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Chapter 1. Project Management: Past and Present Chapter 2. Project Management Overview Chapter 3. The Project Life Cycle (Phases) Chapter 4. Framework for Project Management Chapter 5. Stakeholder Management Chapter 6. Culture and Project Management Chap...

In order to develop our schedule, we first need to define the activities, sequence them in the right order, estimate the resources needed, and estimate the time it will take to complete the tasks. Defining Activities The activity definition process is a furt...

Every project needs to end and that’s what project completion is all about in the last phase of the project life cycle. The whole point of the project is to deliver what you promised. By delivering everything you said you would, you make sure that all stakehol...

After you have carefully planned your project, you will be ready to start the project implementation phase, the third phase of the project management life cycle. The implementation phase involves putting the project plan into action. It’s here that the project...

Even the most carefully planned project can run into trouble. No matter how well you plan, your project can always encounter unexpected problems. Team members get sick or quit, resources that you were depending on turn out to be unavailable, even the weather c...

Communications management is about keeping everybody in the loop. The communications planning process concerns defining the types of information you will deliver, who will receive it, the format for communicating it, and the timing of its release and distribut...

It’s not enough to make sure you get a project done on time and under budget. You need to be sure you make the right product to suit your stakeholders’ needs. Quality means making sure that you build what you said you would and that you do it as efficiently as...

Procurement management follows a logical order. First, you plan what you need to contract; then you plan how you’ll do it. Next, you send out your contract requirements to sellers. They bid for the chance to work with you. You pick the best one, and then you s...

In the previous wedding case study, it is clear that Steve and Susan have resource problems. Getting a handle on all of the tasks that have to be done is a great start, but it’s not enough to know the tasks and the order they come in. Before you can put the fi...

You always want to know exactly what work has to be done before you start it. You have a collection of team members, and you need to know exactly what they’re going to do to meet the project’s objectives. The scope planning process is the very first thing you ...

Skills learned by your exposure to studying project management can be used in most careers as well as in your daily life. Strong planning skills, good communication, ability to implement a project to deliver the product or service while also monitoring for r...

After the project has been defined and the project team has been appointed, you are ready to enter the second phase in the project management life cycle: the detailed project planning phase. Project planning is at the heart of the project life cycle, and tell...

The project initiation phase is the first phase within the project management life cycle, as it involves starting up a new project. Within the initiation phase, the business problem or opportunity is identified, a solution is defined, a project is formed, and ...

When working with internal and external customers on a project, it is essential to pay close attention to relationships, context, history, and the corporate culture. Corporate culture refers to the beliefs, attitudes, and values that the organization’s members...

A project is successful when it achieves its objectives and meets or exceeds the expectations of the stake­holders. But who are the stakeholders? Stakeholders are individuals who either care about or have a vested interest in your project. They are the people ...

Many different professions contribute to the theory and practice of project management. Engineers and architects have been managing major projects since pre-history. Since approximately the 1960s, there have been efforts to professionalize the practice of proj...

The project manager and project team have one shared goal: to carry out the work of the project for the purpose of meeting the project’s objectives. Every project has a beginning, a middle period during which activities move the project toward completion, and ...

The starting point in discussing how projects should be properly managed is to first understand what a project is and, just as importantly, what it is not. People have been undertaking projects since the earliest days of organized human activity. The hunting ...

The project team should celebrate their accomplishments, and the project manager should officially recognize their efforts, thank them for their participation, and officially close the project. A celebration helps team members formally recognize the project’s ...