PROJECT MANAGEMENT SPECIALIZATION

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Project Management: Foundations

and Initiation

SUMMARY
MODULE 1 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER...................2
WHAT IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT?............................................................................................................. 2
CHARACTERISTICS OF A PROJECT.............................................................................................................. 3
PROJECT MANAGEMENT WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION.....................................................................................5
THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE......................................................................................................... 7
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PROJECT MANAGER...........................................................................................7
THE ROLES OF A PROJECT MANAGER....................................................................................................... 11
PERSPECTIVE FROM A PROJECT MANAGER............................................................................................... 15
THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS.................................................................................................... 16
TRADITIONAL, AGILE, AND HYBRID METHODS............................................................................................ 22
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MODULE 1 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND THE

ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
What is Project Management?
Module 1 – Project Management and the role of the Project Manager
What is Project Management?

As a kickoff to any project management course, it's important to define the basic
concepts such as what do we mean by project management. Well, if we break down that
phrase, the first part is project. What do we mean by project? A project is a temporary effort
that creates value. This could be developing a new app for commercial use, it could be
building a skyscraper, it could be planning the launch of an event. All of these things create
value for an individual or for an organization. Projects by their nature have a sequence of
activities that need to be completed by a specific time and within a specific budget that
meet the specific needs of the customer or the end user.

Now let's examine what we mean by the term management. There are many scholars
who have defined management over the years. I like to reference the definition from Henri
Fayol, who helped shape the theory of modern industrial management. Fayol described
management in terms of the functions that managers perform. These were planning,
organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. In modern times, we combine the
functions of commanding and coordinating into leadership. Breaking each of these down
further, the planning function of management brings together every aspect of business.
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What is Project Management?

The manager sets the direction, communicates the desired goals and results, and
defines the methods needed to achieve those results, and determines all of the steps
necessary to achieve the desired goal. In order to do this, the manager must know all
of the available resources and tools available to them within the organization. This is
organizing. Managers bring together the resources such as people, funding, and
equipment to support the end goals. Leading or leadership is focused on the human aspect
of management, hiring and managing the best people for the job. This includes training,
coaching, reviewing job performance, and setting an example for the team. Controlling is
verifying that everything is working according to plan, according to schedule, and according
to budget.
Putting those terms together, we have a definition for project management. Project
Management Institute defines project management as the use of specific knowledge, skills,
tools, and techniques to deliver something of value to people. Project managers are the
people who apply those tools along with the ability to lead and manage people to
deliver the completed project, thus creating value. A project manager uses management
skills to solve a business problem or act on an opportunity. The project manager will define
what needs to be done to solve the problem. They also detail the tasks, they develop the
plan to accomplish each task, and then they manage the resources needed throughout the
project such as people, facilities, and supplies. They develop the metrics to measure the
implementation of the project as well as consistently communicate the status of the project
to stakeholders.

When the project is complete, they turn it over to the customer or to the client or to the
user. Finally, the project manager reflects and documents lessons learned throughout the
project for use in future projects.

Characteristics of a Project
Module 1 – Project Management and the role of the Project Manager
Characteristics of a Project

Projects have unique characteristics that separate them from ongoing operations.
They serve a purpose, they meet a need or create value for an organization. Projects
create something and have a deliverable. A project can improve an existing product or
service and all projects result in an outcome either tangible like a rocket booster or
intangible like a software update or even a document that's used by someone else. So let's
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Characteristics of a Project

take a look at the unique characteristics of projects. First of all, projects are unique. They fill
a specific objective.

It could be creating a new product or even a service. For example, I launched a

formal project plan to create this course. The specific objective of my project was to create
and launch a course in project management. I developed a project plan, identified the
curriculum, identified the assignments and put together the course schedule. I recorded
videos and uploaded information. This project is unique to this course and this course only.
Second, projects are temporary.

They have a beginning and an end date. They have a start and a finish. Projects end
when either the objectives are met, when the money runs out or there's no longer a need
for the output of the project or even if a project is canceled or terminated. It's important to
know projects have an end date. Without an end date, we consider that operations.
Operations are ongoing and more permanent. For example, a project may be undertaken
to design and build an assembly line to make automobiles.
Once the assembly line is built, tested and has met the client specification, it's turned
over to client operations to manage, and the project is considered complete. The assembly
line still exists. It's now considered part of operations and not a project. Automobiles are
being manufactured as part of operations.
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Characteristics of a Project

Next, projects initiate some change for the company. They bring on a change in the
status quo, they always initiate some change. An example would be a hardware upgrade
for an office. The upgrade could replace obsolete systems with new technology. In this
case the change would be the new computers for the office.

