The document provides an introduction to a workshop on project management basics. It begins with biographies of the instructor, Mena Mostafa, who has 15 years of experience as a project manager, business analyst, and developer. The workshop agenda is then outlined and will cover key definitions, theories of project management, a sample project, and lessons learned. Ground rules for the workshop are also established around participation and learning. Finally, the document provides definitions for many important project management terms like stakeholders, roles, communication, scope, requirements, and work breakdown structure to set the foundation for the topics to be covered.
2. Who Am I?
Mena Mostafa
ī¨ Instructor, Coach & Advisor
ī¨ 15 years experience (software development field)
ī¨ Project Manager, Business Analyst & Developer
ī¨ Worked in the enterprises world (ASSET, ITWorx,
etisalatâĻ)
ī¨ Managed over 150 projects (simple websites, portals,
ERP, eCommerce, gamesâĻ)
ī¨ Led teams (co-located, remote, vendors)
ī¨ Joined the entrepreneurship & the world of
startups
3. Who Are You?
ī¨ What have you heard about project
management?
ī¨ Have you managed projects?
ī¨ What would you like to know?
5. ī¨ Switch off/silent your mobile phones
ī¨ Leave titles at the door
ī¨ Participate
ī¨ Ask questions
ī¨ Share your experience
ī¨ Make mistakes & learn from them
ī¨ Request a break when you need to
ī¨ Have fun!
The Deal
7. What is a Project?
ī¨ Unique endeavor
ī¨ To achieve a specific
goal/objective
ī¨ Having a defined beginning
and end date
ī¨ Governed by a budget
10. âĸ Solve a problem
âĸ Take advantage of an opportunity
Specific goal
11. d
âĸ Shouldnât run for ever
âĸ Goal is crucial to identify when the project is done
Beginning and end
Jan
22
Aug
25
12. d
âĸ Shouldnât run for ever
âĸ Goal is crucial to identify when the project is done
Beginning and end
Jan
22
Sep
25
13. d
âĸ Shouldnât run for ever
âĸ Goal is crucial to identify when the project is done
Beginning and end
Jan
22
Oct
25
14. d
âĸ Shouldnât run for ever
âĸ Goal is crucial to identify when the project is done
Beginning and end
Jan
22
Nov
25
15. d
âĸ Shouldnât run for ever
âĸ Goal is crucial to identify when the project is done
Beginning and end
Jan
22 GOAL
16. d
âĸ Not only money
âĸ Other constraints: people, tools and time
Budget
17. What is Project Management?
The art and science of
planning, organizing, and
managing resources
to bring about the
successful completion of
specific project goals and
objectives
18. Who is the Project Manager?
Project managers bear ultimate responsibility for
making things happen. A PM must have a range
of skills:
19. ī¨ Leadership
ī¨ People management
(customers, suppliers,
functional managers and
project team)
ī¨ Effective communication
(verbal and written)
ī¨ Influencing
ī¨ Negotiation
ī¨ Conflict management
ī¨ Estimating
ī¨ Planning
ī¨ Time management
ī¨ Contract management
ī¨ Problem solving
ī¨ Creative thinking
Who is the Project Manager?
Project managers bear ultimate responsibility for
making things happen. A PM must have a range
of skills:
20. What Do Project Managers Do?
ī¨ Define the project, reduce it to a set of
manageable tasks, obtain appropriate
resources and build a team to perform the
work
ī¨ Set the final goal for the project and motivate his
or her team to complete the project on time
ī¨ Inform all stakeholders of progress on a regular
basis
ī¨ Assess and monitor risks to the project and
mitigate them
ī¨ No project ever goes exactly as planned, so
project managers must learn to adapt to and
21. Who is the Project Team?
A group of professionals committed to achieving
common objectives, who work well together and
who relate directly and openly with one another
to get things done.
ī¨ Project team membership
ī¤ Project manager (chosen before Initiation)
ī¤ Core team (chosen before Planning)
ī¤ Supporting team (chosen before Launching)
