Introduction

Deliver successful projects

How do projects get started? When someone has a problem to solve or an opportunity to pursue. We all
want our projects to be successful. Organizations want to enjoy the benefits that those projects
produce, and as project managers we look forward to our next project with opportunities to learn about
new industries or manage projects around the world. Your job as project manager is an ongoing balancing
act between project scope and the time, resources, and budget you've been given. In this LinkedIn
Learning course, we'll use a case study to explore how to manage projects successfully. We'll look at how
to start a project the right way and then put together a comprehensive plan for running it. I'll guide you
through keeping your project on track from start to finish. You'll get a chance to practice what you
learned with the exercises at the end of almost every movie and with end of chapter challenges. I'm
Bonnie Biafore. I'm a project manager, consultant, and trainer, and I've been helping people manage
projects for years. If you're ready to find out how satisfying it is to deliver projects successfully, join me
in my Project Management Foundations course at LinkedIn Learning.
What you should know
You don't need to know anything about project management before you start this course. It works either
as an introduction to project management for beginners, or a refresher if you've been managing projects
for a while. This course is only an introduction to project management. We'll go through the basics, so
you'll get to know what's involved in managing a project. Here's what to expect as you work through the
course. We start at the very beginning, what is the project? What is project management? We'll look at
two examples of methodologies, Waterfall and Agile. When you're ready to learn more you can explore
the rest of the project management courses in the LinkedIn learning library. Second, we jump into how to
get a Waterfall project started. Basically, what you do to get the project approved to proceed. The next
two chapters are about building a project plan and schedule with the Waterfall approach. Then we take a
short detour to look at how to manage Agile projects. After that, we'll look at what happens while a
Waterfall project is running, including communication, running meetings, and working with Teams. Next,
we examine how to keep an eye on project performance in a Waterfall project and what to do to keep a
project on plan or get it back on track. The chapter on closing talks about what you do to close out a
Waterfall project. The last chapter is devoted to a brief description of the changes you'll find in the 7th
Edition of PMI's Project Management Body of Knowledge. In this course, we're going to follow a
project through the project management life cycle. So for the next few hours, you're going to be a project
manager for the Breslin Regional Hospital. The hospital is adding a new cancer wing and improving its
facilities, thanks to government grants and generous donations from several donors. You'll be managing a
project to replace the system and processes for scheduling patients into rooms throughout the
hospital. The goal is to improve the hospital's scheduling capability and maximize the use of facilities. A
more complete description of the case study is available in the exercise files.

Get to Know Project Management

What is a project?
- Before we talk about how to manage projects, let's make sure we're all on the same page about what a
project is. Here's a formal definition. A project is a temporary endeavor that has a unique goal and
usually a budget. That's a start, but what does it really mean? Let's begin with temporary
endeavor. Unlike day to day operations, a project has a definite beginning and end. If a project is
implementing a new system, the project is done when you successfully hand it over to operations. What if
a project seems to go on forever? It could be that you haven't clearly defined what you're trying to
accomplish. That brings us to the project goal. A project produces a unique result which could be product,
service, or other outcome. In the case study we're using for this course, the hospital is implementing a
new scheduling system. Lots of organizations implement scheduling systems but each one has its own set
of objectives, constraints and issues. Maybe the hospital struggles with staff shortages or perhaps a big
pain point is scheduling equipment along with the skilled staff and rooms needed to operate it. You could
be upgrading the scheduling system to improve results and level of care. Finally, most projects have
budgets. Most of the time you think money when you hear the word budget. In projects, you'll probably
face other constraints as well like how many resources are available. A project isn't the same as
operations which represents work that's the same day after day, producing the same results. Admitting
patients into the hospital represents operational work. Patients may show up with different medical
issues but the people at the front desk follow the same procedures and use the same forms to admit
them. Introducing a new scheduling system into the hospital on the other hand, is a project. It will have a
specific beginning. It ends when the system is up and running, scheduling hospital resources. It has a
unique goal to solve the hospital scheduling issues and it has a budget both in money and resource's
time. Over your lifetime, you've probably worked on lots of projects both at work and at home. A project
is a temporary endeavor with a unique goal and usually a budget. Using those characteristics, think about
what you've done over the past several months. Identify the projects you've worked on during that time by
identifying the project's timeframe, what made the project unique and its budget. In the exercise files,
you'll find a list of the work I've done recently tagged either as projects or operations.
