PMP Certification Articles

Article / Updated 09-22-2022

The PMP Certification Exam will expect you to be able to manage large projects. The larger your project, the more time you will spend managing stakeholders and their engagement level, and the more critical this process is to the success of your project. Imagine a project with city and county government, the public, the department of transportation, police, and various and sundry other stakeholders. Do you think that you’re going to spend your time looking at a schedule? No. You’re going to spend your time juggling the various needs and interests of all these very influential stakeholders! The cross-cutting skill of relationship management is particularly relevant to the Manage Stakeholder Expectations process. To maintain satisfied stakeholders, you want to do three things: Engage stakeholders. Talk to your stakeholders throughout the project to ensure a common understanding of the project scope, benefits, and time and cost estimates. You will want to ensure their continued support of the project. Actively manage stakeholder expectations. You can do a lot of this by seeking stakeholder input while you’re planning the project. The project management plan and the project documents are written records that communicate all aspects of the project. These are an effective method of managing expectations. Address stakeholder concerns before they escalate. You might need to have individual conversations with some stakeholders to ensure that they understand situations, such as why they can’t have what they want in the time frame they want it, or why you require their staff for specific periods of time. By addressing concerns before they become issues, you will save a lot of time and hassle. Clarify and resolve issues in a timely manner. If a stakeholder has a concern that rises to the level of an issue that you need to document and address, do so as soon as is reasonable. Sometimes, this results in a change request to alter the schedule, the scope, or the resources. Manage Stakeholder Engagement. Communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs/expectations, addressing issues as they occur, and fostering appropriate engagement in project activities throughout the project lifecycle. Managing stakeholders can get very political. Make sure you know whom you are talking to and what their agenda is! Manage Stakeholder Engagement: Inputs During project planning, you create a stakeholder management plan that you will use and update throughout the project. Because your main method of managing expectations is communication, you will use your communication management plan as well. It would be nice to assume that everything will go smoothly and as planned, but because this never happens on projects, you also need a change log. Many change logs are based on templates or information from past projects — in other words, organizational process assets (OPAs). Manage Stakeholder Engagement: Tools and Techniques Communication skills are applied when managing your stakeholders. As you manage stakeholders, pay particular attention to their needs, promoting open communication and building trust. You can build trust by employing active listening. The nature of projects is that they have changes along the way. Some stakeholders will be resistant to the changes, but you have to help them overcome their resistance. You will also use conflict resolution skills. Some interactions with stakeholders will be in one-on-one meetings. Other times, you will be speaking to a large group and making presentations. Still others will require you to communicate via report or other written methods. All these situations are considered management skills.

Article / Updated 04-28-2017

Motivating people is a large part of the project manager’s job. You should know the motivation theories for the PMP Certification Exam. Motivation can be difficult because not everyone is motivated by the same type of reward. Theory X and Theory Y As proposed by Douglas McGregor, Theory X and Theory Y describe two different types of workers and how they should be managed. Theory X states that management believes that workers will do as little as possible to get by, and thus need a great deal of direction. Theory Y states that management believes that workers are interested in doing their best and, given the freedom, will perform well. Theory X Theory Y The average worker has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if possible. The average worker wants to be active and finds the physical and mental effort on the job to be satisfying. Because of their dislike for work, most people must be controlled before they will work hard enough. The greatest results come from willing participation, which will tend to produce self-direction toward goals without coercion or control. The average worker prefers to be directed and dislikes responsibility. The average worker seeks the opportunity for personal improvement and self-respect. The average worker is not ambitious, and desires security above everything else. Imagination, creativity, and ingenuity can be used to solve work problems by a large number of employees. Motivation-Hygiene Theory Frederick Herzberg believed that the two aspects to the work environment are hygiene and motivation. He stated that hygiene factors don’t motivate a worker to perform. However, the way they are implemented — or not implemented — can lead to employee dissatisfaction. On the other hand, motivation factors lead to higher individual performance. Hygiene Factors Motivation Factors Policies Achievement Administration Recognition Working conditions Growth Salary Advancement Status Interest in the job Supervision Job challenge Security Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs One of the most well-known of all motivation theories is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This theory states that human beings have basic needs and that people need to meet lower-level needs before they can move onto the next level of needs. This theory is shown as a pyramid. ERG Theory ERG Theory is similar to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but it focuses on existence, relatedness, and growth needs. Existence includes the needs for food, drink, shelter, and safety. Relatedness needs include the need to feel connected to other individuals or a group. Relatedness needs are fulfilled by establishing and maintaining relationships. Growth needs are fulfilled by personal achievement and self-actualization. McClelland’s Theory of Needs David McClelland posited that people are motivated by power, achievement, or affiliation, and that how you manage a person is different based on what motivates that individual. Need Behavior Power These people like to organize, motivate, and lead others. Rewards should be focused on giving them more responsibility. Achievement These people are result oriented. They like to reach a goal and be recognized for it. They like challenges that are reasonable. Affiliation These people seek acceptance and belonging. They like being part of a team. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory Victor Vroom states that “intensity of work effort depends on the perception that an individual’s effort will result in a desired outcome.” Employees are motivated when they believe the following: Putting in more effort will yield better job performance. Better job performance will lead to organizational rewards, such as an increase in salary or benefits. These predicted organizational rewards are valued by the employee. The theory supports the concept of the reward being tied to performance, and ensuring that the reward is what the employee wants. It emphasizes the links between behavior, rewards, and the organization’s goals. Read More from Wiley Efficient Learning: Low Stress Roadmap to PMP Certification