22. Why Projects Fail?
Many things can go wrong in project
management:
ī¨ Poor
communication
ī¨ Disagreement
ī¨ Misunderstandings
ī¨ Bad weather
ī¨ Union strikes
ī¨ Personality
conflicts
ī¨ Poor management
ī¨ Poorly defined
goals and
objectives
24. Stakeholder
ī¨ Any person or organization that is actively
involved in a project
ī¨ Or whose interests may be positively or
negatively affected by execution or
completion of the project
ī¨ It can be the client
end-user, top management,
teamâĻ
25. Role
ī¨ Although projects are different, there are
commonly occurring roles that exist in most
projects
ī¨ Sometimes individuals occupy more than one
role
ī¨ Common roles
ī¤ Business owner
26. Role
ī¨ Although projects are different, there are
commonly occurring roles that exist in most
projects
ī¨ Sometimes individuals occupy more than one
role
ī¨ Common roles
ī¤ Business owner
ī¤ Project manager
27. Role
ī¨ Although projects are different, there are
commonly occurring roles that exist in most
projects
ī¨ Sometimes individuals occupy more than one
role
ī¨ Common roles
ī¤ Business owner
ī¤ Project manager
ī¤ Quality team
28. Communication
ī¨ An essential component for good project
management
ī¨ Ensure that all stakeholders are equally informed
of:
ī¤ How
ī¤ When
ī¤ Why
communication will happen
ī¨ Communication is a very effective way to:
ī¤ Solve problems
ī¤ Deal with risks
ī¤ Ensure that tasks are completed on time
29. Scope
ī¨ Description of the work that will be done
ī¨ What will not be done (useful to avoid
confusion)
ī¨ Be very specific when writing it
31. Deliverable
ī¨ List of deliverables produced by the project
ī¨ Describe deliverables in an unambiguous manner
ī¨ Examples:
ī¤ Project Plan
ī¤ Requirements Document
ī¤ Design Document
ī¤ Source Code
ī¤ Test Plan
ī¤ Test Cases
ī¤ Release Notes
ī¤ User Guides
32. Baseline
ī¨ Baseline is the value or condition against which
all future measurements will be compared
ī¨ Baseline is a point of reference
ī¨ Three baselines
ī¤ scope baseline
ī¤ schedule baseline
ī¤ cost baseline
ī¨ The combination of all three baselines is
referred to as the performance measurement
baseline
33. Change
ī¨ The nature of projects makes change inevitable
ī¨ Changes impact projectâs budget & schedule
(sometimes outcome)
ī¨ To cope with changes use a formal change
control procedure
34. Re-work
ī¨ A rework can arise due to:
ī¤ Change in scope
ī¤ Quality of the deliverables not up to the mark
ī¤ Change in requirements that is essentially a
change in scope
ī¨ Impact on time and budget depends on change
request time
35. Risk
ī¨ A risk is any factor that may
potentially interfere with successful
completion of the project
ī¨ A risk is not a problem. A problem
has already occurred, a risk is the
recognition that the problem will
occur
ī¨ By recognizing potential problems,
the PM can attempt to avoid a
problem through proper actions
36. Assumption
ī¨ Assumptions are
circumstances and events
that need to occur for the
project to be successful, but
are outside the total control
of the project team
ī¨ Assumptions should be
validated
ī¨ Assumptions are accepted
as true and are often without
proof or demonstration
â
37. Constraint
ī¨ Constraints are things that
might restrict, limit, or
regulate the project
ī¨ Generally constraints are
outside the total control of
the project team
38. Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS)
ī¨ 1st step in project planning
ī¨ An effective tool to list all project tasks
ī¨ Allows to group all tasks under main activities
ī¨ Ensures a clear overview of what to execute
Project
Task
Work
Work
Task
Work
Work
Task
Work
Work
39. Estimate
ī¨ Before proceeding in planning, estimate
projectâs activities & tasks
ī¨ Based on the WBS, estimate effort each
task/activity will take regardless of resources
ī¨ Time and cost estimates are important for the
success of the project
40. Dependency
ī¨ Tasks in a project are related to each other
ī¨ The relationships between them drive the
schedule for the project
ī¨ Types:
ī¤ Causal/logical
ī¤ Resources constraint
ī¤ Discretionary/preferential
Task A
Task B
FS
41. Task A
Task B
FF
Dependency
ī¨ Tasks in a project are related to each other
ī¨ The relationships between them drive the
schedule for the project
ī¨ Types:
ī¤ Causal/logical
ī¤ Resources constraint
ī¤ Discretionary/preferential
42. Dependency
ī¨ Tasks in a project are related to each other
ī¨ The relationships between them drive the
schedule for the project
ī¨ Types:
ī¤ Causal/logical
ī¤ Resources constraint
ī¤ Discretionary/preferential
Task A
Task B
SS
43. Dependency
ī¨ Tasks in a project are related to each other
ī¨ The relationships between them drive the
schedule for the project
ī¨ Types:
ī¤ Causal/logical
ī¤ Resources constraint
ī¤ Discretionary/preferential
Task A
Task B
SF
44. Schedule
ī¨ The project schedule is the tool that
communicates:
ī¤ What work needs to be performed
ī¤ Which resources of the organization will perform the
work
ī¤ The timeframes in which that work needs to be
performed
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
Design
Build
Test
45. Critical Path
ī¨ Succession of connected tasks that will take the
longest to complete
ī¨ The Critical Path is the longest path to complete
the project
Crack
eggs
Wait for eggs to poach
Mak
e
meal
Eat
mea
l
Slice
bread
Wait for bread
to toast
Butter
toast
Fill
kettle
Wait for kettle to
boil
Make
tea
Time
46. Earned Value
ī¨ Approach to monitor:
ī¤ Project plan
ī¤ Actual work
ī¤ Work-completed value
to see if a project is on track (performance &
progress)
ī¨ EV indicates how much budget & time should
have been spent, with regards to the amount of
work done to date
ī¨ EV answers the âWhat did we get for the money
we spent?â
47. Forecasting
ī¨ How the future will turn out based on:
ī¤ Progress
ī¤ Earned value
ī¤ Risks
ī¤ Assumptions
49. Acceptance/Signoff
ī¨ Acceptance criteria represents specific and
defined list of conditions that must be met
before a project has been considered completed
and the project deliverables can and will be
accepted by the assigning party
50. Lessons Learned
ī¨ The purpose of
lessons learned is
to bring together
any insights gained
during a project
that can be usefully
applied on future
projects
Unintended
but
successful
Planned
and
successf
ul
Planned
but
failed
Failed
and not
planned
Success
Failure
Unplanned
Planned
52. Project Management
Project Management involves understanding the
fundamentals of a project:
ī¨ What business situation is being addressed?