And finally, projects create value for the business. And this is the most important
characteristic. In our hardware upgrade example, the value created for the business could
be an increase in employee efficiency due to increased speed or capacity of the new
hardware that's being introduced. Increased efficiency can result in lower costs for the
company. Another example could be an increase in data security, which could reduce the
risk of a data breach, which is also costly for the company.
Again, projects are unique and temporary. They have a beginning and an end. They
initiate some change for the company or customer and at the end of the day they create
value.

Project Management Within an Organization

Module 1 – Project Management and the role of the Project Manager
Project Management Within an Organization

Now that we understand the definition of projects and project management, let’s
explore how multiple projects are managed within an organization.
An organization can have multiple, related projects being managed by different PM’s -
all contributing to strategic business goals of the company. These projects are often
grouped into a Program. Similarly, large enterprises may have many Programs that
contribute to a Portfolio.
The following reading will explore the concepts of Project, Program, and Portfolio
Management:

Project Management Within an Organization

It is important to understand the distinctions among project management, program
management, and portfolio management. Each operates at a different level within an
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Project Management Within an Organization

organization, focusing on specific outcomes.

Project Management
Project management involves planning, executing, and closing individual projects that
have defined objectives, timelines, and deliverables. A project manager's primary
responsibilities include managing tasks, adhering to deadlines, and ensuring deliverables
meet defined criteria. The focus is on execution to achieve specific goals within the
constraints such as scope, schedule, and budget.

Program Management
Program management is the coordinated management of multiple related projects to
achieve broader organizational goals to create stakeholder value. A program manager
oversees these interconnected projects, ensuring they align with strategic objectives and
deliver benefits that support long-term organizational success. This role manages
interdependencies between projects and focuses on broader initiatives, roadmaps,
prioritization, and resource capacity, rather than the specific tasks of individual projects.

Portfolio Management
Portfolio management is the centralized management of one or more programs or
project portfolios to achieve strategic objectives. It involves selecting and prioritizing an
organization's projects and programs in alignment with its strategic goals and resource
capacity. Portfolio managers assess potential projects' viability, ensuring they contribute to
the organization's overall strategy and deliver maximum business value.

Project, program, and portfolio management are different ways to help organizations
reach their goals. Each one has its own role - project management delivers on project
execution, program management connects related tasks, and portfolio management looks
at the big picture. Knowing how they are different helps people work better and make sure
their work supports the organization’s success.

The Project Management Office

Module 1 – Project Management and the role of the Project Manager
The Project Management Office

The Project Management Office (PMO)

The PMO is the centralized entity within an organization that establishes project
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The Project Management Office

management standards to make sure processes and procedures are consistent and
efficient.

Functions of the PMO

1. Project Selection – Does the project align with company goals?
2. Standardization – Developing consistent project management methodologies,
processes, templates, reports, etc.
3. Resource Management – Allocating resources across projects.
4. Training and Support – Providing guidance, training, and mentorship to project
managers to support successful projects.
5. Monitoring: Tracking project progress, maintaining documentation, and reporting to
stakeholders.
While a Project Manager oversees projects from initiation to completion, focusing on
specific goals, data gathering, scheduling, and budget management, a PMO operates at a
higher organizational level. The PMO is responsible for setting overarching standards,
project methodologies, and processes that guide all projects within the organization,
ensuring alignment with strategic goals and consistency with project execution.

Responsibilities of the Project Manager

Module 1 – Project Management and the role of the Project Manager
Responsibilities of the Project Manager

What do project managers actually do? What is their defined role? A project manager
brings everything together? What do I mean by that? They connect the people to the
resources and set the direction to accomplish the goals of the project. They connect the
people to the process. They have ultimate responsibility to make sure the project is
successful.

How do they accomplish this? Let's examine the five major processes that project
managers follow for a successful project. Well, the project manager has many
responsibilities throughout the life of the project. There are five categories or processes
for which every project manager has responsibility. These are initiating the
project. Planning the project, executing the project monitoring and controlling the project
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and finally closing the project first we have project initiation. Project managers have the
responsibility to initiate or provide the scope for the project.