Article / Updated 04-28-2017

There are seven quality tools, known as the “7QC tools” in quality management circles. You should familiarize yourself with these for the PMP Certification Exam. Here is a brief description of each tool. Cause and effect diagram: Used to identify the root causes or contributors to a problem, error, or defect. The problem statement is the effect and the possible contributing factors are the causes. For example, a failure in a system integration test could be due to Improper coding Unskilled coder Inappropriate environment Inappropriate test script Insufficient bandwidth The preceding are just a few examples. And each cause can be further explored for a more elaborate cause-and-effect diagram, also known as a “fishbone” diagram (because when drawn, it looks like a fish) or an “Ishikawa” diagram (named for the person who developed it). Flowcharts. A flowchart can help you see the relationship between the process steps. You can use this information to optimize the process and to see where problems and defects can occur. Flowcharts are useful in process improvement projects or to document any process. Checksheets. Used to ensure that a series of steps are followed consistently. Checksheets (also known as “tally sheets”) can be used to organize data around a quality problem. For example, you can tally the number of times that a specific cause is the source of a defect, and then use that when creating a histogram or Pareto chart to prioritize quality problems. Pareto diagrams. A vertical bar chart that creates a graphic display of events (such as causes of defects or types of defects) in descending order. The objective is to rank problems based on the frequency of occurrence to determine the order in which to resolve them. Histograms. A vertical bar chart (like the Pareto diagram), but a histogram is arranged to show the shape of distribution of an event: for example, the shape of distribution of calls coming into a call center. It can show the spread of results (dispersion) and the median (or mean or mode). Control charts. Used to determine whether a process is stable and predictable. The planned value of a process is the centerline. For many processes, the upper and lower control limits are +/–3 standard deviations from the plan, or the mean, depending on the circumstances. The upper and lower specification limits are the limits specified in the quality requirements. If a measurement is getting close to the control limit, you should take action to get it back toward the midline. Here are the definitions from the PMBOK Guide: Control chart. A graphic display of process data over time and against established control limits, and that has a centerline that assists in detecting a trend of plotted values toward either control limit. Control limits. The area composed of three standard deviations on either side of the centerline, or mean of a normal distribution of data plotted on a control chart that reflects the expected variation in the data. Specification limits. The area, on either side of the centerline, or mean, of data plotted on a control chart that meets the customer’s requirements for a product or service. This area may be greater than or less than the area defined by the control limits. Although control charts were developed to track manufacturing and repetitive processes, they can be used to track defects, cost and schedule variance, or any other predictable event on a project. For example, it is predictable that you will have cost and schedule variances on your project. However, you want to make sure they are within an allowable limit. You can track the variances using a control chart to spot trends and to monitor the quality of cost and schedule performance. When planning for quality, establish the items that you will measure via a control chart and also set the upper and lower control limits as well as upper and lower specification limits. Scatter diagrams. An X,Y matrix that plots the relationship between two variables to determine whether a relationship exists: for example, the number of hours worked in a week and the number of errors made. A positive correlation would show that the more hours were worked, the more errors per hour occurred. Each of these seven basic quality tools can be used in the Control Quality process. During the planning process, the team meets and determines which tools to use, the parameters and measurements that should be used, and under which circumstances they will be used. Read More from Wiley Efficient Learning: Low Stress Roadmap to PMP Certification

