IT PMBOK

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Introduction to Project Management

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 Learning Objective
 Understand the growing need for PM, especially for IT
 Explain what a project is, provide examples of IT projects,
list various attributes of project and describe the triple
constraint
 Describe PM and key elements of PM framework
 Understand the role of PM by describing what PM do,
what skills they need, what the carreer field like for IT
PMs

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Motivation for Studying Software Project Management
 Software Projects have failure record because of following reasons:
 Most of IT and software projects failed or delayed costing billions of
$
 Many bugs/1000 lines of codes
 Delivering the system over budget
 Scope creeping (failure to fulfill all the tasks)
 Less quality system
 Higher cost of project than the planned one
Reasons:
 Lack of Structured and Organized Methodologies
 Lack of good Project Management
 The need for IS projects keeps increasing

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Continued…
 People and organization today have a new and renewed
interest on project management
 Until the 1980s, PM primarily focused on providing:-
 schedule and resource data to top management in the
 military,
 computer, and
 construction industries.

 Today’s PM involves much more, and people in every

industry and every country manage projects.
 PM is a distinct profession with degree programs,
certifications, and excellent career opportunities.

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Advantages of using Formal Project Management
Better control of financial, physical, and human resources

Improved customer relations

Shorter development times

Lower costs and improved productivity

Higher quality and increased reliability

Higher profit margins

Better internal coordination

Higher worker morale(the amount of confidence and enthusiasm)

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 What Is a Project?
 A project is “ a temporary endeavor undertaken to create
a unique product, service, or result”.
 Operations, on the other hand, is work done in
organizations to sustain the business.
 Projects are different from operations in that they end
when their objectives have been reached or the project
has been terminated.

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 Project attributes
 Projects Attributes
A project has unique purpose: Every project should have a
well-defined objective.
A project is temporary : A project has a definite beginning
and a definite end.
A project is developed using progressive elaboration:
Projects are often defined broadly when they begin, and as
time passes, the specific details of the project become
clearer. Therefore, projects should be developed in
increments.
A project requires resources, often from various areas:
Resources include people, hardware, software, and other
assets.
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Project Attributes Cont..
A Project should have a primary sponsor or customer:

The project sponsor usually provides the direction and

funding for the project.
A Project involve uncertainty: Because every project is

unique, it is sometimes difficult to define its objectives

clearly, estimate how long it will take to complete, or
determine how much it will cost. External factors also
cause uncertainty, such as a supplier going out of business
or a project team member needing unplanned time off.
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Examples of Software Projects(1)
 A small software development team adds a new feature
to an internal software application for the finance
department
 A college campus upgrades its technology infrastructure
to provide wireless Internet access across the whole
campus
 A cross-functional taskforce in a company decides what
Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) system to purchase
and how it will be implemented
 An ERP system in Multinational company

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 Examples of IT Projects(2)
 A television network implements a system to allow viewers to
vote for contestants and provide other feedback on programs
 The automobile industry develops a Web site to streamline
procurement
 A government group develops a system to track child
immunizations
 A large group of volunteers from organizations throughout
the world develops standards for environmentally friendly or
green IT
 A company develops a new system to increase sales force
productivity and customer relationship management.

NB: “IT projects” refers to projects involving hardware,

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software and networking
The Triple Constraint
 Every project is constrained in different ways by its
 Scope goals: What is the project trying to accomplish?
 Time goals: How long should it take to complete?
 Cost goals: What should it cost?

 It is the project manager’s duty to balance these three often

competing triple constraints goals
Successful project
management means
meeting all three
goals (scope, time,
and cost) – and
satisfying the
project’s sponsor!

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 Continued…
 Scope: What work will be done as part of the project? What

unique product, service, or result does the customer or sponsor

expect from the project? How will the scope be verified?
 Time: How long should it take to complete the project? What is

the project’s schedule? How will the team track actual schedule
performance? Who can approve changes to the schedule?
 Cost: What should it cost to complete the project? What is the

project’s budget? How will costs be tracked? Who can authorize

changes to the budget?
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 Problems with IT project
Manager’s point of view problems
Poor estimates and plan
Lack of quality standards and measures
Lack of guidance about making organizational decisions
Lack of techniques to make progress visible
Poor role definition –who does what?
Incorrect success criteria

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 Problems with IT project (cont’d…)
Members of team point of view problems
Inadequate specification of work
Management ignorance of IT
Lack of knowledge of application area
Lack of standards
Lack of up to date documentation
Preceding activities not completed on time-including late
delivery of equipment
Lack of communication b/n users and technicians
Lack of communication leading duplication of work

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 Problems with IT project (cont’d…)
Members of team point of view problems…
Lack of commitment – especially when a project is tied to
one person who then moves
Narrow scope of technical experts
Changing software environment
Remote management
Lack of training

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What is Project Management?

