Chapter 1: Introduction to Project Management
Introduction to Project Management: Chapter Objectives
Chapter Objectives
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
- Define a project in your own words, using characteristics that are common to most projects, and describe reasons why more organizations are using project management.
- Describe major activities and deliverables at each project life cycle stage.
- List and define the ten knowledge areas and five process groups of the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK®).
- Delineate measures of project success and failure, and reasons for both.
- Contrast predictive or plan-driven and adaptive or change-driven project life cycle approaches.
- Identify project roles and distinguish key responsibilities for each.
Introduction to Project Management: Chapter Overview
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I have returned from a successful climb of Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina; at 22,841 feet, it is the highest peak in the world outside of the Himalayas. While there, seven other climbers died; we not only survived, but our experience was so positive that we have partnered to climb together again.
During the three decades that I've been climbing mountains, I've also been managing projects. An element has emerged as essential for success in both of these activities: the element of discipline. By discipline, I am referring to doing what I already know needs to be done. Without this attribute, even the most knowledgeable and experienced will have difficulty avoiding failure.
The deaths on Aconcagua are an extreme example of the consequences associated with a lack of discipline. The unfortunate climbers, who knew that the predicted storms would produce very hazardous conditions, decided to attempt the summit instead of waiting. They did not have the discipline that we demonstrated to act on our earlier decision to curtail summit attempts after the agreed-to turn-around time or in severe weather.
I've experienced similar circumstances in project management. Often I have found myself under pressure to cast aside or shortcut project management practices that I have come to rely on. For me, these practices have become the pillars of my own project management discipline. One of these pillars, planning, seems to be particularly susceptible to challenge. Managing projects at the Central Intelligence Agency for three decades, I adjusted to the annual cycle for obtaining funding. This cycle occasionally involved being given relatively short notice near the end of the year that funds unspent by some other department were up for grabs to whoever could quickly make a convincing
business case. While some may interpret this as a circumstance requiring shortcutting the necessary amount of planning in order to capture some of the briefly available funds, I understood that my discipline required me to find a way to do the needed planning and to act quickly. I understood that to do otherwise would likely propel me toward becoming one of the two-thirds of the projects identified by the Standish Group in their 2009 CHAOS report as not successful. I understood that the top 2 percent of project managers, referred to as Alpha Project Managers in a 2006 book of the same name, spend twice as much time planning as the other 98 percent of project managers. The approach that I took allowed me to maintain the discipline for my planning pillar. I preplanned a couple of projects and had them ready at the end of the year to be submitted should a momentary funding opportunity arise.
PMBOK® Guide
Topics:
- Project management introduction
- Project life cycle
- Stakeholders
- Project management processes
A key to success in project management, as well as in mountain climbing, is to identify the pillars that will be practiced with discipline. This book offers an excellent set of project management methods from which we can identify those pillars that we will decide to practice with the required levels of discipline. I believe that project management is about applying common sense with uncommon discipline.
1-1 What Is a Project?
Frequently, a business is faced with making a change, such as improving an existing work process, constructing a building, installing a new computer system, merging with another company, moving to a new location, developing a new product, entering a new market, and so on. These changes are best planned and managed as projects. So, what is a project?
A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.”1 A project requires an organized set of work efforts that are planned in 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 should follow a planned and organized approach with a defined beginning and ending. Project plans and goals become more specific as early work is completed. The output often is a collection of a primary deliverable along with supporting deliverables such as a house as the primary deliverable and warrantees and instructions for use as supporting deliverables. Each project typically has a unique combination of stakeholders —“an individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project.”2 Projects often require a variety of people to work together for a limited time, and all participants need to understand that completing the project will require effort in addition to their other assigned work.
