Editing Project management (section)

==Approaches of project management==
A 2017 study suggested that the success of any project depends on how well four key aspects are aligned with the contextual dynamics affecting the project, these are referred to as the ''four P's'':<ref>{{cite book|isbn=9781498757911|title=Project Feasibility: Tools for Uncovering Points of Vulnerability |last1=Mesly |first1=Olivier |date=15 December 2016 |publisher=CRC Press, Taylor & Francis }}.</ref>

* ''Plan'': The planning and forecasting activities. 
* ''Process:'' The overall approach to all activities and project governance.
* ''People:'' Including dynamics of how they collaborate and communicate.
* ''Power:'' Lines of authority, decision-makers, organograms, policies for implementation and the like.

There are a number of approaches to organizing and completing project activities, including phased, lean, iterative, and incremental. There are also several extensions to project planning, for example, based on outcomes (product-based) or activities (process-based).

Regardless of the [[methodology]] employed, careful consideration must be given to the overall project objectives, timeline, and cost, as well as the roles and responsibilities of all participants and [[Project stakeholder|stakeholders]].<ref>Cf. The Bridger (blog), [http://www.thebridger.co.uk/project-management-pmp-prince-2-or-an-iterative-or-agile-variant/ "Project management: PMP, Prince 2, or an Iterative or Agile variant"]</ref>

===Benefits realization management===
{{Main|Benefits realisation management}}
Benefits realization management (BRM) enhances normal project management techniques through a focus on outcomes (benefits) of a project rather than products or outputs and then measuring the degree to which that is happening to keep a project on track. This can help to reduce the risk of a completed project being a failure by delivering agreed upon requirements (outputs) i.e. project success but failing to deliver the benefits (outcomes) of those requirements i.e. product success. Note that good requirements management will ensure these benefits are captured as requirements of the project and their achievement monitored throughout the project.

In addition, BRM practices aim to ensure the strategic alignment between project outcomes and business strategies. The effectiveness of these practices is supported by recent research evidencing BRM practices influencing project success from a strategic perspective across different countries and industries. These wider effects are called the strategic impact.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Serra|first1=C. E. M.|last2=Kunc|first2=M.|year=2014|title=Benefits Realisation Management and its influence on project success and on the execution of business strategies|url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/60436/|journal=International Journal of Project Management|volume=33|issue=1|pages=53–66|doi=10.1016/j.ijproman.2014.03.011|doi-access=free}}</ref>

An example of delivering a project to requirements might be agreeing to deliver a computer system that will process staff data and manage payroll, holiday, and staff personnel records in shorter times with reduced errors. Under BRM, the agreement might be to achieve a specified reduction in staff hours and errors required to process and maintain staff data after the system installation when compared without the system.

=== Critical path method ===
{{Main|Critical path method}}
Critical path method (CPM) is an algorithm for determining the schedule for project activities. It is the traditional process used for predictive-based project planning. The CPM method evaluates the sequence of activities, the work effort required, the inter-dependencies, and the resulting float time per line sequence to determine the required project duration. Thus, by definition, the critical path is the pathway of tasks on the network diagram that has no extra time available (or very little extra time)."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Going Beyond Critical Path Method|url=https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/going-beyond-critical-path-method-6297|access-date=2021-12-27|website=www.pmi.org|language=en}}</ref>

===Critical chain project management===
{{Main|Critical chain project management}}
Critical chain project management (CCPM) is an application of the [[theory of constraints]] (TOC) to planning and managing projects and is designed to deal with the uncertainties inherent in managing projects, while taking into consideration the limited availability of [[Resource (project management)|resources]] (physical, human skills, as well as management & support capacity) needed to execute projects.

The goal is to increase the flow of projects in an organization ([[throughput]]). Applying the first three of the [[Theory of Constraints#The five focusing steps|five focusing steps]] of TOC, the system constraint for all projects, as well as the resources, are identified. To exploit the constraint, tasks on the critical chain are given priority over all other activities.

=== Earned value management ===
{{Main|Earned value management}}

Earned value management (EVM) extends project management with techniques to improve project monitoring.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mahmoudi |first1=Amin |last2=Bagherpour |first2=Morteza |last3=Javed |first3=Saad Ahmed |date=2021 |title=Grey Earned Value Management: Theory and Applications |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/tem.2019.2920904 |journal=IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management |volume=68 |issue=6 |pages=1703–1721 |doi=10.1109/tem.2019.2920904 |s2cid=202102868 |issn=0018-9391|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It illustrates project progress towards completion in terms of work and value (cost). [[Earned Schedule]] is an extension to the theory and practice of EVM.