We'll dive deeper into what we mean by scope later. But it is the project manager's
responsibility to make sure the customers and stakeholders expectations are met by the
objectives of the project. It is also important for the project manager to understand the
business environment. This includes understanding your company's strategic direction as
well as the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. In order to maximize efficiency
and mitigate any potential risks throughout the project. This also means the project
manager must have a deep understanding of the company's assets that are available to
them and to the project team. The project manager uses this knowledge and company
assets to develop the process.
The business case for the project. Every company has unique assets that need to be
used by the project manager. Some assets include tools and templates available through
the program management office While other assets include resources such as lab space or
office space. It's important for the project manager to understand all of the resources
available to them to achieve the project's goals. Initiating the project also means
developing and sharing documents that show the value of the project to the business or to
the customer. Remember projects create value and part of the responsibility of the project
manager is quantifying and effectively communicating that value to stakeholders. This is
accomplished through what is called a project charter.

Planning the project project managers must also plan. This may seem intuitive but
there is a well defined process to project planning. While planning the project, the project
manager will plan activities and how those activities will be done. This is where the project
manager defines the project activities including activity duration. They determine the cost
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and the resources needed to accomplish each of the tasks and they build a project
schedule. Another important planning step is to identify any potential risks to the
project. The project manager will use project management tools to address and mitigate
those risks before the project begins.

Next we have project execution. Project managers then execute the project. This is
the point where we bring together the project team. A good project manager will collaborate
with the team to set ground rules for how the team will communicate and address any
changes to the scope during the project. During project execution, the team launches the
project. This includes procuring the resources necessary, as well as determining the
project's milestones.

Once the project is launched or executed, the project manager has a responsibility to
make sure that the project is on track to meet milestones.
They must also make sure the project performance and standards for quality are
being met along the way. The project manager will monitor the project by collecting
performance data and comparing that to predetermined metrics. For Example, if I were
managing a project to develop a marketing plan for a new product being introduced. And
during month three we were supposed to present a branding strategy and it comes to
month three. The milestone four, month three is the delivery of that formal brand
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strategy. And let's assume we're currently in the third month and I'm behind schedule and I
am also under budget. As a project manager, I have the responsibility of measuring our
project progress to milestones and implementing a response to the risk of a late
deliverable.
One way we can control the project by implementing that risk mitigation strategy we
identified during our planning stage. This could be something like assigning another
branding specialist to the project to assist. Or hiring an outside firm to help us meet the
branding deadlines while collecting data. It's also important for the project manager to
communicate that data and the project status to the stakeholders that need to know this
information. It's also in this step that the project manager becomes a problem solver
and we'll jump into this much more detail later.

It's also the responsibility of the project manager to close the project. They are
responsible for gaining customer or client approval for meeting the requirements of the
project and turning it over to the client.
The project manager is also responsible for final project documentation and writing a
project report. It is also important for the project manager to reflect and share lessons
learned from their project to guide future similar projects. Each of these five responsibilities
of the project manager align with something the Project Management Institute refers to
as. Project management process groups within each of these responsibilities or process
groups. There are specific areas of knowledge a project manager must possess. We will
provide an overview of these knowledge areas along with some tools and techniques
associated with those areas in the following lessons.

The Roles of a Project Manager

Module 1 – Project Management and the role of the Project Manager
The Roles of a Project Manager

Project Management Institute: Who are Project Managers?

What is a Project Manager?
Project Managers are organized, goal-oriented professionals who use innovation,
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creativity, and collaboration to lead projects that make an impact.

What does a Project Manager do?
From the grand skyscrapers of sprawling cities to your favorite social media apps,
Project Managers lead all types of projects across various industries. They use their project
management expertise to execute and complete projects that bring brilliant ideas into
reality.
Project Managers equip their teams with the tools to succeed and evolve through
projects. And they use various project management skills to do so, including:
 Leadership and adaptability
 Organization and time management
 Creative problem-solving
 Effective communication
 Motivation and team management
What are a Project Manager’s duties and responsibilities?
Project Managers are responsible for various things on the job, including:
 Identifying project goals and scope
 Planning and documenting project tasks
 Ensuring deliverables are delivered on-time
 Managing all project resources
 Effectively communicating with stakeholders
 Eliminating blockers and potential risks
 Documenting projects process using various project management tools
 Ensuring top-quality results and project success
Five Critical Roles in Project Management
When you’re managing a project, To meet your project objectives, you need the right
people on board—and they must have a clear understanding of their roles. Here’s a
breakdown of who does what.

1. Sponsor
The sponsor champions the project at the highest level in the company and gets rid of
organizational obstructions. She should have the clout to communicate effectively with the
CEO and key stakeholders, provide necessary resources, and approve or reject outcomes.
It’s also important that she have “skin in the game”—in other words, accountability for the
project’s performance.

