Project Management: Definition, Problems, And Success Factors

Topic and reading samples.

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Project Management requirement

Kerzner, H., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

1.  Project management is a procedure used for achievement of the goals and objectives of the planned objectives for the development of the project. The cost, time, scope and quality are the key factors used in the project management.

2.  The list of three activities that is done each day or each week and considered as a project are as follows:

Preparation of To Do list

Definition of the activities

Controlling the schedule

3.  The success of the project depends on the delivery of the project within the stipulated budget and the schedule created for the development of the project. The project is required to be developed aligning the requirement of the business.

4.  Yes, I know a project that is successfully developed on sport and recreation.

The Marion Tennis Club involved in a project of educating cultural diverse community and the project was developed for fund raising connect with the community.

It became successful because a proper schedule was created and a resource was allocated to the team members for increasing their work efficiency predicting their skills and knowledge.

5.  The project success is different from project management because the success of the project depends on the efficiency of the project management. The project is required to be completed within the scope and the budget for becoming successful.

6. The three problems faced during the project management are as follows:

Slow communication between the client and the project management team

Late start of the activity

Spending time in management of the risk associated with the development of the project.

7.  For becoming a good project manager a person should have a good communication skill.

Functional manager have an important role for training a project manager and make a good project manager. They gathers information about the project manager for the evaluation of the improvement of the skills of the project manager.

8.  The business manager looks over the shoulder of the project manager for ensuring that the project assigned to the project manager is done according to the requirement of the project.

The priority of the project is also dependent for the dedication and the commitment of the project manager because the line of the business managers are involved for projects that have short development time for the development of a growth strategy and oversee the project.

The course of the project is evaluated and the project management methodologies are evaluated for proceeding with the assignment. The activities initialized and a proper planning of the project is created for the development of the assignment.

(Kerzner, H., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons).

According to the author Kerzner (2013) team work is important and it is required to be applied for documentation of the requirement and the specification required for the development of the project. The skills and knowledge required for the development of the project is required to be evaluated.

Topic and reading samples.

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Technology and the skills required for the success of the project

Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

1. Project management is an activity performed by the project manager to manage the daily activity. The uncertain activity can be undertaken and it can be transformed to the certainty for delivering the constraints associated with the development of the project.

The contribution of the project management for the world is to create a structure and maintain the schedule for the project management. It helps to create a strategic planning and balancing the act of the project management.

2. The benefits for using the project management are as follows:

It increases the efficiency of the project and deliver the service in time

Increase in the satisfaction of the customer

Improvement of the growth of the project and the team

It increases the flexibility of the project

It helps in increases the quality of the project

3. An approach for the methodical development of the project is to improve the problem solving skill and dealing with the complexity of the project. A strategy is required to be developed and the information are required to be evaluated for resolving a problem in the project.

4. The method that can be used for the development of the project is required to be chosen by the project manager and a traditional waterfall model can be selected for the development of the project. Thus it have the similarity with the project management and it is important for collection of the deliverables of the project.

5. The project management is described as the evaluation of the requirement of the project and creation of a schedule, initiate, execute and monitor the project. The change management is quite similar with the project management but it involves the team, process and the tools used for managing the changes occurred during the development of the project.

6. Change management is required in the project if a risk is identified during the development of the project. The impact of the change is required to be identified and the project objectives is required to be analysed for application of the change.

7. An example for the application of the change in the project is the management of the resources and the stakeholders. If a resource is unavailable then it is required then there is a requirement to change the schedule of the project. The system is defined as whole development process and the program is defined as the software used for creation of the gantt chart. The project is the defined as the task planned for achievement of the aim and it requires research and design to be completed.

8. Yes a failed project has been experienced and the main cause of the failure of the project is the missing of the deadline of the completion of the activity. The human resource required for the completion of the project is required to be managed.

9. The main cause of the failure is the lack of management of the human resource.

Assigning roles and responsibility to the human resources could have resolved the issue and reduce the stress of the team members associated with the development of the project.

10. The project life cycle is defines as the phases required to be completed for the successful development of the project.

The life cycle of the project consists of the following phases such as:

Project initiation

Project planning

Project execution and

Project closure

11. The project management methodology can be of different types such as Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, etc. The methodology is required to be selected according to the requirement of the project.

The people, work, tools and organization is affected by the project management methodology and the principles of project management is required to be evaluated for the development of the project.

12. The project management methodology is required for delivering the requirement of the project. The principles of the project management are evaluated and collaboration of the stakeholders are necessary for the responding to the change in the project.

