Chapter 1. Introduction to Project Management
1.7 Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
- A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
- A project has two distinctive characteristics that distinguish it from ongoing and routine work (i.e., business operations). Projects are unique and temporary.
- Projects are confined to a variety of constraints. Triple (iron triangle) constraints are scope, schedule, and cost. Besides being tightly linked with triple constraints, resources, quality, and risks are also evaluated as constraints.
- Project success deals with the impacts of a project’s final product or service on stakeholders. Project management success focuses on the processes of a project, including the successful accomplishment of the scope, within budget (cost), within time (schedule), and quality aspects. A project may be successfully managed but not meet the client or customer’s expectations.
- The project life cycle is composed of phases, which are generically named starting (initiating, conceptualization), planning (organizing and preparing), implementing (executing, carrying out), and termination (close-out, ending).
- Different from project life cycle phases, but in line with them, processes are grouped inside five project management process groups according to the PMBOK Guide 6th Edition. They are named initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.
- Project management is also assessed in terms of knowledge areas that constitute the basic layout of most of the project management textbooks.
