

the steps of a project life cycle

up next we'll check out the remaining

two phases

executing and completing tasks and

closing the project catch in a bit

welcome back we just learned about the

core tasks that need to be completed and

the first two phases of the project life

cycle

initiating the project and making plans

now it's time to put your plans into

action

remember it's not your job to actually

do all the tasks your primary job as the

project manager is to manage the

progress of the project as a whole

this means you'll oversee your team's

efforts and make sure everyone

understands what's expected of them what

tasks need to be done and how and when

to complete those tasks

it's also your job to help remove any

obstacles and to alert the right people

if it looks like there might be a delay

to the project this means you'll need to

communicate with your team and anyone

else involved in your project through

meetings

written communications like memos emails

or internal chat tools and other working

documents like

task reports

quick pro tip

if in doubt err on the side of over

communication
as your project progresses you'll make

adjustments to the schedule budget and

allocation of resources clearly

communicating updates all along the way

when all the tasks are complete and

you've met the project goal

it's time to close the project

this phase is usually overlooked because

it's easy to assume that once the

project goal has been delivered

everyone can move on but hold up

there's still a lot that needs to be

done

first

check to make sure all tasks have been

completed

including any work that was added along

the way

be sure any outstanding invoices have

been paid resources are returned and

accounted for

and project documentation has been

submitted

next and this is very important

get confirmation that the final outcome

of your project is acceptable to the

people you're delivering it to

it is crucial to your project's success

that the person who asked you to manage

the project is satisfied with the end

result once your project has been

accepted as meeting its goals

take some time to reflect on what went

well and maybe what didn't go so well

this reflection is usually called a

retrospective

and it's a chance to note best practices

and learn how to manage a project more

effectively next time

even if everything went great

the notes from your retrospective are

also valuable to the people or

organization receiving the end result of

the project

that's because they can use that

information to inform decisions about

their business the next time they

consider a project

now it's time to collect all the project

documentation that you've created or

collected along the way

including all of your plans and

reflections and share the final results

of your project with your stakeholders

remember

stakeholders are people who are

interested in and affected by the

project's completion and success

depending on the type of project

stakeholders can include a department or

organization's management team

clients or customers of your product or

service

users of your new tool or process or

even the community at large if you're

planning a community town hall meeting

pro tip

stakeholders play a huge role in the

development and success of your project

you'll learn a lot more about these key

players later on but for now just know

that they are like the vips of your

project

next

take some time to celebrate the effort

your team invested in the project

celebrations help people feel good about

the work they've done

and think of the work as uplifting and

rewarding because it truly is

some ideas for small celebrations are

a company or team wide email

thanking the team and acknowledging

individual efforts now for big projects

you may even consider a company party to

celebrate the team and the project's

success

to wrap up
you and your team can formally move on

from the project so that you can pursue

new projects in the future well as you

can see being a project manager is a lot

of work but it's very rewarding and it's

all well

manageable when you follow through with

the project life cycle

you can see how the organization

communication and improvements you add

to various areas of a project can make

the entire team more effective and

efficient

and you can have an impact on many areas

of a project in a way that's greater

than if you focused on any one task on

the project

similar to a coach with a sports team

even though you aren't actually playing

a direct role in the game

your guidance your communication and

your team building can make the

difference in a happy high-performing

and successful team

in later courses we'll discuss each of

these project phases and you'll learn

methods techniques and tools to help you

for now we just want you to become

familiar with the general project

management process
and we'll share some of the terms and

concepts used in the field that you'll

need to know as you develop your project

management skills

up next we'll introduce you to two of

the more popular project methodologies

waterfall and agile see you soon

welcome back as we've already discussed

not all projects are like

different types of projects will benefit

from applying different project

management approaches or methodologies a

project management methodology is a set

of guiding principles and processes for

owning a project through its lifecycle

project management methodologies help

guide project managers throughout a

project with steps to take tasks to

complete and principles for managing the

project overall

we will talk through two different types

linear and iterative

linear means the previous phase or task

has to be completed before the next can

start

a linear approach would work well for a

project like building a house

you'd need the blueprint created before

you can begin laying the foundation

you've got to know exactly what the

house will look like its dimensions

and what type and how many resources

you'll need

then you've got to finish the foundation

before you put up the walls

and the walls before you put up the roof

and so on before you have the finished

project which is a bungalow style home

there's also a clear goal you know

exactly what the house will look like

it's unlikely that in the middle of

building the house your client is going

to decide they'd rather have a

multi-level victorian instead of a

single level bungalow

what's more even if they wanted the

change

it's too late you already laid the

foundation and built the walls for the

bungalow

done and done a bungalow is what they

wanted and a bungalow is what they'll

get using this type of linear project

management approach completing each step

in order and sticking to the agreed-upon

specific results in being able to

deliver just what the client ordered

for a project like producing a new show

for a television company on the other

hand

it might be more effective to use a

methodology that uses an iterative more

flexible approach where some of the

phases and tasks will overlap or happen

at the same time that other tasks are

being worked on

your team comes up with an idea for a

show and films a pilot

you run several tests of the pilot in

different locations and time slots

as your team gathers feedback about the

pilot

adjustments to the show are made

at the same time you're able to make

decisions and start working on other

parts of the project

like hiring permanent actors starting

film production

and working on advertising even while

the final version of the show is being

worked on

and even though the overall goal is

clear

produce a new show

the type of show could end up being

different from the original idea

your team may have started out creating

a one hour show

but during testing they realized a half

hour show would actually be more popular

or maybe a supporting character got a

lot of positive feedback so you want to

make them one of the main characters

what's more important is that you

produce a show that audiences are going

to watch

because of the iterative approach plans

remain flexible and you're able to make

adjustments as you go along

each of these projects benefits from a

different approach to how tasks will be

carried out in order to best meet the

project's goals

linear projects don't require many

changes during development and have a

clear sequential process

if you stick to the plan it's likely

you'll finish your tasks within the time

schedule and all other criteria

iterative projects allow for more

flexibility and anticipate changes

you're able to test out parts of the

project to make sure they work before

the final result is delivered

and you can deliver parts of the project

as they are completed

rather than waiting for the entire

project to be done
over the years the field of project

management has developed many different

methods that project managers can choose

from that will help them manage most

effectively

google takes a hybrid approach to

project management

we mix and match from different methods

depending on the type of project

our project managers are encouraged to

adapt their own style to what makes the

most sense to their project and their

team

so are you starting to see how different

approaches might benefit the projects

you'll be working on now

pretty soon you'll become a pro at

picking an approach or combining

approaches to fit with your project

up next we'll learn about the most

well-known and most used project

management methods that you can add to

your project management toolbox

two of the most popular project

management methodologies are waterfall

and agile each of these methods has a

rich and complex history

in fact you could take an entire

certificate on just one of these methods

alone

you'll have a chance to learn more about

waterfall and agile methods in the

upcoming courses of this certificate so

be sure to check those out after

completing this one to learn more

for now

i'll just give you a brief introduction

and provide you with some examples that

illustrate how different types of

projects can be more successful or

easier to manage when you consider which

method to use

first let's take a look at the waterfall

approach

waterfall as a methodology was created

in the 70s and refers to the sequential

ordering of phases

you complete one at a time down the line

like a waterfall starting at the top of

a mountain and traveling to the bottom

remember the definition an example of

linear from that last video well

waterfall has a linear approach

at first waterfall was used in the

physical engineering disciplines like

manufacturing and construction

then software emerged as an important

field of engineering and waterfall was

applied to those kinds of projects as

well

it's still used a lot in engineering

fields including product feature design

and application also known as app design

over time other industries like event

planning and retail have adapted

waterfall phases to fit their projects

there are now many styles of waterfall

and each style has its own specific set

of steps

what they all have in common though is

that they follow an ordered set of steps

that are directly linked to clearly

defined expectations

resources and goals that are not likely

to change

let's take a closer look the phases of a

waterfall project lifecycle follow the

same standard project lifecycle flow

that you learned about earlier

initiating planning

executing which includes managing and

completing tasks

and closing

so

when would you want to use a waterfall

approach to project management

well when the phases of the project are

clearly defined or when there are tasks

to complete before another can begin

or when changes to the project are very

expensive to implement once it started

for example

if you were catering an event for a

client on a very tight budget

you might want to use waterfall

methodology

this way you could confirm the number of

guests first

then very clearly define the menu

get approval and agreement on the menu

items and costs

order the unreturnable ingredients

and successfully feed the guests

because the budget is limited you can't

afford to make changes or waste food

the traditional method won't allow for

the client to make changes to the menu

once the order has been placed

you can also reserve tables chairs and

dishes because you know exactly how much

and what kind of food is being prepared

a well-thought-out traditional approach

to managing a project

can help you reach your desired outcome

with as little pain as possible during

the project implementation

by spending extra effort thinking

through the entire project up front

you'll set yourself up for success

now in an ideal world

following this approach will help you

identify the right people and tasks

plan accordingly to avoid any hiccups

along the way

create room for documenting your plans

and progress

and enable you to hit that goal

however

plans don't always go

well

according to plan in fact they rarely do

the waterfall method has some risk

management practices to help avoid and

deal with project changes

luckily there are other methodologies

that are entirely built for change and

flexibility

one of these is agile

another popular project management

approach

the term agile means being able to move

quickly and easily

it also refers to flexibility

which means being willing and able to

change and adapt

projects that use an agile approach

often have many tasks being worked on at

the same time

or in various stages of completion which

makes it an iterative approach

the concepts that shaped agile

methodology began to emerge in the 90s

as a response to the growing demand for

faster delivery of products

mainly software applications at that

time but it wasn't officially named

agile until 2001. the phases of an agile

project also follow the project

lifecycle stages we described earlier

generally speaking

however

rather than having to always go in order

or wait for one phase to end before

starting the next

agile project phases overlap and tasks

are completed in iterations which in

scrum are called sprints

scrum is a form of agile that you'll

learn more about in the course focused

entirely on agile and by sprint we do

not mean running a race as fast as

possible

in this case sprints are short chunks of

time usually one to four weeks where a

team works together to focus on

completing specific tasks

what's important to understand is that

agile is more of a mindset than just a

series of steps or phases

it's concerned with building an

effective collaborative team

that seeks regular feedback from the

client so that they can deliver the best

value as quickly as possible and adjust

as changes emerge

projects that are best suited for an

agile approach are those where the

client has an idea of what they want but

doesn't have a concrete picture in mind

or they have a set of qualities they'd

like to see in the end result

but aren't as concerned with exactly

what it looks like

another indicator that a project may

benefit from agile is the level of high

uncertainty and risk involved with the

project

we'll talk more about those things later

an example of a project that would work

well with an agile approach might be

building a website

your team would build the different

parts of the website in sprints and

deliver each part to the client as they

are built this way the website can be

launched with some parts say the main

home page that are complete and ready

for public view while other parts maybe

the company blog or the ability to book

online appointments continue to get

built out over time

this allows the team to get feedback

early on about what works and what

doesn't make adjustments along the way

and reduce wasted efforts

in this same website example the

waterfall method will plan for and

require the whole website to be complete

before it can launch

having a basic understanding of

waterfall and agile will help you figure

out an effective way to organize and

plan out your project

and knowing about these two

methodologies will come in handy during

future job interviews because you'll be

able to demonstrate a solid

understanding of the project management

landscape

waterfall and agile are two of the more

common and well-known project management

methodologies but they are by no means

the only or the best ones

in the next videos you'll learn about

lean six sigma another way to approach

projects
here at google believe it or not we

select from many of these methodologies

for project management

hey again

now you've got waterfall and agile

methodologies in your project manager

toolbox

lean six sigma is one more you can add

it's a combination of two parent

methodologies lean

and six sigma the uses for lean six

sigma are common in projects that have

goals to save money

improve quality and move through

processes quickly

it also focuses on team collaboration

which promotes a positive work

environment

the idea is that when your team feels

valued motivation and productivity

increases and the whole process

functions more smoothly

there are five phases in the lean six

sigma approach

they are

define

measure

analyze

improve
and control

commonly known as dmaic

dmaic is a strategy for process

improvement meaning you're trying to

figure out where the problems are in the

current process and fix them so that

everything runs more smoothly

the goal of each step is to ensure the

best possible results for your project

just like with waterfall and agile there

are more specific details for using

dmaic and the lean six sigma approach

but what's great about the dmaic process

is that it can be used to solve any

business problem let's break it down the

first phase is to define the project

goal and what it will take to meet it

this first phase is very similar to the

initiation phase of traditional project

management let's take a real scenario to

illustrate

imagine that you are brought on as a

project manager for a large travel

company to help streamline and minimize

customer service wait times that have

been surging due to a recent sales

promotion

before you begin working on tackling the

issue

you're going to need to define the

project goal and talk to stakeholders

about expectations for the project

in this case the goal is to take average

wait times

down to less than 10 minutes on average

compared to 30 minutes

next it's time to measure how the

current process is performing

in order to improve processes dmaic

focuses on data

here you want to map out the current

process and locate exactly where the

problems are and what kind of effect the

problems have on the process

using our example you're trying to

figure out why it's taking so long for

the travel company to address a customer

service issue

to do this you look at company data like

average wait times number of customers

per day and seasonal variations

then you'll set a plan for how you'll

get that data and how often to measure

it

this could look something like having

the company generate reports on a weekly

monthly quarterly basis

in other situations

you might have employees or customers

fill out surveys or look at inventory

shipping and tracking records things

like that

once you have the data and measurements

you can move on to the next phase which

is analyze

here you'll begin to identify gaps and

issues in our example after mapping out

the process and data points you may see

that staffing is inadequate on days

where customers are the highest data

analysis is important for project

managers regardless of which method you

choose and we will learn more about that

in an upcoming course

from your data you'll have a strong

understanding of causes and solutions to

get to the next stage

improve

oftentimes project managers may want to

leap straight to this phase but really

projects and process improvements should

only be made after a careful analysis

this is the point where you present your

findings and get ready to start making

improvements

in our example this could be modifying

staffing to address customer needs

the last step of this cycle is control

you've gotten the process and project to

a good place and now it's time to

implement it and keep it there

controlling is all about learning from

the work you did up front to put new

processes and documentation in place

and continue to monitor so the company

doesn't revert back to the old

inefficient way of doing things

to sum it all up you can remember

dmaic like this

defining tells you what to measure

measuring tells you what to analyze

analyzing tells you what to improve and

improving tells you what to control

lean six sigma and the dmaic approach

are ideal when the project goal includes

improving a current process to fix

complex or high-risk problems

like improving sales conversions or

eliminating a bottleneck

which is when things get backed up

during a process

following the dmaic process prevents the

likelihood of skipping important steps

and increases the chances of a

successful project

and as a way for your team to discover

best practices that your client can use

going forward
it uses data and focuses on the customer

or end user to solve problems in a way

that builds on previous learning so that

you can discover effective permanent

solutions for difficult problems

there are many ways out there that break

the flow of project management into

digestible phases and approaches

all with the same end goal of

accomplishing the desired outcome as

smoothly as possible and delivering the

best value

like i said earlier at google we follow

a lot of different approaches

for instance an engineering team

releasing a customer focused product

may primarily use agile when creating

the product but

decide to plug in some of the aspects of

waterfall project management for

planning and documentation

a customer service team might focus on

using lean six sigma to improve an

experience for our users

like offering new features based on a

recent analysis

but the team might develop parts of the

code and roll out the features using

agile iterations and sprints to allow

for change
or one of our internal education and

training teams may focus solely on

waterfall project management to achieve

a targeted goal of having all employees

complete an annual compliance training

here

waterfall makes sense since the

requirements of the training program are

fixed and so is the deadline and goal

the biggest takeaway

is to know the various methods and tools

to be able to confidently apply what

works best for you

your team

and the end goal

there is no real prescription for how to

execute a project perfectly

because they're always pieces you can't

100 control but the good news is you can

get pretty close with the skill sets you

develop through learning about these

different frameworks

congrats on completing this module on

the project life cycle and project

management methodologies so what did you

think

hopefully this introduction to a few of

the core project management

methodologies and hearing from a googler

about the way we approach project

management here at google has you

interested and excited to keep on

learning one of the great things about

project management is that it can be

really creative and present you with

challenging problems to solve that have

a rewarding impact

you get to work with teams full of

interesting skilled and dedicated people

who help with the problem solving and

idea generating process

every project is an opportunity to learn

and try something new

waterfall agile and lean six sigma are

solid foundations from which to build

your understanding of project management

each methodology has its own set of

rules values and processes

there is no such thing as a right or a

wrong methodology there is no

one-size-fits-all approach to take

and there's almost no limit to the

number of ways you can blend different

approaches to fit the needs of your

project

your goal in choosing a methodology is

to maximize the use of resources

and time

the method or combination of methods

will help you reach your goal in the

most efficient and effective way

this might feel like choice overload

right here but hang in there

with time and practice you'll become

more comfortable with the benefits and

limits of different methodologies and

you'll be able to approach your project

assignments with confidence

next you'll build on these foundations

by learning how an organization's

structure and culture can impact the way

you manage your project see you

soon

hey there how are you feeling so far

we're nearing the end of this course and

honestly you've done a great job

previously we talked about the life

cycle of a project the task breakdown of

phases

and some different methodologies you can

use as a project manager to help ensure

your project success

you also heard from my colleagues about

some of the ways we manage projects at

google

here you'll learn about organizational

structure and culture and how they

impact the way you set up and execute

your project

i'll describe some common types of

structures that you're likely to

encounter during your project management

career

you'll also learn about change

management which refers to the way you

present the final project to the

organization

and get them to accept and implement

your project outcome

these are important elements to ensure

that your project is adopted and lives

on are you ready let's get into these

concepts

welcome back in this video i'm going to

talk about the concept of organizational

structure and the project manager's role

within a given structure

keep in mind that your role won't be the

same for every team or organization

because many companies are structured

differently

but this overview will serve as a

foundation for wherever you work

so

what is organizational structure

organizational structure refers to the

way a company or organization is

arranged or structured
this structure also tells you how job

tasks are divided and coordinated and

how all the different members of the

organization relate to one another in

other words organizational structure

gives you a sense of who reports to who

but organizational structure is much

more than that

understanding the different types of

organizational structures can serve as a

map to help you determine where you fit

in who you should communicate with and

how frequently to communicate with them

now that we have a basic overview of the

definition of organizational structure

let's look at the various organizational

hierarchies that you may encounter at

work

an organization's structure is most

commonly mapped out using a reporting

chart or org chart which is short for

organizational chart

reporting charts show the relationship

between people and groups within the

organization

and details who each person or group

reports to

there are a few different types of

organizational structures but for this

course we're going to focus on two of

the more popular ones classic and matrix

let's start with classic the classic

grouping includes what are usually

called functional or top-down structures

the classic grouping follows a typical

chain of command where the chief

executive officer also known as ceo and

other executives are at the top followed

by directors or managers then their

direct reports and so on

each of these directors are managers

typically oversee teams within their

function of the organization like

marketing sales or human resources

you can see this type of structure in

effect by looking at a branch of the

military take the army for example

you may enter the army as a private and

report up to a sergeant who oversees

multiple people in your squad and that

sergeant ultimately reports up to a

lieutenant and so on

if your organization works in this

structure as the project manager you

might communicate regularly with your

manager the person directly above you

and also with your peers who work on the

same types of projects as you

but it isn't always a straightforward

top-down approach

there are other factors at play that

make organizational structures a bit

more complicated than we can see on

paper

for instance you may have project teams

that sit across different functions

this is common in many companies google

included and is usually referred to as

the matrix structure

you might think of a matrix structure as

a grid where you still have people above

you

but you also have people in adjacent

departments who expect to hear updates

on your work progress

these people may not be your direct

bosses but you are responsible for

communicating with them since they may

inform changes to your work

for example

at google we have the major functions of

marketing sales and more with a

traditional reporting chain

but we also have programs for our

products like google search where

project teams consist of program

managers engineers user experience or ux

designers and so on and each team member

reports to their own management chains

another example is my organization it's

called global affairs

i have a direct manager who oversees the

work i do in my core role

and who is responsible for delivering my

performance reviews

but because i work with multiple people

across other teams and specialties i

often get asked to manage projects where

i'm informally working with lead program

managers in other organizations

similar to my own manager i provide

updates to that program manager

seek their approval

and solicit feedback on our partnership

and progress

so to recap the classic structure

follows a traditional top-down system of

reporting and the matrix structure has

direct higher ups to report to and

stakeholders from other departments or

programs

knowing which kind of organizational

structure you're working in plays a

major role in how you prepare for and

carry out your project or even in an

interview

during an interview you can ask about

the type of organizational structure the

company uses and where your role will

fit in

this will help you and the interviewer

communicate clearly about the people you

will engage with daily and the

expectations for the role

and the next course you'll hear from a

googler about a third type of structure

project management office which you

might see in some of the organizations

where you work or interview enjoy

hey again ready to keep going the

previous videos explained that knowing

what kind of organizational structure

you're working in plays a major role in

how you prepare for and carry out your

project

an organization's structure provides the

framework for accountability and

communication

as the project manager it's vital that

you understand who you're reporting to

on each project

and just as importantly who the members

of your team report to

knowing the organizational structure

also tells you how and where to get the

resources you'll need so you can get the

project done efficiently

when you understand the organization's

structure you'll be able to identify how

it impacts the way you manage the

project

one way organizational structure can

impact the way you manage a project is

by the amount of authority given to the

project manager

authority has to do with your ability to

make decisions for the project that

impact the organization

in some cases you might have the

authority to do things like select the

vendors who provide services or goods

for the project

other times you might have a set of

vendors selected for you

your level of authority and

responsibility will vary from project to

project

another way organizational structures

can impact project management is through

resource availability

managing a project is a lot easier when

you know how to access the people

equipment and budget that you need

let's explore how different structures

can affect the way you manage a project

in a classic structure

you might find yourself with less

authority and a tighter scope

you may need to rely on getting approval

from the appropriate managers directors

and department heads in order to move

forward and complete certain tasks

in this case it's likely that these

people are in charge of the people on

your team and the resources you need

as a project manager working in a

classic structure you may depend on the

managers in your organization to approve

resources in other words the amount of

people working on your project or the

budget that you have allocated to your

project

is decided by the leaders of your

department or function

in a classic structure you may have to

go through a chain of approvals and

advocate for more resources if you need

them

for example

if you need a budget increase you would

report this to your manager

then your manager might escalate this up

to their management chain to get

approval

that's the classic structure a

traditional top-down arrangement of

employees and authority

now let's explore the matrix structure

the main difference with a matrix

structure is that employees often have

two or more managers or leaders they'll

need to work with and update

your team members will have their

functional manager and you the project

manager

if members are working on multiple

projects they may have even more

managers

this can affect your authority as a

project manager as you will need to

cooperate with more than one leader in

the organization

you may need to share resources and

negotiate priorities the key is to make

sure you know who your stakeholders are

and who controls what

since the chain of command isn't always

as clearly defined as in the classic

structure

because there isn't always a clear chain

of command in a matrix structure you

need to make sure you have identified

and communicated with anyone you might

need to report to and get approval from

well before the project begins

once this is established though your

project within a matrix structure

should be able to run efficiently

matrix structures emphasize a strong

project focus from the team and the

organization so you as the project

manager

generally have more autonomy to make

decisions and gather resources as needed

as i hope you've noticed the way an

organization is structured can have a

big impact on the planning and execution

of your project

understanding all of this will help you

run and manage a project much more

efficiently

next i'll tell you about organizational

culture another factor that impacts how

you manage your project catch you in a

bit

hi i'm lon i'm a director of program

management at google a program

management director has a team of

project managers to help execute and

bring products to our users i work on

the project management team or the pmo

team for a group called geo and in geo

we bring geospatial products to our

users things like google maps and google

earth and the team that i'm a part of

actually works on all of the data and

imagery that powers all of those

products a project management office is

a team of project managers we are a

group that coordinates all of the

different parts of a project together

including folks who work on our product

engineers and many business functions

and we help bring all of those ideas to

life

my role specifically in working in a pmo

is ensuring that we're connecting all of

the different parts that are associated

with projects to ensure that they're all

connected together sometimes we find out

when projects are happening there's a

piece of it here and a piece of it there

and they may not even know about each

other one of the most critical things

that project managers get to do is they

get to have a bird's eye view of

everything that's happening in a project

so that's a lot of my role and what i'm

working on with my team is ensuring that

all of the pieces that need to connect

together actually do connect together

i've had many different roles inside of

many different pmos inside my career

all the way from taking just a piece of

a part of a project when i was really

early in my career and then expanded

that into taking a full end to end

project which were smaller

and then building up my career and then

moving into really large complex

projects and at each stage of these i

had loved every piece of it so even from

the time that i had only a part of a

project i got to go really deep inside

of some of those technologies and have

really deep and meaningful relationships

to the with the teams that i have been

working with and that's not always

possible when you're working on a really

large project that has hundreds of

people you won't be able to develop deep

relationships across that large group

on the flip side when you're working on

a large complex project you get to see

all of the different gears turning

inside of a large ecosystem of things

that are happening

but that took a long time in my career

to build up but at each phase of it i

realized i was learning a little bit

more and i was learning how to work a

little bit more broadly and think a

little bit more differently but really

ensuring how do you continue to keep the

execution and rigor of a project to

ensure that ideas were coming to life

one of the biggest benefits i see in

working in a pmo is that you get to

share a lot of best practices with each

other one of the downsides i think for

project management is typically we don't

get to work with each other because

we're working with a lot of client

teams and we're working with other

disciplines but a huge benefit in

working in a pmo is that you get to

connect with other project managers

where you can share your challenges and

see how somebody else had gotten through

it or you can share templates or tools

that you may take time to develop on

your own but somebody else already has

handy so you can borrow or just steal

their tool for your own use but the best

part is you have a community of people

who think the same way about problems in

a very methodical

in a very task-oriented in a very

action-oriented and goal-oriented way

which is not typically true if you're

working across all other disciplines all

the time

hey again let's begin with two quick

questions
what do you know about culture

and how do you define culture

when i hear the term culture

the first things that come to mind are

things like languages food clothing and

types of dress

it's important to note that there are

other maybe less obvious but just as

impactful parts of culture like beliefs

traditions and customs when we learn

about someone's culture we gain a much

deeper insight and more complete picture

into who they are and how they navigate

the world

the same can be true for organizations

an organization's culture provides

context and acts as a guide for what

their people value

how they operate on a daily basis how

they relate to one another and how they

can be expected to perform there are

many ways to define organizational

culture

some definitions emphasize teamwork and

innovation while others focus on

attention to detail and achievement

entire thesis papers workshops and

conferences are dedicated to defining

and analyzing organizational culture

we only have a few minutes here so i'll

do my best to sum it up organizational

culture is in part the values employees

share as well as the organization's

values mission history and so on in

other words organizational culture can

be thought of as the company's

personality

understanding an organization's culture

will help you navigate your team more

effectively toward achieving the

project's goal

it also impacts the way you plan your

project you'll need to be familiar with

an organization's culture so that you

can minimize conflict and complete the

project with as much support and harmony

as possible an organization's mission

and values can provide clues to its

culture

if you can demonstrate how the project

supports the company's mission or how

the project aligns with the company's

values you'll have more support from

executives and stakeholders to get the

approvals and resources you need pay

attention to what leaders in the

organization value when conducting

business does the management team care

about speed over perfection

how do people within the organization

make decisions

do they thoroughly examine every option

for every decision

this will help inform which values are

the most important to them and how you

can approach your decision making

if you're ever stuck in your project and

need guidance about making a certain

decision or are unsure how to

communicate with someone in the

organization

reviewing the mission and values may

help direct you toward the right way to

handle that situation

here's an example

if the company values stability and user

feedback

it might encourage expanding the project

timeline to allow for testing and then

making decisions based on those testing

results

if the company values innovation and

revenue growth

it might encourage a shorter timeline to

get the product out faster and taking

some risks to try out new ideas

as a project manager when you understand

the different types of values and what

to prioritize you'll have an idea of how

you can better prepare for conversations

within the organization

ideally you'll want to have a good sense

of an organization's culture before you

start the first phase of your project

if you are interviewing for a project

management position

asking about the culture is a great way

to get more information about the

company

it also shows the interviewer that

you're knowledgeable about the impact

culture can have on a project to help

you gain a better sense of an

organization's culture consider the

following questions

how do people prefer to communicate is

it primarily through scheduled meetings

via email over the phone how are

decisions made majority vote or top-down

approvals what kinds of rituals are in

place when someone new comes to the

office

are they taken out to lunch given a tour

of the building or introduced to the

staff how are projects typically run do

they prefer a classic do they prefer

matrix or some other style of project

management and finally what kinds of

practices behaviors and values are

reflected by the people in the

organization

is overtime or weekend work and

expectation

are there company sanctions social

events

finding out what the company values will

tell you a lot about the culture and how

to handle communication manage

expectations and identify potential

conflicts as you work through your

project once you begin working on a

project here are some ways to navigate

company culture that will help you get

the most out of your team and ensure

that your project is supported as i just

discussed

make sure to ask questions

as you observe the culture try asking

your peers what they think is going well

and what they would change

your peers may have the same opinion as

you and if not you may learn something

new you didn't learn in the interview

process either way you'll be in a better

place to assess risk adjust your current

project or be more prepared for projects

in the future it's also a good idea to

make observations it's important to

understand how things work and what

people like and respect about the

company's culture when working in

different geographies it's also

important to be aware of established

customs like bowing shaking hands or

wearing head coverings this will help

you gain understanding and form

respectful relationships

lastly

it's important to understand your impact

be aware of your role as a change agent

a change agent is someone who helps the

organization transform by focusing on

improving organizational effectiveness

and development

you and your project will most likely

affect the organization in some way

sometimes just the presence of a project

manager creates changes in the office

environment or employee dynamics

if your project requires major changes

that the organization must adapt to

be mindful of how extreme those changes

could be and seek feedback and approval

early on the company may not agree with

certain kinds of changes that don't seem

to fall in line with their mission

vision or culture
it's important to recognize the limits

or boundaries of changes to implement

and understand what would be the most

beneficial for the project and the

company overall

as you can see organizational culture

has a strong influence over how

decisions are made about the project

the way an organization is structured

usually influence the type of culture

that exists

so it's important to consider both

structure and culture when planning and

carrying out your project

coming up we'll talk about the way your

project can create change in the

workplace and how to get stakeholders

and employees on board with implementing

your project

[Music]

