Lecture 1 Popm

Front 1

What is a project? What is a poorly defined project?

Back 1

A project is the process of managing, allocating and timing available resources to achieve the defined goal of a project in an efficient and expedient manner. Has to be; Specific goal, Specific time period, Specific resources, Unique in work arrangement.

A poorly defined project is one that has not been outlined as accurately and fully as possible in terms of the constraints mentioned above. A poorly defined project is a risky one.

Front 2

What are the 4 factors constraining project definition? What are the project defining criteria?

Back 2

1. Time 2. Cost 3. Stakeholder 4. Scope.

Project defining criteria: assignment is measurable, deadline for assignment finish, well defined client/sponsor, special competence, resources required over a period of time, assignment is unique, assignment is of strategic value, assignment is outside the company’s ordinary business.

Front 3

When is a project successful?

Back 3

When sticking to and being ahead of schedule, when keeping to or being below the budget, when delivering on or exceeding the scope, when the client and project members are happy.

Front 4

What is project initiation and how can it be examined?

Back 4

Project initiation is the point where a potential project is objectively scrutiny to determine prerequisites for the actual launch of the project.

Examined by answering 5 questions; 1) who is the client? 2) why is the project initiated 3) what has to be done 4) when should it be completed? 5) how should the project be carried out?

Front 5

What does SMART stand for? What are the project management knowledge areas?

Back 5

Smart, Measurable, Accepted, Realizable, Timely.

Project management knowledge areas; prj. Integration management, prj. Scope management, prj. Time management, prj. Cost management, prj. Quality management, prj human resource management, prj communications management, prj risk management, prj. Procurement management.

Front 6

What does SMART stand for? What are the project management knowledge areas?

Back 6

Smart, Measurable, Accepted, Realizable, Timely.

Project management knowledge areas; prj. Integration management, prj. Scope management, prj. Time management, prj. Cost management, prj. Quality management, prj human resource management, prj communications management, prj risk management, prj. Procurement management.

Front 7

Nature of the organization

Back 7

The purpose of the organization is to achieve increased efficiency. Usually through increased profits for its stakeholders.

-seeks to optimize the use of available resources.

Front 8

What does SMART stand for? What are the project management knowledge areas?

Back 8

Smart, Measurable, Accepted, Realizable, Timely.

Project management knowledge areas; prj. Integration management, prj. Scope management, prj. Time management, prj. Cost management, prj. Quality management, prj human resource management, prj communications management, prj risk management, prj. Procurement management.

Front 9

Nature of the organization

Back 9

The purpose of the organization is to achieve increased efficiency. Usually through increased profits for its stakeholders.

-seeks to optimize the use of available resources.

Front 10

Project V line

Back 10

In purely project oriented organizations projects are entirely separate operations in the organizations.

— This however can lead to competition between different projects, as in these organizations projects dispose of resources full time during the project period and don’t run the risk of having project members being trapped in other projects or tasks on the line.

Front 11

What is a matrix organization? What is the weakness of the organizational form?

Back 11

A matrix organization is defined as a structure where people have to report to more than one boss.

- employees work vertically on the line. And operations are conducted cross functionally.

- it is a task of the management to put together work groups to solve the specific work tasks.

The weakness of the organizational form is the dual decision paths, that demand more from managers in terms of formulating goods and prioritizing tasks.

Front 12

What is the hierarchical organization?

Back 12

It is a structure where employees report to only one boss. It is a clear organizational form.

-the weakness of this structure is that the space for the individual is small and it is hard to adapt to altered external conditions.

Front 13

What is a project oriented structure?

Back 13

Is one where organizations arrange their activities into programs or portfolios and implement them through projects.

-usually the line organization and projects exist in parallel and the boundary between the different forms of organizations and tasks diffuse.

Front 14

What is a weak matrix? What is a strong matrix?

Back 14

In a weak matrix a small proportion of employees work in projects. Most have positions on the line where most of the work in the operations is concluded because of this line managers make most decisions. The project manager has a low status.

In a strong matrix the line managers only make overall decisions regarding goals, framework and resources. The details are left to the project manager. The majority of operations are conducted in projects.

Front 15

What is a tollgate? What is a milestone?

Back 15

A tollgate is a process checkpoint used by project owners to asses and make decisions about the future of a project.

A milestone is a process checkpoint used by a project manager to asses the process of a project.

Front 16

Phases and project flow.

Back 16

1) pre-study- is done to decrease uncertainty by analyzing the basis for executing the project, the scope must be defined, the solution must be selected, stakeholders must be identified, business benefits must be assessed and set against costs, risks.

2) planning- select a method for realization and drew up a plan for how the project goal will be achieved. Activities must be defined, estimated and synchronized. Resources must be organized, costs calculated and risks handled.

3) Execution- results are created and handed over. Activities and costs are followed up regularly, deviations are analyzed and changes are handled. A project can cause multiple partial deliveries or a single layer delivery at the end of this phase.

4) closure- evaluate the project. Take advantage of lessons learned + phase out the project group.