Project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.”3 This includes work processes that initiate, plan, execute, control, and close work. During these processes, tradeoffs must be made among the following factors:
- Scope (size)
- Schedule
- Quality (acceptability of the results)
- Resources
- Cost
- Risks4
When project managers successfully make these tradeoffs, the project results meet the agreed upon requirements, are useful to the customers, and promote the organization. Project management includes both administrative tasks for planning, documenting, and controlling work and leadership tasks for visioning, motivating, and promoting work associates. Project management knowledge, skills, and methods can be applied and modified for most projects regardless of size or application.
1-3 How Can Project Work Be Described?
Project work can be described in the following ways:
- Projects are temporary and unique while other work, commonly called operations, is more continuous.
- Project managers need certain “soft skills” and “hard skills” to be effective.
- Project managers frequently have more responsibility than authority.
- Projects go through predictable stages called a life cycle.
1-3a Projects versus Operations
All work can be described as fitting into one of two types: projects or operations. Projects as stated above are temporary, and no two are identical. Some projects may be extremely different from any other work an organization has performed up to that time, such as planning a merger with another company. Other projects may have both routine and unique aspects such as building a house. Operations, on the other hand, consist of the ongoing work needed to ensure that an organization continues to function effectively. Operations managers can often use checklists to guide much of their work. Project managers can use project management methods to help determine what to do, but they rarely have checklists that identify all of the activities they need to accomplish. Some work may be difficult to classify as totally project or totally operations. However, if project management methods and concepts help one to better plan and manage work, it does not really matter how the work is classified.
1-3b Soft Skills and Hard Skills
To effectively manage and lead in a project environment, a person needs to develop both “soft” and “hard” skills. Soft skills include communication and leadership activities. Hard skills can include risk analysis, quality control, scheduling, budgeting, and so forth. Soft and hard skills go hand in hand. Some people have a stronger natural ability and a better comfort level in one or the other, but to be successful as a project manager a person needs to develop both along the judgment about when each is needed. A
wise project manager may purposefully recruit an assistant that excels in his area of weakness. Training, experience, and mentoring can also be instrumental in developing necessary skills.
1-3c Authority and Responsibility
A project manager will frequently be held accountable for work that she cannot order people to perform. Projects are most effectively managed with one person being assigned accountability. However, that person often needs to negotiate with a functional manager , who is “someone with management authority over an organizational unit… the manager of any group that actually makes a product or performs a service.”5 Functional managers negotiate for workers to perform the project work in a timely fashion. Since the workers know their regular manager often has other tasks for them and will be their primary rater, they are tempted to concentrate first on the work that will earn rewards. Hence, a project manager needs to develop strong communication and leadership skills in order to persuade subordinates to focus on the project when other work also beckons.
1-3d Project Life Cycle
All projects go through predictable stages called a project life cycle. A project life cycle is “the series of phases that a project goes through from its initiation to its closure.”6 An organization's control needs are to be assured that the work of the project is proceeding in a satisfactory manner and that the results are likely to serve its customer's intended purpose. The project customer is the person or organization that will use the project's product, service, or result. Customers can be internal to the organization (that is, part of the company that is performing the project) or external to the organization. Many different project life cycle models are used for different types of projects, such as information systems, improvement, research and development, and construction. In this book we will use the following project stages (as seen in the chapter opener Project Life Cycle diagram for all of the following chapters.):
- Selecting and initiating—starts when an idea for a project first emerges and the project is selected and planned at a high level, and ends when key participants commit to it in broad terms.
- Planning—starts after the initial commitment, includes detailed planning, and ends when all stakeholders accept the entire detailed plan.
- Executing—starts when the plan is accepted, and includes authorizing, executing, monitoring, and controlling work until the customer accepts the project deliverables.
- Closing and realizing—includes all activities after customer acceptance to ensure project is completed, lessons are learned, resources are reassigned, contributions are recognized, and benefits are realized.