hi i'm amar i'm a senior engineering

program manager at google shopping and

on a day-to-day basis i drive programs

which spans across multiple products at

google the way i look at program

management it's more like

life is program management right

everything in life is programmed having

kids building a house

buying car everything we do there's a

start and end

kind of deal and what we see across the

board in anything and everything we do

there's a tremendous amount of like

friction in the system in the decision

making

in the budgeting

every everything in life right and that

goes that applies equally to software uh

program management or even if you're in

a construction industry if you see right

from starting the construction project

to really getting the beds and all the

stuff right there's a tremendous amount

of chaos from the uh perspective of that

okay you know what are the right people

connected are the right decision making

people in the uh

in the meeting

are there right number of

like approvals that we have

in a timely basis so there are many of

these things that i had witnessed during

my career and the previous companies and

even at google that those were not

efficient and those were really adding a

huge risk or exposing the risk late in

the

development cycle and that is what kind

of i had seen as a chaotic world and i

really felt that you know what i can

really uh help out in solving some of

those chaos on a day-to-day basis i work

on bringing order into chaos

this chaotic world out there in the

software program development so we as a

program manager make sure that we bring

that together when i started my program

management journey one of the main thing

what i was looking for and thanks to the

mentors you know um i really cherished

the mentors one of the thing they taught

me that you know what amar when you're

coming to work every day ask what are

the top three challenges that you want

to solve today

and to date i follow i always follow um

think about what are the top three

things that i want to address today big

ones impactful ones as well as i also

look at and also help my team understand

on a weekly basis how success looks like

every monday morning i will have meeting

with strategic folks very strategic

discussions on how the success looks

like in this week how would we define

the week is successful and that is how i

start my week it worked

miracles uh in the program delivery and

overall in life so i love those aspects

welcome back

let's talk about change management

sometimes the deliverable of a project

is a new tool or new process that must

be adopted by the organization you've

just learned that understanding

organizational structure and culture

will help you plan for and manage your

project

it will also help you roll out changes

from your project to an organization

in project management the process of

delivering your completed project and

getting people to adopt it is called

change management understanding change

management can ensure that a project is

completed successfully

and that the organization accepts and

adopts the recommendations from the

project for example

if you were launching a new time

tracking system for employees the

project wouldn't be successful if the

employees didn't adopt the new system

when you understand change management

and your role in the process

it can ensure a smooth rollout of

changes and easier adoption adoption is

often the first step to your project

having the desired impact once it goes

live so let's get started

as a new project manager you may not be

responsible for planning all of the

required change management for your

project

but regardless you can help the success

of the project by understanding your

role in the process and how your

organization may react to that change

it's important to recognize that it's

the people in an organization who are

directly impacted by any changes in the

workplace

implementing a new project can mean

changes to processes budgets schedules

and employee roles and responsibilities

even aesthetic changes like building a

new wing renovating the lobby or

switching to a new company logo means

employees will have to adjust to

something new and different

something as simple as adding a new logo

can lead to a major headache for the

employees who have to swap out all the

old stationary and make sure everyone in

the office is using the new logo

correctly
when you consider the success of your

project it's important to keep in mind

the changes that people will need to

implement as a result

thinking through these changes will set

you up for success in getting your

project accepted and adopted there are

many change management models and

strategies and a quick internet search

will provide you with more explanations

and examples than you will probably ever

need

while we have additional readings on

change management coming up

feel free to read on any articles on the

topic from well-respected project

management organizations to keep

learning though there are lots of

different models they all share the same

general concepts

change management in project management

is centered around three core concepts

and best practices the first core

concept is creating a sense of ownership

and urgency around the project

ownership means getting others to feel

like they are empowered to take

responsibility for the successful

completion of their tasks urgency

means getting them to understand that

the project is important and to identify

what actions need to be taken to move

the project along

when team members feel a sense of

ownership and urgency around a project

it increases interest motivation and

engagement with the project outcome

another core concept is to figure out

the right combination of skills and

personalities when selecting the people

who will work on your team

find people whose knowledge and skills

complement one another if your team is

selected for you see if you're able to

choose who gets assigned which tasks and

if that's not possible

then it's extra important for you to

find ways to connect with your team this

will get them excited about the project

so then they can be advocates for change

when it's needed

one effective way of motivating your

team is to communicate clearly your

vision and approach for the project

then you can share how you see everyone

working together as a team to make it

happen

communicating this idea clearly allows

others to share in your vision and take

ownership in bringing it to life

the final core concept is that ever

important one effective communication

and i can't stress this enough

communication is key having effective

communication with your team

means being transparent and upfront with

your plans and ideas and making

information available

make sure your team along with the rest

of the organization is kept up to date

on your progress this will allow

everyone to feel like they are included

and part of the project

once your project is complete you may

experience some resistance or a few

roadblocks remember

change doesn't happen overnight so don't

give up on it yet if you do get some

pushback you can move the process along

by helping folks adjust rewarding their

efforts

and reminding them of the overall value

the project is providing long term

understanding the change process can

help you determine how you can support a

successful response to your project for

example

understanding the importance of

communication will help you be mindful

of clearly communicating project plans

to your team as well as communicating

the expected impact of the project with

the rest of the organization

remember learning about agile project

management

well since it's a popular methodology

that you'll probably use at some point i

wanted to point out that many of the

principles of agile project management

align with successful change management

how might an agile team approach change

management you ask

well

being receptive to change is a core

value in agile teams so you will often

find that they are in a state of

evolution or are constantly adapting to

change

if this seems like a lot to remember no

stress

we'll continue learning more about these

concepts throughout the course just know

as the project manager you can enact

effective change management approaches

in all of your interactions

in the next video we'll discuss the

differences between managing and

participating in the process see you

soon

hey welcome back in the previous video

we talked about the process of change

management

change management is actually a huge

undertaking and a project in itself

as mentioned you may not always be

responsible for leading and planning the

entire end-to-end change management

process instead you may ask a member of

the project team

your manager or another senior leader to

help take on that transition if you are

participating in change management

then someone else is responsible for

successfully implementing the changes

let's say you've just completed the

project of creating the new check-in

system

the project is now at the point where it

needs to be installed and adopted by the

organization but you don't have the

formal authority or influence to enact

this change your role as a project

manager then doesn't include getting

employees to use the new system that's

someone else's job but just because you

are not the one directly calling for or

leading the change there are still ways

in which you can and should participate

and that's what this section is about

the process of handing off the project

and the ways in which you as the project

manager who created the new system can

stay involved being empathetic to the

challenges of change management can help

you support the process in subtle ways

in this case participating in change

management might mean communicating with

employees throughout the project about

how the system will provide a better

experience for their customers

you support the process by providing

employees with information so they feel

prepared to adjust to changes once the

system is ready to launch

since participating in change management

is such a big part of being a successful

project manager

i want to take you through a few

examples so you can see how this might

play out in different types of

organizations

you'll see how to combine your knowledge

of organizational structure and culture

to make decisions about planning for the

change management process

let's explore the same pharmacy check-in

project in two different organizational

structures and with different team

cultures to understand how these ideas

are applied

say the pharmacy chain is a classic

organizational structure and has an

informal corporate culture the final

project requires a name change from the

old check-in system called speedy care

to the new system called speedy check-in

getting this change implemented is an

example of change management

as the project manager you need to

participate in the change management

process by communicating the project

needs through the appropriate channels

in this case the chief executive officer

or ceo sends an email to the c suite

now these are all the chief level

officers in an organization

the ceo lets them know that the name

must be changed and to please inform

their teams to implement the name change

since this is a classic structure within

a hierarchical organization the budgets

are managed separately

and the marketing department needs to

request an extra ten thousand dollars to

change all of their printed posters for

the stores

this request goes back up to the chief

financial officer or cfo

there may be other cost adjustments and

process changes that need to happen

across the organization to ensure a

successful system name change

in this instance you may need to have

multiple meetings with others to help

them understand what is changing and why

now suppose that the pharmacy chain is a

matrix organization structure

and has a formal corporate culture

what does change management look like in

this scenario well you might meet with

representatives from marketing and

technology to explain the overall budget

impact for all the necessary changes

with the formal culture

you might write a document that

describes all budget timeline and

training impacted by the name change

then you might circulate that document

to get feedback and alignment from all

the stakeholders and share that feedback

with the ceo so they can understand the

full scope of the name change the

feedback and alignment from the

stakeholders will tell the ceo how the

change management process went

did everyone agree on the implications

was the feedback positive or was there

resistance

then when the ceo needs to communicate

the name change to the entire

organization

she may have someone on her team write

up a formal memo that describes why the

name change needs to happen and share

out the memo to her staff and their

teams

keep in mind these are just examples

and every organization's structure team

culture and change management processes

are going to be different

but understanding this framework can

help you navigate how to effectively

participate in and support change

management this understanding can allow

you to ask yourself questions that will

inform change management such as how

will the organization react to change

which influencers can affect change

what are the best means of communication

what change management practices will

lead to the successful implementation of

my project and so on

the answers to these questions will help

you prepare for a variety of possible

scenarios and craft solutions to

effectively support the adoption of your

project

they will also help you navigate

possible challenges along the way

and lead your project through a

successful change management process

i know this is a lot

but you're doing a great job

we'll continue to talk about these

concepts throughout the course so no

sweat if you're still processing all

this new information see you in a bit

hi i'm lon harmon and i'm a program

management director here at google

during my career journey here i've

supported products like google maps and

google earth and i've had a ton of fun

creating maps for our users

earlier in my career i held many

different roles that were not project

management jobs

busing tables at a chain restaurant

interning at forest service

and working as a business analyst and i

was even a software engineer

my journey into project management has

not been the most straightforward but it

has been fulfilling

your career journey will be a unique one

as well
once you complete the project management

program you'll have a new set of skills

and knowledge that hiring managers look

for in project managers

deciding what you'd like to do with all

that new knowledge is an exciting

prospect and the great thing about

project management is that it's a life

skill that's useful at almost any

organization

wherever your interests lie whether

that's gaming or biotech or something

totally different there's a good chance

that your desired industry needs project

managers

finding the right job takes effort

consistency and a little expert advice

to help you along the way

and that's why i'm here throughout the

program there will be a collection of

career-based videos included to help you

find your next opportunity in project

management

we'll cover some basics such as building

a resume and interviewing

we'll also include additional tips for

creating an online professional presence

through sites like linkedin as well as

tips on communicating and interviewing

remotely
while you can find a lot of general job

search and career information online the

purpose of these videos is to give you

insight into specific industry relevant

information as it relates to project

management

in addition to what you have already

learned about searching for these types

of roles i'll offer some of my own tips

and best practices on how to take it a

step further to help you navigate

through the job search process

breeze through the interview and land

your next opportunity

sounds exciting right

enjoy the rest of the content and i'll

see you soon

congratulations on completing course one

foundations of project management you're

off to a strong start you've just

learned a lot of new information and

you're already starting to apply that

knowledge to the field of project

management so let's do a quick recap

in this course you learned what project

management is along with the role and

value of a project manager

next you learn the life cycle of a

project and the tasks to manage a

project from start to finish then you

learned about different project

management methodologies and tips for

choosing the right method for your

project

you also learn how creating simple team

connections can lead to a successful

project outcome

lastly you learned how organizational

structure and culture can impact your

project these topics provide the

foundation for beginning any new project

and you now have the knowledge and tools

to build informed plans and set up your

projects for success after all that's

why we created this specialization to

give you the newbie project manager the

tools you need to confidently move

forward with your career

this is just the beginning keep at it

and you'll have more opportunities to

put your learning in action and develop

the skills and mindset you need to

manage lots of types of projects the

skills you've learned so far give you a

big picture view of project management

you'll use these skills to focus your

learning for the next course where

you'll start creating analyzing and

making decisions about project plans all

on your own

in the next course we're going to kick

off the project life cycle and break

down all you need to know and do to get

a project off to a great start

it's time for me to say so long it's

been a blast being your guide to project

management and sharing my passion for

projects and people with you best of

luck and maybe i'll see you on a project

someday

hi there welcome

this course is all about initiating a

project successfully

if you haven't gone through our

foundational course yet we recommend

checking it out it covers the

foundations of project management and

contains lots of helpful information for

anyone wanting to start a career in this

field

there are lots of people around the

world like you who are hoping to learn

the skills to get a project management

role

maybe you prefer to take a specialized

certification rather than a four-year

degree

maybe you're looking for an affordable

way to stand out among competition

maybe you're interested in changing your

career

whatever your reason for being here

we are glad you've joined us

this program is rooted in the belief

that a strong foundation and project

management can help anyone start a great

career as a project manager

before we begin this course let me

introduce myself

my name is joanne and i'll be your

instructor for this course

as a senior program manager at google

for the past eight years

i have worked on cross-functional

projects involving product managers

software engineers

user experience designers network

operations customer support and more to

build software used at google and used

by google cloud customers

i began my career working as a liaison

between customers and engineers

documenting requirements on software

development projects

as i became involved in larger projects

i started to manage the timelines of the

projects and coordinate the work of the

different teams that had to get involved

to finish the project

before i knew it i was the de facto

project manager

i have accumulated my knowledge through

formal and informal training finding

practical application in finance

insurance and tech companies

i'm super excited to be sharing with you

more about the project management

discipline

during this course you'll learn all the

steps for kicking off a project

we'll start with an overview of

initiation which is the phase that

allows ideas to come together and form

the beginnings of a plan for a project

you'll identify the individual

components of initiation like the

project scope goals and deliverables

you'll also learn how to measure the

success of a project

this is a super important piece of the

puzzle

after all you want to be able to meet or

exceed all of the requirements for a

successful project right

later we'll talk about how to identify

stakeholders

stakeholders have a direct interest in

the project's completion and success

we'll teach you about some really

helpful tools you can use to define

project roles and responsibilities

and more tools and resources you

typically need to complete the work of a

project

finally we'll introduce documentation

that can help your team prepare for

project kickoff exciting right

the skills you learn in this course will

help you start projects of your own

we can't wait to get into these topics

with you so let's get started meet me in

the next video

welcome back in the last course you

learned that initiation is the first

phase within the project life cycle

follow by planning

executing and closing

makes sense right

regardless of your chosen methodology

all projects have to start somewhere

let's talk more about initiation and why

it's important for the success of a

project

because initiation is the first phase of

the project

it's really important to get it right

a well-planned initiation results in a

strong foundation for your project and

sets it up for success

initiation begins after a problem or

opportunity has been identified within

an organization

often stakeholders like senior leaders

at a company will initiate a project to

address a specific need for the business

for example

perhaps the company would like to roll

out a new product

improve employee well-being or reduce

costs in a certain department

it's your responsibility as the project

manager to help identify the project

goals resources and other details based

on initial discussions with the project

stakeholders

even though someone else might come up

with an idea for the project

it's still your job to figure out all

the important pieces that need to come

together in order to get the work done

the initiation phase is a crucial time

for asking stakeholders to write

questions

performing research

determining resources

and clearly documenting the key

components of a project

doing this will help you solidify the

scope or the boundary of the project

if this seems a bit overwhelming don't

worry we'll talk more about project

scope later on in this course

if a project isn't initiated properly

things can go wrong pretty fast

for example without sufficient

understanding of the project's goals

you might underestimate what resources

you need or how long the project might

take

or without agreeing with stakeholders on

what success looks like

you might think the project was

completed successfully while the

stakeholders might think it didn't

accomplish their goals

getting on the same page and gaining

clarity during the initiation phase can

save a lot of time and extra work for

everyone throughout the project

proper initiation also helps ensure that

the benefits of the project outcomes

will outweigh the cost of the project

to determine this you do what's called a

cost benefit analysis

which is the process of adding up the

expected value of a project the benefits

and comparing them to the dollar cost

to do this you will work with

stakeholders to consider a few questions

to determine the benefits of a project

those questions might include

what value will this project create

how much money could this project save

our organization

how much money will it bring in from

existing customers

how much time will be saved

how will the user experience be improved

and to determine the costs of the

project

those questions might include

how much time will people have to spend

on this project

what will be the one-time cost are there

any ongoing costs

what about long-term costs

the benefits of a project should always

outweigh the costs

so it's really important that you

consider these questions early on coming

up we'll talk more about the initiation

phase and explore the key components of

initiating a project

bye for now

hello and welcome back you just learned

about the initiation phase of the

project life cycle and why it's so

important to get it right

next i'll teach you about the key

components that make up initiation and

how these pieces lead to the planning

phase of a project there are several key

components of initiation that you need

to consider in order for your project to

be successful

goals

scope

deliverables success criteria

stakeholders and resources

first you need to consider the goals of

a project

the goal is what you've been asked to do

and what you're trying to achieve

all projects should have clear goals and

often those will be determined by senior

company leaders with your help

from there you will begin to consider

the project's scope

this is the process to define the work

that needs to happen to complete the

project

you also need to think about project

deliverables

there are products and services that you

will create for your customer client or

project sponsor

deliverables can be anything from

product features and functionalities to

documentation processes and more

anything that enables the goal of your

project to be achieved

deliverables are submitted to help you

reach your project goals

also it's important to keep in mind that

deliverables can be tangible or

intangible

an example of a tangible deliverable

might be submitting a chapter of a

manuscript if the goal is to publish a

textbook

or if your project goal is to finish

implementation of a new point of sale

software at a retail store

scheduling staff training sessions could

be an intangible deliverable

once the goals scope and deliverables

are determined you need to consider

success criteria

success criteria are the standards by

which you measure how successful a

project was in reaching its goals

another important consideration is your

stakeholders

stakeholders are key to making informed

decisions at every step of the project

including the initiation phase

there are the people who both have an

interest in

and are affected by the completion and

success of a project

as a result they're often instrumental

in determining the goals objectives

deliverables and success criteria of a

project from coming up with the idea to

outlining the expectations of its

results

as you move through the initiation phase

it's your job to ensure that you

understand the needs of the project

stakeholders early on

it's also your role to ensure that all

stakeholders are in agreement on the

goals and overall mission of the project

before moving on to the next phase

now let's talk about resources

resources generally refer to the budget

people

materials and other items that you'll

have at your disposal

it's super important to think carefully

about these pieces early on

no one wants to get started on a project

only to realize halfway through that

they don't have enough money or enough

people to complete the work

that would be a mess

finally once you've established your

goals scope

deliverables success criteria

stakeholders and resources

it's time to create a project charter

a project charter is a document that

contains all the details of a project

project charters clearly define the

project and its goals and outline what

is needed to accomplish them

a project charter allows you to get

organized set up a framework for what

needs to be done and communicate those

details to others

once you've drafted the charter you will

then review the document with key

stakeholders to get their approval to

move into the planning stage coming up

you'll learn more about project charters

and even get the chance to create one

yourself

hopefully you're starting to see how the

key components of initiation help lay

the foundation of a solid project

to quickly recap you'll gather

information about your goals

scope deliverables success criteria

stakeholders and resources

and you'll document that information in

the project charter during the rest of

this course we'll talk more about each

of the components outlined so far

you've come so far and learned so much

keep up the great

work hi my name is app sheen i'm the

director of core capacity at google

where we support some of our key

products such as

google maps google photos google search

and many more

ultimately what we're doing is we're

managing the supply and demand for our

products

in the resource space so specifically

compute

storage

machine learning and networking

resources ultimately our goal is to

provide the fuel for these products so

we can support our billions of users

i often look at establishing the project

goals

and tied to the goals is discussing the

criteria what's a successful project

what are the measurables involved in the

project space

and lastly i always want to look at

the

stakeholders that are involved maybe our

clients

our key stakeholders and so on and make

sure that they're thought of during the

formation of the project i'm meeting

with the stakeholders i'm trying to

understand what they're trying to

achieve what we're trying to achieve and

the goal if you will

is a critical aspect of setting the

scope when i'm trying to set the goals

of a project i apply

very in-depth active listening

i'm doing a lot of

socializing uh with stakeholders i'm

meeting a lot of players to understand

what's the landscape like

uh i really am it's an active listening

experience so i have a recent example of

a project

than in my view did not do the proper

initiation phase

last week in fact a group approached me

with a

process or a feature that they were

going to launch

i reviewed it

and immediately realized that they were

they were so far off

they had not discussed the topic with

any of my team members or myself

and they were

day minus one from launching the feature

it was a total miss and it really

illustrates the point about when you

initiate a project you can't invest

enough time

in meeting with stakeholders

meeting with your your colleagues

you know listening to them actively

listening

someone uh taught me recently the value

of of building

that listening to learn muscle

and to in the project initiation phase

to me that is such a valuable

talent

there are those that have it there are

those that haven't learned it and those

they'll never do it

and i believe it's a it's a training

trainable skill

but it requires you to really slow down

and look at the landscape in front of

you

nice work you're on your way to becoming

a great candidate for roles in project

management we're so glad you've stuck

with us and we hope you're proud of the

progress you've made so far

in the last few videos we've given you a

primer on kicking off a project

successfully

to recap you learn more about initiation

the first phase of the project life

cycle

hopefully you're starting to see how

important this phase is for the overall

health of a project

as we talked about earlier a lack of

preparation during the initiation stage

can lead to problems later on in the

project life cycle like a budget

shortage a missed deadline or too few

teammates to complete the work but with

early planning you can set your team up

for success

we also introduce you to the major

factors you should consider during the

initiation phase

including goals

scope deliverables success criteria

stakeholders and resources

all of these come together in the early

plans for a project and are documented

in a project charter

now that you understand the basic

elements of initiation let's dive deeper

next up we'll talk about identifying

goals and deliverables and learn more

about measurement and success criteria

you're doing great and we'll see you

soon

welcome back

by now you should have a better sense of

how the different parts of initiation

come together to form the beginnings of

a project

so far you've outlined the key

components of project initiation

and most importantly you've learned that

a lack of preparation during this stage

can lead to problems later on

we're going to continue honing your

project preparation skills

once we're done here you'll be able to

define and create project goals and

deliverables the guiding stars of your

project you'll also be able to define

project scope the boundaries of your

project that state what is and is not

part of your project you'll be able to

identify what's in scope and out of

scope for a project and you'll be able

to recognize scope creep something

you'll need to keep a close eye on to

help you reach your project goal

finally you'll be able to explain

different ways of defining and measuring

your project success criteria before we

get started i'd like to talk through an

example that will follow for the rest of

this course imagine that you're the lead

project manager at officegreen a

commercial landscaping company that

specializes in plant decor for offices

and other businesses the director of

product at office screen has an idea for

a new service called plant pals

to offer high volume customers small low

maintenance plants like little cacti

leafy ferns for their desks

as the project manager you've been

tasked with managing the rollout of this

new service

as we go through this course we'll

return to your role as the project

manager at office screen to help teach

you about project goals deliverables and

success criteria you'll also see the

role your team and stakeholders play in

creating and following these three

important components

at the end

you compile everything you've learned

into a shared document that you can use

as a portfolio to share in future

employers

after this course

you move on to the next phases of the

project life cycle and so will your

office green project

enjoy

welcome back in this video i'll define

project goals and deliverables and

explain why they're important

then i'll teach you how to determine

whether a goal or deliverable has been

well defined which means it's got enough

detail and information to guide you

towards success

first things first to set up a project

for success and to make your job easier

you want to figure out what needs to be

done before you actually get started

you need to define exactly what your

goals and deliverables are so that

you'll be able to tell your team members

what to do

you need a clear picture of what you're

trying to accomplish how you're going to

accomplish it and how you know when it

has been accomplished

let's define project goal so that you

can start to figure out what your

project team needs to reach it

the project goal is the desired outcome

of the project

it's what you've been asked to do and

what you're trying to achieve

for example

your goal could be to improve the

response time to customer inquiries via

email by twenty percent

the goal of your office screen project

might be to increase revenue by five

percent through a new service called

plant pals that offers desk plans to top

customers by the end of the year

goals are important because they give

you a road map to your destination

without a clear goal in mind

how can you know where to go or how to

get there

now

one of the biggest differences between

what makes a good goal and a not so good

goal is how well it's defined

meaning how clear and specific is the

goal

if the goal is your destination are you

confident you'll know when you've

arrived the examples i mentioned before

to improve the response time to customer

increase via email by twenty percent

and to increase the office screen

revenue by five percent are two

well-defined goals because they tell you

what you're trying to achieve

but wait there's more

these goals also tell you how to do what

you've been asked to do

in this case it's via email and through

a new service offering and that's not

all

these goals clarify the goal even

further by saying to improve by twenty

percent and increase by five percent

now we know where we're going

well-defined goals are both specific and

measurable they give you a clear sense

of what you are trying to accomplish

really great goals have even more detail

but i'll get to that soon when you start

a project take time to review your goals

and make sure they're well defined

to do this you might need to get more

information from your stakeholders

talk to them about their vision for the

project

ask how this aligns to the company's

larger goals and mission

by the end of that conversation you and

your stakeholders should agree to

support the project goals in order to

avoid running into issues later on

here's an example from my own experience

as a project manager

our team have finished a new product

feature

our stated goal was to deliver an early

version of this feature and collect user

feedback

when we delivered the feature to one of

our key customers for user feedback the

customer didn't have anyone available to

try it out

our team debated whether or not we had

met the goal if we hadn't collected user

feedback some felt that we hadn't

achieved the stated goal while others

thought we did

the customer was satisfied with our

team's ability to deliver a feature in

the timeline stated

but our internal team wasted valuable

time going back and forth about it

that said

make sure that before you start your

project you your stakeholders and your

team are all clear on the project goals

so that you know you're making the right

kind of progress

i'll teach you a process for how to do

this coming up

once you have the goals nailed down it's

time to examine the project deliverables

project deliverables are the products or

services that are created for the

customer client or project sponsor

in other words a deliverable is what

gets produced or presented at the end of

a task event or process

take the goal to improve customer

response time

a deliverable for that goal could be the

creation of email templates for

responding to typical questions

your office screen project goal to

increase revenues could have these two

deliverables launching the plant service

and a finished website that highlights

the new kinds of plants being offered

these are considered deliverables

because they describe tangible outputs

that show stakeholders how additional

revenues will be generated there are all

sorts of project deliverable examples

a pretty common one is a report

when a goal is reached you can visibly

see the results documented in a chart

graph or presentation

deliverables help us quantify and

realize the impact of the project

just like needing well-defined goals you

need well-defined deliverables for

pretty much the same reasons

deliverables are usually decided upfront

with the stakeholders or clients

involved in the project

they hold everyone accountable and are

typically a big part of achieving the

goal make sure to ask questions about

what the deliverables should be and have

everyone share their vision and

expectations of the deliverables so that

you're all on the same page

coming up you practice the art of

defining your goals even further

following the smart method enjoy

welcome back by now you know that goals

are important to the success

hi there so far you've been learning to

define and create measurable project

goals and deliverables

as you broaden your understanding of

project management and the different

tools available to help you succeed

i want to teach you about a popular tool

used in many organizations and here at

google

objectives and key results or okrs

in this video i'll discuss what okrs are

how they are used by organizations

and how they help focus a team's time

and effort on activities that drive

success

you've just learned about and practice

the smart method for defining project

goals

like the smart method okrs help

establish and clarify goals or

objectives for an organization

department

project or person

okr's take smart goals a step further by

combining a goal and more detailed

metrics to determine a measurable

outcome

they not only state clearly what the

goal is

they provide specific details that allow

you to measure the success of the goal

one way to think about okrs is that they

separate the different components of

smart goal and clarify them even further

rather than grouping everything into one

statement

let's break this down

the o stands for objective

and defines what needs to be achieved

it describes a desired result or outcome

such as an increase in customer

retention or an improvement in the

employee onboarding process

kr stands for key results

these are the measurable outcomes that

define when the objective has been met

for example

if your objective is to improve customer

retention

then the key result might be to have

ninety percent customer satisfaction

rating by the end of the first quarter

recall that one of the smart criteria is

attainability

which means it's practical to achieve

the goal

key results however should be a little

more ambitious

here at google we actually use okrs to

set stretch goals as a way to challenge

ourselves to do something we haven't

accomplished before

if we actually accomplish all of our key

results we may have made our okrs a bit

too easy

let's review quickly

objectives define what needs to be

achieved and describe a desired outcome

key results define how you know whether

or not you've met your objective

so how do okrs work in practice and how

do you use them to manage your project

organizations often set okrs at

different levels

such as the company level

department or team level

and project level

company level okrs are commonly shared

across an organization so that everyone

is clear on the company's goals

they are usually updated on an annual

basis to help drive the organization in

the direction it wants to go

these high level okrs support the

mission of the organization

project level okrs should support and be

aligned with company level okrs

an example of a company level objective

at office screen is increase customer

retention by adapting to the changing

workplace environment

this is a big vague aspirational goal

that applies to the entire company and

all of its endeavors

in order to focus their efforts to reach

this objective

off the screen might develop key results

that include

95 percent of phone chat and email

customer support tickets are resolved

during the first contact

top three most requested new offerings

for distributed office environments are

in pilot by the end of the second

quarter

and sales and support channels are

available 24 7 by the end of the year

some of these company-level key results

could become the basis for projects

for example the key result top three

most requested new offerings for

distributed office environments or in

pilot by the end of the second quarter

could become the plant pals project

team or department level okrs support

the company's broader okrs and help

drive team performance

departments may develop okrs that are

more specific to their job function as

well

for example the company level key result

sales and support channels are available

24 7 by the end of the year

could lead to a related sales department

objective like increase the sales team

presence nationwide and the key result

new sales offices are open in 10 cities

by the end of the

year project level okrs are set during

the initiation phase to help define

measurable project goals

they're tracked throughout the planning

and execution stages to measure project

success

project level okrs need to align with

and support both company and department

level okrs

for example

in order to align with office screen's

company-wide objective to increase

customer retention by adapting to the

changing workplace environment

a project objective for plant pals might

be to enroll existing customers in the

plant pal service

a key result for this objective might be

25 percent of existing customers sign up

for the plant pals pilot

let's recap

okr stands for objectives and key

results

they combine a goal and a metric to

determine a measurable outcome

objectives define what needs to be

achieved and describe a desired outcome

key results define how you will measure

the outcome of your objective

company level okrs are shared across an

organization so that everyone can align

and focus their efforts to help the

company reach its goals

project level okrs help define

measurable project goals

they need to align with and support both

company and department level okrs

great

now that you have a better idea of what

okrs are and how they function you can

practice creating okrs on your own

welcome back

project scope is a really important

concept that i want to tell you about

you'll hear it come up time and time

again throughout each phase of the

project life cycle

in fact you may even find yourself

defending it

so let's get acquainted with scope

in this video you will learn how to

define and determine scope

simply put your project scope includes

the boundaries of a project

the way we define it at google is an

agreed upon understanding as to what is

included or excluded from a project

scope helps ensure that your project is

clearly defined and mapped out

that means knowing exactly who the

project will be delivered to and who

will be using the end result of the

project

you also need a firm understanding of

the project's complexity

is it straightforward with an easily

manageable list of tasks or will it

require extensive research multiple

rounds of approvals and a large scale

production process that will take years

to complete

scope also includes the project timeline

budget and resources you need to clearly

define these so that you can make sure

you're working within those boundaries

and what's actually possible for the

project to work

poorly defined scope or major changes to

your scope can cause changes to the

budget timeline or even final outcome of

the project

let's look at the scope of your office

screen project as an example

as a reminder the new plant pals service

offers customers small lobe maintenance

plants like cacti and leafy ferns that

they can place on their desks

customers can order them online or from

a print catalog an office screen will

ship the plants straight to the

customers work address

things to consider for your scope then

might be whether or not to provide

replacement plans

which customer segments will be offered

the service

whether or not the online catalog is an

app a website or both

and how to ensure customers can purchase

from the online catalog whether by phone

pc

mac

iphone or android

you might also consider the dimensions

of the paper catalog and whether it

needs to be in color or black and white

and on what kind of paper

now how do you actually figure out the

scope of your project

it's simple

talk to your sponsors and stakeholders

understand what their goals are and find

out what is and this is really important

what is not included in the project

we've covered a number of different ways

to help you determine scope

here are a few more helpful questions to

add to the list

where did the project come from

why is it needed

what is the project expected to achieve

what does the project sponsor have in

mind

who approves the final results

now you'll really be set

as for timing

defining project scope should happen

during the initial planning stage

you want to start figuring out the scope

early on so that everyone can agree to

the same set of expectations

it will help mitigate the risk of big

changes down the line

although you can always adjust the scope

as planning continues if you need to

once you understand your project scope

you want to document all the details so

that anyone can refer back to it

throughout the life cycle of the project

we'll talk about some best practices for

that at the end of this module

let's recap

a clearly defined scope describes all

the details of a project and regulates

what can be added or removed as it

progresses

while it's ultimately the project

manager's responsibility to monitor the

project and make sure all the work and

resources fall within its scope

team members and stakeholders can be

encouraged to do their part by focusing

on the tasks that are the most important

to reaching the project school

the next video talks about the concepts

of in scope and out of scope

and a phenomenon called scope creep

all three will help with ensuring your

project stays on track and within budget

stay tuned

hi there

as you now know an important part of

project management is keeping an eye on

your project's scope and knowing which

tasks are truly part of the plan and

which aren't

tasks that are included in the project

and contribute to the project's overall

goal

are considered to be in scope

tasks that aren't included are called

out of scope it's your job as a project

manager to set and maintain firm

boundaries for your project so that your

team can stay on track

for example

if the copywriters or designers of the

plant pals catalog came up with the idea

to expand the type of plants being

offered to top customers

you would have to point out that their

suggestion is out of scope and would

take extra time and add to your budget

costs

as you progress through the project life

cycle you're going to encounter

unexpected challenges or have new

details or ideas brought to your

attention that could impact your

project's success

changes

growth and uncontrolled factors that

affect a project scope at any point

after the project begins are referred to

as scope creep

scope creep is a common problem and it's

not always easy to control

it's one that we struggle with on every

single project

it can happen on any project in any

industry

imagine you're working in a tech company

and your project involves working with

designers and engineers to update the

language icon's design on a mobile

keyboard app for a smartphone while the

team is making the update they realize

that the search icon and the voice input

icon also need a design refresh

these are very small features and while

technically not in scope the team feels

it would take minimal effort and provide

lots of value

so they go ahead and make the updates

during a stakeholder review it's pointed

out that there is a keyboard in english

but no keyboards for other languages

and a suggestion is made to design

additional keyboards

at this point the project scope is in

danger of expanding from a fairly simple

icon update to a complex rollout of

multiple keyboard layouts

adding the keyboards would impact the

team's timelines causing the project to

take longer to finish it would also

impact resourcing because you would need

to hire more people or existing team

members would have to work overtime

and it would increase the budget since

the team did not anticipate costs for

extra working hours or keyboard

translations

this is just one example of scope creep

sometimes it's subtle just design one or

two more icons

or more obvious
hey can you tack on designing keyboards

for other languages

by identifying scope creep and being

proactive

you protect your project and your

project team

to help you combat scope creep it's good

to know that there are two major sources

from which it comes

external and internal external sources

of scope creep are easier to recognize

for example if you're working on a

project with one main customer

the customer might request changes

or the business environment around you

might shift or the underlying technology

