Project Management For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Getting Started With Project Management 7 Chapter 1: Project Management: The Key to Achieving Results 9 Determining What Makes a Project a Project 10 Understanding the three main components that define a project 11 Recognizing the diversity of projects 12 Describing the four phases of a project life cycle 14 Adopting a Principled Approach to Project Management 16 Starting with stewardship and leadership 17 Continuing with team and stakeholders 18 Delivering value and quality 19 Handling complexity, opportunities, and threats 20 Exhibiting adaptability and resilience 22 Thinking holistically and enabling change 23 What Happened to Process Groups and Knowledge Areas? 25 Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Effective Project Manager? 26 Questions 27 Answer key 27 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 28 Chapter 2: I’m a Project Manager! Now What? 31 Knowing the Project Manager’s Role 31 Looking at the project manager’s tasks 32 Staving off excuses for not following a structured project management approach 32 Avoiding shortcuts 33 Staying aware of other potential challenges 35 Aligning with the Four Values that Comprise the Code of Ethics 36 The price of greatness is responsibility 36 R-e-s-p-e-c-t, find out what it means to your project 37 Maintaining fairness 37 Honesty is the best policy 38 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 39 Chapter 3: Beginning the Journey: The Genesis of a Project 41 Gathering Ideas for Projects 42 Looking at information sources for potential projects 43 Proposing a project in a business case 43 Developing the Project Charter 45 Performing a cost-benefit analysis 46 Conducting a feasibility study 48 Generating documents during the development of the project charter 49 Deciding Which Projects to Move to the Second Phase of Their Life Cycle 50 Tailoring Your Delivery Approach 51 For the organization 52 For the project 53 Identifying the Models, Methods, and Artifacts to Use 54 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 60 Chapter 4: Knowing Your Project’s Stakeholders: Involving the Right People 63 Understanding Your Project’s Stakeholders 64 Developing a Stakeholder Register 64 Starting your stakeholder register 65 Ensuring your stakeholder register is complete and up-to-date 70 Using a stakeholder register template 71 Determining Whether Stakeholders Are Drivers, Supporters, or Observers 73 Deciding when to involve your stakeholders 75 Using different methods to involve your stakeholders 78 Making the most of your stakeholders’ involvement 78 Displaying Your Stakeholder Register 79 Confirming Your Stakeholders’ Authority 80 Assessing Your Stakeholders’ Power and Interest 82 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 84 Chapter 5: Clarifying What You’re Trying to Accomplish — And Why 85 Defining Your Project with a Scope Statement 86 Looking at the Big Picture: Explaining the Need for Your Project 90 Figuring out why you’re doing the project 90 Drawing the line: Where your project starts and stops 100 Stating your project’s objectives 101 Marking Boundaries: Project Constraints 106 Working within limitations 106 Dealing with needs 109 Facing the Unknowns When Planning: Documenting Your Assumptions 109 Presenting Your Scope Statement in a Clear and Concise Document 110 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 111 Chapter 6: Developing Your Game Plan: Getting from Here to There 113 Divide and Conquer: Breaking Your Project into Manageable Chunks 114 Thinking in detail 114 Identifying necessary project work with a work breakdown structure 116 Dealing with special situations 124 Creating and Displaying Your Work Breakdown Structure 127 Considering different schemes to create your WBS hierarchy 128 Using one of two approaches to develop your WBS 129 Categorizing your project’s work 130 Labeling your WBS entries 132 Displaying your WBS in different formats 133 Improving the quality of your WBS 136 Using templates 137 Identifying Risks While Detailing Your Work 138 Documenting What You Need to Know about Your Planned Project Work 140 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 141 Part 2: Planning Time: Determining When and How Much 143 Chapter 7: You Want This Project Done When? 145 Picture This: Illustrating a Work Plan with a Network Diagram 146 Defining a network diagram’s elements 146 Drawing a network diagram 148 Analyzing a Network Diagram 149 Reading a network diagram 150 Interpreting a network diagram 151 Working with Your Project’s Network Diagram 156 Determining precedence 156 Using a network diagram to analyze a simple example 160 Developing Your Project’s Schedule 164 Taking the first steps 165 Avoiding the pitfall of backing in to your schedule 166 Meeting an established time constraint 167 Applying different strategies to arrive at your picnic in less time 167 Estimating Activity Duration 172 