Article / Updated 04-11-2017

The PMP Certification Exam will expect you to have a working knowledge of the create WBS outputs. Here are a couple of samples of a WBS for a childcare center so you can see different approaches. This WBS is decomposed by major deliverables. This WBS is arranged by phases. Either approach to the WBS will work. Maybe you would arrange it differently. There is no one correct way to arrange your WBS. The point is to make sure all the work is represented in the deliverables with nothing left out. It should be complete and logical, and help you manage and control your project. So set it up in a way that works for you and your team. Note, too, that the WBS samples are presented in outline format. Many times, people start with sticky notes and develop a WBS that looks like an organizational chart. You can do that down to about three levels (or about 50 sticky notes) before it gets too unwieldy. Still, this approach is a good way to get a global picture of the project. WBS dictionary Your WBS is a key output of this process, but there are others. The WBS dictionary is an output that’s used on larger projects to provide a detailed explanation for each component of the WBS. Work breakdown structure dictionary. A document that provides detailed deliverable, activity, and scheduling information about each component in the work breakdown structure. For each WBS component, the WBS dictionary includes a brief definition of the scope or statement of work, defined deliverable(s), a list of associated activities, and a list of milestones. Other information may include responsible organization, start and end dates, resources required, an estimate of cost, charge number, contract information, quality requirements, and technical references to facilitate performance of the work. You won’t need a WBS dictionary for all projects, but a WBS dictionary is helpful as a communication tool for large projects to make sure that all the details of a work package are fully understood. Scope baseline The scope baseline is composed of three elements: the scope statement, the WBS, and the WBS dictionary. This is the sum total of the project scope, and is part of the project management plan. Any changes to project or product scope will impact one or more of the elements in the scope baseline, and most likely many other project documents as well. Scope baseline. The approved version of a scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), and its associated WBS dictionary, that can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison. The scope baseline should be tightly controlled after it’s agreed upon. When creating your WBS, WBS dictionary, and scope baseline, you might need to go back and update or modify other project documents.

Article / Updated 04-11-2017

You will need to know basic information about the stakeholder register for the PMP Certification. The stakeholder register, which records relevant information for each stakeholder or group of stakeholders, is a wonderful tool to keep information organized. This will become an input into the communications management plan because communication is the main way you can manage stakeholder engagement. You can have whatever fields in the stakeholder register you want. Common fields include Name Position Expectations Information from your stakeholder analysis Depending on your project, you will fill in some fields and leave others blank, as necessary. You will find this is a common theme. While expectations aren’t listed, information from the stakeholder analysis and the stakeholder function is listed on the project. Like all things in the project management world, tailor the use of the forms and techniques to suit your needs! This process and the process to develop the project charter interact. You should expect to conduct these processes concurrently and iteratively until your charter is signed off and approved and you have identified your project stakeholders to the extent possible during project initiation.

