Chapters 1–3, everything on one page

DEFProject management

The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. It guides the project work to deliver the intended outcomes.

Teams can use a broad range of approaches: predictive, hybrid, adaptive.

NUMBERSWhy PM matters background, not tested

• By 2027, employers need 87.7 million people in PM-oriented roles (PMI).
• 2.3 million new PM employees needed each year to 2030 (PMI 2021 Talent Gap).
• Organizations waste $97 million per $1 billion spent on projects (PMI Pulse of the Profession).
• Top graduate skills are all PM-related: teamwork, problem-solving, verbal communication.
• Saudi Smart Government Strategy: AI market to $135.2 B by 2030, 12.4% of GDP.
• Saudi tech spending ≈ $24.7 B (SR 93 B) in 2025, highest in the world, 21.7% of national spending.

HISTORYProject management history

• Some argue the Egyptian pyramids and the Great Wall of China were projects.
• The Manhattan Project (led by Oppenheimer) is considered the first to use "modern" PM: 3 years, $2 billion (1946 dollars), with a separate project manager and technical manager.
• In the 1990s companies began creating PMOs for the growing number and complexity of projects.

4Global issues forcing organizations to rethink

1. Talent development for project and program managers is a top concern
2. Basic PM techniques are core competencies
3. Organizations want more agile approaches
4. Benefits realization of projects is a key metric

PMICertification and ethics

• PMI (Project Management Institute) leads the profession and awards the PMP® (Project Management Professional).
• Students can join at a reduced fee and earn the CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management).
• Ethics: a set of principles that guide decision making based on personal values of "right" and "wrong". PMs often face ethical dilemmas.
• PMP applicants must agree to PMI's Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct; several exam questions cover professional responsibility.

PMProject managers

Mainly responsible for all issues related to the software project. Common issues:

Most of a PM's time is consumed chasing and collecting the status of project tasks.

97% of successful projects were led by experienced PMs.

Skills: be comfortable with change · understand the organizations they work in and with · be able to lead teams to accomplish goals.

14Competencies for project managers

1. People skills
2. Leadership
3. Listening
4. Integrity, ethical behavior, consistent
5. Strong at building trust
6. Verbal communication
7. Strong at building teams
8. Conflict resolution / management
9. Critical thinking, problem solving
10. Understands, balances priorities
11. Negotiating
12. Influencing the organization
13. Mentoring
14. Process and technical expertise

10Advantages of formal project management

1. Better control of financial, physical, human resources
2. Improved customer relations
3. Shorter development times
4. Lower costs, improved productivity
5. Higher quality, increased reliability
6. Higher profit margins
7. Better internal coordination
8. Positive impact on meeting strategic goals
9. Higher worker morale (less stress)
10. Less overworked personnel

PMBOKThe Standard for Project Management

Provides a basis for understanding PM and how it enables intended outcomes. Applies regardless of industry, location, size, or delivery approach (predictive, hybrid, adaptive).

It describes the system projects operate in: governance, possible functions, the project environment, and the relationship between project management and product management.

RULESAbout the principles

• Guidelines for strategy, decision making and problem solving.
• Not prescriptive (unlike laws/rules in some professions); they guide behavior.
• Broadly based, so there are many ways to stay aligned.
• Can, but do not necessarily, reflect morals. A code of ethics is what relates to morals.
• Application depends on context (organization, project, team, stakeholders...).
• Internally consistent: no principle contradicts another, though practical dilemmas can arise.
• They overlap with general management principles (both focus on delivering value).

8Project performance domains (preview)

Key areas of focus that must be managed effectively to achieve successful outcomes.

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

SYSTEMA system for value delivery provides

• How to create value: how projects operate within a system to produce value.
• Organizational governance system: how governance supports value delivery (policies, performance monitoring).
• Functions associated with projects.
• The project environment: internal and external factors.
• Product management considerations: how portfolios, programs, projects and products relate.

