Project Management Article Series and Artifacts

I have spent quite a good amount of time for the past few years learning and engaging in project and product management. Recently completed, the Google Project Management Certificate - a rigorous hands-on program that covers traditional and Agile project management approaches throughout the life cycle of a project.

With all the learning and experience in hand, I planned to write a series of articles related to project management so that it can become an easy reference for anyone who intends to understand and use various concepts and tools related to project management in real life.

Project management concepts and ideas are so vast in nature that they can be used and employed not only in professional life but also in personal life like managing an event, marriage ceremony, annual get-together, and others. I will discuss the various phases of project management and link related articles to it so readers or users can easily navigate and study it in more detail.

The first part is to

Understand project management

Understanding Project Management: What it Is, Types, Skill, and Misconception

Here, we discussed the following aspects of the basics of project management;

• What is project management?

• Project management job categories and typical roles

• Value of a Project Manager

• Project Manager's Impact on Organizations

• Key project manager roles and responsibilities

• Responsibilities that utilize interpersonal skills

• Core Skills of a project manager

• Common misconception about project managers

Project management is the practice of planning, organizing, and executing a set of activities to achieve specific goals within a defined timeframe and budget.

Project Phases

From ideation till the completion of the project, there are four major phases of project management, and is almost the same in all industries across the globe. They are -

1. Project Initiation

2. Project Planning

3. Project Execution

4. Project Closure

Project management starts with an idea and the reasoning behind it - the 'Why' of doing it. Once the management and business team finalizes what needs to be accomplished be it a new product, a new feature, or an increment in operational efficiency, the project is initiated.

Project Initiation

The first phase of project management is 'Project Initiation'. Here we study and conduct market research on the feasibility of the project. Further we;

• Determine the project details

• Set project goals

• Identify and define the project scope

• Analyze costs and benefits

• Develop project documentation

• Understand and leverage stakeholders

To further understand more about it, I have conducted a detailed discussion on the project initiation with the following two articles;

Project Initiaiton: Part 1

Setting the Foundation for Project Success: A Project Manager's Short Guide

Content consists of the following attributes;

• Key Components of Project Initiation

• Cost Benefit Analysis

• Project Charter

• SMART Goals

• OKRs

• Project Scope

• Triple constraint model

• Launch & Landing

• Success Criteria

• Measuring progress

Project Initiaiton: Part 2

Project Manager's Guide to Project Initiation with Team, Roles, Tools, Documentation & Stakeholders

Content consists of the following attributes;

• The Team

• Skills of the Team

• Team & Diversity

• Project Roles

• Stakeholder Analysis & Visualization

• Generating stakeholder buy-in

• RACI Chart

• Project Failure - Initiation Missteps

• Documentation

• Document Types

• Tools for Project Management

• Types of tools

• Digital Tools for PM

Project Planning

The next phase of project management is 'Project Planning'. This is the part where we develop the project plan in sync with the final requirements and acceptance from the stakeholders. The project plan document is a living artifact that is updated and referred to throughout the project lifecycle. Salient points in this phase are;

• Get to know your team

• Identify milestones and tasks

• Estimate task duration

• Develop project documentation

To further understand more about it, I have conducted a detailed discussion on the project planning with the following two articles;

Project Planning: Part 1

Project Planning - Work Breakdown & the Grand Project Plan

Content consists of the following attributes;

• Importance of project planning

• Kickoff Meeting

• Tasks and Milestones

• How to set Milestone

• WBS - Work Breakdown structure

• Project Plan

• Time Estimation

• The planning fallacy and optimism bias

• Critical Path

• Soft skills

• Project Plan Best Practices

• Gantt Chart

• Kanban boards

Project Planning: Part 2

Steps to Project Planning - Project Budget, Documentation, and Effective Communication Strategy

Content consists of the following attributes;

• Project Budget

• Project budgeting best practices

• Types of costs

• Maintain the Budget

• Budgeting Terms

• Understanding the procurement

• Agile procurement management

• Procurement Documentation

• Ethics in Procurement

• Risk Management

• Brainstorming the risks

• Fishbone Diagram

• Types of Risks

• Risk Mitigation Strategies

• Type of Dependencies

• Risk Management Plan

• Effective Communication Plan

• Documentation

Project Execution

This is the third phase of the project where work is done and the plan is set into motion. Here, we look at all the aspects of running a successful project;

• Communication

• Maintaining project quality

• Choosing a project management approach

• Implementing scrum

Project Execution: Part 1

Project Execution: Running the project with Quality Management and Continuous improvement

Content consists of the following attributes;

• Tracking and Measurement

• Popular Tracking Methods

• Project status reports

• Risk & ROAM Analysis

• Escalation

• Quality Management

• Soft Skills

• User Testing and Feedback

• Continuous and Process improvement

• Retrospective

• Value of Data

• Data ethics

• Data Analysis

• Effective presentation

Project Execution: Part 2

Project Execution: Leadership, Communication, and Project Closure

Content consists of the following attributes;

• Leadership and Influencing Skills

• Bruce Tuckman's five stages of team development

• Ethical and Inclusive Leadership

• Effective influencing

• Communicating

• Project Closure

• Impact Reporting

Project Closure

The last and final lap of the project management. Here is the stage where you close the project - correctly. The essential parts that need to be understood in this phase are;

• Why closing matters

• Retrospectives

• Demonstrate your impact

• Celebrations

For a brief discussion on project closure, you can refer to this article and jump to the sections of retrospective, communication, project closure, and Impact reporting.

Project Execution: Leadership, Communication, and Project Closure

Agile Project Management

The following article contains all about agile project management and SCRUM 101.

All About Agile Project Management with Scrum 101

It contains the following important aspects;

• 4 values of the Agile Manifesto

• SCRUM

• Kanban

• XP

• Lean

• SCRUM 101

• Product Backlog

• User Stories

• Backlog Refinement

• Scrum's Working

• Best Practices of Scrum

• Scrum Tools

• Maximizing Value-Driven Delivery

• Roadmaps

• Influence and Coaching

• Agile Challenges

• DevOps and Business Agility

• Scaling Agile

This is the end of my series of articles on project management. Hope you have a useful reading, will be happy to know your views on it. Always ready for an active discussion.

Thank You!