katetutor assignement 2

Students will find several direct links to the PMBoK in this text. First, the key terms and their definitions are intended to follow the PMBoK glossary (included as an appendix at the end of the text). Second, chapter introductions will also highlight references to the PMBoK as we address them in turn. We can see how each chapter not only adds to our knowledge of project management but also directly links to elements within the PMBoK. Finally, many end-of-chapter exercises and Internet references will require direct interaction with PMI through its Web site.

As an additional link to the Project Management Institute and the PMBoK, this text will include sample practice questions at the end of relevant chapters to allow students to test their in-depth knowledge of aspects of the PMBoK. Nearly 20 years ago, PMI instituted its Project Management Professional (PMP) certification as a means of awarding those with an expert knowledge of project management practice. The PMP certification is the highest professional designation for project management expertise in the world and requires in-depth knowledge in all nine areas of the PMBoK. The inclusion of questions at the end of the relevant chapters offers students a way to assess how well they have learned the important course topics, the nature of PMP certification exam questions, and to point to areas that may require additional study in order to master this material.

This text offers an opportunity for students to begin mastering a new craft—a set of skills that is becoming increasingly valued in contemporary corporations around the world. Project managers represent the new corporate elite: a corps of skilled individuals who routinely make order out of chaos, improving a firm’s bottom line and burnishing their own value in the process. With these goals in mind, let us begin.33

Summary

1. Understand why project management is becoming such a powerful and popular practice in business. Project management offers organizations a number of practical competitive advantages, including the ability to be both effective in the marketplace and efficient with the use of organizational resources, and the ability to achieve technological breakthroughs, to streamline new-product development, and to manage the challenges arising from the business environment.

2. Recognize the basic properties of projects, including their definition. Projects are defined as temporary endeavors undertaken to create a unique product or service. Among their key properties are that projects are complex, one-time processes; projects are limited by budget, schedule, and resources; they are developed to resolve a clear goal or set of goals; and they are customer-focused.

3. Understand why effective project management is such a challenge. Projects operate outside of normal organizational processes, typified by the work done by functional organizational units. Because they are unique, they require a different mind-set: one that is temporary and aimed at achieving a clear goal within a limited time frame. Projects are ad hoc endeavors with a clear life cycle. They are employed as the building blocks in the design and execution of organizational strategies, and they provide a philosophy and a strategy for the management of change. Other reasons why they are a challenge include the fact that project management requires the crossing of functional and organizational boundaries while trying to satisfy the multiple constraints of time, budget, functionality, and customer satisfaction.

4. Differentiate between project management practices and more traditional, process-oriented business functions. Projects involve new process or product ideas, typically with one objective or a limited set of objectives. They are one-shot activities with a defined beginning and end, employing a heterogeneous group of organizational members as the project team. They operate under circumstances of change and uncertainty, outside of normal organizational channels, and are intended to upset the status quo and violate established practice, if need be, in order to achieve project goals. Process-oriented functions adhere more closely to rigid organizational rules, channels of communication, and procedures. The people within the functional departments are homogenous, engaged in ongoing activities, with well-established systems and procedures. They represent bastions of established practice designed to reinforce the organization’s status quo.

5. Recognize the key motivators that are pushing companies to adopt project management practices. Among the key motivators in pushing organizations to adopt project management are (1) shortened product life cycles, (2) narrow product launch windows, (3) increasingly complex and technical products, (4) the emergence of global markets, and (5) an economic period marked by low inflation.

6. Understand and explain the project life cycle, its stages, and the activities that typically occur at each stage in the project. The project life cycle is a mechanism that links time to project activities and refers to the stages in a project’s development. The common stages used to describe the life cycle for a project are (1) conceptualization, (2) planning, (3) execution, and (4) termination. A wide and diverse set of activities occurs during different life cycle stages; for example, during the conceptualization phase, the basic project mission and scope is developed and the key project stakeholders are signed on to support the project’s development. During planning, myriad project plans and schedules are created to guide the development process. Execution requires that the principal work of the project be performed, and finally, during the termination stage, the project is completed, the work is finished, and the project is transferred to the customer.

7. Understand the concept of project “success,” including various definitions of success, as well as the alternative models of success. Originally, project success was predicated simply on a triple-constraint model that rewarded projects if they were completed with regard to schedule, budget, and functionality. This model ignored the emphasis that needs to be placed on project clients, however. In more accurate terms, project success involves a “quadruple constraint,” linking the basic project metrics of schedule adherence, budget adherence, project quality (functionality), and customer satisfaction with the finished product. Other models of project success for IT projects employ the measures of (1) system quality, (2) information quality, (3) use, (4) user satisfaction, (5) individual impact, and (6) organizational impact.

8. Understand the purpose of project management maturity models and the process of benchmarking in organizations. Project management maturity models are used to allow organizations to benchmark the best practices of successful project management firms. Project maturity models recognize that different organizations are at different levels of sophistication in their best practices for managing projects. The purpose of benchmarking is to systematically manage the process improvements of project delivery by a single organization over a period of time. As a firm commits to implementing project management practices, maturity models offer a helpful, multistage process for moving forward through increasing levels of sophistication of project expertise.

9. Identify the relevant maturity stages that organizations go through to become proficient in their use of project management techniques. Although there are a number of project maturity models, several of the most common share some core features. For example, most take as their starting point the assumption that unsophisticated organizations initiate projects in an ad hoc fashion, with little overall shared knowledge or procedures. As the firm moves through intermediate steps, it will begin to initiate processes and project management procedures that diffuse a core set of project management techniques and cultural attitudes throughout the organization. Finally, the last stage in maturity models typically recognizes that by this point the firm has moved beyond simply learning the techniques of project management and is working at continuous improvement processes to further refine, improve, and solidify project management philosophies among employees and departments.

(Pinto 25-27)

Pinto, Jeffery K. Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, 3rd Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions, 7/2012. VitalBook file.

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