What is project management?
- Lots of project managers get their start because they're good at making things happen. But project
management is more than showing off your organizational skills and supervising others. It means
applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to achieve your project's objectives. Project
management can be summed up as answering a few crucial questions. The first question you have to
answer is, what problem are you solving? Clearly defining what the project is supposed to accomplish is a
big step toward making it a success. Legendary baseball manager Yogi Berra's off kilter take on it
is, "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going because you might not get
there." The second question is, how are you going to solve this problem? Whether you're solving a
problem or pursuing an opportunity, you might have to choose from several possible strategies. Once
you've picked your approach, it's time to flesh out your solution. Gathering requirements, identifying
deliverables, and defining project scope. The next question is, what's your plan? A big part of project
management is planning your project. You have to identify the work to be done in detail, how long it
might take, the resources you need, and how much they cost. With that info in hand, you can build a
schedule of when work should occur. While you're at it, you also need to spell out how you want things to
happen in your project, like communication, managing changes, and so on. Some projects seem to go on
forever but eventually someone will pull the plug if it doesn't finish. That's why you also have to answer
the question, how will you know when you're done? Clearly defined objectives, requirements, and
deliverables help answer that question, but you can eliminate uncertainty by defining success
criteria: quantifiable, measurable results that show that the project is complete. Like a certificate of
occupancy for construction, or increased productivity measurements after a system is implemented. When
you get to the end of the project, you're ready to answer the last question: how well did the project
go? This important step is often skipped because everyone is so ready to move on to the next deal. You
really need to take time to review the project. What worked well, what didn't? Why? How could we have
done better? Project management boils down to answering several questions about your project. What
problem are you solving? How are you going to solve it? What's your plan for getting the project
done? How can you tell when you're done? And how well did the project go?
What it takes to be a project manager
- Most people see project managers as really organized and good at getting things done. But project
managers also use a wide variety of skills and knowledge to complete projects successfully. First, there
are technical skills specific to project management, like what goes into a project plan? Building and fine
tuning a project schedule, reading a Gantt chart, using the critical path, and measuring performance. Then
there's business expertise. It's up to you to make sure your project delivers value. You need to understand
your organization's business. What it does and what it considers important. That way you can see how
your project fits in and you can make good decisions to ensure that your project is successful. Problem
solving is another important skill. Projects never, and I mean never, go according to plan. Your job is to
figure out how to achieve project objectives and meet the schedule and budget, while working around the
problems that arise. One of the most important things in a project manager's toolbox, is interpersonal
skills. Projects may use people from different groups, departments, and even different companies. You are
the leader of this group so it's your job to help everyone work as a team to get the project done and done
well. The most important characteristic of a great project manager is strong leadership. You want to
inspire your people, help them become a true team. Guide them to do the right things, hold them
accountable, and motivate them to give their best. Does project management sound like something you
want to do? This course will help you figure out what you need to know so you can build a plan for
developing your skills.
