Fundamental concepts of project management

1. Fundamentals of Project Management
“1 hour spent on planning = 3 hours saved on
execution”
Dima Semchuk

2. Agenda
1. Overview
2. Project failure stats
3. PM role
4. What is project
5. Project phases
6. Initiation
7. Planning
8. Scheduling
9. Control

3. “General Provision”
• “FOPM” henceforth – the book
• Discuss all stuff in terms of outsourcing
• And in terms of Eleks 
• Speak about 100-times familiar things
• May take more than 1 session
• WBS and estimation topics are excluded

4. What and Why
Project Management VS General Management
FOPM:
Project – more schedule intensive, and people in
project teams don’t report directly to PM, but to
general managers.
“Problem scheduled for solution” J.M. Juran

5. Project failure statistic (~2001)
USA spent about 140 billion dollars on cancelled projects.
Statistically 30% of requirements is actually new work.
2001 year software development magazine.
Failed /
Canceled
Goal / Target
Changed
Originally Done
Share 1/3 50% 17%
Lost money $140 billion 63.6 billion 0
220 billion / 424 billion = ~52% of effective cost
204 billion dollars was wasted or unexpected costs

6. Because of this
Seat-of-the-pants approach
Poor Planning

7. So Who is PM?
Do and Apply:
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Tools
• Techniques
To achieve requirements
and goals
• Leadership
• Facilitation
• Emotional Intelligence
• Team Building
• Conflict resolution
• Self Motivation

8. What PM does?
Common (maybe useless) definition – gets work
done by other people.
FOPM:
• Understands mission and vision of the
organization
• Sees how project meshes with organization’s
mission
• Ensures that the interests of the organization are
met
• Meets project constraints
• Deals with people

9. People management …
On top – it’s about authority
“Moment of truth”

10. Who is Project?
Temporary endeavor undertaken to produce a
unique product, service, or result (PMBOK 3)
FOPM constraints:
Scope

11. Wrong Phases

12. Right Phases

13. Wild Enthusiasm 
Initiation/Definition Phase
• Problem – gap between where you are and
where you want to be.
• Vision – how the problem should be solved.
(Musts, Wants, Nice to have)
• Mission – what are we going to do and for
whom (Find solution that meets all musts and
as many other as possible)
• SMART Goals development

14. Planning
• “Scheduling Creativity”
• Strategy
• Tactics
• Logistics

15. Planning (seriously)
Input:
• Problem, Mission, Vision, Goals
• Requirements (ALL types)
• DOD
• End-item spec
• WBS
• Schedules
• Resources
• Control system
• Major contributors (Linear
responsibility chart)
• Risk areas with contingencies
• Change management
Output:
• Signed-off Project
plan

16. Scheduling (1960’s – Present)
Tips:
• 2 ways to schedule
• Firstly - schedule what is logistically possible
• Person-related estimates
Tools:
• Bar chart
• Critical path method
• Arrow diagram
• PERT

17. Control
• Macro and micro levels
• Building control system related to
mission.
• System should be able to give data
for review (current or overall)