5Ways projects create value

1. Creating a new product, service, or result that meets customer/end-user needs
2. Creating positive social or environmental contributions
3. Improving efficiency, productivity, effectiveness, or responsiveness
4. Enabling the changes needed for organizational transition to its desired future state
5. Sustaining benefits enabled by previous programs, projects, or operations

CHAINValue delivery components

Portfolios, programs, projects, products and operations, used individually or together, form a system aligned with strategy. Operations (payroll, supply chain, HR, finance...) support and influence them.

The value system sits in the internal environment (policies, procedures, governance) inside the external environment (economy, competition, legislation).

FLOWInformation flow

• Senior leadership → portfolios: strategic information.
• Portfolios → programs and projects: desired outcomes, benefits, value.
• Programs/projects → operations: deliverables + support and maintenance info.
• Operations → programs/projects: adjustments, fixes, updates to deliverables.
• Programs/projects → portfolios: performance and progress on outcomes, benefits, value.
• Portfolios → senior leadership: evaluations of portfolio performance.
• Operations → leadership: how well strategy is advancing.

GOVOrganizational governance systems

• Work alongside the value delivery system to enable smooth workflows, manage issues, support decision making.
• Framework elements: oversight, control, value assessment, integration among components, decision-making.
• Integrated structure for evaluating changes, issues and risks.
• Project governance defines the authority to approve changes and make business decisions; aligned with program/organizational governance.
• A PMO might support programs and projects within a portfolio.

COORDFunctions associated with projects

People drive project delivery. Functions can be filled by one person, a group, or combined roles.

• Decentralized coordination: team members self-organize and self-manage.
• Centralized coordination: leadership of a designated project manager.
• Centralized projects can still use self-organized teams for portions of work.

1. Provide oversight and coordination (monitoring progress)
2. Present objectives and feedback (defining success criteria)
3. Facilitate and support (hosting meetings, stand-ups)
4. Perform work and contribute insights (completing deliverables)
5. Apply expertise (advising on technical matters)
6. Provide business direction and insight (market trends)
7. Provide resources and direction (allocating budget, people)
8. Maintain governance (enforcing regulatory/internal standards)

ENVThe project environment

Influences can be favorable, unfavorable, or neutral.

Internal (from the organization, portfolio, program, another project): process assets · governance documentation · data assets · knowledge assets · security and safety · infrastructure · IT software · resource availability · employee capability.

External: marketplace conditions · social and cultural influences · regulatory environment · commercial databases · academic research · industry standards · financial considerations · physical environment.

PRODUCTProduct management considerations

Product management integrates people, data, processes, and business systems to create, maintain and develop a product through its life cycle.

Three forms:

1. Program management within a product life cycle: a set of programs and projects for complex phases (modernizing a product years after launch).
2. Project management within a product life cycle: portfolio governance charters individual projects for enhancements (modernizing the UI).
3. Product management within a program: the full product life cycle inside one program (building a POC).

1Stakeholder domain

Stakeholder

An individual, group, or organization that may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project, program, or portfolio.

Stakeholder analysis

Systematically gathering and analyzing quantitative and qualitative information to determine whose interests should be taken into account. Includes internal/external, supportive, neutral and unsupportive stakeholders.

2Team domain

Management focuses on the means of meeting objectives (processes, planning, coordinating, measuring). Leadership focuses on people (influencing, motivating, listening, enabling). Both matter.

• Centralized: accountability (being answerable for an outcome) assigned to one individual (the PM); a project charter authorizes the PM to form the team.
• Distributed: PM activities shared among a PM team; teams may self-organize with a rotating facilitator instead of a designated PM.

2Team development and culture

Common aspects of team development: vision and objectives · roles and responsibilities · project team operations · guidance · growth.

Behaviors the PM models for a safe culture: transparency · integrity · respect · positive discourse · support · courage · celebrating success.

High-performing team factors: open communication · shared understanding · shared ownership · trust · collaboration · adaptability · resilience · empowerment · recognition.

Leadership skills: establishing and maintaining vision · critical thinking · motivation · interpersonal skills.

2Emotional intelligence and leadership styles

Styles (autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, transactional, servant...) are tailored based on: experience with the project type · maturity of team members · organizational governance structures · distributed teams.

Check: shared ownership (all know the vision) · high-performing team (trust, adapt, empowered) · leadership and interpersonal skills demonstrated by all.

