An example of a well planned project is building a house. You see the new homeowner sign for the house, and without wasting time or money the house is built in a short time.
An example of a disastrous project is the government building a road. They take too long, spend a lot of money, and receive complaints about heavy traffic. In the end, the project never ends up being finished.
The difference between these two projects is in the organization of the project. It takes too long to build the road, the project's budget is passed, and the project is not completed on time.
Monday, September 20, 2010
The Triple Constraint
The Triple Constraint describes how the basic elements of a project-scope, time, and cost – interrelate,
Scope: What work will be done as part of the project? What unique product, service, or result does the
customer or sponsor expect from the project? How will the scope be verified?
Time: how long should it take to complete the project? What is the project’s schedule? How
will the team track actual schedule performance? Who can approve changes to the schedule?
Cost: what should it cost to complete the project? What is the project’s budget? How will costs be
tracked? Who can authorize changes to the budget?
Scope: What work will be done as part of the project? What unique product, service, or result does the
customer or sponsor expect from the project? How will the scope be verified?
Time: how long should it take to complete the project? What is the project’s schedule? How
will the team track actual schedule performance? Who can approve changes to the schedule?
Cost: what should it cost to complete the project? What is the project’s budget? How will costs be
tracked? Who can authorize changes to the budget?
Monday, September 13, 2010
The Five Project Management Process Groups
1) Initiating: This is when a project or project phase is defined and authorized. Going into the Initiating Process, you will usually have a statement of work or a contract from the project sponsor. The output of this process is a Project Charter and a Preliminary Project Scope Statement.
2) Planning: This is when the project manager creates and maintains a workable scheme that ensures that the project addresses the needs of the organization. Projects have many plans, including plans for managing scope, schedule, cost, procurement, and the list goes on.
3) Executing: This is the biggest part of a project, because it is when most of the work takes place. A project manager must coordinate people and other resources to carry out the plan.
4) Monitoring and Controlling: Here, the project manager regularly measures and monitors progress to ensure that the project team meets the project objectives.
5) Closing: Closing processes include a formal acceptance of the project or phase and efficiently ending it. Administrative activities such as archiving project files, closing out contracts, and documenting lessons learned are often included in this process group.
2) Planning: This is when the project manager creates and maintains a workable scheme that ensures that the project addresses the needs of the organization. Projects have many plans, including plans for managing scope, schedule, cost, procurement, and the list goes on.
3) Executing: This is the biggest part of a project, because it is when most of the work takes place. A project manager must coordinate people and other resources to carry out the plan.
4) Monitoring and Controlling: Here, the project manager regularly measures and monitors progress to ensure that the project team meets the project objectives.
5) Closing: Closing processes include a formal acceptance of the project or phase and efficiently ending it. Administrative activities such as archiving project files, closing out contracts, and documenting lessons learned are often included in this process group.
Taking a Systems View of a Project
1) To take a system view of a project means to take a holistic view of a project and understand how it relates to the larger organization. It is useful for solving complex problems. Taking a system view is related to project management in the sense that project managers have to use a system view in order to be able to understand how projects relate to the whole organization. They must use system analysis to address needs with a problem-solving approach.
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