Project Management

WEEK 2

Prepared by
Dr. Muhammad Nafea, Ph.D.
mnafea@msa.edu.eg
 AS you remember, PLC is
Man Hours

Initiation Planning Execution Closing

 Introduction
❑During this session you'll learn all the steps for kicking off a
project.
❑We'll start with:
✓An overview of initiation
✓Identifying project scope, goals and deliverables
✓Measure the success of a project. (Super Puzzle Piece)
✓Identifying Stakeholders (Project roles and Responsibilities)
✓Scoping project tools and resources
 The Project Initiation
(Conceptualization) Phase
What is Initiation?
❑Initiation is the first phase within the
project life cycle.
❑The Initiation phase, is that PM
phase that allows ideas to come
together and form the beginnings of a
plan for a project.
❑Initiation is followed by planning,
executing and closing
 Why is Initiation phase
important for the success of a
project?
 Why is Initiation phase important
for the success of a project?
Because initiation is the first phase of the project it's
really important to:
1. get it right a well-planned initiation results in a strong
foundation for your project and sets it up for success.

2. start after detecting a problem or opportunity.

3. address a specific need for the business.

4. The initiation phase is a crucial time for asking

stakeholders to write questions, performing research,
determining resources, and clearly documenting the
key components of a project doing this will help you
solidify the scope or the boundary of the project.
(SCOPE)
 Why is Initiation phase important
for the success of a project?
If a project isn't initiated properly:
1. Things can go wrong pretty fast.
For example, without sufficient understanding of the project's goals you might underestimate what
resources you need or how long the project might take.

2. Without agreeing with stakeholders on what success looks like, you might think the project was
completed successfully while the stakeholders might think it didn't accomplish their goals.

3. Getting all stakeholders on the same page and

gaining clarity during the initiation phase can save a
lot of money, time and extra work for everyone.

4. Throughout the project proper initiation also helps

ensure that the benefits of the project outcomes will
outweigh its cost. (To determine this, you do what's
called a cost-benefit analysis)
Cost-Benefit Analysis
 Cost-Benefit Analysis
Cost-Benefit Analysis is the process of
adding up the expected value of a
project -the benefits- and comparing
them to the dollar cost.

To do this, you would work with stakeholders to consider a

few questions to determine the benefits of a project.
 Cost-Benefit Analysis
Benefits
❑What value will this project create?
❑How much money could this project save our
organization?
❑How much money will it bring in, from existing
customers?
❑How much time will be saved?
❑How will the user experience be improved?
 Cost-Benefit Analysis
Costs
❑How much time will people have to spend on this
project?
❑What will be the one-time cost?
❑Are there any ongoing costs?
❑What about long-term costs?

The benefits of a project should always outweigh the

costs, so it's really important that you consider these
questions early on
Components of the
Initiation Phase
 Components of the
Initiation Phase
• There are several key components of Goals

initiation that you need to consider in

order for your project to be successful. Resources Scope

1. Goals Components
of the
2. Scope Initiation
3. Organizational Systems
Phase
Stakehold Deliverabl
4. Deliverables ers es
5. Success Criteria
Success
6. Stakeholders Criteria
Let’s Dive Deeper
Consider this Example
Imagine that you're the lead project manager at Officegreen a commercial landscaping
company that specializes in plant decor for offices and other businesses.

The director of product at Officegreen has an idea for a new service called plant pals to
offer high volume customers small low maintenance plants, like little cacti leafy ferns for
their desks.

As the project manager, you've been tasked with managing the rollout of this new service
as we go across the whole semester, your role as the project manager at Officegreen to
help teach you about project goals, deliverables, and success criteria. You'll also see the
role your team and stakeholders play in creating and following these three important
components.
1- Goal
 1- Goal
❑First you need to consider the goals of a project.

❑The Goal is what you've been asked to do and what you're

trying to achieve.

❑All projects should have clear goals and often those will be
determined by senior company leaders with your help. From
there you will begin to consider the project SCOPE.

❑Scope Management Plan + Requirement Documentation =

Requirement Collection & Traceability Management.
 1- Goal
Project Goal is the desired outcome of the project.
Goals are important because they give you a road map to your destination.
Without a clear goal in mind, how can you know where to go or how to get
there?!

For example, your goal could be:

❑To improve the response time to customer inquiries via email by 20%

❑The goal of your Officegreen project might be to increase revenue by 5%

through a new service called plant pals that offers desk plans to top
customers by the end of the year 2023.
 1- Goal

Goals must be SMART

S: Specific
M: Measurable
A: Attainable
R: Realistic
T: Time-bounded
 1- Goal
❑To improve the response time to customer
inquiries via email by 20%

❑The goal of your Officegreen project might be to

increase revenue through a new service called plant
pals by 5% during 2023.
 1- Goal
❑To improve the response time to customer
inquiries via email by 20%

❑The goal of your Officegreen project might be to

increase revenue through a new service called plant
pals by 5% during 2023.
 1- Goal
❑To improve the response time to customer
inquiries via email by 20%

❑The goal of your Officegreen project might be to

increase revenue through a new service called plant
pals by 5% during 2023.
 1- Goal
❑To improve the response time to customer
inquiries via email by 20%

❑The goal of your Officegreen project might be to

increase revenue through a new service called plant
pals by 5% during 2023.
 1- Goal
❑To improve the response time to customer
inquiries via email by 20%

❑The goal of your Officegreen project might be to

increase revenue through a new service called plant
pals by 5% during 2023.
 1- Goal
❑To improve the response time to customer
inquiries via email by 20%

❑The goal of your Officegreen project might be to

increase revenue through a new service called plant
pals by 5% during 2023.
 1- Goal
To do this you might need to:
✓Get more information from your stakeholders.
✓Talk to them about their vision for the project.
✓Ask how this aligns to the company's larger goals and mission.
✓By the end of that conversation you and your stakeholders
should agree to support the project goals in order to avoid
running into issues later on.
2- Scope
 2- Scope

A Project Scope this is the process

to define the work that needs to
happen to complete the project
 2- Scope
❑Project scope includes the boundaries of a
project.

