Week 3 Discussion

This week, you will examine the hierarchy of planning. The overall vision, mission,

strategy, and strategic objectives of these organizations determine whether a

project should be selected or not. In this context, project planning begins. In

Week 3, you will discuss the traditional tools: project charter, project scope

statement, and the overall project plan. However, planning does not end here; it is

only the beginning. Week 3 lectures will introduce you to the following two

important tools: work breakdown structure (WBS) and the linear responsibility

chart. While they are very instrumental and useful, they are often misunderstood

by students new to project management. Finally, you will analyze the impact of

constraints on the project end date.

Project management is a different type of management. While contemporary

management imperatives make project management more popular every day, it

has long roots different from those of the largest corpus of management thought,

which is anchored in research and pure scholarship. Project management has

evolved by trial and error, almost purely outside academia. While all schools of

management accept the validity of planning to some degree, no other school

champions it as much as project management.

Your Learning Objectives for the Week:

• Analyze requirements and scope for a project

• Organize elements of a project into a comprehensive plan that includes

both resource and time budgets

• Assess critical paths and methods to manage them within a project