you're using might change

while you can't control everything that

happens there are some useful tips to

keep in mind

first

make sure the stakeholders have

visibility into the project

you want them to know the details of

what's going to be produced

what resources are required how much it

will cost and how much time it'll take

also get clarity on the requirements and

ask for constructive criticism of the

initial product proposal

it's important to get this information

before any contracts are signed

be sure to set ground rules and

expectations for stakeholder involvement

once the project gets started

come to an agreement on each of your

roles and responsibilities during

execution and status reviews

once you're clear on the project scope

come up with a plan for how to deal with

out of scope requests

agree on who can make formal change

requests and how those requests will be

evaluated accepted and performed

and finally be sure to get these

agreements in writing

this way you always have a documentation

to point to if you a stakeholder or the

customer have a disagreement down the

line

one of the leading causes of external

scope creep is not being clear on the

requirements before defining the scope

and getting formal approval to move

forward with the project

this is where those specific

immeasurable goals and deliverables come

into play

if the requirements aren't specific and

if you haven't agreed on the project's

processes deliverables and milestones

then you're almost guaranteed to be

dealing with scope creep once the

project begins

internal sources of scope creep are

trickier to spot and harder to control

this kind of creep comes from members of

the project team who suggest or even

insist on process or product changes or

improvements

it's possible that a product developer

will justify a decision on the grounds

of making the product better

even though it's going to cost more

or a team lead might decide that a

certain process is more efficient

without realizing the impact the change

in process will have on other team

members tasked with different parts of

the project

what you need to make clear to your team

is that any change outside of the

project scope comes off the bottom line

threatens the schedule and increases

risk

there are no small impacts to project

scope

anytime a team member takes on an

unplanned task
more is lost than just the time spent

working on that task it's your

responsibility as the project manager to

maintain the limits of the project the

best defense is to know the details of

your project in and out so you always

prepared with the most appropriate

response to a new idea or request let's

recap

monitor your project's scope and protect

it at all costs

even the most minor change can be major

risk to your project success coming up

i'll tell you about the triple

constraint model and how you can use it

to help determine how your project

changes affects scope

stay tuned

hi and welcome back in this video we're

going to talk about managing project

scope

managing scope goes hand in hand with

goal setting

for example

redefining the scope can change the goal

and a revision of the goal can change

the scope

the concept of project scope is

important throughout the project

while your project will have its own

specific goals the overall goal for you

as the project manager is to deliver the

project according to the scope

agreements

this includes delivering the project

within the given deadline and the

approved budget

you'll quickly find that this is easier

said than done

as you progress through your project you

will continually need to make

compromises and weigh trade-offs as new

challenges and changes and factors

present themselves anytime a team member

takes on an unplanned task

more is lost than just the time spent

working on that task

in order to decide if a scope change is

acceptable and what impact it will have

project managers usually refer to the

triple constraint model the triple

constraint model is the combination of

the three most significant restrictions

of any project

scope

time and cost we've talked a bit about

what scope is so let's focus now on time

and cost

time refers to the project schedule and

deadlines

cost includes the budget and it also

covers resources and the people who will

work on the project

both time and budget have to be

carefully managed alongside scope

all three of these are linked

you can't change one without having an

impact on the others

for example

a decrease in cost means a change in

time or scope

an increase in time

means a change in scope or cost or both

understanding how changing one impacts

the other two constraints is key

it's important to consider what

trade-offs you're willing to make as the

project progresses

to do this successfully you need a clear

understanding of the project priorities

you have to know what is most important

when it comes to scope time and cost

if there's a specific deadline that must

be met

then you'll need to limit any changes to

the scope that might cause the project

to go past the deadline if the product

must look or function in a certain way

then the requirements are a priority

and you could justify changes in cost or

time in order to meet the scope

requirements but just because you can

make a change that doesn't mean you

necessarily should make a change

and even though the limits of scope time

and cost have been set

you can still make changes if there's a

good reason to do so

don't worry you won't have to decide on

these changes all by yourself

if there are scope decisions that need

to be made

the project manager will likely need to

consult with the project sponsor and

stakeholders to get their approvals

let's go through a few scenarios so you

can get familiar with weighing the value

of a trade-off

and understanding the impacts of any

changes

in the first scenario

a request has been made to improve the

plant pals product features

the director of product at office screen

wants to use pots that indicate when the

plants need to be watered

making changes to the product is a scope

change
you know that you can't change the

budget but you can extend the timeline

so you can accept the scope change

request and extend the timeline as long

as the budget doesn't increase

here's another possible scenario

a request has been made to reduce the

budget

without making any changes to the scope

the final outcome of plan pal still

needs to look and function as you all

originally agreed

if you're going to reduce the budget and

keep the scope you may need to extend

the timeline

okay here's another scenario

there's a request to tighten up the

timeline and finish early but you can't

increase the budget

in order to do this you need to make

changes to the scope like limiting

shipping options

doing this will give your project more

time because you will have one less

shipping contract to negotiate

the end result won't be exactly what was

originally agreed on

but it means getting it out earlier as

requested
and within budget

let's try one more

in this last scenario

the director of product informs you that

the project deadline must be met

it's the most important thing in this

case your stakeholders are willing to

increase the budget and make any

necessary changes to the scope

requirements in order to meet the

deadline in the end it's all about

prioritizing which element of the

triangle

matters the most in the project

are you getting the hang of trade-offs

keeping in mind scope

time and cost as you manage your project

will help you navigate different

conditions while still achieving your

goals

remember

change is inevitable when managing

projects

and understanding this framework

can set you up to plan and communicate

accordingly so your project will secede

when you understand the triple

constraint model you'll have the tools

to evaluate scope changes

understanding how changes will be

evaluated accepted and performed is key

to scope management

don't worry if you still have questions

we'll be sure to talk more about this

concept in course 4.

up next we'll talk more about

successfully launching and landing your

project

see you soon

[Music]

hi i'm tori and i'm an education program

manager at google

specifically i work on our digital

literacy curriculum called applied

digital skills that helps learners of

all ages learn the practical digital

skills needed for the jobs of today and

tomorrow so scope is important because

if you have a well-defined scope in the

beginning of a project it'll help make

sure that your team members your

stakeholders are all aligned and on the

same page right from the start and you

can avoid any issues down the line that

may come up that you might not have been

aware of

some challenges of staying within screw

up could be what we like to call scope

creep and these things can happen

if for example you have some

stakeholders that have some certain

needs desires or requests that may

actually end up changing the scope scope

creep is when the scope changes after

you've already started the project

and this can be really challenging to

manage

if you don't keep an eye on it from the

beginning i was recently working on a

project where we were hoping to actually

reach underserved communities with our

digital literacy curriculum and the

initial project scope started off

focusing on middle and high school

students but at some point down the line

after the project started there were

some stakeholders who actually wanted to

expand the audience to adult learners

and so we had some trouble

trying to figure out how we were going

to manage that were we going to change

the scope were we going to keep it the

same and ultimately we decided to keep

the scope the same and referenced back

to our original goal in the beginning

because if you think about it changing

the audience would make the project

goals and our strategies for reaching

those audiences drastically different

so ultimately we ended up keeping the

scope and communicating that to our

stakeholders some best practices for

managing scope is just make sure you

document everything in the beginning and

share it with all of your stakeholders

and team members and make sure

everybody's in agreement on that scope

there are times where the scope may need

to change and that's okay but you have

to be able to make sure that you can

also change and potentially change your

timeline your resources or even the

budget to accommodate that scope change

welcome back

at this point you've learned a bit about

setting smart goals along with defining

and managing the scope

it may be tempting to think that you're

ready to kick off this project with

these two important pieces but there is

one common element that ensures you'll

achieve these goals within scope

and that key element is knowing when

your project is delivered and you can

call it a success

many people think the time to decide if

a project is successful is when you've

produced the final outcome and presented

it to the client

that's getting close delivering the

final result of your project to the

client or user it's what's called a

project launch

you finish building or creating a

project the tasks are completed and the

deliverables are done you've hit your

goal the project is successful and

consider complete in that sense

but does it work well

did it achieve your desired outcome

the real deciding factor of project

success is when you put the final

outcome to the test

landing is when you actually measure the

success of your project using the

success criteria established at the

outset of the project

this is a crucial part of goal setting

that is often overlooked in the

initiation phase

for example

think about taking a trip on an airplane

it's not enough for the pilot to be able

to get the plane off the ground

to arrive safely at your destination

they've got to know how to land

your success has to continue beyond the

point of delivering the final project

you need to be able to measure whether

the project functions as intended once

it's put into practice

take the example of your project plant

pals

you've managed to launch the new service

with success

the website has launched the catalogs

have been printed and delivered

orders have been received and revenue is

starting to go up

it will be easy to call this a win and

move on

but what happens if the customers are

unhappy once the plants are delivered

what if the plants start to wilt and

discolor after a couple of weeks

just because launching the project and

getting it out the door looks like

success on paper

that doesn't mean the project has

managed to land for most projects

a launch itself isn't a meaningful

measure of success

it's what comes after the launch that

really counts

launches are only a means to an end and

looking beyond the launch is important

to ensure the launch achieves your

overall

goals if you start off looking beyond

the launch to the landing

you're more likely to get where you're

trying to go

since landing is a concept and not a

finite definition

it's important to define what a

successful landing looks like for a

particular project

luckily

we have a way to measure and help you

ensure the success of your project

it's called success criteria

and if you can manage to follow it

through the life cycle of your project

you ultimately have a smooth landing

the success criteria includes all the

specific details of your goals and

deliverables

and it can be a guide so you know

whether you've accomplished what you set

out to do

success criteria will set standards for

how your project will be judged

in the next video i'll outline what you

need to know about defining success

criteria and communicating project

success

see you in a bit

hello again we've learned about the

differences between launching and

landing

and we've also learned about the

differences between delivering your

project and finding out if the outcome

performs as expected

but how exactly do you know that your

project is a success

how do you know if you've actually

landed

at the beginning of the project you

define goals and deliverables that are

measurable

meaning that you can determine if they

were met

similarly you need to define success

criteria that can also be measured

so you'll know whether they were met

the success criteria will tell you

whether or not the project as a whole

was successful

they are the specific details of your

goals and deliverables that tell you

whether you've accomplished what you set

out to do

they are the standards by which the

project will be judged once it's been

delivered to stakeholders and customers

defining success criteria also clarifies

for your team what they're trying to

accomplish beyond just launching

something to users

is it to increase customer satisfaction

with the service so they can continue to

purchase more products

enhance an existing feature to retain

customers

depending on the project the answers

will be different

but it's important that a team is

aligned and working towards a shared

goal

sometimes forcing the conversation and

clarifying what the end result looks

like can bring to like questions and

areas of disagreement

there isn't a set process for

determining success criteria but i'll

break down a couple of key points to

consider

remember the measurable part of your

smart goals

one of the questions to ask when making

your goals measurable is how will i know

when it is accomplished

the same question applies to your

project

how will you know when it's done

only in this case you want to ask how

will i know when it's successfully

accomplished

you can measure to determine your

project success in a similar way to

measuring a goal

so go through your project goals and

deliverables review the scope and

identify the measurable aspects of your

project

these are going to be any of the metrics

used in the goals and deliverables

along with your budget and schedule

details

another thing you'll need to do is get

clarity from stakeholders on the project

requirements and expectations

this is key

there are lots of people involved with

any project and that means lots of ideas

about what success looks like to each

person you want to ask questions such as

who ultimately says whether or not the

project is successful

what criteria will be measured to

determine success

what's the success of this project based

on

once you've collected clarifying

information

document and share all of it so that you

your team and your stakeholders can

refer to it later

let's try creating success criteria with

the office screen project

for example

the goal is to increase revenue by five

percent by the end of the year

one of the deliverables is a website

with a gallery of the different plan

selections that are offered

it's not enough just to make a list of

criteria

you need a process for measuring success

from start to finish throughout the

entire project life cycle

this way you can make adjustments and

ensure success by the time you're ready

to land

there are many metrics you can use

and for some products it will make sense

to use more than one

the metrics you choose should be as

closely aligned to your project's goal

as possible

for example happiness metrics measure

user attitudes and satisfaction

or perceived ease of use

and you can measure these through

surveys

for the plant pals project we may

consider a customer satisfaction rate of

85 percent within the first three months

of launching as a way to measure success

you can also consider customer adoption

and engagement metrics along with more

business-oriented metrics that track

things like sales and

growth adoption refers to how the

customer uses and adopts a product or

service without any issues

engagement refers to how often or

meaningful customer interaction and

participation is over time

adoption metrics might include launching

a new product to a group of users and

having a high amount of them used or

adopted

engagement metrics might include

increasing the daily usage of a design

feature or increasing orders and

customer interactions

using the office screen example

tracking how many customers initially

sign up for and use the plant pass

service

is an adoption metric

tracking how many customers renew their

plant pal service post about it or share

feedback are engagement metrics

once you've defined the metrics that

you'll be measuring

think about how you track these metrics

evaluate which tools can help you

collect the data you need to ensure

you're staying on track

for example

if you're measuring business metrics

like revenue

consider tracking that in a spreadsheet

or dashboard where you can easily spot

gaps and trends

if you're measuring customer

satisfaction

you can think of a way to incentivize

customers to participate in regular

email surveys

and create a system to measure their

responses when they participate

you can also utilize your project

management tools to check on efficiency

metrics

like what percent of tasks are completed

or whether the project is progressing

alongside the plan timelines

it's smart to measure success with your

team as the project or product is in

progress
for example

you can hold a project review once a

month

have team members complete task

checklist by certain deadlines

or hold live feedback sessions with your

users or customers

there are many different ways to measure

success

the key is to pick the methods that work

best for your success criteria

it's a good idea that along with each

success criteria on your list

to also include the methods for how

success will be measured

how often it's measured and who's

responsible for measuring it share your

success criteria document with your

stakeholders and ask if they agree with

how the project success will be

determined

it's also a good idea to have the

appropriate stakeholders sign off on the

success criteria this way everyone will

be clear on who is responsible for which

tasks and you all thoroughly understand

what the path to success

entails keep this documentation visible

throughout the duration of the project

and clearly communicate it with your

team every step of the way

they're the ones who will be attempting

to meet all the different requirements

so don't keep them in the dark about

what they're supposed to do or how

they're supposed to do it

if done correctly

defining your success criteria

should create greater alignment within

the team and give everybody better

visibility into how to achieve success

clarity around success metrics also

helps teams prioritize which efforts are

most impactful to their users

defining project success is a complex

but crucial part of project management

with more and more practice

this process will come more natural to

you in the planning stages and

throughout your project

we'll continue exploring and talking

more about these concepts throughout the

course

nice job you're almost done with module

two

i'll see you in a bit to review what

we've covered

you're doing great you've completed this

module and have set yourself up for

success way to go

defining goals and managing scope and

ensuring a successful landing might seem

tricky to master at first

but the smart method and the triple

constraint triangle

tools and methods for measuring success

criteria

and clear communication will help you

every step of the way

in the next module we will talk about

the roles and responsibilities that come

along with each project so that everyone

knows how they contribute to reaching

the project's goals

welcome back in this module we'll learn

all about stakeholders and their

importance to a project

in the last set of videos you learn the

ins and outs of project scope

while exploring how a project can be in

scope or out of scope you learned about

setting smart goals

we also discussed launching a project

getting it started versus landing a

project whether or not it was successful

and there are a lot more exciting topics

to come

in this module you learn more about

stakeholders

remember that stakeholders play a

pivotal role

they are people who are interested in

and affected by the project's completion

and success

you'll see that each person involved has

a set role and set responsibilities to

help bring the project to a landing

those roles include project sponsors

customers

team members

and of course you the project manager

you'll also find out about things like

stakeholder mapping and analysis and

racy charts

these are tools that help clarify roles

and responsibilities and prevent

confusion on who takes ownership of

which tasks

throughout this module you'll have

plenty of hands-on activities discussion

prompts and readings to really help you

master how to start a project

as we go through each new skill imagine

checking off a to-do list there's almost

nothing more satisfying than crossing

off a to-do

hello

nice to meet you

my name is holly and i will be your

accessibility instructor for this course

accessibility should be incorporated

into every role at a company whether a

product designer communicator developer

or yes project manager

in my role of accessibility education

program manager at google i help ensure

all googlers are educated on

accessibility from building accessible

products for the entire world to

communicating accessibility with you

throughout this course

i'm deaf for myself so i am able to

share my experiences as a person with a

disability too and help others

understand that having a disability

isn't a barrier in itself

it's the world around us that we must

strive to make accessible for everyone

accessibility can be defined a number of

different ways to me it means actively

removing any barriers that might prevent

persons with disabilities from being

able to access technology

information or experiences

and leveling the playing field so

everyone has an equal chance of enjoying

life and being successful

a disability is often defined as a

physical or mental condition that

substantially limits a major life

activity such as walking talking seeing

hearing or learning

over one billion people in the world

have a disability

one billion

thus more than the population of the

united states

canada

france italy japan

mexico and brazil combined disability is

diverse and intersectional

someone can be born with a condition or

acquire it later in life disability can

affect us all in some way

whether directly or indirectly and at

any time from permanent like deafness

to temporary like a broken leg to

situational like trying to operate a tv

remote control in the dark

when you create solutions for persons

with disabilities you are not only

serving the critical audience of people

with permanent disabilities you are also

unlocking secondary benefits for

everyone who may move in and out of

disability over time

as you progress through this course it's

also important to keep in mind your

fellow classmates

setting the expectation that you'll be

interacting with others that learn and

work differently is a key strength of

working with accessibility in mind

asking others what they need from you to

learn and communicate and also sharing

what you need if you have a disability

yourself is important to working well

together as a team in project management

you yourself people on your project team

or people highly invested in your

project may have a disability whether

visible or invisible

as a project manager you are responsible

for making sure a group of people can

come together to achieve a common goal

using shared tools and systems in order

to be successful you need to make sure

the infrastructure and culture you set

up works for everyone

knowing this is a key element of project

management i'll teach you how to make

your work and content accessible

i'll also help you become a better

project manager by considering

accessibility in your future projects

i'll offer tips and best practices

throughout the program starting with

this one did you know that many

technologies that we all enjoy started

out as an accessibility feature

think about the google assistant which

allows you to control your home with

your voice or closed captioning which

makes it possible to watch the tv above

a crowded noisy bar

by considering accessibility you can

impact everyone's lives for the better

i'm excited to share more with you

throughout the program while you learn

more about project management and

prepare for a career in this field see

you later

in this video i'll take you through the

process of choosing the roles and

responsibilities of all the people on

your project team

in order to decide who does what on a

project

we have to consider and outline our

needs

choosing the right people for a team is

a big task and one every project manager

should take seriously

after all these are the people who do

the work on the project so we want to

make sure we have the right people lined

up

when identifying people resources we

need to carefully consider the project

needs and use that info to guide our

decision making

first a project manager will make a list

of roles that they'll need on their team

to complete each task

in the same way that a project manager

is accountable for the overall

initiation planning

execution and completion of a project

the person in each role is accountable

for specific tasks within the project

life cycle

for example

a home construction project team might

include roles on their list like an

architect a site manager and multiple

construction workers

once the tasks are clearly laid out the

project manager decides how many people

they'll need on their team

this can vary greatly depending on the

project's size

for small projects a team may only need

three or four people to complete the

deliverables on time

and for larger projects a team might

include dozens

at google we sometimes have hundreds of

googlers working on the same project

getting the team size right is important

for a bunch of reasons

for example when there's a lot of people

on a project communication sometimes

becomes difficult

that makes it more likely for someone to

miss important details

but if your team is too small there

might not be enough people to finish all

the

tasks

once you know how many people you need

on your team you have to think about who

does what

to decide on the right person for each

role a project manager needs to think

carefully about skills

makes sense right

if you're managing the construction of a

house

you want to know that the construction

workers who are building the frame or

installing the drywall have the skills

needed to do it properly

it's on the project manager to ensure

that everyone on the team has the right

skills to do the job

but it's also important to remember that

skills can be taught

if someone doesn't have a certain skill

initially they might still be a great

fit for the team

maybe this person brings a positive

attitude and attention to detail

perfectly good reasons to have them on

your team

just keep in mind that if a teammate

doesn't have the necessary skills

it's important that they are trained in

time so not to cause project delays

when choosing teammates a project

manager also has to factor in each

person's availability and whether

they'll feel motivated to complete their

assigned tasks

for example

you might know a fantastic site manager

who'd make a great asset to the team

but if they're already staffed on

another big project they might not have

the time to commit to yours or even if

they do have the time they might not

feel like this project will give them

the visibility they need for a promotion

motivation is a key ingredient to great

work
so it's a good idea to pick people who

are excited to get involved

but of course

we don't always get to choose our

resources

sometimes another manager or team lead

might just assign people to roles

when this happens it's the project

manager's challenge to deliver the best

work with what we're given

let's check in on our project at office

screen where we're rolling out a new

service

as a project manager it's up to you to

decide who you need on your team

you have to ask yourself questions on

things like staff experience

availability

the workspace

team member workload on other projects

and more

for example

who on the team has office landscaping

experience

who's local to the city where the launch

will happen

who can be fully dedicated to this

project for the next eight weeks

there's no exact formula for putting

together the right team

which makes it a little tricky

every situation is different and calls

for a different set of skills experience

and perspectives

it can be helpful to look deeper into

each task on the project

always ask yourself these key questions

how many people do i need on my team

each step of the way

which team members do i need and when

are those experts already busy on other

projects

who makes the final decisions on project

resources

so there's a lot to think about when

putting together your dream team up next

we'll learn more about all the different

roles on a project

see you there

as we mentioned in the last video when

you're managing a project to meet

certain goals having the right team

around you is a must

why is it so important it's because

there can be so many moving parts on a

project

that means you really need to have

confidence and trust that the people

around you have the skills and

motivation to do the work well

to feel confident in your team

you need to know each person's role from

the start

clearly laying out the responsibilities

for each role helps everyone know what

project tasks they're accountable for

odds are you can't complete this project

on your own even if you're the best

project manager of all time which we

know you will be

before we jump into the specific rules

on a project

we want to call out that some roles

aren't fixed

sometimes team members need to adapt and

take on more than one role at a time

this usually happens if the company is

small or resources are limited

for example at a small firm you might be

the project manager designer and

marketer

whether they're fixed or not we always

have these project roles

project sponsors

team members

customers or users

stakeholders

and of course the project manager

let's learn more about each of them

a project sponsor is the person who's

accountable for the project and who

ensures the project delivers the

agreed-upon value to the business they

play a vital leadership role throughout

the process

sometimes they fund the project

the sponsor will probably communicate

directly with managers and key

stakeholders

team members are the heart of the

operation they're the people doing the

day-to-day work and making the project

happen

the customers are the people who will

get some sort of value from a

successfully landed project since the

project aims to deliver something useful

to the customers

the customer's needs usually define the

project's requirements

you can think of them as the buyers of

the project

in some situations we have both

customers and users for a project and we

need to differentiate between the two

simply put users are the people that

ultimately use the product that your

project will produce

to make the distinction nice and clear

for you think of it this way

a software company has created a type of

software that allows teams to

communicate with each other in an

instant message application

the software is purchased by corporation

abc

they are the customer

but the users are everyone within

corporation abc that will be using the

instant message application every day

stakeholders are anyone involved in the

project

those who have a vested interest in the

project success

primary stakeholders are people who

expect to benefit directly from the

project's completion

while secondary stakeholders play an

intermediary role and are indirectly

impacted by the project

secondary stakeholders may be

contractors or members of a partner

organization

the both primary and secondary

stakeholders help project managers

define project goals and outcomes

and finally we can't forget the project

manager the person who plans organizes

and oversees the whole project

that's you

let's now plug these roles into our

office screen project

recall that officegreen is a commercial

plant company that does interior

landscaping and plant design for offices

and other commercial businesses

we're launching our new plant service so

if you recall our smart goal which must

be specific

measurable attainable

relevant and time-bound

is to roll out a new service to provide

office plans to top clients by the end

of the year

there's a lot to do when launching a new

service

plants need to be ordered and delivered

every few days

new clients will need to be familiarized

with office screen and its procedures

and there will be ongoing updates to the

website and app for office greens launch

our project sponsor is the director of

product

they approve the project's budget and

ensure that everything stays aligned to

the vision
which in this case is that inexpensive

and easy to maintain live plans are

provided in order to improve the

employee work environments

the teams made up of people from across

departments and they're all working

together to support the project

for example the marketing department has

assigned some people to the team because

they'll need to tell customers about

this new service

on this project the landscape designer

is also the website designer

this is an example of where a team

member plays more than one role

and you

you're the project manager

you're the one managing the information

people and schedule to carry this

project to a successful landing our

customers for this project are buyers at

offices

who might be interested in office screen

services

such as office managers or procurement

teams

however the users are the employees who

work at the offices because they're the

ones who enjoy the plants

and finally
all of these people are project

stakeholders

secondary stakeholders won't play active

roles throughout all phases of the

project

but still need to be informed as they

are a component of what the project

needs to succeed

for example these include office screens

investors who are helping to fund the

new service launch

and the office screen receptionist who

will answer a lot of customer questions

about the new service once it's launched

so now that we know why it's so

important to decide on these rules early

on and how these roles work within a

project

let's put them into action

my name is john flahly and i'm a

technical program manager for google in

the chicago office i've worked at a

couple different companies i've worked

at startups i've worked at grocery

countries and i worked at google and

what i've found is that some companies

what you find is that there's engineers

that kind of come in and what they're

looking for is direction they want to be

told what to do they want to be handed

the task and

and just

execute on it at google people are

really invested in their product we call

google a bottom-up kind of culture you

know a lot of

companies you have this directed from

the top saying this is what we're gonna

do but at google people are so

passionate about the industry and what

they're working on that the ideas really

come up and bubble up from the bottom

what i always tell folks is that the

technical and hard skills of program

management you can pick up in a book you

can learn about agile you can learn

about extreme programming you can learn

about all these things planning

retrospectives all these great terms and

tools and stuff like that at the end of

the day that's all they are though

they're just a tool and you can't use a

hammer for a screw it's the same thing

with program management you can't use

the same tools for every project you

have to learn what's going on in a given

team a good given project and a given

group of people and so at the end of the

day really the challenge is is

understanding the dynamics of the people

that you work with i like to say that

the key about program management is

people and context you have to

understand the people that you're

working with you have to understand the

context and only then can you apply the

skills that you learned you won't always

have the opportunity to pick and choose

what people you want to work on a

project and that's okay because you know

you can just use those tools that you've

gained in the past to understand the

backgrounds and the style and the

personalities of the people that you're

working with the most important part

about program management is understand

the personalities of the people you work

with so that you can tailor your

approach to make sure that you're

working effectively with them

think about this way you might be

working with an introverted person that

person needs different types of

attention than an extroverted person

actually every person wants to talk

about their ideas and their project

plans in a meeting an introverted person

you might want to get their feedback

offline or

have an async kind of a form or

opportunity for them to voice their

opinion it's really not going to be

cut and dry every time you work on a

project and that's why it's really

really important that you're flexible in

your approach you want to have people

that are you know challenging the

choices that we make but at the end of

the day we all need to agree on a common

goal and a common vision so that we can

move forward we don't want distractions

because that's the thing that the one

thing that can slow things down you know

at the end of the day technical problems

aren't that hard people problems are

really hard and making sure that your

team is sold and bought in on a vision

and the project is super super important

it's your goal and your job role as a

program manager to motivate the team and

make sure that everyone's on the same

page

we just saw how important stakeholders

are to the project

and how both primary and secondary

stakeholders help project managers

define project goals and outcomes

as a quick refresher primary

stakeholders are people who will benefit

directly from the project's success

while secondary stakeholders are

indirectly impacted by the project's

success

having all these different people

involved on a project can get confusing

and that's where stakeholder analysis

comes in handy

this is a visual representation of all

the stakeholders

it helps you avoid surprises

build necessary partnerships and ensure

you're involving the right people at the

right time

when done well

your stakeholder analysis helps you see

all the opportunities for success and

the potential risks

it illustrates which stakeholders are

taking on which responsibilities

and it can help you include the right

people in important conversations

which is key to getting the support you

need throughout the project

there are three key steps to kicking off

a stakeholder analysis

first

make a list of all the stakeholders that

the project impacts

then determine the level of interest and

influence for each stakeholder and

finally assess their ability to

participate and find ways to involve

them

in the second step

we talk about influence and interests

what do those terms mean here

influence measures how much power a

stakeholder has and how much the

stakeholders actions affect the project

outcome

in our office screen example the

director of product who first initiated

the project and oversees new products

and services has a huge amount of

influence

while the vendor providing the greenery

has less influence

interest is pretty much what it sounds

like

how much are the needs of the

stakeholder affected by project

operations and outcomes

for example

office screens human resources

department might not have as much

interest in the product launch as the

sales department does

the power grid is a super useful two by

two grid

used for conducting a stakeholder

analysis

we use the power grid to assign each

stakeholder's level of importance to the

project

measuring their interest and influence

the position of the stakeholder on the

grid usually determines their active

role in the project

the higher the interest and influence

the more important the stakeholder is to

the project's success

without their support it's unlikely that

the project will successfully land

these people are our key stakeholders

now that you have a better idea of each

stakeholder's position on the team

you can plan how to best manage everyone

there are four different techniques you

can use for managing stakeholders the

first group of stakeholders are the key

players or key stakeholders

you find these people in the top right

corner of the grid

to best manage key stakeholders you want

to closely partner with them to reach

the desired outcomes

of course not everyone's a key

stakeholder

but each role even the non-key

stakeholder gets a spot on the grid

you find stakeholders with higher

influence but lower interest in the top

left corner of the grid

to manage these stakeholders you want to

consult with them and meet their needs

their opinions and input are important

to the project

the director of product has high

influence but may not be vested into

day-to-day activities and therefore

we'll have a lower interest

stakeholders with lower influence but

high interest are in the right bottom

corner of the grid for these

stakeholders you want to show

consideration for them by keeping them

up to date on the project

it's unlikely they'll need a say in

what's going on but keeping them

informed is important for example the

customer success team may have lower

influence but high interest since

they'll work directly with clients on

the new product

last up we have stakeholders with low

influence and low interest you'll find

these in the bottom left corner they're

the least important of the stakeholders

but this doesn't mean that they don't

matter

it might just be that for this

particular project they aren't as

integral

so for this project you mainly want to

monitor them

keeping them in the know

creating a grid like this is an

effective way to track who should be

communicated with and when

this grid here is an example of how that

might play out depending on the project

and the stakeholders you may also want

to create a steering committee made up

of high influence and high interest

stakeholders

these people will be the most senior

decision-making body on any project

they have the authority to make changes

to budget and approve updates to

timeline or scope the project manager

isn't a member of the committee but

they're responsible for bringing the

right project information to the

steering committee so that decisions can

be quickly made
how you engage your stakeholders from

this point on depends on your particular

situation

there are different ways to involve each

stakeholder and you have to be strategic

to get helpful and relevant input from

the right people at the right time you

want to meet with some stakeholders

every single day

and others you'll just send periodic

updates to

stakeholder buy-in is the process of

involving these people in

decision-making to hopefully reach a

broader consensus on the organization's

future

to get stakeholders to buy in on the

project you have to pay particular

attention to your high impact

stakeholders and make sure they feel

looped in

you want to explain to them how the

project will help them achieve their

goals

and you'll want to have their support

later on if any issues come up

here are some important things to keep

in mind when communicating with

stakeholders if you have one main

stakeholder that stakeholder is likely

to be highly influential and needs

constant communication

but if you're on a larger project with

numerous stakeholders

they won't be quite as involved in the

day-to-day tasks for stakeholders who

need time to make decisions about the

project

over-communicate early on

for example hold frequent meetings and

send daily end-of-day progress emails

this way they have enough time to weigh

the options and make decisions

think about the level of project details

each stakeholder needs

you don't want to spend time diving deep

with stakeholders that just need a

project summary for example

the facilities team that delivers the

product doesn't need daily updates on

vendor pricing or website issues

on the flip side

do spend time updating key members that

need frequent updates

the sales team will need to know pricing

and availability changes so a weekly

check-in might make sense here

great work

you just completed your own stakeholder

analysis

up next we'll check out another tool

racy charting

see you there

in the last video we saw how a

stakeholder analysis shows us how to

best work with stakeholders

and when to communicate with all the

different people involved in the project

in this video we're going to check out

another handy tool called a racy chart

a racy chart helps to define roles and

responsibilities for individuals or

teams to ensure work gets done

efficiently

it creates clear roles and gives

direction for each team member there are

four types of participation included in

a racy chart

these are responsible

accountable

consulted and informed

let's take a look at each

responsible refers to those doing the

work to complete the task

accountable refers to those making sure

the work gets done

consulted includes those giving feedback

like subject matter experts or decision

makers
and lastly we have informed which

includes those just needing to know the

final decisions or that a task is

complete

here's an image of how this breaks down

in a chart form

when creating your racy chart you need

to write down each task or deliverable

for your project

and then assign it the appropriate role

for each stakeholder

to do this

first think about who's involved in the

project

write the roles or people's name in a

row across the top of your chart

pro tip

use roles rather than names if some

people might take on more than one role

next

write down the tasks or deliverables in

a column on the left

try not to get too specific here you

want the chart to be simple and easy to

read

after that

go through each task and deliverable and

ask who's responsible for doing this

who's accountable if it doesn't get done

who will have strong opinions to add and

therefore should be consulted about how

this gets done

and who needs to be informed of the

progress or decisions made about this

assign the letters r

and i

based on your answers

for example as a project manager on

office screen's new service launch

one of your tasks is to create different

price points for different packages and

delivery frequencies

the head of finance will be accountable

because the project needs to stay in

budget and make money

but it's the financial analyst who's

responsible

as they're the person doing the work in

determining optimal pricing

the director of product will be

consulted on the matter

as they oversee the product offerings

and finally

team members like those on the sales

team need to be informed of the final

pricing

it's possible there are several rules

that fall into the informed and

consulted categories

one thing that will always remain

constant

is there will never be more than one

person designated as accountable

this prevents confusion because having

one person accountable

clearly defines ownership

however the same person that is

accountable

may also be responsible

there are several other factors that can

cause role confusion

for example

there might be unbalanced workloads

which means some people might be doing

more work

or less work than others on the team

or there could be an unclear hierarchy

when people aren't sure who to seek help

from if a task doesn't get done

or unclear ownership of decisions where

people aren't sure who makes the final

call on a project

another issue could be overlapping work

this is when teams or individuals feel

that they're responsible for the same

work
when this happens

things can get confusing fast and the

same goes for excessive communication

while communication is usually a good

thing

too much communication can actually make

things more complicated

it can cause information overload where

people don't know what to pay attention

to and so they miss something important

wow there's a lot of things that might

cause confusion

but all these issues can be resolved or

even prevented with a racy analysis

be proactive and do this work up front

and you'll help ensure the success of

your project

if something is

stumping you or you feel stuck at a

certain aspect there's always someone

else who's going through the same thing

anytime i started to feel

overwhelmed by information or

like i just wasn't getting it

i wasted so much time being unsure of

myself that i should have just listened

to my friends and family when they said

just do it you can do it one of the

greatest

thing that helped me to get back

motivated is the accessibility of the

course on my phone i was just able to go

into the app and listen to a few videos

because i can learn on the go having a

network of people that motivates you

it's so fundamental you know even if

it's a friend or if it's a family member

that you can get from the beginning and

it can be there for you on your corner

like a coach and don't be afraid to ask

for help whether it be from your peers

from your coaches friends family there's

always someone who knows more and you

can learn from them

[Music]

