Project Management

Explore the four steps of project initiation within the six-step project management process: recognizing the need, setting objectives, selecting the project leader and team, and initiating the project.

Recognize the need for a project by identifying a problem or opportunity and initiating action, with top management commitment to define the mission and objectives and visualize end results.

Define project objectives from the mission statement using the smart criteria: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-limited, then seek stakeholder review to prevent objective creep.

Select the project leader and team early, assign defined responsibility and authority to a respected, competent, enthusiastic candidate who meets job requirements; provide resources, tools, and top management priority.

Initiate project by clarifying nucleus assembled by project leader, define scope and objectives, record success criteria, identify risks with historical data and regulatory considerations, and document outputs before work breakdown.

Use the work breakdown analysis as the starting point for planning scope, cost, and time by dividing a project into discrete tasks or work packages.

Learn to break down a complex project into tasks and subtasks using a work breakdown analysis, estimate effort and cost, and ensure all steps are captured through brainstorming and organization.

Develop and complete the work breakdown analysis before the schedule, assign responsibilities, and use its graphic scope to estimate costs and allocate resources.

Subdivide a large project into smaller tasks using a work breakdown analysis to improve durations, resource requirements, and costs, backflush forgotten tasks to improve planning.

Plan the time dimension by deriving task durations from a work breakdown analysis, sequencing tasks, and identifying overlapping work and resource constraints to meet deadlines and minimize duration.

Compare Gantt charts and diagrams to chart project timelines, determine earliest and latest start times, and visualize task sequences and overlaps for team clarity.

Explore how a Gantt chart maps task timing, dependencies, and the critical path to project schedules, and compare it with PERT for highly interactive steps.

The schedule is set in project management to provide a clear timeline for tasks. Learn how this schedule guides project work and coordination.

Monitor and manage project progress to ensure the project proceeds according to plan, balancing schedule, cost, and quality within resources. Assign responsibilities early to address deviations and stay on track.

Use Gantt charts to keep project timing on schedule and visualize progress with color-coded bars. Green means on track, yellow signals caution or delays, and red indicates troubled tasks.

develop and implement effective monitoring strategies using inspections, progress reviews, testing, and audits, while the project leader coordinates work, cost control, and critical path management.

Recognize plans can go awry even with solid management. Monitor and manage progress to identify on-track and behind-schedule elements, and apply corrective actions to bring the project back on schedule.

Identify tasks falling behind plan and apply corrective actions to bring the project back on track with schedule and budget, while documenting causes to prevent scope creep.

Identify and apply corrective actions to bring a lagging project back on track by re-evaluating budgets and schedules, deploying more resources, substitutions, supplier options, incentives, and scope reduction.

Prepare for the final phase in project management by outlining key steps to ensure a clear, organized completion.

Close out the project by conducting a formal post-mortem to review performance against schedule and budget, gather measurable feedback from the originator and stakeholders, and document lessons for continual improvement.