ī¨ What do you need to do?
ī¨ What will you do?
ī¨ How will you do it?
ī¨ How will you know you did it?
ī¨ How well did you do?
55. Project Success
ī¨ Projects must be within cost
ī¨ Projects must be delivered
on time
ī¨ Projects must be within
scope
ī¨ Projects must meet customer
quality requirements
62. Project Lifecycle
Initiatin
g
Plannin
g
Closing
Monitorin
g &
Controllin
g
Executin
g
Initiating
Everything that is needed
to set-up the project
before work can start
Planning
Detailed plans of how the
work will be carried out
including time, cost and
resource estimates
Executing
Doing the work to deliver
the product, service or
desired outcome
Monitoring &
Controlling
Ensuring that a project
stays on track and taking
corrective action to
ensure it does
Closing
Formal acceptance of the
deliverables and
disbanding of all the
elements that were
required to run the
project
63. Initiating
Develop and gain approval of a general
statement of the goal and business value of the
project:
ī¨ Eliciting the needs
ī¨ Documenting the needs
ī¨ Writing a one-page description of the project
ī¨ Gaining approval to plan the project
64. Planning
Identify work to be done and estimate time, cost and resource
requirements and gain approval to do the project:
ī¨ Defining all of the work
ī¨ Estimating how long it will take to complete this work
ī¨ Estimating the resources required to complete the work
ī¨ Estimating the total cost of the work
ī¨ Sequencing the work
ī¨ Building the initial project schedule
ī¨ Analyzing & adjusting the project schedule
ī¨ Writing a risk management plan
ī¨ Documenting the project plan
ī¨ Gaining approval to launch the project
65. Executing
Recruit/assign the team and establish team
operating rules:
ī¨ Recruiting the project team
ī¨ Establishing team operating rules
ī¨ Establishing the scope change management
process
ī¨ Managing team communications
ī¨ Finalizing the project schedule
ī¨ Writing work packages
66. Monitoring & Controlling
Respond to change requests and resolve problem
situations to maintain project progress:
ī¨ Monitoring project performance
ī¨ Establishing the project performance and
reporting system
ī¨ Monitoring risk
ī¨ Reporting project status
ī¨ Processing scope change requests
ī¨ Discovering and solving problems
ī¨ Forecasting issues impact
67. Closing
Assure attainment of requirements and issue
deliverables:
ī¨ Gaining approval of having met project
requirements
ī¨ Planning and issuing deliverables
ī¨ Writing the final project report
ī¨ Conducting the post-implementation
audit/review
ī¨ Get paid!
70. Step #0: Project Definition
Activities
ī¨ Agree on project
name
ī¨ Define project
objectives/goals
ī¨ Allocate high level
budget
ī¨ Set high level
timeframe
Output
ī¨ Set meeting with
vendor
71. Step #1: Project Initiation
Activities
ī¨ Study resources
ī¨ Anticipate cost
ī¨ Meet with client to
understand project
ī¨ Define stakeholders
ī¨ Define scope
Output
ī¨ Project signoff
ī¤ Scope
ī¤ High level budget
ī¤ High level timeframe
ī¤ Payment terms
76. Project Management Tools
ī¨ Depends on the nature, size and complexity of the project
ī¨ There are different tools to manage:
ī¤ Requirements
ī¤ Resources
ī¤ Budget
ī¤ Time
ī¤ Tasks
ī¤ Documents
ī¤ Issues
ī¤ Defects
ī¤ Billing
ī¤ Reports
ī¤ Calendars
ī¤ Meetings
ī¤ âĻ
Varying from paper and pen to complex software