2. Project Manager
The project manager identifies the central problem to solve and determines, with input
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from the sponsor and stakeholders, how to tackle it: what the project’s objectives and
scope will be and which activities will deliver the desired results. He then plans and
schedules tasks, oversees day-to-day execution, and monitors progress until he evaluates
performance, brings the project to a close, and captures the lessons learned. The project
manager receives authority from the sponsor. In many respects, he’s like a traditional
manager because he must:
 Provide a framework for the project’s activities
 Identify needed resources
 Negotiate with higher authorities
 Recruit effective participants
 Set milestones
 Coordinate activities
 Keep the vision clear and the work on track
 Make sure everyone on the team contributes and benefits
 Mediate conflicts
 Make sure project goals are delivered on time and on budget

3. Team Leader
Large projects may include a team leader, who reports directly to the project manager.
In small projects, the project manager wears both hats. The team leader cannot act like the
boss and still obtain the benefits of team-based work. Instead, he must adopt the following
important roles:
 Initiator. Rather than tell people what to do, the leader draws attention to actions that
must be taken for team goals to be met.
 Model. He uses his own behavior to shape others’ performance—by starting
meetings on time, for example, and following through on between meeting
assignments. Leaders often rely heavily on this tactic, since they typically cannot
use promotions, compensation, or threats of dismissal to influence team members.
 Negotiator. He gets what he needs from resource providers by framing the project
as mutually beneficial.
 Listener. He gathers from the environment signal of impending trouble, employee
discontent, and opportunities for gain.
 Coach. He finds ways to help team members maximize their potential and achieve
agreed-upon goals. Coaching opportunities are abundant within teams because the
skills members eventually need are often ones they don’t already have.
 Working member. In addition to providing direction, the leader must do a share of
the work, particularly in areas where he has special competence. Ideally, he should
also take on one or two of the unpleasant or unexciting jobs that no one else wants
to do.

4. Team Members
The heart of any project, and the true engine of its work, is its membership. That’s
why bringing together the right people is extremely important.
Criteria for membership
Although the skills needed to accomplish the work should govern team selection,
keep in mind that you’re unlikely to get all the know-how you need without providing some
training. Consider the following areas of proficiency:
 Technical skills in a specific discipline, such as market research, finance, or software
programming
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 Problem-solving skills enabling individuals to analyze difficult situations or impasses

and to craft solutions
 Interpersonal skills, particularly the ability to collaborate effectively with others—a
critical aspect of team-based work
 Organizational skills, including networking, communicating well with other parts of
the company, and navigating the political landscape, all of which help the team get
things done and avoid conflicts with operating units and their personnel
When forming project teams, people tend to focus too narrowly on technical skills and
overlook interpersonal and organizational skills, which are just as important. For instance, a
brilliant programmer may thwart team progress if she is unwilling to collaborate. By
contrast, an organizationally savvy person with average technical skills may be the team’s
most valuable member, thanks to his ability to gather resources and enlist help from
operating units.
Individuals who are strong on all four skill measures are few and far between. Make
the most of the talent available, and take steps to neutralize weaknesses in your group.
Look for people not just with valued skills but with the potential to learn new ones. Once
you identify a candidate for membership, discuss her potential contribution with the
sponsor. Consult her supervisor as well, since team membership absorbs time that would
otherwise go toward regular assignments.
You may have to add new members and possibly bid thanks and good-bye to others
over time, as tasks and needs change. One note of caution: Team members gradually
develop effective patterns for working together, making decisions, and communicating.
Cohesion is undermined when too many people join or exit the team.
Contributions and benefits
Free riders—team members who obtain the benefits of membership without doing
their share—cannot be tolerated. However, not every member has to put in the same
amount of time. For example, a senior manager who must direct much of his attention to
other duties may still add value to the project by securing resources or by building support
within the organization.
Just as each member must contribute to the team’s work, each should receive clear
benefits: a learning experience that will pay career dividends, for instance, or a fatter
paycheck or bonus. Otherwise, individuals will not participate at a high level—at least not
for long. The benefits they derive from their regular jobs will absorb their attention and
make your project a secondary priority.
Alignment
The goals of the project team and those of its individual members must align with
organizational objectives. For that reason, everyone’s efforts should be coordinated
through the company’s rewards system. This kind of reinforcement begins at the top, with
the sponsor. Since she is accountable for the team’s success, some part of her
compensation should be linked to the team’s performance.
Moving down the line, the project manager and team members should likewise see
their compensation affected by team outcomes. Such alignment gets everyone moving in
the same direction.