Article / Updated 04-11-2017

The first item you reference in preparation for the PMP Certification Exam is the quality management plan, which is part of the project management plan. The quality management plan provides direction for the Control Quality process. For example, it can have the following information: Information for control charts includes the upper and lower control limits and the upper and lower specification limits. The number of items to sample if you use statistical sampling, the criteria you are sampling for, and the measurements for attribute and/or variable sampling. Flow charts of an existing process that you’re looking to improve. Your quality management plan will also define the roles and responsibilities for quality control and identify the organizational process assets, such as any policies and procedures that need to be followed. Quality metrics are the specific measurements that need to be met for the results to meet the quality requirements. For a childcare center project, you could have the following metrics for schedule performance: 90% of all activities must start within 3 days of their scheduled start. 100% of all activities on the critical path must finish on or before their scheduled finish date. No activity on a path with float shall use more than 50% of the float. A quality checklist helps you make sure that all the proper steps are being followed to comply with policies, regulations, or processes. You can use a punch list (a fancy construction term for a list of unfinished matters that require attention) for the construction part of the childcare project to ensure all the construction requirements are met and that the center is ready to open. The information in the quality plan, metrics, and checklists is used with the work performance data and the deliverables. The work performance data come from the Direct and Manage Project Work process. The work performance data are usually used to determine whether the project performance is acceptable. The deliverables are used to determine whether the product performance is acceptable. Validate change requests The Control Quality process is where change requests are validated. Verification that the change was implemented correctly takes place in the Perform Integrated Change Control process. The approved change requests are an input to Control Quality. The implementation of those change requests is reviewed; if the change requests are implemented as directed, they are validated. This process closes the loop on the change request process. Following the change request through the Perform Integrated Change Control process and then validating that it was implemented correctly in the Control Quality process may not seem like such a big deal, but when you’re implementing a scope change — particularly a big scope change — you need to spend sufficient time making sure you understand the requirements, deliverables, resources, and risks associated with that change. Additionally, the schedule and budget documents need to reflect the change. When validating the change in the Control Quality process, you make sure that the work breakdown structure (WBS), schedule, budget, resource requirements, and all other documentation are updated and consistently reflect the approved change. Example of validating change requests To bring life to this subject, here’s an example. Imagine a customer sees the product and wants changes. Using a scenario from the example of a childcare center, assume that the parents come to the center after it’s framed but before any of the electric, plumbing, and HVAC work is done. Some of the parents think it would be a good idea to increase the size of the playroom and decrease the size of the eating area. The contractor is on site and says that could be done and that he can give an estimate for cost and schedule implications by the end of the week. Carry this scenario further and assume that the change control process was used, the schedule impact was only a week, and the budget impact was $12,000. The change control board decides to accept this change. The decision is communicated to the parents, and the change is incorporated. As part of the quality control process, you want to see that the plans were changed as specified by the parents. You should check the schedule to make sure the new work doesn’t have a schedule impact of greater than one week, and check the budget to ensure that the $12,000 is recorded — but no more than that. You should also do a walk-through after the change is implemented to make sure the area was reconfigured correctly.

