Contemporary

Methods and
Tools of
Project
Management
Lecture 3
Project Phases.
Launching The Project
(Contd.)
Launching - Tools, Templates, and Processes

Project manager

Problem solving
Decision making
Conflict resolution
Consensus building
Team meetings
Project Charter

Explaining what the project needs to achieve, including: To define the choice of the approach that will be used in
the project to deliver its outcomes
Background
Project objectives (covering time, cost, quality, scope,
risk and benefit performance goals) A chart showing who will be involved with the project
Desired outcomes
Project scope and exclusions
Constraints and assumptions For the project management team and any other key
The user(s) and any other known interested parties resources
Interfaces

Describing the quality techniques and standards to be

Describing the justification for the project based on applied, and the responsibilities for achieving the
estimated costs, risks, and benefits required quality levels
Project Charter (contd.)

Describing how and by whom the project’s deliverables Describing how and when the project’s objectives are to
will be controlled and protected be achieved, by showing the major products, activities
and resources required on the project. It provides a
baseline
Describing the specific risk management techniques and
standards to be applied, and the responsibilities for
achieving an effective risk management procedure Summarizing the project-level controls such as stage
boundaries, agreed tolerances, monitoring and reporting

To define the parties interested in the project and the

means and frequency of communication between them
and the project
Sample Project Charter. Contents
1 Purpose/Project Justification
2 Scope Statement
3 Objectives and success criteria
4 Project Assumptions and/Or Constraints
5 Preliminary Risk Statement
6 Milestone Schedule
7 Estimated Budget
8 Key Stakeholders
9 Project Resources
10 Project Governance Requirements
11 Project Management
Project Kick-Off Meeting

Introduce the sponsor to the project team Sponsor

Introduce the importance of the project by the sponsor
Introduce the project (client) Other managers
Introduce the project (project manager)
Introduce the project team members to each other Project team
Write the Charter
Establish the team operating rules Contractors and vendors
Review the project plan
Finalize the project schedule
Write work packages
Project Performance Domains
Stakeholders
Stakeholder Performance Domain

A productive working relationship with stakeholders

throughout the project

Stakeholder agreement with project objectives

Stakeholders who are project beneficiaries are

supportive and satisfied with stakeholders who may
oppose the project or its deliverables do not natively
impact project outcomes
Stakeholders Engagement Suppliers
Customers
Users
Regulatory
bodies
Power
Impact Governing
Attitude bodies
Beliefs PMO
Steering
Expectations
committee
Degree of influence
Proximity to the project
Interest in the project
Other aspects Project manager
Project
management
team
Project team
Push
Pull
Interactive
Find and Analyze Stakeholders

Work on the project

Provide people or resources for the Power – ability to get others to do
project something
Have their routines disrupted by the Legitimacy – perception that their actions
project are appropriate
Monitor regulations, laws, and standards of Urgency – time sensitivity and legitimacy of
practice at local, country, state, and federal claim
levels
Are direct users of the project outcomes Interest
(product or services) Influence - the power to have an effect on
Are directly or indirectly affected people or things
(positively or negatively) by the project Impact - a powerful effect that something
outcomes has on a situation or person
Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix

Share individual motives

Encourage open communication

Jointly establish agenda

Use shared learning

Regularly celebrate success

Share enjoinment of project

Use appropriate decision-

making and problem solving
Stakeholder Communication Plan

What (which Who When How (Channel)

information)
Document
Email
Phone call
Meeting
1-2-1 meeting
Access to the system
Checking Outcomes - Stakeholder
Performance Domain
Outcome Check

A productive working relationship with Productive working relationships with stakeholders can be observed. The
stakeholders throughout the project movement of stakeholders along a continuum of engagement can
indicate the relative level of satisfaction with the project
Stakeholder agreement with project A significant number of changes or modifications to the project and
objectives product requirements in addition to the scope may indicate stakeholders
are not engaged or aligned with the project objectives
Stakeholders who are project Stakeholder behavior can indicate whether project beneficiaries are
beneficiaries are supportive and satisfied satisfied and supportive of the project or whether they oppose it.
with stakeholders who may oppose the Surveys, interviews, and focus groups are effective ways to determine if
project or its deliverables do not stakeholders are satisfied and supportive or if they oppose the project
natively impact project outcomes and its deliverables.

