Introduction

• Introduction^①
• Project Management History^②
• Project Managers^③
• PMBOK^④

• Project management
  • The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.^①
  • Project management refers to guiding the project work to deliver the intended outcomes. Project teams can achieve the outcomes using a broad range of approaches (e.g., predictive, hybrid, and adaptive).^②

• Many people and organizations today have a new or renewed interest in project management
• The Project Management Institute reported that by 2027, employers will need 87.7 million individuals working in project management–oriented roles.^①
• According to PMI’s 2021 Talent Gap report, 2.3 million new project management employees will be needed each year to meet global talent demands by 2030.

• The top skills employers look for in new college graduates are all related to project management: team-work, problem-solving, and verbal communications.^①
• Organizations waste $97 million for every $1 billion spent on projects, according to PMI’s Pulse of the Profession® report.^②
• The Saudi Smart Government Strategy is expected to set Saudi Arabia’s AI market to touch $135.2 billion by 2030, which is estimated to contribute 12.4 percent to the Kingdom’s gross domestic product.
• Saudi Arabia’s government spending on technology has been valued at around $24.7 billion (SR 93 billion) in 2025, the highest in the world, accounting for 21.7 percent of national spending

• The profession of project management is growing at a very rapid pace
• It is helpful to understand the history of the field, the role of professional societies like the Project Management Institute, and the growth in project management software^①

• Some people argue that building the Egyptian pyramids was a project, as was building the Great Wall of China.
• Most people consider the Manhattan Project (led by Pr. Oppenheimer) to be the first project to use “modern” project management.^①
• This three-year, $2 billion (in 1946 dollars) project had a separate project manager and a technical manager.^②

• Several global dynamics are forcing organizations to rethink their practices:
  • Talent development for project and program managers is a top concern
  • Basic project management techniques are core competencies
  • Organizations want to use more agile approaches to project management
  • Benefits realization of projects is a key metric^①

• Ethics, loosely defined, is a set of principles that guide our decision making based on personal values of what is “right” and “wrong”^①
• Project managers often face ethical dilemmas
• In order to earn PMP® certification, applicants must agree to PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct^②
• Several questions on the PMP® exam are related to professional responsibility, including ethics

• Project Managers are mainly responsible for all issues related to the software project; issues may vary depending on the project scale, some of the common issues are:
  • Schedule
  • Budget
  • Quality^①
  • Delivery of products
  • Locking in resources
• As a project manager you will notice that most of your time is consumed chasing and collecting the status of project tasks.^②

The Role of the Project Manager

• Job descriptions vary, but most include responsibilities like planning, scheduling, coordinating, and working with people to achieve project goals
• Remember that 97% of successful projects were led by experienced project managers, who can often help influence success factors^①

Skills for Project Managers

Project managers need a wide variety of skills, They should:

• Be comfortable with change
• Understand the organizations they work in and with
• Be able to lead teams to accomplish project goals

• Better control of financial, physical, and human resources
• Improved customer relations
• Shorter development times
• Lower costs and improved productivity
• Higher quality and increased reliability
• Higher profit margins
• Better internal coordination
• Positive impact on meeting strategic goals^①
• Higher worker morale (less stress)
  • Less overworked personnel

• The Standard for Project Management provides a basis for understanding project management and how it enables intended outcomes.
• This standard applies regardless of industry, location, size, or delivery approach, for example, predictive, hybrid, or adaptive.^① It describes the system within which projects operate, including governance, possible functions, the project environment, and considerations for the relationship between project management and product management.^②

1. Stewardship: Act responsibly and ethically.
2. Team: Foster trust, respect, and open communication to empower team members.
3. Stakeholders: involve stakeholders
4. Value: Prioritize outcomes that deliver value
5. Systems Thinking: understand how project elements interact within broader organizational and external contexts.
6. Leadership: Lead with integrity, adaptability, and empathy
7. Tailoring: Adapt methods, tools, and approaches
8. Quality: Ensure quality is embedded from the start
9. Complexity: Embrace uncertainty and complexity
10. Risk: Identify, assess, and respond to risks
11. Adaptability and Resiliency: Be flexible and ready to pivot
12. Change: Support transformation and continuous improvement

-> key areas of focus that must be managed effectively to achieve successful project outcomes^①

1. Stakeholders
2. Team
3. Development Approach and Life Cycle
4. Planning
5. Project Work
6. Delivery
7. Measurement
8. Uncertainty^②

• Outcome
  • An end result or consequence of a process or project.
  • Outcomes can include outputs and artifacts, but have a broader intent by focusing on the benefits and value that the project was undertaken to deliver.^①
• Portfolio
  • Projects, programs, subsidiary portfolios, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives (Examples: A company’s R&D programs, marketing campaigns, or infrastructure upgrades)^②
• Product
  • An artifact that is produced, is quantifiable, and can be either an end item in itself or a component item.