5. The Project Steering Committee

Some projects have a steering committee, which consists of the sponsor and all key
stakeholders. The committee’s role is to approve the charter, secure resources, and
adjudicate all requests to change key project elements, such as deliverables, the schedule,
and the budget.
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A steering committee is a good idea when different partnering companies, units, or

individuals have a strong stake in the project. Because it represents these various
interests, it is well positioned to sort out complicated interfirm or interdepartmental project
problems.
Likewise, it can be helpful if you anticipate many change requests. The downside to
having a steering committee? It involves another level of oversight, and its meetings take
up the time of some of the company’s most expensive employees. So don’t have a
committee if you don’t need one.

Perspective from a Project Manager

Module 1 – Project Management and the role of the Project Manager
Perspective from a Project Manager

I have switched over to working in a software company where we sell software to

customers and then we have what's called a Statement of Work, SOW for short. Then that
SOW is given to me as a project manager to execute against. Really what that means is
our customer will buy our software and maybe they're new to our software, don't really
know how to set it up.
Then we'll have the SOW that says everything that needs to be completed as a way
to say all of their high-level requirements of what they expect of how to get the software
now into their system. My job as a project manager is to manage the client's
expectations. That's the very short version of that. Really what that means is managing
expectations around four key areas. One is going to be the scope. Scope is going to entail
all of the requirements that are encompassed for the particular Statement of Work. Let's
use the analogy of a house.
If you're building a house, that is going to be a project. You have a list of
requirements, things that you want for that home so that would be your scope. The second
thing is going to be budget, which is of course, how much money you're going to pay for
the home. In my case, it's how much money they are going to pay for the project to be
completed, to have the software deployed. The third item is going to be around the
schedule. How long it takes to actually build up your home. In my case, how long it takes to
actually get the software ready for the end users to access it.
The fourth area is going to be quality because quite frankly, it doesn't matter if your
house has everything that you say it wants, that you want within schedule, within budget, if
it's a poor quality. If it's made up of sticks and stones, it's not going to be a home that lasts
and you want something that lasts. Very similarly in software projects, it's important to
ensure quality. Quality will be things like ensuring as least bugs as possible, ensuring that
the software is actually usable. There's various ways that you can measure quality
depending on how you're looking at it. But overall, those are the four key areas that I
look at in terms of managing my clients' expectations. There's a few others.
I am a registered PMP, which means I have my Project Management Professional
Certification. I definitely can delve into project management a lot more, but that's not what
this video is about. It's not a course on project management. That's pretty much what I do
you guys. At a very high level, I manage the expectations of my customers. I ensure that
they are happy, that they are satisfied, that they are aware of what's going on. To be honest
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with you all, some people may just consider me overhead, meaning I'm not the person who
actually does the work.
I'm not the person who actually completes the configurations or sets up things. I'm the
person who just ensures that it gets done. I put together a schedule, I make sure all the
requirements are collected, I make sure that we're tracking to a particular budget, and I
also make sure again that there's good quality built into the project itself so hat when we
get to the tail end of things, the client is ultimately happy, satisfied, and wanting to buy
more of our software.

The Project Management Process

Module 1 – Project Management and the role of the Project Manager
The Project Management Process

Next we'll look at project management as a process. Project management has five
process groups, which is what project managers do. There are 10 knowledge areas which
are what project managers need to know. Then there are 49 specific processes, which is
the way they accomplish those tasks or the tools and techniques that we use as project
managers. Let's dive a little deeper into the process of project management. First, let's take
a look at the basic terminology for the entire process.

First, we have the process groups. This is what you do as a project manager. They
provide a chronological process to follow for a traditional project management project. Next
are the 10 knowledge areas, and this is what the project manager needs to know. Then we
have the 49 processes. These processes are specific tools and techniques a project
manager follows for a successful project. Let's examine the process groups first. You'll
recognize these from a previous video as the roles and responsibilities of the project
manager.
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To review, these are initiate the project, plan the project, execute the project, monitor
and control the project. Finally, we have close the project. These are also called the project
management process groups. Again, this is what we do as project managers. Let's talk
about the specific project groups. In this course, we'll be concentrating on the initiating
process. Further courses examine the remaining four processes.