13. A continuous improvement is important for the relating the project management methodologies for the development of the project. The stakeholders associated with the development of the project is required to be involved and a continuous improvement is important for the development of the project.

14. A continuous improvement is necessary for ongoing improvement of the project and develop the project with better build quality. The opportunity of the project is required to be analysed and a plan is required to be created for the development of the project.

15. There are different approach used for the involvement of the continuous improvement and for the low budget project it becomes a barrier. The focus is required to be given on the incremental improvement and the existing process is required to be improved.

16. For the improvement of the test result and resolve the errors in the project the cause is required to be identified and resolved immediately such that it does not affect the whole project. The improvement in the project can be applied by involvement of the technical experts and testing the project multiple times.

Continuous improvement is important for the success of the project and a strategy is required to be developed for involving various requirement. A proper communication plan is also required and the procedure is required to be followed.

(Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.)

The successful implementation of the project management activities and appropriate tools are required to be used by the project manager for the creation of the schedule (Schwalbe 2015). The successful implementation of the strategy is also important for continuous improvement and application of change management in the project.

Topic and reading samples.

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Project operation and management

(Earned value project management. Project Management Institute.)

1. The techniques used for the application of the activities are as follows:

a. Utilizing the social media

b. Analysing the current market scenario.

c. Expansion of the area to be searched

d. Involvement of the employees for the improvement of the project.

The staff recruitment procedure is different for the organization and it varies upon the requirement of the organization.

2. The skill of the project manager is required to be improved and he should have proper control on the different activities of the project. The team member of the project is required to be assisted by the project manager and a bonding is required for successfully develop the project.

3. The employment of a inefficient project manager can cause failure of the project. The resources cannot be managed properly and thus it can cause over budget. The barriers are required to be removed.

4. The deployment of the contemporary manager helps in utilization of the resources efficiently and thus increases the profit percentage of the project.

5. Yes a lot of change is required for the management of the day to day activity and monitor the progress of the project. Training is required to be given to the team member for the improvement of the skill.

6. Yes as a project manager I always try to improve my skill and concentrate on the areas of improvement and apply it for the development of the skills and knowledge.

7. I focus on theoretical knowledge and try to apply it practically for increasing the efficiency of the project. The time and resource management is the main item to be focused.

The project manager should have a good leadership quality and communication barrier is required to be overcome for the development of the project. The good quality of a project manager is required to be contrasted for identification of the skills and knowledge of the project manager.   

(Fleming, Q.W. and Koppelman, J.M., 2016, December. Earned value project management. Project Management Institute.)

The communication and the leadership skill is required to be analysed and improvement of the skill helps to increase the efficiency of the project development (Fleming and Koppelman 2016). The project manager is also responsible for monitoring the activities and control the activities for efficiently develop the project.

Topic and reading samples.

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Professional skill required for project management

(Project management toolbox: tools and techniques for the practicing project manager. John Wiley & Sons.)

1. The professional skill of the project and the theoretical knowledge is required to be evaluated for analysing the practical activity. The outcome of the project is required analysed for successfully develop the project.

2. For becoming a good project manager the management skill is important and the project manager should monitor the progress of the project for develop the project according to the requirement. The technologies used for the development of the project is required to be analysed and the appropriate outcome is required to be analysed.

3. The prediction of the success of the project depends on the forecasting capability of the project manager. The project manager is required to be actively involved in the project.

4. A proper skill and knowledge of the project manager is important for the successful development of the project. The priorities of the task is required to be documented. The management skill of the project manager is required to be utilized.

5. The different project management tools are required to be analysed for the selection of the tool and the improved tool is required to be selected for the development of the project. The tool is required to meet all the criteria of the project management.

6. The feasibility of the project is required to be analysed and the project manager should have control on the action of the project and develop the project according to the requirement. The budget of the project is required to be analysed and it is required to be developed according to it.

7. The span of the operation of the project is required to be followed and the various option is required to be controlled and the change in the project is required to be accepted for the development of the project.

8. The best practices are required to be followed for the development of the project and the project manager should have knowledge about the best practices.

9. For planning the project the schedule of the project is created using the project management tools and milestones are required to be implemented for the estimation of the time and the cost of the project.

A proper forecasting capability is important and the resources is required to be estimated. The scope of the project is required to be clearly defined for the estimation of the cost and the time required for the development of the project. Proper resources are required to be assigned and change in the project is required to be managed.

The successful development of the project is important for the inclusion of the project management activity. The tools are required to be evaluated and the project plan is required to be developed according to the resources available and time and cost of the project.

(Martinelli, R.J. and Milosevic, D.Z., 2016. Project management toolbox: tools and techniques for the practicing project manager. John Wiley & Sons.)

