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Project Managment

Project Managment

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pancitoartsy
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10 views

Project Managment

Project Managment

Uploaded by

pancitoartsy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A project is a unique and temporary endeavor. It has a defined beginning and end.

And the
purpose of the project is to create a specific product or service or to make changes to a specific
product or service.

Now day to day operations, they're not projects. Creating monthly financial reports is not a
project. Cleaning your house, not a project.

When you execute a project, you have certain constraints that you face. A constraint is a factor
which might place limitations or restrictions on what you do or how you do it or when you do it.
For example, if your project is a party or an event and it has to occur on a specific date, that is a
constraint.

As a project manager, you oversee the success of the project. You are using your knowledge and
skills, combined with project management tools and techniques, to ensure that project objectives
are met.

You are the one who is responsible for defining that special event or that payroll system or
implementation.

You help to ensure that the requirements are identified, that all involved are properly
represented, and that communications are clear and well coordinated and you lead the team to
success.

The way in which your project team is structured really sets the tone for how you are going to
work with your team. There are some specific structures that are used by most organizations. The
basis for these organizations is the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge.

The Project Management Body of Knowledge, or PMBOK Guide, has been created for us by the
Project Management Institute, or PMI. The PMI is the global, professional organization for project
managers. The PMI created and now updates the PMBOK Guide to promote successful project
management through standardized knowledge areas and processes, which we use to manage our
projects from start to finish.

In a Functional Organization, there is little to no project management. You might not be involved
as a project manager. Sometimes there can be some project coordination involved. And that
coordination takes place between the functional departments. Now by functional, I mean groups
such as marketing, operations, finance, information technology. Each manager of each group
oversees their part of the project. Employees working on the project may or may not know there's
a project. They just might recognize that their manager has asked them to do something different
than usual. There's probably limited conversation between team members, because they do not
know they are a team. And there are probably no project team meetings.

Now we're going to look at three types of matrix organizations, weak, balanced, and strong. The
designation of weak, balanced, or strong has to do with who has more power or control over the
project, the functional manager or the project manager. And remember that functional manager is
someone who has a responsibility over a specific area and doesn't typically run projects.

In a weak matrix, the functional manager is in charge and he or she will probably have the
assistance of a coordinator. The project coordinator will help maintain the schedule and the status
and assist the functional manager, but the coordinator, not gonna have any decision making
responsibility.

Within the balanced matrix, there's a recognition that having a project manager assigned will help
to ensure success. And that project manager has some decision making responsibilities, but so
does the functional manager. The project manager manages the team to stay within scope and
schedule and budget. And the functional manager will make decisions as to who does the work
and how that work is to be accomplished.

In a strong matrix, the project manager has much more responsibility and authority. But not
complete responsibility and authority. He or she still cannot make all of the decisions.

Now when we talk about a projectized organization, this is where the project manager is king or
queen. The team is dedicated, works on this one project, and the project manager will act as the
manager of the team. Possibly even writing performance appraisals. So which one of these is the
best organization? Now that's a trick question. They all have their place. For example, the
functional organization works very well for groups who do not run very many projects or for
projects which are not complicated and not on a tight deadline.

The Matrix Organizations work well when team members are going to be assigned to a
combination of multiple projects and also other work. And in a matrix, team members could be
assigned to quite a few projects. In a matrix situation, you as the project manager, most likely
you're running multiple projects. As to which matrix is best, weak, balanced or strong? Well the
PMI would ask us to consider strong because that is where the project manager has more power.
And of course the PMI wants to see projects run by project managers, who are drawing upon the
best practices. But sometimes a weak matrix is good, when the functional manager in charge has
much of the required expertise and simply needs help with project coordination.

A balanced matrix works well when it's easy to divide decision making and responsibility between
the project manager and the functional manager. If it makes sense for the project manager to
have more of the authority and the decision making, but not all of it, then a strong matrix could be
the way to go.

Now, a Projectized Organization is good for a very critical project, especially if time is of the
essence. It is more expensive, because you take team members and put them all on one effort,
and they were doing something before, so you probably have to backfill them. But the project gets
all of the focus and attention that's required. There really is a time and a place for each of the
project organizations. And in fact you'll find that some companies may use a combination of all or
some depending on the project at hand.

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