IT Project

Management
The Project Management
Process Groups: A Case
Study
Objectives
• Describe the five project management process groups, the typical level of
activity for each, and the interactions among them
• Understand how the project management process groups relate to the project
management knowledge areas
• Discuss how organizations develop information technology (IT) project
management methodologies to meet their needs
• Review a case study of an organization applying the project management
process groups to manage an IT project, describe outputs of each process
group, and understand the contribution that effective initiating, planning,
executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing make to project success
• Review the same case study of a project managed with an agile focus to
illustrate the key differences in approaches
• Describe several templates for creating documents for each process group

Project Management Process Groups

• A process is a series of actions directed toward a particular result
• Project management can be viewed as a number of interlinked
processes
• The project management process groups include
• initiating processes
• planning processes
• executing processes
• monitoring and controlling processes
• closing processes
Figure 3-1. Percentage of Time Spent on
Each Process Group
Media Snapshot
Just as information technology projects need to follow the project
management process groups, so do other projects, such as the
production of a movie. Processes involved in making movies might
include screenwriting (initiating), producing (planning), acting and
directing (executing), editing (monitoring and controlling), and releasing
the movie to theaters (closing). Many people enjoy watching the extra
features on a DVD that describe how these processes lead to the creation
of a movie… This acted “…not as promotional filler but as a serious and
meticulously detailed examination of the entire filmmaking process.”*
Project managers in any field know how important it is to follow a good
process.
 *Jacks, Brian, “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition (New Line)”, Underground Online
(accessed from www.ugo.com August 4, 2004).

Mapping the Process Groups to the

Knowledge Areas
• You can map the main activities of each PM process group into the
ten knowledge areas using the PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition, 2013
• Note that there are activities from each knowledge area under the
planning process groups
Table 3-1. Mapping Project Management
Process Groups to Knowledge Areas*
*Source: PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition, 2013.
Table 3-1. continued
Developing an IT Project Management
Methodology
• Just as projects are unique, so are approaches to project
management
• Many organizations develop their own project management
methodologies, especially for IT projects
• A methodology describes how things should be done; a standard
describes what should be done
• PRINCE2, Agile, RUP, and Six Sigma provide different project
management methodologies
Global Issues
• A 2011 study of organizations across India included the following
findings:
• Two-thirds of organizations in some stage of Agile adoption are realizing key software and
business benefits in terms of faster delivery of products to the customer, an improved
ability to manage changing requirements, and higher quality and productivity in IT.
• Organizations struggle with the magnitude of the cultural shift required for Agile,
opposition to change, a lack of coaching and help in the Agile adoption process, and a lack
of qualified people.
• The daily stand-up, iteration planning, and release planning are the most commonly used
practices, while paired programming and open workspaces are not popular

What Went Right?

 Organizations that excel in project management complete 89
percent of their projects successfully compared to only 36
percent of organizations that do not have good project
management processes
 PMI estimates that poor project performance costs over $109
million for every $1 billion invested in projects and programs
Case Study: JWD Consulting’s Project
Management Intranet Site (Predictive Approach)
• This case study provides an example of what’s involved in initiating,
planning, executing, controlling, and closing an IT project
• You can download templates for creating your own project
management documents from the companion Web site for this text
or the author’s site
• Note: This case study provides a big picture view of managing a
project. Later chapters provide detailed information on each
knowledge area

Project Pre-initiation
• It is good practice to lay the groundwork for a project before it
officially starts
• Senior managers often perform several pre-initiation tasks,
including the following:
 • Determine the scope, time, and cost constraints for the project
• Identify the project sponsor
• Select the project manager
• Develop a business case for a project (see Table 3-2 for an example)
• Meet with the project manager to review the process and expectations for managing the
project
• Determine if the project should be divided into two or more smaller projects

Project Initiation
• Initiating a project includes recognizing and starting a new project
or project phase
• The main goal is to formally select and start off projects
• Table 3-3 shows the project initiation knowledge areas, processes,
and outputs
Table 3-4. Stakeholder Register
Table 3-4. Stakeholder Management
Strategy

Contents are often sensitive, so do not publish this document.

