Project Management Knowledge Corner

Project Communications Management includes the processes that are required to ensure timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, control, monitoring, and the ultimate disposition of project information. Project managers spend most of their time communicating with team members and other project stakeholders, whether they are internal (at all organizational levels) or external to the organization. Effective communication creates a bridge between diverse stakeholders who may have different cultural and organizational backgrounds, different levels of expertise, and different perspectives and interests, which impact or have an influence upon the project execution or outcome.

(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

The Project Communications Management processes are as follows:

Plan Communications Management—The process of developing an appropriate approach and plan for project communications based on stakeholder's information needs and requirements, and available organizational assets.
Manage Communications—The process of creating, collecting, distributing, storing, retrieving and the ultimate disposition of project information in accordance with the communications management plan.
Control Communications—The process of monitoring and controlling communications throughout the entire project life cycle to ensure the information needs of the project stakeholders are met.

(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

What other questions would you ask when Studying Project Human Resource Management?

1. What’s the difference between Communications Management Plan and Project Management Plan?
2. What are the major types of communications?
3. How many communications channels do you have?
4. How many communications channels do you have now?
5. What's the relation between Project Stakeholder Management and Communications Management?
6. What importance does communication has in closing?
7. What strategy can a project manager use to deliver bad news?

These processes interact with each other and with processes in other Knowledge Areas.

The communication activities involved in these processes may often have many potential dimensions that need to be considered, including, but not limited to:
• Internal (within the project) and external (customer, vendors, other projects, organizations, the public);
• Formal (reports, minutes, briefings) and informal (emails, memos, ad-hoc discussions);
• Vertical (up and down the organization) and horizontal (with peers);
• Official (newsletters, annual report) and unofficial (off the record communications);
• Written and oral, and verbal (voice inflections) and nonverbal (body language).

(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

Most communication skills are common for both general management and project management, such as, but not limited to:
• Listening actively and effectively;
• Questioning and probing ideas and situations to ensure better understanding;
• Educating to increase team's knowledge so that they can be more effective;
• Fact-finding to identify or confirm information;
• Setting and managing expectations;
• Persuading a person, a team, or an organization to perform an action;
• Motivating to provide encouragement or reassurance;
• Coaching to improve performance and achieve desired results;
• Negotiating to achieve mutually acceptable agreements between parties;
• Resolving conflict to prevent disruptive impacts; and
• Summarizing, recapping, and identifying the next steps.

(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

Project Human Resource Management includes the processes that organize, manage, and lead the project team. The project team is comprised of the people with assigned roles and responsibilities for completing the project. Project team members may have varied skill sets, may be assigned full or part-time, and may be added or removed from the team as the project progresses. Project team members may also be referred to as the project's staff. Although specific roles and responsibilities for the project team members are assigned, the involvement of all team members in project planning and decision making is beneficial. Participation of team members during planning adds their expertise to the process and strengthens their commitment to the project.
(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

For you that are new to Project Management, how should you approach studying this Knowledge Area? It’s recommended to have quick review of what it is and how it interacts with other knowledge areas, and then an in-depth study of all its components and interactions.

This knowledge are is composed of the following processes:
Plan Human Resource Management—The process of identifying and documenting project roles, responsibilities, required skills, reporting relationships, and creating a staffing management plan.
Acquire Project Team—The process of confirming human resource availability and obtaining the team necessary to complete project activities.
Develop Project Team—The process of improving competencies, team member interaction, and overall team environment to enhance project performance.
Manage Project Team—The process of tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues, and managing changes to optimize project performance.
(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

Some important questions you need to ask yourself when studying this area.

What’s the difference between Human Resource Management Plan and Project Management Plan?
What’s the difference between RBS and WBS?
What’s the difference between Project Team and Project Management Team?
How does Human Resource Affects Project Risk Management?
How does Human Resource Affects Project Time Management?
How does Human Resource Affects Project Cost Management?
Why does Human Resource Management has no processes in the Monitor and Control Process Group?
What importance does the Activity Cost Estimates in Human Resources has in Time Management?
Fast Tracking vs. Crashing which one impacts the quality most

As a result of interactions between the above processes, additional planning may be required throughout the project.
For example:
· After initial team members create a work breakdown structure, additional team members may need to be added to the team.
· As additional team members are added to the team, their experience levels, or lack thereof, could decrease or increase project risk, creating the need for additional risk planning.
· When activity durations are estimated, budgeted, scoped, or planned prior to identifying all project team members and their competency levels, the activity durations may change.