A review of the project issue register and risk register can identify
challenges associated with individual stakeholders
Project Phases.
Executing The Project
Executing - Tools, Templates, and Processes
Project Performance Domains

Project work
Project Work Performance Domain

Efficient and effective project performance

Project processes are appropriate for the project and

the environment

Appropriate communication with stakeholders

Efficient management of physical resources

Effective management of procurement

Effective handling of change

Improved team capability due to continuous learning and

process improvement
Project Work

Explicit and tacit knowledge

Checking Outcomes - Stakeholder Performance Domain
Outcome Check
Efficient and effective project performance Status reports show that project work is efficient and effective

Project processes are appropriate for the Evidence shows that the project processes have been tailored to meet the needs of the project and
project and the environment the environment. Process audits and quality assurance activities show that the processes are relevant
and being used effectively
Appropriate communication with The project communications management plan and communication artifacts demonstrate that the
stakeholders planned communications are being delivered to stakeholders.There are few ad hoc requests for
information or misunderstandings that might indicate engagement and communication activities are
not effective
Efficient management of physical resources The amount of material used, scrap discarded, and amount of rework indicate that resources are
being used efficiently
Effective management of procurement A procurement audit demonstrates that appropriate processes utilized were sufficient for the
procurement and that the contractor is performing to plan
Effective handling of change Projects using a predicate approach have a change log that demonstrates changes are being evaluated
holistically with consideration for scope, schedule, budget, resource. Stakeholder, and risk impacts.
Projects using an adaptive approach have a backlog that shows the rate of accomplishing scope and
the rate of adding new scope.
Improved team capability due to Team status reports show fewer errors and rework with an increase in velocity
continuous learning and process
improvement
Project Performance Domains

Delivery
Delivery Performance Domain

Projects contribute to business objectives and

advancement of strategy

Projects realize the outcomes that they were initiated to

deliver

Projects benefits are realized in the time frame in which

they were planned

The project team has a clear understanding of

requirements

Stakeholders accept and are satisfied with project

deliverables
Delivery Performance Domain Definitions

A condition or capability that is necessary to be present The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics
in product, service, or result to satisfy a business need fulfills requirements

A hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work All costs incurred over the life of the product:
investment in preventing nonconformance to
requirements, appraisal of the product or service for
A checklist of all the criteria required to be met so that conformance to requirements, and failure to meet
a deliverable can be considered read for customer use requirements
Deliverables

Interim or final product, service, or result from a project

To the business, customer, or other stakeholder during

the project

Requirements
Scope
Product deliverables
Requirements

Elicit means to draw out, bring forth, or evoke Clear

Document and gain stakeholder agreement on Concise

requirements
Verifiable

Not something rigid in time Consistent

Complete
Scope
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical
decomposition of the total scope of work

Product backlog in Agile

Acceptance or completion criteria

Technical performance metrics (in WBS dictionary)

Definition of Done – the checklist of all the criteria

required to be met so that a deliverable can be
considered ready for the customer use
Moving Targets of Completion

Scope creep - traditional

Done drift - Agile

Quality

Prevention – keep defects and failures out of

product; product or service requirements,
quality planning, quality assurance, training

Appraisal – verification (conformance to

specification), quality audits, supplier rating

Internal failure – waste, scrap, rework or

rectification, failure analysis

External failure – repairs and servicing, warranty

claims, complaints, returns, reputation
Checking Outcomes - Delivery Performance Domain
Outcome Check

Projects contribute to business The business plan and the organization’s strategic plan, along with the project
objectives and advancement of authorizing documents, demonstrate that the project deliverables and business
strategy objectives are aligned
Projects realize the outcomes The business case and underlying data indicate the project is still on track to
that they were initiated to deliver realize the intended outcomes

Projects benefits are realized in The benefits realization plan, business case, and/or schedule indicate that the
the time frame in which they financial metrics and scheduled deliveries are being achieved as planned
were planned
The project team has a clear In predictive development, little change in the initial requirements reflects
understanding of requirements understanding. In projects where requirements are evolving, a clear
understanding of requirements may not take place until well into the project
Stakeholders accept and are Interviews, observation, and end user feedback indicate stakeholder satisfaction
satisfied with project deliverables with deliverables. Levels of complaints and returns can also be used to indicate
satisfaction
Project Performance Domains

Measurement
 “What gets measured gets managed” – P. Druker
Measurement
Measurement Performance Domain

A reliable understanding of the status of the project

Actionable data to facilitate decision making

Timely and appropriate actions to keep project

performance on track

Achieving targets and generating business value by

making informed and timely decisions based on reliable
forecasts and evaluations
Measurement Performance Domain
Definitions
A description of a project or product attribute and how Leading – predict changes or trends in the project
to measure it
Lagging – measure project deliverables or events after
the fact
The approved version of a work product used as a basis
for comparison to actual results
Specific
Meaningful (Measurable)
A set of charts and graphs showing progress or Achievable
performance against important measures of the project Relevant
Time-bound
What To Measure

Information on errors or defects

Start and finish dates
Measure of performance – physical and functional
Efforts and duration
attributes
Schedule variance (on critical path) SV = EV - PV
Technical performance measures
Schedule performance index (earned value, SPI = EV/PV)
Feature completion rates

