Project Management: The Managerial
Process,
8th Edition By Erik Larson and Clifford
Gray Verified Chapters 1 - 16, Complete
Project Management: The Managerial Process,
, TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ch. 1 Modern Project Management
Ch. 2 Organization Strategy and Project Selection
Ch. 3 Organization: Structure and Culture
Ch. 4 Defining the Project
Ch. 5 Estimating Project Times and Costs
Ch. 6 Developing a Project Schedule
Ch. 7 Managing Risk
Ch. 8 Scheduling Resources and Costs
Ch. 9 Reducing Project Duration
Ch. 10 Being an Effective Project Manager
Ch. 11 Managing Project Teams
Ch. 12 Outsourcing: Managing Interorganizational Relations
Ch. 13 Progress and Performance Measurement and Evaluation
Ch. 14 Project Closure
Ch. 15 Agile Project Management
Ch. 16 International Projects
Project Management: The Managerial Process,
, Chapter 1
Modern Project Management
Chapter Outline
1. What Is a Project?
A. What a Project Is Not
B. Program versus Project
C. The Project Life Cycle
D. The Project Manager
E. Being Part of a Project Team
2. Agile Project Management
3. Current Drivers of Project Management
A. Compression of the Product Life Cycle
B. Knowledge Explosion
C. Triple Bottom Line (Planet, People, Profit)
D. Increased Customer Focus
E. Small Projects Represent Big Problems
4. Project Management Today: A Socio-Technical Approach
5. Summary
6. Text Overview
7. Key Terms
8. Review Questions
9. Snapshot from Practice: Discussion Questions
10. Exercises
11. Case 1.1: A Day in the Life—2019
12. Case 1.2: The Hokies Lunch Group
Project Management: The Managerial Process,
,Chapter Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to:
LO 1-1 Understand why project management is crucial in today’s world.
LO 1-2 Distinguish a project from routine operations.
LO 1-3 Identify the different stages of a project life cycle.
LO 1-4 Describe how Agile PM is different from traditional PM.
LO 1-5 Understand that managing projects involves balancing the
technical andsociocultural dimensions of the project.
Review Questions
1. Define a project. What are five characteristics which help differentiate
projectsfrom other functions carried out in the daily operations of the
organization?
A project is a complex, non-routine, one-time effort limited by time, budget,
resource,and specifications. Differentiating characteristics of projects from
routine, repetitive daily work are below:
a. A defined lifespan
b. A well-defined objective
c. Typically involves people from several disciplines
d. A project life cycle
e. Specific time, cost, and performance requirements.
2. What are some of the key environmental forces that have changed the
wayprojects are managed? What has been the effect of these forces on
the management of projects?
Some environmental forces that have changed the way we manage projects
are the product life cycle, knowledge growth, global competition,
organization downsizing,technology changes, time-to-market. The impact
of these forces is more projects perorganization, project teams responsible
for implementing projects, accountability, changing organization structures,
need for rapid completion of projects, linking projects to organization
strategy and customers, prioritizing projects to conserve organization
resources, alliances with external organizations, and so on.
Project Management: The Managerial Process,
,3. Describe the four phases of the traditional project life cycle. Which phase
do youthink would be most the difficult one to complete?
1. Defining: Project specifications objectives are defined, and teams are formed with
major responsibilities assigned. Much of this is referred to as defining the Scope
of a project.
2. Planning: The creation of a comprehensive plan that includes schedules,
budgets,staffing and risk assessment.
3. Executing: Work begins, deliverables are produced, and progress is monitored.
4. Closing: Putting the project to bed includes customer delivery, post project
reviewor audit, and redeployment of project team.
problematic. Disagreements at the customer acceptance can lead to rework, tension
and in many cases litigation. Veteran project managers answer to this question would
be ―It all depends‖.
4. What kinds of projects is Agile PM best suited for and why?
R&D work, technological breakthroughs, and creative endeavors.
5. The technical and sociocultural dimensions of project management are two sides
to the same coin. Explain.
The technical and sociocultural dimensions of project management are two sides of
the same coin because successful project managers are skillful in both areas. The
point is successful project managers need to be very comfortable and skillful in both
areas.
Snapshot from Practice: Discussion Questions
1.1 The Project Management Institute
1. If you were a student interested in pursuing a career in project management
howimportant do you think being CAPM would be?
