Module 1: Modern Project Management

August 2023
Today’s class

• Introductions + discussion
• Syllabus review/course requirements
• Baseline knowledge assessment

• Module 1: Overview of Project

Management
• Preview of Module 2
Introductions + discussion
• Introduce yourself! What program/year are you in?
What are some of your policy interests? Hobbies?
• Examples of projects that you have worked on in your
professional, personal, or volunteer life. How do they
fit the definition of a project?* Are there examples of
projects in the news that you think exemplify the
definition?

*Note any questions you may have about what fits the
definition of a project.
Warm Up
• Your ideas/expectations before reading the syllabus/class
description.
• What would you like to be able to do by the end of the
course? What have you head about the course? Discuss
in groups and share.
• Compare to course objectives.
Green Classroom
Commitments
Reducing Paper Use:
Electronic classroom materials

Saving Energy and Reducing Emissions:

Walk, bike, turn lights off, etc.

Other measures:
• Aspects of the environment within
project management
• The Sustainability Tour at AU
Syllabus
review
Baseline
knowledge
assessment
 PMI AND PMBOK

This PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

THE MANAGERIAL
PROCESS BY ERIK
course LARSON AND CLIFFORD
GRAY

CASE STUDIES/GUEST
SPEAKERS
Group work: 3 things you remember about
project management after reading Ch. 1

• Provides people with a powerful set of tools that improves

their ability to plan, implement and manage activities to
accomplish specific objectives
• More than just a tool, it is a result-oriented style that places
premium on building relationships among a diverse cast of
characters
• The project approach = style of doing business in multiple
industries (construction, film, govt, consulting firms, NGOs,
high tech industries); PM can be a vehicle for making money
and performing good deeds (emergency aid, social
problems).
 Major characteristics of a project

AN ESTABLISHED OBJECTIVE A DEFINED LIFESPAN WITH A INVOLVEMENT OF SEVERAL TYPICALLY, DOING SPECIFIC TIME, COST, AND
(E.G. CONSTRUCT A SCHOOL BEGINNING AND AN END DEPARTMENTS AND SOMETHING THAT HAS NOT PERFORMANCE
FOR 200 STUDENTS) PROFESSIONALS BEEN DONE BEFORE
Definition
• A nonroutine, one time effort limited by time,
resources, and performance specifications designed to
meet customer (beneficiaries’) needs.
• Typically consists of four phases: defining, planning,
executing, and closing.
• Successful project implementation requires both
technical and social skills.
• See Table 1.1 on page 9 for comparison of routine work
with projects.
Routine Work vs. Projects
• Taking class notes • Writing a term paper
• Entering sales receipts into the accounting • Setting up a new accounting software
ledger • Developing a supply-chain information system
• Responding to a supply-chain request • A press conference overhaul project (training,
• Giving press conferences recruitment, event)
• Regularly maintaining a roof on a house • Roof replacement on a house
The Project Lifecycle
 Two
dimensions
Risk Management
and Stakeholder
of
Management Project
Management
Project vs.
Program?

Often used interchangeably.

A program is a group of related projects designed to
accomplish a common goal over an extended period of
time. Programs are ongoing and usually comprised of a
number of projects.

PMI: “Project management is focused on the efficient

creation of a defined deliverable, service, or result.”
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/understanding-
difference-programs-versus-projects-6896
 Program vs. Project Examples
Program Projects
DC’s COVID-19 vaccination program (Goals: • Launching the vaccine registration website
vaccinating maximum number of DC residents • Opening each community vaccination center
possible, prioritizing high-risk and vulnerable • Creating and publishing the tiered priority
populations) system
• Phased publicity campaign

AU’s COVID response • Replace ventilation systems in all buildings

• Launch on-campus testing sites
• Trainings for faculty and staff (each training
session is a project)
• Install properly measured social distancing
space markers in all buildings
• Upgrade classroom AV systems
Who is a project
manager (PM)?

