Introduction to PM

What do Organizations Say about the importance of

PM

A survey of past delegates who have attended Parallel Project

Management Training has provided further insight into the benefits
of PM training in terms of acquiring new skills, developing existing
skills and gaining practical advice to implement in the day-to-day
work environment
1.Having a common language to describe issues within
a business and has helped allow clearer definitions of
areas for development versus best practice.
2.Using people to successfully deliver projects
3.With everyone following PMBOK it is helping bring
a consistent baseline knowledge base to the business.
4.Improving communication between stakeholders and
improved awareness and implementation of Leadership
skills / qualities.
5.It’s helped when certain tools and techniques have
come up that were discussed on the course which
means that I had a head start on our competitors.
Formal training was seen to be particularly useful for
improving communication between stakeholders and
developing a better awareness of the leadership
qualities required in a project manager.
In meetings and when discussing project management
tools and techniques a formal training course helped
those involved to better understand what was being
discussed and to ensure everyone was working from a
consistent knowledge base. Training also helped when
it came to putting together and managing the project
team and dealing with the different characteristics of
project teams; many delegates viewed the
professional qualifications obtained as a necessary
part of progressing up the career ladder by equipping
PMs with a thorough understanding of the essential
attributes of a successful project.
Dealing with Change
People Management
Stakeholder Management and
Engagement
Communication with Stakeholders
Communication with Project Teams
Planning
Leadership
Developing Critical Success Factors
Managing Conflict
Managing Quality
Typical new skills learnt included:

Active risk management

Planning, implementing and monitoring
projects
Pert Charts
Costing
Detailed knowledge of scheduling
The Procurement process
Earned Value Management
Typical new skills learnt included:

Active risk management

Planning, implementing and monitoring
projects
Pert Charts
Costing
Detailed knowledge of scheduling
The Procurement process
Earned Value Management
What happens when I know about PM
Be ready to assume
Be ready to pursue Explore new work
PM responsibilities at
PMP certification opportunities within
your workplace
the not for profit sector
Strengthen your
business acumen and
Explore new areas of PM
OBC through
( Risk Mgt, Q, Finance,
understanding PM
Procurement ..)
principles and PM
driven organizations
Project Management
Definitions
Project management is the application of processes,
methods, skills, knowledge and experience to achieve
specific project objectives according to the project
acceptance criteria within agreed parameters. Project
management has final deliverables that are constrained to a
finite timescale and budget.
A key factor that distinguishes project management from
just 'management' is that it has this final deliverable and a
finite timespan, unlike management which is an ongoing
process. Because of this a project professional needs a wide
range of skills; often technical skills, and certainly people
management skills and good business awareness.
A project is a unique, transient endeavor, undertaken to
achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in terms
of outputs, outcomes or benefits. A project is usually
deemed to be a success if it achieves the objectives
according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed
timescale and budget. Time, cost and quality are the building
blocks of every project.
Time: scheduling is a collection of
techniques used to develop and
present schedules that show when
work will be performed.

Cost: how are necessary funds

acquired and finances managed?

Quality: how will fitness for purpose

of the deliverables and management
processes be assured?
Core Competencies of
Project Management
• defining the reason why a project is necessary;
• capturing project requirements, specifying quality of the
deliverables, estimating resources and timescales;
• preparing a business case to justify the investment;
• securing corporate agreement and funding;
• developing and implementing a management plan for
the project;
• leading and motivating the project delivery team;
• managing the risks, issues and changes on the project;
• monitoring progress against plan;
• managing the project budget;
• maintaining communications with stakeholders and the
project organisation;
• provider management;
• closing the project in a controlled fashion when
appropriate.
Project Requirements
• Requirement: something that is needed or that must be done. –
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

• The Project Management Body of Knowledge defines

requirement as “a condition or capability that is required to be
present in a product, service, or result to satisfy a contract or
other formally imposed specification.”

• Karl Wiegers — author of Software Requirements — shared

this definition: “Requirements are a specification of what
should be implemented. They are descriptions of how the
system should behave, or of a system property or attribute.”
• Business requirements – describe why the
project is
being undertaken
Why an airport is undertaken
• Stakeholder requirements – describe the needs
of a stakeholder or stakeholder group

