FOUNDATIONS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Конспект первого, вводного, курса сертификации Project Management от Google.

WEEK 1

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the project requirements and achieve the desired outcome.

A project is a series of tasks that need to be completed to reach a desired outcome. It has a defined beginning and an end.

Project managers (PM) usually follow a process that involves planning and organizing, managing tasks, budgeting, controlling costs and other factors. Everything they do helps make sure the project can be completed on time and on budget.

PM key responsobilites & skills:

• Planning & organizing. A PM will create a project plan. It helps set the tone of the project and keeps the team on pace and aligned. The PM will also organize meetings and project documents.
• Budgeting. The PM has the responsibility to manage project costs and ensure the project stays within budget.
• Managing tasks. Once the project is underway, the PM helps manage tasks for the team. When the team hits project milestones, they communicate the project progress to team members and/or customers.

WEEK 2

PM adds value to their teams by:

• Prioritization — To determine which tasks are the most critical to the success of the project, they’ll connect with their teams and with stakeholders to gather information and make a plan.
• Delegation — Done by matching tasks to individuals who can best complete the work.
• Effective communication — Regulary being up front with plans, ideas and progress of the work with their team and helping identify areas where a teammate may need support

PM interpersonal responsibilities:

• Teaching and mentoring
• Building relationships
• Controlling change
• Empowering your team
• Communicating status and concerns

How to manage cross functional teams effectively:

1. Clarify goals – set clear goals for the team and make sure that the team understands those goals. Be direct and concise, avoid extraneous details and explanations. When communicating task or project goals, make sure you define key items like budget, deadlines, quality requirements, or important resources.
2. Get team members with the right skills
3. Measure progress – Take the time to measure and communicate the project’s progress across the team. Regularly ask them if they anticipate being finished on time. If not, ask how you can help them succeed. Document when tasks and goals are completed. Make sure you communicate successes, delays, or issues, to the team so they know how the project is progressing.
4. Recognize efforts – Learning what makes your team members feel supported, giving and taking feedback, and being mindful of each individual’s background, personal identifiers, and work style can help mediate some of the differences among team members. 

Four key competencies of a PM:

1. enabling decision-making. Making the decision-making process collaborative allows you to focus on the overarching management tasks and prioritize them in order of importance. Additionally, when you allow team members to have a voice in decisions, it helps foster an environment of responsibility, accountability, and team closeness. 
2. communicating and escalating. When escalation is required, try to approach management with both the problem and the potential solution or suggestions.
3. strong organizational skills. If you demonstrate that it is important for you, as a leader, to stay organized through efficient tracking and communications, your team will follow suit.
4. flexibility. All project managers need the ability to adapt and overcome changes and challenges.

Flexibility can be divided in two areas:

1. Flexible planning strategies:
   • Assess external constraints. When planning your project, take external events into account, such as national holidays etc.
   • Plan for risks and challenges. If you consider the risks that may occur, you may be able to find solutions for them in advance.
   • Calculate “float” in your schedule. Float refers to the amount of time a task can be delayed without affecting subsequent tasks or impacting the project’s timeline.
2. Handling ambiguity:
   • Keep calm.
   • Express empathy.
   • Communicate what you know clearly. Define the aspects of the project that are confirmed and will not change
   • Make decisions and stick to them. Try not to second-guess your decisions in front of your team since this can lead to greater uncertainty. If you need to change course, clearly explain why you have chosen to do so to your team. 
   • Trust the expertise of your team. Increase clarity by having everyone on your team discuss what they already know or believe to be true about components of your project, such as what is involved in specific tasks or resources needed, based on their areas of expertise. Then, discuss what you still don’t know and brainstorm ways to gather more information

Key interpersonal skills of PM:

1. communication
2. negotiation
3. conflict mediation
4. understanding motivations

WEEK 3

The project life cycle typically consist of four phases:

1. Initiation:
   • Ask questions to help set the foundation for the project, such as: Who are the stakeholders? What are the client’s or customer’s goals? What is the purpose and mission of the project? What are the measurable objectives for the team? What is the project trying to improve?  When does this project need to be completed?  What skills and resources will the project require?  What will the project cost? What are the benefits?
   • Document all this info in one place to showcase the projects value.
2. Planning:
   • Create a detailed project plan. What are the major milestones? What tasks or deliverables make up each milestone?  
   • Build out the schedule so you can properly manage the resources, budget, materials, and timeline. Here, you will create an itemized budget.
   • Plan for risk and change
   • Establish your team and determines roles and responsibilities
3. Execution and completing tasks:
   • Monitor your project team as they complete project tasks. 
   • Break down any barriers that would slow or stop the team from completing tasks. 
   • Help keep the team aware of schedule and deliverable expectations.
   • Address weaknesses in your process or examine places where your team may need additional training to meet the project’s goals.
   • Adapt to changes in the project as they arise.
4. Closing the project:
   • Identify that your team has completed all of the requested outcomes. 
   • Release your team so they can support other projects within the company.
   • Take time with your team to celebrate your successes!
   • Pass off all remaining deliverables and get stakeholder approval.
   • Document the lessons you and your team learned during the project.
   • Reflect on ways to improve in the future.