Work in progress
Actual costs compared to planned costs (labor and
Lead time (from customer request to delivery)
resources – burn rate)
Cycle time (from production start to delivery)
Cost variance (actual vs estimated cost of a deliverable)
Queue size
CV = EV - AC
Batch size
Cost performance index (CPI) = EV / AC
Process efficiency (e.g., production time / total process
time)
EV – earned value; PV – planned value; AC – actual costs
Simple EVM implementation
Elements must be mutually exclusive (work is PV (t) = SUM PVWP for all WPs (t)
allocated only to specific WPs, activities, tasks)
EV (t) = SUM EVWP for all WPs (t)

PVWP ($ or hours) AC = SUM ACWP for all WPs (t)

Ideally daily; usually weakly or monthly

0 to 100% rule; EVWP = 100% only when WP is
finished, 0 otherwise

50/50 rule; EVWP = 50% when started, other

50% upon completion

20/80 or 25/75 rule

Earned Value
What To Measure (2)

Planned resource utilization to actual resource Net Promoter Score (NPS), Mood chart, Morale,
utilization Turnover
Planned resource cost to actual resource cost
NPS is the likelihood that customers would recommend
a company, product, or a service to a friend or colleague
Cost-benefit ratio
Planned benefits delivery vs actual benefits delivery
Return on investment (ROI)
Net present value (NPV) = present value of inflows of
capital – present value of outflows of capital (in time)
Forecasts
Expected EV costs to finish all remaining work

Expected EV to complete all work

VAC = BAC - EAC

TCPI = cost to finish / remaining budget

Presenting Information. Dashboards
Presenting Information. Information
Radiators
Gantt Chart. Baseline vs Actual

W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8
ID Work item/Activity/Task
1. Project management
1.1. Project Scope on track
1.1.1. Develop Success criteria
1.1.2. Create RBS concern
1.1.3. Formulate Scope
1.1.4. Create Project Overview Statement issue
1.1.5. Hold Project Scoping Meting
1.1.6. Write Project Scoping Meeting Minutes
1.2. Project Plan
1.2.1. Develop WBS
1.2.2. Develop Schedule
Cost Plan. Budget vs Actual
W1B W1A Va1 W2B W2A Va2 W3B W3A Va3
Work item/Activity/Task
Project management
Project Scope
Develop Success criteria 5 000 ₽ 7 000 ₽ 2 000 ₽
Create RBS 15 000 ₽ 15 000 ₽ - ₽
Formulate Scope 2 000 ₽ 2 000 ₽ - ₽
Create Project Overview Statement 3 000 ₽ 3 000 ₽ - ₽
Hold Project Scoping Meting 9 000 ₽ 10 000 ₽ 1 000 ₽
Write Project Scoping Meeting Minutes 1 000 ₽ 1 000 ₽ - ₽
Project Plan
Develop WBS 15 000 ₽ 25 000 ₽ 10 000 ₽
Develop Schedule 15 000 ₽ 18 000 ₽ 3 000 ₽

1 2 3
Total costs of the week and variance 20 000 ₽ 22 000 ₽ 2 000 ₽ 14 000 ₽ 15 000 ₽ 1 000 ₽ 31 000 ₽ 44 000 ₽ 13 000 ₽

1 2 3
Accumulated costs 20 000 ₽ 22 000 ₽ 2 000 ₽ 34 000 ₽ 37 000 ₽ 3 000 ₽ 65 000 ₽ 81 000 ₽ 16 000 ₽
Cost Plan Graphs
Accumulated Costs
90 000 ₽

80 000 ₽
Costs per week
70 000 ₽

60 000 ₽
50 000 ₽
45 000 ₽ 50 000 ₽
40 000 ₽
35 000 ₽ 40 000 ₽
30 000 ₽
30 000 ₽
25 000 ₽
20 000 ₽
20 000 ₽
15 000 ₽
10 000 ₽ 10 000 ₽
5 000 ₽
- ₽ - ₽
Budget Actual Variance 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 2 3
Ac budget Ac actual Ac variance
Presenting Information. Kanban Board
Presenting Information. Story Points
Measurement Pitfalls

Measurement can influence behavior Look for and see information which support preexisting
point of view

Shown data does not provide information

Project over budget and behind schedule – not budget
caused schedule issues – not schedule caused budget
Not achievable measures and goals issues

Wrong focus: less important vs most important;

performing well short-term vs long-term; out-of-
sequence activities to improve metrics
Checking Outcomes - Measurement Performance Domain
Outcome Check

A reliable understanding of the status Audit measurements and reports demonstrate if data is reliable
of the project