Initiating is the first step. It's where we do initial documentation and we identify the
project's stakeholders. The second step in the process is planning. So much of the project's
success can be attributed to a good project plan. The project plan contains every itemized
step of work to be done in the project in order to make it a success. It identifies all
stakeholders and evaluates how they can influence the project. Planning is where we
develop the scope of the work.
It's where we develop a detailed schedule and cost estimate. It contains quality
plans and corrective action activities. It's where the project manager details the resources
needed, and it's also where you develop your communication strategy to engage
stakeholders and the team throughout the entire project. During planning, you'll identify
how you will purchase or acquire the supplies you need, as well as the people needed to
get that work done. You'll list any risks that can jeopardize the project objectives and how
you plan to respond if those events happen. A good project plan doesn't necessarily mean
a successful project, but you can be sure that a bad plan will result in an unsuccessful
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one. The third process is executing, and this is where we do much of the actual work of the
project.
In this process, much of the project manager's time is spent leading and developing
the team. You need a seller team to ensure a smooth project execution. The fourth process
is monitoring and controlling. According to the PMBOK, this is where the project
manager uses processes to track, review, and regulate the progress and performance of
the project. It's during this process that the project manager is diligent about measuring the
actual progress to the predicted milestones, and where we use corrective actions to get the
project back on track if it's running behind, if it's running over budget, or if we are
experiencing any quality issues. Finally, the fifth process is closing. It's where the project
manager will assure customer acceptance of the delivered project. It's also where we
document and archive information about the project to be used in future projects.

Now that we understand the project management process groups, let's look at the 10
knowledge areas. If process groups are what we do as project managers, knowledge areas
are what we need to know as project managers, or really the fundamental
knowledge needed to manage projects. The first knowledge area we'll look at is integration
management. It is the knowledge required to ensure that the various elements of the
project are properly coordinated. It's one of the most important knowledge areas since it is
the one that brings together all other areas for informed decision-making. Let me repeat
that. It's one of the most important areas because it brings everything together for the
project manager to make the best decisions.
Integration management occurs across the entire project life cycle, the entire life
cycle, and it happens continuously. It's one of the most important knowledge areas. Next,
we have scope management. Scope management is the knowledge area that contains the
processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the
work required to make sure that the project is completed successfully. This is where we
define the outputs and benefits of the project. It's where all of the project requirements are
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identified. This knowledge area is extremely important because it is where we get a clear
understanding of the project assumptions and all of the constraints.
Next, we have schedule management, and it's the knowledge area that contains the
processes required to ensure that the project is completed on time. Scheduling is important
because it helps the project run smoothly and efficiently. All of the stakeholders need to
be able to know when milestones are being met. Next, we have cost management. Cost
management is the knowledge area that contains the processes to ensure that the project
is completed within the approved budget. It's super important in project management since
projects create value. Project managers use cost management tools and techniques to
prove a project's value.
The next knowledge area we have is quality management. It contains the
processes required to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was
undertaken. Project managers measure quality continually and need to take corrective
actions when quality is not up to standards. It's important to have a solid, data-driven plan
for quality planning, for quality control, and quality assurance. Resource management is
the knowledge area that contains the processes required to make the most effective use of
people involved with the project. When most project managers refer to resources, they're
often talking about human resources or people. Resource management is one of the most
challenging knowledge areas since it focuses on people and their performance.
Not only are we referring to hiring and allocating people to project tasks, it's also the
responsibility of the project manager to serve as the leader of the project. We will dive
deeper into resource management later in this course. Next we have communications
management, and it is the knowledge area that contains the processes required to ensure
that the project knowledge is generated, collected, shared, and archived in a timely and
secure manner. Poor communication is a major reason why projects fail. Communications
management contain the processes that help make sure the right messages are sent to the
right people at the right time and in the correct format or the correct channel. What I mean
by correct format is some stake holders prefer to receive an email while others may
prefer a more formal report as their communications. Risk management is next.
Risk management is a knowledge area that contains the processes concerned with
identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk. As a project manager, it's our
responsibility to ask ourselves what can go wrong? How can I prevent that from
happening? What will I do if and when it does go wrong? Project risks could be risks to the
schedule, such as material shortages or supply chain issues. Other risks could be resource
related, such as losing a key project team member. Risk management processes gives you
tools to identify, categorize, and quantify risks to the project.
Project managers use the results from this analysis to develop a risk response
plan. Procurement management is next. It is the knowledge area that contains the
processes required to acquire the goods and services from outside your organization. This
could mean creating and maintaining a relationship with an external vendor to purchase the
materials needed for the project. This could mean evaluating an outsourcing project team
members to meet specific needs of the project that your company doesn't currently
have the ability or capacity to do in-house. Often, larger companies have procurement
offices that assists the project manager. But a good project manager needs to
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understand the process for procurement.

Next we have stakeholder management. This is the knowledge area that contains the
processes that identify and develop relationships with those people in organizations which
are impacted by your project. A stakeholder is anyone who has influence over your project
or has some power over your project team, or has power over the outcome of your
project. Examples of stakeholders are the customer, the project team members,
investors, suppliers, or even government agencies. Project managers need to create a plan
to make sure stakeholders are informed at each step of the project life cycle.