 Project management “is the application of knowledge,

skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in

order to meet project requirements”. PMBOK
 Project managers must not only strive to meet specific

scope, time, cost, and quality goals of projects, they must

also facilitate the entire process to meet the needs and
expectations of the people involved in or affected by
project activities.
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Project Management Framework

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10 Knowledge areas for PM

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PM Framework Elements (1)
 Project Stakeholders: are the people involved in or
affected by project activities
Stakeholders include the project sponsor , project
manager, project team, support staff, customers,
users, suppliers and opponents to the project
 These stakeholders often have very different needs and
expectations.
 Stakeholders’ needs and expectations are important in
the beginning and throughout the life of a project.
 Successful project managers develop good relationships
with project stakeholders to understand and meet their
needs and expectations.
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PM Framework Elements (2 )
 9+1 Project Management Knowledge Areas:
Knowledge areas describe the key competencies that project
managers must develop
4 core knowledge areas lead to specific project objectives
(scope, time, cost, and quality)
5 facilitating knowledge areas are the means through
which the project objectives are achieved (human
resources, communication, risk, procurement
management, stakeholder management.
1 knowledge area (project integration management)
affects and is affected by all of the other knowledge areas.
All knowledge areas are important!

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Project Management Knowledge Areas
 Project management knowledge areas describe the key
competencies that project managers must develop.
1. Project scope management involves defining and
managing all the work required to complete the project
successfully.
2. Project time management includes estimating how long it
will take to complete the work, developing an acceptable
project schedule, and ensuring timely completion of the
project.
3. Project cost management consists of preparing and
managing the budget for the project.

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Continued…
4. Project quality management ensures that the
project will satisfy the stated or implied needs for which
it was undertaken.
5. Project human resource management is concerned
with making effective use of the people involved with
the project.
6. Project communications management involves
generating, collecting, disseminating, and storing
project information.
7. Project risk management includes identifying,
analyzing, and responding to risks related to the project

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Continued…
8. Project procurement management involves acquiring
or procuring goods and services for a project from outside
the performing organization.
9. Project stakeholder management includes identifying
and analyzing stakeholder needs while managing and
controlling their engagement throughout the life of the
project.
10. Project integration management is an overarching
function that affects and is affected by all of the other
knowledge areas.
Project managers must have knowledge and skills in all ten
of these areas.
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PM Framework Elements (3)

 Project Management Tools and Techniques:

Project management tools and techniques assist
project managers and their teams in various aspects of
project management
Some specific ones include
 Project Charter and WBS (scope)
 Gantt charts, network diagrams, critical path analysis, critical chain
scheduling (time)
 Cost estimates and earned value management (cost)

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PM Framework Elements (3)
 Project Success:
There are several ways to define project success:
The project met scope, time, and cost goals
The project satisfied the customer/sponsor
The results of the project met its main objective, such as
making or saving a certain amount of money, providing a
good return on investment, or simply making the
sponsors happy

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Project success factors
 Project success factors
 Executive support
 User involvement
 Experienced project manager
 Clear business objectives
 Minimized scope
 Standard SW infrastructure
 Firm basic requirement
 Formal methodology
 Reliable estimates
 Other criteria like small milestones, proper planning and
competent staff

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The Role of the Project Manager

 Job descriptions vary, but most include responsibilities

like planning, scheduling, coordinating, and working
with people to achieve project goals

 Remember that 97% of successful projects were led by

experienced project managers, who can often help
influence success factors

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Project manager Job Description
A project manager can have many different job
descriptions, which can vary tremendously based on the
organization and the project.
 Project manager for a consulting firm:
• Plans, schedules, and controls activities to fulfill
identified objectives applying technical, theoretical, and
managerial skills to satisfy project requirements.

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 Continued…
 IT project manager for a financial services firm:
Manages, prioritizes, develops, and implements IT solutions to
meet business needs.
Prepares and executes project plans using project management
software following a standard methodology.
Establishes Cross functional end-user teams defining and
implementing projects on time and within budget.
Acts as a liaison/relationship between third-party service
providers and end users to develop and implement technology
solutions.
Participates in vendor contract development and budget
management.
Provides post-implementation support.