kudos you finished another module that

was a fun one we covered a lot of topics

that were likely new to you so let's

recap in our first video we checked out

each individual role associated with

projects you learned that as a project

manager you'll have to ask yourself key

questions to make sure you build a

successful team

you have to consider things like team

size necessary skills

availability and motivation

then you completed a stakeholder

analysis
this helps you understand how you might

manage communication with each person on

the project

next came the racy chart which defined

rules and responsibilities for

individuals or teams this helps people

get work done efficiently

and it creates clear lanes and

instruction for each team member to

operate within

it does this by assigning which roles

are responsible accountable

informed and consulted overall you learn

some really useful concrete tools to

help you stay organized throughout the

project

you can use these charts as you work

with your stakeholders

and if your project is ever evolving as

some are

stakeholder mapping and racy charting

will help you stay on top of the tasks

and communicate effectively

in the next module you learn about other

useful resources for managing projects

and discover how to know which tool to

use when

see you soon

welcome back and congrats on completing

that graded assessment in the previous

module you learn all about project roles

and responsibilities and we introduce

you to some tools that you can use to

ensure team accountability like

stakeholder analysis and race charts

coming up we'll talk about project tools

and resources and the value of

documentation by the end of this module

you'll understand the types of resources

available to a project manager you'll be

able to document information in a formal

project charter and you'll be able to

compare and use various project

management tools

ready to get started

meet me in the next video

so far you've learned how to determine

project goals and scope and how to

identify the right stakeholders for a

project

now it's time to add another important

ingredient

resources as a project manager

understanding your resource needs is

crucial to achieving your goals

so during the initiation phase it's

important to ask yourself

what are the things we still need to

acquire in order to complete our project

project resources usually include budget

people and materials you'll use tools to

manage all those resources

as you think about the goals and the

scope of the project

you figure out the different resources

you'll need to meet those goals

it's important to figure out your

resources before the project gets

rolling

this makes it easy for everyone on your

team to get their work done

and that's your job as a project manager

you won't be doing the work directly but

you'll support the people who do

figuring out resources early on also

helps you avoid accidentally

understaffing your project

which can seriously slow down team

progress and eat away at the overall

timeline

even worse if you're not careful with

your resource planning

you could wind up underestimating the

budget meaning you might not have enough

money to purchase necessary materials

hire vendors or support overtime

requests

planning your resources early is a great

way to set your team up for success

because when your teammates have what

they need to do their work on time and

on budget

they're better set up to meet the

project's goals

now let's break down some of the

resources that project managers

typically work with first let's talk

about budgets a budget is an estimate of

the amount of money a project will cost

to complete

almost all projects have budgets because

they need funding for expenses like

buying the right materials or software

hiring vendors to complete jobs or doing

marketing once the project's done

during the initiation phase you talk to

the stakeholders and the people working

on the project to figure out the tasks

needed to get the project done here you

might ask questions to help uncover

hidden costs for example

are there any taxes on products that you

need to account for

what about extra fees

all this information will help you

create a budget which you can use to

source and compare proposals from

vendors
figure out upcoming costs and track all

the money moving in and out of your

project

you often include the budget and the

project charter and the stakeholders

review it for approval

we'll talk more about what goes into

creating a project budget and creating a

project charter later on

when we talk about resources we're also

talking about the team of people who

help execute the tasks of a project for

example you as the project manager are a

resource

so is the marketing manager who might

create advertisements for this new

product

other resources can include people

outside of your company who have unique

skills and can do certain tasks that

people in your organization can't do

personally

then you have materials

these are items you need to help get the

project done

for example project materials might

include the lumber needed to complete a

construction project okay

so you know that project resources

include budget people and materials

how do you organize these resources

that's actually a nice transition into

our next topic which is tools tools are

aids that make it easier for a project

manager or team to manage resources and

organize work

they help you do things like track tasks

manage budgets and collaborate with

teammates

there are all kinds of tools out there

including productivity tools like google

docs and work management software like

asana we'll talk more about these tools

later in this program tools are

essential for tracking progress

so you want to keep them top of mind at

all phases of your project

let's talk about how you might determine

your resources during the initiation

phase of your project at office screen

as a reminder the plant pal service

offers customers small

low maintenance plants like cacti and

leafy ferns that they can place on their

desks customers can order them online or

from a print catalog an office screen

will ship the plants straight to the

customer's work address the project goal

is to increase revenue by five percent

so how do you get started

well you might do some research to

figure out the cost of launching the new

plant service

that might include the estimated prices

of developing a new website and new

promotional materials

as well as shipping and delivery costs

you also might want to budget for

specific tools like a project management

software that will help you track

progress on this complex project with

that information you can start to build

a realistic budget

and you'll also need to figure out who's

working on this project with you to do

this you might make a list of people and

external vendors who will help complete

all the project's tasks for example the

person who manages client communications

with customers

or a new plant supplier that can provide

you with your product great

hopefully you're getting more

comfortable with the types of resources

you'll need not only to get stuff done

but to achieve your project's goals too

in the next video we'll talk about

documentation another important topic

for anyone who manages projects

professionally

by now you've probably noticed that a

big part of project management is

guiding decision making

even if you're not the one making final

decisions on major aspects of the

project it's still your job to keep

track of every new decision and use

those decisions to create a plan

and as you've learned there are a lot of

important decisions to keep track of

that includes everything from

identifying project goals and

deliverables to choosing the right

people to add to a team

it's way too much for any one person to

mentally keep track of

it's also important information for

everyone on the team to be aware of not

just the project manager if a decision

affects a member of the team's tasks

they'll need to know about it right

that's why documentation is such an

important part of a project manager's

role

while your team may work deeply on

specific areas of the project you might

be the only person on the team who is

aware of and communicating across all

the different areas of the project clear

and consistent documentation can ensure

transparency and clear communication

documentation helps set the stage for

the project

it communicates the answers to key

questions

for example what problem are you trying

to solve what are the project goals what

are the scope and deliverables and who

are the project stakeholders

and lastly what resources does the team

need to complete their work this is all

crucial information for anyone who's

working on a project regardless of their

role documentation also helps preserve

decisions made early on in the project

and can serve as a reference point for

team members who might join later in the

project life cycle it's your job to

ensure that this information is easily

accessible through some kind of formal

documentation like an email a

presentation or digital document

also documenting decisions can help you

uncover tasks timelines or costs you

hadn't previously considered

and lastly this process provides a

historical record that can be reviewed

at the end of your project

you can apply the lessons you've learned

in the future

okay

let's get into different types of

documentation

up next we'll look at project proposals

and project charters

two types of documents that can set you

up for success early on

see you soon

hello and welcome back earlier we

discussed the value of documentation in

effective project management now let's

talk about two common types of

documentation you could use to keep

track of details and keep your

stakeholders informed

these are the project proposal and the

project charter a project proposal is a

form of documentation that comes at the

very beginning of the project this

document's purpose is to persuade

stakeholders that the project should

begin and typically a senior

organizational leader creates the

proposal so you might not need to worry

about creating the proposal but you will

have to keep track of the proposal's

progress the project proposal is a great

starting point to help you understand

the desired goals and impact a proposal

may be a formal document a presentation

or even a simple email to get others on

board with the idea

then we have the project charter

a formal document that clearly defines

the project and outlines the necessary

details to reach its goals

a project charter helps you get

organized

set up a framework for what needs to be

done and communicate those details to

others

so how do these documents differ a

project proposal is created earlier in

the project life cycle than the project

charter the proposal kicks off the

initiation phase by influencing and

persuading the company to move forward

with the project the project charter

serves a similar purpose and often comes

at the end of the initiation phase

however its goal is to more clearly

define the key details of the project

another difference between these two

documents is that a charter will often

serve as a point of reference throughout

the life of a project the proposal is

only used at the earliest stages

now that you know the difference between

these two documents

let's take a closer look at the project

charter which you'll learn more about in

this module the project charter makes

clear that the benefits of a project

outweigh the cost

as you learned earlier in this course

there are a few questions you might ask

yourself when performing cost-benefit

analysis that includes questions like

what value will this project create

how much money could this project save

my organization

and how much time will people have to

spend on this project you will include

the answers to these questions in your

charter including this type of

information ensures that you and your

stakeholders agree on the project value

the charter also helps ensure that you

and your stakeholders agree on the

details of the project project charter

approval means that management is

supportive

and it's also a key step to ensure that

the project matches the needs of the

organization

after the stakeholders and project

sponsor has reviewed and approved the

project charter

you now have the authority to move

forward with the project

project charters can be formatted in a

few ways and can contain different

information

depending on the project and the

organization

the information in a charter might also

be tailored to its audience or the needs

of specific stakeholders for example

if you're writing a project charter for

a stakeholder who is a marketing

executive

the charter might include information

about how the project will impact the

organization's brand

or if the stakeholder is a chief

technology officer

the charter might include information on

the cost of engineering resources needed

to maintain the project

regardless of the format or the audience

creating a project charter is a best

practice for ensuring that everyone

agrees on how to move forward

before entering the planning phase

the project charter is a living document

this means that it can evolve as the

project progresses

as the project manager

you'll review and refine the charter

throughout the process now that you know

more about the value of a project

charter it's time to learn how to create

one

meet me in the next video to get started

hi again

let's talk about how to create a project

charter

in the last video we discussed how

project charters are a valuable document

for project managers

project charters are key for securing

approval from stakeholders and moving

forward

project charters can also be formatted

in many different ways

and there are many different templates

available online for you to choose from

here

we'll use a template that's similar to

one that program managers often use at

google

and to fill in each section we'll use

details from your project at office

screen

ready
let's take a look

at the top of your charter you want to

add in the name of your project

let's add in the name of your project at

office screen

it's called project plant pals

you also want to add in a brief summary

let's type that in

our plan is to offer high volume

customers

small low maintenance plans that can

thrive in an office environment

next up let's fill in the section

labeled project goals

remember that goals should be smart

let's add in the goal for project plant

pals which is to increase revenue by 5

by rolling out a new service that

provides office plans to top clients by

the end of the year

great now let's add in the project

deliverable

remember that a deliverable is a

tangible outcome from a project

as you learned earlier our deliverables

for this project are to send 1 000

plants to 100 customers and to launch a

new website for orders and customer

support

okay
now let's add in the business case which

captures the reasoning for initiating

this project

let's type in

this is a top requested service from our

customers and it will also improve

customer satisfaction and retention

the business case is supported by the

cost-benefit analysis

and we'll add that in now

let's start with the benefits

the benefits or expected gains of the

project include improving customer

satisfaction

and an increase in revenue

now we'll move on to the cost

the costs include the price of the

sourcing products developing a website

and marketing materials

let's type in

two hundred fifty thousand dollars for

the estimated budget

nice we've now outlined some of the

benefits and costs of this project

keep in mind that these are simple

examples to teach you the basics of

filling out a charter

when running a real project you perform

a more detailed analysis to determine

the benefits and costs

the key takeaway here is that benefits

should always outweigh the cost

fantastic let's keep going

next we're going to add in the project

scope as well as what's considered out

of scope for this project

remember

scope is an agreed upon understanding of

what is included or excluded from a

project

an item that is in scope includes

creating a service to deliver small

plants to last year's top clients

an item that is out of scope and

therefore not available to customers

includes plant care after they're

delivered

amazing hopefully you can see how

stating what's in scope and what's out

of scope helps everyone working on the

project understand where they should

focus their efforts

great

now let's add in your project team let's

see here the project sponsor is office

screens director product

so let's add that in

who is the project lead well that's you

the project team may include marketing

associates website developers and

external plant vendors and more

so we can add in a few important project

team members here

awesome let's move on to additional

stakeholders

additional stakeholders may include the

vice president of customer success who

is accountable for customer feedback and

corresponding product requests

we can also add in the account manager

who will leverage their existing

relationships with top clients

and let's also add in the fulfillment

manager who will help acquire the plants

needed to launch this service

we're almost done let's add in how we'll

measure success here we'll type in that

we want to see a 5

increase in revenue by the end of the

year

let's also type in that we want to hit a

customer satisfaction rate of 95 percent

three months after launch

that's it the project charter is filled

in and now it's ready to be reviewed by

your stakeholders

now you're done

you've seen how documentation helps form

the roots of a project and how it

contributes to the project's ultimate

success

like nurturing a plan you're learning to

nurture a project to ensure it's the

best it can be

up next we'll talk about the tools that

project managers rely on to guide their

teams and ensure that they complete

their tasks

see you soon

as a project manager tools are some of

the most helpful resources you have at

your disposal

they're essential for tracking progress

so it's important to keep them top of

mind throughout the entire project

let's talk more about why tools are so

useful

and why it's important to choose the

right ones for your needs

there are lots of different tools out

there and you'll learn more about them

later

as a reminder

tools are aids that make it easier for a

project manager or team to manage

resources and organize work

they're useful because they can help you

track detailed information about all

kinds of tasks and they make it easy to

communicate with lots of different

people

and remember

effective communication and tracking are

huge parts of a project manager's

day-to-day responsibilities

just think about how much tougher your

job would be without help from

collaboration tools like email or

digital documents created in google docs

or microsoft word

let's imagine this in the context of our

project at officegreen

as lead project manager

you have tons of information about the

company's plan to provide office

friendly plans to top clients

but what would happen if you wrote every

project detail on a whiteboard instead

of a shared online document

well

every member of your team will have to

stop by your desk to get the latest

information

and that's definitely not the most

efficient use of anyone's time but if

you store this information in easily

accessible online documents

you save everyone on the team time

energy and a major headache

today's tools have made it so much

easier to share information with

teammates

even better with project management

tools information sharing goes both ways

that means team members can also easily

update you on their progress without the

need for extra meetings or phone calls

how great is that

when you choose the right tool for a

project you make it easy for teammates

to let you know if a task is on schedule

or if it's delayed

which lets you quickly see how any

changes might affect the rest of the

project

project management tools increases

visibility and transparency for everyone

including stakeholders

you can use a variety of tools to

accomplish many different things like

tracking progress on tasks deliverables

and milestones

tools can also help you manage a budget

build helpful charts and diagrams manage

contracts and licenses and keep

stakeholders informed

tools can be straightforward like

digital spreadsheets or documents or

they can be more sophisticated like

scheduling and work management software

it's important to think about the needs

of the project when choosing which to

use

one thing to keep in mind is that if you

choose a more sophisticated tool

your teammates and stakeholders will

need some time to get familiar with it

for small projects that might be more

trouble than it's worth

so for small projects a straightforward

tool might be more effective

but if a project has a big scope then it

might be worth the team's time to learn

and ultimately work with a more

sophisticated project management tool

you should also keep in mind that

sometimes you won't have a choice about

the types of tools you use

if an organization has already decided

to use a specific tool

then you will need to work with what

they give you

it's all about remaining flexible

are you starting to see how you can use

tools to keep projects on track

whether they're straightforward or

sophisticated tools have the power to

help you communicate and manage more

effectively

next up we'll cover some of the most

common types of tools for effective

project management

see you there

hi there

so you've learned about how tools can

make you more effective

now let's learn more about the different

types of tools used in project

management

these include scheduling and work

management software and tools for

productivity and collaboration

let's get started

one common tool type is scheduling and

work management software

there are lots of different types of

work management software on the market

including popular tools like these

certain tools may work better for your

project depending on a bunch of things

for example

the project methodology you're running

or the number of tasks and people

involved

so

why would you choose to use scheduling

and work management software

well

it can be really useful for assigning

tasks to multiple teammates and for

tracking progress on that work

it can also help you visualize your

team's progress

for example if you're using work

management software to assign and track

tasks you're more likely to notice if

your team completes 50 tasks one week

and just three tasks the following week

that's a clear sign that you need to

check in to see if there's a problem

that's blocking progress

if you hadn't been tracking their tasks

you might not have noticed the issue

that's part of the reason why work

management software is so useful it

provides an overview of how the project

is going so you know when you need to

check in with your teams to get tasks

back on track

another type of project management tool

we'll discuss is tools for productivity

productivity tools can be very helpful

for you and your team

this includes word processing tools like

microsoft word or google docs

you can use these to create shared

documents with the team like the project

charter we taught you how to fill out

earlier

you can also use these tools to build

documents like meeting agendas and

status updates and we'll talk more about

these in a later course

spreadsheets are another useful

productivity tool

they're versatile and you can use them

to make documents like racy charts and

project plans as well as other helpful

charts you'll learn more about in a

later course

and presentations created in tools like

microsoft powerpoint

keynote or google slides can be a great

way to package your project in a visual

easily digestible way

now let's discuss collaboration tools

which you'll probably rely on to work

closely with your teammates

these include tools you're probably

familiar with like email and chat

tools like this can help you quickly and

efficiently check in with each other on

questions comments and other topics

related to the project

productivity tools like documents and

spreadsheets and collaboration tools

like email and chat are all pretty

simple which means they're great for

smaller projects with fewer tasks and

teammates to keep track of

scheduling and work management software

is better for bigger projects with a

larger number of tasks and a bigger team

of people to manage

cool

you've learned more about the types of

tools available to you including

scheduling and work management software

productivity tools and collaboration

tools

we'll spend the next video diving a bit

deeper on some of the most popular

project management tools out there

meet you there

earlier you learned about different

types of project management tools from

scheduling and work management software

to tools for productivity and

collaboration

now let's discuss a few popular tools

you might be expected to use or at least

be familiar with

there are many different types of work

management software that automatically

make project planning and tracking a lot

easier and that are much more efficient

than manual project tracking

one tool that we'll focus on in this

program is asana

asana is a work management platform that

helps teams plan and coordinate their

work from daily tasks to strategic

initiatives

asana provides a living system and a

source of truth where everyone's work

lives with asana everyone can see

discuss and manage team priorities

giving teams clarity on who is doing

what by when

it's great for building project plans

assigning tasks

automating workflows

tracking progress

and communicating with stakeholders

as a project manager you can use asana

to create a log of tasks like gathering

cost estimates from external vendors

and assign a task to people on the team

all tasks are visible and organized in

the format of the project manager's

choice

like in a list

or on a calendar

and designed to drive transparency and

connection with all the tasks related to

the overall goal

it's easy to use with external

stakeholders as well

because within asana you can share

status updates and other communications

with people outside your company

another great tool we'll focus on

throughout this program is the

spreadsheet

spreadsheets are extremely versatile and

you can use them for a wide range of

tasks from creating timelines and

building charts to managing budgets and

tracking tasks

you can add and view project information

in a variety of formats depending on

what you need in the moment

for example

let's say you enter a list of tasks due

dates completion statuses and task

owners into a spreadsheet

from there it's very simple to sort the

list by due date to see what's due next

you can then filter the list of tasks by

task owner so that you'll only see the

things you're responsible for

you can also highlight the rows of the

sheet in different colors to visually

illustrate the tasks with the least

progress

with spreadsheets you can easily

transform visualize and manipulate

information

and more comprehensive tools like asana

are just two options for effective

project management

and it's a good idea to get a basic

understanding of a variety of software

options out there

then if your company doesn't have a

standard software tool you can choose

the right one for the project needs

being able to recommend the right tool

for the job can be a great way to add

value to your team at the beginning of a

project

keep in mind however that software

options are constantly changing

from the addition of new features to the

launch of new tools

there's no way for you to know every

software available and no company would

expect that of you

many of these tools have similar

functionality like task tracking and

task assignment

so if you understand one tool deeply you

should be able to easily adapt to a new

tool on the job

now that you've learned a bit more about

asana and the power of spreadsheets

take some time to explore these tools

since we'll be working with them later

in the program

coming up you hear from a project

manager who will tell you all about

their experience using tools during

their day-to-day role at google

stay tuned

[Music]

