Question

1. What are the processes of PM according to PMI ? 2. What are the PM Knowledge Groups ? 3. Why PM's roles is so crucial for the success of the project ?

Answer 1

Answer 1:

Project management is one of the critical processes of any project. This is due to the fact that project management is the core process that connects all other project activities and processes together.

When it comes to the activities of project management, there are plenty. However, these plenty of project management activities can be categorized into five main processes.

Let's have a look at the five main project management processes in detail.

1 - Project Initiation

Project initiation is the starting point of any project. In this process, all the activities related to winning a project takes place. Usually, the main activity of this phase is the pre-sale.

During the pre-sale period, the service provider proves the eligibility and ability of completing the project to the client and eventually wins the business. Then, it is the detailed requirements gathering which comes next.

During the requirements gathering activity, all the client requirements are gathered and analysed for implementation. In this activity, negotiations may take place to change certain requirements or remove certain requirements altogether.

Usually, project initiation process ends with requirements sign-off.

2 - Project Planning

Project planning is one of the main project management processes. If the project management team gets this step wrong, there could be heavy negative consequences during the next phases of the project.

Therefore, the project management team will have to pay detailed attention to this process of the project.

In this process, the project plan is derived in order to address the project requirements such as, requirements scope, budget and timelines. Once the project plan is derived, then the project schedule is developed.

Depending on the budget and the schedule, the resources are then allocated to the project. This phase is the most important phase when it comes to project cost and effort.

3 - Project Execution

After all paperwork is done, in this phase, the project management executes the project in order to achieve project objectives.

When it comes to execution, each member of the team carries out their own assignments within the given deadline for each activity. The detailed project schedule will be used for tracking the project progress.

During the project execution, there are many reporting activities to be done. The senior management of the company will require daily or weekly status updates on the project progress.

In addition to that, the client may also want to track the progress of the project. During the project execution, it is a must to track the effort and cost of the project in order to determine whether the project is progressing in the right direction or not.

In addition to reporting, there are multiple deliveries to be made during the project execution. Usually, project deliveries are not onetime deliveries made at the end of the project. Instead, the deliveries are scattered throughout the project execution period and delivered upon agreed timelines.

4 - Control and Validation

During the project life cycle, the project activities should be thoroughly controlled and validated. The controlling can be mainly done by adhering to the initial protocols such as project plan, quality assurance test plan and communication plan for the project.

Sometimes, there can be instances that are not covered by such protocols. In such cases, the project manager should use adequate and necessary measurements in order to control such situations.

Validation is a supporting activity that runs from first day to the last day of a project. Each and every activity and delivery should have its own validation criteria in order to verify the successful outcome or the successful completion.

When it comes to project deliveries and requirements, a separate team called 'quality assurance team' will assist the project team for validation and verification functions.

5 - Closeout and Evaluation

Once all the project requirements are achieved, it is time to hand over the implemented system and closeout the project. If the project deliveries are in par with the acceptance criteria defined by the client, the project will be duly accepted and paid by the customer.

Once the project closeout takes place, it is time to evaluate the entire project. In this evaluation, the mistakes made by the project team will be identified and will take necessary steps to avoid them in the future projects.

During the project evaluation process, the service provider may notice that they haven't gained the expected margins for the project and may have exceeded the timelines planned at the beginning.

In such cases, the project is not a 100% success to the service provider. Therefore, such instances should be studied carefully and should take necessary actions to avoid in the future.

Answer 2:

There are 10 knowledge areas in the PMP PMBOK 6th edition. This is consistent with the PMBOK 5th edition, which also has 10 knowledge areas.

The 10 knowledge areas in the PMBOK guide are along with the study notes for each chapter.

1. Integration Management
2. Scope Management
3. Time Management
4. Cost Management
5. Quality Management
6. Human Resources Management
7. Communications Management
8. Risk Management
9. Procurement Management
10. Stakeholder Management

Each knowledge area represents a category of project management concepts, processes, and terminologies. If the 47 processes were not categorized in any way, you may have a difficult time remembering all of them.

Additionally, most projects will use most of these knowledge areas. Thus, it’s essential that PMP-certified project managers are familiar with what they all are.

Answer 3:

A project manager is a person who is responsible for leading the project. In other words, project managers are the spearheads of a project. They ensure that the project is completed within the specified deadline and gets delivered to the client without any flaws. He/she handles all the aspects of the project from project initiation to project delivery.

To put it simply, he is the champion of the project. He provides the vision of the project to his team members and keeps their focus firmly fixed on the same. He/she is that person who ultimately gets praised for the success of the project or discredited for the failure of it. The project manager is accountable for the fate of a project.