Fundamentals of IT Project Management

In this lecture, we will discuss why project managers are hired in the first place and we’ll see how their roles and responsibilities are unique skill sets that will help the project get to the finish line.

This lecture clarifies what are the essential project manager skillsets that are needed to execute the job properly.

A review of a typical day of the project manager.  Please leverage the attached to-do list tracker so that you can stay organized as a project manager.  This will become a valuable resource when managing multiple projects while they were all "due yesterday."

Learn how to frame your past experience to meet the job requirements of the prospective employer.  Please leverage the attached resource to brainstorm how you'll leverage your past experience to meet the prospective employer's job requirements.

A discussion on the most common project management certifications and what they entail.  Please leverage the attached resources for links to project management organizations that offer certifications.

The Agile Methodology is introduced as well as an overview of the Sprint schedule.  Please keep in mind that the timing of the activities shown may be different depending on the demands of your project and the location of the project resources.  For example, if the resources are located in drastically different timezones, some activities may be done differently.

The Hybrid Methodology combines the Waterfall method and the Agile Methodology.  This methodology is commonly used on projects with a brand-new product implementation.  Since requirements and designs need to be thoroughly reviewed before development can begin, phases are used and then the Development phase may leverage the agile methodology.  Attached, please find a sample hybrid project schedule where phases are used, and the development phase is broken down into sprints.

It's important to review project management processes with stakeholders and the project team.  It's possible that even though there are high-ranking resources on your project, they may have never worked on a formal project.  It's the project manager's job to educate the project team on the expectations of the project management process.

The lecture details how to create a Communications Strategy to introduce to the project stakeholders.  Please see the attached resource which features a sample communications plan that can be shared with the project team.

The requirements management process is discussed as it is critical for the project manager to ensure that there is no scope creep.  Not only does the process need to be explained to the project team but they must understand that scope cannot be continuously added without considering its impact to the project schedule and project cost.

The stakeholder identification process is discussed as well as how to identify their level of influence on the project.  Depending on the influence of the stakeholder, strategies are discussed on how to handle their influence.

The components of the project kickoff presentation are introduced as well as suggestions on how to run this kickoff session.  Attached, please find a sample Kick Off presentation with ideas on what content to include on your presentations.

The role of the resource manager is discussed.  In the event that resource managers are not formally leveraged in an organization (typical of smaller organizations) then the functional managers are normally assigned to manage resource allocations to projects.  The process of identifying who is needed for the project is discussed as well as how to work with the resource managers to attain these resources.

We walk through an example of how to plan resource estimations for projects.  Attached, please find a sample resource estimation spreadsheet you can use in your projects.

It's not enough to build a project schedule with the team and then take the status for each task.  The project manager holds resources accountable and if those resources are trending to be late with these tasks, the project manager investigates why. 

Creative ideas are introduced on how the project team can establish camaraderie.  Also discussed are steps on how the project manager can empower the project team to operate autonomously.  This includes resources overseas in different timezones.

What are the requirements?  How are they gathered?  How can you store these requirements for later reference?  In this lecture, the requirements database is discussed as one potential reference area to store requirements.  A sample of this database is attached as a resource.

To avoid scope creep the project manager should enforce a change request process when the scope changes.  The business or stakeholders cannot change the focus of the project on a whim.  They will need to discuss the criticality of new scope or a change in scope and associated risks need to be analyzed.  This is where the requirement change request process comes in.  Please leverage the listing of the change request process attached as a resource.

Scope Management is critical for a project to succeed.  If the scope is not controlled it will continue to grow or change and will ultimately impact cost and schedule. 

One of the first steps in building the project schedule is understanding from each track lead what activities will be done.  This lecture goes over how to plan out the activities of the project.

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) organizes all the work to be done for the project.  Attached, is a sample WBS in spreadsheet format which would be an easier format to intake tasks required from the team.  A graphical depiction of the WBS would get too cluttered and not have too much detail

Once the WBS is created, it is not time to estimate how long those tasks will take.  Also, the sequencing of these activities as well as the task dependencies need to be established.

The concept of story points and the different methods to estimate story points are defined here.  Then, velocity will be discussed and the impact this has on a sprint schedule.  Attached is a document concerning the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, a commonly used estimation method for stories and planning sprints.

Status Meetings are where the project manager provides an update to the project stakeholders as to the progress of the project.  By the time this meeting commences, the project manager must have all updates and not say, "I need to check with people to get the status on that."  In the resources area, please find a sample status report template with suggestions on topics to cover on the status call. This can be used in spreadsheet format or converted to a word processing program.

The project manager constantly analyzes the project to ensure it remains on track.  This lecture deals with the situation where the project encounters an issue with the potential to delay the project schedule.  The lecture goes into methods that can be used to mitigate this issue.  Attached as a resource, is a discussion on the Cost Performance Index (CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI).

Procurement Management is defined as well as the process to identify the vendor to do the development work.  It's critical that care is taken to select the best vendor possible as this relationship will endure for the upcoming years.  Since this is the case, the client organization must take time to carefully evaluate vendors.

The vendor onboarding process is discussed including generating the Statement of Work (SOW) as a contract with this vendor.  Please see the attached resource of a sample SOW document.  Also important to add here are conditions in the event that the vendor underperforms and there should be financial consequences if this issue is realized.

The vendor execution must be closely monitored in the same way that internal resources are monitored.  The project manager should not leave to chance that the vendor project manager will do a perfect job.  Normally, the vendor project manager will only have their best interests in mind.  The project manager must ensure the vendor's execution schedule is in alignment to the overall project schedule and that they are held accountable to complete tasks.

Establishing expectations on how teammates can communicate during the project is crucial for success.  It may seem obvious to people that they can send emails, IMs, or set up meetings to communicate but since projects are critical to the organization it must be assured communication is done right.  The project manager is accountable for ensuring that project communications are done properly.

The project manager is accountable to ensure that communications are going smoothly during the project.  This does not mean that the project manager micro-manages communication and restricts how people communicate.  The project manager should observe and reiterate the communications governance whenever appropriate.

The Communications Management Plan defines the communication channels to be used during the project as well as the governance surrounding them.  Attached as a resource, is a sample communications Management Plan that can be used for projects.