hi

i'm amer i'm a senior engineering

program manager at google shopping and

on a day-to-day basis i drive programs

which spans across multiple products at

google as a project manager tools are

our best friends

tools and the tools which will help us

drive the execution those are really

should be near and dear to us and those

are near and dear to me

what i look at is what tools which help

me create the body of work there are

like a lot of open source tool as well

as free tools like you know google

spreadsheets are there google docs is

there so many of these tools are out

there and there are some other

supporting tools also like jira and all

these will help you create the body of

work this will help you define that what

needs to be delivered and when this will

help you create the timeline like there

are timeline tools like gantt chart

again tools that you will find out

and then there are tools which will help

you drive the visibility across the

board and drive the dependent ecosystem

we want to make sure when we are

starting at the project we look at the

available tool set so that we are not

defragging the system that much we are

not really kind of

adding

too many complexities or new tools in

the ecosystems we want to make sure that

okay what are the current tools which

are out there have a look at those tool

set

find out are those supported find out

what's the current adoption rate and

look at what are the gaps if there are

gaps

go for new tools propose new tools

to improve productivity but if there's

existing tool set which our team is

following which your team is following

try to learn those tools because those

are the tools which will get quick

adoption and those will be an amazing

tool set to have

with you

nice work getting through all this

material is a huge accomplishment

take a moment to consider how much

you've learned so far about the ins and

outs of successfully kicking off a

project

you dug deeper on initiation the first

phase of the project life cycle and how

important it is to determine your

project's scope including what's in

scope and what's not

you also learned about project goals and

deliverables

and you learn how to measure project

success by creating success criteria

early on

then you learn to define project roles

and responsibilities

choosing the right people for a project

team is a big decision and one you'll

always want to consider carefully

you now know how to create a stakeholder

analysis that tells you how and when to

communicate with different stakeholders

and you learn how to create and track

team accountability using a racy chart

you also studied the final steps of the

initiation phase

identifying resources creating

documentation and selecting tools

you learned about the resources that

project managers rely on to achieve the

goals of a project from budgets to

people

to the materials needed to complete a

deliverable

you also learn the value of documenting

your work using a project charter

which is a key step to getting approval

to start your project

lastly you learned about the many types

of tools that can help you be a more

efficient project manager

from straightforward tools like email to

sophisticated tools like asana

completing this course is no small feat

and you've put in hours of work

give yourself a pat on the back you've

earned it

in the next course you'll jump right

into the next phase of the project life

cycle

and my colleague rowena will be your

guide
get ready to have some fun as rowena

shows you the ropes of serious project

planning

hello welcome to this course called

planning putting it all together

if you've already completed our previous

courses then you have a great foundation

for what it takes to initiate a project

and kick off the planning phase

before we get started let me introduce

myself

my name is rowena and i'll be your

instructor for this course

i work as a senior program manager in

google cloud on a variety of projects

i mostly focus on systems and

productivity enhancements for my team

which consists of around 100 full-time

employees and more than 300 contractors

around the world

some of the larger scale projects that i

work on impact google cloud sales and

global sales support teams which are

made up of thousands of people but i

didn't start out building solutions for

thousands of people at a global company

i left school at the age of 17 with no

college degree and no real plan

before google i worked in retail

hospitality and even in the airline

industry as a crew member when i joined

the corporate world i noticed something

the processes were just as messy as the

stock rooms of the retail stores where

i'd worked

there was so much room to improve

i came to realize that every business is

complicated and that there's always room

to create order

so i started thinking about ways to

automate my day-to-day tasks i was

emailing ideas to my manager and

colleagues working with teams across the

company brainstorming solutions to

problems coordinating training for my

co-workers and so much more that's when

it became clear i was project managing

i transferred into a role focused

entirely on program management at

google's headquarters in mountain view

california

in my job interview i focused on

examples of how i applied these

transferable skills from my previous

roles and how i could leverage the

knowledge i gained from my experience

four years later i'm here and i'm so

excited to be partnering with you on

this learning journey from the outside

big global companies can seem as though

they have it all figured out but there's

always room for new processes and you

likely have the skills and insights from

your previous experiences that can be

useful

so keep going you're heading in the

right direction

this course is focused on the planning

phase

i'll share the tools and techniques to

complete this phase first up i'll

demonstrate how to kick off the planning

phase

then we'll explore the importance of

setting and reaching milestones

for every milestone there'll be a set of

tasks to complete so i'll teach you some

tips for breaking down and distributing

the workload later we'll discuss the

budget and how the overall budgeting

process works

we'll learn about people or companies

outside of your organization that may

play a role in determining the budget

and we'll discuss the importance of

sufficiently documenting your budget

then we'll discuss the various risks and

the possible impact those risks can have

on the project

nothing ever goes quite as planned but

risk management is a great way to make

sure you know what could go wrong and

how you'll address it

this includes communicating possible

risks to your stakeholders creating a

mitigation plan and then keeping an eye

on those risks to make sure they don't

store your projects

last but not least documentation ties it

all together

keeping all your project plans

documented and organized not only helps

you but it also helps those involved

knowing their responsibilities

documentation also provides stakeholders

with a window into the development of

the project

it has always been important to the

success of my own projects at google and

i'm excited to explore this topic with

you

ready to get started meet you in the

next video

hi again

in the previous course you learned about

the initiation phase

during the initiation phase the project

manager is gathering all of the

necessary preliminary information needed

to get stakeholder approval and plan the

project

a few key things need to happen during

this time first the project manager gets

assigned that's you

then the goals of the project have to be

approved as well as the scope of the

project and its deliverables

a number of people will need to be

assigned to the project

and you'll have a good sense of their

individual roles and responsibilities

you'll also need stakeholder sign-off on

your project charter

if all of these criteria have been met

then you're set to begin planning

planning is a significant part of

ensuring a project's success

so let's take some time to discuss why

it's so important

planning is important for any project

large or small

while planning your project you and

other members of the team will determine

the processes and workflows needed to

meet your goals and put together ideas

about how to make the project a success

while planning you might draw from

previous project experience

but don't be afraid to think of new ways

to get results

every project is different so new and

different approaches may be just the

thing you need planning has many

benefits

as we've discussed planning helps you

map out the full project it helps you

understand the work needed to achieve

your goals planning also helps

coordinate efforts and timelines with

other teams contractors and vendors

another huge benefit of planning is that

it gives you time to identify and

prepare for risks that could impact your

project those might include things like

a delay in the timeline the departure of

a critical team member or a change in

project direction from a primary

stakeholder

planning also gives you the chance to

brainstorm ways to mitigate or address

those risks there are less obvious

benefits too for example the planning

phase can help you get buy-in from key

members of the project team getting

buy-in means that you've gained their

support for your plans

planning also demonstrates to

stakeholders that the team is taking

care to start the project with a

detailed plan

but one of the most significant benefits

of planning is teamwork

which will help you push your project

across the finish line by working

together in the planning phase

individuals assigned to the project can

become a strong team by the time the

planning is done and the work is about

to start

planning together creates a shared

understanding among all parties involved

in the project

so to recap

planning has many benefits from helping

the team to understand the work needed

to achieve their goals to providing

project plans to the stakeholders

now that you know a bit more about

planning we'll learn how to launch the

planning phase

meet you in the next video

hello again

in the last video we discussed the

importance of planning now let's get

into the details of how to launch the

planning phase
as you learned earlier the planning

phase is the second phase of a project's

life cycle this can be a challenging

time for a project manager because

there's so much to consider

but it's important to know that project

plans don't have to be perfect the very

first time

and

even if you do a great job with your

plans the first time around it's likely

that the plan will change as the project

evolves the planning phase may differ

from project to project

but generally three big things are

worked out during this stage

the schedule the budget and the risk

management plan

we'll discuss each of these in greater

detail later on in the course

but for now

here's some general information so you

can understand why these three elements

are so crucial to planning

let's start with the schedule the

schedule is basically a timeline of the

project it includes the start date the

end date and the dates for things that

will happen in between

you'll use time estimation techniques to

determine these dates

let's imagine scheduling in our example

project at office green

as a reminder you're the lead project

manager for project plant powers a new

service that will provide top clients

with desk friendly plants

you want to launch the service by the

end of the year so the planning phase

for this effort should include a number

of key dates

those dates might include when you'll

request proposals from plant vendors

they might also include the date you'll

kick off with the web designers and

developers who are creating a new

website for the service

it should also include important dates

during the project execution phase like

when the plants need to be ready for

delivery

or when the new web page design needs to

be approved

and you'll need to include the target

date for the launch of the service

another part of the planning phase is

setting the budget the budget will

account for the total cost to complete

the project
the total cost needs to be broken down

to determine how much has to be spent on

different elements of the project

for project plant pals the budget will

need to include items like the cost of

designing and launching a web page the

cost of hiring your plant vendor and

much more the third component of the

planning phase is risk management which

means searching for possible problems

and planning ahead to mitigate these

risks

let's face it risk is inevitable in

every project what's not inevitable is

how the risk impacts your project

good project planning means searching

for places where trouble might occur

where might the schedule get off track

where might the budgets exceed your

estimates

you'll work with your team to consider

answers to these questions and prepare a

risk management plan based on whatever

you discover let's go back to the office

screen example

while putting together the initial

schedule

you may realize that your estimates from

your developers put you way beyond your

launch date to manage that risk you

might try to reduce or adjust the

project's scope to still meet your

deadline or even negotiate a new launch

date with your stakeholders these are

two simple examples of how you might

mitigate a scheduling risk so to recap

you'll spend the planning phase building

your schedule setting your budget and

preparing your risk management plan but

first you need to get the whole team on

board

next we'll discuss the project kickoff

meeting

which is where the project really gets

going

meet you there

hello again

in this video you'll learn how to

schedule a kickoff meeting once you're

ready to shift into planning mode it's

important to schedule a meeting that

will serve as a formal start to project

planning you might be wondering what a

kickoff meeting is and how it differs

from other types of meetings

that's a great question a project

kickoff meeting is the first meeting in

which a project team comes together to

ground everyone in a shared vision gain

a shared understanding of the project's

goals and scope and to understand each

person's individual roles within the

team

so

who's invited to the kickoff meeting

well that would be the team members

identified in a racy chart created

during the initiation phase

as a reminder a racy chart helps to

define roles and responsibilities for

individuals or teams to ensure that the

work gets done

efficiently during the kickoff meeting

team members will learn more about how

they'll contribute to the project and

how they'll gain a deeper understanding

of how the team will work together to

reach the project's goals

you should also invite your stakeholders

and your sponsor to the meeting so that

they have a chance to understand the

high-level plan for the project can

share their perspective and you can

ensure that everyone is on the same page

now you might be wondering

why do i need a kickoff meeting can't my

team learn everything they need to know

from the project charter

we get it meetings can be time consuming

and there are definitely situations when

a quick email or a chat to a teammate

will suffice

but when you're kicking off a project

especially larger projects with multiple

people involved it's important to get

together to establish a shared vision

align on the scope and build team

rapport

this is also an opportunity for

teammates to ask questions and offer

insights

and it's a great time for you to set

expectations with the team about how

each person will individually contribute

to the project

now let's discuss how to plan and run a

kickoff meeting

there are lots of templates for kickoff

meeting agendas online

but most follow a similar structure and

last about an hour

keep in mind that this is just a

suggestion

and you should feel free to schedule as

much or as little time for each agenda

item according to the needs of your

project and the team

most meetings start with brief

introductions

you can allocate about 10 minutes for

everyone in the group to introduce

themselves and their roles

and if time allows share a fun fact to

help build team rapport

then you'll spend about five minutes

giving an overview of the background of

the project this covers details like how

the project came to be and why the

project matters you'll also use this

time to set a shared vision

next spend about five minutes sharing

the goals and the scope which refers to

the boundaries around a project

that includes making it clear what work

is considered in scope and what work is

considered out of scope this is also a

good place to share the target launch

date and highlight any important

milestones the team need to be aware of

once you've covered goals and scope it's

time to discuss everyone's roles

it's a good idea to spend about five

minutes making sure that everyone is

clear on what work they'll be

responsible for throughout the duration

of the project

next it's time to address collaboration

which is how the team will work together

on the project this is a great time to

go over tools that'll serve as a

communal source of information for the

team like a project plan created in a

spreadsheet or work management software

tool like asana it's also a great time

to determine how the team will

communicate with one another like

through daily email updates a team chat

room and weekly team check-in meetings

you should spend about 10 minutes on

this topic

when that's all set it's time to discuss

what comes next

now that you've discussed the details of

the project thus far you should spend

about 10 minutes setting expectations

with your teammates for what's coming up

you'll also use this time to make clear

to each teammate what actions they'll

need to take next finally it's really

important to set aside about 15 minutes

for questions from the group

this is your team's chance to gain

clarity on any of the topics you've

discussed so far

it's also your chance to hear from the

team and ensure that the project is

benefiting from diversity of thoughts

experiences and ideas

for example

in addition to fielding questions out

loud in the meeting i might invite

teammates to input their questions or

feedback in a shared document this

practice can help create space for

collaboration i also like to poll my

teammates for confidence on the topics

discussed that day

i ask what their confidence level is on

a scale of one to five

one being i'm not confident at all and

five being i'm extremely confident if

they're not confident i ask them what i

can do to help change that

this practice can give the team a

stronger sense of support

because they know i'm there to help them

through roadblocks

if you try this practice in your

meetings

be sure to deliver on any promises you

make there your reputation as a project

manager to get things done and remove

roadblocks is critical to building and

maintaining relationships

so to recap

the kickoff meeting will cover

introductions
project background

goals and scope

roles

collaboration and what comes next

and the meeting will leave time for

questions from the group at the end

once you've finalized the meeting agenda

document this information into a meeting

agenda template and send it to attendees

a day or two ahead of the meeting

as the project manager you'll be leading

the majority of this meeting

and when you're presenting it's

difficult to take notes and present at

the same time

so at the start of the meeting ask a

teammate to take notes on key points you

discussed throughout the session and to

record each teammate's action items

in some cases it may be beneficial to

record this meeting so that attendees

can revisit it later especially if you

have a large or dispersed team

just be sure to get each attendee's

permission to record ahead of time

after the meeting don't forget to send a

follow-up email to the group summarizing

key points and outcomes from the meeting

as well as any action items to the

attendees

in your follow-up email be sure to also

invite attendees to reach out if they

have any additional questions

while there's a lot that goes into the

kickoff meeting

remember that this is an exciting moment

for the team and especially for you as

the project manager

all of the careful thinking and hard

work that you've done during the

initiation phase comes together to form

the foundation of your project

coming up we'll learn about milestones

tasks and how they differ

meet you in the next video

hi again

as we've discussed throughout this

program the project manager is

responsible for assigning work to the

team and keeping track of the project's

progress

when we discuss assigning work we'll use

a few key terms

project milestones and project tasks

let's break these down

a project milestone is an important

point within the project schedule that

indicates progress and usually signifies

the completion of a deliverable or phase

of the project

these are significant checkpoints in

your project

and keeping track of them helps ensure

that your project is on schedule to meet

its goals

for example

a milestone might include completing the

first draft of a report

and the goal may be to ultimately

publish the report another example of a

milestone is receiving sign off or

approval from your customer on a major

deliverable

let's discuss how milestones differ from

project tasks

a project task is an activity that needs

to be accomplished within a set period

of time

the work of a project is broken down

into many different tasks

in order to reach a milestone you and

your team must complete multiple tasks

for example if a milestone is completing

the first draft of a report the tasks

required to get to that milestone might

include hiring a writer conducting

research and drafting different sections

of the report
let's imagine milestones and tasks in

the context of project plant powers at

office screen

one of your project deliverables is to

launch a website for your new service

where customers will be able to place

orders and get customer support

some of the milestones leading up to

that launch will include securing

approval on the website design and

implementing feedback from user testing

to achieve those milestones your team

needs to complete multiple project tasks

for example

in order to reach the design milestone

your website designer will need to

create initial mock-ups of the proposed

website design

you'll need to review those mock-ups and

the designer will need to implement your

feedback

each of these items is a project task

and you won't reach your milestone until

they're complete

to review

milestones are important points within

the project schedule and project tasks

are activities that need to be

accomplished within a set period of time

to help reach those milestones

milestones and project tasks are

interconnected

tasks ladder up to milestones which are

crucial for project tracking

now that you know more about milestones

project tasks and how the two differ

we'll learn more about the importance of

milestones in the next video i'll meet

you there

great to see you again

so you've learned that a milestone is an

important point within the project

schedule that highlights progress and

usually marks the completion of a

deliverable or phase in the project

but now let's talk about why setting

milestones within your project is so

important

while it might seem tempting to make a

quick to-do list and get on with the

project it's really important that you

take the time and effort to break your

project down piece by piece

here's why first setting milestones

gives you a clear understanding of the

amount of work your project will require

the act of setting milestones forces you

to break your project down into more

manageable chunks the further you go the

better you'll be able to see how much

work will be needed to meet the project

goals

at first glance it might seem simple to

launch a new website

but it might be more work than you think

and if you break that deliverable down

into milestones and those milestones

into tasks you will have a better sense

of the true amount of work that needs to

be done this will help you better manage

the project workload

another reason milestones are so great

is that they can help keep your project

on track when you set a milestone you

assign clear deadlines for when certain

project deliverables need to be

completed

then

as you work through the execution phase

you can look back at these deadlines to

make sure that the project is

progressing at the right pace

a third reason you'll want to set

milestones is that they help you uncover

areas where you might need to adjust

scope

timelines or resources to meet your

goals

for example
if you realize that reaching a milestone

will require more tasks than you'd

anticipated you might ask a stakeholder

for permission to reduce the scope of

the project and cut down on the number

of tasks and finally there's one more

reason milestones are so important

actually reaching milestones can

seriously motivate your team and

illustrate real progress to your

stakeholders

with big projects that go on for months

you'll want to keep the team's

motivation high

a milestone signifies the completion of

an important chunk of work and provides

a moment of celebration for the team

even if there's more work ahead

milestones also serve as a great

check-in point to highlight your

progress to stakeholders

it gives them the opportunity to see the

work that's been completed so far and

lets them see everything is on track and

up to their standards

it's also important to remember that

milestones must be completed on time and

in sequential order because usually

reaching the next milestone is dependent

on completing a previous milestone

think about this in terms of project

plant powers at office green

as we discussed earlier in order to

launch a website for a new plant service

there are a few milestones you need to

hit like securing approval of a website

design

completing development of the website

and implementing user feedback

these milestones must happen in this

order here's why

the web developer can't build the

website if the design hasn't been

approved by stakeholders and you can't

implement feedback from user testing if

there's no website to test so we know

it's important to reach milestones in

sequential order

but it's just as important that you

reach them on time

if the team misses the mark to complete

a deliverable tied to a specific

milestone it could set back your

project's schedule

meaning your team might need to work

overtime or add additional resources to

catch up

for example

if you need to secure stakeholder

approval on a website design by friday

but the web designer hasn't completed

the design yet you might have to wait

until after the weekend secure

stakeholder approval this will delay the

start of the development phase

giving your team less time to build the

website

even worse this delay could affect the

project budget if completing this

deliverable directly ties to a payment

from the client

if you miss the deadline you'll likely

delay receipt of that payment

you might even risk losing the payment

altogether though deadlines are

sometimes flexible it's important to be

extra mindful of milestones where the

deadline is non-negotiable and that's

that

hopefully you understand why milestones

are important to any project coming up

we'll discuss how to set milestones for

your project

see you there

hi again

okay so you know that milestones are

pretty important they help give you a

clear picture of the amount of work

required they help your project stay on

track

uncover areas where you might need

additional resources

motivate your teammates and show

progress to your stakeholders

so now let's talk about identifying

milestones within your project

and how you can set deadlines for each

one the first step to setting a

milestone is to evaluate your project as

a whole

it helps to refer back to your project

charter to remind yourself of the

project goal

then

make a list of what your team needs to

do to achieve that goal the big items

that indicate progress are your

milestones these are the key points

within the project schedule that signify

the completion of a project deliverable

or a phase in the project

smaller items like any item that a

stakeholder wouldn't need to review for

example are tasks

you'll plan for these once you've

separated them out from the milestones

so let's go back to our office screen

example
one of the project deliverables is a new

website

and as we determined earlier some

milestones for our office screen website

scenario include securing approval of

website design completing development of

the website and implementing user

feedback mocking up initial designs or

building a landing page are smaller

items on your list

so those are marked as tasks

try to keep in mind that some projects

might have many milestones

while others might just have two or

three

there's no one right number of

milestones to set

the number will vary from project to

project

once you've determined your milestones

the next step is to assign each one a

deadline

reaching each of your milestones is

dependent on the completion of multiple

project tasks

so to make sure you give your team a

fair amount of time to complete each of

those tasks you'll need to space your

milestones out accordingly

for a larger months long project like

project plant powers you shouldn't

expect to meet multiple milestones in

the span of a week

mocking up website designs and

collecting insights from user testing

are big tasks that take time

you need to space milestones out to give

your team room to complete their work to

get a good sense of timing you can

connect with teammates to discuss the

tasks required to reach each milestone

and get their estimates for how long

these tasks will take

with those estimates in mind

you can make an informed decision about

reasonable deadlines for each milestone

when you set deadlines for milestones

you'll also want to consider the needs

of your stakeholders

ask yourself when they'll expect to see

a certain project deliverable and

consider the answer when choosing a

deadline

your stakeholders will want to see

regular indications that the team is

making progress

and milestones are a great way to show

that progress

so to recap
you set milestones by looking at your

project as a whole and pulling out

important checkpoints that show progress

then you assign deadlines to each

milestone while keeping the needs of

your stakeholders top of mind

next up we'll discuss a helpful tool for

breaking down the tasks that ladder up

to each milestone

see you

there so we've discussed how to set

milestones

now we'll learn how to account for the

many tasks that ladder up to each

milestone

you can do this by creating a work

breakdown structure

let's start with the definition a work

breakdown structure often abbreviated to

wbs is a tool that sorts the milestones

and tasks of a project in a hierarchy in

the order they need to be completed

this is a helpful tool because it helps

break down the sometimes intimidating

challenges of a project into more

manageable chunks big projects like

publishing a report or organizing a

conference seem a lot less daunting when

the work required to get there is broken

down step by step with a clear pathway

from the beginning of the project to the

end

let's look at an example of a basic work

breakdown structure there are lots of

different ways to design a work

breakdown structure

but one common way is to create a tree

diagram of project tasks let's say that

we're creating a work breakdown

structure for the project plant pals

website launch

at the top of the diagram is the name of

the project

the second level of our diagram breaks

the project down into three milestones

these include securing design approval

developing the site and implementing

user feedback

at the third level of the chart we can

see each of those milestones gets

further broken down into a series of

project tasks

for example tasks listed beneath your

design approval milestone include

mocking up designs and collecting

feedback

this is a very simple example of a work

breakdown structure

here we've only created a work breakdown

structure for a new website which is

just one of the project plant pals

deliverables

keep in mind that in future project

management roles you'll likely create a

wbs that outlines the tasks for an

entire project

it's also important to know that while

creating a work breakdown structure is a

helpful exercise for visualizing the

tasks of a project you wouldn't

typically include this type of diagram

in your official project plan

instead you'd input the tasks identified

through this exercise into a spreadsheet

or your chosen work management software

where you can more easily assign owners

to each task

okay so after completing a work

breakdown structure and organizing those

tasks in a spreadsheet a few things

should be clearer to you

first you should have a set of discrete

project tasks that ladder up to each of

your milestones

you and your teammates will know exactly

what needs to happen to reach your first

milestone and the milestones after that

second you're now in a good position to

assign those tasks to members of the

project team

each person should have a clear

understanding of the tasks they own and

the order in which they need to complete

them

let's break down how to assign tasks

tasks are typically assigned according

to a person's role in the project

for example in our office screen

scenario the web designer is assigned to

the task of mocking up the initial

website design

you are assigned to the task of

reviewing that design and providing

feedback

and the designer is assigned to the task

of implementing your feedback

a web developer will be assigned to the

next task of developing the site itself

sometimes your team will have multiple

teammates working in the same type of

role

to assign tasks between two or more team

members with the same roles you might

take into consideration each person's

familiarity with the tasks at hand

for example

if you have multiple web developers

working on the new website you might

task one developer with creating the

landing page and task the other

developer with creating the contact us

page

when assigning tasks you should also

consider each teammate's workload

think about how much time they're meant

to be spending on the project compared

to work outside the project that they

might also be responsible for

it's important to keep everyone's

workloads balanced

you'll want to make sure that a single

teammate isn't assigned more work than

others

you'll also want to make sure that no

one is assigned more work than they can

handle

when people feel overloaded the quality

of their work may suffer or they might

need more time to complete the number of

tasks putting the timeline and the

overall project schedule at risk

as the project manager you will ensure

that your teammates are clear on their

assigned tasks you can do this by

assigning tasks with help from project

management tools like asana which i use

a lot in my day-to-day role at google

when you manage a project in asana

you'll add tasks to represent actionable

pieces of work needed to complete the

project

as a best practice it's good to start

each task with a verb

for example instead of just typing

website make clear the task is to mock

up the website

or add images to the website

another thing to think about when

assigning tasks is timeline

be sure to add an assignee and a due

date to each task so it's clear who's

doing what by when

finally be sure to include as much

detail surrounding the task as possible

to avoid miscommunication

in asana you can click into the task

details to add helpful information

here you can add a description

link to corresponding files or

attachments or even comment on the work

related to the task there's so many

benefits to assigning tasks but the

biggest one is that it frees you up to

focus on managing the project

this way you can feel confident in the

knowledge that your teammates are

responsible for specific work

but there's also some less obvious

benefits of assigning tasks let's

explore these more now

one less obvious benefit of assigning

tasks is that it creates a sense of

personal responsibility for members of

the team

when you assign a teammate to a task you

enter into an agreement with that person

that they'll own the task until it's

completed

creating a sense of ownership for

members of the team is important because

it makes them feel more invested in the

project

it also gives them space for personal

growth

plus it supports your own skill building

as a manager who's a supportive

delegator

and on top of that it keeps your team

motivated and invested in completing

their work on time and while each team

member should have a sense of

responsibility for their assigned task a

complete sense of ownership might feel

overwhelming for some teammates

if that's the case it's a good idea for

a project manager to encourage teammates

to support one another on their tasks

this is also great for building overall

team rapport

got all that

great

so to recap you've learned about work

breakdown structures and how to assign

tasks to people on your team

meet us in the next video for a recap on

what we've covered over the past few

videos

hi again

over the past few videos we've discussed

how to launch the planning phase of the

project life cycle

this is where you'll build your schedule

set your budget and prepare your risk

management plan

you also learned about an important part

of the planning phase the project

kickoff meeting this is a key moment

where you can meet with your team and

stakeholders to establish a shared

vision align on scope

build rapport

ask questions and set expectations

we also discussed milestones which are

important points within the project

schedule that indicate progress

and we also learned about tasks which

are activities that need to be

accomplished within a set period of time

then you learned about the value of

milestones and how to set them

and you learned how to take those

milestones break them down into tasks

and record that information in a work

breakdown structure

next we'll explore estimating time and

setting a schedule

see you soon

hi my name is clinita and i'm a senior

engineering program manager at google so

the planning phase of project management

is essentially the time where you take

step back and you reflect on what's the

scope of the project so what are the

problems that we need to solve when you

look at planning for projects it's

critical to understanding what you're

building who you're building for and how

long you have to build it

we

look at our risk

to make sure that we know what

potentially could derail the project and

if possible create

mitigation that would circumvent any

risk that we may come in contact with or

or just be aware of things like

um scope we also um look at uh timing is

there a time a deadline that we need to

hit and if so um do we have enough time

to hit that deadline we assess the work

that needs to be done to understand if

the work that needs to be done in order

to meet the requirements fits into the

timeline that we have we also look at

testing what the testing plan looks like

what is success going to look like so we

know what the target is so that when we

hit the target and we validate it

we already know what metrics we expect

to get i'm a planner like it's just in

my nature planning sets a tone for what

we're actually doing together it creates

a sense of team

the planning also aligns everybody um to

understanding what it is we're all

shooting for what it is our goals are

what what success is going to look like

it really is um the place where we come

together to ensure that we're all on the

same page and we're all going in the

same direction when you don't have that

um

things get lost you you're not talking

to the right people

you have miscommunications

um

things get delayed and you don't really

understand why people aren't comfortable

communicating what you know what

progress is happening they aren't they

really aren't comfortable in

communicating when their problem comes

up

so you want to just set a tone of like

we're all in this together we're all

going to be successful together

and we are going to run into roadblocks

we are going to run into problems but

we're going to work it out and figure it

out as a team

[Music]

