PMP Tools and Techniques in summary

By: Ahmed Alsenosy

ahmed Alsenosy | www.linkedin.com/in/alsenosy

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Focus groups Collect requirements Bring together prequalified

stakeholders to learn about their
expectations and attitudes about a
proposed product.

Identify stakeholders Generate and collect multiple ideas

related to project stakeholders.

Develop project charter Bring together stakeholders and

subject matter experts to learn about M
the perceived project risk, success
criteria, and other topics in a more
conversational way than a one-on-one
interview.

Develop project management Bring together stakeholders to discuss

plan the approach and the integration of
the different components of the
project management plan.

Interviews Develop project charter Learn about the project by talking

directly to obtain information about
the project charter.

Develop project management Obtain specific information from

plan stakeholders to develop the project
plan.
M
Collect requirements Identifying the features of the
deliverables.

Plan quality management Identify quality needs and

expectations in an environment of
trust to encourage honest and
unbiased contributions.

Conflict management Develop project charter Help bring stakeholders into alignment
on the objectives and all elements of H
the charter.

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Develop project management Help bring stakeholders into alignment

plan on the objectives and all elements of
the project plan.

Develop team The project manager needs to resolve

conflicts promptly and in a
constructive way in order to achieve a
high-performing team.

Manage team There are five general techniques for

resolving conflict, withdraw/avoid,
smooth/accommodate,
compromise/reconcile, force/direct,
and collaborate/problem solve.

Facilitation Develop project management Effectively guide a group event to a

plan successful decision

Collect requirements Focused sessions that bring key

stakeholders together to define
product requirements.
L
Plan risk management A skilled facilitator can help
participants remain focused on the
task, agree on key aspects of the risk
approach, identify and overcome
sources of bias, and resolve any
disagreements.

(PMIS) Direct and manage project Provides access to information

work technology (it) software tools
automated gathering and reporting on
key performance indicators (KPIs)

Estimate costs Simplify the use of some cost

M
estimating techniques and thereby
facilitate rapid consideration of cost
estimate alternatives

Control costs Monitor the three EVM dimensions

(PV, EV, and AC), to display graphical

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T&T Process Usage Importance

trends, and to forecast a range of

possible final project results.

Estimate activity resources Include software help plan, organize

resource pools and develop resource
estimates assist in optimizing resource
utilization

Control resources Monitor the resource utilization helps

ensure that the right resources are
working on the right activities at the
right time and place

Manage communications Ensure that stakeholders can quickly

retrieve the information they need in a
timely way

Monitor communications A set of standard tools to capture,

store, and distribute information to
stakeholders with the information
they need according to the
communications plan

Meetings Manage project knowledge Discuss and address pertinent topics of

the project when directing and
managing project work.

Direct and manage project Developed as part of the project

M
work kickoff meeting

Plan risk management Plans for conducting risk management

activities are defined in these
meetings

Information management Manage project knowledge Useful for sharing pure, unambiguous,
M
codified explicit knowledge.

Active listening Manage project knowledge Reduce misunderstandings and

improves communication and L
knowledge sharing.

Leadership Manage project knowledge Communicate the vision and inspire

M
the project team to focus on the

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T&T Process Usage Importance

appropriate expertise and knowledge

objectives.

Networking Manage project knowledge Allows secure connections and

relations among project.

Manage communications Interacting with others to exchange

L
information and develop contacts.

access to informal organizations to

solve problems

Political awareness Plan communication Helps the project manager to plan

management communications based on the project
environment as well as the
organization’s political environment

Monitor stakeholder Understand the strategies of the M

engagement organization,

Understand who has the power to

develop an ability to communicate
with these stakeholders.

Root cause analysis Monitor and control project Identify the reasons for a deviation
work and the areas the project manager
should focus on to achieve the
objectives

Manage quality Determine the fundamental

underlying reason that causes a
variance. H
Plan communications Discover the underlying causes that
management lead to a problem and develop
preventive action.