According to the author Martinelli and Milosevic (2016), the project management activity depends on the skill and the knowledge of the project. The profitability of the organization is required to be noted for gaining more profit percentage. The tools and the technology is required to be analysed and an appropriate tool is required to be selected.

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Classification of the project

(Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), pp.202-217).

1.  The different ways of classifying a project is:

Clarity of solution

Estimated duration

Estimated resources

Estimated cost

Number of systems involved

Number of users affected

Impact on business processes and goals

Team experience with technology

2.  The project manager is not the senior most in the organization although the project manager is the senior most member of the project. From this we easily understand the important of the project manager in the project.

3.  Yes the functional managers would make a good project manager. Although, if the functional manager is selected as the project manager, then the position of the functional manager would be vacant and this would create a void in the organization. Hence, this is not a good option.

4.  The functional manager should be “looking over the shoulders of the project manager” as, because the project manager reports all the operations to the functional managers. No, the answer does not depend on the priority of the project but there may be exceptions.

5.  The project management is designed so that the line managers would have control over the organizations while the project manager would be able to supervise the project. This displays the importance of the project manager and the line mangers in the organizations.

6.  There are huge difference in between the project driven and the non-project driven organization. The candidates generally prefer the project driven organizations as the experience in these types of organizations are of greater importance.

7.  The career path according to my view would be to pursue a technical degree at first and then follow it up by a management degree. This would help the candidate to have experience in every type of field.

8.  The different types of organizational structures are:

Divisional Structures: The structure is ideal for the organization that have services unique to the specific markets but too much of involvement can lead to the incompatibility of the systems.  

Functional Structure: The functional structure allows high degree of specialization while the downside is that they create barriers in between the different functions.

Matrix Structure: The structures are very flexible but the complexity of the structure results into its disadvantage.

9.  The therapy should be conducted at least once a year o and preferably up to three times in the year. The frequency depends on the variety of the organizations and the type of project u=they undertake.

10.  Functional manager- The functional manager would have the CEO and the chairman as their bosses.

Project manager- There would be only boss for the project manager that is the functional manager.

From this week we have learnt that the success of the project depends on the effective management of the resources. The project schedule should include the resources and the cost required for the completion of the activity.

(Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), pp.202-217).

According to the author Mir and Pinnington (2014) the responsibility of the project manager for controlling the activity is important for the success of the project. The development team is required to be organized according to the requirement and a proper framework is required to be created. The skill of the team member should be evaluated and the experienced employees are required to be included in each of the tem for handling the development process.

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Success of the project management

(Success factors in project management. Business Management Dynamics, 4(9), pp.19-34.)

1. Success is like a three legged stool where the three parts of the stool are:

 Good Brand, Great System, Even Better People. This means that the success depends on these three elements.

2.  Project manager should hold a kick-off meeting with the client and go through a checklist to ensure that they develop a solid project plan.

3. The project manager is the main profit maker for the company as they are the main personnel that would be responsible for the profit from the project. The project manager would be working efficiently for the development of the project and also they would be able to guide the project according to the requirement of the organization.

4. The age should not be a factor in the profession of project manager. People of every age should be able to learn the techniques of project management as this a very easy technique and would enable the person to get accustomed to the procedures of project management.

5. Yes the project manager should start reporting directly to the executives if he notices inefficiency in higher officials of his department. The project manager should be following the necessary protocol for communicating with the executives of the company.  

6. The project manager should not take part in the establishment of the prerequisites for the company although he should be able to provide queries and feedback regarding the procedures of the company just any other common employee. He might have a say that are going to be undertaken by the company.

7. No, the project sponsor should not have any authority to provide any representative removed from the pool of employees. They are only in charge of the financial departments of the company and also they should only be concerned with the profit from the project.

8. Project management begins to turn into over management when the project manager places a priority on “managing” instead of accomplishing the goals set out for the project. Specifically, over management begins to occur when the project manager focuses more on managing personnel and not managing the overall project.

9. The program manager is responsible for the final delivery of the project and hence, the program manager takes part in the project after the project is ready for delivery.

From the course of project management the details of the factors are analysed and helped to improve the skill and knowledge. The steps involved for the successful development of the project are studied and it would help to develop a successful project in future.

(Besteiro, E.N.C., Pinto, J.D. and Novaski, O., 2015. Success factors in project management. Business Management Dynamics, 4(9), pp.19-34.)

For a successful project planning the different technologies available are required to be analysed and skills of the project manager is also required to be evaluated for develop the project (Besteiro Pinto and Novaski 2015). The tools are used for the creation of the gantt chart and estimation of the time required for the completion of each of the activity.