• Program
  • Related projects, subsidiary programs, and program activities that are managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually.^① (Ex: digital transformation initiative of all the processes of a company)
• Project
  • A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.^②
  • The temporary nature of projects indicates a beginning and an end to the project work or a phase of the project work.
  • Projects can stand alone or be part of a program or portfolio.

• Project manager
  • The person assigned by the performing organization to lead the project team that is responsible for achieving the project objectives.^①
  • Project managers perform a variety of functions, such as facilitating the project team work to achieve the outcomes and managing the processes to deliver intended outcomes.

• Project team
  • A set of individuals performing the work of the project to achieve its objectives.
• Project Management Team
  • The members of the project team who are directly involved in project management activities.^①
• System for value delivery
  • A collection of strategic business activities aimed at building, sustaining, and/or advancing an organization.
  • Portfolios, programs, projects, products, and operations can ALL be part of an organization’s system for value delivery.^②

• Value
  • The worth, importance, or usefulness of something.
  • Different stakeholders perceive value in different ways.^①
  • Customers can define value as the ability to use specific features or functions of a product.
  • Organizations can focus on business value as determined with financial metrics, such as the benefits less the cost of achieving those benefits.^②
  • Societal value can include the contribution to groups of people, communities, or the environment.

• It provides a context for value delivery, governance, project functions, the project environment, and product management.^①
  • How to Create Value
    • Describes how projects operate within a system to produce value (organizations and stakeholders)
  • Guided by an Organizational Governance System (policies, performance monitoring..)
    • Describes how governance supports a system for value delivery.
  • Describes Functions Associated with Projects
    • Identifies the functions that support projects.
  • Specifies The Project Environment
    • Identifies internal and external factors that influence projects and the delivery of value.
  • Specifies detailed Product Management Considerations
    • Identifies the ways portfolios, programs, projects, and products relate.

• Projects exist within a larger system, such as a governmental agency, organization, or contractual arrangement.
• Organizations create value for stakeholders. Examples of ways that projects produce value include, but are not limited to:^①
  • Creating a new product, service, or result that meets the needs of customers or end users;
  • Creating positive social or environmental contributions;
  • Improving efficiency, productivity, effectiveness, or responsiveness;
  • Enabling the changes needed to facilitate organizational transition to its desired future state; and
  • Sustaining benefits enabled by previous programs, projects, or business operations.

• The components in a value delivery system create deliverables used to produce outcomes.
• An outcome is the end result or consequence of a process or a project.
• Focusing on outcomes, choices, and decisions emphasizes the long-range performance of the project.
• The outcomes create benefits, which are gains realized by the organization.
• Benefits, in turn, create value, which is something of worth, importance, or usefulness.^①

• The governance system works alongside the value delivery system to enable smooth workflows, manage issues, and support decision making.
• Governance systems provide a framework with functions and processes that guide activities.^①
• A governance framework can include elements of oversight, control, value assessment, integration among components, and decision-making capabilities.^②
• Governance systems provide an integrated structure for evaluating changes, issues, and risks associated with the environment and any component in the value delivery system.

• This includes portfolio objectives, program benefits, and deliverables produced by projects.^①
• Projects can operate within a program or portfolio or as a stand-alone activity.
• In some organizations, a project management office might support programs and projects within a portfolio.
• Project governance includes defining the authority to approve changes and make other business decisions related to the project.^②
• Project governance is aligned with program and/or organizational governance.

• People drive project delivery.
• They do so by executing functions necessary for the project to run effectively and efficiently.
• Functions related to the project can be fulfilled by one person, by a group of people, or combined into defined roles.
• Coordinating a collective work effort is extremely important to the success of any project.
• There are different types of coordination suitable for different contexts. Some projects benefit from decentralized coordination in which project team members self-organize and self-manage.^①

• Other projects benefit from centralized coordination with the leadership and guidance of a designated project manager or similar role.^①
• Some projects with centralized coordination can also benefit from including self-organized project teams for portions of the work.^②
• Regardless of how coordination takes place, continuous engagements between project teams and other stakeholders are necessary to successful outcomes.