There is no data available on the value of the CAPM in the job market. Experts suggest
ata minimum it demonstrates a strong interest in project management and a good
understanding of the project management processes. Given the growing demand for
people to work on projects, the CAPM may just separate you from other applicants.
2. How valuable do you think being a certified PMP is?
Reliable data is hard to find. PMI reported that the median salary for a PMP is $108,200.
Project Management: The Managerial Process,
,Non-certified tproject tmanagers, ton tthe tother thand, tshowed ta tmedian tincome tof
t$91,000.tAccording tto ta tdifferent tsurvey, teighty tpercent tof thigh-performing
tprojects tused tPMP tcertified tproject tmanagers.
1.3 London tCalling: tSeattle tSeahawks tversus tOakland tRaiders
Project Management: The Managerial Process,
,1. Why twas tit timportant tto tgive tplayers tand tstaff ta tchance tto texplore
tLondon tonetevening?
This twill tbe ta ttough tquestion tfor tthose tnot tfamiliar twith tintense tteam tsports.
tThey twill tnot tbe taware tof tthe timportance tcoaches tdevote tto teliminating
tdistractions tthat tcan tdisrupttteam tconcentration tand t focus. tCoach tCarroll
treportedly tsaid, t―There twas tno tavoiding tthe tfact tthat twe twere tin ta tforeign
tcountry. tPlayers tand tstaff twere tcurious tand texcited, tso twe tdecided tinstead tof
tdenying tit twe twould tlet tthem texplore tLondon‖.
2. What tare tone tor ttwo tlessons tyou tlearned tfrom tthis tSnapshot?
Several tlessons tcan tbe tgleaned tfrom tthis tSnapshot:
High tperformance tprojects tneed tto tdevote tsignificant tattention tto
tproviding tatwork tenvironment tthat tsupports thigh tperformance.
The timportance tof tinterjecting tfun ton tintense tprojects.
The timpact ttime tzone tchanges tcan thave ton tindividual tperformance.
The tattention tto tdetail texhibited tin tthe tproject.
The timportance tof tmanaging tthe trhythm tand tpace tof ta tgroup tto
taccomplishtproject tobjectives.
Sports tfans twill tdraw tattention tto tcoach tCarroll tdriving tthe tplayers tto tthe
tstadium tthe tdaytbefore tthe tgame. tThis teliminated tthe tdistraction tof tnot
tknowing twhat tthe tfield tor tlocker troom twould tbe tlike. tIt tanswered tthe tquestion
tof twhat tkind tof tshoes tthe tplayers twould tbe twearing. tPlayers tlike tquarterback
tRussell tWilson tlike tto tform tvivid, tmental timages tof tbigtplays tthe tnight tbefore ta
tbig tgame.
1.4 Ron tParker
1. tDo tyou tagree twith tRon tParker’s tstatement: t―To tbe tsuccessful, tyou tmust talso tbe
twilling
to trun tat tproblems/opportunities twhen teveryone telse tis trunning taway tfrom tthem‖?
This tis tsomewhat tof ta tphilosophical tquestion. tWhile tnot tthe tonly tway tto
tbecome tsuccessful tthis tis tone tpath tto tsuccess tespecially twhen tother
topportunities tor tadvantages tare tnot tavailable. tTackling ttough tprojects tis ta
tgreat tway tto tgain tvisibility tand testablish tatreputation. tThe tflip tside tis tthat
tthese tprojects tare trisky, tand tfailure tmay tdamage tone’s treputation.
tOrganizations tthat texcel tat tproject tmanagement trecognize tthat tthese
tprojectstoften tfail tdespite tsuperior teffort. tThey tvalue texperience tand tdevote
tsignificant tattentiontto timproving tfuture tproject tperformance tby tarticulating
tlessons tlearned tfrom tcurrent tprojects.
Project Management: The Managerial Process,
,Exercises
1. Review tthe tfront tpage tof tyour tlocal tnewspaper tand ttry tto tidentify tall tthe
tprojectstcontained tin tthe tarticles. tHow tmany twere tyou table tto tfind?
It tis tnearly timpossible tto topen ta tnewspaper tand tnot tfind tarticles trelating tto
tprojects.tSunday teditions tare tespecially tgood tfor tthis texercise. tEven
texperienced tproject tmanagers tfind tthe tnumber tof tprojects tfar tgreater tthan
tthey twould thave tpredicted.
Each tone tis tmanaged tby ta tproject tmanager! tThis tis ta tgood tillustration tof
tthetimportant trole tprojects tplay tin tour tdaily tlives.