The waterfall project management lifecycle
- [Instructor] The traditional, also called Waterfall project management life cycle, can be broken into five
stages or phases that help guide a project successfully from beginning to end. Initiating is all about
getting the commitment to start a project. You start by defining the project. What's the project supposed to
accomplish? What's the scope? What's a rough estimate of the resources needed and the cost? You also
identify the project stakeholders, and make sure they agree on what the project is. From there, you ask for
approval to proceed. Planning is where you work with a small team of expert team members to figure
out how you're going to perform the project. In essence, planning answers the questions, What are we
going to do? How are we going to do it? And how will we know when we're done? When the plan is
complete, it's time to get approval to launch the project. The next two areas involve putting your plan into
action. Executing starts with launching a project. You bring your full team of resources on board, get
them settled in and explain the rules you're using to run the project. After that, everyone jumps in to put
the plan into action. Monitoring and controlling a project means checking what's going on in the
project and how that compares to what you planned. If the project is sliding off track, you take action to
get it back on track. Managing and controlling occurs throughout most of the project life cycle, starting
during initiation, and wrapping up when you close the project. Which brings us to closing the project, this
part is short but important. You get the client to approve the project, that is, officially accept that the
project is complete. You document the project performance, gather lessons learned, close contracts, and
help resources move on to their next assignments. Waterfall project management works well when the
project goal and solution are clearly defined, and the scope and deliverables are clear cut, such as in
building construction. Because you understand what needs to be done, you step through each stage once
from start to finish. The more you know about the project, the better the Waterfall approach
works. Straightforward projects with very little uncertainty are great candidates, because you know what
needs to be done and how to handle issues that arise. If teams have worked on similar projects in the
past, they can be more productive because they understand the work and know how to prevent or resolve
common problems. That's a quick overview of the Traditional or Waterfall approach and when you might
choose it to manage a project.
The agile project management lifecycle
- [Narrator] With many projects today you don't know what the solution looks like, or how to build it, so
you have to figure it out as you go. This type of project requires a different approach. With Agile projects,
the team works on Sprints to deliver a partial set of features that are production quality at regular
intervals. With this approach the customer gets value from the project sooner. In addition, the customer's
feedback on what's been delivered so far can help improve the overall solution. The customer has to be
more involved than in traditional projects. Project teams need to be smaller and more
experienced, because they work without much supervision. The Agile life cycle described here is based
on Jim Highsmith's "Agile Project Management." It begins with envisioning, which is similar to
Waterfall's initiation. You define the product vision and an initial set of goals. Because the solution isn't
clear, those goals are likely to change over the course of the project. The speculate process is a type of
planning. You create, revise, and prioritize your feature list based on their technical and business
considerations. Also, you estimate effort and identify risks. For example, when you start the next
Sprint, you don't drag the first few features from the backlog. Instead, you review the entire backlog and
decide which features to include in the Sprint. During the explore process, the team builds and delivers
the features for the Sprint. Small, independent teams of highly skilled people make it easier to get the
work done. Adapt is the part of the Sprint where you review the results delivered and lessons
learned. This review is often called a retrospective. Based on feedback, you may change your process, or
rework a feature that isn't quite right. You cycle through, speculate, explore, and adapt for each Sprint in
the project. When the final Sprint is accepted you close the project and document lessons learned. That's a
quick overview of the Agile approach to projects, when you figure out the solution as you go.
How organizational structure affects projects
- [Presenter] Organizations can be structured in several ways from the classic functional hierarchy where
each person reports to only one supervisor, to a matrix where people report to both functional managers
and project managers. To a projectized organization where most of the people work on projects. Each of
these structures affects how projects are performed. In a functional hierarchy, projects aren't the
priority making it difficult for projects to succeed. Project managers have almost no authority. A
functional manager is typically in charge of things like the project budget. Resources are hard to come
by because they report to functional managers, not the project manager. Even the project manager and
other project management staff have to split their attention between the project and their regular
work. The second type, matrix organizations are still functional hierarchies, but they support
projects more than pure hierarchies do. They can be weak, balanced, or strong depending on how much
emphasis they put on projects. In a matrix, project managers have some authority to make
decisions. Resources assigned to projects report to two managers, their functional manager and the project
manager. In a strong matrix, the project manager and project admin staff work full time on
projects. Projectized organizations are all about projects. This third type makes it easier for project
managers to produce results. Project managers have almost complete authority over their projects,
including the budget. Resources are dedicated to project work and report to the project manager. Project
managers and project admin staff also work full time on project work. Organizational structure has a big
influence on how projects are performed, how much a project manager can do, and how easy it is to make
projects successful. Using these characteristics, determine which structure your organization uses.