3Development approach & life cycle domain

Deliverable

Any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service required to complete a process, phase, or project.

Development approach

Method used to create and evolve the product: predictive, iterative, incremental, adaptive, or hybrid.

Cadence

A rhythm of activities conducted throughout the project.

Project phase

Logically related activities that culminate in one or more deliverables.

Project life cycle

The series of phases from start to completion.

Delivery cadence = timing and frequency of deliveries: single, multiple, periodic. Continuous delivery = delivering feature increments immediately through small batches and automation (DevOps, #noprojects, Continuous Digital).

3Predictive vs hybrid vs adaptive

Phase gate (stage gate) review checks the phase's exit criteria are met before moving on.

3Considerations for selecting an approach

Product/service (8): degree of innovation · requirements certainty · scope stability · ease of change · delivery options · risk · safety requirements · regulations.

Project (3): stakeholders (adaptive needs heavy involvement, e.g. product owner) · schedule constraints (deliver something early → iterative/adaptive) · funding availability (uncertain funding → adaptive; release an MVP).

Organization (4): structure · culture · capability · team size and location.

Check: approach consistent with deliverables · life cycle phases connect delivery from start to end · phases support the cadence.

4Planning domain: definitions

Estimate

Quantitative assessment of the likely amount or outcome of a variable (costs, resources, effort, durations).

Accuracy

Assessment of correctness: how well the plan predicts reality ($100K estimate, $102K actual = accurate).

Precision

Assessment of exactness: level of detail in the assumptions. Can be precise but not accurate.

Planning proactively develops an approach to create the deliverables. High-level planning can begin before authorization; teams progressively elaborate the vision statement, charter, business case. Increasingly includes social and environmental impacts (product life cycle assessment).

Product scope = features and functions. Project scope = the work performed to deliver them.

4Planning: delivery, schedules, dependencies

• Predictive: decompose deliverables with a scope statement / WBS.
• Iterative/incremental: themes/epics → features → user stories; tackle risky/novel work first.
• Last responsible moment: defer a decision until the cost of delay would exceed the benefit.

Predictive schedule, 5 steps:

Adaptive scheduling: release plan → each release has 2+ iterations; future releases stay high level. Timeboxes pull from a prioritized backlog, team self-manages, demos at the end, backlog reprioritized.

4Planning: budget, resources, procurement, metrics

• Cost estimates aggregate into the cost baseline (time-phased budget) spread over the schedule.
• Contingency reserve: for identified risks, controlled by the PM.
• Management reserve: for unknown/unexpected in-scope work, usually controlled by upper management (or sponsor, product owner, PMO).

• Physical resources: anything that is not a person (materials, equipment, software, licenses); plan lead time, storage, logistics.
• Procurement: once high-level scope is known, do a make-or-buy analysis.
• Metrics link planning, delivering and measuring; set thresholds; "only measure what matters."

Check: organized progress · holistic approach · evolving info elaborated · time spent planning is appropriate · info sufficient for stakeholders · process to adapt plans.

5Project work domain

Bid documents

All documents used to solicit information, quotations, or proposals from sellers.

Bidder conference

Meetings with prospective sellers before bids so all have a common understanding (contractor / vendor / pre-bid conference).

Explicit knowledge

Can be codified with words, numbers, pictures.

Tacit knowledge

Personal, hard to articulate: beliefs, experience, insights.

Includes: managing flow of work and changes · keeping the team focused · efficient systems and processes · communicating with stakeholders · managing materials and logistics · working with procurement · monitoring changes · project learning and knowledge transfer.

5Processes, constraints, procurement

• Review task boards for bottlenecks and impediments.
• Large and critical projects have more process than small or less significant ones.
• Optimize: lean production, retrospectives/lessons learned, "where is the next best funding spent?"
• Spend just enough time on process conformance.
• Competing constraints: fixed dates, regulations, budget, quality policies; a new requirement may expand schedule/budget; a budget cut may relax quality or reduce scope.
• Most PMs do not have contracting authority; they work with contracting officers to write the RFP, SOW, terms and conditions.