===Iterative and incremental project management===
{{See also|Iterative and incremental development}}In critical studies of project management, it has been noted that phased approaches are not well suited for projects which are large-scale and multi-company,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/managing-complex-projects-that-are-too-large-too-long-and-too-costly.html|title=Managing Complex Projects that are Too Large, Too Long and Too Costly|last=Hass|first=Kathleen B. (Kitty)|date=March 2, 2010|work=PM Times|access-date=2017-06-27|language=en-gb}}</ref> with undefined, ambiguous, or fast-changing requirements,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Conforto|first1=E. C.|last2=Salum|first2=F.|last3=Amaral|first3=D. C.|last4=da Silva|first4=S. L.|last5=Magnanini de Almeida|first5=L. F|date=June 2014|title=Can agile project management be adopted by industries other than software development?|journal=Project Management Journal|volume=45|issue=3|pages=21–34|doi=10.1002/pmj.21410|s2cid=110595660}}</ref> or those with high degrees of risk, dependency, and fast-changing technologies. The [[Cone of Uncertainty|cone of uncertainty]] explains some of this as the planning made on the initial phase of the project suffers from a high degree of uncertainty. This becomes especially true as software development is often the realization of a new or novel product.

These complexities are better handled with a more exploratory or iterative and incremental approach.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making|title=A Leader's Framework for Decision Making|last1=Snowden|first1=David J.|date=November 2007|work=Harvard Business Review|access-date=2017-06-27|last2=Boone|first2=Mary E.|author-link=Dave Snowden}}</ref> Several models of iterative and incremental project management have evolved, including [[Agile Project Management|agile project management]], [[dynamic systems development method]], [[extreme project management]], and Innovation Engineering®.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://innovationengineering.org/news/stanford-researchers-rate-innovation-engineering-as-breakout-innovation-system/|title=Stanford Research Study Finds Innovation Engineering is a true "Breakout Innovation" System|date=June 20, 2017|work=IE News|access-date=2017-08-11|language=en-GB}}</ref>

=== Lean project management ===
{{Main|Lean project management}}
Lean project management uses the principles from [[lean manufacturing]] to focus on delivering value with less waste and reduced time.

=== Project lifecycle ===
There are five phases to a project lifecycle; known as process groups.  Each process group represents a series of inter-related processes to manage the work through a series of distinct steps to be completed. This type of project approach is often referred to as "traditional"<ref name="wysocki">{{cite book |title=Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme |last=Wysocki |first=Robert K. |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-1118729168 |edition=Seventh }}</ref> or "[[Waterfall model|waterfall]]".<ref name="Roy70">{{cite journal|first=Winston W.|last=Royce|url=http://www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2003/cmsc838p/Process/waterfall.pdf|title=Managing the Development of Large Software Systems|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315200930/http://www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2003/cmsc838p/Process/waterfall.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-15|journal=Technical Papers of Western Electronic Show and Convention (WesCon)|date=August 25–28, 1970|location=Los Angeles}}</ref> The five process groups are:[[File:Project Management (phases).png|thumb|right|320px|Typical development phases of an engineering project]]
# [[Project Initiation Documentation|Initiating]]
# [[project planning|Planning]]
# Executing
# Monitoring and Controlling
# Closing

Some industries may use variations of these project stages and rename them to better suit the organization. For example, when working on a [[brick-and-mortar]] design and construction, projects will typically progress through stages like pre-planning, conceptual design, schematic design, design development, construction drawings (or contract documents), and construction administration.

While the phased approach works well for small, well-defined projects, it often results in challenge or failure on larger projects, or those that are more complex or have more ambiguities, issues, and risks<ref name="Stellman05">{{Cite book|url=http://www.stellman-greene.com/aspm/|title=Applied Software Project Management|last1=Stellman|first1=Andrew|last2=Greene|first2=Jennifer|publisher=O'Reilly Media|year=2005|isbn=978-0-596-00948-9|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209011617/http://www.stellman-greene.com/aspm/|archive-date=2015-02-09|url-status=dead}}</ref> - see the parodying 'six phases of a big project'.

===Process-based management===
{{Main |Process-based management}}
The incorporation of process-based management has been driven by the use of maturity models such as the [[OPM3]] and the [[CMMI]] (capability maturity model integration; see [[:Image:Capability Maturity Model.jpg]]

=== Project production management ===
{{Main |Project production management}}
Project production management is the application of operations management to the delivery of capital projects. The Project production management framework is based on a project as a production system view, in which a project transforms inputs (raw materials, information, labor, plant & machinery) into outputs (goods and services).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Modern construction management|last1=McCaffer|first1=Ronald|last2=Harris|first2=Frank|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2013|isbn=978-1118510186|page=5|oclc=834624541}}</ref>

===Product-based planning===
{{Main|Product-based planning}}
Product-based planning is a structured approach to project management, based on identifying all of the products (project [[deliverable]]s) that contribute to achieving the project objectives. As such, it defines a successful project as output-oriented rather than activity- or task-oriented.<ref name="managing">Office for Government Commerce (1996) ''Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2'', p14</ref> The most common implementation of this approach is [[PRINCE2]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ogc.gov.uk/methods_prince_2__background.asp| archive-url = http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110822131357/http://www.ogc.gov.uk/methods_prince_2__background.asp| url-status = dead| archive-date = 2011-08-22| title = OGC – PRINCE2 – Background}}</ref>