Project Management FAQs

Review these key terms and concepts used in project management. Pay attention to the roles of the project manager, project sponsor, and the project lifecycle.

What is a Project?

In project management, a project consists of a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. The main characteristics of a project are:

  • It is a temporary endeavor
  • It has fixed start and end dates
  • It is unique – no two projects are exactly the same, and it is not a routine operation
  • It is performed by a team of people - teams are temporary in nature. They will be dispersed at the end of the project.
  • It has a defined budget.
  • It has a sponsor - someone who wants the project done and will guide and fight for it.
  • It has a defined objective/endpoint that you can measure when complete.

 

What is Project Management?

Application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.

 

What is a Program?

Collection of Activities executed together in such a way that the cumulative benefit is higher than when they are executed one at a time.

 

What is Program Management?

Overall management of a program is not the individual management of the constituent projects in the program. The focus is on achieving the program objectives rather than individual project progress.

 

What is an Operation?

An operation is also performed by people. The major difference between an operation and a project is that operations are repetitive, whereas projects are temporary.

 

What are the Similarities Between a Project and an Operation?

  • Both are performed by people
  • Both have deliverables
  • Both have limited resources
  • Both are Planned, Executed, and Controlled

 

What are the Differences Between a Project and an Operation?

  • A project is temporary, whereas an operation is ongoing
  • Projects have temporary teams, whereas operations have permanent teams (relatively)
  • Each project is unique, whereas operation steps are identical

 

Who is a Stakeholder?

Any person or community impacted by the project execution or project outcome or by non-execution of the project.

 

What is a PMO?

A PMO (Project Management Office) is an organization within an organization supporting the project management practice within the organization. PMO will aid in:

  • Making available critical project management related knowledge to the projects within the organization;
  • Providing tools and templates for project management;
  • Supporting the tools and templates usage;
  • Making available critical resources to the projects on time.

 

The Project Management Office (PMO) Concept

An organization conducting several projects on an ongoing basis should consider the creation of a central functional unit to supply project management resources and tools, develop a methodology and procedures, and look after systems. All these resources can be regrouped in a special unit to be called one of several names depending upon its intent and staffing. Such a unit is commonly called a Project Management Office (PMO), Project Support Office or Project Information Office. The specific roles and responsibilities assigned to the unit can influence the selection of its name

Depending upon its importance, there are several roles and responsibilities that can be assigned to a project office. They can be broken into the following major categories:

  • Management of Project Environment;
  • Project Information;
  • Project Support.

The organization that wishes to focus primarily on the project management process will usually assign a senior manager to lead the process. This manager, who could be a vice president or director of project management, would assume the following responsibilities:

  • Ensure the Transition.

Once an organization has decided to carry out a corporate or departmental project management approach, the complete venture should be organized as a major project. The Project Management Office (PMO) would play a key role in leading this project.

  • Provide Senior Project Managers.

The PMO could be the functional organization responsible for supplying senior project managers to major corporate initiatives involving many operational functional groups and requiring unbiased management. It should not be, however, the PMO's responsibility to provide all project managers.

  • Coaching Project Teams.

The PMO could provide coaching services to project teams across the organization in both project planning and execution. These services could be offered to divisions that are starting to run their own projects with managers and teams who are still lacking the required project planning and management abilities. The coaching could include: (1) planning facilitation to help the project team develop a good project plan in line with the organization's project management methodology and procedures; (2) setting up the monitoring and control processes; and (3) facilitating team building and conflict resolution.

  • Risk Assessment.

The PMO can provide two major functions for risk assessment for the organization: to have risk assessment tools available with coaching support for project managers to be used upon request; and upon direction of the Project Review Committee or other competent authority, conduct risk assessment against specified projects for corporate management.

  • Project Post Evaluation.

The PMO could provide post evaluation of selected projects if desired by the organization.

  • Career Development.