Check: efficient performance · tailored processes · appropriate communication · efficient physical resources · effective procurement · handled change · improved capability.

6Delivery domain

Definition of Done (DoD)

Checklist of all criteria for a deliverable to be ready for customer use.

Quality

The degree to which inherent characteristics fulfill requirements.

Cost of Quality (COQ)

All costs over the product life for prevention, appraisal, and failure to meet requirements.

• Releasing throughout the life cycle delivers value during the project; value continues after it ends.
• The business case gives the justification and projected value.
• Scope = what to deliver; quality = the performance levels required.
• Quality costs are often borne by the sponsoring organization (overhead, training, audits).
• Suboptimal outcomes exist in every project (experimental work, missed market window).

Check: contributes to strategy · realizes outcomes · benefits on time · clear understanding of requirements · stakeholders accept deliverables.

7Measurement domain

Metric

Description of an attribute and how to measure it (work progress %).

Baseline

Approved version of a measure used for comparison to actuals.

Dashboard

Charts and graphs showing progress against important measures.

Why measure: evaluate vs plan · track resources/work/budget · accountability · inform stakeholders · benefits on track · focus trade-off conversations · meet acceptance criteria.

The value is in the conversations about using the data, not in collecting it.

7Effective measures

7What to measure (7 categories)

Presenting info: dashboards · information radiators · visual controls (task boards, burn charts).

Check: reliable status · actionable data · timely actions · achieving targets from reliable forecasts.

8Uncertainty domain: definitions

Uncertainty

Lack of understanding and awareness of issues, events, paths, or solutions.

Ambiguity

Being unclear, difficulty identifying causes, or multiple options to choose from.

Complexity

Hard to manage due to human behavior, system behavior, ambiguity.

Volatility

Possibility of rapid and unpredictable change.

Risk

Uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on objectives.

Environment sources: economic · technical · legal · physical · ambiguity · social/market · political.

8Ambiguity, complexity, volatility

• Conceptual ambiguity: people use similar terms differently ("the schedule was reported on track last week").
• Situational ambiguity: more than one outcome is possible (multiple options).

Volatility usually hits cost and schedule; handle with alternatives analysis and cost/schedule reserve.

8Risk

• Negative risks = threats; positive = opportunities. All projects have risk.
• Overall risk is a function of complexity, ambiguity, volatility; if too high the project may be cancelled.

• Contingency reserve → identified risks. Management reserve → unknown, unplanned in-scope work.
• Risk review: daily standups surface blockers (threats) and breakthroughs (opportunities); frequent demos too.
• Opportunity example: a time-and-materials subcontractor finishing early.

DEFTailoring

The deliberate adaptation of the PM approach, governance, and processes to make them more suitable for the given environment and the work at hand.

Considers the development approach, processes, life cycle, deliverables, and people to engage. Variables include criticality and number of stakeholders: a nuclear reactor needs far more rigor than an office building.

7Competing demands to balance

1. Delivering as quickly as possible
2. Minimizing project costs
3. Optimizing value delivered
4. High-quality deliverables and outcomes
5. Compliance with regulatory standards
6. Satisfying diverse stakeholder expectations
7. Adapting to change

3Why tailor? (benefits)

1. More commitment from team members who helped tailor
2. Customer-oriented focus
3. More efficient use of resources

5What to tailor

• Life cycle and development approach: e.g. a data center: predictive for the building, iterative for computing = hybrid at project level.
• Processes: elements Added, Modified, Removed, Blended, Aligned.
• Engagement: People, Empowerment, Integration.
• Tools: team knows best, but cost and leaders' constraints apply.
• Methods and artifacts: suit the environment and culture; documents and templates fit the project.

4The tailoring process

• Step 1: choose the approach best suited (agile, waterfall...).
• Step 2: modify based on organizational modifications (methodology for small vs large/sensitive projects).
• Step 3: adjust for size, criticality and other factors.
• Step 4: inspect and adapt (review points, phase gates, retrospectives). Tailoring is not a one-time exercise.

3Tailoring for the project

Product/deliverable (7): compliance/criticality · type of product · industry market · technology · time frame · stability of requirements · security.