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 Continued…

 IT project manager for a nonprofit consulting firm:

Responsibilities include business analysis, requirements
gathering, project planning, budget estimating,
development, testing, and implementation.
Responsible for working with various resource providers to
ensure development is completed in a timely, high-quality,
and cost-effective manner.

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 Suggested Skills for Project Managers
 Project managers need a wide variety of skills
 They should:
Be comfortable with change
Understand the organizations they work in and with
Be able to lead teams to accomplish project goals

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How Project Management (PM) Relates to Other Disciplines

 Project managers should also possess general management

knowledge and skills.
 Much of the knowledge needed to manage projects is
unique to PM
 However, project managers must also have knowledge
and experience in
general management
the application area of the project
 Project managers must focus on meeting specific project
objectives

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Continued…

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 Most Important Skills and Competencies for PM

1. People skills
2. Leadership
3. Listening
4. Integrity, ethical behavior, consistent
5. Strong at building trust
6. Verbal communication
7. Strong at building teams
8. Conflict resolution, conflict management
9. Critical thinking, problem solving
10. Understands, balances priorities

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 Different Skills Needed in Different Situations

 Large projects: leadership, relevant prior experience,

planning, people skills, verbal communication, and
team-building skills were most important
 High uncertainty projects: risk management,
expectation management, leadership, people skills,
and planning skills were most important
 Very novel projects: leadership, people skills, having
vision and goals, self confidence, expectations
management, and listening skills were most
important

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 Importance of Leadership Skills

 Effective project managers provide leadership by example

 A leader focuses on long-term goals and big-picture

objectives while inspiring people to reach those goals
 A manager deals with the day-to-day details of meeting
specific goals
 Project managers often take on the role of both leader and
manager

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Ethics in Project Management

 Ethics, loosely defined, is a set of principles that guide

our decision making based on personal values of what is
“right” and “wrong”

 Project managers often face ethical dilemmas

 In order to earn PMP certification, applicants must agree

to PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

 Several questions on the PMP exam are related to

professional responsibility, including ethics

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 Task 2

Prepare a presentation on
 PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

 NB: each presentation should be unique

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Project Management Software
 There are hundreds of different products to assist in
performing project management
 Three main categories of tools:
Low-end tools: handle single or smaller projects well, cost
under $200 per user
Midrange tools: handle multiple projects and users, cost
$200-600 per user, Project 2007 most popular
High-end tools: also called enterprise project management
software, often licensed on a per-user basis, like VPMi
Enterprise Online (www.vcsonline.com) – see front cover for
trial version information

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 Task 3
 Prepare presentation on not more than 10 pages
 Detail review of project management software

Tip:
 See the Project Management Center Web site
(www.infogoal.com/pmc) or Top Ten Reviews(http://project-
management-software-review.toptenreviews.com) for links
to many companies that provide project management
software

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Project Phases and the Project Life Cycle

 A project life cycle is a collection of project phases that

defines:
What work will be performed in each phase

What deliverables will be produced and when

Who is involved in each phase

How management will control and approve work produced

in each phase
 A deliverable is a product or service produced or
provided as part of a project
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What is a Project Management Life Cycle?

 A system development project is a set of activities that

starts and ends at identifiable points in time and that
produces quantifiable and qualifiable deliverables.
 Projects are staffed by people using processes and
technology to design, develop and deliver a product
package.
 People, processes and technology all have to be managed
during the life of a project.

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Continued…
 Project Management is the process by which a project is
initiated, planned, controlled, and brought to a conclusion
to support the accomplishment of business and system
objectives.
 Since a project has a defined beginning and end, with
numerous activities and deliverables that have to be
managed, we are calling the aggregation of these
management methods a Project Management Life Cycle
(PMLC).

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Relationship of PMLC to the Product Development Life
Cycle (PDLC)

 The scope of project management is not the technical

work which prepares the information technology based
products.
 Rather, the domain of project management is the
management of all the factors which surround and enable
the technical development work to be accomplished.
 These factors include
project resources,
time,
cost,
schedule and
quality.
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Continued…

 Project success is often defined as meeting the project cost,

schedule and quality constraints.
 The scope of the Product Development Life Cycle (PDLC) is
all of the project technical functions that have to be
performed to produce, maintain and support the expected
product deliverables.
 These functions include
business analysis,
 functional and technical requirements definition,
system design,
construction,
rollout/release and maintenance.
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 Continued…

 During the formation and execution of a project,

 the activities in the PMLC and PDLC are integrated, i.e.,

all technical activities are planned (using the PDLC as a
source of technical activities to be performed) and
executed using the planning, execution and control
methods defined in the PMLC.

