The following posts describe key points in the project management process and provide a hypothetical example using each of the described tools.

Project Management Basics

People

Project Manager

The Project Manager is the individual responsible for all planning and executing activities associated with the project as well as oversight of the Project Team and maintaining a relationship with the project’s Stakeholders. Unlike functional managers who work with existing teams on routine operations, project managers have additional management responsibilities which often include building cross-disciplanary teams and uniting team members around a common objective (the project).

Project Team

The Project Team is a collection of individuals from multiple functional departments within the organization and may include consultants or contractors. Team members may be assigned to the project full time or part time and may or may not continue to receive direction from their functional managers.

Project Sponsor

The Project Sponsor is typically a high level manager within the organization who oversees the Project Manager and facilitates the relationship between the Project Manager and the Executive Committee. The Project Sponsor plays a critical role in advocating for and securing project resources. In some cases the Project Sponsor conceptualized the idea for the project, while in other cases the Project Sponsor may have been assigned supervision of the project due to subject matter expertise.

Project Office

The Project Office is the unit responsible for choosing which projects receive approval, determining how resources are allocated between concurrent projects, and setting standards for project management processes. Some organizations have a formalized Project Office, while others may have the Executive Committee or other senior leaders conduct these activities.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals, departments, or organizations that are impacted, positively or negatively, by the outcome of the project. They may have direct involvement in the project or they may only be interested in the project’s outcome.

Client

The client is the end-user of the project’s outcome. The client may be internal – a department within the organization – or external – an outside individual or business. The client typically sets the project requirements and budget and defines project “success”.

Process

The Project Management Life Cycle contains four phases where each phase has its own tools used for control.

1. Define

The first phase of the Project Management Life Cycle is to define the problem that the project is designed to address and to define the objectives of the project that will form the solution to the problem.

Tools:

• Project Scope Statement
• Work Breakdown Structure – Outline
• Communication Plan

2. Plan

Once the initial requirements have been gathered and a rough sketch of the required activities has been determined, the effort shifts to creating detailed budgets, schedules, and resource requirements. The planning phase is also the optimal time to consider project risks as it provides the most flexibility for minimizing risk.

Tools:

• Work Breakdown Structure – Spreadsheet
• AON Diagram
• Gantt Chart
• Project Budget Baseline
• Risk Assessment Matrix
• Risk Severity Matrix
• Risk Response Matrix

3. Execute

This is where the majority of work takes place and the physical product is created. Major project management activities include status reporting, risk monitoring, and change management.

Tools:

• Status Reports
• Change Request Forms

4. Close

The final phase of the Project Management Life Cycle involves project delivery and wrapping up operations. Major tasks include delivering the product and training the customer, finalizing accounts and re-allocating resources, and performing project management process analysis. The third component is important for the pursuit of best practices and usually involves some sort of performance evaluation and a discussion of lessons learned.

Tools:

• Performance Evaluations
• Retrospective