Now, let's take a look at the 49 processes. Each of these processes fit into a specific
process group. Each of these processes also coordinate with a specific knowledge
area. There are many processes to follow and it may seem overwhelming now, but I
promise you they will all make sense when we review them individually and we see how
each one aligns with a process group and a knowledge area. While I won't define
or explain each of these processes in this video, future videos will dive deeper into each
process when we cover the coordinating knowledge areas. To help make more sense of
these processes, we can map each of the 49 processes to both a process group and a
knowledge area.
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On the top row, we have the project management process groups. Remember, the
process groups define what a project manager does. On the left column, we have the
knowledge areas, and this is what we need to know. Within each of the process groups and
knowledge areas, we have a specific process or tool that helps us manage the project.
Throughout this course, and in the project management number 2 and number 3
courses, I will dive deeper into each of the project management knowledge areas. While
we learn about the skills and knowledge needed as a project manager, we will talk further
about each of these processes or tools.
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Traditional, Agile, and Hybrid Methods

Module 1 – Project Management and the role of the Project Manager
Traditional, Agile, and Hybrid Methods

I'm going to give you a boildown version of, what's the difference between
Waterfall, Agile, and Hybrid Project Management. This will be a relatively quick video, just
highlighting some of the differences and when you may want to use each of these
methodologies. Let's get to it.

Let's start by talking about Waterfall Project Management. When we're talking about
Waterfall Project Management, you may also hear it called Traditional or Predictive Project
Management. They are used interchangeably. If you hear one of those three ways of
referring to it, then we're all talking about the same methodology.
Now, Waterfall Project Management really focuses on developing a plan, and really
following that plan throughout the project life cycle. I'll give you an example of some of the
different steps of going through the Waterfall methodology. This is really what you're using
when you're creating a robust projects schedule. A lot of times when you're creating that
traditional project schedule, and say MS Project, and you're defining all of your
dependencies and building them in, and looking at your critical path, you're generally using
waterfall project management. We are starting at the very beginning, and developing that
plan, executing the plan all the way through. Now, when would you use Waterfall Project
Management? This is generally used when requirements are well known, so building a
house, building a bridge.
You can imagine that you'd want to have a full plan developed before you just start
building a house, or you're going to have a lot of expensive changes throughout that project
execution. When requirements are well known, this tends to be the best approach.
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Traditional, Agile, and Hybrid Methods

Let's look a little bit about the way that it flows. It's called waterfall because you
flow from one step into the other. Again, we're going to gather all of those requirements for
our project, at the beginning, we're then going to create the design, what's this going to
look and feel like, as far as those successful deliverables and outputs. Then we're actually
going to develop or build the solution whatever those deliverables are. We'll test and
validate and then we'll go ahead and deploy.
Now there's usually one big outcome whenever we are using Waterfall Project
Management. If you think about, we're building that house, we're going to go through all of
these, we're going to make sure that it meets all of the requirements that we determined in
the beginning, and then we're going to deploy, we're going to hand the keys over to the
customer, there's that big bang at the end. Let's look at Agile Project Management.

Agile Project Management is a lot more collaborative when we're talking about the
customer. We're working really closely with them throughout the entire project, as we may
need to gather some additional requirements as we move along. This is best used
when requirements are not as well known. This was developed originally, for use with
software development and didn't really know at the very beginning of the project, what it
was going to look and feel like as far as that outcome, and so Waterfall Project
Management really wasn't the best approach, so Agile was created.
It really is that collaboration with the customer that is driving the project
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forward. Again, software developments where this came about, innovative type of projects
are really great to use Agile Project Management.

Now, this looks and feels a little bit different as far as how you're delivering as
well. There's something called sprints when you're talking about Agile Project
Management. A sprint is really a time box. If you hear the word sprint, I want you to think
about there's a set amount of time where we need to accomplish specific work, and then
we're going to deliver part of the project incrementally. A sprint equals a timebox.
We're going to do part of the work, deliver something incrementally. Then we're going
to go back into a sprint and deliver some additional work incrementally and so forth until the
project is completed. I'm going to show you another visual momentarily, but just keep that
in mind little bit different from waterfall project management where there's one big outcome
at the end. This is used oftentimes incrementally when you're creating those deliverables.