In cooperation with the Human Resources Branch, the PMO could take the lead in defining the career paths and training requirements for the project management field within the organization. This task should include:

  • The development of job categories and descriptions;
  • The selection of personnel to enter the project management field;
  • The development of a training curriculum for project management; and
  • The development and delivery of training materials.

 

What is Project Portfolio Management?

Project portfolio management is all about choosing the right projects to execute that align with the organizational strategy and will give the organization the maximum return on investment. The projects to execute are determined by techniques such as:

  • NPV – net present value of investments;
  • ROI – Return on investments;
  • Payback period;
  • Opportunity cost, etc.

 

What are the Different Types of Organizational structures? How Do They Impact PM Role?

Functional Organizations

Functional organization is the most common form of organization. The organization is grouped by area of specialization within different functional areas (sales, manufacturing, purchase, quality control, etc.). In a functional organization, maximum power rests with the functional manager, and the project manager's role in decision-making is minimal. Project managers play a coordinator/facilitator role. Control over the team by the project manager is minimal.

Advantages of a functional organization; In a projectized organization, the team gets dismantled once the project is over, hence the ownership of the career path of the project team members are not fully owned by any. This can be the situation in matrix organizations too since there are two bosses. Whereas in a typical functional organization, the team member's career progression is fully owned by the functional manager.

Team members report to only one boss, avoiding conflict of interest. Easier management of specialists. Fully under the control of the functional manager. Similar resources are centralized, hence better synergy within groups.

Disadvantages of a functional organization;

  • Preference for functional specialization, at the cost of the project;
  • No career path in project management;
  • Project manager has no authority.

 

Projectized Organizations

In a projectized organization, all the work is considered as a project (construction companies, software project organizations). The project manager has total control over the projects. Personnel are assigned to and report to a project manager.

In the projectized organization approach, all project staff report to the project manager or someone within the project team structure. The staff is either seconded or hired/contracted specifically for the project and will remain on the team as long as required. In a pure projectized organization, the project receives all necessary staff, including administrative support. On a larger project, the projectized organization has the appearance of a small company in that it is a self-contained unit with all the resources necessary to do the job. It is the ideal situation for a project manager.

Advantages of a projectized organization:

  • Team members will be more committed to the project;
  • Availability of career paths within the project management stream;
  • More effective project related communication.

Disadvantages of projectized organization:

  • When the project gets over, the team gets dismantled; hence a lack of security leading short-term commitments;
  • Duplication of facilities and job functions eg:- administrative officer for each project, HR coordinator for each project, seating arrangements for each project, team outings for each project, etc.;
  • Less efficient use of resources. Project teams tend to hang on to resources both material and human, even after the need for them. (Some project managers take pride in their team size or develop fear when the team size shrinks).

 

Matrix Organizations

Matrix organization is a hybrid of both functional and projectized organization, trying to leverage the strength of both. The team members report to two bosses, the project manager and the functional manager.

In a strong matrix, the power rests with the project manager. In a weak matrix, the power rests with the functional manager. In a balanced matrix, the power is shared between the project manager and the functional manager.

The structure of a matrix project organization, when used properly, can be quite effective. When misused, however, it can be quite disastrous. The matrix is a highly complex structure from an organizational point of view, and management must constantly work on good communications to make it work properly.

Advantages of matrix organization:

  • More support from functional organizations;
  • Maximum utilization of scarce resources since they are easily accessible to the projects.

Better horizontal and vertical communication (better than functional)

  • Team members have a place to go at the completion of the project.

Disadvantages of matrix organization

  • More than one boss for project teams can lead to conflicts between the project manager and the functional manager;
  • More complex to monitor and control if it spans different locations.

 

What are the Roles and Responsibilities of a Project Manager?

Roles and responsibilities vary from organization to organization. The project manager is ultimately responsible for the success of the project (cost, schedule, and quality). The other responsibilities include:

  • Development of a project plan;
  • Executing the project as per the project plan;
  • Maintaining the project plan;
  • Project tracking;
  • Scope management;
  • Risk management;
  • Project integration management;
  • People management;
  • Communications management;
  • Procurement management;
  • Quality management;
  • Causal analysis and corrective actions;
  • Stakeholder management.

