Chapter 1 – Introduction to Project Management for Human Resources Show
There are three broad categories of projects to consider: Strategic Projects, Operational Projects, and Compliance Projects.
Traditional Project ManagementWhile project management can be traced back to the building of the Great Pyramids in Egypt, it was really in the post-WW2 industrial boom of the 1950s that project managers started to develop the tools and techniques used in modern project management. These tools were used to complete large industrial and military projects, where the scope of work (what we need to accomplish in a project) was well defined. For example, the scope of what we have to do can be planned out well when we are constructing an apartment building, making a nuclear submarine missile, or building an oil refinery. These traditional techniques have been elaborated and standardized by organizations such as the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the US and The International Project Management Association (headquartered in Switzerland) and AXELOS (the organization behind the PRINCE2 certification used in Great Britain). These traditional techniques were also adapted to software development. Techniques such as waterfall (where phases of projects are sequential) and function point analysis (a set of rules to measure functionality to users) were advanced as effective ways to manage software development projects. However, as the world of software development changed—from large, time-consuming projects that were loaded on mainframe computers to fast-moving, fast changing, internet-based applications many programmers found waterfall and similar methods to be limiting. These techniques lacked flexibility and were inadequate to deal with a rapidly changing, competitive landscape. As a result, a “revolution” of sorts was mounted and out of that revolution came several so-called Agile project management methods. Agile Project ManagementAgile project management is a broad term for project management techniques that are iterative (repetitive) in nature (divided into specific periods of time). Rather than trying to develop all aspects of a project or software application and then presenting that result to the customer after a long development cycle (6 to 24 months), Agile techniques use short development cycles in which features of high value are developed first and a working product/software can be reviewed and tested at the end of the cycle (20-40 days). Chapter 11 is dedicated to discussing agile project management. What is the term used to describe the set of activities through which a product or service is created and delivered to customers?A value chain is a concept describing the full chain of a business's activities in the creation of a product or service -- from the initial reception of materials all the way through its delivery to market, and everything in between.
What are the three elements crucial to be successful in operations and supply chain management?Generally the key aspects of Supply Chain management are Purchasing (sourcing), Planning (scheduling) and Logistics (delivery).
What is the most commonly used priority rule for setting queue discipline?A first-come, first-served line is the most common type of queue that we join in our everyday lives and is generally accepted as the fairest way to operate a queue. In queuing theory, the rule governing queue operation is known as queuing discipline.
What is the name of the process in which one company studies the processes of another firm to identify best practices?Benchmarking is a process of measuring the performance of a company's products, services, or processes against those of another business considered to be the best in the industry, aka “best in class.” The point of benchmarking is to identify internal opportunities for improvement.
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