Article / Updated 04-11-2017

The fundamental aspects of controlling procurements for PMP Certification Exam purposes are analyzing performance, managing disputes, and administering the contract. These techniques are important requirements to know about for any project. Analyze performance To analyze the contractor’s performance, review his performance reports. To discuss performance reviews, on-site inspections, and audits, consider this scenario. Assume that you just took over managing an aerospace project. The design, development, and manufacturing for a jet engine are outsourced to Speed of Sound (SOS) Jets. You are reviewing the performance reports, including the following summary graphic. The contractor status graph shows you that the contractor is behind and over budget. Procurement performance review Based on the contractor status report, you decide that you need to go to the contractor’s location and have a meeting. You convene with your contracting officer, the SOS representative assigned to this contract, your technical lead, and your quality assurance team lead. You ask the SOS contractor to have his project manager, technical lead, contract administrator, and any key suppliers he deems appropriate present for the meeting. You also tell SOS that you want all technical drawings and documentation available and that you would like a tour of the facilities where the work is being done. At the meeting, you begin by introducing yourself and asking the SOS project manager, Kevin, to bring you up to date on the past 18 months of work. Kevin states that SOS is 90% done with design and 65% done with development, but hasn’t started manufacturing. He states that SOS had problems with the thrust on the first prototype and had to go back and redesign some parts. The redesign, retooling, and machining put SOS behind schedule and over budget. Your technical expert is reviewing the drawings and concurs with the project manager’s explanation. You ask Kevin to discuss ways to get the schedule back on track and look for ways to minimize the overrun while the technical lead and QA team member tour the facility and look at the new prototype. Inspection and audit The quality assurance team member and technical lead validate the progress as reported and also verify that the work done so far is acceptable. They are also looking at the processes for material check-in, usage, and reporting to make sure that your company is charged only for material used on your project. Your contracting officer and the SOS contract administrator are reviewing the terms of the contract. SOS believes there have been some constructive changes to the original design. The two contracts people are discussing this issue. If they can’t come to a resolution about the situation, it might turn into a claim that will need to be settled per the contractual language. Claims and disputes Take a look at the claims and dispute resolution options. Claim. A request, demand, or assertion of rights by a seller against a buyer, or vice versa, for consideration, compensation, or payment under the terms of a legally binding contract, such as for a disputed change. Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR). A means to settle claims or disputes without litigation. The two primary means of ADR are Arbitration and Mediation. Mediation. A method of ADR used to settle claims and disputes informally. An independent party aids in settling the claim or dispute between the parties. Arbitration. A method of ADR used to settle claims and disputes without litigation. An impartial third party, usually a professional arbitrator, hears the testimony and reviews evidence from both sides. Both parties agree that arbitration will be binding, meaning that the arbitrator’s award is final. The contract will have a section describing how disputes and claims should be handled. The preferred method of handling disputes is to first try and negotiate a settlement. If the two parties can’t come to an agreement, they will have to use some form of ADR. Force majeure and liquidated damages Two additional contractual terms that you should be familiar with for the exam are force majeure and liquidated damages. Force majeure is usually associated with natural disasters or “acts of God.” It allows the seller a delay for delivery. Force Majeure. An event that is the result of elements of nature; sometimes also referred to as “acts of God.” A force majeure event allows a party to delay its contractual obligations because of circumstances beyond its control, such as unusually bad weather, natural disasters, political uprisings, strikes, and so on. Liquidated Damages. A contract provision that establishes a predetermined award if a party fails to perform as promised. Liquidated damages can only be compensatory damages — to make the injured party whole again. If they are disproportionately large, they are unenforceable. Liquidated damages are damages that are reimbursed on a set value. Contract administration The contract administration function is about using the internal systems to maintain contract compliance. For example, all changes to the scope of work, the schedule, or contractual terms must follow the contractually stipulated terms and conditions. The payment system is used to match up a contract number, the SOW, invoices, and accounts payable categories. All invoices need to be matched to an SOW on an active contract. In some instances, the project manager may need to sign off before an invoice is paid. A records management system keeps all correspondence associated with a contract in order. The system includes procedures, software, and processes needed to maintain the contract information throughout the life of the contract. Expect to see test questions regarding administering procurements that deal with the following knowledge and skills: Project performance metrics (cost, duration, effort) Controlling performance against the project management plan Variance and trend analysis techniques Change management techniques Integrated change control techniques Cost analysis techniques Problem-solving techniques, including root cause analysis Risk identification and analysis techniques Risk response techniques Performance measurement and tracking techniques, including CPM, PERT, and EVM Reporting procedures

Article / Updated 04-11-2017

Arriving at the necessary outputs for your budget determination is important information to know for the PMP Certification Exam. After you balance the scope, schedule, budget, risk, and funding limitations, you have a viable cost baseline, your project budget, and your funding requirements. You use that cost baseline to measure, monitor, and control your overall cost performance on the project. When using EV (earned value) management, the cost performance baseline is referred to as the performance measurement baseline. Cost Baseline. The approved version of the time-phased project, excluding any management reserves, which can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results. Performance measurement baseline (PMB). An approved integrated scope-schedule-cost plan for the project work against which project execution is compared to measure and manage performance. The PMB includes contingency reserve but excludes management reserve. Here, you see a cost baseline for the playground installation. The difference between the cost baseline and the project budget is management reserves. You will measure performance against the baseline; however, you will need the management reserve as part of the project budget to address unforeseen risks. The project funding requirements outline the amount of total funding needed for the project. You might see them overlaid on the cost baseline for each time period. Although project expenditures usually occur relatively smoothly, funding often occurs in chunks. Now, you will see the cost baseline with funding occurring in a stair-step fashion. Another way of showing the funding needs is to show the build-up from work packages to control accounts to the cost baseline, then the project budget and, finally, the total funding requirements. Total funding requirements include the cost baseline + management reserve. The work in the WBS plus contingency reserves makes up the cost baseline. The addition of the management reserve determines the project budget. After the cost baseline and funding requirements are established, you might need to update your schedule, risk register, and other project documents.

