Lesson 1
Project Management Basics

LESSON OBJECTIVES

• Identify a project versus an operation.
• Label the three sides of the project triangle.
• List the six project stages or processes.
• Explain project manager duties in each project process.
• Name two prevalent project management methodologies.
• Assess the project types best for the two methodologies.

When you decide to use Microsoft Project as a key tool in managing your projects, you also want to include a solid grounding in project management principles in that toolbox.

This lesson introduces you to the basics of projects and project manager responsibilities, including project management knowledge areas. You'll see the project triangle and the processes within the project life cycle. You'll review waterfall and agile project management methodologies.

Through all this, you'll preview how Microsoft Project can assist you in your responsibilities as a skilled project manager so that you can deliver your well-scoped project on deadline and within budget.

Projects and Project Managers

So what actually characterizes a project as such, rather than other activities we do like operations or task lists? And what are the responsibilities of the project manager? Let's break them down now.

What Is a Project?

A project is a unique activity that has a distinct starting point and a distinct finishing point. Here are some examples of projects:

• Remodeling an office
• Developing a new training program
• Launching an awareness campaign
• Hosting a conference and trade show
• Designing a new product

Each of these examples are unique-the specific office being remodeled, the topic of the training program or awareness campaign, the locale and speakers involved in the conference, or the specific qualities that go into designing a new product.

None of these projects are ongoing, meaning that they each have a start and an end date. Although some projects like designing a new product or building a high rise might take several years, they proceed through different phases through those years until the project's completion.

In contrast, ongoing activities that are repeated and that don't have distinct start and finish dates are considered operations. Some examples of operations are as follows:

• Maintaining information on a website
• Running payroll twice each month
• Sending weekly e-news to customers and prospects
• Preparing packets for the monthly board of directors meeting
• Posting daily items on social media

These are routine activities that take place on an ongoing basis as part of the regular business of an organization.

Projects can become operations, or operations can be a result of finished projects. For example, after the project of developing a new training program is complete, delivering a set of classes each month can become part of the organization's regular operations.

Projects can repeat in certain ways but still not be considered an operation. For example, your organization might follow a certain project template for product development that includes research, prototyping, testing, manufacturing, marketing, and launch. Its uniqueness lies in the difference in the product under development.

Whether small, medium, or large, projects are often characterized by the following:

• A scope of work defining the project boundaries and standards
• Part- or full-time team members who are assigned to the project
• Equipment and materials earmarked for the project, if applicable
• A budget dedicated to the project
• At least one expected deliverable or outcome at the project end

What Is a Project Manager?

Some people become professional project managers as a result of strategic career planning, whether they majored in it in college or discovered it in the working world and then climbed the project management ladder. Many just get themselves assigned one day as a project manager and then must figure out what it's all about.

A project manager is the point person responsible for carrying out a project and delivering the desired outcomes-the scope of the project. As the project manager, you balance the constraints of the project budget and the deadline with the elements of the project scope. You continually check in with the team members working on their assigned project tasks, track and analyze the progress, prevent or solve any problems that arise, and report overall project progress to the project sponsor and other stakeholders.

As the project manager, you have your finger on the pulse of the overall project at any given moment. While individual team members might be working on their own specific part of the project, the project manager always sees the project as a whole and knows in what direction it is heading.

According to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK©), a successful and well-rounded project manager functions within the following nine disciplines, or knowledge areas:

1. Integration management
2. Scope management
3. Schedule management
4. Cost management
5. Quality management
6. Resource management
7. Communications management
8. Risk management
9. Procurement management
10. Stakeholder management

The Project Triangle

Project management is a constant balancing act of managing the tension between project deadlines and costs deadlines to deliver the intended project scope. You might have heard the old saying, "Cheap, fast, or good. Pick two." This illustrates the project triangle, which is also known as the project management triangle, triple constraint, or the iron triangle.

Suppose your project is to develop a new website. If you have a spare budget and need to launch it in two weeks, the website might be more minimal with fewer features. But if you have an ample budget and several months of development time, the site might contain all the information and features that the project sponsor wants. If your customer wants the website in two weeks and is adamant that all the information and features are included without delay, it will be more expensive.

Therefore, the two triangle sides that are non-negotiable, and the one side that's flexible, determines the constraints of your project and where your project has some "give."

Several interpretations of the project triangle exist. One version is the triangle sided with time, cost, and quality, with scope in the center. You might see it as a project rectangle with scope, schedule, budget, and quality. Another version is a six-sided project star with scope, schedule, budget, risk, resources, and quality. Figure 1.1 illustrates the concept of a good interpretation of the project triangle with time, cost, and scope.

Depending on the interpretation, a budget can include all resources that cost money including staff, equipment, and materials. Scope might include quality.

While project managers can and do argue about the "right" project triangle, the important thing is to simply keep the model in mind as you manage your projects. Your job as project manager is to know the ranked priorities and constraints of your project and to make adjustments accordingly.

FIGURE 1.1 A project triangle

Project Processes

With its explicit start and finish dates, any project has its own life cycle. The project life cycle consists of six specific stages, or project processes. Figure 1.2 illustrates the project processes along the project life cycle.

FIGURE 1.2 The processes in the project life cycle

Initiating

Also considered preplanning or scoping, the project is conceived, its scope is defined, and a preliminary budget is drafted during the initiating process. The powers that be-that is, the customer, executive, or other project sponsor paying for the project-agree to the project objectives and requirements.

The initiating stage is also the stage when a project manager is assigned, the business case for the project is outlined, and any other stakeholders and their expectations are identified.

Planning

The project manager works during the planning process to transform the goals and constraints defined in the initiating process into a roadmap for achieving those goals, step by step and task by task. To do this, the project manager lays out the tasks in the work breakdown structure (WBS), determines the duration and dependency of those tasks, assigns resources to the tasks, and estimates costs for those resources.

This effort defines the project schedule, resource requirements, and costs with a greater degree of certainty. With its scheduling engine, resource planner, and costing formulas, Microsoft Project steps up as the project manager's key partner in this planning process.

Executing

When planning is complete and the funding and resources are secured and ready to work, the project manager can press that figurative "GO" button. This represents the start of...