How organizational culture affects projects
- Organizational culture is a set of factors that guide people's behaviors and decisions within an
organization. Things like shared values, beliefs, assumptions, habits, and language. Let's talk about how
organizational culture affects projects. The organization's mission and vision shape the organization's
culture. Projects that support the company mission are likely to get more attention and resources. When
you're faced with a tricky decision, you can use the mission to determine the best thing to do. Leadership
and authority are also a big part of organizational culture. If management defines clear goals and then
delegates responsibility to employees, that approach will also work in your projects. On the other hand, if
authority isn't handed out often, you need to work with management to get things done and build their
trust in you at the same time. Another aspect of culture is the organization's work environment. With a
positive environment, people are motivated to get things done, and gathering lessons learned is relatively
easy because employees are used to providing input and striving to improve. In a negative
environment, you're probably going to have to spend a lot of time managing your team. Some cultures
believe in following the rules no matter what, other cultures nurture innovation, expecting employees to
try new approaches, question what's been done before, and come up with better methods. You don't have
to follow the rules in a rules-based culture but if you're thinking about breaking rules, it's important to
know which ones you can break, and also think about what you'll do if your nonstandard approach doesn't
work. Does your organization put results ahead of procedures or vice versa? That is, is it better to follow
the rules even if you don't achieve the objective, or can you do whatever it takes as long as you deliver the
desired results? A project's goal is always to achieve its objectives but it's important to know where the
boundaries are in making things happen. Change management can be affected by organizational
culture. If the organization is risk averse, change management might include multiple rounds of
review and require approval from several people. On the other hand, if change is viewed simply as life in
the project management world, change management might be a lot simpler. With people working in
locations around the country or the world, you also need to consider the cultures of your team
members. People may react differently to situations or communicate differently based on the norms of
their cultures. For example, in some cultures, people are taught not to show weakness and that behavior
could be interpreted as arrogance by people from other cultures. Culture has a strong influence on how
things happen within projects and how decisions are made. To increase your success, you need to manage
your projects, taking cultural factors into account
Project management software options
- [Instructor] Software tools can make your job as a project manager a little easier. Let's talk about types
of software and how you can put it to use managing projects. Scheduling software comes in a variety of
shapes and sizes. For most projects, you'll want scheduling software to help you build and manage your
project schedule. There are lots of tools out there, such as Microsoft Project, Oracle Primavera, Liquid
Planner, Jira, Smartsheet, Wrike, Asana, and more. Some scheduling tools work better for Waterfall or
Agile. Microsoft Project and Oracle Primavera support Agile, but it isn't their strength. Jira is primarily
for Agile, but can be used for Waterfall. With online tools, make sure that they support the project
management approaches that your organization uses. Most scheduling tools these days work in the
cloud to make collaboration easier. When you think about all the project management documents you
produce, it's no wonder that a word processing program is essential. Because project documents are laid
out similarly from project to project, you can build document templates. That way, you don't have to start
from scratch every time. A spreadsheet program is another must have for calculations and
analysis. Besides being handy for budgets and other financial calculations, a spreadsheet can help analyze
project risks and prioritize which ones you should keep an eye on. A presentation program like
PowerPoint or Prezi is useful for communicating project information at a high level, or when you want to
include information from other types of documents. Because a team of people work on a project, you
need some kind of tool for collaborating with others. Basecamp, Asana, and Microsoft SharePoint are a
few cloud-based collaboration tools you can use to share files with others, keep track of issues, or even
manage a workflow. If you work in an organization that runs many large projects at the same time, you
should consider enterprise project management software. Enterprise-level software provides tools that
allow you to find resources with the skills you need and see which resources are available when you need
them. It helps you track risks, issues, and other information, and even build document libraries so team
members can easily find information they need. We've briefly touched on some of the software options
available. If you're researching software to use, consider the following in your decisions: Your
organization's culture and work environment, software budget, the organization's project management
methodologies, the number of projects you manage, and their complexity.
Challenge: Organization
[Instructor] An organization's structure and culture can present benefits and challenges to any project. The
exercise files for this chapter include a summary of the Brisland Hospital culture and
organization. There's also an organization chart for the hospital. Take 20 to 30 minutes to answer these
questions. Once you've had a chance to complete this challenge, take a look at the solution to see how I
answered these questions.