Project team (5): team size · team geography · organizational distribution · team experience · access to customer.

Culture (4): buy-in · trust · empowerment · organizational culture. Culture = shared norms, beliefs, practices (formal and hierarchical, agile, risk-averse, innovation-driven).

MMAModel · Method · Artifact

Model

A thinking strategy to explain a process, framework, or phenomenon.

Method

The means for achieving an outcome, output, result, or deliverable.

Artifact

A template, document, output, or project deliverable.

Lists are not exhaustive or prescriptive. Using them costs time and expertise. Avoid anything that: duplicates or adds unnecessary effort · is not useful · produces incorrect or misleading info · caters to individual needs over the team's.

MODELSCommonly used models

DETAILModel details worth knowing

• Hygiene: salary, benefits, conditions, policies, job security. Motivators: achievement, recognition, advancement, responsibility, the work itself, growth.
• Maslow: physiological → safety → love/belonging → esteem → self-actualization.
• 8-step change: urgency → guiding coalition → strategic vision → volunteer army → remove barriers → short-term wins → sustain acceleration → institute change.
• Drexler/Sibbet: orientation → trust building → goal clarification → commitment → implementation → high performance → renewal.

METHODSMethods and artifacts

Method categories: data gathering and analysis · estimating · meetings and events · other.

Artifact categories: strategy (strategic plan, vision/mission, roadmap, business case) · logs and registers (issue log, risk register) · plans · hierarchy charts (WBS, OBS) · baselines (budget, schedule) · visual data · reports · agreements and contracts · other.

Slides 26 and 34–41 map every model, method and artifact to the performance domains they support, all within the system for value delivery and the internal/external environment.

DEFStrategic management

The science of formulating, implementing, and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objectives.

1. Developing vision and mission statements: what the organization hopes to become.
2. Formulating, implementing, and evaluating: projects are the key ingredients of strategy implementation (SWOT, long-range objectives, alternatives).
3. Making cross-functional decisions
4. Achieving objectives

2.1Projects reflect strategy

CASEAirbus A380 and the TOWS matrix

Airbus and Boeing saw the same facts (air traffic doubling every 15 years) but chose different strategies. Airbus: much bigger planes for congested airports. Boeing: medium-sized wide-body jets for more frequent travel between growing cities. The A380 failed because of the strategic decision.

STAKEStakeholder management

Project stakeholders: all individuals or groups who have an active stake in the project and can potentially impact, positively or negatively, its development. Stakeholder analysis exposes seemingly irresolvable conflicts.

Intervenor groups can effectively intervene and disrupt the project (environmental groups delaying Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines).

2.3Stakeholder relationships

• Top management: control PMs and regulate their freedom of action.
• Accountant: supports and actively monitors project budgets.
• Other functional managers: staff are "on loan" from their departments.
• Clients: want the project quickly so the investment starts generating returns.
• External environment: competitors, suppliers, etc.
• Also: parent organization, project team.

3Organizational structure: 3 elements

1. Formal reporting relationships: who reports to whom, levels in the hierarchy, span of control.
2. Groupings: individuals into departments, departments into the organization.
3. Systems design for effective communication, coordination, integration across departments.

Forms: Functional (people performing similar activities grouped into departments) · Project (people grouped into temporary project teams) · Matrix (dual hierarchy: functions and projects have equal prominence).

HEAVYHeavyweight project organizations

Fully dedicated project organization, e.g. Lockheed's "Skunk Works": small autonomous team of hand-picked experts, PM given full authority, status and responsibility.

• Project manager authority expanded
• Functional alignment abandoned for market opportunism; direct reporting to top executives
• Focus on the external customer

Fig 2.8 (survey): effectiveness rises from functional toward project-based structures; project organization rated best for new product development, project matrix best for construction.

PMOProject management offices

Centralized units that oversee or improve PM. Resource centers for: technical details, expertise, repository, center for excellence. Shifts PM burden (scheduling, resource allocation, monitoring) to support staff.

PMOPMO forms and models

CULTUREOrganizational culture

The third contextual variable. The unwritten rules of behavior, or norms, shared by some subset of members and taught to all new members.