The pace of work and amount of money spent may vary considerably from one life cycle stage to another. Often, the selecting is performed periodically for all projects at a division or corporate level, and then initiating is rather quick—just enough to ensure that a project makes sense and key participants will commit to it. The planning stage can become rather detailed and will normally require quite a bit more work. The execution stage or stages are the time when the majority of the hands-on project tasks are accomplished. This tends to be a time of considerable work. Closing is a time when loose ends are tied up and the work level decreases significantly, but realizing benefits from the project occurs over time, may be measured months after project completion, and may be done by people other than those who performed the project. See Exhibit 1.1 for a predictive or plan-driven project life cycle and Exhibit 1.2 for an adaptive or change-driven project life cycle. The primary difference is that in the first, the product is well-understood and all planning precedes all executing, while in the second, early results lead into planning later work. The extreme of predictive is sometimes called waterfall and the extreme of adaptive is sometimes called agile.
EXHIBIT 1.1: PREDICTIVE OR PLAN-DRIVEN PROJECT LIFE CYCLE WITH MEASUREMENT POINTS View PDF
EXHIBIT 1.2: ADAPTIVE OR CHANGE-DRIVEN PROJECT LIFE CYCLE WITH MEASUREMENT POINTS View PDF
own project life cycle model, such as the one Midland Insurance Company has developed for quality improvement projects as shown in Exhibit 1.3. This book will present examples of company-specific life cycle models, but for clarity will use the predictive or plan-driven model shown in Exhibit 1.1 when describing concepts except when we discuss agile with the adaptive or change-driven model. Third, in addition to stage-ending approvals, frequently projects are measured at additional points such as selection, progress reporting, and benefits realization, as shown in Exhibit 1.1.
1-4 Understanding Projects
Several frameworks that can help a person better understand project management are described below: the Project Management Institute (PMI); the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide); methods of selecting and prioritizing projects, project goals and constraints; project success and failure; use of Microsoft Project to help plan and measure projects, and various ways to classify projects.
EXHIBIT 1.3: MIDLAND INSURANCE COMPANY PROJECT LIFE CYCLE FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS Martin J. Novakov, American Modern Insurance Group. View PDF
1-4a Project Management Institute
Project management has professional organizations just as do many other professions and industry groups. The biggest of these by far is the Project Management Institute.
It was founded in 1969, grew at a modest pace until the early 1990s, and has grown quite rapidly since. As of March 2013, PMI had well over 650,000 members and credential holders in 185 countries. PMI publishes and regularly updates A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). All of the definitions in this book come from the PMBOK® Guide, fifth edition.8 PMI has established a professional certification entitled Project Management Professional (PMP). To be certified as a PMP, a person needs to have the required experience and education, pass an examination on the PMBOK® Guide, and sign and be bound by a code of professional conduct. PMI has also established a second certification—Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)—that is geared toward junior people working on projects before they are eligible to become PMPs. PMI also has established additional credentials, practice standards, and extensions of the PMBOK® Guide in areas such as program management, agile, risk, scheduling, resource estimating, work breakdown structures, construction, and government.9
1-4b Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ®)
The Project Management Body of Knowledge consists of a project life cycle (see earlier “Project Life Cycle” section), 5 process groups, and 10 knowledge areas. A project management process group is “a logical grouping of the project management inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs.”10 The five process groups, paraphrased from the PMBOK® Guide, are as follows:
1. Initiating —“define a project or a new phase by obtaining authorization”
2. Planning —“establish the project scope, refine objectives and define actions to attain objectives”
3. Executing —“complete the work defined to satisfy project specifications”
4. Monitoring and controlling —“track, review, and regulate progress and performance, identify changes required, and initiate changes”
The 10 knowledge areas, paraphrased from the PMBOK® Guide, are as follows:
1. Integration management —“processes and activities to identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities”12
2. Scope management —“processes to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully”13
3. Time management —“processes to manage timely completion of the project”14
4. Cost management —“processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding, managing, and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the approved budget”15
5. Quality management —“processes and activities of the performing organization that determine quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken”16
6. Human resources management —“processes that organize, manage, and lead the project team”17
7. Communications management —“processes to ensure timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, control, monitoring, and ultimate disposition of project information”18
8. Risk management —“processes of conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, response planning, and control … to increase the likelihood and impact of positive events and decrease the likelihood and impact of negative events in the project”19
9. Procurement management —“processes to purchase or acquire products, services, or results from outside the project team”20
10. Stakeholder management —“processes to identify the people, groups, or organizations, that could impact or be impacted by the project, analyze their expectations and impact, and develop strategies for engaging them and managing conflicting interests”21
1-4c Selecting and Prioritizing Projects
During the selecting and initiating stage of a project, one of the first tasks leaders must do is to identify potential projects. Ideally, this is accomplished in a systematic manner—not just by chance. Some opportunities will present themselves. Other good opportunities need to be discovered. All parts of the organization should be involved. For example, salespeople can uncover opportunities through open discussions with existing and potential customers. Operations staff members may identify potential productivity-enhancing projects. Everyone in the firm should be aware of industry trends and use this knowledge to identify potential projects.