hi

welcome back

in the previous section we learned more

about the planning phase which is the

second phase of the project life cycle

we introduced you to kickoff meetings

which is the first meeting for the

project team

we also discussed milestones tasks and

how to set these within a project

coming up we'll explain why it is

necessary to create and manage a project

plan
we'll discuss the definition of a

project plan and we'll learn what

typically goes into one

this includes the project schedule which

will help guide your team to the finish

line

we'll also share how to use time

estimation methods to prevent project

failure

we'll introduce you to a few

time estimation techniques which can

help you build an accurate project

schedule

and finally we'll examine tools and best

practices you can use to build out a

project plan

ready to get started

meet me in the next video

a project plan can be useful for any

project big or small since it helps you

document the scope tasks milestones and

overall activities of the project

at the center of the project plan is the

project schedule

the project schedule can help you

estimate the amount of time it'll take

to complete the project

and it can provide the team with a way

to track the project's progress against

your goals
what goes into a project plan may vary

from company to company

but most plans contain these five basic

elements

these are tasks

milestones

people

documentation and time

let's break those down

a project plan will include tasks and

milestones

two topics we discussed before

tasks are activities that need to be

accomplished within a set period of time

they're assigned to different members of

the team according to their roles and

skills

and milestones are important points

within the schedule that indicate

progress

they usually signify the completion of a

deliverable or phase of the project

a project plan will also include the

people working on your team and their

roles

it's important that each team member

understands their role and the tasks

they're responsible for completing

ensuring that everyone is clear on their

assigned tasks frees you up to focus on

managing the project

and creates a sense of personal

responsibility for members of the team

a project plan is a good place to link

to relevant documentation

this includes documents like your racy

chart which helps to define roles and

responsibilities for individuals on your

team you can also link to your charter

which clearly defines the project and

outlines the details needed to reach

your goals

relevant documentation can also include

documents like your budget and risk

management plan we'll discuss more about

those later on in the course

lastly a project plan should include the

estimated time that will be spent on the

project

this forms the basis of the schedule

which is the anchor of your project plan

the estimated time includes dates on

which tasks should be started and

completed

and the dates when you hope to reach

various milestones

it also includes the start and end dates

of the project which are important in

determining which resources you'll need

and when you'll need them

so how exactly do you estimate how long

these things will take

meet me in the next video to find out

as the project manager you aren't

responsible for completing every task

what you are responsible for is

identifying and helping assign those

tasks

and then estimating how long they'll

take to complete

these estimates come together to

determine the overall project schedule

so how do you estimate the amount of

time a given task will take

you do this with the help of your team

time estimation is a prediction of the

total amount of time required to

complete a task

effort estimation is a prediction of the

amount and difficulty of active work

required to complete a task

effort estimation differs from time

estimation

in that effort quantifies the amount of

time it will take a person to complete

work on a task

on the flip side time refers to the

overall duration of the task from start

to finish that includes inactive time

here's an example the effort estimation

for painting a wall might be 30 minutes

but time estimation might be 24 hours

that's because in addition to the 30

minutes of active painting time there

are also 23 and a half hours of inactive

drying time

it's important to understand the

difference between time estimation and

effort estimation because it can help

you be more efficient with your

available resources

if there's idle time baked into a given

task your teammate is effectively free

to do other things

a painter can do other tasks while the

wall is drying like painting the mailbox

or the window trim

an unrealistic effort estimate can

negatively impact a project's schedule

generally this happens when you

underestimate the amount of time it will

take to complete a task

often the culprit for underestimating

effort is optimism

and listen optimism is a wonderful trait

for a project manager to possess but too

much optimism can lead you to overlook

potential risks that could set your

plans behind schedule

though it might be tempting to make the

optimistic assumption that tasks will be

executed exactly according to plan

there is always a possibility that there

will be setbacks

so

how do you try to avoid making

unrealistic effort estimates you can do

this by communicating with teammates

assigned to each task

your teammates will have the most

realistic understanding of the amount of

work required to complete a task and

should be able to provide you with the

best estimate

let's imagine this scenario in the

context of our plant powers project at

office green

as a reminder you're launching a new

service to provide top office green

customers with small low maintenance

plants that they can place on their

desks

you might assume that creating a contact

list

of top customers is relatively

straightforward and can be completed in

a single day
but it's important to really consider

certain subtasks required to complete

work in your planning

subtasks refer to smaller tasks that are

required to complete a larger task for

example this might include meeting with

the global sales team to identify

clients gathering contact information

determining client language preferences

and building a spreadsheet to house this

information

asking the teammate assigned to the task

for their estimate is likely to yield a

more accurate estimation since they'll

have a deeper understanding of the work

and the nuances of what's required to

complete the task

you might learn that creating the

contact list may take two days to

complete which could be double the time

you originally expected

of course you can usually ask follow-up

questions or even gently push back on

their estimate as needed

later on we'll discuss more of the

techniques you can use to get more

accurate estimates from your teammates

now even though task owners tend to have

the strongest sense of how much time

they'll need to complete a task

the fact is that effort estimates are

just that

estimates

meaning that sometimes those estimates

won't be accurate

for example

in our plant power scenario your

teammate estimates that it will take two

days to create a contact list of top

customers

but let's say that the sales team is out

of the office for a team building

exercise and unable to meet about the

client list until after the weekend

this will create a task delay

and as a result the original estimate is

no longer accurate

luckily there's a helpful tool called a

buffer that you can use during the

planning phase to protect against

inaccurate effort estimates

a buffer is extra time added to the end

of a task or a project to account for

unexpected slowdowns or delays in work

progress

buffers are important because they can

provide some leeway just in case your

time and effort estimates turn out to

fall a bit short

with a buffer you can add extra time

into your schedule

and your projects shouldn't fall off

track when task delays inevitably arise

there are two types of buffers you can

use when planning your schedule

task buffers and project buffers first

we have task buffers which refer to

extra time tacked onto a specific task

task buffers should be used primarily

for tasks that are out of the project

team's control

for example you might ask a potential

plant vendor to provide you with a cost

estimate by monday

you might assign them this deadline

knowing that you won't actually need the

estimate until thursday

the time between monday and thursday is

your buffer and it provides your team

with extra time just in case the vendor

sends their estimates to you a day or

two late

task buffers should be used more

sparingly for tasks within the project

team's control

for example you might choose to add

buffers only to tasks that are difficult

to complete or that have an element of

unpredictability like the length of time

it will take plants to grow

adding a buffer to every task could

lengthen your project schedule

unnecessarily

leaving you your team and your

stakeholders with an unrealistic

timeline

this is where project buffers come in

handy

project buffers differ from task buffers

in that they provide extra time to the

overall project schedule

rather than adding a buffer to every

task you can add extra time as a buffer

towards the end of your project schedule

then you can use that extra time

two to three days for example as needed

throughout the project

for instance if a teammate misses a

deadline here and there the project

buffer gives you space in the overall

schedule to make up for lost time

i use buffers often in my day-to-day

role at google

for example on a recent project at

google i was working with a new hire who

was great at coding but kept missing

deadlines

i realized they weren't giving

themselves enough buffer time to do

testing i started to ask questions about

their current workload and the

complexity of their tasks and based on

their answers to those questions i was

able to gather insights about their work

and determine where i needed to add

buffer to their tasks

ultimately my goal is to ensure that i'm

setting a realistic timeline for the

project

after all if you hit your project goal

two months later than expected

your organization may not consider the

project a success

time estimation effort estimation and

buffers can help you build realistic

plans for reaching the project goal

hi again

okay so we've discussed time estimation

which is a prediction of the total

amount of time that will be required to

complete a task

and we've also discussed effort

estimation

which is a prediction of the amount and

difficulty of active work required to

complete a task these techniques can

help you estimate the length of time it

will take to complete a task

once you have that information you'll

need to determine if you have the right

number of people to get the work done

to figure this out you can use a

technique called capacity planning

first let's define capacity

capacity refers to the amount of work

that the people or resources assigned to

the project can reasonably complete in a

set period of time

a person can only do so much

and it's important to keep in mind each

person's capacity when assigning work

this is where capacity planning comes in

capacity planning refers to the act of

allocating people and resources to

project tasks and determining whether or

not you have the necessary resources

required to complete the work on time

during this process you might find that

you need more resources to speed up the

project timeline

like a second web developer or a third

writer

let's imagine capacity planning in the

context of our plant pals project at

officegreen if you know that you'll need

to deliver plants to 100 customers over

a period of five days then you'll need

to determine if you've hired enough

delivery drivers to meet that deadline

if one driver averages four deliveries

within an eight hour work day then you

know you'll need to hire at least five

drivers to complete the work on time

even if a person on your project team is

spending one hundred percent of their

time at work on your project

they'll have limited capacity for the

amount of work they should be expected

to complete each day

between meetings unexpected urgent tasks

and other elements of a typical work day

there's only so much each person can

complete

so

how do you decide where a teammate

should focus their priorities and make

the most of their capacity

you can prioritize their time by

plotting the critical path of your

project timeline

the critical path refers to the list of

project milestones that you must reach

in order to meet the project goal on

schedule as well as the mandatory tasks

that contribute to the completion of

each milestone

anything else is considered off the

critical path

for example tasks on the critical path

for launching project plant powers might

include hiring plant vendors developing

a new website and fulfilling deliveries

a task like adding flowers to your

product lineup is nice to have but might

not have much impact on the overall

success of your project

because this task isn't crucial to your

launch

these tasks aren't part of the critical

path

to summarize

your critical path includes the bare

minimum number of tasks and milestones

you need to reach your project goal

if your team is unable to complete any

of those tasks on time that might result

in a project delay

to determine the critical path of a

project you'd start by listing all the

tasks required to complete the project

and the milestones they feed into

this is a perfect time to think back to

your work breakdown structure or wbs

which is a chart that sorts all the

milestones and tasks of a project into a

hierarchy according to the order in

which they need to be completed

this includes a detailed overview of

every project task

then

you determine which tasks on the list

absolutely can't begin until another

task is complete

this is called a dependency

and we'll discuss this topic in more

detail later on

next you'll work with your team to make

time estimates for each task and map

each task from start to finish

the longest path is your critical path

there are a few factors that can impact

capacity and capacity planning

first you need to be able to identify

which tasks can happen in parallel which

means they can happen at the same time

as other tasks

you will also need to identify which

tasks can happen sequentially meaning

they must happen in a specific order

when you identify which tasks can happen

in parallel

it helps you create efficiencies within

your project schedule

by demonstrating where you can complete

multiple tasks at the same time

identifying sequential tasks help you

identify the tasks that you need to

prioritize early on in the project

for example

a sequential task for your plant pals

project may include needing budget

approval before hiring a vendor

and two parallel tasks might include

hiring delivery drivers and the

development of a website

these tasks have no relationship to one

another as they focus on different

portions of the project

and can be completed by different

members of the team

that means that one task can begin even

if the other task hasn't been completed

and so the work to complete these tasks

can happen at the same time

you also need to determine which project

tasks have a fixed start date

a fixed start date refers to the date on

which you must start work on your tasks

in order to achieve your goal

identifying whether or not your tasks

have a fixed start dates can help with

capacity planning because it helps

ensure that you'll have the right number

of people

available to complete tasks on time

for example let's imagine that your

contract says you'll need to deliver 100

plants on a specific date

that means that the task of picking up

those plants has a fixed start date of

one day prior to delivery

alternatively some tasks might have an

earliest start date

an earlier start date refers to the

earliest date in which you can begin

working on a task

identifying an earlier start date can

set accurate expectations for when

vendors and team members will be up and

running on the project

this can help you plan your work and

prioritize your work accordingly

for example

if you're working with a new vendor you

need to wait until contracts are signed

and the purchase order is approved and

created before the vendor can start

let's say that at office green this

process can take about three weeks based

on this information you can determine

that the earliest start date for your

vendor will be three weeks from the

kickoff meeting with your vendor

another best practice for capacity

planning and creating the critical path

includes identifying if a task has float

also sometime known as slack

float refers to the amount of time you

can wait to begin a task before it

impacts the project schedule and

threatens the project outcome these are

high priority tasks that have low to no

wiggle room

this helps reinforce what is and what is

not on your critical path

for instance

tasks on the critical path should have

zero float

meaning there is no room for delays

and tasks that do have float are not a

part of the critical path

for example the shipment of plants to a

priority customer

who's requested their delivery on a

specific date is a task that has zero

float

great

you've now learned a bit more about how

to define capacity capacity planning and

critical path

we also discussed the techniques used to

identify critical path in a project and

the various factors that can impact

capacity and capacity planning

in the next video we'll continue

learning how to create viable estimates

in a project plan

you will also find out how your soft

skills can help the effectiveness of

your team

meet you there

hi again

ready to get back into it

let's go

time estimation effort estimation and

capacity planning are all helpful

techniques for creating your project

schedule

and at the center of all this planning

is your team

throughout the scheduled planning

process

you're working with teammates to gather

estimates and you're taking into account

each person's capacity when building the

project schedule

it makes sense to involve your teammates

at this stage

after all the person assigned to the

given task is likely to have the best

sense of how long it will take to

complete that task

they'll also have the best sense of

their own capacity for taking on the

work

but these conversations are a two-way

discussion and you'll need to tap into

your soft skills to get the most

accurate estimate from your team

soft skills are personal characteristics

that help people work effectively with

others

these include crucial communication and

interpersonal skills we've discussed

over the course of this program

soft skills can be important when trying

to understand what might be blocking

someone's ability to do their best work

let's go over three ways to use soft

skills and gather accurate estimates

from your teammates

these are asking the right questions

negotiating effectively and practicing

empathy

let's start with asking the right

questions

think of conversations around the time

estimation as a kind of interview

you're connecting with your teammates to

learn more about how they work on

specific tasks and you'll use this

information to build your schedule

to aim to get the most relevant

information from these conversations

you'll want to be certain that you're

asking effective open-ended questions

that lead to the answers you're seeking

an open-ended question is a question

that cannot be answered with a yes or a

no

the answer provides the relevant details

of what you need to know

let's imagine this in the context of

your project at office green

you've discussed the design of a new

website with your web designer and you'd

like to know how long it will take them

to mock up designs for your review

now let's say you start the conversation

by asking a question like can you

complete the mock-ups in one week

this is a closed-ended question and

might elicit a simple yes or no answer

which doesn't tell you much about the

task of designing a website or about

your teammate's working style

now imagine if you had started this

conversation with an open-ended question

for example

you might ask the web designer something

like

how long does it typically take you to

mock up a website design like this one

this is an open-ended question and is

more likely to elicit a more detailed

response

from there you can ask follow-up

questions like

how complex are the steps to complete

this task

what are the risks associated with this

task and

when do you think you can have this

ready

by asking your teammates effective

open-ended questions about their

assigned tasks you can learn more about

how they work and what they do

as you have more of these conversations

you'll develop a better sense of your

teammates roles and their tasks and

you'll be able to rely less on your team

to make accurate estimates

another way to use soft skills to gather

estimates from teammates is to negotiate

effectively

part of your job as the project manager

is to bridge the gap between high-level

goals of the project and the day-to-day

perspective of your team

while your project might be your number

one priority it's possible that people

on your project team have competing

priorities on other teams to keep track

of as well

negotiating effectively can help you

influence a team member to make your

project their priority

by collaborating to find an outcome that

works for everyone

for example let's imagine that the

website designer estimates it will take

them two weeks to mock up the website

design for review

but perhaps you were hoping that their

estimate might be closer to one week

to arrive at an estimate that works for

both you and the designer

you might gently challenge the estimate

by asking follow-up questions

perhaps you'd ask if their estimate

includes mocking up designs for multiple

pages

if so

you might ask if the designer is able to

share one or two pages with you sooner

than their proposed deadline

by asking questions you can determine if

their estimate is flexible

or if you need to bring in an additional

designer to support the schedule

by negotiating effectively with your

teammates you can create a sense of

shared ownership over the project

outcomes and create a schedule that

aligns with everyone's workload

now let's discuss the value of

practicing empathy

empathy refers to a person's ability to

relate to the thoughts and feelings of

others

practicing empathy at work can be a very

effective way to build trust with your

team

your teammates are humans and each

person can only do so much

when you're discussing estimates with

the team you might practice empathy by

asking each person about their workload

including work outside of your project

and the overall work life balance

you might also ask if they've scheduled

vacation or leave during the duration of

the project

or if there are crucial holidays in

which they won't be working

this can help you avoid assigning tasks

when teammates are unable to complete

them on time

for example

the web designer might tell you that

they're also designing a website for

another team at office screen

and that the timeline for both projects

overlap

so to avoid overloading your designer

with work you might work with the other

project manager to balance workloads

across the teams

people like to feel their work is valued

so part of empathy is remembering to

always be appreciative of the work

collaboration and support that you're

getting from the team

so to recap asking the right questions

negotiating effectively and practicing

empathy can help you get viable accurate

estimates from your teammates about

project tasks

coming up we'll discuss putting these

estimates to good use in the project

plan

hi my name is angel and i'm a program

manager at google i'm a mechanical

engineer by degree

and

i my first boss out of school said

you're an okay engineer um but your

people skills

are off the charts and having a

technical background and having really

good people skills is hard to find

soft skills to me have a lot to do with

emotional intelligence so

being able to read other people

and then ultimately really knowing

yourself and being able to read the team

read what they need but then at the same

time you know what am i doing you know

either influencing the team in a good

way in a bad way

or just a different way just asking

sometimes people that don't usually kind

of raise their hand to give input

goes a long way because a lot of times

the folks that

are maybe a little more quiet are

genuinely thinking about the problem and

may have a lot of insights that

if you didn't kind of catch on that or

ask them

you could miss out and so to me soft

skills just means

just really understanding kind of the

emotional needs of the team um and that

can really help with

you know whether it's estimations

or

costs

um whether it be labor or dollar wise

get kind of the full

view from the team

of what that might look like when it

comes to task estimation and time

estimations the other thing is just

asking good questions

so not just

you know i need you to go faster but

really saying hey how much faster could

you go if i gave you this

what is stopping you from going faster

you know what teams would you need to

get involved to kind of help this right

or hey we have an issue

are there similar issues in other parts

of this project and do we need to get

together in a larger group to kind of

bring that together

i think as a program manager that's

really your role is to kind of see

patterns in a project and see kind of

where things are either slowing down or

at a complete stop

and having those soft skills

to be able to bring the team together to

to solve that problem

and to even just see it right just to

acknowledge that there is a problem and

instead of you know blaming is really

just digging in and kind of how do we

learn from this how do we fix this how

do we move on some of the things that

also help is just relating to your team

members

and if you've either been in a similar

situation

or just trying to get understand what

their process is sometimes just having

people walk through

the estimate out loud

can sometimes come up with realizations

of

oh we could save more time or could

improve this just by talking it out i've

been a project manager

you know for machines that make labels

to locomotive engines

to

how you make plywood so

project management skills you know don't

necessarily need to be

all about kind of the field that you're

in it's really more about kind of the

method and the process and kind of how

you structure a team and get people to

work together

hi again in the previous videos we took

you through a few different time

estimation methods
now you can relate how to use time

estimation methods to prevent project

failure

let's discuss how to pull all of this

information into a project plan to help

you and your team stay on track to meet

your goals

even the simplest projects can benefit

from a clear plan and an anchor of a

good project plan is a clear schedule

containing all the tasks of a project

their owners and when they need to be

completed

once you have your project schedule you

can build a solid plan around that

schedule using tools like spreadsheets

and asana

we'll explain these tools in a few

moments

but first let's discuss building a

project schedule

there are many helpful tools that you

can use to create a project schedule but

let's focus on one that we sometimes use

here at google called a gantt chart

a gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart

that maps out a project schedule

fun fact the chart gets its name from

american engineer henry gantt who helped

popularize the chart in the early 1900s

so why did people working in project

management find this chart useful

well it's a highly visual representation

of a project's tasks with clear

breakdowns of who's responsible for the

work and when those tasks are due

for many people a visual aid that builds

upon written directions can be a helpful

way to understand and synthesize the

work they need to do

when they need to complete it and how

their individual tasks connect to the

other tasks in a project

gantt charts are almost like calendars

they feature the start and end dates of

each task and the bars align with how

much time is devoted to each of those

tasks

for example

let's say that your teammate leon is

tasked with creating a project charter

and another teammate kylie is tasked

with reviewing and editing the charter

when leon is finished

using a gantt chart you'll use colored

bars to illustrate the days that they'll

be working on these tasks

with this method you and the rest of

your team can determine that leon has

friday monday and tuesday to work on the

chart and kylie has wednesday to

complete any revisions

the bars cascade down the chart to

illustrate the passing of time

and the blocks of time in which the

tasks are completed

gantt charts can be a helpful tool for

tracking schedules

but what kinds of tools can you use to

make a gantt chart

there are a few options but we're going

to focus on the straightforward

spreadsheet

creating a gantt chart in a spreadsheet

is pretty simple

you can organize your left columns by

items like task title

task owner

start date due date duration and percent

of task complete

this is a great place to list the tasks

and milestones previously identified in

a work breakdown structure

you'll include relevant information in

the rows below organized by start date

on the right side of your sheet you will

order your columns by the weeks

estimated to complete the project from

start to finish
in the rows below that you'll include

bars representing the dates when certain

tasks will take place

kind of neat right

spreadsheets are helpful here because

they can hold more information than just

the gantt chart

though the project schedule serves as

the central component of the project

plan you can use separate tabs on your

spreadsheet to house or link to other

documents you'll want to include in your

plan

like a racy chart or a project charter

you may also opt to include your plans

for risk management and communication

here too

with a spreadsheet you can simply add a

tab for your documents

keeping every document for the project

in one spreadsheet saves time helps

everyone stay organized and reduces the

burden of having to search through

emails for information

alternatively you can also opt to use a

digital document to link out all the

relevant documents

while gantt charts are a useful tool

they are far from the only option for

your project plan and there are plenty

of reasons why this form of

documentation might not work for you or

your project team

for a simple project you might find that

your team responds better to a digital

document that features a list of tables

or tasks their owners due dates and

links to other relevant planning

documents

or perhaps your team works best with

kanban boards

which uses cards to track and visualize

the progress of your tasks

regardless of your chosen tool if your

plan includes the project's goals its

tasks owners start and end dates and

relevant planning documentation then

you'll be able to keep everyone on the

same page

now you know a bit more about the tools

that can be used to create a project

schedule

up next we'll discuss best practices for

building a project plan

meet you in the next video

hi again

earlier you learned about creating a

project plan based on a project schedule

that lists all of the milestones tasks

and deadlines for project and that

clearly outlines the people responsible

for each task

you also learn about gantt charts which

are simple visual ways to create your

schedule

so

how can you help make sure that your

plan works for you and your team

let's discuss five best practices for

building a great project plan that will

remain useful throughout the execution

and closing phases of your project

those include ensuring careful review of

project deliverables

milestones and tasks

giving yourself time to plan

recognizing and planning for the

inevitable things will go wrong

staying curious and championing your

plan

first you'll want to ensure that you've

carefully reviewed the project's

deliverables milestones and tasks

during the initiation phase you'll

recall that you created a project

charter with important information

regarding your project like your goal

scope and deliverables

when a project enters the planning phase

your plans become more granular

let's discuss this in the context of

your project at officegreen

in your plan you need to break this

information down further

you're creating a new website for the

service so you'll need to break that

deliverable down into smaller milestones

like kicking off a meeting with the web

developer and gaining stakeholder

approval

and those milestones will break down

into smaller tasks

like mocking up a design of the new

website and developing a landing page

each of these tasks will be assigned to

a teammate and given a start and end

date

now a new website isn't the only project

plant powers deliverable

you will need to break down every

deliverable into milestones and tasks to

ensure that you and your team have a

clear picture of what needs to be done

to meet your project's goals

your plan revolves around completing

each and every tiny task so you should

take your time to get this piece right

this brings me to my second tip

give yourself time to plan

there's a reason that planning is its

own phase of the project life cycle it's

a time intensive process especially for

larger projects with multiple

deliverables

planning gives you and your team some

time to think realistically about what

your team can and cannot accomplish

within a certain time frame

you're not a machine and neither are

your teammates there are limits to the

amount of work any one person can do in

a given time frame

using the strategies that we've shared

earlier like effort estimation and

capacity planning can help you and your

team get a realistic sense of how long

the project will take and when you'll be

able to hit your milestones

it's also important to allow for buffer

time since projects rarely go exactly as

planned

later in the project you'll be grateful

that you initially plan for some

built-in flexibility around timing

that leads nicely into my third tip

recognize and plan for the inevitable

things will go wrong

even with thorough planning your

projects will still experience

unexpected setbacks and bumps in the

road

you can't plan for every problem but the

team can identify the risks that will

most likely occur and create plans to

prevent or mitigate those risks

as we mentioned before buff is a helpful

tool for mitigating issues related to

slowdowns in progress

you'll learn more about how to create a

risk management plan that goes into your

project plan later on in this course

on to my fourth tip

stay curious

though you may be the sole expert on

your project overall

it's extremely unlikely that you're an

expert on every task of the project

that's why it's so important to sit down

with your teammates during a planning

phase and ask lots and lots of questions

as we mentioned earlier asking your

teammates questions about their work can

give you deeper insights into their

tasks for the project their input will

help you build a stronger plan and the

back and forth dialogue will help you

build trust between you and your

teammates

to keep the project running smoothly

it's also important to understand the

expectations priorities risk assessments

and communication styles of your

stakeholders and vendors

for example you might ask stakeholders

how to best keep them in the loop on the

project's plans

and you might ask your vendors about

their availability to complete work for

the project

now on to my fifth tip

champion your plan

while deciding how to organize your plan

you'll want to ask yourself a few

questions like can your teammates use

the tool you used to build your plan

is the information clear enough for your

stakeholders

will using this plan as a single source

of truth save your team and stakeholders

the time and energy when they need to

find information on the project if the

answer to each of these questions is a

strong yes then you're on the right

track

to achieve buy-in from your teammates

and stakeholders on your project plan

champion it

tell your team why it benefits them to

stay on top of the plan

by doing so you may influence your

teammates to stay on track and update

the plan regularly

so to recap

you can set your project plan up for

success if you review your deliverables

milestones and tasks give yourself time

to plan

prepare for things to go wrong

stay curious and champion your plan once

it's finalized

coming up we'll recap what you've

learned over the past few videos

see you there

nice work

let's recap what we've just covered

first we took you through why it's

necessary to create and manage a project

plan

at the center of the project plan is a

project schedule and we discussed

methods for determining realistic time

and effort estimates for each task

you also learned more about the power of

soft skills to help you gather time and

effort estimates from members of your

team we also introduced you to a gantt

chart

which is a useful tool for visualizing a

project's schedule

and i shared my best practices for

creating a project plan that will serve

as a useful source of information

throughout the planning phase and

execution

coming up we'll take you through

managing costs and budgets

see you soon

welcome back

previously we learned about creating and

managing a project plan and using time

estimation to prevent project failure

coming up we're going to shift the

discussion to the inner workings of a

project budget

so let's discuss money

as mentioned before a lot of project

management skills may overlap with

common skills that you already use in

your everyday life

and you may already have some kind of

budgeting experience

budgeting in the project management

world is a complex process involving

many different parties and documentation

i'm going to teach you how to create and

manage a real world project budget

we'll discuss the many components of a

budget and how stakeholders play a role

in the budgeting process

you'll learn about the importance of

procurement in project management if you

don't know what that means yet sit tight

you'll understand that concept soon

enough you'll also learn about vendor

management and procurement in both the

agile and the traditional methodology

settings

there will be several new concepts

around legal and contractual

documentation introduced throughout

such as ndas rfps and sows

you'll learn that project managers are

fluent in acronyms and soon you will be

too

i will explain each of these acronyms

coming up we'll also teach you about the

role that legal teams and ethics play in

procurement i'll give you a hint it's a

big one

starting a new project and sourcing

materials and vendors without

considering the ethical implications can

get project managers into hot water

so you'll learn more about legal teams

and ethics to help you avoid these

tricky situations

the best part you'll get pretty hands-on

here since you'll create your own

documentation using our templates

are you ready we'll get started in the

next video

let's get back to budgeting

you may already set a budget to help you

stay on track with your monthly expenses

in your personal life

many people do because it allows them to

feel prepared and in control of their

finances

the same is true about project budgeting

project budgeting is a little more

complex than your personal budget

we'll help you understand and go a

little deeper into what a project budget

entails a project budget is the

estimated monetary resources needed to

achieve the project's goals and

objectives when reviewing a project

budget you need to consider all of the

potential and projected costs needed to

complete the project

you break the budget down by milestones

which are important points within the

project schedule that indicate progress

and usually signifies the completion of

a deliverable or phase of the project

and list activities and tasks alongside

their associated costs

this ensures that you calculate the

correct expenses for a particular period

of time

this is considered a forecast a forecast

for your project budget is a cost

estimate or a prediction over a period

of time

you'll frequently review your project

budget and it will evolve throughout the

project life cycle

these budgets usually contain items such

as labor operating costs and costs

associated with obtaining necessary

materials like hardware software or

equipment

the importance of a project budget

focuses on more than just saving money

in project management a budget is

considered a deliverable

it is a success metric the project

budget is a tool to communicate exactly

what is needed and when it is needed

with stakeholders

the budget will have a direct effect on

the company's financial viability

so as you can probably tell by now it's

an integral part of project management

budget creation takes place in the

initiation phase of your project

keep in mind that the budget will be

adjusted as needed throughout the life

cycle of the project

depending on your role in the company

you won't always be the sole creator of

the budget

your ownership over things like budget

and vendor relationship may vary

depending on factors such as size of the

company or support team or the team

organizational chart

although you may not always manage the

budget from start to finish budget and

milestones go hand in hand

so it's important for you to know the

ins and outs of the budget throughout

the project

as a project manager you may be tasked

with obtaining approvals for spending

most companies have a signing or

spending policy

this usually outlines who has the

authority to commit resources or incur

costs or other obligations on behalf of

the company

this is important because you won't be

able to continue with some of your

deliverables or action items if you

don't know how much certain activities

will cost and whether you have the

necessary funds available

it wouldn't make any sense to rent a

property without checking on the rental

costs first right

that's especially true if the rental

price is higher than your budget

the same thinking is applicable for your

project budgeting

the budgeting process usually happens in

conjunction with the scheduling process

because the steps of the scheduling

process are highly dependent on the

costs

the project manager will collaborate

with people on the project to create

their estimations

for the most part after the cost

estimating process has been completed

it's common for the project sponsor or

another key stakeholder

to review and approve estimation costs

and if necessary adjust and reallocate

funds for the project

this could mean that either the ceo or

the coo are the ones giving the okay or

the final sign-off

for example in our office green project

the director of product has sign-off

approval

as we mentioned before the project

manager will most likely need some kind

of sign off from the finance department

this may vary from company to company so

just make sure you're aware of your

company's processes

project budgeting is never a

one-size-fits-all operation

as the project manager you will have to

prioritize where you allocate funds

within the project to ensure maximum

output

ultimately most projects are created to

improve workforce productivity increase

revenue or attempt to save costs within

an organization

budgeting is one of the most important

aspects of project management and when

you start to stay on budget is one of

the trickiest tasks

it's important not to go over budget and

cost the company extra money

and it's equally important not to be

under budget either

since that might affect the company's

budget for the next year

when it comes to high profile businesses

such as publicly traded companies like

google

or public sector organizations such as

your local education department

they may have a requirement to report on

their financial performance to

shareholders or auditors

going too far over or under budget will

change the way the company budgets for

the next year

potentially leaving you with less money

to work with in the future

in other words a project manager must

show the requested amount of money was

used in order to secure enough budget

for future projects

for smaller businesses there may be a

tighter budget in which case it's

especially critical to be careful about

spending too much money on a project

than initially allocated

it's really helpful to your overall

success as a project manager to

understand budgeting so in the next

video

we're going to learn the specific ins

and outs of what's included in a budget

see you soon

now that you have an understanding of

what a budget is let's discuss some

specific components in a budget

there are so many things to factor into

project budgeting unfortunately it's not

quite as simple as a company saying we

have five thousand dollars so that's our

budget when you go to the grocery store

in the same way that you don't determine

how much apples will cost businesses

can't just decide that they want to

spend two hundred dollars on a project

if the market rate for a project of the

same caliber is two thousand dollars

instead project managers must account

for understanding stakeholder needs

budgeting for surplus expenses

maintaining adaptability and reviewing

and reforecasting throughout the entire

project

and these are only some examples of what

you'll need to take into account

let's imagine some of these factors in

our office green project

in terms of understanding stakeholder

needs it's important to know exactly

what stakeholders expect from this

project in order to deliver as a company

the ultimate goal is typically to make a

profit and to save money in time

so the project sponsor the director of

product in this case

needs the project to come in at a

certain cost in order to make profit

as the project manager you will also

need to budget for surprise expenses

let's say several planters arrive from

the vendor broken and cracked maybe the

plant is cracked during delivery process

and it isn't the vendor's fault

in that case you'll have to order some

additional planters to fulfill orders

and that may be an added cost

as your project continues along you'll

have to review your budget and sometimes

reforecast which means creating a

separate revised budget based on how

your project is tracking

keeping on top of the budget will help

you stay organized and reforecasting is

a way to recalibrate the budget if

necessary

as the project manager office screen you

might find that you need to shift costs

to different resources and categories

within your project budget

maybe you initially overestimated the

cost of plants from the vendor and

underestimated the costs of marketing

your new launch

so you can reallocate these dollars as

necessary

that's a great example of how to review

and reforecast

there are several factors to consider

when creating a budget including

resource cost rates reserve analysis

contingency budget and cost of quality

you'll need to determine resource cost

rates resource cost rates are exactly

what they sound like the cost of a

resource

some examples of resources are labor

tools equipment materials and software

so you'll want to ask yourself how much

will each of these resources cost the

company

sometimes a project can be derailed

because the project manager didn't

adequately include funds for reserves or

buffers

performing a reserve analysis will help

you account for any buffer funds you may

need a reserve analysis is a method to

check for remaining project resources in

performing a reserve analysis you'll

review all potential risks to your

project and determine if you need to add

buffer funds

these funds are necessary because new

costs that you didn't originally foresee

will arise

this is also known as contingency budget

contingency budget in the context of

project management

is money that is included to cover

potentially unforeseen events that

aren't accounted for in a cost estimate

the purpose is to compensate for the

uncertainty that occurs in cost and time

estimates

as well as unpredictable risk exposure

the cost of quality refers to all of the

costs that are incurred to prevent

issues with products processes or tasks

the cost of quality includes prevention

costs appraisal costs internal failure

costs and external failure costs

once you've applied these factors

resource cost rates reserve analysis

contingency budget and the cost of

quality into your budget you can

estimate what your project might cost

remember your budget will most likely

change

starting with an initial estimate is one

way to ensure that you are at least on

track

and it's okay if your budget does change

that's why we review and reforecast

hopefully you're starting to notice the

framework for creating a budget

in the next lesson we'll begin to piece

a budget together

let's put all of your notes and newly

acquired knowledge to use

see you soon

now that we've learned about budgeting

let's find out how it all works together

by now we know that project budgets help

to control costs throughout the duration

of the project

they help project managers establish the

main objectives of their project and

keep them within a reasonable framework

to ensure that project makes financial

sense for the company

so what's the best way to start making a

project budget

you'll find that as you get further

along in the process there are various

resources and tactics that you can use

to make sure you aren't overestimating

or underestimating

you'll use techniques like researching

historical data

leveraging experts the bottom-up

approach

confirming accuracy and setting your

baseline

for starters

you can always review past projects that

are similar to yours to get an idea of

what your project could entail

we'll refer to that as referring to

historical data

this way you can find out what past

project managers did right and wrong the

more experienced you become as a project

manager the more historical data you'll

have to draw upon and the better your

estimations will be

in a similar vein you can leverage

experts in the field

to leverage something means to use it to

its maximum advantage

so leveraging experts means gathering

their insights to do something more

effectively

reaching out to colleagues who worked on

a similar project in the past will be a

great resource for you as an entry-level

project manager

if you're asking someone outside of your

company for advice

be sure to avoid sharing any

confidential company information with

them

another approach to take is the

bottom-up approach

this means thinking about all the parts

of a project from the beginning to the

end

including making a list of every

material resource contract worker or

anything that comes with an associated

cost and adding all of that together

you should also ask the vendors you're

thinking of working with for quotes so

you can get a rough estimate of how much

their work will cost

after you've created your budget with

these resources you'll want to double

check everything to confirm accuracy

of course the work doesn't stop once

you've created the budget

next you'll have to set the baseline

your baseline is the dollar amount that

you'll use to measure against to find

out if you're on track or not and to

measure the success of your project

once you've set your baseline you'll

have to revisit that number and adjust

it to match where the project is

currently

making adjustments in real time is

something you have to do a lot as a

project manager
the size of the project and company will

determine how often you should

re-examine and update the budget

creating a thorough budget is important

to the success of your project

with project plant pals we suggest

breaking the project down into tasks

that's the bottom-up approach

from there we estimate the cost of each

item add those estimates together

add contingency and tax and seek overall

approval on our budget from our key

stakeholders

since we're creating a new service we'll

need to hire designers and developers to

build out the website and develop the

app for our customers

once these tasks are laid out you'll

have to negotiate employee allocations

contractor rates and shop around for

vendors and delivery services

this will help you assign cost estimates

to each task

now that the tasks have been broken down

and assigned you'll need to account for

material costs

do your team members and stakeholders

need equipment

maybe an employee with a disability

requires modifications to accommodate or

enhance their workplace

maybe some remote workers need the

hardware and accessories necessary to

work from home

this is where you'll include everything

from computers to software related to

the launch

will you need storage space for

miscellaneous plants or supplies

miscellaneous is a term that we use to

represent additional items that are not

included in any of the other areas

usually they are minor items or items

where there are only one or two of them

and that they are not a major budget

line

be sure to add these items to your

expenses

you'll also need a few more line items

start with the fixed cost that won't

change over the course of the project

let's say you're paying to advertise the

