Project Management

 I have a class at WVUP, starting in the fall, where I hear they are studying for CompTIA's Project+. It is my last semester and I am also doing my capstone. My advisor told me that it is going to be pretty hard to do the capstone at the same time as Project+ because the capstone builds off of Project+. So I bought a Udemy course and am studying it over the summer. These are my notes. :)

A project must provide new value to the organization, otherwise it is labelled "business as usual" (BAU). 

Project Management turns an idea into a tangible goal and systematically implements it. The team must be adaptable, critical thinkers, and able to problem solve. They must be willing to change. 

The Project Manager must be able to influence others instead of exerting authority. The PM may be working in another's area of the organization and should not exert authority and step on toes. 

The benefits of project management are those of delivering work in an orderly and efficient manner. Money is saved for the organization and results are optimized. 

Operational work is the routine, predictable, repetitive work, whereas project work accomplishes something new. A project is something that is unique, has a specific purpose, and a defined beginning and end. 

There are three main structural types - Functional, Projectized, and Matrix. The functional organization is organized into areas of specialization and expertise. The Projectized type is when the organization pools resources around projects as its main focus. The Matrix type includes both functional leaders and specialized roles.

The role of the project manager is to be responsible for planning, organizing, leading, and keeping the teams on track and within budget.  The program manager is different in that they lead programs or related groups of projects. This program manager is one level higher than project manager and it is very important to maintain communication with the program manager. 

The project management office is the functional department for all project managers. It manages the flow of projects and provide administrative support. It oversees project performance management, provides coaching and training for personnel. 

The supportive project management office provides support when requested. The Controlling project management office actively monitors projects. They are not hands-free, but not very controlling. The directive project management office takes full authority. 

A stakeholder is anyone with a vested interest in the project. They are not built-in supporters. The senior management is the highest level of leadership in an organization. 

The sponsor is a single management member that reviews and validates the initial business case. They provide the initial funding. 

The customer may be internal to the organization or external. Internal customers work inside the organization and are more accessible to feedback. External customers may fund the project results. The End-user is the person who will interact with the final output of the project. 

When a project is a part of a program, there may be deadlines that apply to other projects that affect your project. 

A portfolio is a group of all projects and programs. They may or may not be related to each other.

A program is a group of related projects.

The business case summarizes the information about the project and serves as the first project proposal. The business case contains the executive summary, problem statement, problem analysis, options, financial overview, project definition and your recommendations. 

Exec summary - overview of prob statement solution, and expected result.

Problem statement - shares more details about problem, no more than one paragraph.

Options: 3-5 options for stake holders, solutions.

Financial overview contains a  cost analysis

Project definition- additional infor. 

Project recommendation - which option would be best. 

A good business case presents a problem and an expected outcome with multiple options. 

Write the business case with simple, clear language that non IT people can understand. 

Current and Future State of Bus. Case.

Needs an element of storytelling. Current - right now state of org. Future - after project.

Side by side comparisons are good for visual. The aim is bullet points and not paragraphs.

How to assess the financial impact of your project.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Compares the financial benefit to the cost. Positive number indicates a positive roi.

Cost - money being spent on the project.

Net profit - diff between benefit and cost.

Assumptions are the factors you believe to be true already.

Risks are events that are unforeseen. 

ESG Factors

Environmental, social, governance

Environmental - how the org impacts the natural world.

Social Factors - how the org develops relationships, employee well-being, community involvement. 

Governance factors - how the company operates.

A company must apply ESG to all factors of organization. 

Corporate identity includes the vision, mission and values and brand of the company.

Methodologies and Frameworks

Waterfall - falls a linear sequence

• 6 phases - 

• Requirements

• Design

• Implementation

• Testing

• Delivery

Maintenance

Simplest framework, easy to understand and deploy, through documentation. 

Disadvantage - inflexible, high change mgmt costs.

Use waterfall when fixed reqs with no unknowns, change costs very high, short and simple. 

Agile - flexible and delivers value early and often, uses iterative and incremental, adaptable to change.

Iterative - ability to respond quickly to changing requirements. Opportunity for early and frequent user feedback. 

Incremental development -  delivers small functional parts of a system or product in a step by step manner. Reduced risks, better manage complexity and maintain higher level of control. 

Can lead to scope creep and missed deadlines, and less documentation. 

May not be best for short projects.

Scrum - 

Started as a software dev approach.

All or nothing framework. Must use all parts of scrum, or none.

5 key values - 

• Commitment

• Focus

• Openness

• Respect

• Courage

3 fundamental pillars

• Transparency - all team members know

• Inspection - regular reviewing

• Adaptation - process of making necessary adjustments

4 roles

• Scrum team - group of people that work together

• Product owner - creates maintains product backlog

• Scrum master - team’s coach, helps the team, product owner and org improve the implementation of scrum

• Developer - remaining team members and isn’t exclusive to sw engineers.

Scrum master and project manager are not the same role.

Exam tips - product backlog, - an ordered list of product changes or enhancements.

Product goal - describes the products long term target

Sprint backlog - scrum team’s plan for upcoming sprint

Sprint goal - summarizes the value of the sprint.

Increment - complete body of work that meets the def of ‘done’ to create a shared understanding of what it takes to move forward.

Sprint - lifeforce of scrum - fixed length, usually 1 week-1month. Starts as soon as the previous sprint ends - 

Daily scrum - dev meet and review project and make decisions, 15 minutes

Standing in front of scrum backlog.

Sprint review - agile teams share progress with stakeholders

Sprint retrospective - occurs when team inspects bo they worked on last sprint. How scrum team can better work together.