Article / Updated 04-11-2017

Modern quality management is something you should have a handle on for the PMP Certification Exam. It focuses on customer satisfaction, which is generally defined as conformance to requirements and fitness for use. In other words, the product, process, and project meet the requirements, and the end result is used and useful. Certainly, when talking about product satisfaction, the focus is on the customer; however, project satisfaction needs to take into consideration the project team, the sponsor, vendors, regulatory entities, and other project-specific stakeholders. Therefore, “project quality management,” refers to a focus on stakeholder satisfaction. It’s important that all stakeholders are satisfied, not just the customer. In this sense, quality management is very integrated with collecting requirements and planning stakeholder management. Another fundamental tenet is that quality should be planned, designed, and built in, rather than inspected in. A project is generally less expensive if you go into it preventing mistakes from happening rather than correcting those mistakes later on in the project’s lifecycle. Part of quality management is continuous improvement. This goes for product and project quality. The underlying basis for quality improvement is the plan-do-check-act cycle that Walter Shewhart developed and J. Edwards Deming refined and publicized in the 1950s. Much of the capability to significantly improve a product or process is dependent upon an investment in quality. This type of investment is usually done outside the project. Typically, management is responsible for the investment and providing the resources and organizational support for quality management. Examples include bringing proprietary methods (such as Capability Maturity Model Integration; CMMI) into the organization, or investing more in appraisal and analysis versus defect repair. One of the aspects of quality you need to be familiar with is the distinction between quality and grade. Quality. The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements. Grade. A category or rank used to distinguish items that have the same functional use (say, a hammer) but do not share the same requirements for quality (say, different hammers may need to withstand different amounts of force). For an example of a childcare center, you can compare quality and grade by the selection process used to choose a secure entrance for the facility. One vendor, Secure Source, proposes using a security system with cameras, retinal scans, infrared beams at the windows, a double-door entry system, and panic buttons that are directly wired to Secure Source. Another vendor, Breach Proof, proposes using a double door with a badge swipe machine for entry. This would be bolstered with a computer application called Guardian that records entry and exit times by person as well as authorized drop-off and pick-up persons. You do some research on both companies and find the following reviews for Secure Source: “We used Secure Source, and I got caught in between the double doors with my daughter. They couldn’t get us out for 2 hours.” “The retinal scanners keep going off line, and we have to shut down and reboot the system to get them to reset.” “When we called the hotline to test the responsiveness, we were put on hold!” Then you do some research on Breach Proof and see the following reviews: “When I called, they picked up right away. The people were very helpful, and their response time was excellent.” “The Guardian system is wonderful! It is so easy to use. It not only keeps the facility secure, it helps me plan my staffing!” These examples demonstrate that while Secure Source is high grade (it has lots of features and functions), it is low quality (doesn’t meet the criteria of “fit for use”). On the other hand, the Breach Proof proposal is lower grade, but it is fit for use. In other words, it is higher quality because it meets the needs, doesn’t break down, and is used — and useful. Another distinction you need to know is the difference between accuracy and precision. Accuracy. Within the quality management system, accuracy is an assessment of correctness. Precision. Within the quality management system, precision is an assessment of exactness. Here’s a scenario for the childcare center example. The foreman is working with two new apprentices. He needs to frame some windows. He tells the apprentices he needs 24 boards that are four feet long, and each apprentice should cut 12 boards. The foreman comes back and checks the results. One apprentice, Ryan, has his boards lined up; even without measuring, the foreman can tell that they are different lengths. He tells Ryan that he needs to work on his precision so that all the boards are the same length. Next, the foreman looks at Seth’s work. At first, he is very pleased. All the boards are lined up against the wall, and they are all the same length. He thinks this is very good. However, after the foreman measures the boards, he finds they are all 46.75″ — not the 48″ he asked for. So, although the measurements are precise, they’re not accurate. If you remember the preceding two scenarios, you’ll do fine answering questions about grade, quality, accuracy, and precision on the exam. You might come across a few other concepts on the exam: Total Quality Management (TQM): The practice of TQM focuses on organizations always looking for ways to improve the quality of their products and processes. Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI): Like TQM, this practice also looks to improve the quality of products and processes, but it focuses on continuous incremental improvements. You may also hear this referred to as Kaizen, the Japanese word for improvement.