Hybrid project management, you probably hear about this quite a bit, quite a buzz
word these days. Hey, what are best practices for hybrid project management? This is
really a combined approach, and this is generally customized to organizations based on
how they're structured, the culture of the organization.
It can be any combination of waterfall and agile and just tailoring it to what meets the
needs of the organization, the project, the team itself. It could switch back and forth
between, hey, maybe this phase of work, we'll be using waterfall or traditional or
predictive. Then maybe we go into a more agile type of phase maybe there's two tracks
running at one time. You see that oftentimes if there's product development and
maybe there's a hardware requirement and the software requirement. Generally, hardware
is going to be used with Waterfall Project Management. Because if you think about it when
changes are expensive, when there's a lot of physical or tangible items being used with a
project, then waterfalls generally best so that we can do all of that planning up front
and eliminate work and waste because that gets really expensive when we're talking about
projects. When we're talking about software and making little tweaks here and there.
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There's not as much as far as, hey, if we need to change something, it's not these
huge expensive items. Think for example, if you're building a plane, a huge aircraft that's
going to carry hundreds of passengers. If you're really trying to deliver in an incremental
way or with Agile Project Management, things may change a lot along the way, along the
course of that project being executed. Changes are going to get expensive very quickly. If
halfway through the project you're changing the design of where the seats go or you're
changing something to do with, hey, let's just add plugs. We now want to add plugs to all
the seats. It can be expensive to make changes.
We want to think of Waterfall Project Management. Agile, maybe the requirements
aren't as well known, we're working really closely with the customer. We are working with
sprints, delivering increments, and then showing it to the customer. What do you
think? Does this meet the requirements? Then maybe a few tweaks are being made. I'll
touch on that more momentarily.
Again, hybrid, we're talking about a combination. What works best for this
project? Let's design and approach and maybe use a little bit of waterfall, a little bit of agile.

With Waterfall Project Management, you generally use a traditional work breakdown
structure. When you're in that planning phase, we are going to think about what are all of
the deliverables associated with this project. If you look at 1.0 here, what is this
deliverable? What is the work that we're going to need to do in order to get this deliverable
completed.
That's going to be our task. Generally, tasks start with a verb. We want to keep
breaking it down to the lowest level so that it can be accurately estimated as far as
time, cost, resources that need to be assigned. What we then do with a work breakdown
structure is think about dependencies. In what order does this work need to be
accomplished? This task 2.1 need to be completed before 3.2, and we start putting them
in order and linking those dependencies. That starts to give us that picture moving over
time of when the work is going to get completed and that's also how we come up with our
critical path.
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Module 1 – Project Management and the role of the Project Manager

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When we're using Agile Project Management, we generally have something called a
backlog. Sometimes you'll hear it called a project backlog or a product backlog. This is
where we're gathering as many requirements as possible, and we are prioritizing, what are
the must-haves here? That's going to go to the top of our list. What are maybe the should-
haves? They're going to go next on the list. What are maybe the could-haves?
Then what are the won't-halves? Oftentimes, you're going to be prioritizing all of the
requirements, putting them in order in something called a backlog. What we then do is align
the work usually pulling from the top of the list, the highest priority items, we're going to pull
those out and put them into a sprint backlog. Sprints are generally two weeks in
duration. Although they can range from 1-4 weeks. Within the project, they should stay the
same duration from sprint to sprint. You want to agree on what's the duration of our sprints
at the beginning of the project?
Again, let's say we're using two-week sprints. We're going to say how much work
based on our project team if we've got five people working on the project and they're
dedicated resources. How much of this work can we get completed in a two-week
period? We're going to estimate, align that to the sprint itself, and then all five team
members we're going be heads down doing the work for that two-week period, trying to get
it 100 percent complete. Then we are going to have our project or product increment. What
is it that we accomplished during that last sprint? We're generally going to showcase it to
our customer, have some discussions, and if everyone's thumbs up, we're going to go
back.
Pull again from the top of the list since it's in priority order, align that to the next sprint
as far as the work goes and continue on. Sometimes when we showcase our increment to
the customer, they may say that's not exactly what I expected or maybe we didn't think
about this, let's add some additional requirements. If you add some additional requirements
to your backlog, then you need to re-prioritize, and that way you're always pulling the
highest priority items so the ones that are going to add the most value. In a nutshell,
waterfall, traditional predictive project management, best for well-known
requirements, we're going to develop our entire plan at the beginning of the project before
we ever start doing any work, and we're going to have our start date, end date of our
project, we're going to measure against that baseline, this is our original plan, our baseline
as we move throughout, which is going to tell us, hey, are we ahead of schedule, behind
schedule? Are we within budget? Are we over budget? That's going to be our traditional or
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waterfall project management.

For agile, requirements generally aren't as well-known, and we're working really
closely with the customer throughout execution via sprints. Just one note here when we're
talking about agile project management, dedicated resources tends to work best. You will
often hear people talk about Scrum. If you hear that, know that Scrum is an agile approach
for executing projects.