This document discusses project management and the challenges of managing projects in today's rapidly changing business environment. It argues that project management is as much an art as it is a science, requiring both hard technical skills as well as soft interpersonal skills. Soft skills like clear communication, understanding organizational culture, and effectively managing stakeholders are identified as being crucial for project success alongside traditional project management frameworks, tools and techniques. The document advocates for a holistic, iterative approach to project management that can adapt to changing needs and deliver value to customers.

1. Project Management:
Still More Art Than Science
Presented By
Donald W. Larson
AC Bronze, CL
June 6, 2007

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3. Original Whitepaper Source
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 Author: Kate Belzer
- Copyright © 2001
 http://www.pmforum.org/library/pa
pers/2001/0102papers.htm#01
 Used here by Don Larson for
Technical Presentations Manual
Project #4, “Presenting a Technical
Paper”

4. Change is Here to Stay
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 Organizations change at breakneck
speed to satisfy customers and
maintain competitive
 To thrive in this environment, project
managers must meet the needs of the
organization and assist businesses in
delivering value to customers

5. Understanding Business Value1
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 Who are our customers?
 What value do we provide to
them? (GAP Analysis)
 Who will be our customers in the
future?
 How will we satisfy their needs?

6. Delivering Business Value2
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 Strategic planning, through thoughtful
consideration of these questions, leads to
the creation of an organization that satisfies
customer needs and provides an
acceptable benefit to stakeholders
 Strategic planning also provides a
framework that stimulates projects to
introduce new products and improve
processes

7. Strategies Beget Projects3
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 Projects are implemented to
advance organizational goals
 Potential projects must be
aligned with your company's
mission and strategic direction
 Project must be a strategic fit

8. What Makes a Project
Successful?
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 Plan-Do-Check-Act [PDCA] (Walter Shewhart)
- Limited knowledge, improving as we go
- Velocity of change through iterations
 Use processes, tools, and techniques
 Soft skills
- Working within the organization
 Hard Skills (Supplemental Information)
- Project Management Institute’s (PMI):
- Five Process Groups
- Nine Knowledge Areas

9. Project Approaches
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 Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK)
 Unified Software Development
Process
 Critical Chain Project
Management
 Experience

10. PMBOK Tools, Processes, and
Techniques
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 What is required by the process:
- Inputs
 What occurs during the process
 What are the deliverables of the
process:
- Outputs

11. Using Only Hard Skills
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 No clear communication means
unclear deliverables, requirements,
and dissatisfied customer
 Lack of open communication can
lead to issues reaching a critical point
 Developing a plan in isolation can
cause team instability
 Lack of leadership results in failure

12. Missing Link: The Appropriate
Application of Soft Skills
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 A clear understanding and effective
application of soft skills enhance the
success of a project exponentially:
- A project manager must communicate
effectively, work within the organization’s culture,
motivate the team, manage stakeholder
expectations, understand business objectives,
solve problems effectively, and make clear and
knowledgeable decisions

13. Soft Skills: Communication
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 The most important skill:
- Convey complex ideas easily
- Clearly articulate what must be
accomplished
- Keep team moving toward a common goal
- Foster an environment that allows team
members to communicate openly and
honestly
- Admit own mistakes without losing respect
- Negotiate, listen, and facilitate

14. Holistic View of Organization
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15. Grow with Today’s Business
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 It is inherently complex
 Constantly changing
 Focused on customer
satisfaction

16. Master the Challenge
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 Delivering business value on
time, within budget, and to the
customers' satisfaction is both
science and art
 Master the timeless soft skills
to supplement the hard skills for
success

17. Supplemental Information
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 Five PM Process Groups
 Nine PM Knowledge Areas
 20 Key Project Manager Actions and
Results
 Management By Objective
 The Center for Collaborative
Organizations
 Managing Team Conflict

18. Five PM Process Groups
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1. Initiating
- Defines and authorizes the project or a
project phase
2. Planning
- Defines and refines objectives
- Plans course of action
3. Executing
- Integrates people and/or other resources

19. Five PM Process Groups
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4. Monitoring and Controlling
- Measure and monitors progress
- Identifies variances
- Takes corrective actions
4. Closing
- Formalizes acceptance of deliverables
- Brings project or phase to an orderly end

20. Nine PM Knowledge Areas
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1. Project Management Integration
- Identify processes and activities within the
groups
2. Project Scope Management
- Insure all the work required
- Only the work required
3. Project Time Management
- Accomplish timely completion

21. Nine PM Knowledge Areas
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4. Project Cost Management
- Planning
- Estimating
- Budgeting
- Controlling
4. Project Quality Management
- Satisfy needs of stakeholders

22. Nine PM Knowledge Areas
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6. Project Human Resources
Management
- Organize and manage team
6. Project Communications
Management
- Ensure timely and appropriate:
- generation, collection, distribution,
storage, retrieval, and ultimate
disposition of project information

23. Nine PM Knowledge Areas
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8. Project Risk Management
- Planning, identification, analysis, and
appropriate responses for positive
project outcome
8. Project Procurement Management
- Purchase external products, services, or
results

24. Title Footnotes
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 1; 2; and 3
 Source: Project Management
Fundamentals - Tony Swaim