Key Takeaways

KEY TAKEAWAYS CHAPTER 1.
 According to PMI, project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and
techniques to meet project requirements.
 The role of the client is controversial. Some clients include meeting or exceeding their
expectations as part of project management.
 Project scope is a document that defines the work required to complete the project
successfully.
KEY TAKEAWAYS CHAPTER 1.2
 All projects are temporary and undertaken to create a product, service, or result.
 Projects can contain smaller projects.
 The purpose of an organization can affect its view of the time allowed for
projects.
 In an organization, project management can be used to make step changes to
take advantage of new technologies or make significant improvements in
effectiveness or efficiency.
 Operations managers are long-term focused and process oriented. Project
managers are goal directed and milestone oriented.
 Projects can be handled by outside contractors or by an internal group in a PMO.
 Project managers need the same skills as an operations manager, such as

good communications, team building, planning, expediting, and political
sensitivity.
 Project managers need additional skills in establishing credibility, creative
problem solving, tolerance for ambiguity, flexible management, and very good
people skills.
 During the start-up phase, the project leader develops the project infrastructure
used to design and execute the project. A team is formed to create agreement
among project stakeholders on the goals, cost, and completion date. Plans for
executing the project, managing the schedule and quality, and controlling the
budget are created.
 The scope statement establishes project parameters that define what will be
done.
 The project schedule begins with a milestone schedule followed by a WBS and
a project diagram. The shortest path through the project diagram is the critical
path, and the difference between the completion of the critical path and the
project finish date is the float. Shortening the critical path is called crashing the
project.
 Cost estimating begins with a conceptual or ballpark estimate that is followed by
a ROM estimate. A project budget is determined from the cost of the tasks in the
WBS. Costs are monitored during the project and estimates updated if the costs
vary from expectations.
 Project quality begins with the specifications of materials and labor. A quality
plan creates a process for assuring the requirements and specifications of the
project are met. Quality improvement tools can be applied to projects if the
company has several similar projects.
 Team members are selected to manage functions and processes. The staffing
plan assigns people as needed. Sources of team members are company
employees, contractors, new hires, and partners.
 The risk on a project reflects the number of things that can possibly happen that
will have a negative effect on the project and the probability of those events
happening.
 The provider of procurement management depends on the size of the project
and the organization. Commodities are purchased from the lowest bidder, while
specialty items are purchased from bids or from partners.
 Project profiles can be created based on attributes such as budget and size to
determine a systematic approach to developing an execution plan and selecting
a project manager.
 Project profiling is the process of extracting a characterization from the known
attributes of a project.
 The typology of Shenhar and Dvir characterized projects based on the attributes
of technological uncertainty and complexity of scope.
 Youker used the attributes of uncertainty and risk, sophistication of workers,
planning detail, industrial sector, location, number of workers, cost,
complexity, urgency, and organizational design .
 Complex systems have many different parts that interact with each other in
different and often unpredictable ways. They adapt to changes in their external
and internal environments.
 The Darnall-Preston Complexity Index (DPCI) groups project attributes into four
categories: external attributes, internal attributes, technological complexity,
and environmental attributes.

 The external attributes are the relative size of the project, duration of the
project, and the available resources.
 The internal attributes are the clarity of its scope, the complexity of the
organization, and the agreement among stakeholders.
 The technological attributes are the technology of the product (not the
technology used to manage the project), the newness of the technology, and the
familiarity of the team with the technology.
 The environmental attributes are the legal issues, cultural conflicts, political
interests, the impact of the project on the ecology, and the impact of the ecology
on the project.

 The phases of a project are initiation, planning, execution, and closeout.
 The initiation phase, which PMI calls “starting the project,” includes activities
such as holding alignment and kickoff meetings, identifying the project team,
developing the resources needed to develop the project plan, and identifying and
acquiring the project management infrastructure.
 The planning phase, which PMI calls “organizing and preparing,” includes
developing detailed staffing, procurement, and project controls plans.
 The execution phase, which PMI calls “carrying out the work,” includes the
major activities needed to accomplish the work o the project.
 The closeout phase, which PMI calls “closing of the project,” includes
transferring staff, archiving documents, closing offices, completing punch list
tasks, and turning over the results of the project to the client.
 Key functions on a project include sponsor, project manager, controls,
procurement, technical, quality, and administration.
 The project sponsor has the organizational authority to provide guidance and
resources and can overcome barriers for the project.
 The project manager is the project leader with broad responsibilities for all
phases of the project and for meeting project goals and client expectations.
 The project controls manager is responsible for controlling the project
processes, including cost estimating and tracking, developing schedules, tracking
progress against schedules, managing changes to the schedule or budget, and
analyzing trends.
 The procurement manager is responsible for obtaining the services and
materials needed to complete the project. This is accomplished by purchasing
commodities, managing contractors who provide services and products, and
working with partners.
 The technical manager deals with the issues related to the technology of the
project.
 The quality manager monitors the project’s processes—not the quality of the
product of the project—and takes steps to assure they are done correctly and
meet specifications.
 Project administration manages accounting, legal, property, and human
resources.
 Scores range from 1 to 5, where 1 is the Lowest level of complexity and 5 is the
highest. In each situation, consider what the two extremes would look like and
then judge where the current situation lies between those extremes.
 The project manager’s style changes with each phase of the project. The client
could be surprised when the style changes from one that is open to any new idea
in the initiation phase to a more task-oriented style during execution or a more
demanding style during closeout.
 Client participation in project teams can have undue influence on decisions, but
this is offset by the buy-in of the client and the insights the client can offer when
special knowledge is needed or schedules need to be changed.
 To identify client expectations, review written documents, but have a dialogue
with the client to uncover unwritten expectations by asking questions and
listening. Manage increasing expectations by reminding the client of the original
objectives.
 Determine the stated corporate values by reviewing written documents and
review actions related to those stated values to see which ones are the basis for
action. Attempt to avoid conflicts of values by identifying the differences before
they become problems.
 Do not take advantage of clients’ mistakes, but help them meet their objectives in
spite of their errors. Live your own values of fairness.
 Determine who should be included in decisions for each category using a
decision matrix
 Decide at what level of problem the client should be involved by discussing the
threshold with the client. Involve the client early in the process to give them a
chance to contribute to the solution before the problem gets worse.
 Decide what criteria to use to determine when a decision should be revisited.
Additional information that is developed during the design and planning phase
can require that decisions made during the conceptual phase need to be
reconsidered.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS CHAPTER 1.

 Project managers need the same skills as an operations manager, such as

KEY TAKEAWAYS CHAPTER 2.4

KEY TAKEAWAYS CHAPTER 3.1

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