Course Title

- IT support for project management processes
- Course description
- Chapter 1 - Introduction to project management
  - Objective
  - 1.1 Project management
  - 1.2 Limitations
  - 1.3 Task
  - 1.4 Project planning
  - 1.5 V-model
  - 1.6 Summary
  - 1.7 Questionnaire
  - 1.8 Bibliography
- Chapter 2 - Introduction to PRINCE2
  - Objective
  - 2.1 Introduction
  - 2.2 Principles
  - 2.3 Themes
  - 2.4 Processes
  - 2.5 Tool demo example
  - 2.6 Summary
  - 2.7 Questionnaire
  - 2.8 Bibliography
- Chapter 3 - Introduction to PMBOK
  - Objective
  - 3.1 Description
  - 3.2 PMBOK's methodology
  - 3.3 PMBOK Core Areas
  - 3.4 PMBOK Facilitating Areas
  - 3.5 PMBOK Integration Management
  - 3.6 Summary
  - 3.7 Questionnaire
  - 3.8 Bibliography
- Chapter 4 - Introduction to Agile
  - Objective
  - 4.1 Description
  - 4.2 Sprints
  - 4.3 Roles
  - 4.4 Communication
  - 4.5 Requirements management
  - 4.6 Measurement
  - 4.7 Summary – pros and cons of Agile
  - 4.8 Questionnaire
  - 4.9 Bibliography
- Chapter 5 - Advanced Agile
  - Objective
  - 5.1 Description
  - 5.2 Kanban Development – Just-In-Time logistics
  - 5.3 Extreme Programming – Simplicity with a scent of quality assurance
  - 5.4 Crystal methodology – According to project size & criticality
  - 5.5 Dynamic Systems Development Method – Business value
  - 5.6 Feature-Driven Development – Business model
  - 5.7 Summary
  - 5.8 Questionnaire
  - 5.9 Bibliography
- Chapter 6 - Introduction to Lean
  - Objective
  - 6.1 Introduction
  - 6.2 History
  - 6.3 Lean basic concepts
  - 6.4 Further Principles
  - 6.5 Lean tools
  - 6.6 Basic overview of concepts and tools
  - 6.7 Lean improvement cycle
  - 6.8 Tool demo
  - 6.9 Summary
  - 6.10 Questionnaire
  - 6.11 Bibliography
- Chapter 7 - Advanced Lean
  - Objective
  - 7.1 Introduction
  - 7.2 Lean Principles
  - 7.3 Lean Software Development
  - 7.4 Summary
  - 7.5 Questionnaire
  - 7.6 Bibliography
- Chapter 8 - Discussion
  - Objective
  - 8.1 Introduction
  - 8.2 Modelling a project
  - 8.3 Other methodologies
  - 8.4 Related fields
  - 8.5 Groupwork, homework
  - 8.6 Summary
  - 8.7 Questionnaire
  - 8.8 Bibliography
- Chapter 9 - Comparison
  - Objective
  - 9.1 Introduction
  - 9.2 Principles – processes – tools
  - 9.3 Modelling the project
  - 9.4 Classifications of project management methodologies
  - 9.5 Proposed method
  - 9.6 Groupwork, homework
  - 9.7 Summary
  - 9.8 Questionnaire
  - 9.9 Bibliography
- Chapter 10 - Project management tools basics
  - Objective
  - 10.1 Description
  - 10.2 Desktop tools
  - 10.3 Cloud based tools
  - 10.4 Summary
  - 10.5 Questionnaire
  - 10.6 Bibliography
- Chapter 11 - Project management tools advanced
  - Objective
  - 11.1 Description
  - 11.2 Demonstration
  - 11.3 A walkthrough on Redmine
  - 11.4 Redmine deficiencies
  - 11.5 Summary
  - 11.6 Questionnaire
  - 11.7 Bibliography
- Chapter 12 - Summary, conclusion
  - Objective
  - 12.1 Project management methodologies and software solutions
    - 12.1.1 PRINCE2
    - 12.1.2 PMBOK
    - 12.1.3 AGILE
    - 12.1.4 Lean
    - 12.1.5 Discussion and comparison of the methods
    - 12.1.6 Various project management tools
    - 12.1.7 Redmine
  - 12.2 Groupwork, homework
  - 12.3 Questionnaire
  - 12.4 Bibliography

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# 2.2 Principles

Figure 2.2: PRINCE2 principles

Continued business justification.

What is the justifiable reason for doing the project?

- What are the expected benefits?
- Document them in measurable terms

Is it worth to do / continue the project?

- Are the expected benefits above the tolerances? Why? What are the reasons?
- Yes → Ok, continue the project
- No → Stop the project! What was the problem? Document lessons learned!