Topic and reading samples.

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Planning of the project

(Determining critical success factors of project management practice: A conceptual framework. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 153, pp.61-69.)

1.  The major milestones for the project are to be set before the total programming scheduling is set. For the total program scheduling the timeline of the program is to be derived and also the work break down structure have to be derived.

2.  A personal development plan is a process that consists of defining what is important to you, what you want to achieve, what strengths you already have that help to achieve your goals, and what you need to improve and develop with time.

3.  The project manager has to determine the complexity of the project by the following methods:

Clarity of solution

Estimated duration

Estimated resources

Estimated cost

Number of systems involved

Number of users affected

Impact on business processes and goals

Team experience with technology

4.  Yes, the WBS is designed so that the structure can easily be scheduled and also the tasks can easily be performed so that the schedules are followed and project is designed.

5.  The functional manager is performs the requirement analysis of the project and so the functional manger is   plays an important in the first three layers of the WBS.

6.  In the personal life also the project management techniques can be used where the mother looks over our daily procedures of our life and helps us in our process of life and also they act as the functional managers in daily life.

7.  During the planning phase of the various types of conflicts can arise in between the different members that are involved in the project.  This can solved easily if the project manager takes input from the different members and take the final decision themselves.

8.  The contractor should provide the information about the deliverable that is to be sent to the customer so that they are informed about what are the designs of the project. And they should be provided with the flow charts and other designing tools.

9.  For the stakeholders an analysis id to be done, they are to be listed and various communication procedures are to be organized for addressing the stakeholders.

10.  The work break down structure is a start to finish approach of getting the things done in the project management techniques that are implemented by the project team. The WBS should be division phased and also time based.

The basic requirement are required to be evaluated and a proper schedule is created for the development of the project. The functional manager should have good communication with the project manager for creation of a proper planning. The phases of the project is required to be completed within the proposed time and the cost.

(Alias, Z., Zawawi, E.M.A., Yusof, K. and Aris, N.M., 2014. Determining critical success factors of project management practice: A conceptual framework. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 153, pp.61-69.)

In the planning phase the different risk associated with the project is required to be identified and a proper risk mitigation strategy is required to create (Alias et al. 2014). The selection of the appropriate methodology is also important for the success of the project.

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Analysis of the requirement of the project

(Project success analysis framework: A knowledge-based approach in project management. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), pp.772-783)

1.  For the development of the project specification an informal relationship is required to be created between the stakeholders and the requirements are required to be listed in the form of an agreement. A market research is also required to be made and priorities and the boundaries of the project is required to be included.

2.  For the development of the work breakdown structure the high level tasks are required to be identified and then followed by the subtasks. Each of the task is required to be described and the resource is required to be added for identification of the responsibility of the team members.

3.  The problems that can arise during the decomposition of the WBS are:

Addressing the various types of group dynamics that can arise with the process.

Discussion of sequences.

Discussing the deliverables

Grouping the activities

4.  The senior manager or top level officials basically assumes a critical part in finishing the project. They support the monetary allowance, cost, extend destinations so the whole venture can be finished effectively inside the assessed time and spending plan.

5.  Yes, senior management is very much important for an organization. It is identified that the executive manager of the organization plays an important role in managing various activities of the project that include approving the budget and time of the project in order to execute the entire project successfully.

6. Proper administration occasions are should have been considered by the venture supervisor. For arranging advancement I have utilized exact overseeing plan and no political perspectives

7. The project manager is responsible for proper management of the activities associated with the development of the project. For successfully developing the project the politics and the tension arising is required to be avoided.

8. A project plan is characterized as a formal record that is principally intended for directing the control and in addition execution of the project. It is distinguished that a venture design, for the most part, comprises of a rundown of the project plan.

9.  The different types of plans that must be developed by the project managers include Risk management, change management and communication planning.

These sorts of exercises are particularly critical in making the whole venture fruitful in finishing the venture adequately inside the assessed time and administration. The dangers that happen in the venture can likewise be alleviated effectively by embracing some noteworthy methodologies.

10.  Project Charter is one of the archives that aides in giving preparatory outlines of duties, destinations and furthermore help with characterizing the expert of the project supervisor.

Keeping in mind the end goal to actualize the venture in a rearranged way I have kept the best venture arranging and schedule, agenda too.

11.  The plan must be overseen appropriately so it could be conveyed in the time that is evaluated.

The relegated work is finished can be followed suitably so as to accomplish data about its consummation.