The project management team is a subset of the project team and is responsible for the project management and leadership activities such as initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing the various project phases. This group can also be referred to as the core, executive, or leadership team. For smaller projects, the project management responsibilities may be shared by the entire team or administered solely by the project manager. The project sponsor works with the project management team, typically assisting with matters such as project funding, clarifying scope, monitoring progress, and influencing stakeholders in both the requesting and performing organization for the project benefit.
(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

Please post your answers/inquiries about this subject….

Project Quality Management includes the 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. Project Quality Management uses policies and procedures to implement, within the project's context, the organization's quality management system and, as appropriate, it supports continuous process improvement activities as undertaken on behalf of the performing organization. Project Quality Management works to ensure that the project requirements, including product requirements, are met and validated.
(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

For you that are new to Project Management, how should you approach studying this Knowledge Area?
It’s recommended to have quick review of what it is and how it interacts with other knowledge areas, and then an in-depth study of all its components and interactions.

This knowledge are is composed of the following processes:
Plan Quality Management—The process of identifying quality requirements and/or standards for the project and its deliverables and documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance with quality requirements.
Perform Quality Assurance—The process of auditing the quality requirements and the results from quality control measurements to ensure that appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are used.
Control Quality—The process of monitoring and recording results of executing the quality activities to assess performance and recommend necessary changes.
(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

Some important questions you need to ask yourself when studying this area.

Project Quality Management addresses the management of the project and the deliverables of the project. It applies to all projects, regardless of the nature of their deliverables. Quality measures and techniques are specific to the type of deliverables being produced by the project. For example, the project quality management of software deliverables may use different approaches and measures from those used when building a nuclear power plant. In either case, failure to meet the quality requirements can have serious, negative consequences for any or all of the project's stakeholders.  For example:
Meeting customer requirements by overworking the project team may result in decreased profits and increased project risks, employee attrition, errors, or rework.
Meeting project schedule objectives by rushing planned quality inspections may result in undetected errors, decreased profits, and increased post-implementation risks.
(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

Please post your answers/inquiries about this subject….

Project Cost Management includes the processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding, managing, and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the approved budget.
(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

For you that are new to Project Management, how should you approach studying this Knowledge Area? It’s recommended to have quick review of what it is and how it interacts with other knowledge areas, and then an in-depth study of all its components and interactions.

This knowledge are is composed of the following processes:
•Plan Cost Management—The process that establishes the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, managing, expending, and controlling project costs.
•Estimate Costs—The process of developing an approximation of the monetary resources needed to complete project activities.
•Determine Budget—The process of aggregating the estimated costs of individual activities or work packages to establish an authorized cost baseline.
•Control Costs—The process of monitoring the status of the project to update the project costs and managing changes to the cost baseline.
(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

Some important questions you need to ask yourself when studying this area.
•What’s the difference between Cost and Budget?
•What’s the difference between Estimate Cost and Determine Budget?
•What’s the difference between Cost Management Plan and Project Management Plan?
•What’s the difference between Parametric Estimating and Analogous Estimating?
•What’s the cost baseline and what other baselines there are?
•What relation does the Activity Cost Estimates in Cost Management with the Estimate Activity Duration in Schedule Management?

These processes interact with each other and with processes in other Knowledge Areas. On some projects, especially those of smaller scope, cost estimating and cost budgeting are tightly linked and can be viewed as a single process that can be performed by a single person over a relatively short period of time. The ability to influence cost is greatest at the early stages of the project, making early scope definition critical. Project Cost Management should consider the stakeholder requirements for managing costs. Different stakeholders will measure project costs in different ways and at different times. For example, the cost of an acquired item may be measured when the acquisition decision is made or committed, the order is placed, the item is delivered, or the actual cost is incurred or recorded for project accounting purposes. Project Cost Management is primarily concerned with the cost of the resources needed to complete project activities. Project Cost Management should also consider the effect of project decisions on the subsequent recurring cost of using, maintaining, and supporting the product, service, or result of the project. For example, limiting the number of design reviews can reduce the cost of the project but could increase the resulting product's operating costs. In many organizations, predicting and analyzing the prospective financial performance of the project's product is performed outside of the project. In others, such as a capital facilities project, Project Cost Management can include this work. When such predictions and analyses are included, Project Cost Management may address additional processes and numerous general financial management techniques such as return on investment, discounted cash flow, and investment payback analysis. The cost management planning effort occurs early in project planning and sets the framework for each of the cost management processes so that performance of the processes will be efficient and coordinated.
(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

Please post your answers/inquiries about this subject….