A project management methodology is a set of guiding principles and processes for owning a project through its life cycle.

Two types of methodologies:

1. Linear means the previous phase or task has to be completed before the next can start
2. Iterative means that phases in tasks will overlap or happen at the same time

Waterfall approach follows an ordered set of steps that are directly linked to clearly defined expectations, resources, and goals that are not likely to change. You use it when the phases of the project are clearly defined or when there are tasks to complete before another can begin, or when changes to the project are very expensive to implement once it’s started.

Agile approach often have many tasks being worked on at the same time, or in various stages of completion which makes it an iterative approach. Agile project manager (or Scrum Master) acts primarily as a facilitator, removing any barriers the team faces. Time is organized into phases called Sprints. Each Sprint has a defined duration, with a set list of deliverables planned at the start of the Sprint.

The main principle in Lean methodology is the removal of waste within an operation. By optimizing process steps and eliminating waste, only value is added at each phase of production.

Eight types of waste within an operation: defects, excess processing, overproduction, waiting, inventory, transportation, motion, and non-utilized talent.

Lean 5S quality tool

1. Sort: Remove all items not needed for current production operations and leave only the bare essentials. 
2. Set in order: Arrange needed items so that they are easy to use. Label items so that anyone can find them or put them away. 
3. Shine: Keep everything in the correct place. Clean your workspace every day.
4. Standardize: Perform the process in the same way every time. 
5. Sustain: Make a habit of maintaining correct procedures and instill this discipline in your team.

Six Sigma is a methodology used to reduce variations by ensuring that quality processes are followed every time.

1. Always focus on the customer.
2. Identify and understand how the work gets done. Understand how work really happens.
3. Make your processes flow smoothly.
4. Reduce waste and concentrate on value.
5. Stop defects by removing variation.
6. Involve and collaborate with your team.
7. Approach improvement activity in a systematic way.

DMAIC is a data-driven improvement cycle used for improving, optimizing and stabilizing business processes and designs:

1. Define the system, the voice of the customer and their requirements, and the project goals, specifically (tells you what to measure)
2. Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data; calculate the “as-is” process capability (tells you what to analyze)
3. Analyze the data to investigate and verify cause and effect. Determine what the relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered. Seek out the root cause of the defect under investigation (tells you what to improve)
4. Improve or optimize the current process based upon data analysis using techniques such as design of experiments, poka yoke or mistake proofing, and standard work to create a new, future state process. Set up pilot runs to establish process capability (tells you what to control)
5. Control the future state process to ensure that any deviations from the target are corrected before they result in defects. Implement control systems such as statistical process control, production boards, visual workplaces, and continuously monitor the process. This process is repeated until the desired quality level is obtained.

WEEK 4

Organizational structure refers to how the company is organized, who does what, and who reports to whom.

The Classic structure follows a traditional, top-down system of reporting.
Classic organizations are also referred to as functional organizations because the organization is divided into departments based on function. Each department is led by a functional manager, and employees are grouped according to the functions of their role.

The Matrix structure has direct higher-ups to report to and stakeholders from other departments or programs.

Organizational culture is in part the values employees share, as well as the organization’s values, mission, history, and so on. In other words, organizational culture can be thought of as the company’s personality.

To help you gain a better sense of an organization’s culture, consider the following questions:

• How do people prefer to communicate?
• How are decisions made, majority vote or top down approvals? What kinds of rituals are in place when someone new comes to the office?
• How are projects typically run? Do they prefer a Classic, do they prefer Matrix, or some other style of project management?
• What kinds of practices, behaviors, and values are reflected by the people in the organization? Is overtime or weekend work an expectation? Are there company sanctioned social events?

Be aware of your role as a change agent – someone who helps the organization transform by focusing on improving organizational effectiveness and development. You and your project will most likely affect the organization in some way.

”Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
— Peter Drucker

Change management is the process of delivering a completed project and getting people to adopt it. When project managers understand change management, and their role in the process, it helps to ensure a smooth roll out and easier adoption.

«When you’re coming to work every day, ask what are the top three challenges that you want to solve today?
How would we define the week is successful?»
— Amar, Google PM.