Discussion board (please respond to post)

(Please respond to student discussion board post below 200 or more words)

           For a project to be successful, it needs to be managed and supervised effectively throughout the entire process. Project managers must coordinate and stay in track of all activities to be able to accomplish the project successfully. For this reason, it is necessary to follow different processes and steps to increase organization and assure an effective project plan. In project management, there are five phases that include initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing. All these phases are implemented as a tool to monitor and report the progress of the project. They provide vital information and data to track the development of the project and assure that all activities are completed on time and meeting all the expectations. For this reason, a project that does not follow an effective structure, processes and is not managed effectively have higher chances of failure and risks. Regardless the size or the scale of the project, I believe that following the five project management processes are necessary to make sure that all financial resources are provided accordantly, and that the delivery of the project is being produced effectively. It is also important to emphasize that the time frames and schedules affect the delivery of the project, maintaining and following the five project management processes will assure a successful outcome (Turner, 2014),

MBA 6941, Managing Project Teams 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit IV

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

3. Evaluate individual behavior as a component of team behavior.
3.1 Describe the project management stages and the activities team members will participate in

throughout each phase.

4. Explore the dynamics of project teams.
4.1 Describe how the project management plan (PMP) affects each member of the project team.

Reading Assignment

Chapter 15: Process Models

Chapter 16: Start-up

Unit Lesson

The project management, according to PMBOK version 5, “includes the processes and activities to identify,
define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities within the
project management Process Groups” (Project Management Institute, [PMI], 2013, p. 34). Therefore, the
project integration processes anchors the “big picture” of the project through the following:

 the coordination of every part of the project;

 the stakeholder expectations and management of project meeting requirements;

 the management of resource allocation, project priorities, trade-offs; and

 the management of the interdependencies among the project knowledge areas (PMI, 2013).

Because individual processes rarely occur independently but rather each process leads to another and
integrates, understanding how to manage this integration is crucial for successful projects. For example, a
change in the scope baseline will require integrating of the triple constraints (time, scope and schedule). It is
important to understand that an integrated process is crucial to linking all the project phases and processes to
ultimately achieve a common project objective. The roles of the project manager and individual project team
members within project management processes include the following:

 the project manager’s role is to perform integration,

 the project team’s role is to complete project activities, and

 the project sponsor’s role is to provide resources and funding for the project (PMI, 2013).

The five stages of a project include the following five processes:

 initiating,

 planning,

 executing,

 monitoring and controlling, and

 closing (PMI, 2013).

Each of the five processes listed above is not necessarily performed independently. Instead, each process
may apply to a given phase, or multiple processes may occur in one phase. The implication is that

UNIT IV STUDY GUIDE

Project Process

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irrespective of the phase of the project, the five processes are applicable and are executed to accomplish the
task of the project phase.

For example, in any given project, you start by initiating the phase, planning the work to be performed in the
phase, executing the work planned for the phase , monitoring and controlling the work as the execution is
going on, and finally, closing the phase when the execution of the project is complete. One of the most
important documents generated during the closing phase is called “Lessons Learned,” in which the project
team members individually identify what worked well and went wrong so that future projects within the
organization would not make same mistakes. It is important to note that the lessons learned process is
applicable at the completion of each phase of the project (PMI, 2013).

The project management plan (PMP) integrates all of the following ten knowledge areas into a unified whole
and serves as a repository for the subsidiary plans in the remaining knowledge areas:

 project integration,

 project scope,

 project schedule,

 project cost,

 project communication,

 project quality,

 project risk,

 human resources needed for the project,

 project procurement, and

 project stakeholder (PMI, 2013).

However, this does not mean that all the subsidiary plans are always used on every project. PMI (2013)
clearly states that the project management plan is the one manual that contains all the outputs and contents
from all the other knowledge areas and is the ultimate document that governs the project. From this plan, the
project manager determines what role each member of a project team will play in the completion of the
project. Some the documents contained in the PMP include the following:

 scope plan,

 requirements plan,

 change management plan,

 configuration change plan,

 schedule plan,

 cost plan,

 quality plan,

 process improvement plan

 human resource plan,

 communications plan,

 risk plan,

 procurement plan, and

 stakeholder plan (PMI, 2013).