2. Individually tidentify twhat tyou tconsider tto tbe tthe tgreatest tachievements
taccomplished tby tmankind tin tthe tlast tfive tdecades. tNow tshare tyour tlist
twith tthreetto tfive tother tstudents tin tthe tclass tand tcome tup twith tan
texpanded tlist. tReview tthese taccomplishments tin tterms tof tthe tdefinition
tof ta tproject. tWhat tdoes tyour treview tsuggest tabout tthe timportance tof
tproject tmanagement?
Typical tresponses tcenter ton ttechnology, tmedical tadvances, tspace
texploration—e.g., tcomputer tadvances, tlaser toperations tand tnew tdrugs,
tbuilding tthe tspace tstation. tOftentyou thave tto tpoint tout tthat tmany tof tthese
tprojects tare treally tprograms.
We tusually tselect ttwo tor tthree tstudent tsuggestions tof tprojects t(there twill tbe
tplenty!) tand task tthe tstudents tto tidentify tthe tkinds tof tproblems tthe tproject
tmanager tof tthe tproject tmay thave thad tto tdeal twith. tAgain, tonce tthe
tstudents tget tinto tthe texercise, tthetproblems tthey tcan tenvision tare tmany.
tThese tproblems tare tplaced ton tthe tboard. tAftertthe tboard tis tnearly tfilled tand
tmost tstudents thave tparticipated, twe ttry tto tshow tor tclassify ton tthe tboard
tthe tproblems tby tthe tcontent tof tthe ttext tchapters. tThe tintent tis
ttotdemonstrate tto tthe tclass tthe tcourse tand ttext twill taddress tmany tof tthe
tproblems tsuggested tby tthe tstudents.
3. Individually tidentify tprojects tassigned tin tprevious tterms. tWere tboth
tsociocultural tand ttechnical telements tfactors tin tthe tsuccess tor
tdifficulties tin tthetprojects?
Students twill tnaturally tfocus ton tsociocultural taspects tin tpart tbecause tthey
tare tmore tfamiliar twith tconcepts tsuch tas tleadership, tproblem-solving, tand
tteamwork tthan tscope, tWBS, tand tbaseline tbudgets. tFurthermore,
tinterpersonal tfriction tis toften ta tsource tof tconsternation ton tstudent tprojects.
tThe tinstructor tmay thave tto tpoint tout tthattinterpersonal tconflicts toften tarise
Project Management: The Managerial Process,
,tfrom till-defined tscopes, tuneven twork tschedules, tand tpoor tplanning.
Project Management: The Managerial Process,
, 4. Check tout tthe tProject tManagement tInstitute‘s thome tpage tat twww.pmi.org.
a. Review tgeneral tinformation tabout tPMI tas twell tas tmembership tinformation.
Answers twill tvary. tThe tPMI twebsite tundergoes tperiodic tupdates.
b. See tif tthere tis ta tPMI tchapter tin tyour tstate. tIf tnot, twhere tis tthe tclosest tone?
Answers twill tvary tdepending ton tyour tlocation.
c. Use tthe tsearch tfunction tat tthe tPMI thome tpage tto tfind tinformation ton
tProject tManagement tBody tof tKnowledge t(PMBOK). tWhat tare tthe
tmajor tknowledgetareas tof tPMBOK?
This tsearch tturns tup ta tvery twide tvariety tof tinformation tincluding
tbooks tthe tstudent tcan tpurchase, thow-to tarticles, tand ttools tand
ttemplates. tIt twill ttake tsometsearching, tbut tthe tstudent tcan tfind tthat tthe
tten tknowledge tareas tare tas tfollows:
1. Project tIntegration tManagement
2. Project tScope tManagement
3. Project tTime tManagement
4. Project tCost tManagement
5. Project tQuality tManagement
6. Project tHuman tResource tManagement
7. Project tCommunications tManagement
8. Project tRisk tManagement
9. Project tProcurement tManagement
10. Project tStakeholder tManagement
d. Explore tother tlinks tthat tPMI tprovides. tWhat tdo tthese tlinks ttell tyou
tabout tthetnature tand tfuture tof tproject tmanagement?
Answers twill tvary, tbut tmost twill ttout tthe tsignificance tof tproject
tmanagement tastwell tas tdifferent taspects tof ta tcareer tin tProject
tManagement.
Project Management: The Managerial Process,