Appunti Workshop in Project Management

Project

Definition: A project is a temporary effort undertaken to create a unique product or service

All projects have the following characteristics:

●​ They have a defined beginning and end

●​ They focus on specific objectives

●​ They have variable complexity

●​ They have a defined budget

●​ They require managing risks

●​ They require collaboration between multiple resources

●​ They require a unique effort

The following characteristics are typical of routine processes and activities (business as usual) and

do not constitute a project:

●​ Repetitive operational activities that do not have a defined end

●​ Routine procurement of tools and equipment to support operational activities

Definition complete: A project is any non-routine, one-off and temporary initiative aimed at

achieving specific objectives according to constraints of purpose, time, cost and quality that takes

place under conditions of uncertainty (risk) and that involves one or more organizational units and

roles belonging to different company functions (but not only), temporarily aggregated in an

inter-functional team.

Key dimension in a project:

-​ scope, ( avoiding out of scope activities)

-​ risks

-​ time

-​ quality

-​ costs

How are the dimensions related? One dimension is functional to another

Project Management

Definition: Project Management is the discipline that includes planning, organizing, managing,

leading, and controlling resources to achieve one (or more) specific objectives.

Project Management is an organizational-methodological approach that views a "project" as a

business objective to be achieved while meeting deadlines, costs, risks, and quality.

Program Management:

Program Management is the coordinated management of a set of interconnected projects to

achieve common goals through partially or fully shared resources.

Portfolio Management:

Portfolio Management is a set of methods for analyzing and managing an organization's projects

(both ongoing and new). The goal is to determine the optimal mix and sequence of projects and

resources needed to best achieve the company's objectives, in terms of financials, strategy

compliance, and operational results.

Not every time we

have the program.

Definition Approach:

Waterfall and Agile approach

Waterfall is a linear and sequential approach to development, relying on detailed, accurate

requirements up-front, using the outputs of each phase as the basis of work for the next phase.

Waterfall is characterized by:

●​ Fixed scope with estimated time and

resources

●​ All requirements detailed at beginning of

project, fixed

●​ Costly to incorporate changes

●​ Potential for team siloes

●​ Sequential work through each phase

●​ One release at end of project

Milestone: the end point of an activity

Agile is an empirical, iterative approach to development emphasizing a continuous focus on value,

flexibility, customer involvement, and rapid delivery of functionality.

Agile is characterized by:

●​ Estimated scope with fixed time and resources

●​ Requirements elaborated during sprints

●​ Flexibility –changes are easily accommodated

●​ Cross-functional teams

●​ Vertical slice of functionality completed each sprint

●​ Potentially shippable product after each sprint

Main difference about the risk :

Waterfall- Higher along all the project

Agile- Risk splitted into each cycle

Planning: something done every time at the beginning of the projects

Scrum Framework

Ceremonies: Sprint planning;Sprint review ( done at the end of each sprint); >Sprint retrospective

Roles: Product owner, Scrum master, Development team

Artifacts: Product increment

Hybrid Approach

"Hybrid Agile" is the application of adaptive and agile concepts and techniques in a traditional and

"predictive" project.

Agile is not suitable for all types of projects, but the most appropriate approach must be chosen

flexibly according to the characteristics of the project.

Agile at the end

Waterfall including Agile phase

Waterfall and Agile by Project scope

Unlike the Waterfall model where management activities are concentrated in a single role (progect

manager), in Agile the responsibilities are distributed across the 3 roles:

-​ scrum master: manage risks and impediments, manage processes, focused on teams,

owns team health

-​ product owner: manage cope, time and budget, focuse on outcomes, manage

stakeholders

-​ development team: manage quality

Fundamental Principles of the Scrum

-​ input

-​ process( structured set of activities)

-​ output

Iterative development

Complexity Reduction : in complex projects, the client may not be able to define concrete

requirements or may not be sure what the final product could look like.

Method Flexibility : The incremental model ensures that any change requested by the client can be

incorporated as part of the project.

Lean Startup: principles

Customer focus: Prioritizing understanding customer needs and preferences and using customer

feedback to guide product development.

Build-Measure-Learn: This iterative process involves creating a product (MVP), measuring

customer feedback, and learning from the results to make informed decisions.

Validated learning: Rather than relying on hypotheses, priority is given to data collection and

testing hypotheses through experimentation.

Agile dev