The PMP is used in to determine and manage the project in the following manner:

 It helps with the selected processes to determine how to manage project dependencies and
relationships among other processes including the use of tools and techniques with clearly defined
outputs.

 It provides guidance on how the project works will be executed and by whom so as to achieve
project objectives.

 It provides guidance and direction on how changes will be reported, monitored, and controlled.

 It determines how configuration management will be conducted.

 It provides guidance on performance measurement baselines.

 It defines how communication among project team members will be gathered, formatted, and
distributed (PMI, 2013).

In order to create an effective PMP that will be approved and accepted, some of these considerations are
important:

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 Have a clear methodology on how to create the PMP.

 Inform the project sponsor if any potential constraints within the charter may become future
impediments.

 Determine the method of reporting, controlling, and incorporating changes.

 Have a clear understanding of the project requirements.

 Know your project team members’ knowledge bases, their skill sets, level of interests, expectations,
and their roles and responsibilities in the project.

 Know your project’s available resources, depending on the organization.

 Collect estimates from team members on their work assignments.

 Have a schedule that is prepared by the inputs of the team (PMI, 2013).

This process performs the work described in the PMP to achieve the project objectives. This includes
managing the schedule, budget, scope, quality, communications, human resources, risks, and stakeholder’s
procurements for the project. Because the primary job of the project manager is an integrated function, we
must keep all the knowledge areas constantly in mind throughout the project. This is an executing process
group that consists of the process to complete the work defined in the PMP to satisfy the project specifications
and objectives.

The monitor and control project work process is one that is done from the beginning of the project through the
close of the project. It not only applies to the project at a macro level, but it also applies to each phase of the
project as one of the five basic project management life cycle process groups. It is in this process group that
you are consistently measuring deliverables and outputs against the project management plan.

The key element in this section is obtaining formal acceptance to close out the project phase or the entire
project. Key elements to remember in project or phase closure are the following:

 validation that the work that was done meets the requirements for the phase or project;

 formal acceptance of the phase or project;

 completion of all performance reporting for the phase or project;

 closing of any outstanding procurement contracts for the phase or project, if applicable;

 documentation and archiving “lessons learned” for the phase or project;

 delivery of product increment or product for the phase or the project; and

 specific updating to the organizational process assets such as project files, project or
phase closure documents and historical information (PMI, 2013).

Closing is an important step to the lifecycle of a project. Too often, leaders get so wrapped up in the final
stages of a project and the need to move on to the next project in a timely manner. During that haste, teams
miss the opportunity to learn from the current project. What lessons can the team take away from this project?
What could we do differently next time? What parts of the process do we want to maintain and allow to grow?
Those questions are important to any learning organization.

As Steven Covey (1990) pointed out in his famed book Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, we need to
take time to sharpen the saw if we are to continue to be successful. His explanation ties back to the
woodsman who continued to cut trees with a dull saw even though it took him three or four times as long to
cut each tree. In his words, his reluctance was because he could not stop cutting trees to sharpen the saw
since he had so many trees that needed cutting. By taking the time to be reflective and to contemplate the
lessons learned on a project, we are sharpening the saw and become more efficient and effective in the future
(Covey, 1990).

Notice that for each phase of the software development lifecycle, we execute the process groups defined in
the project management lifecycle: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.

References

Covey, S. (1990). The seven habits of highly effective people. New York: Free Press.

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Project Management Institute. (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (5th ed.).
Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Suggested Reading

Please use your favorite search engine to locate the following article. This article gives you an insight to
project process and how project integrated processes is helping organizations achieve success.

Sarshar, M., Haigh, R., & Amaratunga, D. (2004). Improving project processes: best practice case study.

Construction Innovation (Sage Publications, Ltd.), 4(2), 69-82.

Learning Activities (Nongraded)

You and your spouse or a close friend are going to take on a small weekend warrior home improvement
project. Using the five processes discussed in this and previous units, explain how those stages can result in
a better end result and actually feed future success.

Your essay should be at least 75 words in length. You are not required to use outside sources or to document
your thoughts. This is simply an exercise to see how the five processes fit life.

Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit
them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information.