web developer role to a job board

it may cost you about 50 to post that

job description that's an example of a

fixed one-time cost

next you'll need a line item for things

like travel expenses and meals

and finally we'll want to account for

buffers and reserves

you'll need to factor in unexpected

costs that may come up later on

be sure to leave yourself with some

buffer room

we've chosen to account for five percent

of the overall project budget as our

buffer

this is a standard practice and

depending upon how much detail you know

about the project already you can raise

or lower your percentage for reserves

the client needs to be aware of this

buffer in case spending starts to become

excessive in which case you need to

problem solve with the client and agree

to adjust the scope

you'll want to include a planned cost

versus actual cost column two

this way you can keep track of your cost

every step of the way we'll provide you

with concrete budget templates in the

readings associated with this section so

you can fully immerse yourself in the

process

remember every project will have an

estimated cost and a final cost your

goal is to get your estimated cost as

close to the final cost as possible

you may have to recalibrate your

estimations during the project

that's when the estimated cost to

complete the project comes in

the final cost of your project differs

from the forecasted or estimated cost if

you weren't exactly on target with your

budget

remember while your goal is to get as

close to the original estimate as

possible that won't always be the case

each time you're placed on a new project

it will be helpful to look back on the

final costs of previous projects and see

how close you came to your goal

now you know the best way to create a

project budget

up next we're going to talk about

maintaining a budget

see you there

now that you have an idea of how to

create a budget we're going to discuss

how you'll manage that budget and

explore some challenges that you might

face

like being under or over budget

as mentioned previously you'll want to

check in on your budget regularly

but what exactly does that mean

what are you checking for

how can you tell if you're staying

within your budget or not monitoring the

budget is crucial for a project manager

to enforce accountability in terms of

spending

by monitoring your budget regularly

you'll be able to tell if the plans you

set into action are actually being

implemented on both a financial and

operational level

as you may recall from a previous video

a milestone is an important point within

the project schedule that indicates

progress and usually signifies the

completion of a deliverable or phase of

the project

milestones are a metric for tracking

progress in the project milestones are a

great opportunity to re-review the

budget to identify if anything needs to

be reset or revisited throughout the

project

that said

milestones can act as a checkpoint for

budget management and payment

you may have agreed in your contract

that you get paid at certain milestones

rather than at the end of the project

fixed contracts are usually paid for

when certain milestones are reached

whereas time and materials contracts are

usually paid for monthly based on the

hours worked and other fees associated

with the work like travel and meals as

you monitor your budget you'll want to

be on top of cost control

cost control is a practice where a

project manager identifies factors that

might impact their budget and then

creates effective actions to minimize

variances

think of it this way it's proactive

budget management

it is much better to be proactive with

your budget than to be reactive with

your budget

if you are reacting instead of

anticipating then you may already have

some kind of problem with the budget in

order to control costs you should

establish a sign-off plan and inform the

appropriate stakeholders of any changes

that occur

you'll have to ask yourself which

stakeholders or sponsor will be

approving the contractor or vendor

timesheets

what about invoices you'll also need to

make sure any changes within the project

budget are agreed upon for example you

shouldn't approve a new cost or item if

it hasn't been agreed upon or if it

isn't within the scope and you shouldn't

be spending money if it's not

pre-approved by your stakeholder or

project sponsor

it is also important to make sure

there's good business case before

bringing it to the stakeholder you'll

also need to manage changes as they're

made this involves updating forecasts or

estimates

and tracking everything

you never want to be surprised by budget

changes and you don't want to have to

keep asking stakeholders for more money

you can prevent that by revisiting these

numbers on a regular basis

you'll also want to accept that budget

misses will happen it's your job to

bring the expected cost overruns within

acceptable limits

before the project starts collaborate

with the project sponsors and key

stakeholders to determine an acceptable

limit is it one percent

10 percent

you'll decide together in a previous

video we talked briefly about what

happens when a project goes over or

under budget

having a project go over budget may mean

that the company will have less funds

for other areas within the business

so let's dig a little deeper into the

effects on a company when a project goes

under budget even though it seems like

going under budget would be a project

manager's dream

it actually isn't

if you go under budget it's an indicator

of less than satisfactory project

management

going under budget indicates that you

may not have done a good job at

initially estimating

going under budget could also indicate

that you could have spent more money on

the project

meaning that you could have possibly had

extra resources or better quality output

and it may mean that the budget for

future projects will be slashed

the company may figure that since you

did this project under budget you'll be

able to do future projects under budget

too so that's not a totally desirable

situation to be in either the best

option is to adequately account for

adapt and manage your budget with that

risk in mind

later on we'll cover other strategies

more in depth that you could use to save

the company money and time

you'll also learn the ins and outs of

identifying and managing risks a little

later on in the course

in the next lesson we'll learn about

procurement

see you in a bit

in the past we've compared project

management to starting a new hobby

let's say you're trying to take up

painting

in order to paint you'll need to

purchase or in other words procure

paint supplies and materials

so first you ask yourself what supplies

will you need

what kind of paint will you start with

do you want to try oil paint watercolor

or acrylic

will you paint on canvas wood or paper

you need to research these choices

before you procure your materials

once your research is done you can start

procuring materials scheduling courses

watching tutorials and voila you're on

your way to becoming the next frida

kahlo

so as you may have guessed by now

procurement means obtaining all of the

materials

services and supplies required to

complete the project

you'll need to procure vendors as well

vendors are individuals or businesses

who provide essential goods and services

therefore think of vendor management as

procurement for individuals or

businesses

vendor management covers the activities

included in researching and sourcing

vendors

instead of materials vendor management

is often a matter of sourcing for a

specific service or talent and then

managing that relationship

sourcing talent includes researching and

obtaining estimated costs from different

partner companies you may use on a

project

you'll typically use vendors when they

provide specialized skills that aren't

available within your company

vendor management entails sourcing

vendors getting quotes for their work

deciphering which vendors will best

fulfill your needs negotiating their

contracts

setting deadlines for them

evaluating performance and ensuring

payments are made

it also entails familiarizing yourself

with regulations like the americans with

disabilities act

if you're working in the us for example

and if you're somewhere else being aware

of similar regulations in that country

keep in mind that not every project will

require vendors or contractors and so

every project won't require vendor

management

let's revisit the example of contract

workers in the context of project plant

powers at office green

like many companies officegreen doesn't

have a copywriting department so for the

launch of project plant pals you'll need

to use external resources to supply a

contracted copywriter this person is a

necessary team member on the project

because

doesn't have copywriters or internal

employee resources required to finish

this task

this contractor or team of contractors

will draft copy for the website for a

slated amount of time

and then their work on this particular

project will be complete

awesome now that you know about

procurement in the next video we'll

discuss the different phases of the

procurement process

and how procurement differs depending on

your approach to project management see

you then

while not every single project will

require procurement it's important to be

prepared for it if and when procurement

does come up

so

how do you get started there are

typically five steps that make up the

procurement process

let's go over them

first is initiating

which is the planning process of

defining what help you may need outside

of your current resources to hit the

project goals

in this step you'll also make a case for

getting extra resources via the

procurement process

second is selecting which entails

deciding what supplies you need and

which vendors you'll go through the

third step is contract writing which is

where the contracts are developed

reviewed and signed

the fourth step is control which is when

you make payments set up logistics and

requirements to maintain quality and

ensure the service agreement is being

met

the fifth and final step is completing

which is where you'll measure the

success of the procurement

that's a quick overview of the

procurement process this high level

cycle of procurement will make more

sense as we continue on through this

course

one thing to note is the procurement

process can seem a little different

depending on the project management

methodology

there are differences in procurement in

the context of agile versus traditional

agile procurement management is often

more collaborative with both the project

team and the end supplier than

traditional approaches

there is a heavy emphasis on the

relationship between these parties the

whole project team plays a larger role

in identifying what needs to be procured

rather than featuring contracts that are

based on fixed deliverables

agile procurement management tends to

have a living contract that can be

adapted based on the evaluation of the

project

if you think of the word agility which

means to move easily and quickly you'll

be able to remember that agile

procurement can change more easily than

traditional procurement methods

in this process the team reviews the

project or deliverables on a recurring

basis and consistently addresses

feedback this way of working is

important to communicate to your

suppliers so they understand this style

of working and agree to maintain

flexibility

again it is so important to have a

positive relationship with the

procurement supplier

this is critical since the contract may

need to be renegotiated at multiple

points during the project

on the other hand traditional

procurement management tends to focus on

standard contracts with clear terms and

deliverables when it comes to

traditional approaches the project

manager may be responsible for

end-to-end procurement instead of the

entire team providing input the

contracts may feature lengthy and

extensive documentation that include

fixed requirements and comprehensive

detail of the services and deliverables

while this may appear more rigid the

benefit is you've outlined clearer work

streams and deadlines

this way you're much more protected from

unforeseen circumstances and may not

have to pay for unpredictable changes

in traditional approaches the

negotiation process can be a little bit

trickier you won't necessarily have the

room to renegotiate contracts if

something changes so you may have to

start the whole process over again

that's why being as detailed as possible

and spending more time in the

negotiation phase is incredibly

important in a more traditional project

management approach as you may have

guessed procurement can become pretty

complex

but there are some official documents

that can help guide you through the

procurement process

in the next video you'll learn more

about those documents and processes

see you there

there are a few important documents that

help a project manager navigate through

each phase of procurement

for instance in the initiating phase a

project manager will create a

non-disclosure agreement otherwise known

as an nda

in a selecting phase a project manager

creates a request for proposal

or an rfp

in the contracting phase a statement of

work or an sow is created

now let's learn more about these

acronyms and documents

the first important document is a

non-disclosure agreement also known as

an nda

ndas are standard within a lot of

companies and it's best practice to ask

external contract workers to sign an nda

the purpose of an nda is to keep

confidential information within the

organization

so for instance if a company is using

some kind of proprietary technology on a

project or preparing for a sensitive

product launch

they want to ensure that any

conversations or information surrounding

that technology doesn't leak out to

competitors or to the public before the

company is ready to launch

for example in project plant pals

vendors might be required to sign an nda

because the project is new to market and

hasn't been made public yet

then we have a request for proposal or

an rfp a document that outlines the

details and requirements of an

organization's project to be passed on

to vendors

rfps are used to solicit bids from

vendors so that you can then select

which vendor might be the best for your

project a rfp is widely used within

different departments in a company and

across various industries an rfp

typically includes an overview of the

project

the desired outcomes and goals budget

deadlines milestones and contact

information so each vendor can get back

to you with a detailed proposal of how

they plan to tackle the job

when creating an rfp make sure to add

the following headers to your document

the overview

treat this section like a general

summary

what is the purpose of this project

what problems will it solve

what new doors will it open for the

company

your goals

what are some measurable results you can

aim to achieve throughout the process

next is the scope of work

what are the specifics of the project

how are you going to achieve those goals

and make sure the project launches

successfully

then include milestones

make sure to highlight the key

milestones your project will include

lastly include submission requirements

like please submit the rfp as a

presentation and include three

prototypes as well as the questions

you'd like the vendor to answer as part

of the process

this helps you properly assess potential

vendors

for instance
you might want to know what issues a

contractor sees up front or how the

costs will break down

after the rfp is sent out various

vendors will review it and if they feel

they can fulfill your project's needs

they'll provide a proposal

for example you may create an rfp for

project plant powers to source plant

providers

in this case you'll want to send out

rfps to all possible plant providers to

ensure that you're getting the best

price quality and overall value

you may hear rfp being used as a verb as

in has this been rfp yet that's really a

way of asking if an rfp has been sent

out to vendors yet

it's important to note that both the nda

and the rfp are fixed and remain the

same throughout the process

this means that there's not a lot of

room for customization and it won't be

changed once it's submitted

lastly there's a third important

document called a statement of work

or an sow

an sow is sent after the vendor is

selected and involves as the project

goes on
we'll continue discussing these concepts

and further explore the importance of a

statement of work in the next video i'll

see you there

let's continue learning about the

necessary documents required for a

successful project

after you've sent a request for proposal

to clients and you've selected the

vendor client or contractor you want to

work with you'll also send them an sow

or a statement of work a statement of

work is a document that clearly lays out

the products and services a vendor or

contractor will provide for the

organization an sow also provides a

description of the contractors needs and

requirements to properly perform the

agreed-upon services

although the sow covers the customer's

needs it's equally as important to

include the organization's needs and the

vendors needs too

it's critical that all parties involved

understand what is expected from each of

them in order to deliver the best

possible products or services

the project manager is tasked with

developing the sow

but often asks for input from subject

matter experts or smes for technical

expertise that the project manager may

not have

your organization's legal advisors will

review this document with you and may

even be crafting it alongside you

let's discuss how to create an sow in

the example of project plant powers

you'll want to start by including page

headers with your company name project

and creation date on them

at the top of the page

make sure to include important

stakeholders like yourself as the

project manager and the name of the

sponsor which in this case is the

director of product

next you'll construct a table for

revisions

the sow will likely go through a few

rounds of revisions because several

stakeholders may review it and suggest

changes

you'll detail those changes in this box

here

next you'll create a purpose section

where you'll go into detail about

exactly what the desired outcomes are

make sure to include a section regarding

your target audience and make sure it's

inclusive of everyone

for instance in this case the purpose of

the project is to launch a new service

that provides desk plants to offices and

commercial businesses

if you have more specific goals you can

list them here too

next is the scope section where you'll

include what the service entails

you may write that the service includes

providing customers with small

low-maintenance plants that they can

place on their desks

customers can order plants online or

from a print catalogue

officegreen will ship the plants to the

customer's work address

the types of plants in scope include

six-inch leafy ferns

small cacti and 5-inch bonsai trees

keeping this vendor in mind some major

activities may be

storing the plants in a warehouse

maintaining the health of the plants by

providing them with water and light

sourcing the vases and ensuring that the

vases are in near perfect condition upon

delivery
you will also want to mention what's out

of scope or in other words

what the project doesn't include

this will eliminate any potential room

for confusion and help set expectations

with the vendor

for instance you may write that the

project doesn't include annual reporting

or custom plant orders that are not

mentioned in the scope

this helps draw clear lines and sets the

right expectations with the vendor

for deliverables you'll want a concise

statement about what your project will

deliver

for example your office green project

deliverables could include the vendor

providing maintenance guides on how to

take care of the plants

or that the vendor will be responsible

for developing a support page on

officegreen's website to address any

questions or concerns

since milestones are such an integral

part of tracking progress budget and

scope they'll need to be included here

too

examples of milestones in project plant

powers could be to fulfill the first

quarter of plant orders delivered to all

of the top customers launch customer

satisfaction surveys

collect and report on any insights from

customer feedback

you'll want to make it really clear on

how many hours are needed for the

completion of this project here and you

will want to designate a particular date

that you need their services performed

by here

at the bottom you'll typically add terms

and conditions and any other disclaimers

it's good to have a disclaimer stating

that revisions may take place as the

project goes on this is important to

include just in case the scope changes

because of unforeseen issues

it's a good idea to add revisions into

the disclaimer because as a project

manager

it's best not to over promise and under

deliver you always want to be clear that

you intend to stick to the schedule

unless circumstances outside of your

control intervene

another part of your sow is payment

terms

this outlines when your suppliers need

to be paid
ensuring that suppliers are paid on time

will promote strong relationships

generally good procurement practice

would be to pay your vendors and

contractors upon delivery of goods and

service not before unless a

circumstantial agreement has been made

for instance if office green's plant

provider requested to be paid when each

milestone was completed instead of after

the entire project is finished

great job

now you know more about sows next up

we'll discuss the importance of

partnering with your legal team during

the procurement process

see you there

now that you have a better understanding

about ndas rfps and sows

let's discuss how you can get support

from other departments and team members

as procurement goes forward the

procurement process doesn't end after

you've selected vendors and signed

contracts

you'll use performance trackers and

meetings like quarterly business reviews

to track and evaluate overall

performance to ensure that both parties

are living up to their initial agreement

and when there are contracts and

paperwork with terminology that you may

not be familiar with you'll enlist the

help of a legal team

depending on the company's size the

legal situation may vary

some companies usually well-established

and larger businesses will have a legal

team some businesses may outsource their

legal team

some startups or smaller companies may

not have a legal team but they might

reach out to legal advisors as needed

again

this all depends on the company where

you work

laws surrounding manufacturing products

and consumerism will vary from country

to country

but there will nearly always be laws in

place that you'll need to follow around

topics like fair and ethical trade

most companies have a mission or value

statement

sometimes a team of people in the ethics

and compliance departments are tasks

we're ensuring that the day-to-day

operations are adhering to their value

statement and governmental policies

these team members will also be tasked

with duties like working to prevent

discrimination and making sure that the

company is practicing adequate corporate

social responsibility

also

as a project manager you'll need to

ensure that the various stakeholders who

are representing the business are

adhering to these policies and processes

too

you'll all need to be aware of any

pertinent meetings regarding legal or

compliance issues and you as a project

manager will have to remind the team

about when those meetings are being held

looping in the appropriate stakeholders

is especially critical if there's some

kind of necessary approval since it'll

have an impact on the project one way or

another

like most projects for project plant

pals looping in legal and compliance for

review and approvals is really important

for instance

let's say some of the offices where

you're delivering plants are pet

friendly

in your contract with the supplier

you've specified that you want to offer

non-toxic plants only unfortunately the

supplier provided a plant with leaves

that are harmful to animals

office green could potentially be liable

and in legal trouble because this

critical detail was missed

pretty crucial consideration right

so regardless of your future company's

legal team or advisory having contracts

reviewed in some capacity make good

business sense and should be a priority

for you as a project manager

now you're on your way to becoming your

own lawyer only kidding

but

you hopefully have a better grasp of the

importance of your legal team and having

them review your contracts

next up we'll discuss the importance of

checking in with your vendors

and we'll find out what compliance has

to do with the procurement process

i'll see you soon

welcome back

we've learned a bit about the ins and

outs of contracting with vendors so

let's learn more about the importance of

ethics when partnering with vendors

failing to be mindful when choosing

vendors can lead to significant

consequences

if you've seen a company in the news

that's been entangled in a scandal that

usually means that the team probably

should have done more research in the

procurement process

so what does that entail

there's a lot that can be done to ensure

that businesses are operating in an

ethical way

project managers have a big job when

deciphering whether or not every aspect

of their project is sourced ethically

it helps if the project manager

thoroughly oversees the project to make

sure the safety economic and

environmental ethical risks are

mitigated in other words doing a lot of

research monitoring and evaluating

throughout the project is a project

manager's job

there are a couple of steps to safeguard

ethical procurement the first is knowing

your businesses legal requirements

you'll want to have a deep understanding

of what is required of you legally as a

project manager for your business

you can also seek out the code of ethics

for your profession

which in this case is for project

managers for instance the project

management institute also known as pmi

has a code of ethics that you can access

as a member or credential holder

this will help you understand some

parameters for how to assess ethical

versus unethical procurement

according to the pmi's code of ethics

honesty

responsibility respect and fairness are

the values that drive ethical conduct

for the project management profession

so

when you become a project manager if you

aren't totally sure if something is

ethical first try to use your best

judgment based on what you believe those

words mean

and continue to do the required research

if you still aren't sure

don't hesitate to ask a subject matter

expert such as someone from the legal

team

as a starting point some unethical

issues or risks you may run into may

include bribery or corruption

some regulations in other countries may

not be the same as regulations in your

country

so for example you'll want to make sure

laborers involved in production are

treated fairly working in good

conditions and are compensated

adequately for their work

it is a good idea to consult your legal

team to ensure that you don't run into

these situations and to be aware of the

regulations surrounding your processes

you'll also want to be aware of possible

issues with sole supplier sourcing

in some scenarios you may need to

perform non-competitive procurement

which is when a company restricts the

bidding process to one supplier this may

be common for companies who are more

cautious about exposing trade secrets

but regardless of your reasoning you'll

need to be able to justify exactly why

you are choosing to restrict bidding to

one supplier

there's also interaction with

state-owned entities

you'll want to be vigilant when dealing

with government agencies and officials

government agencies may have tighter

restrictions and regulations in regard

to sourcing and you don't want to do

anything unethical without even knowing

it a project manager monitors the

project's ethics throughout the whole

process

in the initiating phase you'll need to

decide whether the project is ethical in

the first place

does it meet your business's code of

ethics

does the project meet environmental

ethics laid out by governmental agencies

is the labour going to be ethically

sourced

you'll need to review government

regulations and policies assess

potential risks and put together a

diverse team that you trust to be

ethical before the contracts are signed

you'll want to figure out whether the

suppliers you're thinking of hiring are

ethical you'll want to make sure that

you're procuring them in an ethical way

and are paying them a fair rate

and you'll also want to completely

understand the supply chain if there is

one after the contracts have been signed

by your contractors make sure to carry

out your assurance duties this may

include things like auditing each task

and cost executing quality control or

even approving invoices

during the production of your service or

product focus on the day-to-day

relationships with vendors to make sure

they're aware of and meeting your

deliverables and keeping you informed of

any potential roadblocks

after you've done all the research that

you possibly can on whether your project

is ethical remember to trust yourself

if something feels wrong it probably is

as you know there's a lot to keep track

of as a project manager

by keeping these ethical principles in

mind as you begin your project you'll

save yourself and the company from a lot

of headaches later on

of course you can usually go to your

legal team or key stakeholders if you

ever have a question or need a second

opinion

in the next video we're going to review

and wrap up everything we've just

covered i'll see you there

wow we really covered a lot here

we learned all about managing costs and

budget

we learned that a project budget is the

estimated monetary resources needed to

achieve outline goals and objectives

we learned that a project budget is much

more nuanced than just aiming to save

money it's a success metric that's used

to track project performance and

remember it's not desirable to be over

budget or under budget we also learned

that cost control involves several

stakeholders

sign off from key stakeholders and

actively managing changes and we

definitely went in depth from

procurement and vendor management which

involves obtaining the necessary

supplies materials and external

resources for your project's success

we learned the important steps

initiating selecting contract writing

control and completing

we now know that procurement will be

different depending on which methodology

you're using an agile procurement

approach differs from a traditional

procurement approach

it's more relationship based because the

negotiation stays open the whole time

an agile procurement requires more

frequent communication with vendors

because the contracts may be reviewed

and adjusted regularly

the traditional approach is typically

done during the procurement stage and

ends there

we learned about ndas rfps and sows and

we created an sow together

finally you learned a bit about how to

think critically when it comes to ethics

and procurement

you learned how to adhere to a code of

ethics

when to use your own judgment and the

importance of researching the ethics of

procurement

nice job

next up you're going to learn about

different types of risks how to identify

risk and how to mitigate risk

see you there

welcome back earlier we covered managing

costs and a project budget

we discussed what the components of a

project budget are

how the budget process works and how to

track and estimate a budget

you also learned about the procurement

process

coming up we will discuss risk

management and why it's important to

help prevent project failure

knowing how to anticipate and alleviate

commonly known as mitigate the potential

problems is your best bet for keeping a

project on track

you will learn how to define and relate

risk management concepts and explain how

risk management can help protect your

project from failing

you'll also identify risk types and how

to measure their impact on a project and

communicate and resolve identified risks

using a mitigation plan

ready to get started great meet me in

the next video

think about a time in your life when you

managed a project

maybe it was a professional project like

creating an employee schedule

or a personal project like planning a

family celebration

now ask yourself this

did everything go according to plan

if i had to guess i would bet there was

at least one hurdle you had to deal with

that's because no project goes a hundred

percent according to plan even when they

are run by the most experienced project

managers

maybe you planned that employee schedule

perfectly and then someone caught a cold

forcing you to rearrange the schedule at

the last minute

or maybe just as family members started

arriving for that celebration you

realize you forgot to buy ice to keep

the drinks cold and hey these things

happen as we told you earlier

flexibility is an important skill for

managing projects

due to the nature of the project and

really life in general it's also

important that you identify and plan for

risks that could impact your project

let's discuss what a risk actually is

a risk is a potential event which can

occur and can impact your project

when you think about risk in the context

of project management

you'll think about them as hypothetical

in other words these aren't events that

will definitely happen but because

there's a possibility that they could

happen it's your responsibility as the

project manager to identify and plan for

those risks

next let's discuss issues an issue is a

known or real problem that can affect

the ability to complete a task

so

what's the difference between a risk and

an issue

think of it like this

a risk is an event that could

potentially happen if the event actually

happens

then the risk becomes an issue

in other words risks are the big what

ifs and issues are things that currently

impact a project

it is clear that risks and issues can

pose a threat to your project how you

manage those risks is known as risk

management

risk management is the process of

identifying and evaluating potential

risks and issues that could impact a

project

it's not a one-time exercise it's

something that you'll need to do

regularly to address potential risks

risk management is a crucial part of the

planning process

by giving you an understanding of what

could go wrong with your project

it also tells you who you need to

consult about the risk

it helps you determine how the potential

risk could be mitigated

this way if or when something goes wrong

you'll have a plan prepared and ready to

go

part of being proactive and planning

ahead is identifying potential risks and

how to solve for them

this way you'll set up your project with

better chances for success

failing to engage in meaningful risk

management can have a few big

consequences for your project

first if you don't plan ahead you may

put your project at risk of not meeting

its project goal its timelines or

success criteria

for example if your goal is to publish a

research report and your research

analyst quits halfway through the

project you will likely miss the

deadline if you don't have a backup plan

ready to go

additionally by failing to plan for

risks you also fail to think through the

many different ways that your project

could pivot and still meet its goals

even if an issue does arise there often

isn't just one way to meet your project

goals and success can come in many forms

risk management helps you determine how

flexible or rigid your plan is

and then make necessary adjustments

for example

if your project requires a large product

shipment having a backup supplier ready

means you could quickly pivot if our

main supplier is unable to fulfill your

order

finally

risks can affect projects in a variety

of ways that are difficult to foresee

for example a supplier you've hired may

not have adequate stock to cover your

purchasing needs or the budget for your

project could be cut unexpectedly

the risk management process helps reduce

the impact of unexpected events freeing

up resources to focus on activities that

benefit the project

let's imagine risk management in the

context of plant powers at office green

which is a new service that will provide

customers with small low maintenance

desk plants

one potential project risk is the

possibility that the web page for the

new service won't be live in time for

the launch

another potential risk could be a

fulfillment shortage

what would you do if the plant supplier

runs low on the cacti and ferns that you

need

to prepare for these potential risks you

will need to think about ways to

mitigate these issues before they happen

or how you will address these issues if

they actually occur

hopefully these things won't be a

problem but if they are you'll be

prepared

i also want to stress the issues will

come up throughout the project you did

not or could not have planned for and

that's okay

when these moments arise it is important

to keep calm figure out the root cause

of the problem and come up with a

solution

risk management is a really important

topic for project managers to understand

identifying risks and issues that

prepares you for the unknown

it also positively impacts you as the

project manager because you'll feel more

prepared less stressed and more

confident in your approach if an issue

does occur

up next we will discuss ways that you

can identify risks i'll meet you there

hi i'm stanton and i'm a program manager

at youtube thinking back to one of the

first projects i ever worked on

we were actually in charge of building

this

sports highlight app

but it wasn't just an app it was an ios

app it was an android app it was a

website

and i remember the very first meeting i

went to i was just fiercely taking down

notes and trying to understand what the

heck was going on

and immediately after i thought okay

this is my first project i have to get

all the details right

i have to make sure

we know every little thing that was

gonna happen

the launch date needed to be perfect we

had to get all the bugs down to zero

i was just totally consumed with getting

everything right the first time

i think what i've realized since then is

you're probably not going to get your

first project plan correct because

there's just so many things that can

change

you might find a bug last minute before

launch
your client might come in and say they

want a different requirement like the

screen needs to be blue instead of red

and then you find out that it's not

really that easy to change from blue to

red if i could go back and and tell

myself what to do at that point or or

what

what i could have done differently

i would have just told myself

don't worry so much changes happen it's

how you react and respond to those

changes that's more important

i think one of the the best compliments

i've gotten is

you know even throughout all this mess

you're cool you're calm and you're

collected you think through what are the

issues that

have happened how do we resolve them and

you know you do your program management

thing you're not always going to have

the right answer the very first time

things can change at the last minute

if you're able to stay cool and calm

make sure you understand everything else

that's going on on the project

all these years have taught me that

you can always reuse some things you're

always going to have to react to some

things but no matter what try to think

proactively try to figure out what those

issues are going to be

and

you'll you'll be the better for it

hello and welcome back

hopefully you're beginning to notice how

important it is to plan for risks

even the simplest projects can carry

some kind of risks

remember those risks shouldn't deter you

from pursuing the project's goals

the key is to be prepared

let's discuss tools and techniques you

can use to identify risks including

brainstorming and risk assessment

brainstorming is one of the most

effective techniques for identifying

risks with a team because it allows

groups to spontaneously share ideas

without judgment

as a project manager you will be

responsible for bringing a group of

people together to imagine potential

risks

have your racy char at the ready to

refer to when you decide who to invite

to this meeting

speaking from experience the best team

for this task is a diverse one which

includes individuals from various roles

backgrounds and experiences

diverse teams bring different

perspectives experiences and skill sets

and this may help you to identify risks

that you may not have thought of on your

own

for example one member of your team

might have experience working on

multiple projects

while another newer team member might

bring a fresh perspective from their

previous experience on other teams

a great tool that you can use during

brainstorming is called a cause and

effect diagram

also sometimes known as a fishbone

diagram

cause and effect diagrams show the

possible causes of an event or risk

and are very useful at risk management

for example

in the diagram seen here the effects

listed is a supplier missing its

deadlines

this is a risk to your project

on the left you'll brainstorm potential

causes that would lead to the effect

like poor delegation or a lack of

tracking tools

in other words cause and effect diagrams

can help identify all the ways that

things could go wrong by identifying a

potential risk known as the effect

and working backwards to consider the

potential causes of that risk

by categorizing and breaking them down

into further causes you are able to

identify areas that could lead to a

potential problem

like exceeding your budget or allowing

scope creep to impact your timeline

as a reminder scope creep refers to

changes growth and uncontrolled factors

that affect a project's scope at any

point after the project begins

during these brainstorming sessions you

might find that your list of potential

risks is quite long and that's okay

it is a reality

you and your team cannot account for

every single problem that can occur

during your project so how do you decide

which risks to focus on

list the outcomes from the brainstorm in

a risk register a risk register is a

table or chart that contains your list

of risks
next you'll adopt a risk assessment

technique

risk assessment is the stage of risk

management where qualities of a risk are

estimated or measured

by qualities we're mainly referring to

how likely the risk is to occur and its

potential impact on a project

we'll come back to this point in a

moment

there are a few ways to assess risks but

one will focus on is creating a

probability and impact matrix a

probability and impact matrix is a tool

used to prioritize project risks

i personally love this technique and use

it all the time in my role at google

earlier i mentioned that you'll need to

assess the likelihood that a risk will

happen and its potential impact

this matrix will help you do just that

to create a probability and impact

matrix you'll need to think about the

level of impact

impact refers to the damage a risk could

cause if it occurs

impact is also determined on a scale of

high medium and low

high means that if the risk occurs it

will substantially alter the project

low means if the risk occurs it will

have a slight impact but it's not likely

to derail the project

you'll also need to think about

probability probability is the

likelihood that a risk will occur

we also determine probability on a scale

of high medium and low

in this case high probability means

there's a high likelihood of this

happening

low probability means you've identified

a risk that could happen but it isn't

likely that the risk will occur

these two considerations come together

to determine the inherent risk rating

inherent risk is the measure of a risk

calculated by its probability and impact

measuring the inherent risk gives us a

method for understanding a risk

inherent risk is also determined on a

high medium and low scale

so basically if a risk has a low impact

and a low probability it has a low

inherent risk rating

these are the types of risks you don't

need to worry too much about

but if a risk has a high impact and a

high probability then it carries a high

inherent risk rating

medium to high risks are the risks you

should focus on and create detailed

mitigation plans for

when you're creating a probability and

impact matrix it's important to ensure

you create a matrix that meets

accessibility guidelines and has

information and formatting that everyone

can easily and quickly understand one

way to do this is to use both color and

distinct shapes or text to communicate

levels of risk you can learn more about

accessibility communication by visiting

course resources

the way you view and manage each risk

will be determined based on your

organization's risk appetite

which refers to the willingness of an

organization to accept the possible

outcomes of a risk

you your team and your stakeholders may

have different appetites for each risk

we'll discuss how risk appetite plays

into risk mitigation in just a bit

certain low-level risks that could

result in minor setbacks are much more

tolerable than high-level risks that

have the potential to completely derail

your project
once you've completed your risk

assessment you'll update the risk

register to include high medium and low

ratings for some examples of risks that

you've identified for this project

great

now that we've covered how to identify

and assess risks we'll go on to the next

video where we'll discuss some of the

types of risks you'll run into during

your role as a project manager

meet you there

hi again

let's discuss some common types of risks

that you might plan for while managing a

project though there are many different

types of risks that could impact your

project the big ones that you want to be

aware of are time risks budget risks and

scope risks let's break those down

first we have time risks

time risk refers to the possibility that

project tasks will take longer than

anticipated to complete

you'll need to be aware of time risks

because time is money

poor time management may deplete your

budget and upset your stakeholders by

causing delays
next we have budget risk

budget risk refers to the possibility

that the cost of a project will increase

due to poor planning or expanding the

project's scope

you need to be aware of budget risk

since budgeting provides the basis for

project costs control

for example if you overspend you might

not be able to pay your suppliers

this could also result in some

reputational damage for the company

then we have scope risk

scope risk refers to the possibility

that a project won't produce the results

outlined in the project goals

you need to be aware of scope risks

because the deliverables of your project

might not be acceptable to your

stakeholders or customers

and that may defeat the purpose of the

entire project

while time budget and scope risks are

very common there are other types of

external risks that you should be aware

of

by external risks we're referring to

risks that result from factors outside

of the company that you have little to

no control over
for example your project could be

impacted by an environmental risk like a

major storm

or a legal risk like a change in

regulatory requirements

and it's also important to know that

there are endless types of risks

there will never be a prescription for

how to identify and manage every single

possible risk

but if you have a plan

you'll be better set up to deal with

whatever comes your way

okay

now let's discuss a certain type of risk

known as a single point of failure

a single point of failure is a risk that

has the potential to be catastrophic and

halt work across a project

these are risks that have the power to

stop an entire team in its tracks

meaning that no one can make progress on

their tasks until the issue is resolved

for example

in our office screen scenario a single

point of failure might be a power outage

that takes down the internal database

where every piece of information about

the project is stored

until the database is back up and

running your team won't have access to

any of the information they need to do

their jobs

as a result your team won't be able to

complete any of their assigned tasks

to mitigate this risk you might budget

for a separate cloud service to serve as

your backup for all of your project

documentation and information

as the project manager you will need to

identify and monitor potential single

points of failure in your project since

they can be detrimental to the project

timeline budget and scope

another source of risk to be aware of

are dependencies

a dependency is a relationship between

two project tasks whether start or

completion of one depends on the start

or completion of the other

in other words dependencies are like

links that connect one project task to

another

a dependency must be addressed before

the task can be completed or before

another task can begin

because dependencies are the links that

connect one project task to another they

are often a huge source of risk to a

project

for example imagine that you've tasked a

teammate with hiring a local plant

supplier

until they've signed a contract with the

supplier your team can't place any

orders that's a dependency

now here's where the risk comes in

if your teammate doesn't meet the hiring

deadline and then goes on vacation for a

week this could delay your project

timeline not great right

if you don't plan for dependencies you

might risk an impact to your budget

schedule or project outcome

to prevent something like this from

happening you might ask a teammate to

share their out of office plans with you

at the start of the project

this helps you to stay aware of

everyone's schedules ensuring that there

are backup plans in place to maintain

your project schedule

there are two types of dependencies

internal and external

internal dependencies refer to

dependencies within the project that you

and your team have control over

for example you'll need to secure

approval on a website design before

development can begin

on the other hand external dependencies

are dependencies that you have no

control over

for example the farm that your plant

vendor works at

might have experienced a lighter rain

season this year meaning that they'll

have fewer plants to sell

there are many different risks that can

impact your project from time risks to

budget risks to scope risks

but remember no project is risk-free

and with careful upfront planning you

can do your best to prevent risks from

occurring

in the next video we'll discuss how to

mitigate risks i'll meet you there

hi and welcome back

okay so you've learned how to identify

your project's risks and assess them

using a probability and impact matrix

now that you know which risks require

your attention how do you determine what

to do about them

this is where risk mitigation planning

comes in

risk mitigation planning is about

finding ways to eliminate or reduce the

impact of potential risks to your

project

there are four common ways to mitigate

risk

you can avoid it

accept it

reduce or control it or transfer it

let's discuss each option using the

office screen example

sometimes you can avoid the risk

altogether

for example if you learn that a certain

contractor you've considered working

with on your office green project has a

poor reputation for meeting deadlines

then you might choose to avoid that risk

by hiring a different contractor

you can also accept the risk especially

ones that you deem low in probability

and impact

in this case

you're accepting the possibility that

this risk can happen

you've agreed to monitor it throughout

the project and you'll ultimately be

okay with the risk if it does happen

for instance maybe your plant supplier

tells you that one of the planter styles

you've requested is backordered

the supplier is confident that they'll

have time to restock the planters

without delaying your project schedule

but if there is an issue with their

restock shipment this could delay

deliveries to your clients by up to two

days

rather than starting over with a new

supplier you decide that it makes more

sense to accept the risk

it wouldn't be ideal for this delay to

occur but you're flexible and you know

that accepting this risk will save you

and your team the headache of onboarding

a new supplier which could take two

weeks

another way to mitigate a risk is to

reduce or control it

personally i like to use a decision tree

when building mitigation plans

a decision tree is a flowchart that

helps visualize the wider impact of a

decision on the rest of your project for

example you decide to hire the

contractor with a reputation for missing

deadlines because you know they do great

work in this case you might create a

quick flow chart that visualizes the

risks and potential options for

addressing it like checking in with the

contractor daily either by email or

through meetings

ultimately you might then choose to have

daily check-in meetings with the team to

ensure that they're staying on top of

their tasks finally you can choose to

transfer the risk

for example you've determined that it's

too risky to attempt to grow plants on

site at office green due to the

