ISB- IT Project Management

Week 1: Introduction to Project Management

Video 1: What is a Project? and What a Project is not?

Hello, welcome to the first topic in the Module 1 of IT Project Management course. In
this topic, we're going to cover 'What is a Project?' and 'What a Project is not?' First,
we will understand the definition of a project and then, we will understand the major
characteristics of a project. And towards the end, I will discuss with you how are
projects different from the routine work or operations. During the last vacation, I had
found some time and I developed the habit of looking at some newspaper cuttings. I
gathered some of the newspaper cuttings right from 1969.
Some of these, what you see on the screen, are those cuttings. Let us have a quick
look at them. The first one of 1969 says that men landed on moon. September 10,
2019, the newspaper cutting says, of New York Times, that Apple introduces a trio of
new iPhones. And then in 2012, we have observed that Indian School of Business
has opened a campus in the Mohali, our second campus. The 26 miles of new tunnel
which is constructed in London in BBC News. And recently, The Economic Times
article that says that Shramik trains helped avert the humanitarian crisis.
But why am I talking about all these to you? The question to answer here is what do
the following newspaper cuttings have in common? Can you take a minute to answer
this question? Yes, you are correct. All of these represent projects. Now, what you
observed in all these examples, let us use that knowledge to bring a definition to the
project.
What is a project? It is a complex, non-routine, one-time effort limited by time,
budget, resources and performance specifications designed to meet specific
customer needs. These terms here in the definition like complex, non-routine, one-
time effort are very important to understand and ponder more on this definition.
Project is a temporary endeavour. That means it has a start date and an end date.
And it comprises of interrelated activities that are undertaken to create a unique
product, service or a result. Let us quickly recall some of the examples from our day
to day lives. Constructing a shopping complex or designing a webpage or
implementing an ERP system in your organisation or even reducing cycle time of an
operation or implementing a new business process. All of these are examples of
projects.
Now, let us ponder more on this definition towards arriving at the characteristics of a
project. How do you identify whether a particular endeavour or an initiative in your
organisation is a project or not? Here is the thumb rule: First, the characteristics of
the project, the primary one is, it should have an established objective. That means a
project should have a well-defined goal that you predetermine before even starting
the project. Secondly, there should be a defined time span. That means a project
should start at a particular date and you should determine when the project will end

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before even you start executing the project. Thirdly, project requires across the
organisation participation. That means in project management, you, as a Project
Manager, will have a lot of dependencies in order to execute the project. So, that is
why we call project as a complex endeavour. Typically, doing something that has
never done before is called a project.
Now, this defines the novelty or uniqueness of defining a project. This does not mean
that when I'm constructing my fourth house, it has no novelty anymore because I
have already constructed three houses. But every house that I construct still meets
the definition of our project. In other words, novelty or uniqueness does not mean we
need to be 100% novel or 100% doing a project which has never been done before.
But this novelty varies with a degree. Some projects may be 100% novel and unique,
some other projects may have a varying degree of novelty. Lastly, projects are
bound with specific time, cost and performance requirements. When I say
performance requirements, I'm talking about the scope of work that the project has to
deliver towards its completion. And that is why I said that when you are even building
the fourth house, it is still a project. Because for the every house that we construct,
there is difference in time, cost and resources that go into completing the desired
work in the project.
Now, let us pause here and watch this video about the Hoover Dam. Just to give you
some background, Hoover Dam is the largest dam in the world when it was
constructed. Let us check it out by putting our observations on the established
characteristics that we have learned about projects. Firstly, the Hoover Dam was
constructed for a particular purpose. It has an established objective: to control floods,
provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. So, it meets our first
requirement of having an established objective to call it as a project. Secondly, it has
a defined time span. A start of 1931 and it ended at 1936. So, the Hoover Dam
example also meets our second characteristic of a project. Thirdly, there was US
Government, six companies’ incorporation, lot of researchers, engineers, architects
and labour force involved in constructing this dam. That means there was a cross-
organisation participation which was involved in the Hoover Dam construction. At the
time of its completion, it was the largest dam in the world. That means this involved
doing something never been done before. And lastly, the dam has invested the
money of $165 million in 1931 budget which is equivalent to about $2500 million in
2020. So, it has specific time, cost and performance requirements embedded inside
this endeavour. And that is why we can confirm based on these characteristics that
Hoover Dam Construction is a project.
Now that we understood what is a project, let us spend some time to understand
what a project is not. Firstly, it is important for us to know that project is not a routine
repetitive work. Let us understand this with some examples. For example, if you're
taking notes in this particular class, it is not a project because I expect you that you
take notes in every session of these modules of our ITPM course.
But if you're writing a term paper or preparing for an assignment which I intend to
give you after every module, then that becomes a project. Because when you are