Who are the Stakeholders of a

project
• Solution requirements – describes features,
functions, and characteristics of the product,
service, or result that will meet the business and
stakeholder requirements
•Functional requirements – describes the behaviors
of the product
•Non-Functional requirements – describes the
environmental conditions or qualities required for
the product to be effective
Transition requirements – describes the
temporary capabilities needed to transition
from the current as-is state to the desired
future state
Project requirements – describes the actions,
processes, or other conditions the project
needs to meet
Quality requirements – describes any
condition or criteria to validate the
successful completion of a project
deliverable or fulfillment of other project
requirements
How do we identify project requirement – Elicit
Requirements
• Brainstorming
• Nominal group technique
• Interviews
• Document analysis
• Surveys
• Requirements workshops
• Job shadowing
• Context diagram
How do we identify project requirement – Analyze
Requirements
• The word “analyze” means to break down or examine in
detail the constitution or structure of something. For
software projects, we break the requirements into greater
detail as we move from business requirements to user
requirements and further into the detailed system
requirements. Once we’ve determined the details, we can
synthesize the components together to meet the higher
level needs.
How do we identify project requirement – Document
Requirements

• Business requirements are typically defined as goals in the

project charter. User requirements are often captured in a
use case or user story format. The detailed software
requirements are often documented and captured in a
requirements management tool.
How do we identify project requirement – Validate
Requirements
• Finally, we talk about requirements validation, how to
ensure that the project requirements are correct, free of
defects/bugs, and meets the needs of the users.
Project Deliverables
A project deliverable is any output created as the result of
work done during a project. Defining, tracking, and
managing project deliverables is one of the most important
responsibilities of a project manager. This guide will help
you understand project deliverables in more detail.
For any output to be classified as a “deliverable” within a
project, it has to meet a few criteria:

It must be within the scope of the project Stakeholders -

external or internal - must agree to it It must be the result of
deliberate work It must have a definite role in accomplishing
the project’s objective
Project Scope: A well-defined project scope is a necessity to
ensure the success of your project. Without it, no matter how
efficient, how effective and how hard you work, you won’t
be able to succeed in your project.

Defining the project scope entails adopting a clear vision and

an agreement on the outcomes of the project. This allows
each milestone of the project to stay on target.
Project Scope: scope is the defined features and functions of
a product, or the scope of work needed to finish a project.
Scope involves getting information required to start a
project, and the features the product would have that would
meet its stakeholders requirements
6 Steps to Successfully Define the Scope of a
Project
1. Identify the project needs
•When you are clearly able to identify
the needs of a project, you are more
likely to set a sound benchmark from the
beginning.

•Understanding the ‘what and why’ of a

project will enable you to set specific
goals and objectives. It also sets the
groundwork for what tasks are to follow
and how they are to be performed.
2.Confirm the objectives and goals of the Project
•The basis of the project scope should entail
your goals and objectives to be one that follows
a SMART guideline. That is, to be Specific,
Measurable and Achievable. It should also be
Realistic and completed within a specific
Timeframe.
3. Project Scope description
•You as a leader, need to be clear about the features
and functioning required for your product or service.

•For example, you are building a website. You need a

list that provides how you will build your website,
the type of branding required and so on. In other
words, what certain qualities will increase achieving
your project’s success.
4. Expectations and acceptance
•Successful projects are ones that take into account the
satisfaction of the end-user. Whether they meet the end-
users expectations and accept the product, service or
process. The end-users could be your customers or your
internal team.

•For customers, this includes pricing, value, and quality

of products/services as well as availability, delivery and
return policies. For employees, this includes the
effectiveness and efficiency of new operational
processes. Ultimately, your project scope is one that
should be attuned to giving better outcomes to whoever
your end users may be.
5. Identify constraints
•There are always roadblocks to achieving what you
were set out to do. When being aware of possible
limitations along the way, it can help you minimize
problems that may delay or constrain your ability to
achieve your project’s outcome.

•These can be caused by dynamic environmental

conditions (internal and external), technological
glitches and/or lack of resources. Communicating
such problems with your team early on and taking
steps to overcome these hurdles will reduce delays
in project completion and keep spending within
budget. Whether these are based on assumptions or
uncertainty, analyzing their impact throughout the
projects timeline further reduces the risk of failure.
6. Identify necessary changes
•It is always best to avoid reworking the
scope of your project, as it means
investing in more time, money and
resources.

•However, at times these changes are

inevitable and necessary.Limit changes
by taking on the perspectives of
customers, stakeholders, and employees
involved in the project. This minimizes
disagreements later on.
Internal vs External Deliverables
A common way to categorize deliverables is to divide them into “external”
and “internal” deliverables. There’s an easy method for defining them:

Any work done that is not a part of doing business with clients or customers
is an internal deliverable Any work done to fulfill a client’s demands or to
win more business is an external deliverable

You can think of internal deliverables as anything you create as a part of

running the business. Doing taxes, keeping accounts, creating corporate
documents - these are all internal deliverables. You need them to run the
business, but they don’t really generate revenue.
Project vs Process
Deliverables
Project deliverables are the big, client-focused accomplishments
we talked about earlier.

Process deliverables describe the path that will help you create
the project deliverables.
Thank you