Identify risks Identify threats by starting with a

problem statement, find opportunities
by beginning with a benefit statement.

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Monitor stakeholder Determine the primary underlying

engagement reason that stakeholder engagement
is not having the planned effect.

Plan stakeholder engagement Identifies underlying reasons for the

level of support of project
stakeholders to select the appropriate
strategy to improve their level of
engagement.

Trend analysis Monitor and control project Forecast future performance based on
work past results.

Close project or phase Validate the models used in the

organization and to implement
adjustments for future projects.

Control scope Examines project performance over

time to determine if performance is M
improving or deteriorating.

Control costs Examines project performance over

time to determine if performance is
improving or deteriorating.

Control resources Determine the resources needed at

upcoming stages.

Variance analysis Monitor and control project Reviews the differences (or variance)
work between planned and actual results.

Control scope Compare the baseline to the actual

results and determine if the variance is M
within the threshold amount or if
corrective or preventive action is
appropriate.

Alternatives analysis Control scope Assess the requested changes and

decide which are accepted, rejected,
H
or deferred or need to be modified to
be finally approved.

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Estimate activity durations Compare various levels of resource

capability or skills; scheduling
compression techniques different
tools. This allows the team to weigh
resource, cost, and duration variables.

Plan cost management Reviewing strategic funding options

and ways to acquire the project.

Estimate costs Evaluate options to select one to use

to execute the work.

Manage quality Evaluate identified options to select

which different quality options are
most appropriate to use.

Cost-benefit analysis Perform integrated change To determine if the requested change

control is worth its associated cost.

Plan quality management Estimate the strengths and

weaknesses of alternatives to
determine the best option provided
H
and if the planned quality activities are
cost-effective

Control resources Determine the best corrective action

in terms of cost in case of project
deviations.

Document analysis. Close project or phase Assessing available documentation

will allow identifying lessons learned
H
and knowledge sharing for future
projects.

Regression analysis. Close project or phase Analyzes the interrelationships

between different project variables
that contributed to the project M
outcomes to improve performance on
future projects.

Questionnaires and Collect requirements Quickly accumulate information from

surveys a large number of respondents when a M
quick turnaround is needed.

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Control quality Gather data about customer

satisfaction after the deployment of
the product or service.

Benchmarking Collect requirements Identify best practices, generate ideas

for improvement, and provide a basis
for measuring performance.
H
Plan quality management Provide a basis for measuring
performance, gather data to develop
the quality management plan.

Voting Collect requirements Decision-making technique and an

assessment process can be used to
generate, classify, and prioritize
product requirements.
M
Estimate costs Useful for engaging team members to
improve estimate accuracy and
commitment to the emerging
estimates.

Affinity diagrams Collect requirements Allow large numbers of ideas to be

classified into groups for review and
analysis.

Manage quality Organize potential causes of defects H

into groups showing areas that should
be focused on the most quality
management team attention.

Mind mapping Collect requirements Individual brainstorming sessions into

a single map to reflect commonality
and differences in understanding and
to generate new ideas.

Plan quality management Visually organizing information and

H
rapid gathering of project quality
requirements.

Plan stakeholder engagement Visually organize information about

stakeholders and their relationship to
each other and the organization.

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Nominal group technique Collect requirements Rank the most useful ideas for further
M
brainstorming or for prioritization.

Observation/conversation. Collect requirements A direct way of viewing individuals in

their environment and how they
perform tasks and carry out processes. H
Manage stakeholder stay in touch within the work and
engagement attitudes of stakeholders.

Context diagram Collect requirements Visually depict the product scope by

showing a business system and how
H
people and other systems interact
with it.

Prototypes Collect requirements Obtaining early feedback on

requirements by providing a model of
H
the expected product before actually
building it.

Product analysis Define scope Can be used to define products and

services. It includes asking questions
H
about a product or service and forming
answers to describe the use.

Decomposition Create WBS Dividing and subdividing the project

scope and project deliverables into
smaller, more manageable parts

Define activities Dividing and subdividing the project H

scope and project deliverables into
smaller, more manageable parts
(activities).