All of us can utilize PM

In some orgs, this is a In others, you may be skills and concepts,
dedicated, specialized doing the job of a PM even in our personal
role without the title lives and volunteer
work
Waterfall/Linear PM
A traditional, linear project management methodology developed in the 1950s. Typically includes 5-6 independent phases, and
each phase relies on the deliverables of the previous phase. You need to complete each before you can move onto the next.
1. Requirements: Create a product requirements document (PRD) that lists what the final product (usu. software) is expected
to do.
2. Design: Create the software architecture, which outlines how the product will meet requirements.
3. Implementation: Develop the software, including coding and system integration.
4. Verification: Test the software to discover and fix bugs and defects and identify risks.
5. Maintenance: Install the software, and make occasional modifications to fix defects, improve performance and add
features.
•Advantages: The waterfall model includes a clear plan from start to finish, and defining requirements early in the process can
save time later on. An emphasis on documentation at every stage supports continuity no matter who works on the project in
which stages.
•Disadvantages: This methodology doesn’t account for factors that are unknown early in the process and become known later.
The linear process doesn’t leave room to iterate when new requirements or constraints become known. This could lead to less
effective design or a less efficient process if you have to start over.
•Best for: Clients who know exactly what they want out of a product, can clearly define it and know it won’t change.
Agile PM
•Developed as a response to the rigidity of the waterfall model and were inspired by the speed and flexibility of lean methods.
They’re intentionally iterative and collaborative, and they put emphasis on creating good products for customers.
•Agile itself isn’t a methodology but a set of principles that underlie several methodologies that sprung from the need for adaptive
project management. Core agile principles, as laid out in the Agile Manifesto penned in 2001 by a group of renegade software
developers, include:
 Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
 Working software over comprehensive documentation
 Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
 Responding to change over following a plan
•Advantages: Quick iteration increases productivity and efficiency, as it allows for changing requirements throughout the project
life cycle.
•Disadvantages: Eliminating documentation and relying on individual interaction can impede scalability and continuity and lead to
the siloing of teams, especially within larger organizations.
•Best for: Small teams within nimble organizations where developers and stakeholders are on the same page about business needs
and constraints.
•Popular agile methodologies include scrum, scrumban, extreme programming, crystal method. For more, see optional reading.
Agile Project Management (L&G)

• Agile Project Management (2021 edition only). Methodology for managing projects with
high levels of uncertainty (with unstable scopes not defined up front) e.g. software
development (employs incremental, iterative process “rolling wave”) to complete
projects. Also, adaptive or flexible management.
• The final project is developed in increments which typically last 1-4 weeks. Each iteration
solves a problem. Adjustments are made at the end of each iteration.
• Emerged out of frustration with using traditional project management to develop
software ($81 billion in cancelled software projects in the US).
• Used across industries to manage projects with highest level of risk.
• L&G Chapter 15 (optional).
Project
Management Trends
• A Continued Shift Toward Digital and Remote Work

• Change Management Increasingly Incorporated into Project

Management

• Increasing Use of Hybrid Project Management Methodologies

• Increasing Connection Between Projects and Strategy

• Prevalence of AI and Automation

Preview of
Module 2
• Chapter 4
• Defining the Project Scope
• Priorities
• Key tools
• Choosing individual and group projects
Bonus Material
• Material appearing in this section (at the end of each lesson) will help
me improve time management for the class.
• Students have an option for some extra work and credit and/or
completion outside of the class and continued online discussion.
Project Management History
• The concept of project management as a single unified practice
emerged in the 1960s, capable of successfully delivering most
projects, most of the time, and continues to be an important aspect
of management and development through to the present time.
(Weaver, P. (2022). Project Management - A Historical Timeline; PM
World Journal, Vol. XII, Issue I, January)
• 1965: International Project Management Association (IPMA) founded
in Europe as IMSA, the name then changed to INTERNET, then IPMA.
• 1969: PMI founded at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/history-of-pmi
History - continued
• 2001 ◊ The Agile Manifesto published. Trends in Modern Project
Management, Past, Present & Future
• 2003 ◊ AS 4817 Project Performance Measurement using Earned Value
published. The Origins and History of Earned Value Management
• 2003 ◊ Walt Lipke publishes ‘Schedule is Different’ introducing the
concept of Earned Schedule (ES). The Origins and History of Earned
Value Management
• 2012 ◊ ISO 21500:2012, Guidance on Project Management published.
• 2018 ◊ ISO 21508:2018 Earned value management in project and
program management and ISO 21511:2018 Work breakdown structures
for project and program management published. The Origins and
History of Earned Value Management.
Project Management Institute

• Not-for-profit professional membership

association for the project management
profession. A means for project managers to
associate, share information and discuss
common problems. 700,000 + global members
and over 300 Local Chapters Internationally.
• PMI® Global Summit 2023 in Atlanta, GA from
October 25-28, 2023
• What’s New with PMI Certification
• Generative AI in PM