MGMT 404 Week 1 Overview

Years ago, project management was obscure, undefined, and misunderstood. Organizational leadership believed that the role could be filled by anyone and appointed random individuals to manage a project. There were no defined methodologies, processes, or tools. Project management was often thought to be unnecessary overhead, but times have changed. Today, it is an exciting, dynamic, and challenging field. Great project management means so much more than simply delivering a product or service on time and on budget. It unites customers and teams and creates a shared understanding of the vision, goals, and purpose for the project. With good project management, the probability of successful delivery of the product, service, or result is increased. Project managers are leaders, providing inspiration and motivation to a team of professionals. They serve as sources of the truth with respect to the health and status of the project, including the risks as well as opportunities. In this course, you will get hands-on experience as you develop a selected Course Project comprised of key documents which you will develop weekly as part of your final Curse Project. For this, you will create a project charter, a stakeholder management plan, a communications management plan, a project scope, and a project schedule. Also, you will also learn how to allocate resources to project activities, estimate costs, calculate the project budget, and risk management. Furthermore, you will also learn about the agile methodology and how it is different from the more traditional waterfall methodology for product development. You will share your learning and understanding of these concepts and demonstrate critical thinking in selected discussions and weekly quizzes. Jump right into Week 1 and get started. The materials in this course are based on the text, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Sixth Edition. Glossary definitions indicated with an asterisk are taken from A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017 PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc. Project management is a rapidly evolving discipline that is concerned with the initiation, planning, implementing, and controlling of projects. Although it may sound simple, most projects are neither planned nor implemented well. Most failures are directly attributable to poor planning. This is a reason that the field is growing so rapidly and talented project managers are in such high demand. I hope you are ready for an exciting week as we explore what separates project management from general business management and how projects differ from typical business operations. Remember that project management provides a proven way to set priorities and to achieve results. As the week progresses, we will cover the specifics of project management so that you can begin to see why it is so important for organizations to manage these very important initiatives. In particular, we will learn what a project is, and how they are managed and selected. Are you ready to get started? Course Objectives 1 Apply project management concepts to manage projects. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Describe the process of project prioritization. 2 Develop project management documents required during the management of projects. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Develop a project charter. Overview This week, we begin to set the groundwork for managing a project. We will look at what a project is, the project life cycle, project organizations, and the project charter. Watch the Welcome to Project Management video below for more information about the exciting world of project management. TranscriptAnatomy of a Project Watch the Anatomy of a Project video below. It will take you through the attributes and the life cycle that are common to all projects, no matter what type. If you learn easier through listening, this video is for you. What Is a Project? *Project: A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result What does this mean? A project is created to achieve something that is required by a customer or the organization to satisfy specific requirements. It can be a new product, a new system, or an upgrade of an existing system. It can be a building, a machine, or an installation of something new. There are renovation, research, and proof-of-concept projects. If it's unique, temporary, and the result of the work is the delivery of something, it's a project. Attrib