adam's notes

Project Management

A project is a purpose-driven event that has a defined start and finish.

Project management frameworks ensure that projects are well defined, with clear, attainable goals, and that resources are in place for successful completion.

Project Management Life Cycle

Project Initiation

Project initiation broadly defines the project.

  • begins with a business case, followed by a feasibility study
    • results in project charter or project initiation document

Project Planning

Project planning includes developing a road map that everyone follows.

  • starts with setting project goals
  • Defines the project scope and drafts a project management plan
    • project management plan identifies project resources, including cost and time estimations

By the end of project planning page, a project has:

  • scope statement outlining the objectives, deliverables, and milestones
  • work breakdown structure (WBS) breaking the project into manageable segments for the team
  • milestones defining high-level goals to meet throughout the project’s duration
  • communication plan outlining the frequency and methods of communicating with stakeholders
  • risk management plan identifying foreseeable risks, including cost overruns and delays

Project Execution

During project execution, project deliverables are developed and completed.

Project Closure

At the project closure phase, the project is declared complete and the project team is dissolved.

Risk Mitigation

3 categories of risks

  • execution risk
  • integration risk
  • unknown risks

Steps to consider risks

  1. Identify the risks
  2. Analyze their impact on the project outcome
  3. Prioritize the risks by severity and likelihood
  4. Outline a mitigation strategy to minimize potential risks
  5. Install monitoring systems for anticipated and unanticipated risks

Types of Risks

Risks in execution typically revolve around budget, people, technology, equipment, and stakeholder support.

  • mitigate by planning in advance

Risks of integration can be mitigated by:

  • assessing potential disruptions
  • ensuring adequate support from stakeholders
  • having a shared understanding of the project’s complexity

How to successfully mitigate risks?

  1. Frequently monitor project parameters and milestones
  2. sound communication between project participants

Common examples of project risk:

  • Scope creep—uncontrolled change of a project’s scope, typically adding tasks and increased, unplanned costs to the project
  • Budget risk—budget control issues, such as underestimated or improper allocation of cost
  • Resistance to change—departments and individuals resist organizational changes resulting from the project
  • Resource risk—inability to secure sufficient resources for the project
  • Contract risk—a vendor fails to deliver on contractual obligations
  • Disputes or disagreements between project participants
  • Project dependencies—especially when completion of some tasks is dependent on the completion of other tasks
  • Project assumptions risk—when assumptions about the project are invalidated during project development
  • Benefit shortfall—the project meets the requirements but delivers fewer benefits than outlined in the business case
  • Requirements quality risk—requirements have not been properly validated or documented
  • Force majeure risk—the chance of a major negative event beyond human control, such as a natural disaster

Graph View

Backlinks