Once identified, organizations need to prioritize among the potential projects. The best way to do this is to determine which projects align best with the major goals of the firm. The executives in charge of selecting projects need to ensure overall organizational priorities are understood, communicated, and accepted. Once this common understanding is in place, it is easier to prioritize among the potential projects. The degree of formality used in selecting projects varies widely. Regardless of the company's size and the level of formality used, the prioritization efforts should include asking the following questions:
- What value does each potential project bring to the organization?
- Are the demands of performing each project understood?
- Are the resources needed to perform the project available?
- Is there enthusiastic support both from the external customers and from one or more internal champions?
- Which projects will best help the organization achieve its goals?
1-4d Project Goals and Constraints
All projects should be undertaken to accomplish specific goals. Those goals can be described both by scope —“the sum of the products, services, and results to be provided as a project”22 and by quality — “the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.”23 Taken together, scope and quality are often called performance and should result in outputs that customers can be satisfied with as they use them to effectively do their job. From a client perspective, projects generally have time and cost constraints. Thus, a project manager needs to be concerned with achieving desired scope and quality, subject to constraints of time and cost. If the project were to proceed exactly according to plan, it would be on time, on budget, with the agreed upon scope and the agreed upon quality.
However, many things can happen as a project is conducted. Obstacles or challenges that may limit the ability to perform often arise, as well as opportunities to exceed original expectations. A project manager needs to understand which of these four goals and constraints (scope, quality, time, budget) should take precedence and which can be sacrificed. The project manager needs to help the customer articulate how much he wants to enhance achievement of one of these four dimensions. The customer must also state which dimension he is willing to sacrifice, by how much, and under what circumstances to receive better achievement of the other one. For example, on a research and development project, a customer may be willing to pay an extra $5,000 to finish the project 10 days early. On a church construction project, a customer may be willing to give up five extra light switches in exchange for greater confidence that the light system will work properly. Understanding the customer's desires in this
| EXHIBIT 1.4: PROJECT CUSTOMER TRADEOFF MATRIX | |||
| Source: Adapted from Timothy J. Kloppenborg and Joseph A. Petrick, Managing Project Qualify (Vienna, VA: Management Concepts, 2002): 46. | |||
| ENHANCE | MEET | SACRIFICE | |
| Cost | Pay up to $5,000 extra if it saves 10 days | ||
| Schedule | Save up to 10 days | ||
| Quality | Must meet | ||
| Scope | Must meet | ||
EXHIBIT 1.4: PROJECT CUSTOMER TRADEOFF MATRIX Adapted from Timothy J. Kloppenborg and Joseph A. Petrick, Managing Project Qualify (Vienna, VA: Management Concepts, 2002): 46. View PDF
manner enables a project manager to make good project decisions. A project manager can use a project customer tradeoff matrix such as the one in Exhibit 1.4 to reflect the research and development project tradeoffs discussed above.
From an internal perspective a project manager also needs to consider two more constraints: the amount of resources available and the decision maker's risk tolerance.
