William P. Athayde - Project Management Essentials: A Quick and Easy Guide to the Most Important Concepts and Best Practices for Managing Your Projects Right

Project
Management
Essentials

THIRD EDITION

A Quick and Easy Guide to
the Most Important Concepts
and Best Practices for
Managing Your Projects Right

WILLIAM P. ATHAYDE RUTH ELSWICK
PAUL LOMBARD

DEBORAH BIGELOW CRAWFORD, EDITOR

MAVEN HOUSE P RESS

Published by Maven House Press, 316 W. Barnard St., West Chester, PA 19382; 610.883.7988; www.mavenhousepress.com.

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Copyright 2013 by Project Management Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without either the prior permission of the publisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923; 978.750.8400; fax 978.646.8600; or on the web at www.copyright.com.

While this publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered, it is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. From the Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

PMI, PMP, and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013934519

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-938548-09-3

ePUB ISBN: 978-1-938548-10-9

ePDF ISBN: 978-1-938548-11-6

Printed in the United States of America.

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CONTENTS

LIST OF EXHIBITS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A BOOK-BY-TEAM is challenging under any circumstances, but when the team is geographically dispersed and has many other priorities, press day is that much more of a triumph. The editor and primary authors had much support, guidance, and help from others at PM Solutions, PM College, and Maven House Press not to mention from their long-suffering families!

Thanks to Maria Kelly OHara, director of operations for PM College, for staying on top of the authors responsibilities and making it possible for them to carve out the time to write. Thanks to Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin, editor-in-chief for PM Solutions Research, for serving as project manager and editorial mother hen to all the contributors. And special thanks to Jim Pennypacker and Maven House for the book design and elegant exhibits.

Above all, thanks to the many participants in courses who, over the years, have helped us to refine our methods of teaching project management essentials. Without you, this book would not exist.

William P. Athayde
Ruth Elswick
Paul Lombard
Deborah Bigelow Crawford

FOREWORD

L IFE IS A JOURNEY with many twists and turns, valleys, and hills. Doors are continually opening and closing along the way. One door of opportunity opened in my life in 1991 when I applied for a position with the Project Management Institute. I wasnt quite sure what was meant by project management but I thought I would figure it out if I got the position. Well, I did eventually figure it out, although why a concept as necessary and simple as project management should seem so mysterious at first glance, I still cant explain. After being in the profession for over twenty years, it still amazes me that such a useful way of getting things done can be so difficult to explain to others outside our world.

Project management has been around for years some might argue, for centuries. Most civil engineering programs had a course or two on the subject. But the genesis of project management, as we know it today, started back in 1969 at the 3 Threes Restaurant in Philadelphia. It was there that, after a series of discussions, a new organization for project managers to associate, share information, and discuss common problems was formed. The thought leaders who made this decision were the founders of PMI, which is now one of the fastest-growing professional associations in the world. Through PMI and other related associations the secret has been revealed: project management can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of organizations by putting a disciplined methodology behind the projects that are used to execute organizational strategies. Project management is a spoke in the wheel of strategy execution. It is not, however, the only spoke. Project, program, and portfolio management are all spokes in the wheel driven by organizational strategies, albeit differing in the way each contributes to the achievement of strategic goals. All three are critical to the success of most organizations and, unfortunately, some organizations dont know it.

The concepts of project management presented in this book are not rocket science. They are all common sense. Yet they require knowledge and discipline a framework to do projects right, and the will to adhere to it. Those who internalize the precepts of project management and model them in their organizations have the potential to do great things using these simple tools.

As you venture on this journey of learning, I hope new doors and perspectives are opened for you. This book is purposefully written in short, clear chapters, with the hope of making this concept more easily understood. The authors, all valued senior faculty of PM College, use both their business experience and their academic backgrounds to make these chapters come alive. Your journey into the pages of this book is not just a personal one, but rather one that we hope will be the start of you sharing what youve learned with others and adding value to whatever projects you participate in.

Deborah Bigelow Crawford
President, PM College
Glen Mills, Pennsylvania
May 2013

INTRODUCTION

___________________

Introducing Project Management!

PROJECTS ARE:

• Temporary endeavors undertaken to create unique products, services or results (PMI 2013)
• Activities organized to deliver something of value to a customer (and therefore to your organization)
• The building blocks in the design and execution of your organizations strategies

As unique efforts, with deadlines, specific requirements or expectations, and budgets, projects differ from ordinary operations the activities and actions that your organization does over and over again in the same way. These differences, and a framework for addressing them, form the basis for the project management standards published by the Project Management Institute as A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, or PMBOKGuide, which youll see referenced throughout this book. Briefly, project management consists of five processes (PMI calls them process groups):

• Initiating
• Planning

Exhibit I-1. The Five Project Management Processes

• Executing
• Monitoring and controlling
• Closing (see

These five processes comprise 47 sub-processes (see ). Well discuss these processes in more detail throughout this book.