The reasons have to be approved and to be documented in the Business Case document

- Continuously
- At each stage’s end (Project Board use it for assessing the project)

The reasons are the driving force of the project, therefore

- These have to be clear for everybody
- These have to be strong to be followed by everybody

Example: “I will have an informatics-chemistry BsC diploma and basic knowledge that will be very valuable on the market and on the top of that I really like to deal with these fields. It is absolutely worth to continue. “

Learn from experience.

Humans tend to do mistakes

Aim: avoiding the repetition of previous mistakes again

Learn from previous experience (or from others experience)

- Both from failures and successes
- Learn from previous projects: both internal and external/public field, e.g. case studies, etc.
- Hire experts with a lot of experience in the domain / field

Record current lessons

- Identify, document and disseminate lessons learned
- Create Lessons Report at end of each stage / end of overall project (Closing a Project process)

Example: “during the last semester I misunderstand the teacher and prepared for a theoretical exam (theorems, lemmas, proves) but it was a practical one (exercises, laboratory). Therefore I got only 4. Moreover, I should ask my cousin who has graduated 5 years ago and has several experience on this field.”

Defined roles and responsibilities.

Clear responsibilities:

- everybody have to know what is expected from her/him

Three groups of people are defined:

- Business/Corporate: ensuring that the project provides value for the investment
- User: members of the Business who will use the project’s result, i.e. the product
- Supplier: providing the resources and expertise (internal/external)
- User and Business together represent the Customer

All three groups must be represented to succeed.

Management hierarchy:

- 1st level: Project Board with three roles:

- Executive – the project's sponsor (exactly one people):

- represents the Business
- decision maker in case of disagreements, conflicts

- Senior User: any number of people (0 or many)
- Senior Supplier: any number of people (0 or many)

- 2nd level: Project Manager: daily management of the project (teams)
- 3rd level: Team Manager: daily management of the team’s work package

Example: “at first sight it seems that it is not applicable to our (a little bit artificial) example. However, considering the basic motivation that we want to achieve a valuable degree and knowledge, i.e. the final product will be our knowledge (and the degree), the Project Board could be our potential future employer. If our cousin has such a degree and experience in this field he could be our potential Project Manager with her advices and guidelines, etc.”

Manage by stages.

PRINCE2 describes two stages at least:

- first stage is fixed: Initiation
- arbitrary number of further stages (at least one)

Each stage must to be planned, monitored and controlled:

- Initiation:

- cost and time forecasts
- Project Initiation Document (PID)
- Project Board: GO / NO GO decision

- Further stages:

- End of a stage is a control point for reviewing the project’s progress: “can we deliver the Business Case?”
- Project Board: GO / NO GO decision

Planning horizon: plan only to a manageable and predictable level of detail

Three level of plans (according to management levels):

- Project Plan:

- Stage: Initiation
- Management level: Project Board

- Stage Plan

- Stage: Further Stages
- Management level: Project Manager

- Team Plan (optional)

- Stage: Further Stages
- Management level: Team Manager

Example: “the university defines my stages in forms of semesters.”

Manage by exception.

Tolerance level: a limit for an objective that should not be exceeded during the project

Tolerance levels must be given for performance targets: time, cost, quality, scope, risk, benefits

Three levels of tolerance levels:

- Project tolerances are set up by Business stakeholders
- Stage tolerances (Project Manager)
- Work Package tolerances (Team Manager)

Immediate upper level has to be informed through:

- Regular Highlight Reports
- Exception Report: if tolerance levels are exceeded or forecasted to be exceeded

Example: “I have to achieve at least 80% results during preliminary exams to be able to achieve 5 during the final big exam”

Focus on products.

Aims:

- delivering products meeting all quality criteria
- defining project scope
- reducing the chance of scope creep
- decreasing the chance of user dissatisfaction and denial

Everybody must agree and fully understand the desired outcome, i.e. product:

- identifying products
- product descriptions:

- purpose, composition, quality criteria, etc.
- basis for estimation, scheduling and planning

Example: “What is my product? Degree or knowledge? Both, because I need the degree as a requirement for my dream job but I absolutely need the knowledge as well. Moreover, I need some experience to be hired therefore I have to look for an internship.”

Tailored to suit the project environment.

PRINCE2 is a general method but it is adaptable, because projects are different in several aspects:

- geographical location
- cultural context
- complexity level
- size (budget, resources, etc.)
- experience
- risks
- team, employees

Therefore it has to be tailored to such specific needs:

- Differences to the original method should be described in the Project Initiation Document to be compliant with PRINCE2
- All parts of the method should be adopted somehow but not ignored completely
- PRINCE2 prefers information to documents, and decisions to meetings
- Embedding PRINCE2: a whole organization adopts PRINCE2 for all projects

Example: “I have a Project Manager (my cousin) and Project Board (my contact person during the internship) but these are not really corresponds to the PRINCE2 definition.”

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