Inspection Validate scope Determine whether work and

deliverables meet requirements and
product acceptance criteria.

Control quality Examination of a work product to H

determine if it conforms to
documented standards and verifies
defect repairs.

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Perform qualitative risk A structured review of the work being

analysis performed by the contractor.

Rolling wave planning Define activities An iterative technique the work in the
near term is planned in detail, while
H
work further in the future is planned at
a higher level.

Precedence diagramming Sequence activities Activities are represented by nodes

method and are graphically linked by one or
H
more logical relationships to show the
sequence of project activities.

Mandatory dependencies. Sequence activities Legally or contractually required or

H
inherent like the work.

Discretionary Sequence activities Preferred logic or soft logic are

dependencies. established based on knowledge of H
best

External dependencies. Sequence activities The relationship between project

activities and non-project activities H
outside of the project team’s control.

Internal dependencies. Sequence activities The relationship between project

activities and are generally inside the H
project team's control.

Lead Sequence activities The amount of time a successor

activity can be advanced concerning a H
predecessor activity.

Lag Sequence activities The amount of time a successor

activity will be delayed concerning the H
predecessor activity.

Parametric estimating. Estimate activity durations Calculate duration based on historical

H
data and project parameters.

Three-point estimating Estimate activity durations By considering estimation uncertainty

and risk. Helps define an approximate H
range for an activity’s duration.

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Bottom-up estimating Estimate activity durations Aggregating the estimates of the lower
level components of the WBS. The
H
work within the activity is decomposed
into more detail.

Reserve analysis Estimate activity durations Determine the amount of contingency

and management reserve needed for
the project.

Control costs To monitor the status of contingency

and management reserves to
determine if these reserves are still
needed or if additional reserves need H
to be requested.

Monitor risks Compares the amount of the

contingency reserves remaining to the
amount of uncertainty remaining to
determine if the remaining reserve is
adequate.

Critical path method Develop schedule Estimate the minimum project

duration and determine the amount of
H
schedule flexibility on the logical
network paths.

Resource leveling Develop schedule Start and finish dates are adjusted
based on resource constraints to
balance the demand for resources H
with the available supply (completion
date may be delayed).

Resource smoothing Develop schedule The requirements for resources on the

project do not exceed certain
H
predefined resource limits
(completion date may not be delayed).

Simulation Develop schedule Combined effects of individual project

risks and other sources of uncertainty
H
to evaluate their potential impact on
achieving project objectives.

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Perform quantitative risk Evaluate the potential impact on

analysis achieving project objectives.

Perform quantitative risk Iterate the quantitative risk analysis

analysis model several thousand times
representing the probability of
achieving an outcome or less.

Crashing Develop schedule Shorten the schedule duration for the

least incremental cost by adding H
resources.

Agile release planning Develop schedule Provides a high-level summary

timeline of the release schedule based
on the product roadmap and the M
product vision for the product’s
evolution.

Fast-tracking Develop schedule Activities or phases generally done in a

sequence are performed in parallel for H
at least a portion of their duration.

Iteration burndown chart Control schedule Tracks the work that remains to be
completed in the iteration backlog to
M
analyze the variance concerning an
ideal burndown.

Cost of quality Estimate costs Evaluating the cost impact of

additional investment in conformance H
versus the cost of nonconformance.

Cost aggregation Determine budget Work package cost estimates are then
aggregated for the higher component H
levels of the WBS.

Historical information Determine budget Developing parametric estimates or

review analogous estimates to create
H
mathematical models to predict total
project costs.

Funding limit Determine budget The expenditure of funds should be

H
reconciliation reconciled with any funding limits on

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T&T Process Usage Importance

the commitment of funds for the

project.

Financing Determine budget Financing entails acquiring funding for

projects. It is typical for long-term
H
infrastructure projects to seek
external sources of funds.

Earned value analysis Control costs Compares the performance

(EVA) measurement baseline to the actual H
schedule and cost performance.