1-4e Defining Project Success and Failure
Project success is creating deliverables that include all of the agreed-upon features (meet scope goals). The outputs should satisfy all specifications and please the project's customers. The customers need to be able to use the outputs effectively as they do their work (meet quality goals). The project should be completed on schedule and on budget (meet time and cost constraints).
Project success also includes other considerations. A successful project is one that is completed without heroics—that is, people should not burn themselves out to complete the project. Those people who work on the project should learn new skills and/or refine existing skills. Organizational learning should take place and be captured for future projects. Finally, the performing organization should reap business-level benefits such as development of new products, increased market share, increased profitability, decreased cost, and so on. A contemporary and complete view of project success is shown in Exhibit 1.5.
XHIBIT 1.5: PROJECT SUCCESS
- Meeting Agreements
—Cost, schedule, and specifications met - Customer's Success
—Needs met, deliverables used, customer satisfied - Performing Organization's Success
—Market share, new products, new technology - Project Team's Success
—Loyalty, development, satisfaction
Source: Adapted from Timothy J. Kloppenborg, Debbie Tesch, and Ravi Chinta, “21st Century Project Success Measures: Evolution, Interpretation, and Direction,” Proceedings, PMI Research and Education Conference 2012 (Limerick, Ireland, July 2012).
Project failure can be described as not meeting the success criteria listed in Exhibit 1.5. Many projects are fully successful in some ways but less successful in others. The goal of excellent project management is to reach high levels of success on all measures on all projects. Serious project failure—when some of the success criteria are missed by a large amount and/or when several of the success criteria are missed— can be attributed to numerous causes. In each chapter of this text, more specific possible failure causes will be covered, along with how to avoid them, but some basic causes of failure are as follows:
- Not enough resources are available for project completion.
- Not enough time has been given to the project.
- Project expectations are unclear.
- Changes in the scope are not understood or agreed upon by all parties involved.
- Stakeholders disagree regarding expectations for the project.
- Adequate project planning is not used.
1-4f Using Microsoft Project to Help Plan and Measure Projects
A useful tool to capture and conveniently display a variety of important project data is Microsoft® (MS) Project. MS Project is demonstrated in a step-by-step fashion using screen shots from a single integrated project throughout the book.
1-4g Types of Projects
Four ways to classify projects that help people understand the unique needs of each are by industry, size, understanding of project scope, and application.
Classifying by Industry
Projects can be classified in a variety of ways. One method is by industry, which is useful in that projects in different industries often have unique requirements. Several industry-specific project life cycle models are in use, and various trade groups and special interest groups can provide guidance. For example, PMI had 39 specific communities of practice as of March 1, 2013, as shown in Exhibit 1.6. These groups allow project managers worldwide to share and learn together. Many of those groups are devoted to specific challenges faced by project managers in a particular industry.
| EXHIBIT 1.6: PMI COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE | ||
| Source: http://www.pmi.org/Get-Involved/Communities-of-Practice.aspx | ||
| Aerospace and Defense | Global Diversity | New Practitioners |
| Agile | Global Sustainability | Organizational Project Management |
| Automation Systems | Government | Pharmaceutical |
| Change Management | Healthcare | Program Management Office |
| China Project Management | Human Resource Project Management | Project Management Quality |
| Construction Industry | Information Systems | Project Risk Management |
| Consulting | Innovation and New Product Development | Requirements Management |
| Earned Value Management | International Development | Retail |
| eBusiness | IT and Telecom | Scheduling |
| Energy, Oil, Gas and Petrochemical | Leadership in Project Management | Service and Outsourcing |
| Entertainment | Learning, Education, and Development | Transportation |
| Ethics in Project Management | Legal Project Management | Troubled Projects |
| Financial Services Industry | Marketing and Sales | Utility Industry |
EXHIBIT 1.6: PMI COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE http://www.pmi.org/Get-Involved/Communities-of-Practice.aspx,accessed March 1, 2013. View PDF
A large construction project, like this multistory building in China, requires a highly detailed construction schedule.