Determining the underlying factors 173 Considering resource characteristics 174 Improving activity duration estimates 174 Displaying Your Project’s Schedule 176 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 179 Chapter 8: Establishing Whom You Need, How Much of Their Time, and When 181 Getting the Information You Need to Match People to Tasks 182 Deciding what skills and knowledge team members must have 183 Representing team members’ skills, knowledge, and interests in a skills matrix 187 Estimating Needed Commitment 189 Using a human resources matrix 189 Identifying needed personnel in a human resources matrix 191 Estimating required work effort 192 Factoring productivity, efficiency, and availability into work-effort estimates 193 Reflecting efficiency when you use historical data 194 Accounting for efficiency in personal work-effort estimates 196 Ensuring Your Project Team Members Can Meet Their Resource Commitments 198 Planning your initial allocations 198 Resolving potential resource overloads 200 Coordinating assignments across multiple projects 202 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 205 Chapter 9: Planning for Other Resources and Developing the Budget 207 Determining Non-Personnel Resource Needs 208 Making Sense of the Dollars: Project Costs and Budgets 210 Looking at different types of project costs 210 Recognizing the three stages of a project budget 212 Refining your budget as your project progresses 213 Determining project costs for a detailed budget estimate 215 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 219 Chapter 10: Venturing into the Unknown: Dealing with Risk 221 Defining Risk and Risk Management 222 Focusing on Risk Factors and Risks 223 Recognizing risk factors 224 Identifying risks 226 Assessing Risks: Probability and Consequences 229 Gauging the likelihood of a risk 230 Estimating the extent of the consequences 232 Getting Everything under Control: Managing Risk 234 Choosing the risks you want to manage 235 Developing a risk management strategy 236 Communicating about risks 237 Preparing a Risk Management Plan 239 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 240 Part 3: Group Work: Putting Your Team Together 243 Chapter 11: Aligning the Key Players for Your Project 245 Defining Three Organizational Environments 246 The functional structure 246 The projectized structure 248 The matrix structure 250 Recognizing the Key Players in a Matrix Environment 253 The project manager 253 Project team members 255 Functional managers 255 The project owner 256 The project sponsor 256 Upper management 257 Working Successfully in a Matrix Environment 258 Creating and continually reinforcing a team identity 258 Getting team member commitment 259 Eliciting support from other people in the environment 259 Heading off common problems before they arise 260 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 261 Chapter 12: Defining Team Members’ Roles and Responsibilities 263 Outlining the Key Roles 264 Distinguishing authority, responsibility, and accountability 264 Understanding the difference between authority and responsibility 265 Making Project Assignments 265 Delving into delegation 266 Sharing responsibility 271 Holding people accountable — even when they don’t report to you 272 Picture This: Depicting Roles with a Responsibility Assignment Matrix 276 Introducing the elements of a RAM 277 Reading a RAM 278 Developing a RAM 280 Ensuring your RAM is accurate 281 Dealing with Micromanagement 284 Realizing why a person micromanages 284 Gaining a micromanager’s trust 285 Working well with a micromanager 286 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 286 Chapter 13: Starting Your Project Team Off on the Right Foot 287 Finalizing Your Project’s Participants 288 Are you in? Confirming your team members’ participation 288 Assuring that others are on board 291 Filling in the blanks 292 Developing Your Team 293 Reviewing the approved project plan 294 Developing team and individual goals 295 Specifying team member roles 295 Defining your team’s operating processes 296 Supporting the development of team member relationships 297 Resolving conflicts 297 All together now: Helping your team become a smooth-functioning unit 300 Laying the Groundwork for Controlling Your Project 303 Selecting and preparing your tracking systems 303 Establishing schedules for reports and meetings 304 Setting your project’s baseline 305 Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Announcing Your Project 305 Setting the Stage for Your Project Retrospective 306 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 306 Part 4: Steering the Ship: Managing Your Project to Success 309 Chapter 14: Tracking Progress and Maintaining Control 311 Holding On to the Reins: Monitoring and Controlling 312 Establishing Project Management Information Systems 314 The clock’s ticking: Monitoring schedule performance 315 All in a day’s work: Monitoring work effort 322 Follow the