To complete performance Control costs A measure of the cost performance

index that is required to be achieved with
the remaining resources in order to H
finish the outstanding work to the
remaining budget

Multicriteria decision Plan quality management Identify the key issues and suitable
analysis alternatives to be prioritized as a set of
decisions for implementation

Acquire resources Select resources using multicriteria M

decision analysis to rate potential
resources according to availability,
cost and ability

Flowcharts Plan quality management Estimate the expected monetary value

for the conformance and
nonconformance work M
For process improvement as well as
identifying where quality defects

Logical data model. Plan quality management Visual representation of an

organization’s data to identify where L
quality issues can arise

Matrix diagrams Plan quality management Find the strength of relationships

among different factors.
H
Manage quality Show the strength of relationships
among causes and objectives that exist

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T&T Process Usage Importance

between the rows and columns that

form the matrix.

Cause and effect diagrams Manage quality Breaks down the causes of the
problem statement identified into
H
discrete branches, helping to identify
the root causes.

Histograms Manage quality Show the number of defects per

deliverable, a ranking of the cause of
H
defects, the number of times each
process is noncompliant.

Scatter diagrams Manage quality Demonstrate a relationship between

any element of a process on one axis H
and a quality defect on the other axis.

Design for x Manage quality A set of technical guidelines that may

be applied during the design of a
M
product for the optimization of a
specific aspect of the design.

Check sheets Control quality Gathering attributes data while

performing inspections to identify H
defects.

Statistical sampling Control quality Choosing a part of a population of

interest for inspection to measure H
controls and verify quality.

Hierarchical charts Plan resource management Show positions and relationships in a

H
graphical, top-down format.

Assignment matrix Plan resource management Illustrate the connections between

H
activities, and project team members.

Text-oriented formats Plan resource management Detailed descriptions in text-oriented

formats provide information such as
M
responsibilities, authority,
competencies, and qualifications

Organizational theory Plan resource management Information regarding how teams

L
behave can shorten time and effort to

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T&T Process Usage Importance

create the plan resource management

plan and improve planning efficiency.

Virtual teams Acquire resources Groups of people with a shared goal

who fulfill their roles with little time H
spent meeting face to face.

Colocation Develop team Placing team members in the same

physical location to enhance their H
ability to perform as a team.

Communication Develop team Addressing the team development

technology issues and helps build a harmonious
environment for the colocated team M
and a better understanding of the
virtual team.

Individual and team Develop team Give insight into areas of strengths and
assessments weaknesses help project managers
assess team members’ in organizing H
information making decisions and
interacting with people.

Emotional intelligence Manage team Identify the personal emotions of

oneself and other people to reduce M
tension and increase cooperation.

Alternatives analysis Control resources Select the best resolution for

correcting variances in resource
utilization.
M
Monitor stakeholder Evaluate options to respond to
engagement variances in the desired results of
stakeholder engagement.

Performance reviews Control quality The measure, compare and analyze

the quality metrics defined by the plan
quality management process against
the actual results. H
Control schedule The measure, compare and analyze
schedule performance against the
schedule baseline.

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Control procurements The measure, compare and analyze

quality, resource, schedule, and cost
performance against the agreement.

Control resources Measure planned resource utilization

to actual resource utilization.

Brainstorming Develop project charter Brainstorming can be used to gather

data and solutions or ideas from
stakeholders, subject matter experts,
and
team members when developing the L
project charter.

Identify stakeholders A general data gathering and creativity

technique that elicits input from
groups such as team members.

Checklists Manage quality List of items, actions, or points to be

considered used as a reminder based
on historical information and
knowledge that has been accumulated
from similar projects.

Identify risks As a reminder developed based on

historical information obtain a
H
comprehensive list of individual
project risks and sources of overall
project risk.

Develop project management Used from the industry to develop the

plan plan or verify that all the required
information is included in the project
management plan.

Assumption and Identify risks Explores the validity of assumptions

constraint analysis and constraints to determine which H
pose a risk.