Article / Updated 04-11-2017

After the initial planning for the schedule has been completed, you need to determine all the work that needs to be done. For PMP Certification purposes, this is referred to as Define Activities. Define Activities. Identifying and documenting the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables. The terms activity and task can be used interchangeably in practice, literature, and the exam. Define Activities: Inputs The schedule management plan provides guidance on the level of detail you will use to record the project activities. To define activities, start with the scope baseline: in particular, the WBS. The WBS contains the work packages that you will decompose to determine activities. The scope statement — which gives a detailed narrative description of the project — contains assumptions and constraints that need to be considered. You can use organizational process assets (OPAs), such as information from previous projects or templates, to help you. The organization’s information system, including the preferred software for schedule development, is an EEF that guides your approach to recording the activities. Define Activities: Tools and Techniques When you create your WBS, you decompose the work to create work packages. For creating the schedule, though, you decompose work packages to create schedule activities. For smaller projects, this may occur simultaneously. If you were redoing your backyard, you might identify the deck as a deliverable but then go right into the activities needed, such as set posts, cement posts, build frame, set planks, and build railing. It is such a small project that breaking it into two steps (identifying deliverables and the activities) doesn’t make sense. You can do them at the same time. Generally, though, on larger projects, the WBS is agreed to first, and then the decomposition into activities occurs. Activities are the actions needed to create work packages. In other words, activities are verbs. Your WBS should be noun-centric, but your activity list should be verb-centric. Look at this from the perspective of defining the activities. WBS Deliverable Schedule Activities Comment 1.0 Playground equipment 1.1 Determine equipment needs 1.2 Conduct market research 1.3 Order equipment 1.4 Equipment delivered 1.5 Install equipment The activities are all the actions needed to complete the deliverable. The numbering scheme from the WBS is elaborated with the schedule activities. Using rolling wave planning is common when identifying all the activities and developing the schedule. For long projects, though, identifying all the activities that will need to take place two years in the future isn’t feasible. Therefore, identify only those detailed activities that you need to accomplish in a 90- to 120-day range and keep the information “in the future” at a higher level. With this approach, you can see how the process of planning and developing the schedule occurs throughout a project. Usually, your team members identify the activities needed to complete the work packages. They have the subject matter expertise necessary to identify the steps and work needed. In some organizations, you will be able to use a schedule from a similar project to get a head start, but you will still need to have your team members review it and modify it to meet the needs for your particular project. Define Activities: Outputs The first output for this process is a list of activities. For a shorter project, you should build a comprehensive list. Comparatively, for a longer project, your list should have sufficient detail to build a realistic schedule. For complex projects, it’s appropriate to extend the description of the activities by documenting activity attributes. Activity attributes can include Activity identifier or code (usually an extension from the WBS numbering scheme) Activity description Predecessor and successor activities Logical relationships Leads and lags Imposed dates Constraints Assumptions Required resources and skill levels Geographic location of performance Type of effort Note that at this point in time you don’t have effort or duration information. That comes later. You can always add that information to your activity attributes as a form of progressive elaboration. A list of activity attributes might be too detailed for your project. Generally, documenting activity attributes is reserved for projects that meet the following criteria: Large projects with a lengthy duration Complex projects with many interdependencies and stakeholders Projects with much uncertainty or risk Projects that include technology that’s unproven or experimental in nature When contractual arrangements are in place that necessitate clear and complete definition Tailor your project to meet your needs. If you don’t need to record activity attributes, don’t. If you need only specific information, create a form that suits your needs. A final output of this process is a milestone list. This records all the milestones and communicates if they are mandatory (as required by a contract) or optional. Milestone. A significant point or event in the project.