Classifying by Size
Another method of classifying projects is by size. Large projects often require more detailed planning and control. However, even the smallest projects still need to use planning and control—just in a more simplified manner. For example, construction of a multistory building in China would require a highly detailed construction schedule, but even a much simpler construction project of building a one-car garage would also need to follow a schedule.
Classifying by Timing of Project Scope Clarity
A third method of classifying projects deals with how early in the project the project manager and team are likely to be able to determine with a high degree of certainty what the project scope will be. For example, it may be rather simple to calculate the cubic feet of concrete that are required to pour a parking lot and, therefore, how much work is involved. At the opposite end of the spectrum, when developing a new pharmaceutical, very little may be determined in the project until the results of some early experiments are reported. Only vat that time is it possible to begin estimating cost and determining the schedule with confidence. The planning becomes iterative, with more detail as it becomes available. In the first case, predictive or plan-driven project techniques may work well. In the second case, adaptive or change-driven methods to iteratively determine the scope and plan for risks may be more important.
A large construction project, like this multistory building in China, requires a highly detailed construction schedule. © China Photos/Getty Images View PDF
Classifying by Application
For the purpose of this book, we will discuss many types of projects, such as those dealing with organizational change, quality and productivity improvement, research and development (R&D), information systems (IS), and construction. Many of these projects include extensive cross-functional work, which adds to the challenge. Remember, all projects require planning and control. Part of the art of project management is determining when to use certain techniques, how much detail to use, and how to tailor the techniques to the needs of a specific project.
1-4h Scalability of Project Tools
Projects range tremendously in size and complexity. In considering construction projects, think of the range from building a simple carport to building an office tower. In both cases, one would need to determine the wants and needs of the customer(s), understand the amount of work involved, determine a budget and schedule, decide what workers are available and who will do which tasks, and then manage the construction until the owner accepts the project results. It should be easy to see that while both projects require planning and control, the level of detail for the carport is a tiny fraction of that for the office tower. In this book, we first demonstrate concepts and techniques at a middle level and then use a variety of project examples to demonstrate how to scale the complexity of the techniques up or down.
1-5 Project Roles
To successfully initiate, plan, and execute projects, a variety of executive, management, and associate roles must be accomplished, as shown in Exhibit 1.7. In a large organization, a person often fills only one of these roles; sometimes, more than one person fills a particular role. In small organizations, the same person may fill more than one role. The names of the roles also vary by organization. The work of each role must be accomplished by someone. Project managers are successful when they build strong working relationships with the individuals who execute each of these roles.
1-5a Project Executive-Level Roles
The four project executive-level roles are the steering team, sponsor, customer, and the chief projects officer. A steering or leadership team for an organization is often the top leader (CEO or other officer) and his or her direct reports. From a project standpoint, the important role for this team is to select, prioritize, and resource projects in accordance with the organization's strategic planning and to ensure that accurate progress is reported and necessary adjustments are made.
The second executive-level project role is that of sponsor. PMI's official definition of a sponsor is “the person or group that provides resources and support for the project and is accountable for enabling
| EXHIBIT 1.7: PROJECT ROLES | ||
| EXECUTIVE ROLES | MANAGERIAL ROLES | ASSOCIATE ROLES |
| Steering team | Project manager | Core team member |
| Chief projects officer | Functional manager | Subject matter expert |
| Sponsor | Facilitator | |
| Senior customer representative | ||
success.”25 This textbook expands the sponsor's role to include taking an active role in chartering the project, reviewing progress reports, playing a behind-the-scenes role in mentoring, and assisting the project manager throughout the project life.
The third executive-level project role is that of the senior customer representative. This person ensures that the needs and wants of the various constituents in the customer's organization are identified and prioritized and that project progress and decisions continually support the customer's desires.