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preparing for an assignment, it's a focused endeavour which will have an objective, a
set of resources and a particular time effort which you will put into that. Similarly,
daily entering sales receipts into an accounting ledger becomes a repetitive work
because it is a daily routine. On the other hand, setting up a sales kiosk for a
professional accounting meeting becomes a project. Practising scales on the piano
is a repetitive work. On the other hand, writing a new piano piece will become a
project.
I have given several such examples on this slide which you can go through to
understand what a project is not. It is also important for us to note that a series of
coordinated interrelated projects intended to achieve a common goal is called a
programme. For example, if your organisation asks you to design four websites, then
designing each website becomes an individual project and all four of them together
could become a web designing programme.

Video 2: What is IT Project Management?

In this topic, we will look at: What is IT Project Management? How is IT Project
Management different from project management in other sectors? And we will
understand some of the examples of IT projects.
First, what is IT Project management? It is the process of planning, organising and
delineating responsibility for the completion of an organisation's specific information
technology goals. Due to the internet penetration to every sphere of our life, the
share of IT projects has been increasing every year and it is believed that the
majority of IT projects undertaken today are actually software development projects.
Is managing of an IT project different from managing any other type of project? Yes,
there are some specific characteristics that differentiate IT projects from other
projects. Intangible outcome, varied complexity, high level of uncertainty, quick and
frequent industry changes, project cost structures and varied stakeholders. These
are some of those characteristics which differentiate IT projects from the projects in
other sectors. Now, let us go through each one of them in detail. First, the intangible
outcome.In most of the cases, Software is a digital product, not a physical one. It
consists of ideas, designs, instructions and formulas, not of concrete and bricks
where you can touch and feel.
Moreover, when a software product is being developed, a lot of work is done behind
the scenes so that the customer can't see any tangible result at the beginning or
even in the middle of the project. This fact may cause customer dissatisfaction
because of not understanding what they are spending money on.
Second, the complexity. When I say that IT projects are complex, it doesn't mean
that the other projects aren't complex from the management standpoint. Let us take
an example. Software development work is complicated itself because it is based on
logical and not physical work. The complexity leads to necessity in higher level of
communication and collaboration between the project team members and various

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stakeholders. The extended communication is actually the reason why adding
human resources in IT projects doesn't necessarily solve the problem of missing the
deadlines and in fact, can make things even worse at times.
There's a high level of uncertainty. It is very difficult to accurately define a detailed
requirement of an IT project prior to the start of the project. It is also very difficult to
estimate the complexity of an IT project. For example, when you start a software
development project, you are likely to bring together teams and technology in a way
that hasn't been done before. Perhaps, you will do this for the first time in your
company or even for the first time in the whole world. And that is why, there exists a
high level of uncertainty in the IT project management.
Fourthly, quick and frequent industry changes. IT industry is highly flexible, perhaps
volatile. The market is changing quickly under the pressure of emerging customer
demands. For example, before even you think of creating a web page to sell chairs,
the digital marketing technologies could come up with newer designs to position the
chairs on the web page. The technologies also are changing really fast and new
standards are coming in front. Things that are in the cutting edge today can become
obsolete in a year, having a direct impact on your project. These conditions turn
managing IT projects into a real challenge.
Fifthly, project cost structures. Unlike construction projects, there are almost no
material costs in IT projects. The cost of labour or in other words, the cost of
intellectual work makes up a greater part of software development projects. For
example, third party libraries integrated into the final product may definitely cost
some money but usually these expenses take really a small share compared to the
larger labour costs.
Then, the varied stakeholders. Usually, IT projects have very diverse set of
stakeholders and stakeholder structures. An IT project manager has to deal with
business people, technical team, customer representatives, suppliers, support
organisations and so on. All of them have their own perspectives and interests about
the project. So, it is very difficult to make everyone satisfied and that is why IT
project management is more challenging.
Now, let us look at some of the examples of IT projects. IT projects can be of any
type that deals with IT infrastructure, information systems or computer technologies.
This can include programming a simple mobile app or a large-scale software system.
Web development, including updating a web page or creating an online shopping
site or even developing an entire web infrastructure for an organisation could be an
IT project. Another example could be designing an organisation's IT infrastructure
with deploying systems, software and employing IT security measures along with
that. Talking about IT security related projects like implementing a cybersecurity
system or upgrading any other security system in your organisation, still qualifies to
be an IT project. Creating network infrastructure, network configuration, vendor
selection and management and even software upgrades or designing a hardware. All
of these are examples of IT projects.