12.  Statement of Work is one of the formal archives that assistance in characterizing the whole extent of the work legitimately to clarify cost, expectations and in addition course of events of the project. Proclamation for item work must be utilized to convey the project plan properly.

13. Configuration administration is characterized as a framework that aids in setting up and additionally keeping up the execution and steadiness of the item with utilizing different pre requisites, outlines and also operational data. So as to enhance the physical execution and item proficiency it is important to design the administration appropriately with consistency.

14.  The project management methodologies can be used for the enhancement of the project efficiently. The project management involves several steps that are used for the development of the project and also they are very helpful in organizing the project efficiently.

In the course module we have learned to allocate the resources required for the development of the project. The responsibility of the team member is required to be understood for the creation of the project schedule. The project manager should also monitor the progress of the project for completing it within the stipulated time and cost.

(Todorovic, M.L., Petrovic, D.C., Mihic, M.M., Obradovic, V.L. and Bushuyev, S.D., 2015. Project success analysis framework: A knowledge-based approach in project management. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), pp.772-783).

According to Todorovic et al. (2015) a project charter is required to be prepared for the initialization of the project and identification of the requirement of the project. The team member associated with the development of the project is required to be assigned with roles and responsibility for increasing the efficiency of the project development.

Topic and reading samples.

Your personal learning outcomes from this course.

Learning from your experience.

Supporting documentation including your prior learnings.

Continuous improvement and quality management

(Critical chain project management. Artech House.)

1.  Continuous improvement means the ongoing effort for improving the products, process and the services. These processes also involves incremental and breakthrough at once.

2.  In my own life there is a continuous improvement in the academics and also they are improving in every year. Hence the academics in the personal life are daily improvement.

3.  The quality is the basic characteristic of the product that compliance with the normal standards of the product. The continuous improvement helps in the improvement of quality.

4.  The History of Quality traces back to the 19^th century some evidences have also been found in the; late 13^th century.

5.  To ensure the quality in life every work should be done with utmost priority and with utmost importance.

6.  The processes would ensure deliver quality are:

Effective implementation

Quality analysis

Development Process

The quality assessment is also important and a quality control is required to be applied from the scratch of the development process. The continuous improvement is also important for the development of the project according to the quality. The different operation of the project is required to be monitored and the assets are required to manage.

(Leach, L.P., 2014. Critical chain project management. Artech House.)

According to the author Leach 2014 the operation of the project management is dependent on the project manager. An error identified during the development of the project is required to be resolved immediately for develop the project with quality.

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Development of the communication

(Communication strategies: Psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives. Routledge)

1. The requirement of the project is required to be analysed during the planning phase of the project and the skill and knowledge required for the completion of the activity is required to be documented. The team members working for the project should adopt the change in the project and should understand the requirement clearly.

Ensuring the right number of resources is important for the success of the project and it could help the project to gain competitive advantage.

2.  For ensuring that the project team members have the correct skill and knowledge assessment of the members are required and their weakness is required to be identified.

A list of the soft skill and the hard skill is required to be documented and a rating is required to be applied according to the skill for each of the team member.

3.  For management of the scope change the larger projects are required to be splitted into smaller parts and avoid the risk of over budget and time.

For ensuring that there are no scope creep the requirement of the client and the project is required to be understood and the change in the project is required to be granted by the stakeholders associated with the development of the project.

4.  A change in the project can arise due to the change of mind of the stakeholder or any regulatory change. If the requirement of the project is poorly defined then also a change may happen. The change in the business strategy and the change in the technology can bring a change in the project.

5.  Yes I have personal life experience that needed a change in the project management due to the change in the technology.

The latest technology was analysed and the components associated with the application of the new hardware and the affected devices was listed for the application of the new hardware device.

The new hardware was implemented without changing the peripheral for reducing the cost of the project and it needed to reschedule the project.

From the learning I discovered that advancement of legitimate correspondence design is a standout amongst the most vital things that is entirely required to be considered by the project supervisors to meet the necessity of the shoppers. The project supervisors ought to disregard both the correspondence ways to deal with a strategic distance from the correspondence level issues. It has been discovered that with the assistance of open correspondence the project colleagues will have the capacity to impart their purpose of perspectives to the venture directors. Open correspondence is the most ideal correspondence approach that ought to be utilized while executing project in any business association. I am utilizing open correspondence to speak with all the venture colleagues.

(Kasper, G. and Kellerman, E., 2014. Communication strategies: Psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives. Routledge.)

In the article it is stated by the author Kasper and Kellerman 2014 that the team members are required to be developed according to the requirement and their skill and knowledge is important for the success of the project.