Actionable data to facilitate decision Measurements indicate whether the project is performing as expected
making or if there are variances
Timely and appropriate actions to keep Measurement provide leading indicators and/or current status leads to
project performance on track timely decisions and actions

Achieving targets and generating Reviewing past forecasts and current performance demonstrates if
business value by making informed and previous forecasts reflect the present accurately. Comparing the actual
timely decisions based on reliable performance with the planned performance and evaluating business
forecasts and evaluations documents will show the likelihood of achievingg intended value from
the project
Project Performance Domains

Uncertainty
Uncertainty
(Risk Management)
Uncertainty Performance Domain
An awareness of the environment in which projects occur, including, but not limited to,
the technical, social, political, market, and economic environments

Proactively exploring and responding to uncertainty

An awareness of the interdependence of multiple variables on the project

The capacity to anticipate threats and opportunities and understand the consequences of
issues

Project delivery with little or no negative impact from unforeseen events or conditions

Opportunities are realized to improve project performance and outcomes

Cost and schedule reserves are utilized effectively to maintain alignment with project
deliverables
Measurement Performance Domain
Definitions
A lack of understanding and awareness of issues events, The possibility for rapid and unpredictable change
paths to follow, or solutions to pursue

An uncertain event or condition that, if occurs, has a

A state of being unclear, having difficulty in identifying the positive or negative effect on one or more project
cause of events, or having multiple options from which objectives
to choose

A characteristic of a program or project or its

environment that is difficult to manage duet to human
behavior, system behavior, and ambiguity
General Uncertainty and Volatility
Gather information Alternative analysis

Prepare for multiple outcomes Reserve

Set-based design – multiple designs or alternatives

earlier in the project

Build-in resilience
Threats, Ambiguity, Complexity

Avoid – team acts to eliminate or protect Progressive elaboration

Escalate – when the threat is outside of the project Experiments

scope
Prototypes
Transfer – to a third party

Mitigate – actions to reduce probability or impact System-based – decoupling; simulation

Accept – no proactive measures but contingency plan Reframing – diversity; balance

Process – based – iterate; engage; fail safe (redundancy

built-in)
Risks Score
Likelihood Critical 5 10 15 20 25
High 4 8 12 16 20
Medium 3 6 9 12 15
Low 2 4 6 8 10
Negligible 1 2 3 4 5
Negligible Low Medium High Critical
Impact

Avoid Low risk

1-9
Medium Risk
10-16
High Risk
17-25
Escalate
Transfer
Mitigate Low risk – accept
Accept Medium risk – avoid, escalate, transfer, mitigate
High risk – escalate, transfer, mitigate
Risks. Threat Profile
Low, Medium, High (1, 2, 3);

Negligible, Low, Medium, High (1, 2, 3)

Risk Log

Risk ID Risk Likelihood Impact Score What to do Mitigation Owner

L1 Contracts (signed; with clients and suppliers) 2 5 10 Reduce Ensure early signing of contracts Sales director
Microsoft abandons tools which company
T1 uses for software development 2 5 10 Reduce Evaluate other tools CTO
C1 Copyright and IP infringement 1 5 5 Accept MD
F1 Unauthorized use of assets 1 3 3 Accept MD
Fi1 Currency risk - FX risk (manats to GPB) 1 4 4 Accept FD
Opportunities, etc.

Exploit Set

Escalate
Regular cadence and feedback
Share

Enhance

Accept
Checking Outcomes - Uncertainty Performance Domain
Outcome Check
An awareness of the environment in which projects occur, The team incorporates environmental consideration when evaluating uncertainty, risk,
including, but not limited to, the technical, social, political, and responses
market, and economic environments
Proactively exploring and responding to uncertainty Risk responses are aligned with the prioritization of project constrains, such as
budget, schedule, and performance
An awareness of the interdependence of multiple variables Actions to address complexity, ambiguity, and volatility are appropriate for the project
on the project

The capacity to anticipate threats and opportunities and Systems for identifying, capturing, and responding to risk are appropriately robust
understand the consequences of issues

Project delivery with little or no negative impact from Scheduled delivery dates are met, and the budget performance is within the variance
unforeseen events or conditions threshold

Opportunities are realized to improve project Teams use established mechanisms to identify and leverage opportunities
performance and outcomes
Cost and schedule reserves are utilized effectively to Teams take steps to proactively prevent threats, thereby limiting use of cost or
maintain alignment with project deliverables schedule reserve
Project Phases.
Closing The Project
Closing - Tools, Templates, and Processes

Acceptance test procedure Project overview statement

Original and revised project schedule
Minutes of the meetings
Phased, parallel, by business unit Copies of status reports
Design documents
Copies of change notices
Written communication
Outstanding issues reports
Final report
Sample deliverables
Client acceptance documents
Post-implementation audit report