The chief projects officer's role is sometimes called a project management office (PMO) , which is defined as “an organizational structure that standardizes the project related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools and techniques.”24 The PMO can range from supporting project managers, to controlling them by requiring compliance to directive in actually managing projects.
1-5b Project Management-Level Roles
The most obvious management-level role is the project manager. The project manager is “the person assigned by the performing organization to lead the team that is responsible for achieving the project objectives.”63 The project manager is normally directly accountable for the project results, schedule, and budget. This person is the main communicator, is responsible for the planning and execution of the project, and works on the project from start to finish. The project manager often must get things done through the power of influence since his or her formal power may be limited.
Another key management role is the functional manager. Functional managers are the department heads—the ongoing managers of the organization. They normally determine how the work of the project is to be accomplished, often supervise that work, and often negotiate with the project manager regarding which workers are assigned to the project.
The third managerial role is that of facilitator. If the project is complex and/or controversial, it sometimes makes sense to have another person help the project manager with the process of running meetings and making decisions.
1-5c Scrum Master
1-5d Project Associate-Level Roles
The project management team is composed of “members who are directly involved in project management activities.”27 In this book, these individuals are called core team members. The core team, with the project manager, does most of the planning and makes most of the project-level decisions.
The temporary members that are brought on board are called subject matter experts. These people are used on an as-needed basis.
Introduction to Project Management: Multiple Choice Questions
The purpose of these questions is to help visualize the type of questions on PMP and CAPM exams.
1. Which project role provides resources or support for the project, promotes and protects the project at higher levels of management, and takes an active role in the project from the chartering stage through project closure?
a. functional manager
b. project manager
c. project team member
d. project sponsor
2. Which PMBOK® Guide Knowledge Area includes those processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully?
a. cost management
b. scope management
c. risk management
d. quality management
3. In order to be successful, the project team must be able to assess the needs of stakeholders and manage their expectations through effective communications. At the same time they must balance competing demands between project scope, schedule, budget, risk, quality, and resources, which are also known as project ___________?
a. plan elements
b. deliverables
c. constraints
d. targets
4. In which project management process group would you find those processes that establish the scope of effort for the project, refine the project objectives, and define the course of action to achieve the objectives?
a. initiating process group
b. planning process group
c. executing process group
d. monitoring and controlling process group
5. Projects pass through a series of phases as they move from initiation to project closure. The names and number of these phases can vary significantly depending on the organization, the type of application, industry, or technology employed. These phases create the framework for the project, and are referred to collectively as the:
a. project life cycle
b. project management information system (PMIS)
c. product life cycle
d. quality methodology
6. Based on PMI's definition, which of these is a good example of a project?
a. manufacturing a standard commodity
b. following policies and procedures for procuring an item
c. designing and launching a new website
d. using a checklist to perform quality control
7. The responsibilities of a project management office (PMO) and the degree of control that it provides can cover a broad spectrum. All of these are examples of types of PMO structures within organizations except:
a. controlling—require compliance through various means
b. selective—review business cases and select and prioritize projects to be initiated
c. supportive—perform a consultative role through training, templates, and best practices
d. directive—provide a high degree of control by directly managing the projects
8. When would a predictive project life cycle be the preferred approach?
a. when the high-level vision has been developed, but the product scope is not well defined
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b. when the environment is changing rapidly
c. when the product to be delivered is well understood
d. when the product will be created through a series of repeated cycles
9. To be effective, a project manager needs to possess all of the following competencies except:
a. personal effectiveness—attitudes, core personality traits, leadership
b. authority—power or right granted by the organization
c. performance—what project managers can accomplish while applying their project management knowledge
d. knowledge of project management—understanding of project management tools and techniques
10. In Adaptive Life Cycles (change—driven or agile methods) ____________.
a. the overall scope of the project is fixed, and the time and cost are developed incrementally
b. the overall cost is fixed, and the project scope and schedule are developed iteratively
c. the time and cost are fixed, but the scope is developed iteratively
d. change control is very important
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