Study sheet: Project Management Fundamentals

📋 Course Outline

1. Project Lifecycle and Four Stages
2. Project and Project Management Concepts
3. Project Vocabulary and Deliverables
4. Project Structures and Strategic Context
5. Definition: Stakeholders and Objectives
6. Project Charter and Definition Tools
7. Assembly: Work Breakdown and Responsibilities
8. Planning, Estimation, and Budget

📖 1. Project Lifecycle and Four Stages

★ Must-know

• 🔄 The four chronological project stages are:

  1. Definition
  2. Assembly
  3. Execution and control
  4. Closure

• The definition stage concretizes the project by analyzing the need, evaluating risks, and assessing feasibility.

• The assembly stage decomposes the project, reduces complexity, allocates roles and responsibilities, plans the work, and reassesses risks.

• Execution and control compare planned results with actual results, analyze deviations, respond to them, and manage risks.

Further detail

• Closure delivers the project result to the client and establishes a return on experience.

💡 Memory Hook

Define → assemble → execute and control → close

📖 2. Project and Project Management Concepts

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Project : PMI — A temporary initiative undertaken to provide a unique product, service, or result, according to the Project Management Institute, 7th edition.
• Project management : Project management is the coordinated and controlled transformation of project activities into a desired result, using methods to structure, conduct, and manage the project.

★ Must-know

📌 Projects involve temporary teams, varied competencies, investment, innovation, and future-oriented strategic stakes, whereas operations involve stable teams, specialized competencies, repetitive tasks, regular benefits, and daily continuity.

Further detail

• The PMI 8th edition defines a project as a temporary initiative conducted in a unique context to create value.

• Examples of projects include:

  • Launching a new product range
  • Organizing a launch event
  • Constructing a manufacturing unit
  • Implementing an information system
  • Replacing software
  • Establishing a QSE approach
  • Organizing training actions

💡 Memory Hook

Projects are temporary and innovative; operations are repetitive and routine

📖 3. Project Vocabulary and Deliverables

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Deliverable : The result produced by completing part or all of a project.
• Milestone : A required passage point involving control or validation before changing phase, and it may also occur during a phase or sub-phase.
• Operational objective : Combines a result to achieve with a deadline and a budget.

📝 Essential Points

• Project resources may be:

  • Financial
  • Human
  • Technological

• Developing and commissioning a specific software application in 9 months with a budget of 60 K€ is an example of an operational objective.

📖 4. Project Structures and Strategic Context

★ Must-know

• A project is risky, its development is irreversible, and it creates a learning process in which knowledge increases while resources are consumed.

📌 A portfolio contains programs and projects, while a program groups projects that share a common goal.

• Turbulent environments, rapid innovation, accelerated product obsolescence, shortened life cycles, and intense competition increase the need for fast, effective, and low-cost project management.

Further detail

📌 A project may use a project-based structure or a matrix structure to organize authority and responsibilities.

• The PDCA approach supports project learning and improvement through repeated planning, implementation, checking, and action.

💡 Memory Hook

Turbulence and innovation pressure → fast, integrated project management

📖 5. Definition: Stakeholders and Objectives

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Stakeholder : A person or organization whose interests are positively or negatively affected by a project or who can positively or negatively affect the project.
• Project scope : The extent of the project and the boundary between what is included in the project and what is excluded.
• SMART objective : A SMART objective is Specific, Measurable, Accepted, Realistic, and Time-bound.

★ Must-know

• The commanditaire provides financial resources, the project manager conducts the project, and project team members carry out the work.

Further detail

• Stakeholders can be:
  • Allies
  • Opponents
  • Indifferent parties
  • Torn parties

💡 Memory Hook

SMART: Specific, Measurable, Accepted, Realistic, Time-bound

📖 6. Project Charter and Definition Tools

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Project charter : A project charter records the project origin, strategic alignment, stakeholders and their interests, main objectives, deliverables, scope, previous attempts, resources, responsibilities, communication, phases, milestones, meetings, risks, and risk-control measures.

★ Must-know

• The definition stage identifies and maps stakeholders, clarifies the result, deadline, and budget, verifies that objectives are SMART, specifies objectives through an objectives matrix, performs an initial risk assessment, and drafts a project charter or requirements specification.

Further detail

• An objectives matrix makes implicit expectations explicit by describing intermediate and final deliverables with insufficient, acceptable, and excellent performance levels.

• Preparation that formally clarifies results and objectives, studies opportunity and feasibility, anticipates risks, and maintains alignment can prevent demotivation caused by informal preparation.

📖 7. Assembly: Work Breakdown and Responsibilities

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• WBS : PMI — The hierarchical decomposition of the work that the project team must perform to achieve objectives and produce deliverables.
• Work package : A manageable portion of work assigned to one responsible person, planned and controlled with an estimated cost.
• RACI matrix : A RACI matrix assigns four responsibility types: Responsible performs the work, Accountable has authority and approves, Consulted is asked for input, and Informed receives information.

★ Must-know

• 🔄 Assembly moves from: What must be achieved, How the work will be done, Who will perform or approve it

Further detail

• The WBS may decompose work according to chronological, geographical, or professional logic.

💡 Memory Hook

What → how → who: WBS, work packages, RACI

📖 8. Planning, Estimation, and Budget

★ Must-know

📐 Formula — Work is calculated as $W = D \times U$, where work equals duration multiplied by the number of resource units.

• If one technician completes a test in half a day and a lot requires 40 tests, the work equals 20 person-days; two technicians complete it in 10 days, while four technicians complete it in 5 days.

📌 A duration constraint fixes the required completion date and increases the necessary resource units, whereas a resource constraint fixes available units and increases the duration.

• Planning checks resource availability through a workload plan, schedules activities with a Gantt chart or PERT method, and estimates the budget from human, material, consumable, travel, and rental resources.

Further detail

• Duration estimation can use:

  • Feedback from similar projects
  • Standard time bases
  • Experts
  • Planning Poker
  • Difficulty points

• Assembly produces:

  • A WBS
  • RACI assignments
  • Durations and a workload plan
  • PERT and Gantt schedules
  • A provisional budget
  • A risk-prevention plan
  • A project management plan

💡 Memory Hook

Work = duration × resources; more resources reduce duration

📊 Synthesis Tables

Projects versus operations

Dimension	Projects	Operations
Tasks	New or innovative	Repetitive
Team	Temporary	Stable
Competencies	Varied	Specialized
Purpose	Investment and future strategy	Daily continuity and regular benefits