Project Charters and Kick-off Meetings
• See Table 3-6 for an example of a charter
• Charters are normally short and include key project information and
stakeholder signatures
• It’s good practice to hold a kick-off meeting at the beginning of a
project so that stakeholders can meet each other, review the goals
of the project, and discuss future plans
Figure 3-2. Kick-off Meeting Agenda
Project Planning
• The main purpose of project planning is to guide execution
• Every knowledge area includes planning information (see Table 3-7 on
pages 98-99)
• Key outputs included in the JWD project include:
• A team contract
• A project scope statement
• A work breakdown structure (WBS)
• A project schedule, in the form of a Gantt chart with all dependencies and resources
entered
• A list of prioritized risks (part of a risk register)
• See sample documents starting on p. 101
Figure 3-4. JWD Consulting Intranet Site
Project Baseline Gantt Chart
Table. 3-10. List of Prioritized Risks
Project Executing
• Usually takes the most time and resources to perform project
execution
• Project managers must use their leadership skills to handle the
many challenges that occur during project execution
• Table 3-11 lists the executing processes and outputs. Many project
sponsors and customers focus on deliverables related to providing
the products, services, or results desired from the project
• A milestone report can help focus on completing major milestones
Part of Milestone Report (Table 3-12, partial)
Best Practice
• One way to learn about best practices in project management is by
studying recipients of PMI’s Project of the Year award
• The Quartier international de Montreal (QIM), Montreal’s
international district, was a 66-acre urban revitalization project in
the heart of downtown Montreal
• This $90 million, five-year project turned a once unpopular area into
a thriving section of the city with a booming real estate market and
has generated $770 million in related construction
Project Monitoring and Controlling
• Involves measuring progress toward project objectives, monitoring
deviation from the plan, and taking correction actions
• Affects all other process groups and occurs during all phases of the
project life cycle
• Outputs include performance reports, change requests, and
updates to various plans
• See Table 3-13
Project Closing
• Involves gaining stakeholder and customer acceptance of the final
products and services
• Even if projects are not completed, they should be closed out to
learn from the past
• Outputs include project files and lessons-learned reports, part of
organizational process assets
• Most projects also include a final report and presentation to the
sponsor/senior management
Case Study 2: JWD Consulting’s Project
Management Intranet Site (Agile Approach)
• This section demonstrates a more agile approach to managing the
same project
• Differences in using an agile approach are highlighted
• An agile project team typically uses several iterations or deliveries
of software instead of waiting until the end of the project to provide
one product.
An Informed Decision
• It is not a snap decision whether to use an agile approach or not,
just like flying or driving somewhere on a trip
• Projects with less rigid constraints, experienced and preferably
colocated teams, smaller risks, unclear requirements, and more
flexible scheduling would be more compatible with an agile
approach
• The following example uses Scrum roles, artifacts, and ceremonies
Scrum Roles
• Product owner: The person responsible for the business value of
the project and for deciding what work to do and in what order, as
documented in the product backlog.
• ScrumMaster: The person who ensures that the team is productive,
facilitates the daily Scrum, enables close cooperation across all roles
and functions, and removes barriers that prevent the team from
being effective.
• Scrum team or development team: A cross-functional team of five
to nine people who organize themselves and the work to produce
the desired results for each sprint, which normally lasts 2-4 weeks.
Scrum Artifacts
• An artifact is a useful object created by people
• Scrum artifacts include:
• Product backlog: A list of features prioritized by business value
• Sprint backlog: The highest-priority items from the product backlog to be
completed within a sprint
• Burndown chart: Shows the cumulative work remaining in a sprint on a
day-by-day basis
Scrum Ceremonies
• Sprint planning session: A meeting with the team to select a set of
work from the product backlog to deliver during a sprint.
• Daily Scrum: A short meeting for the development team to share
progress and challenges and plan work for the day.
• Sprint reviews: A meeting in which the team demonstrates to the
product owner what it has completed during the sprint.
• Sprint retrospectives: A meeting in which the team looks for ways to
improve the product and the process based on a review of the
actual performance of the development team.
Figure 3-5. Scrum Framework and the
Process Groups
Table 3-18. unique Scrum Activities by
Process Group
Planning
• Not different from PMBOK® Guide
• Still create a scope statement and can use a Gantt chart for the entire project
schedule; other planning similar (risk, etc.)
• Different:
• Descriptions of work are identified in the product and sprint backlogs, more
detailed work documented in technical stories, estimate a velocity or capacity
for each sprint; release roadmap often used for schedule
Figure 3-6. Intranet Site Project Baseline
Gantt Chart Using Scrum Approach
3 software
releases vs. 1
Table 3-19. Product and Sprint Backlogs
Executing
• Not different from PMBOK® Guide
• Still produce products, lead people, etc.
• Different:
• Produce several releases of software - users of the new software might be
confused by getting several iterations of the product instead of just one
• Communications different because the project team meets every morning,
physically or virtually

Monitoring and Controlling

• Not different from PMBOK® Guide
• Still check actual work vs. planned work
• Different
• Names of key reviews are the daily Scrum and the sprint review
• A sprint board is used instead of a tracking Gantt chart or other tools
• Use a burndown chart vs. earned value chart
Figure 3-7. Burndown Chart
Closing
• Not different from PMBOK® Guide
• Focus is still on acceptance of deliverables and reflection
• Different:
• The retrospective is similar to a lessons-learned report, but it focuses on a
shorter period of time. It is intended to answer two fundamental questions:
• What went well during the last sprint that we should continue doing?
• What could we do differently to improve the product or process?
Templates
• Table 3-20 lists the templates available on the companion website
and the author’s site at www.pmtexts.com or
www.kathyschwalbe.com
Summary
• The five project management process groups are initiating, planning,
executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing
• You can map the main activities of each process group to the nine
knowledge areas
• Some organizations develop their own information technology project
management methodologies
• The JWD Consulting case study provides an example of using the process
groups and shows several important project documents
• The second version of the same case study illustrates differences using
agile (Scrum). The biggest difference is providing three releases of
useable software versus just one
References
• https://www.accord.edu.so/web/content/33460?download=true&a
ccess_token=bb2b556c-9cbc-4ca8-9542-452369e0540c
• Information Technology Project Management, Eighth Edition, Kathy
Schwalbe