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Video 3: Project Life Cycle
In this video, we will learn about what is a project life cycle. We will try to understand
different phases and associated activities in the project life cycle.
Before we go ahead, let us recollect our Hoover Dam example. Can you try to
arrange these activities in their sequence of occurrence that you have observed in
the Hoover Dam video? Take a minute to arrange these cards.
I am sure you would have arranged the cards in this way, but you may be wondering
what are these colours on the cards? Yes, there's a purpose for these colours. If you
observe keenly, the colour yellow represents the initiation of the project. And the red
cards represent the planning, blue cards representing execution, monitoring and
control. And lastly, the green colour there represent closing or delivery of the project.
These four are called the different phases of the project life cycle: Initiation,
Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Control, and the Closure.
Now let us try to understand what is a project life cycle. Project life cycle is a four
step framework designed to help project managers guide their projects successfully
from start to finish. The purpose of project life cycle is to create an easy to follow
framework to guide the projects. In project life cycle, there are some specific tasks
which the project managers will execute that determines the level of effort that goes
into each phase of the project life cycle.
For example, in the initiation phase, project managers set goals, try to identify the
specifications which the project needs to deliver, do a feasibility study to understand
whether this can be done as a project or not. And the project managers also define
tasks and responsibilities in the initiation phase.
In planning; schedules, budgets and resourcing is generally done. Project managers
also identify risks and end up staffing the resources in the planning phase.
In the execution, monitoring and control phase, there will be status reports which
project managers will start sending to various stakeholders. There will be changes
and uncertainty which project managers have to deal with, in this particular phase.
Quality of the projects and managing projects with continuous monitoring and control
will also be part of execution, monitoring and control phase.
Lastly, the closure of the project. The closing phase includes training the customer
how to use the project in the operations mode, transfer documents, releasing
resources to other projects and reassigning staff so that the resources can be
utilised on other projects which follow the particular project which the project
manager is engaged with. And lastly, it is also important part of the closure that the
project manager documents the lessons learned in this endeavour.
Together, all of these four phases are called the Project Life Cycle.

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Video 4: Knowledge Areas in Project Management
In this video, we will discuss different knowledge areas in Project Management; how
are they helpful in executing IT projects successfully, and towards the end of this
video, we'll also come up with an emergent Project Management Framework. Project
Managers are generally called jack of all trades, but king of none, because they need
to know a lot of knowledge areas in order to execute projects successfully. Here are
the 10 Project Management knowledge areas which are prescribed with the Project
Management Institute as part of the Project Management Professional Certification:
project integration management, project scope management, project schedule
management, cost management, project quality management, resource
management, communications, risk, procurement and stakeholders management.
These 10 knowledge areas together help and guide Project Managers to effectively
deliver IT projects. Now let us understand each one of them in detail.
First, project integration management. It is simply the coordination of all elements of
the project together, which is called as project integration management. This
includes coordinating tasks, resources, stakeholders and any other project elements,
in addition to managing conflicts between different aspects of the project.
Sometimes, making trade-offs between competing requests as well. One example
could be if a project is not on track, you may need to choose between going over
budget or finishing the project late. Assessing these kind of situations and making an
informed decision is the key part of project integration management.
Secondly, project scope management. It refers to a set of processes that must be
completed in order to deliver a project, which could be a product, service or result
with specific features or functions. Scope management focuses on how we get
there? Or perhaps more accurately, what steps should we do to go there in order to
deliver the project? These steps could be defined and mapped so that project
managers and supervisors can determine the amount of work needed and where to
focus the efforts in terms of completing the projects.
Third, project schedule management. Schedule management is a procedure that
requires the establishment of policies and documentation of maintaining, developing,
managing and controlling the schedules for time and resources for the completion of
the project.
Then, the project cost management. Project cost management includes the
processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding and, in fact,
managing and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the
approved budget.
Project quality management, this involves planning for quality, that means the
selection of the quality standards and production of the quality management plan. It
also involves managing quality, that is, auditing the processes being used to achieve
the quality standards. And finally, it also includes quality control. That means
measuring the quality of the deliverables.

