A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end, undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. Projects are limited by constraints of time, budget and resources. Key characteristics of projects include established objectives, a defined lifespan, cross-organizational participation and doing something never done before. Project management involves planning, executing, controlling and closing the work of a project while balancing scope, quality, time and cost constraints. Project management emerged as a formal discipline in the 1950s to manage large construction and aerospace projects.
3. A project requires an organized set of work
efforts.
Projects require a level of detail that is
progressively elaborated upon as more
information is discovered.
Projects are subject to limitations of time and
resources such as money and people.
Projects have a defined beginning and ending.
Project – “a temporary endeavor undertaken to
create a unique product, service, or result.”
PMBOK® Guide
4. Project Defined
◦ A complex, non-routine, one-time effort limited by
time, budget, resources, and performance
specifications designed to meet customer needs.
Major Characteristics of a Project
◦ Has an established objective.
◦ Has a defined life span with a beginning and an
end.
◦ Requires across-the-organizational participation.
◦ Involves doing something never been done before.
◦ Has specific time, cost, and performance
requirements.
6. Program Defined
◦ A series of coordinated, related, multiple projects
that continue over an extended time and are
intended to achieve a goal.
◦ A higher level group of projects targeted at a
common goal.
◦ Example:
Project: completion of a required course in project
management.
Program: completion of all courses required for a
business major.
7. Routine, Repetitive Work
Taking class notes
Daily entering sales receipts into
the accounting ledger
Responding to a supply-chain
request
Practicing scales on the piano
Routine manufacture of an
Apple iPod
Attaching tags on a
manufactured product
Projects
Writing a term paper
Setting up a sales kiosk for a
professional accounting meeting
Developing a supply-chain
information system
Writing a new piano piece
Designing an iPod that is
approximately 2 X 4 inches,
interfaces with PC, and stores
10,000 songs
Wire-tag projects for GE and
Wal-Mart
8. Project management includes work processes
that initiate, plan, execute, and close work
Work processes require tradeoffs among the
scope, quality, cost, and schedule of the
project
PM includes administrative tasks for planning,
documenting, and controlling work
PM includes leadership tasks for visioning,
motivating, and promoting work associates.
Project management – “the application of knowledge, skills,
tools and techniques to project activities to meet project
requirements.” PMBOK® Guide
9. PM emerged as a formal discipline in the
1950s
Techniques for planning and controlling
schedules and costs were developed for huge
aerospace and construction projects in the
1950s and 1960s
Early PM involved determining project
schedules based on project activities
Manufacturing, research and development,
government, and construction projects
refined management techniques
10. Software companies offered software for
planning and controlling project costs and
schedules in the 1980s and 1990s
Risk management techniques for complex
projects have been applied to less complex
projects
Communication and leadership have been
recognized as playing a major role in project
success
13. The Project Manager
◦ Manages temporary, non-repetitive activities and
frequently acts independently of the formal
organization.
Marshals resources for the project.
Is linked directly to the customer interface.
Provides direction, coordination, and integration to the
project team.
Is responsible for performance and success of the
project.
◦ Must induce the right people at the right time to
address the right issues and make the right
decisions.
14. Factors leading to the increased
use of project management:
◦ Compression of the product life cycle
◦ Global competition
◦ Knowledge explosion
◦ Corporate downsizing
◦ Increased customer focus
◦ Rapid development of Third World and
closed economies
◦ Small projects that represent big
problems
15. Pyramids
Taj Mahal
Eiffel Tower
The tunnel between UK and France
Invasion of Normandy
Three Gorges dam of China