Introduction To Project Management

By Ahmed M. FaridOutcomes:- Basic Understanding of Project Management- Designing a Professional Time-Plan- How to Use Microsoft Project

What's a project?

● Collaborative work towards a goal.

● Involves:

– Research– Planning– Design– Implementation

What a project looks like: Development Life-Cycle

Project Management

● Discipline of planning, motivating, and controlling resources within a project.

● Projects are managed in four phases:

● Initiation:Selection of team members, managing customer relations, setting up management/communications procedures, and determining development methodology.

● Planning:Project Baseline Plan (Will be explained shortly)

● ExecutionImplementation of the baseline plan.

● ClosedownDelivering project outcomes and closing the contract.

Project Baseline Plan

● A plan that explains how a project should operate from start to end.

● Contains:

– Problem Definition (What is the problem and is its required solution?)

– Constraints (What can and can't be done)

– Schedule (Time-plan of needed tasks)

– Risk Assessment (Detecting risks and overcoming them)

– Budget (Measurable: Money and time)

– Resources (Employees, equipment, infrastructure,... etc.)

– Project Value (Importance and Impact)

● This model can be used for feasibility studies

Does project management theoretically end after planning?

● No, it's an ongoing process:

– Progress is monitored according to the time-plan.– Communications must be maintained.– Risk assessment procedures.– Documentation and logging activity.

● Adhering to a time-plan is very crucial. Designing a time-plan should be clever.

Time-Plan

● A plan that indicates the timings and allocated resources of project tasks.

● To better understand its mechanics, how about an example scenario?

– We are an engineering firm with an idea to implement a smart street trafficking system. What should we do?

The tasks we need to do:

ID Task Name Duration (Months) Precedence1 Prepare place 1 -2 Obtain needed equipment 1 13 Hire Personnel 2 14 Public Relations 9 15 Public awareness 12 36 Develop the system 12 2,37 Test the system 2 6

1

4

3

2

5

6

7

Te=1

Te: Early TimeTl: Late Time

Critical Path

Te=10

Te=3

Te=2

Te=15

Te=15

Te=17Tl=17

Tl=15

Tl=17

Tl=3

Tl=3

Tl=17Tl=1S=0

S=0

S=0

S=0

S=7

S=1

S=2

S: Slack Time

Diagraming Methods

● What we saw is a network diagram

– It shows sequence– Progress is not clear

● There is another method: Gantt Chart

– More commonly used– Shows progress better

● We will see how it looks like in MS Project now.

Let's pose a question...What is a good manager?

Advice

Make sure you have resources before starting a project

T hank you for your time!

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Email: amw.farid@gmail.comWebsite: ahmedmfarid.blogspot.comLinkedIn: eg.linkedin.com/in/amwfarid/