money: Monitoring expenditures 327 Putting Your Control Process into Action 330 Heading off problems before they occur 330 Formalizing your control process 331 Identifying possible causes of delays and variances 333 Identifying possible corrective actions 334 Getting back on track: Rebaselining 334 Reacting Responsibly When Changes Are Requested 335 Responding to change requests 336 Creeping away from scope creep 337 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 338 Chapter 15: Keeping Everyone Informed 339 I Meant What I Said and I Said What I Meant: Successful Communication Basics 340 Breaking down the communication process 341 Distinguishing one-way and two-way communication 341 Can you hear me now? Listening actively 342 Choosing the Appropriate Medium for Project Communication 344 Just the facts: Written reports 345 Moving it along: Meetings that work 346 Preparing a Written Project Progress Report 350 Making a list (of names) and checking it twice 350 Knowing what’s hot (and what’s not) in your report 351 Earning a Pulitzer, or at least writing an interesting report 352 Holding Key Project Meetings 355 Regularly scheduled team meetings 356 Ad hoc team meetings 357 Executive leadership progress reviews 357 Preparing a Project Communications Management Plan 358 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 359 Chapter 16: Encouraging Peak Performance by Providing Effective Leadership 361 Exploring the Differences between Leadership and Management 362 Recognizing the Traits People Look for in a Leader 363 Developing Personal Power and Influence 365 Understanding why people do what you ask 365 Establishing the bases of your power 367 You Can Do It! Creating and Sustaining Team Member Motivation 368 Increasing commitment by clarifying your project’s benefits 369 Encouraging persistence by demonstrating project feasibility 370 Letting people know how they’re doing 371 Providing rewards for work well done 372 Leading a Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Project Team 373 Diversity is an asset worthy of inclusion 374 Equity is a choice – choose it 375 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 375 Chapter 17: Bringing Your Project to Closure 377 Staying the Course to Completion 378 Planning ahead for your project’s closure 379 Updating your initial closure plans when you’re ready to wind down the project 380 Charging up your team for the sprint to the finish line 380 Handling Administrative Issues 381 Providing a Smooth Transition for Team Members 381 Surveying the Results: The Project Retrospective Evaluation 384 Preparing for the evaluation throughout the project 384 Setting the stage for the evaluation meeting 386 Conducting the evaluation meeting 387 Following up on the evaluation 389 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 389 Part 5: Taking Your Project Management to the Next Level 391 Chapter 18: Using Newer Methods and Resources to Enhance Your Project Management 393 Taking a Look at the Agile Approach to Project Management 394 Understanding what drives the Agile approach 394 Taking a look at the elements of Agile when implemented through Scrum 396 Comparing the Agile and traditional (Waterfall) approaches 397 Using Computer Software Effectively 398 Looking at your software options 399 Helping your software perform at its best 404 Introducing project management software into your organization 406 Using Social Media to Enhance Project Management 407 Defining social media 408 Exploring how social media can support your project planning and performance 409 Using social media to support your project communications 411 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 412 Chapter 19: Monitoring Project Performance with Earned Value Management 413 Defining Earned Value Management 414 Getting to know EVM terms and formulas 414 Looking at a simple example 418 Determining the reasons for observed variances 420 The How-To: Applying Earned Value Management to Your Project 421 Determining a Task’s Earned Value 425 Relating This Chapter to the PMP Exam and PMBOK 7 429 Part 6: The Part of Tens 431 Chapter 20: Ten Questions to Ask Yourself as You Plan Your Project 433 What’s the Purpose of Your Project? 433 Whom Do You Need to Involve? 434 What Results Will You Produce? 434 What Constraints Must You Satisfy? 435 What Assumptions Are You Making? 435 What Work Has to Be Done? 435 When Does Each Activity Start and End? 436 Who Will Perform the Project Work? 436 What Other Resources Do You Need? 437 What Can Go Wrong? 437 Chapter 21: Ten Tips for Being a Better Project Manager 439 Be a “Why” Person 439 Be a “Can Do” Person 440 Think about the Big Picture 440 Think in Detail 440 Assume Cautiously 440 View People as Allies, Not Adversaries 441 Mean What You Say and Say What You Mean 441 Respect Other People 441 Acknowledge Good Performance 442 Be a Manager and a Leader 442 Appendix: Combining the Techniques Into Smooth-Flowing Processes 443 Index 449