Project Management For Dummies - Stanley E. Portny

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A change in your job responsibilities may create a need for certain techniques you’ve never used before. Enjoy and good luck!

      Getting Started with Project Management

      Discover what project management is all about and whether you have what it takes to be a successful project manager.

      Learn about the changes to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 7th Edition (PMBOK 7) from the prior edition and the rationale for the substantial overhaul.

      Check out the documents you need to assess a project’s feasibility and desirability, including the business case, the project charter, the preliminary stakeholder register, and the preliminary assumptions list. Consider how the data generated from a preliminary needs assessment, a feasibility study, and a cost-benefit analysis generate information needed to support the decision of whether to consider a proposed project further.

      Find out how to identify people who may need to be involved in your project, and decide whether, when, and how to involve them. After you know who should be involved, determine who has the authority, power, and interest to make critical decisions along the way.

      Think about the big picture of what your project is trying to accomplish (and why). Then get the scoop on writing a scope statement to confirm the results your project will produce and the constraints and assumptions under which everyone will work.

      Outline the work you have to do to meet the expectations for your project, and find out how to break that work down into manageable chunks.

      Project Management: The Key to Achieving Results

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      

Defining a project and its four phases

      

Breaking down project management

      

Shifting from process-based to principles-based project management

      

Determining whether you have what you need to be successful

      Successful organizations create projects that produce desired results in established timeframes with assigned resources. As a result, businesses are increasingly driven to find individuals who can excel in this project-oriented environment.

      Because you’re reading this book, chances are good that you’ve been asked to manage a project (or multiple projects!). So, hang on tight — you’re going to need a new set of skills and techniques to steer that project to successful completion. But not to worry! This chapter gets you off to a smooth start by showing you what projects and project management really are and by helping you separate projects from non-project assignments. This chapter also offers rationale for why projects succeed or fail and gets you into the project management mindset.

We are hopeful that you read this book’s Introduction but, if not, don’t worry, we can bring you up to speed. Whether you read the Introduction or not, keep in mind as you’re reading that one of our intentions with this book is to help you navigate the Project Management Institute (PMI)-published A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 7th Edition (we use the abbreviation PMBOK 7 throughout the book) and prepare you for the PMI-administered Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam.

      Since PMI’s first edition of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) in 1987, The Standard for Project Management included in and explained by the PMBOK Guide has remained a process-based standard aimed at enabling consistent and predictable outcomes…until now. PMBOK 7 introduces a fundamental shift from the process-based standard of the previous versions to the now principles-based approach of PMBOK 7, with a newly refined focus on intended outcomes rather than project phases and deliverables.

      PMI has ensured that nothing in PMBOK 7 negates any of the processes, terminology, or concepts of PMBOK 6 and prior, but rather complements the content of the previous versions, with an updated and more holistic view of project management and its ability to deliver valuable outcomes to stakeholders. A few of the most fundamental concepts from the prior PMBOK editions (Editions 1 through 6), discussed in earlier editions of this For Dummies book (Editions 1 through 5), will always be true even if not explicitly referenced by name in PMBOK 7. We review those in the next few sections. You’ll know that we’ve transitioned to PMBOK 7 concepts and terminology when you reach the “Adopting a Principled Approach to Project Management” section of this chapter.

      No matter what your job is, you handle a myriad of assignments every day. For example, you may prepare a status report, conduct a meeting, design a marketing campaign, or relocate to new offices. Or you may make your company’s information systems more user-friendly, develop a research compound in the laboratory, or improve the organization’s public image. Not all these assignments are projects. How can you tell which ones are and which ones aren’t? This section is here to help.

      Understanding the three main components that define a project

      A project is a temporary undertaking performed to produce a unique product, service, or result. Large or small, a project always has the following three components:

       Specific scope: Desired results or products (check out Chapter 5 for more on describing desired results)

       Schedule: Established dates when project work starts and ends (see Chapter 7 for how to develop responsive and feasible project schedules)

       Required resources: Necessary number of people, funds, and other supporting elements like lab space, test equipment, manufacturing facilities, computer hardware and software, and so on (see Chapter 8 for how to establish whom you need for your project and Chapter 9 for how to set up your budget and determine any other resources you need)
As illustrated in Figure 1-1, each component affects the other two. For example: Expanding the type and characteristics of desired outcomes may require more time (a later end date) or more resources. Moving up the end date may necessitate paring down the scope or increasing project expenditures (for instance, by paying overtime to project staff). It is within this three-part project definition that you perform work to achieve your desired results.

      © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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