• Regardless of how projects are coordinated, the collective effort of the project team delivers the outcomes, benefits, and value.
• The project team may be supported by additional functions depending on the deliverables, industry, organization, and other variables.
• Other functions may be necessary to enable project deliverables that produce the desired outcomes.
• The needs of the project, organization, and environment influence which functions are used on a project and how those functions are carried out.^①

1. Provide oversight and coordination (ex: Monitoring progress and performance.)
2. Present objectives and feedback: (ex: Defining success criteria and desired outcomes.)^①
3. Facilitate and support (ex: Hosting meetings, workshops, and stand-ups.)
4. Perform work and contribute insights (ex: Completing assigned deliverables.)
5. Apply expertise (ex: Advising on technical or domain-specific matters.)
6. Provide business direction and insight (ex: Identifying market trends or customer needs.)
7. Provide resources and direction (ex: Allocating budget, personnel, and infrastructure.)
8. Maintain governance (ex: Enforcing regulatory and internal standards.)^②

• Projects exist and operate within internal and external environments that have varying degrees of influence on value delivery.
• Internal and external environments can influence planning and other project activities.
• These influences can yield a favorable, unfavorable, or neutral impact on project characteristics, stakeholders, or project teams.^①

• Internal Environment
  • Factors internal to the organization can arise from the organization itself, a portfolio, a program, another project, or a combination of these.
  • They include artifacts, practices, or internal knowledge.
  • Knowledge includes lessons learned as well as completed artifacts from previous projects. Examples include but are not limited to:^①
    • Process assets
    • Governance documentation
    • Data assets
    • Knowledge assets
    • Security and safety
    • Infrastructure
    • Information technology software
    • Resource availability
    • Employee capability

• External Environment
  • Factors external to the organization can enhance, constrain, or have a neutral influence on project outcomes. Examples include but are not limited to:
    • Marketplace conditions
    • Social and cultural influences and issues
    • Regulatory environment
    • Commercial databases^①
    • Academic research
    • Industry standards
    • Financial considerations
    • Physical environment

• The disciplines of portfolio, program, project, and product management are becoming more interlinked.
• While portfolio, program, and product management are beyond the scope of the PMI standard and this course, understanding each discipline and the relationships between them provides a useful context for projects whose deliverables are products.^①
• Def: A product is an artifact that is produced, is quantifiable, and can be either an end item itself or a component item.

• Product management may initiate programs or projects at any point in the product life cycle to create or enhance specific components, functions, or capabilities.^①
• The initial product may begin as a deliverable of a program or project.
• Throughout its life cycle, a new program or project may add or improve specific components, attributes, or capabilities that create additional value for customers and the sponsoring organization.
• In some instances, a program can encompass the full life cycle of a product or service to manage the benefits and create value for the organization more directly.

• Product management can exist in different forms, including but not limited to:
  • Program management within a product life cycle.
    • This approach incorporates related projects, subsidiary programs, and program activities.
    • For very large or long-running products, one or more product life cycle phases may be sufficiently complex to merit a set of programs and projects working together (ex: modernizing the product after years of product launch).^①

• Product management can exist in different forms, including but not limited to:
  • Project management within a product life cycle.
    • This approach oversees development and maturing of product capabilities as an ongoing business activity.
    • Portfolio governance charters individual projects as needed to perform enhancements and improvements or to produce other unique outcomes. (ex: modernizing the UI after years of product launch).^①

• Product management can exist in different forms, including but not limited to:
  • Product management within a program.
    • This approach applies the full product life cycle within the purview and boundaries of a given program. (ex: development of a POC to showcase potential directions of a given program)^①

• Principles for a profession serve as foundational guidelines for strategy, decision making, and problem solving. Professional standards and methodologies are often based on principles.
• In some professions, principles serve as laws or rules, and are therefore prescriptive in nature.
• The principles of project management are not prescriptive in nature.^①
• They are intended to guide the behavior of people involved in projects.
• They are broadly based so there are many ways individuals and organizations can maintain alignment with the principles.
• Principles can, but do not necessarily, reflect morals.^②

• A code of ethics is related to morals.
• A code of ethics for a profession can be adopted by an individual or profession to establish expectations for moral conduct.
• The PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is based on four values that were identified as most important to the project management community:^①
  • Responsibility,
  • Respect,
  • Fairness, and
  • Honesty.

• Because the principles of project management provide guidance, the degree of application and the way in which they are applied are influenced by the context of the organization, project, deliverables, project team, stakeholders, and other factors.
• The principles are internally consistent, meaning that no principle contradicts any other principle.^①
• However, practical dilemmas may arise. For instance, information disclosure intended to help understand context may provide insights that supports better system analysis. But, keeping such information confidential would conflict with that purpose.
• Principles of project management can also have areas of overlap with general management principles.^②
• For example, both projects and business in general focus on delivering value.