❑Scope includes the project timeline, budget,

and resources you need to clearly define these
aspects, so that you can make sure you're
working within those boundaries.
 2- Scope
❑Let's look at the scope of your Officegreen project as an

example.

❑As a reminder, the new plant pals service offers customers small

low maintenance plants like cacti and leafy ferns, that they can

place on their desks.

❑Customers can order them online or from a print catalog.

❑Officegreen will ship the plants directly to the customer's work

address.
 2- Scope
Things to consider for your scope then might be:
1. Whether or not to provide replacement plans
2. Which customer segments will be offered the service?
3. Whether or not the online catalog is an app, a website or both.
4. How to ensure customers can purchase from the online catalog
whether by phone, pc, mac, iOS or android?
5. You might also consider the dimensions of the paper catalog,
and whether it needs to be in color or black and white, and on
what kind of paper.
 2- Scope
Now, it's simple to talk to your sponsors and stakeholders to understand
what their goals are and find out what is and this is really important what is
not included in the project.

Additional Questions to outline your Project Scope:

❑Why is project needed?
❑What is the project expected to achieve?
❑What does the project sponsor have in mind?
❑Who approves the final results?
 2- Scope
In-Scope
Tasks that are included in the project plan and contribute to the project's overall goal.

Out-of-Scope
Tasks that are not included in the project plan and don’t contribute to the project's
overall goal.

For example, if the copywriters or designers of the plant pals catalog came up with the
idea to expand the type of plants being offered to top customers. You would have to
point out that their suggestion is out of scope and would take extra time and add to
your budget costs as you progress
 2- Scope
Scope Creep
Changes, growth and uncontrolled factors that affect a project scope at any point after
the project begins.

Scope creep is a common problem and it's not always easy to control

The Tech Company Example (Language Icons → Search and Voice Input Icon in a Smartphone App)
(Minor changes not in the scope) Led to → major changes (adding an Arabic, English, other languages
Keyboard)

SO, the Project Scope is expanding from a simple icon → multiple keyboard layouts.

❑ This will impact the timelines causing the project to take longer to finish it.

❑ This would also impact resourcing because you would need to hire more people or existing team
members would have to work overtime

❑ And it would increase the budget

 2- Scope
To help you combat scope
creep, it's good to know that
Customer

External Scope Creep

there are two major sources
Requests
from which they come: Environment Shifts
(Changing Laws and Regulations)

❑External Sources
❑Internal Sources Changes in
Technology
 2- Scope
Solutions
1. Make project plans visible: make sure the
stakeholders have visibility into the project (let them
know, What will you produce, its needed time,
resources and costs).
2. Get clarity on project requirements: Before Projects
Charters are signed.
3. Set ground rules and expectations for stakeholders
involvements.
4. Create a plan for how to deal with out-of-scope
requests.
5. Put your agreement and plans in writing.
 2- Scope
Internal Sources of
scope creep are Product

Internal Scope Creep

trickier to spot and Improvements
harder to control this
kind of creep comes
from members of the Processes
project team
Changes
 2- Scope
Solutions
1. Make it clear to your team, that any change
outside of the project scope threatens the
schedule and increases risk.
2. There are no small impacts to project scope.
3. Anytime a team member takes on an
unplanned task more is lost than just the
time spent working on that task.

It's your responsibility as the project manager

to maintain the limits of the project
 Managing Project Scope
❑The overall goal for you as the project manager is to deliver the
project according to the scope agreements this includes delivering
the project within the given deadline and the approved budget.

❑As you progress through your project, you will continually need to
make compromises and trade-offs as new challenges and
changes and factors present themselves anytime.

❑Therefore, Project Managers prefer to depend on the triple

constraints Model. (Scope, Cost and Time).

❑To do this successfully, you need a clear understanding of the

project priorities
 Managing Project Scope
First Scenario: a request has been
made to improve the plant pals product
features. The director of product at
Officegreen wants to use pots that indicate
when the plants need to be watered.

You can extend the timeline so you can

accept the scope change request and extend
the timeline as long
 Managing Project Scope
Second Scenario: a request has
been made to reduce the budget without
making any changes to the scope

You can extend the timeline so you can

tighten up your budget
 Managing Project Scope
Third Scenario: there's a request to
tighten up the timeline and finish early
but you can't increase the budget

You in order to do this you need to make

changes to the scope like limiting
shipping options.

Doing this will give your project more

time.
 Managing Project Scope
Last Scenario: the director of
product informs you that the project
deadline must be met.

Your stakeholders are willing to increase

the budget and make any necessary
changes to the scope requirements in
order to meet the deadline.
 Managing Project Scope

At the end, it's all about

prioritizing which
element of the triangle
matters the most in the
project
THANK YOU