Project Time Management includes Project Time Management includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the project..
(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

For you that are new to Project Management, how should you approach studying this Knowledge Area?
It’s recommended to have quick review of what it is and how it interacts with other knowledge areas, and then an in-depth study of all its components and interactions.

Some important questions you need to ask yourself when studying this area.

Fast Tracking vs Crashing which one impacts the quality most
http://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/35129/Fast-Tracking-vs-Crashing-which-one-impacts-the-quality-most-

Progressive Elaboration vs Rolling Wave Planning
http://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/33820/Progressive-Elaboration-vs-Rolling-Wave-Planning

How Much time Should You be Spending in Progress Control?
http://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/36207/How-Much-time-Should-You-be-Spending-in-Progress-Control-

What's the difference between Level of Effort (LOE) Discrete Effort and Apportioned Effort (AE)?
http://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/36184/Whats-the-difference-between-Level-of-Effort--LOE--Discrete-Effort-and-Apportioned-Effort--AE

What's the difference between Time Estimate and Project Schedule?
http://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/36007/Whats-the-difference-between-Time-Estimate-and-Project-Schedule-

What's an Exception Report and do you use it in your projects?
http://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/36378/Whats-an-Exception-Report-and-do-you-use-it-in-your-projects-

Program Schedule vs Project Schedule
http://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/36879/Program-Schedule-vs-Project-Schedule

This knowledge are is composed of the following processes:

• Plan Schedule Management—The process of establishing the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule.

• Define Activities—The process of identifying and documenting the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables.

• Sequence Activities—The process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities.

• Estimate Activity Resources—The process of estimating the type and quantities of material, human resources, equipment, or supplies required to perform each activity.

• Estimate Activity Durations—The process of estimating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources.

• Develop Schedule—The process of analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule model.

• Control Schedule—The process of monitoring the status of project activities to update project progress and manage changes to the schedule baseline to achieve the plan.

  Distinguishing the project schedule presentation (schedule) from the schedule data (Section 6.6.3.3) and calculations that produce the project schedule (Section 6.6.3.2) is practiced by referring to the scheduling tool populated with project data as the schedule model. A schedule model is a representation of the plan for executing the project's activities including durations, dependencies, and other planning information, used to produce project schedules along with other scheduling artifacts. For specific information regarding the schedule model, refer to the Practice Standard for Scheduling. [8]

• On some projects, especially those of smaller scope, defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating activity resources, estimating activity durations, and developing the schedule model are so tightly linked that they are viewed as a single process that can be performed by a person over a relatively short period of time. These processes are presented here as distinct elements because the tools and techniques for each process are different.

• The Project Time Management processes and their associated tools and techniques are documented in the schedule management plan. The schedule management plan is a subsidiary plan of, and integrated with, the project management plan through the Develop Project Management Plan process (Section 4.2), The schedule management plan identifies a scheduling method and scheduling tool (Figure 6-2), and sets the format and establishes criteria for developing and controlling the project schedule. The selected scheduling method defines the framework and algorithms used in the scheduling tool to create the schedule model. Some of the better known scheduling methods include critical path method (CPM) and critical chain method (CCM).

• Project schedule development uses the outputs from the processes to define activities, sequence activities, estimate activity resources, and estimate activity durations in combination with the scheduling tool to produce the schedule model. The finalized and approved schedule is the baseline that will be used in the Control Schedule process (Section 6.7). As the project activities are being performed, the majority of effort in the Project Time Management Knowledge Area will occur in the Control Schedule process to ensure completion of project work in a timely manner. Figure 6-2 provides a scheduling overview that shows how the scheduling method, scheduling tool, and outputs from the Project Time Management processes interact to create a project schedule.

(from PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition)

Please post your answers/inquiries about this subject….