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Then is project resource management. Managing the project resources is how the
Project manager spends most of their time. From ordering supplies to training the
team members to paying bills, the project resources are seemingly bottomless pit of
active management. Planning for resources, estimating how many resources and
what type of resources are required for managing projects effectively, acquiring
those resources, managing and controlling them are all part of project resource
management.
Then is project communications management. It is a collection of processes that help
and make sure that right messages are sent, received and understood by the right
people. It is an important component of stakeholder management in projects.
Then is the project risk management. Generally, things do not go according to the
plan in most of the cases due to unexpected events or sometimes uncertainty. But
as a project manager, there is nothing that makes you sleep at night better than
knowing you have got the risks of your project under your control and this requires a
lot of stakeholder management. So, the project risk management is the process to
identify, analyse and respond to the potential risks that may affect the project in any
way, positively and sometimes even negatively.
Then comes the project procurement management. Most projects require some form
of external purchasing, otherwise called as Procurement, in order to meet the project
goals. Executing these procurements to fulfill the needs of project falls under the
knowledge area of project procurement management. This involves vendor
selection, planning for contractors, service level agreements and vendor
management.
Lastly, and most importantly, is the project stakeholders management. All projects
have stakeholders. If they did not, then the project wouldn't exist. Usually, these are
the expectations that the project managers get from different parties involved in the
project, about the time, cost, quality and other criteria. And these are the entities
whom we call the stakeholders. The project manager must know who the
stakeholders are and actively manage their expectations. This involves identifying
stakeholders, planning and managing their expectations, monitoring the stakeholder
engagement throughout the project.
Now, with all the learnings that we have so far, let us emerge into a project
management framework. The three important aspects that the project manager
should be careful about in project management are called the triple constraints in
project management. They are the scope, the cost and the time. The scope is
nothing but the work which the project manager needs to complete in order to
execute and deliver a project. Time is about schedules in the project and cost is
about various resources involved in the project.
So, the scope, cost and time form a triangle called the Iron Triangle, which
determines the basic fundamental of this framework. The centre of this framework is
the Quality Management. This is because in work, cost and time, there should be

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utmost quality in the delivery for the projects. Now, this framework is also guided by
various artistic factors that the project manager needs to understand.
That's why I say that project management is not just the science but also an art
because it's not just about drawing some network diagrams or using a set of tools in
executing projects. But project managers should also be aware about the cultural
factors, risk and uncertainty, social and political factors and together with all these,
project managers need to demonstrate a great level of project leadership in order to
successfully deliver the projects. Together, all these aspects is what I call as the
Project Management Framework.

Video 5: Project Team and Project Management Careers

In this video, we will define who is a Project Manager. What is a Project team and the
Project Management Office? This video will also motivate you to watch rest of the
modules in this course, because I'm going to talk about the project management
careers and associated certifications in this video.
First, let us define who is a project manager. Project manager is the person assigned
by the performing organisation to lead the team with the responsibility of achieving
the project objectives.
Remember, project managers are the sole responsibility of achieving the project
success. In the broadest sense, project managers, otherwise called as PMs, are
responsible for planning, organising, and directing the completion of specific
projects, for an organisation using, ensuring, and also continuously monitoring the
projects on time, budget, and the scope. The project management team and the
project management office will be helping the project managers in this process.
The project management team is accountable for the project management and
leadership activities such as initiating or starting a project, planning, implementing,
monitoring, controlling, and conducting various activities as guided by the project
managers in the various phases of the project. It is important to know that project
manager is also part of the project team. Of course, the project manager will be
leading the project team, but generally when we have to articulate a project team,
project manager will also be included in that.
Project sponsor, project champion, business analysts, programmers, testers,
developers could be some of the other project team members.
The Project Management Office, also called as PMO, is an office or a department
within your organisation that defines and maintains standards for project
management. Put differently, the Project Management Office provides guidance for
execution of projects.
Here comes the important question; Why learn project management? Is it just
because someone said it is great to learn project management? Of course, yes. But
there are several other reasons as well.

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All of mankind's greatest accomplishments, from building the Great Pyramids, to
discovering a cure for polio, to pulling a man on moon, everything began as a
project. "And all improvement happens project by project, and there is no other way,"
said Joseph Juran, one of the great quality gurus.
Now let us ponder why we should learn project management. The simple answer to
this question is we should learn project management, because the career
opportunity is knocking. According to a survey, done by the Project Management
Institute in the USA, by 2027, employers will need 87.7 million individuals working in
the project management oriented roles. Further, the project related job growth is
expected to be 33% collectively by 2027, according to a survey. Now the demand is
high for the practitioners with the necessary mix of competencies, a combination of
both technical and leadership skills that together make you a good project manager.
And an important statistic to remember here is an average annual number of 0.7
million new jobs are estimated in India for project management, according to
Anderson Economic Group. And that is why, project management is an important
skill to have and progress in our careers.
Here are some of the important project management certifications. Some of them
are: Agile Scrum certification, ITIL Foundation and Service Operation certification,
Six Sigma certifications, which include the Green belt and the Black Belt
certifications. And there are two important bodies, one from the USA and one from
UK, which offer global standard certifications in project management. The one from
the USA is called the Project Management Institute, which offers the very famous
PMP or the Project Management Professional certification. The other certifications
include RMP, which is the Risk Management certification, and CAPM, also from the
Project Management Institute. On the other hand, PRINCE2 Foundation and
PRINCE2 Practitioner are also the project management certifications but offered
from the UK side of the world.

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