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 Continued…
 If PMLC and PDLC activities are integrated during a project, why are
they separated in the methodology? They are separated in order to:

1. Recognize the natural separation of project work between technical

and project management activities. And to facilitate the training and
use of these activities by the project members responsible for them.
2. Recognize the importance of both the technical and management
work. And ensure that project management activities are clearly
identified and performed.
3. Facilitate the effective maintenance (improvement) of both life
cycles.

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Project Management Process Groups

 Project management can be viewed as a number of

interlinked processes
 The project management process groups include
Initiating processes
Planning processes
Executing processes
Monitoring and Controlling processes
Closing processes

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 Continued…

 Initiating processes include defining and authorizing a

project or project phase. Initiating processes take place
during each phase of a project.
 Therefore, you cannot equate process groups with project
phases.

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 Continued…
 Planning processes include devising and maintaining a
workable scheme to ensure that the project addresses the
organization’s needs.
 The planning tasks include the definition of project scope,
deliverables and constraints (what will be done), the
selection of management and technical methods that will
be used (how it will be done), the definition and
organization of the project team (who will do it), the
estimation of effort and resources required (how much it
will cost), and the determination of project milestones
and schedules (when it will be done).

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 Continued…

 Projects include several plans, such as the scope

management plan, schedule management plan, cost
management plan, and procurement management plan.
 These plans define each knowledge area as it relates to the
project at that point in time.

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 Continued…
 Executing processes include coordinating people and
other resources to carry out the various plans and create
the products, services, or results of the project or phase.
 Examples of executing processes include acquiring and
developing the project team, performing quality
assurance, distributing information, managing
stakeholder expectations, and conducting procurements.

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 Continued…
 Monitoring and controlling processes include regularly
measuring and monitoring progress to ensure that the
project team meets the project objectives.
 The project manager and staff monitor and measure
progress against the plans and take corrective action when
necessary.
 A common monitoring and controlling process is reporting
performance, where project stakeholders can identify any
necessary changes that may be required to keep the project
on track.

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 Continued…
 Closing processes include formalizing acceptance of the
project or project phase and ending it efficiently.
 Administrative activities are often involved in this process
group, such as archiving project files, closing out
contracts, documenting lessons learned, and receiving
formal acceptance of the delivered work as part of the
phase or project.

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More on Project Phases
 In early phases of a project life cycle:
Resource needs are usually lowest
The level of uncertainty (risk) is highest
Project stakeholders have the greatest opportunity to
influence the project
 In middle phases of a project life cycle:
The certainty of completing a project improves
More resources are needed
 The final phase of a project life cycle focuses on:
Ensuring that project requirements were met
The sponsor approves completion of the project

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Phases of the Traditional Project Life Cycle

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 Product Life Cycles
 Products also have life cycles
 The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a
framework for describing the phases involved in
developing and maintaining information systems
 Typical SDLC phases include planning, analysis, design,
implementation, and support
 Systems development projects can follow
Predictive life cycle: the scope of the project can be clearly
articulated and the schedule and cost can be predicted
Adaptive Software Development (ASD) life cycle:
requirements cannot be clearly expressed, projects are
mission driven and component based, using time-based
cycles to meet target dates 58
Predictive Life Cycle Models
 Waterfall model: has well-defined, linear stages of
systems development and support
 Spiral model: shows that software is developed using an
iterative or spiral approach rather than a linear approach
 Incremental release model: provides for progressive
development of operational software
 RAD model: used to produce systems quickly without
sacrificing quality
 Prototyping model: used for developing prototypes to
clarify user requirements

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Spiral Model of Software Development (Boehm,
1988)

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Distinguishing Project Life Cycles and Product Life
Cycles
 The project life cycle applies to all projects, regardless of
the products being produced
 Product life cycle models vary considerably based on the
nature of the product
 Most large IT products are developed as a series of projects
 Project management is done in all of the product life cycle
phases

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 The Context of IT Projects
 IT projects can be very diverse in terms of size,
complexity, products produced, application area, and
resource requirements
 IT project team members often have diverse backgrounds
and skill sets
 IT projects use diverse technologies that change rapidly;
even within one technology area, people must be highly
specialized

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 Reading Assignment
Models:
 Waterfall Model
 V-Model
 Spiral Model
 RAD Model
 Prototyping Model
 The Saw tooth Model

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