Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide Quotes

“Agile project management approaches are characterized by change expectancy, iterative development, phased deployments, collaboration, people focus, customer focus, timeboxing, detailed near-term schedules, frequent feedback loops, and constant risk management. DevOps and DevSecOps practices are an extension of agile approaches, include a new set of tools, technologies, and approaches, rely on a culture of collaboration, and are characterized by integrating the infrastructure operations and/or security quality into the entire systems development life cycle.”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“The master principles of expectations management are the following: Get buy-in Take care of business Communicate the big picture Listen and be alert Take the stakeholders’ perspective Never assume”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“Five Cs of communication—Keep the five Cs in mind when composing or delivering any project communication: Clear—State the subject; stay on subject; hold the receiver’s hand through the message; use appropriate terms. Concise—Get to the point; limit scope of the message. Courteous—Be polite; watch your tone. Consistent—Use appropriate tone, medium for intended message; all message elements should support intended meaning. Compelling—Give them a reason to pay attention.”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“Clarify what a work breakdown structure (WBS) is and is not”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“The responsibility matrix is often referred to as a RACI (“Ray-Cee”) matrix or RASIC (“Ray-Sick”) matrix. The acronyms represent each level of potential responsibility. R—Responsible A—Accountable C—Consulted I—Informed R—Responsible A—Approve S—Support I—Informed C—Consulted”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“Criteria)”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“seven basic project definition questions: Why are we doing this? (Purpose) What organizational-level goal(s) does this project support? (Goals and Objectives) How does this project fit with the other projects that are going on? (Scope, Project Context, Project Dependencies) What is the expected benefit from this project? (Expected Benefits, Business Case, Value, Success Criteria) What are we going to do? (Scope) Who is affected by this and who must be involved? (Stakeholders) How will we know when we are done and whether the project was successful? (Success Criteria)”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“The following are some of the most common mistakes made by project managers: Not clearly understanding how or ensuring that the project is aligned with organizational objectives. Not properly managing stakeholder expectations throughout the project. Not gaining agreement and buy-in on project goals and success criteria from key stakeholders. Not developing a realistic schedule that includes all work efforts, task dependencies, bottom-up estimates, and assigned leveled resources. Not getting buy-in and acceptance on the project schedule. Not clearly deciding and communicating who is responsible for what. Not utilizing change control procedures to manage the scope of the project. Not communicating consistently and effectively with all key stakeholders. Not executing the project plan. Not tackling key risks early in the project. Not proactively identifying risks and developing contingency plans (responses) for those risks. Not obtaining the right resources with the right skills at the right time. Not aggressively pursuing issue resolution. Inadequately defining and managing requirements. Insufficiently managing and leading the project team.”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“key roles played by the project manager: Planner—Ensures that the project is defined properly and completely for success, all stakeholders are engaged, work effort approach is determined, required resources are available when needed, and processes are in place to properly execute and control the project. Organizer—Using work breakdown, estimating, and scheduling techniques, determines the complete work effort for the project, the proper sequence of the work activities, when the work will be accomplished, who will do the work, and how much the work will cost. Point Person—Serves as the central point of contact for all oral and written project communications. Quartermaster—Ensures the project has the resources, materials, and facilities it needs when it needs it. Facilitator—Ensures that stakeholders and team members who come from different perspectives understand each other and work together to accomplish the project goals. Persuader—Gains agreement from the stakeholders on project definition, success criteria, and approach; manages stakeholder expectations throughout the project while managing the competing demands of time, cost, and quality; and gains agreement on resource decisions and issue resolution action steps. Problem Solver—Utilizes root-cause analysis process experience, prior project experience, and technical knowledge to resolve unforeseen technical issues and take any necessary corrective actions. Umbrella—Works to shield the project team from the politics and “noise” surrounding the project, so they can stay focused and productive. Coach—Determines and communicates the role each team member plays and the importance of that role to the project’s success, finds ways to motivate each team member, looks for ways to improve the skills of each team member, and provides constructive and timely feedback on individual performances. Bulldog—Performs the follow-up to ensure that commitments are maintained, issues are resolved, and action items are completed. Librarian—Manages all information, communications, and documentation involved in the project.”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“The process of leading a team that has never worked together before to accomplish something that has never been done before in a given amount of time with a limited amount of money”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“The operational work is the ongoing, repetitive set of activities that sustain the organization.”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“A project is the work performed by an organization one time to produce a unique outcome. By one time, we mean the work has a definite beginning and a definite end, and by unique, we mean the work result is different in one or more ways from anything the organization has produced before.”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide

“Project management is simply the process of managing projects (and you thought this was going to be difficult).”
― Gregory M. Horine, Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide