this stage, the decision is made to start the project. This book suggests that the project initiators can be:
• Business units, or
• IT department.
An introductory information at this stage can be an organization strategy or a business plan.
A business plan is a document providing a detailed justification of the project and the ability to comprehensively assess the effectiveness of decisions made, planned activities, and answer the question whether the project is worth investing.
Defining project objectives is one of the most important aspects of the project management process. Each project should have at least one main objective and possibly several private, subsidiary goals. The objectives are:
• Sets the direction of the project implementation.
• Defines results in terms of end products or services.
• Serve as a source of information to resolve the project’s controversial issues.
The statement of the main objective should be action-oriented, short and simple, and as clear as possible. It is important to remember that the objective should be formulated using the terms not to confuse project participants, decisions makers or those who read project documents. At the initial stage, the formulation of objectives can be murky and express a general direction.
Determination of stakeholders allows identifying the direct customer, final decision makers, as well as general issues related to the project arrangement, such as organization, project team by areas (the managerial level), interaction procedure, decision-making, communication mechanisms, and so on.
The output of this phase is to identify stakeholders, set project objectives and general issues of the organization. Depending on the project management methodology, additional conclusions and results may be formed. A business plan, a project charter or the meeting minutes can be considered as the primary documents of the initial stage.
The next stage of project management can be planning. Planning is the most important and difficult stage of project management. This stage deals with detailed project development and answers to the main question: whether the organization is ready for the project and if the project will be successful. The level of complexity depends on the methodology and the complexity of the project. At this stage, one collects business requirements, specifies objectives, determines success criteria, details tasks, plans resources, time, and so on. Key documents at the output of the planning stage can be a project plan, terms of reference etc.
Coordination and approval of the project is a stage, or better to say, determination of the “milestone” or reference point of the project that answers to the main question: whether we start the project, or not? Once the leadership has approved the project, the stage of execution commences. This stage can be different for different project management methodologies.
Project implementation begins once the project is approved. Planning stages are completed and the project is being carried out. Implementation starts with making a project team, followed by the detailed development and distribution of assignments and estimate. The project is considered as implemented if the final product of the project meets the project requirements. Regardless the methodology implementation consists of the monitoring phase and project status control that are performed at the same time. Another important process is Management of Change. The main documents at this stage are project status reports, performance reports, and resource utilization report.
Once the project is implemented, the final stage of termination commences. The project is complete in terms of achieving the project objectives and obtaining the expected outcomes. In addition, the project owners or the leadership may decide to terminate the project ahead of schedule, or to change the project objectives leading to its termination.
Project Management Approaches and Techniques
Choosing the right Project Management Methodologies (PMM) is the first step for your team to succeed. Project management helps improve the implementation process in terms of efficiency and cost, while reducing risks. However, declaring priorities is not enough. One should have good understanding of the positive impact of each project management methodology and the way it can interfere with the successful implementation of the project.
This chapter will briefly review the most popular project management methodologies and consider those I find the most interesting ones in more details.
Process-Based Project Management (PBPM)
PBPM is the main today’s approach to the project management, based on the process approach. This approach is a guarantee that each project will be directed to the continuation of the company’s mission. Before the project starts (initiation), the project plan is analyzed to determine its compliance with the approved or established mission. If the result of the analysis is negative, then all strategies and objectives are adjusted. Each action adds value to the organization’s strategic vision. These project management methods are also suitable for administrative projects in companies.
WATERFALL Project Management Methodology
WATERFALL is a traditional project management methodology. It is also called the “cascade” or “flow” model, due to the fact that its proposed sequence of phases resembles a waterfall. The most obvious way to make your project more manageable is to break down its implementation processes into consecutive stages. Such linear structure is a foundation of traditional project management. This approach does not imply a return to the previous stages upon their termination and adoption, or making changes to the project requirements. This project management methodology involves splitting a project into a series of sequential assignments, with a clear estimated objectives and deadlines. Project members perform tasks in due course, completing each assignment before proceeding to the next one. The stages in the “waterfall” model as applied to IT software development projects, are the following:
• Requirement analysis
• Design
• Implementation
• Integration
• Verification
• Installation
• Maintenance
Stages of Waterfall model
In this case, the developer cannot proceed to the next stage without completing the previous one. First, the requirements are completely defined, resulting in a list of software requirements. The next stage is design aimed to create the documents with detailed description of the method and plan for implementing these requirements for programmers. After the design is completed, the programmers carry out the project. The next stage deals with the integration of individual components developed by various programming teams. After the implementation and integration are completed, the product is tested and debugged. At this stage, all shortcomings that occurred during the previous development stages are eliminated. After that, the software product is implemented and maintained – introducing new functionality and eliminating errors.
The strengths of the classic project management are the requirement for the customer or company leadership to determine what they want to get at the first stage of the project.