Communication styles Plan communications Assess communication styles and

M
assessment management identify the preferred communication

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T&T Process Usage Importance

method, format used with

unsupportive stakeholders.

Cultural awareness Plan communications Minimize misunderstandings that may

management result from cultural differences within
the project’s stakeholder community.
M
Plan communications plan communications based on the
management cultural differences and requirements
of stakeholders and team members.

Project reporting Manage communications Distributed to many groups of

stakeholders to provide information at
H
an appropriate level, format, and
detail for each type of stakeholder.

Swot analysis Identify risks The breadth of identified risks by

including internally generated risks
examines the degree to which
H
organizational strengths may offset
threats and determines if weaknesses
might hinder opportunities.

Prompt lists Identify risks Used as a framework to aid the project

team in idea generation when using H
risk identification techniques.

Risk data quality Perform qualitative risk To assess the quality of identified risk
assessment. analysis before the subsequent qualitative risk H
analysis.

Risk probability and They are assessed in meetings with

impact assessment participants selected for familiarity
with the types of risk recorded in the
H
risk register, determined using the
definitions given in the risk
management plan.

Risk categorization Lead to the development of more

effective risk responses by focusing
H
attention on the areas of highest risk
exposure.

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T&T Process Usage Importance

Sensitivity analysis Perform quantitative risk Determine which individual project

analysis risks or other sources of uncertainty
H
have the most potential impact on
project outcomes.

Decision tree analysis Support selection of the best of several

H
alternative courses of action.

Influencing Implement risk responses Exercise influencing to encourage

nominated risk owners to take L
necessary action.

Technical performance Monitor risks Compare technical accomplishments

analysis during project execution to the
schedule of technical achievement M
deviation can indicate the potential
impact of threats or opportunities.

Audits Monitor risks Consider the effectiveness of the risk

management process.

Manage quality Determine if project activities comply

with organizational and project
H
policies.

Control procurement A structured review of the

procurement process to check
effectiveness and compliance.

Make or buy analysis Plan procurement Determine whether work or

management deliverables can best be accomplished
H
by the project team or should be
purchased from outside sources

Source selection analysis Plan procurement Review the prioritization of the

management competing demands for the project
H
before deciding on the selection
method

Advertising Conduct Procurements Placing advertisements in general

circulation publications, most H
government jurisdictions require

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T&T Process Usage Importance

public advertising of pending

government contracts.

Bidder conferences Ensure that all prospective bidders

have a clear and shared understanding
H
of the procurement and no bidders
receive preferential treatment

Negotiation Manage stakeholder achieve agreement supports the work

engagement of the project, resolve conflicts with
stakeholders.

Conduct Procurements Clarifies the structure, rights, and M

obligations of the parties and other
terms of the purchases so that mutual
agreement can be reached.

Claims administration Control procurements Documented, processed, monitored,

and managed throughout the contract
life cycle accordance with the terms of H
the contract negotiation is the
preferred method.

Brainwriting. Identify stakeholders Allows individual participants time to

consider the question(s) individually
L
before the group creativity session is
held.

Power/interest grid, Useful for small projects or projects

power/influence grid, or with simple relationships between
H
impact/influence grid stakeholders and the project, or within
the stakeholder community itself.

Stakeholder cube Identify stakeholders Improves the depiction of the

stakeholder community as a
multidimensional entity. M
Assists with the development of
communication strategies

Salience model Useful for large complex communities

M
of stakeholders, helpful in determining

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T&T Process Usage Importance

the relative importance of the

identified stakeholders.

Stakeholder engagement Plan stakeholder engagement The gap between current and desired
assessment matrix for each stakeholder will direct the
H
level of communications necessary to
effectively engage the stakeholder.

Stakeholder analysis Identify stakeholders To analyze stakeholder relevant

information such as positions,
interests, influence, and impact.

Plan risk management To determine the risk appetite of

H
project stakeholders.

Monitor stakeholder Helps to determine the position of

engagement stakeholder groups and individuals at
any particular time in the project.

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