 

What are the Roles and Responsibilities of a Project Sponsor?

The project sponsor's primary role is to make the needed resources available to the project. This includes:

  • Approval for starting the project;
  • Approval of the cost budgets of the project;
  • Approval to the product road maps, if it is a product development project;
  • The decision to short close the projects if the project deliverables are not viable or do not add value in changed scenarios;
  • Decisions to progress into the subsequent phases; and
  • Decisions not to progress into the subsequent phases.

 

What is a Project Management Lifecycle?

Project management lifecycle differs from project lifecycles and product management lifecycles. The project management lifecycle comprises initiation, planning, execution, and control phases. (Hint: It is easy to remember it as IPECC) The following table depicts the project activities grouped under initiation, planning, execution, and control (project management lifecycle).

Initiating Planning Executing Control Closing Select project, which will give maximum benefit Create scope statement Execute the project plan Integrated change control Procurement audits Product verification Financial closure Lessons learned Update records End of project performance reporting Formal acceptance.

 

What is Stakeholder Management?

Develop product description. Determine quality standards. Use a work authorization system. Cost control. Define the responsibilities of the project manager. Risk identification, qualification, quantification, and response planning. Manage by objectives of the project plan. Scope verification. Iterations – go back. Ensure compliance with plans. Determine high-level resource requirements. Create other management plans: scope, schedule, cost, quality, staffing, communications, procurement, dependency management, etc.

 

What is a Product Management Lifecycle?

A product management lifecycle scope is much wider than a project scope. A typical product management lifecycle has the following phases: Idea generation. Idea validation. Feasibility. Commit. Development. Beta. Packaging. Release.

 

What is the Difference between Product Management and Project Management?

Product management consists of product idea conception to final product launch and after-sales support, whereas project management primarily focuses on the development phase. What is a project lifecycle? Logical phases within a project. Example: Requirements, design, coding, testing, and maintenance phases in a software project.

 

What is PDCA?

PDCA – By Edward Deming. Talks about Plan – Do – Check –Act cycle, which applies to any work/project. Primarily, the work to be done is planned first, then it is performed, the outcome is checked, and then corrective actions are taken if there are any variations from the plan. It is also known as PDSA – Plan, Do, Study and Act. These are steps for continuous improvement.

 

What is MBO?

MBO stands for management by objectives. Again MBO can be visualized from the PDCA angle. In MBO, the objectives for performance are set first, then the team performs to meet the objectives, the progress is checked, and corrective actions are taken if necessary. What is management by projects? Some organizations perform all their work as projects. For example, construction companies or application software development companies. When an organization performs all its work as projects, it is called management by projects.

 

What is the Difference between Leading and Managing?

Managing is primarily concerned with consistently producing key results expected by key stakeholders, whereas leading involves establishing direction, aligning people, and motivating and inspiring.

 

What is the Difference between a Project Plan and a Project Schedule?

The project schedule is part of the project plan. Apart from the project schedule, a typical project plan has scope, risk management plan, schedule management plan, communications plan, procurement plan, team structure, tracking mechanisms, assumptions, dependencies, major milestones, etc.

 

What is a Project Size Estimate?

In every engineering discipline, the size of the work to be performed is estimated first before developing a cost budget.

Examples of size budgets: Building – 2000 sq ft, Ship – tonnes, Software – Lines of code or function points.

 

What is a Project Effort Estimate?

Once the size estimates are arrived at, they are converted into effort estimates by applying the productivity factor. E.g.: If a wall of 2000 sq ft size is to be built and if the productivity of the mason/day is 200 sq ft, then the effort required to construct the wall is 2000/200 = 10 person days.


Source: Wikibooks, https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Project_Management/FAQs
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Last modified: Wednesday, November 30, 2022, 11:46 AM