PMP reviewer

Foundations of Project Management

Terminologies
Definition of a project
Project. A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
Product. An artifact that is produced, is quantifiable, and can be either an end item in itself or a
component item. Additional words for products are material and goods.

Result. An output from performing project management processes and activities.

Results include outcomes (integrated systems, revised process, restructured
organization, tests, trained personnel, and so on) and documents (policies, plans,
studies, procedures, specifications, reports, and so on).
Deliverable. Any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service
that must be produced to complete a process, phase, or project. Often used more
narrowly in reference to an external deliverable,which is a deliverable that is subject to
approval by the project sponsor or customer.

Projects, programs, and portfolios

Program. A group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits
and control not available from managing them individually. Programs may include
elements of related work outside the scope of the discrete projects in the program.
Program Management. The centralized coordinated management of a program to
achieve the program's strategic objectives and benefits.
Portfolio. A collection of projects or programs and other work grouped to facilitate
effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives. The projects
or programs of the portfolio may not necessarily be interdependent or directly related.
Portfolio Management. The centralized management of one or more portfolios, which
includes identifying, prioritizing, authorizing, managing, and controlling projects,
programs, and other related work to achieve specific strategic business objectives.
Project management

Project Manager (PM). The person assigned by the performing organization to achieve
the project objectives.
Project Management. The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to
project activities to meet the project requirements.
The three main aspects of project management are
Identifying requirements
Managing stakeholder expectations
Managing the competing constraints (or demands)
Competing constraints

The PMBOK Guide explicitly lists the following six constraints, as shown in Figure 2-1:

Scope

Quality

Schedule

Budget

Resources

Risk

What makes a successful project manager

Knowledge

Personality

Performance

Progressive elaboration and tailoring

Progressive Elaboration. Continuously improving and detailing a plan as more detailed and
specific information and more accurate estimates become available as the project progresses,
and thereby producing more accurate and complete plans that result from the successive
iterations of the planning process
Tailoring how to apply the various project management processes

Projects and organizational strategy

Strategic reasons for initiating a project:

Market demand: This includes new products and updating existing products.

Business need: This can include projects to make operations more efficient and
thereby increase net profits.

Customer request: A customer request can occur via a bid process, or an

existing customer can approach you and ask you to perform work.

Technological advance: Anything that helps automate operations or helps your

company do things better, faster, or less expensively.

Legal requirements: When a new law or regulation is passed, you need to

understand the implications and make sure your organization can comply.

Objective. Something toward which work is to be directed, a strategic position to be attained, or

a purpose to be achieved, a result to be obtained, a product to be produced, or a service to be
performed.

The Project Management Office

Project Management Office (PMO). An organizational body or entity assigned various
responsibilities related to the centralized and coordinated management of those projects under
its domain. The responsibilities of a PMO can range from providing project management support
functions to actually being responsible for the direct management of a project.

Here are the four basic families of PMOs:

Home for project managers: In this type of PMO, all project managers (PMs)
report to the director or head of the PMO. The head of the PMO assigns PMs to
projects, monitors progress, and serves as the functional manager for project
management. This PMO also serves as a communication hub and allocates
resources across multiple projects.

Administrative: An administrative PMO develops policies, procedures,

templates, forms, and reports for project management in the organization. The
PMO makes sure that everyone is applying consistent project management
practices across the organization.

Support: A support PMO provides mentoring, assistance, training, kick-off

support, and project consulting expertise.

Project-specific: Some large projects have a PMO set up to manage a specific

project. After the project is complete, the PMO dissolves.

Understanding Environmental Constraints

Enterprise Environmental Factors. Any or all external environmental factors and
internal organizational environmental factors that surround or influence the project's
success. These factors are from any or all of the enterprises involved in the project, and
include organizational culture and structure, infrastructure, existing resources,
commercial databases, market conditions, and project management software.

A company's cultural norms include policies, procedures, values, authority levels, and
work ethics. In addition to the culture, other EEFs include

Standards, codes, and regulations

The organization's infrastructure, such as IT systems, supply chains, and

organizational structure

Marketplace conditions, including the availability of material and technical skills

Stakeholder risk tolerances and the ability to work with uncertainty

Extreme geography and weather

!* The following responsibility standard from the Code of Ethics and Professional
Conduct relates to EEFs:
We inform ourselves and uphold the policies, rules, regulations and laws that govern
our work, professional and volunteer activities.

Project Life Cycles, Organizational Structures, and Organizational Process Assets

Project Life Cycle. A collection of generally sequential project phases whose name and
number are determined by the control needs of the organization or organizations involved in the
project. A life cycle can be documented with a methodology.
Project Phase. A collection of logically related project activities, usually culminating in the
completion of a major deliverable. Project phases are mainly completed sequentially but can
overlap in some project situations. A project phase is a component of a project life cycle. A
project phase is not a project management process group.
Phase gate review (kill points). Comparing your planned accomplishments against the actual
deliverables at end of each phase

Project stakeholders have much more influence on the direction of the project and
approach to the project in the early phases of the life cycle
Making changes earlier in the life cycle is much easier

Product Life Cycle. A collection of generally sequential, non-overlapping product phases

whose name and number are determined by the manufacturing and control needs of the
organization. The last product life cycle phase for a product is generally the product's retirement.
Generally, a project life cycle is contained within one or more product life cycles.

Product life cycles can include multiple project life cycles.

Organizational Structures
Functional Organization. A hierarchical organization where each employee has one clear
superior, and staff are grouped by areas of specialization and managed by a person with
expertise in that area.
Matrix Organization. Any organizational structure in which the project manager shares
responsibility with the functional managers for assigning priorities and for directing the work of
persons assigned to the project.

Weak: A weak matrix closely resembles a functional organization, but there is a little
more understanding that projects require cross-functional communication and that
project management is a discipline that can help a project's success.
In a weak matrix, you might hear the project manager called a project expediter or a
project coordinator.
o

A project expediter is similar to an administrative assistant and coordinates

communications but has no decision-making or enforcement authority.

A project coordinator is similar to an expediter but has a bit more authority. The
increased authority can be because of reporting to a higher-level manager than
the expediter.

Balanced: In a balanced matrix, you will see a full-time project manager position. This person
has more authority to make decisions, can have some budgetary accountability, and might even
have administrative support. Team members have more time to dedicate to projects, and there
is usually a beginning or even full-fledged project management methodology.
Strong: A strong matrix organization has dedicated project managers with a high level of
authority, full-time administrative support, and team members who are fully dedicated to the
project. They usually control the budget.
Projectized Organization. Any organizational structure in which the project manager has full
authority to assign priorities, apply resources, and direct the work of persons assigned to the
project.

Work is organized around projects

Functions are primarily in support of project work
Project manager has full authority for the work and the budget
Project staff report directly to the project manager as opposed to a functional manager