possibility that bad weather or pests

could negatively impact your product

instead you've made a decision to

transfer the risk to another party or

parties

by outsourcing plant production to local

suppliers you have the power to change

supplies if there's an issue with

quality

when you transfer the risk you don't

risk losing out on time resources and

money

so to recap four common ways to mitigate

a risk are to avoid it

accept it reduce or control it or

transfer it

using one of these four strategies can

help you effectively take control of the

risks to your project

coming up we'll discuss how to document

these risks in a risk management plan

now that you know your options for

mitigating potential risks let's discuss

how to document your risk planning

decisions

as you've been learning throughout this

program documentation is a crucial part

of your role as a project manager

this is especially true when identifying

risks and creating a plan to mitigate

them

a risk management plan is a living

document that contains information

regarding high-level risks and the

mitigation plan for each of those risks

this plan helps ensure that teammates

and stakeholders have a clear

understanding of potential problems and

a plan to address them should they occur

risk management is an ongoing practice

that you'll take part in throughout the

planning and execution of a project

since risk management evolves throughout

the project the plan should be updated

regularly to add newly identified risks

remove risks that are no longer relevant

and include any changes in the

mitigation plans

let's review an example of a risk

management plan similar to the one we

sometimes use here at google

at the top of the document we include

the name of the company and below it the

name of the project

we also include the document author so

that anyone reviewing the plan knows

exactly who to reach out to if they have

any questions

this template also designates a spot for

the document status

as you're building your plan you can

list the status as in progress

once the plan is complete you can change

the status to final

we've also included helpful details like

when the document was created and when

it was last updated

details like these might seem small

but it's best practice to include them

that's because being transparent about

dates provides stakeholders with a sense

of how up to date the document is below

these details we have the document

objective

here we've written that our objective is

to outline mitigation plans for project

plant pals

below that we've added an executive

summary of our project executive

summaries should include a brief

introduction to the normal conditions of

a project

and an outline of the potential risks

that could impact the project

now on to the really important stuff

the risks and how we'll mitigate them

this document also includes the risk

register you learned about earlier

which is a table or a chart that

contains your list of possible risks

here we've outlined one of the potential

risks to project plant powers

which is the potential for the vendor to

fall behind on a deadline

we've given this risk a medium inherent

risk rating

remember that inherent risk is the

measure of a risk calculated by its

probability and impact

a mitigation plan has also been included

for this risk which is to hold daily

meetings with the vendor to help them

stay on task

down in the appendix of the document

you'll find the probability and impact

charts as well as the probability and

impact matrix that we use to assess our

risks
once you've filled out the risk

management plan

you'll share it with your team and

stakeholders to get their input and to

ensure that they are aligned with your

plans

coming up we'll dig deeper into the

topic of communicating risks to

stakeholders

see you there

hello

as you've learned in the past few videos

identifying and assessing risks is a

crucial part of the project planning

process

these exercises help clarify the most

important risks for you and your team

and ensure that everyone agrees on which

risks to plan for

but it's not enough for you and your

teammates to simply be aware of the

biggest risks to a project

you also need to communicate these risks

to your project stakeholders

whether through documentation email

meetings or other forms of communication

you've deemed appropriate your

stakeholders need to be aware of the

risks facing a project because if you

don't tell your stakeholders about

important risks they may be less

equipped to help you if an issue does

arise for example

they might not be able to provide you

with more budget should you need it or

with more resources should you require

them even worse your stakeholder might

be caught off guard by an issue

unpleasant surprises like these can

erode their trust in you as a leader of

the project they'll likely want to know

if you were aware of the possibility

that this risk could occur

and they might wonder why you didn't

share this information with them sooner

that's why it's important to communicate

early and often with stakeholders about

medium and high level risks

it sets expectations with stakeholders

about what to potentially expect during

the project execution phase

and demonstrates that you've taken steps

to mitigate and plan for those risks

should they come up

it also gives you the opportunity to

suggest ways they might be able to help

you if a risk does arise

so how do you communicate risks to

stakeholders during the planning phase

well that depends on the severity of the

identified risk

for low level risks

something as simple as an email might

suffice

for example when sending out weekly

planning updates to a project

stakeholder you might list a few

low-level risks that are relevant to

their interests and briefly explain how

you address these risks if they arise

for medium level risks you might

increase your level of communication to

a direct email between yourself and the

stakeholder

in which you outline the risk with more

specifics and provide a detailed

explanation of your plan to mitigate the

risk

you might also link to your risk

management plan to provide them with

more information

and you might write urgent in the

subject line to stress the email's

importance

the serious nature of high-level risks

requires a thorough and direct level of

communication

when you're meeting with stakeholders to

go over the project plan you might add

an agenda item to present serious risks

and your plans to mitigate these risks

you can also use this time to collect

feedback on your risk management plan

and ask for insights from stakeholders

on how they suggest handling these high

level risks

your stakeholders might have prior

experience planning for similar risks

and strategies that you hadn't

considered before

risk communication is a big part of my

role here at google

as a program manager i am constantly

writing emails and delivering

presentations on the status of my

projects

often with the goal of sharing known

risks and my risk mitigation plans

and in discussing these plans with my

stakeholders we often uncover other

risks that i hadn't even considered

for example in a recent meeting i was

presenting a potential new product to a

stakeholder on a different team

in the meeting the stakeholder flagged

their concerns that my solution might

create time and resource risks that

could have a negative impact on their

team

this discussion gave me deeper insights

of my colleagues potential risks

and of the products users needs

which made me realize that i needed to

ask my project sponsors for additional

budget and resources

so it's always a good idea to discuss

your plans with your stakeholders they

may have a different perspective

so to recap it's important to

communicate risks to stakeholders so

that they're better able to help you

should want to rise

and you should tailor your communication

style according to the severity of the

risk

up next we'll review and wrap up all

that we've covered

meet me there

my name is aji and i'm a senior program

manager at google program management

spans a lot of different industries a

lot of different applications

at its core it means that we bring order

to chaos so at google for me

i work on product launches i also

develop new processes and procedures for

teams so i work across different

functional areas so that could be

engineering could be ux it could even be

people ops

to help launch products to me risk

management means looking ahead and

trying to anticipate issues so i liken

it to the analogy of you know being on a

ship and being the person looking ahead

to make sure there's no rocks right a

lot of our projects i would say for the

most part at least in my experience are

never just done in a silo like there are

other dependencies right and other teams

that are depending on you to execute

it's very important to

to de-risk to look ahead to manage those

risks to communicate those risks to to

the appropriate stakeholders to make

sure that you're delivering on your

commitments

i think that's the the first step

um is identifying the problems bringing

in the right people so that you know

that you have a good kind of

comprehensive list

and then from there

man trying to figure out how to manage

those issues and again that can be

and that should be a very collaborative

thing right because everybody on your

team needs to be equally vested in

making sure that the project executes

successfully so i have a project right

now that i'm i'm working on and with

this project after we determine what our

strategy was going to be and what our

end state was going to be from a product

strategy perspective

the next step was creating what we call

ux mocks or ux designs

and so basically that's just image

pictures of what we want our end state

to be like what's our ideal state right

in a visual format as a program manager

my job is to kind of take a step back

and make sure okay

what are the potential landmines like

what could go wrong

as i started going through the designs

and looking at them i realized that in

my mind it was hard for me to kind of

reconcile and say okay

um this is what we're doing today this

is what's going to change it wasn't very

clear to me and i'm less of a visual

person and more of like uh you know i

like spreadsheets and all of that and

have you know things um in detail

and so
in my mind i was like okay if i'm having

this issue trying to reconcile between

okay you know visually we say we're

going to design this but

this is where we are like what's the

difference if i'm having this issue then

maybe other people are having this issue

as well

and okay if other people are having this

issue

maybe our engineers are having this

issue as well and so you know when i set

up the meeting within five minutes we

started to realize that there were

differences in how

they were interpreting what we were

supposed to do we had gone down this

road where

these two teams were executing on things

in different way we wouldn't have

realized it until the end and then it

would have been

too late i love program management um i

love coming in to a

a problem being given a problem that's

very ambiguous

and not well thought through right and

it's a huge pain point and then coming

up with a solution to that problem

nice work
let's recap what we've discussed so far

you learned about risks which are

potential events that could impact your

project

you also learned how risks differ from

issues which are known and real problems

that may affect the ability to complete

a certain task

and i introduced you to risk management

which is the process of identifying

potential risks and issues that could

impact a project

and evaluating and applying steps to

address their effects

we've discussed brainstorming as a

technique for identifying risks and i

introduce you to tools you can use to

identify assess and document risks like

a probability and impact matrix a risk

register and a risk management plan

and finally we discuss the importance of

communicating risks to your stakeholders

in order to set expectations and

demonstrate your work to plan for and

mitigate potential problems with the

project

coming up we'll discuss documentation

and communication

see you soon

welcome back

we're in the last section of this course

on planning and it's finally time to tie

together everything you've been working

on

so far we've covered the key components

of the planning stage how to set a

schedule

create and manage your budget and how to

identify and manage risks

up next i'll discuss the importance of

project communication plans

there are many ways to effectively

communicate during the planning phase

and beyond

here i'll teach you some great

communication strategies and i'll show

you how to create a successful

communication plan for any project

let's get started

okay

let's start with an example

imagine you've planned a surprise party

for your best friend's birthday

you've been working on it for a month

and finally it's the big day

you show up at the restaurant where the

party is happening

but there's an issue

the host says the reservation was

cancelled because no one confirmed

a friend shows up with the birthday cake

but you'd ask them to bring cupcakes

another friend texts you saying they're

looking forward to seeing everyone

tomorrow night

tomorrow

and then in the middle of all the

confusion you look over to see that your

best friend has already been seated on

the other side of the restaurant

not exactly the surprise party you had

in mind

what happened

poor communication happened

the friend who made the reservation

forgot to tell you to confirm 24 hours

in advance

the friend who ordered the cake never

saw your email asking them to get

cupcakes and you assumed everyone in the

group text message got the update that

the party was on friday

not saturday

fortunately your best friend appreciated

the effort and was surprised anyway

but whilst you and your best friend can

have a good laugh about the party

planning breakdown
if something like this happens at work

your boss and co-workers might not think

the same

communication is very important to every

project

i'd even argue that it's the most

important tool in making sure your

project runs smoothly

many times what contributes to the

success or failure of a project team

comes down to whether or not everyone

understands what's happening and how

their tasks contribute to the project's

goals

as project manager you play a big part

in making sure everyone knows what their

roles and tasks are

you're also the person that team members

come to when they're just in need of a

quick answer so being able to

communicate clearly and effectively is

key

it's important to remember that without

effective communication the project is

at risk of missing important

opportunities or even failing altogether

during a project i recently worked on my

stakeholders allocated a few design

specialists to work with me

in the first week of the project i

noticed that one specialist wasn't

attending any of the project meetings

i decided to approach the individual

about their absence

when asked they stated that they were

well over capacity with the current

workload and were unable to commit to

the short deadlines i had been assigning

there were a couple of breakdowns in

communication here

first between the specialist and their

manager

and second between the specialist and me

the project manager

ideally the specialist and their manager

would have communicated better with each

other about the specialists ability to

take on the workload

if i had not communicated with the

specialist their continued absence at

meetings could have resulted in lots of

lost time the project being delayed or

not being able to deliver the project in

a satisfactory way

as it turned out we only ended up losing

a week of work due to the lack of

communication

however since i followed up quickly we

were able to pivot and assign another

specialist to the project

so we know communication is very

important

but what is communication exactly

to put it simply communication is the

flow of information it includes

everything that's shared

how it's shared and with whom good

effective communication is always clear

honest relevant and frequent

but not too frequent

there is such a thing as information

overload

effective communication makes it

possible for your project to run on time

and up to the expectations outlined in

the project plan

so take full advantage of tools like

meetings emails phone calls written

documents and formal presentations and

make sure they are accessible by

everyone

it's also important to remember that

communication is not a one-time event or

a one-way route it needs to happen

throughout the entire life cycle of the

project

from the project team and stakeholders

as well as from you

so be sure to clarify goals and client

expectations follow up on action items

and communicate delays as the project

progresses

this will help you avoid issues and

setbacks

as the project manager you're

responsible for creating a consistent

flow of communication throughout the

project

setting the tone for team communication

and working to make sure everyone's on

the same page

every step of the way gives your project

the best chance to succeed

okay

hopefully it's clear that communication

is incredibly important to manage a

project

coming up i'll show you how to make a

communication plan that will help you

manage all important communication

see you in a bit

so far you've learned some common ways

of communicating during a project

let's take that a step further by

learning how to create a communication

plan that will help you manage all the

different kinds of communication that

will happen during a project

trust me there's going to be a lot of

communication so you'll need a plan to

help you stay aware of it all and to use

as a tool for communicating effectively

a communication plan organizes and

documents the process

types and expectations of communication

for the project

the size and complexity of your

communication plan will be different for

every project but it is always good to

have one especially with multiple

stakeholders different phrases and

change management are involved

it will really help you your project and

the stakeholders

just like other plans related to the

project your communication plan needs to

address these questions

what needs to be communicated

who needs to communicate

when communication needs to happen

why and how to communicate and where the

information communicated is stored

let's break down each question with a

sample communication plan that i've

created for a plant powers project

first off your communication plan should

include what you're communicating on

or in other words the type of

communication

this could include things like status

updates issues feedback from users daily

check-ins and other types of project

meetings

then

you need to identify who you'll

communicate with these are the

recipients of the information like key

stakeholders and the core project team

for each type of communication record

when to communicate

this includes the frequency which is how

often you'll communicate and key dates

like deadlines or major meetings

one thing to keep in mind is that not

everyone needs to receive the same

amount of information at the same time

generally speaking your key stakeholders

will get their information less often

like in a monthly high level summary

email or project review meeting

but your core project team could receive

more detailed info through daily email

updates or quick virtual check-ins

next include how you'll communicate or

what delivery method you'll use

this could be email in-person or virtual

meetings or a formal presentation

your plan also needs to include the goal

of communicating

this is your why

so ask yourself why are you

communicating

is it to give a progress update identify

a risk and address barriers

or perhaps you need to figure out next

steps detail preparation plans and

reflect on lessons learned

the goal of communication could be a

combination of any of these or some

other reason altogether

in either case there must be a purpose

for communicating otherwise you risk

wasting valuable time

finally include where communication

resources are located along with any

other notes

i'll talk more about best practices for

storing information in the next video

but for now try to remember that

relevant information should be easily

accessible so that you your stakeholders

and your team can quickly find the

resources they need to make decisions

work on tasks get caught up or provide

updates

one more benefit to an effective

communication plan is that it allows for

continuity of the project's operations

if a new project manager comes onto the

project and sees the plan they should be

able to quickly access past meeting

notes and documentation as well as

current and upcoming communications

the communication plan also helps with

effective change management

the process of delivering your final

project and getting it successfully

implemented

when others have access to the

communication plan after you leave the

project they'll be able to fix any

problems that might come up

make decisions or apply similar

processes to a new project

hopefully by now you're feeling more

familiar with the ways a communication

plan can lead your project to success

keep in mind this is just a basic plan

and there are lots of other ways to

structure one it all depends on what

kind of project you're working on

up next i'll take you through the

details of a communication plan and show

you how to use it to manage project

communications effectively and

efficiently
now that you know what a communication

plan is and the basic categories that go

in it the next step is filling in your

plan

in this video you'll learn how to set up

a communication plan that works best for

all the different people involved with

your project

and what kind of information to include

in your plan

things like who needs to be involved in

the project communication

what's the best way to communicate

why are you communicating

and how often should you communicate

there are a few key benefits to planning

your communications upfront

creating a communication plan helps

improve the overall effectiveness of

communication keeps people engaged and

motivated throughout the project and get

stakeholders involved in effective

conversations

let's try building a sample

communication plan so you can see how it

helps with managing the different

aspects of project communication

we'll continue with the office green

plant powers project

here's an example of a basic

communication plan using a spreadsheet

before anything else think about what

types of communication you'll be using

throughout your project

feel free to refer back to your racy

chart and stakeholder map which are

tools that will help you figure out what

type of communication might work best

for each person group or role

in this example let's say the

stakeholders are busy senior executives

who may not need day-to-day details

so instead of daily me

may benefit from a daily stand-up which

is a daily meeting designed to bring

everyone up to date on key information

here each team member briefly describes

any completed work and any barriers that

stand in their way this is common in

agile project management as it helps the

team stay coordinated and move quickly

throughout the project

so we will go ahead and enter daily

stand-ups in this row

but sometimes daily meetings aren't

possible for given time zone

restrictions or other obligations

don't worry there are other ways to keep

communication flowing for example

the project team that created this

program had daily email status updates

for the whole team to report which

action items were being worked on for

the day

they also used a project tracker for

tasks and milestones to make sure

everyone's on the same page

next up think about who needs to receive

information about your project

these are the communication recipients

it helps to look back to the stakeholder

map and racy chart again

ask yourself who needs to be heavily

involved in the details

who has high interest in the project

who needs only to be informed of major

milestones

i already mentioned that key

stakeholders would be receiving a

monthly newsletter

so i'll type that in now

also

we know that the core team will be

participating in daily stand-ups so i'll

add that in as well

excellent we're moving right along

next up in recipients are the project

subgroups for marketing procurement and

product development
let's add separate meetings in for each

of those groups in addition to the core

team meetings

since those subgroups are not part of

the core team you might only want to

meet with them weekly instead of every

day

let's add weekly check-in to each of

these

great

another best practice is to list contact

information and time zones in your

communication plan

that way you know when people are

available for communicating

let's add that in

feel free to hide this column since it

contains sensitive information about

people involved in your project

there are other ways to list contact

information privately and negate for

easy reference

i'll teach you how to do that in another

video

if you're having trouble deciding which

type of communication to use one way to

help you choose is by thinking about the

frequency

as i mentioned earlier a senior

stakeholder probably won't be able to

attend daily meetings and they don't

need every piece of information

instead you can communicate with a

senior stakeholder on a weekly or

monthly basis and you can focus on high

level status updates like overall

progress recent wins or milestones

reached and current metrics

in this case let's send out the project

newsletter once a month

if you're unsure it's always great to

ask senior stakeholders which method of

communication works best for them

when you work with your core team on a

project

you need to get into more of the

day-to-day details

check in regularly and ask how

everything is going

how they're doing on tasks and do they

need your help with anything

adding a daily meeting for your core

team and a weekly meeting for the

subgroups

let's make that happen

great

meeting more frequently can help unblock

issues and keep the project on the right

track
this leads us to key dates

listing key dates and times are

important for coordination

for example

if you're launching a product or new

process or giving a presentation

you should list the key dates

keep in mind not every type of

communication needs a specific key date

listed

for example

with daily or weekly communications you

might not need to specify the actual

date every week you could just list

every monday or something like that

let's add in key dates to our plan

for the monthly newsletter let's send

that on the first monday of every month

let's schedule the daily stand-ups at

noon

and the weekly check-ins are on

wednesdays at two three and four o'clock

wonderful

now let's talk about delivery methods

like email in-person and virtual

meetings

a shared document that gets updated

regularly or a progress report that gets

presented
deciding the best way to communicate is

a skill

one thing i continuously need to adapt

and work to improve in my role as

project manager is communicating among

different teams and levels of authority

a director or executive may only have

five minutes

so i need to be concise and know exactly

what i need from them

likewise i might be used to

communicating via instant message and

video chat with my core team

however one of the subgroups on the

project might respond better to emails

and in document comments

let me add in these methods for our

communication plan starting with email

emails are a very common way to get

people in sync

but write too much and you may lose your

audience

after all no one really wants to read a

two-page email one way to get around

this is by adding a note at the top of

your email this will alert readers that

some details of a long email may not be

relevant to them with this kind of email

lead with key points and action items

limited to two to three sentences

then include a longer section at the

bottom for those who want or need

additional details the goal of

communicating is getting your point

across effectively

so think carefully about what you need

to accomplish with each type of

communication

for high level stakeholders in

particular i'm constantly trying to

answer

so what

why should they care about my project

the same goes for my core team

what information is going to help make

sure they complete tasks on time and

stay motivated

thinking about these questions helps me

focus on the most important bits of

information to share

so let's fill this in in the

communication plan the goal of the

monthly newsletter for stakeholders is

to give a status update overview

great and goals for the daily standups

with the core team would be to report

progress updates blockers and

determining next steps

so let's add those in as well

all set

next you need to make sure you're able

to reach everyone you need to

communicate with

so it helps if communication is a team

effort

especially on more complex projects you

shouldn't be the only one communicating

you want to enable other team members to

be involved in communications based on

their expertise in the project

i'll add a column for sender and owner

to indicate who is responsible for each

communication

then i'll add the sender or owner for

each of these communication types

starting with the project manager as the

sender for the newsletter

great and we are all done

keep in mind it's always a good idea to

check in with everyone to make sure

communications meet their needs

everyone absorbs information differently

what works best for you doesn't always

work best for others

some people are more visual and want to

see charts and graphs

some people might prefer to listen to

information through a presentation or a

meeting
some people may want to review and

analyze information on their own first

and then speak with someone about what

they've read

so if you're only presenting information

in just one or two ways you risk

engaging some people but not others

your goal as project manager is to

optimize and streamline communications

a great way to optimize your

communications for everyone on the team

is by sending a brief email or survey

that asks three questions

what is working in how we communicate

with you about the project

what is not working or is not effective

in our communications

where can we improve our communications

with you

this will give you plenty of useful

information on how you can adapt the

communication style to cater to each

team member

communication plans contain a lot of

important information

and there are so many different ways to

set one up depending on the size of your

team and the needs of your project

whichever system you choose to use the

most important thing is to make sure

your communication plan clearly

identifies who needs to be involved in

project communication

what methods are being used to

communicate

why are you communicating and how often

you are communicating

so that wraps up our discussion on how

to effectively fill in a communication

plan

in the next video i'll share with you

some best practices for documenting all

the information you and your team will

be communicating throughout the project

see you in a bit

great to see you again

now that you're here let's talk about

the importance of documentation and how

it serves as a form of communication for

others to reference and contribute to

i'll share an example with you

once i worked on a project that involved

several teams from quality insurance

testing design partner engineering and

program managers

each team was responsible for their own

set of deliverables

to keep all teams on the same page it

was important for everyone to store

their plans and reports in one

centralized place

this allowed any team member to quickly

find the documents they needed

documentation storage and sharing is

very important

having plans in one place makes

communication quicker easier and more

streamlined because everyone knows where

to find any information they need

and just as important is making sure

your files are stored with clear labels

or organized into folders

for example

on my team we have certain reports

stored in one central place

this makes it easier for teams in

different countries to find and share

their research with each other which

optimizes workflow and reduces duplicate

work

documenting and organizing plans also

provides visibility and accountability

your project plan is a great example of

this

each task has an owner and a due date

this creates visibility for the members

of the project team and accountability

for the task owner

it's common for members of the team and

senior stakeholders to reference your

project plan and associated documents

when they need a refresher on timelines

or milestones

so having up-to-date plans will help

ensure there's no room for

misinterpretation or miscommunication

once you've created a centralized

location for your documents it's time to

think about managing permissions of your

files and folders

if someone isn't a core part of the

project team you might not want them to

have full access to all of the meeting

notes

instead summarize the relevant

information into a status report for

those who need to stay informed of final

outcomes

but don't need all background

information

there's another big benefit to setting

up your project plans and centralizing

them in one place

continuity

as the project manager there could be

times when you need to suddenly leave

the project say you got sick

transferred to another project or needed

to take a leave of absence

another project manager may need to step

in and if all the project information is

scattered across unorganized personal

notes it's not very helpful

but if you documented all the plans in

one place the new project manager can

find everything they need and pick up

right where you left off

so

it's always useful to store guides

manuals meeting notes plans and

processes all in a centralized place and

clearly labelled

you'll also want to make sure the people

in relevant roles are granted access to

those documents

so even if you're not present the

project can carry on

as project manager it's your job to

ensure that project data can be accessed

in the future by others

documenting your plans and making them

available is part of a project

management best practice called

knowledge management

if someone needs to review this project

for making decisions or planning similar

projects they should be able to easily

access the information they need

it also helps set the tone for future

projects and future project managers

which can be incredibly helpful if you

happen to be the one jumping onto a new

project for example if an architect is

working on a kitchen remodel and they

want to make a decision about the design

they can look at the old project plans

to understand why the decision was made

to put the sink in a certain location

or if a new architect comes in halfway

through the remodel they might want to

know why the other architect designed

the plumbing a certain way

by looking at the old plans they can go

back and get the information and

contacts they need to move forward with

more informed decisions

it's also important to determine what

kind of information to share with whom

and when

focus on the key information related to

what specific individuals need to know

think about this scenario a project

manager who's working with all the vps

at their company decides to send out

daily updates

from a communications standpoint what

could be the potential impact of the

project manager's decision

well since vps get lots of emails

they're not likely to read the updates

that ends up being a waste of time for

you

also when you send a lot of unnecessary

information then it's hard to tell

what's really important

figuring out the right information to

share is even more important when you're

working on projects that have sensitive

data

in those cases you need to be very

careful of how you share information

about your project with stakeholders who

do not have permissions to view

sensitive data for example financial

data or user survey results are often

highly sensitive and should never be

made available to unauthorized viewers

here's another scenario

let's say your team is working on a high

profile launch of a brand new product

say an electric car

most people don't need to know all of

the thinking behind the project or see

all the draft versions but they do need

to know what the final design will look

like
the project is legally sensitive and you

want to avoid leaks and over sharing

classified data

if you share the entire project folder

with everyone who needs to know only the

end result

you risk doing just that

revealing highly sensitive and

classified data

if this information gets leaked to the

wrong people project plans and company

data could be made public ruining the

big launch of the electric car

you also risk violating company policy

and damaging your reputation as a

trustworthy and responsible project

manager

only share information on a need to know

basis

it's your job to present the right

information at the right time to the

right people now let me show you an

example

in this sample communication plan one of

the resources is user feedback surveys

this resource contains raw data

collected from surveys submitted by

plant powers test users which means it

has personally identifiable information

or pii pii is anything that possibly

reveals someone's identity like a screen

name password phone number email address

first or last name anything like that

for that reason

only share that resource with the

members of the project team who are

approved to access this level of

information

then if anyone else tries to open the

document they will be alerted that they

need to request permission to access it

if you need to share results of these

surveys those can be presented in a

graph chart or summarized in a report

without any pii included

then you can share that information with

the broader team

now you have a better understanding of

how important documentation is to

project management

coming up next we'll learn the best way

to put your plan together and stay

organized

see you later

hi again so far in this course you've

filled in or created some different

project planning resources like the

project plan

budget
racy chat risk management plan and now a

communications plan

we also discussed the importance of

organizing your communications and

having easy and appropriate access to

project plans

now i'll show you one way you can

organize all your project information in

one centralized place

you'll be able to apply these same

general techniques to almost any type of

project management style or system

organizing your project plans makes

everyone's job easier and eliminates

opportunity for confusion

as a project manager your goal is to

have all of your project resources

documented and linked in a way to where

you or anyone on the project can access

what they need quickly

a couple of handy ways to get organized

are using a shared file drive like

google drive and creating one resource

like a document or spreadsheet that

links all of the files and resources

that your project uses

here's an example of how to organize

your files in google drive

but it doesn't matter which shared

system your project team uses

you can use the same process for pretty

much all of them first create a new

folder and label it with the name of

your project

use this folder to store all your

project files

you can even create subfolders and store

them in the main project folder

you can also stay organized by creating

a centralized planning document that

links everything together this can serve

as a quick reference guide that you can

use to find all your frequently accessed

files in one place here's an office

screen example that's already been

started one at a time select a resource

name then link it

now you can access the file directly

from the centralized document

if your project uses multiple

spreadsheets and you want to avoid

having to open lots of separate files

you can group them within one sheet like

this

this sheet has tabs for all the other

sheets that contain project information

you can add a new sheet at any time

it's helpful to include an overview

sheet and link any non-spreadsheet files

this is also a good place to provide a

brief description of the project

instructions for how to use the sheet or

communication expectations

in this example the overview sheet is

called the dashboard

which is the same thing

you can decide how to label yours

there you have it now you're organized

and ready to show everyone what an

awesome project manager you are

hi i'm chris i'm a diversity program

manager here at google so i lead

diversity programming and strategy for

one of our business units here at google

i focus in on diversity programming for

our most under

represented googlers like our black plus

our latinx and our native populations

here at google program manager world

where every single day i'm thinking

about who

needs to be involved in the projects

that i work on

who will care

to invest in the programs that i i want

to roll out right because i need to get

buy-in for certain programs to to get

green lit right so i'm always thinking

about uh
how i'm organizing my materials i'm

always thinking about packaging and

telling a story behind all of it so i

can continue to do the great work that i

do an artifact is anything that you

physically put together that describes

or showcases the work that you're doing

so that could be

a document that is say an executive

brief or

just an overview of the the work that

you're doing or it could be something as

as tactical as

a roles and responsibility sheet right

so breaking down who on your team is

handling what

and to whom you need to present it's

really important to keep that organized

because it's not just for my own use but

it's also for anyone who

i engage right so a stakeholder

or someone who

needs to sign off on a project

or it might be my teammates on something

i often bring in

either volunteers or full-time help to

help build the programs that i run

lastly

you know say we have an outside vendor

they need to understand

where they fit into the larger picture

but also what they tactically need to do

to make the program successful so

keeping artifacts allows you to have the

best possible outcome in all program

management elements and regardless of

that piece you also want to be able to

showcase your work at the end so that

when it comes time to possibly get more

budget for a program or

to

take the program to the next level you

have a good baseline to really

understand from where you started and to

and how far you've come when you have

all those artifacts it's really

important to be able to speak to

how those artifacts allowed you to be

successful

the artifacts are really

what tangibly show someone during a job

interview that you were the one that did

the work to make the program or the

project successful

right so if you just talk about a

project or a program

at a high level in a job interview

the interviewer

might
want to know more detail and the

artifacts allow you to show that detail

allow you to show not only what happened

with the project and how far it came but

also your contributions to it and it

physically shows your ability to

conduct the entire process from start to

finish you're the quarterback right and

the quarterback also holds the playbook

and if you don't have the playbook

who on the team is going to know what to

do other than you you run you run the

show and so

effectively you want to make sure that

you're able to showcase in any setting

whether it be while you're currently

working on a project or later during an

interview

all that you did to make the program or

project successful

job searching whether it's your first

time or your 10th is a common but unique

experience

and whether you're looking for an entry

level position considering a career

switch or re-entering the workforce

after a hiatus you need a resume your

resume will be a key document throughout

your job search it's how recruiters can

get an initial sense of who you are as a

potential employee and so it's really

important to pay attention to the

information on it

most resumes share many of the same core

elements these are your contact

information previous work and

educational experience and skills

documenting your experience in a resume

gives you the opportunity to stand out

to a potential employer not only do you

get to list your past and current

experiences but you get to highlight

your accomplishments as well

let's break down the elements of a

strong resume most resumes start with

contact information at the top of your

document you'll include your name email

address and other relevant contact

information you wish to include like a

phone number or address many resumes

also include a brief one to three

sentence summary of your experience this

summary is referred to as an objective

or sometimes as a profile summary

for example an objective might sound

something like a passionate and customer

center focused individual with three

years of experience launching new

products and managing processes it's

generally considered optional to add an

objective or profile summary to your

resume

some recruiters like them while others

don't think they're necessary

an objective or profile summary can be

helpful however if you're looking to

change careers and want to highlight

transferable experience to a recruiter

next up is the central element of most

resumes your current and previous

experience whether work or education

related when listing your work

experience you'll include your current

or previous employers and job titles

and for each job you'll also include

start and end dates and two to three

bullet points explaining your job

responsibilities and accomplishments

your educational experience isn't just

high school or college that can include

online degrees certificates and other

professional development you've

completed and finally you may choose to

include skills especially those that are

relevant to the project management roles

you're applying to as we've discussed

earlier some core skills that project

managers possess include enabling

decision making communicating

flexibility and strong organizational

skills i'd add that it also includes

skills like ability to manage tasks

effectively

work well with others

follow through on tasks and hold

teammates accountable

it could also include industry knowledge

like experience with digital tools or

work management software

you can highlight these skills and more

on your resume either listed out in a

dedicated skills section or incorporated

into your section on current and

previous experience

another great skill that some people

forget to add are additional languages

spoken

if you have a high level of fluency in

another language it's definitely worth

mentioning another way to show off

skills is to mention hobbies on your

resume

like volunteer work or experience

working in your community

sometimes listing hobbies that speak to

your interests and background can say a

lot about you

and that can be helpful to a hiring

manager

in addition to highlighting what you're

passionate about

many hobbies also require skills that a

project manager can use on the job for

instance some hobbies i see on a resume

coaching a youth sports team or teaching

an art class

may tell me you're able to solve

problems and connect with people things

like that really stand out to me because

they show that you're someone who has

interests beyond their career

including a broad variety of items on

your resume can help show that you're

excited about learning new things

outside of work personally i think this

makes for incredibly interesting

candidates

and these are the kinds of qualities we

look for when hiring program managers at

google

we are always looking for people who can

bring new perspectives and life

experiences to our teams

google's culture is diverse and

inclusive

and we look for people who are open to

learn new things and are great

collaborators

this is especially true in project and

program management

we look for candidates who are open to

trying new things because sometimes your

first attempt at something may not go as

planned and you'll need to try a

different tactic

and we look for people who can

effectively collaborate with other teams

outside their own project teams to help

everyone reach their goals

as you can see a strong resume can

really help you tell a powerful story

about yourself

providing a full picture of who you are

what your strengths are and what you're

passionate about before i wrap up

it's important to note that a resume

isn't the only way to document your

abilities

you can also use online communities like

linkedin as an additional tool to

increase your

opportunities the same details on your

resume should be stressed in your

linkedin profile

additionally recruiters and hiring

managers use linkedin to scout for

talent
view a candidate's professional journey

and gain insights to skills networks

professional associates things that may

not have been included in the typical

resume

a recent survey showed that ninety

percent of recruiters use linkedin to

search for qualified job applicants

once you document your experience you

can begin to search for and apply to

jobs at companies

you want to get it right on paper before

you have the next conversation you'll

have the opportunity to continue

building this skill in the associated

readings and activities so take

advantage of these resources and polish

or create that new resume i'll see you

soon

i'm dan and i'm a program manager at

google research as a program manager in

research i work to make sure that all of

the teams i work with are on the same

page whether that's product teams who

are implementing the research or

research teams who need to understand

kind of what how to define their

research agenda for for future projects

so a lot of what i do is is effective

communication

and

trying to create kind of detailed

documentation so that

everyone can kind of connect the dots

one thing that i've observed as a

program manager is a kind of a

proliferation of documents or what i

like to call death by a thousand

documents so it becomes really important

to

to have one kind of master document

where you centralize all the kind of sub

documents or smaller docs that you might

need to execute a project and then you

can just go to the master document and

find what you need even if that lives

somewhere else so i can go into my like

kind of master tracker and i can find

the program charter i can find

the budget i can find the agreed-upon

scope any document that has like

approval matrices which is like a list

of all the approvals i need things like

that if i can link out to everything

from just one place i know that i'll

always be able to start there and find

what i need

there's not a one-size-fits-all approach

to project or program management

so you might need a risk management plan

for one project but not another and

there might be some other type of

documentation you need so really keeping

everything organized and and starting

from one place is is the most helpful

tip i can give the broader trend in

program management uh or project

management documentation

is that you don't just take one pass at

a document you don't finish your your

project plan or your project charter in

one go you have to constantly uh return

to it revise it um

and continue to it's it's a living and

breathing document and the more detailed

you can be in your documentation the

fewer iterations you're going to need to

go through later on because

they're more likely to get things right

the first time

you've done a lot of work so far

let's take a moment to review all you

learned in this course

first you learned the key components of

the planning phase and explored how

proper planning ensures that milestones

and tasks are completed

next you learned why it is necessary to

create and manage a project plan

how to utilize time estimation methods

to prevent project failure

how to get viable estimates using soft

skills and which tools you can use to

build a project plan then you learned

what the components of a project budget

are

how the budget process works

and the concepts behind estimating and

tracking a project budget

and we discussed how the procurement

process flows to manage paperwork bids

proposals and performance

you also learned about risk management

and how it helps prevent project failure

you learned how to identify risks and

measure their impact on a project and

how to communicate and monitor potential

risks once they're identified

finally you learned how important it is

to document plans

you learned how to organize plans to

provide visibility and accountability

and what elements of a simple

communication plan are vital to project

success

in the next course you'll continue on to

executing and closing a project where my

colleague alita will be your guide

she's going to teach you all about

tracking and measuring project progress

risk management

using data to make decisions and

effective project communication

i had a wonderful time sharing my

project management experience of you

best of luck

you