• Unwritten: often not written down
• Rules of behavior: how best to react to events
• Held by some subset: may or may not be companywide
• Taught to new members: learned by observing others

7 factors: technology · environment · geographical location · reward systems · rules and procedures · key organizational members · critical incidents (when the real culture becomes visible).

GE jet engines: competitive, high-pressure, rewards aggressiveness, high burnout. Rolls-Royce: paternalistic, rewards loyalty and long tenure.

4How culture affects project management

1. Departmental interaction: cooperative cultures beat disinterested or adversarial ones.
2. Employee commitment to goals: commitment and self-sacrifice beat "going through the motions".
3. Project planning: people pad estimates when the culture punishes lateness; a culture of trust gives honest estimates.
4. Performance evaluation: if caution is rewarded, PM approaches become cautious too.

QUOTEWhy projects fail (McConnell)

Software projects fail because the team lacks the knowledge to conduct the project, or lacks the resolve (determination, commitment, mental toughness) to conduct it effectively.

5Types of influence (power)

Leadership styles: directing, facilitating, coaching, supporting, autocratic, consultative, consensus, delegating, bureaucratic, charismatic, democratic/participative, laissez-faire, analytical, driver, influencing.

NEEDSNeeds and the team

Lower-level needs must be satisfied before higher ones. The rest of the chapter follows the team pyramid: trust → conflict → commitment → accountability → results.

5Tuckman's model

1. Forming: group comes together, gets to know each other.
2. Storming: chaotic competing for leadership and influence, trials of group processes.
3. Norming: agreement on how the group operates.
4. Performing: practices its craft, effective in meeting objectives.
5. Dissolving / Adjourning

3Team structure by objective

TRUSTBuilding trust

• Trust is the foundation of teamwork.
• Trust is about vulnerability: admitting mistakes, asking for help, saying "I don't know".
• Takes time (consistent behavior, follow-through, shared experiences) and must be maintained.
• Technique: behavioral profiling (Myers-Briggs) to admit strengths and weaknesses.

Establishing a basis of trust: earned, not granted · keep open communication · be fallible · lead by example, not mandate · complete commitments on time (explanation, not excuse) · don't confuse friendship with leadership.

CONFLICTManaging conflict

• Healthy conflict requires trust: unfiltered, passionate debate around issues.
• Conflict norms = rules of engagement (tone, language, timing).
• Avoiding conflict leads to groupthink (harmony over critical thinking), suppressed dissent, poor decisions.

6Problem solving and resolving conflict

• Successful teams resolve conflict; unsuccessful teams force it to the background.
• Disagreement ≠ conflict: conflict is a hardening of position and intractability.
• Conflicts trace to a clash between two parties; outsiders stay neutral; one acts as conciliator.
• Goal: reduce conflict to a disagreement, then reach consensus; strive for reconciliation.

COMMITCommitment, accountability, results

• Commitment = clarity (everyone knows what was decided and why) + buy-in (support even without full agreement).
• Buy-in does not require consensus.
• Accountability on strong teams occurs directly among peers; the leader models confronting it; best moments are meetings and reviews ("we committed to five stories but completed three").
• Results: put team results over individual or department needs; make results public and visible.

RACIResponsibility assignment

RACI: Responsible (does it) · Accountable (owns it) · (Support, in RASCI) · Consulted · Informed.

• RAM: resource planning tool, who does what; planning and tracking; identifies authority, accountability, responsibility; "who" can be a person, team or department; can total rows/columns.
• Skills matrix: resources on one axis, skills on the other; cells are X's or numbers (level, years).

PEOPLEManaging people: activities and motivation

People are the most important assets. Management activities (related to people): problem solving · motivating · planning · estimating (how fast people work) · controlling · organizing.

Motivation is needs-based: basic (food, sleep) · personal (respect, self-esteem) · social (acceptance). Physiological and safety needs are assumed met; social, esteem, self-realization matter most to managers. Unmet lower needs pull focus back down.

3Personality types and group composition

An effective group balances all types (hard: most engineers are task-oriented). Time: 50% interacting, 30% working alone, 20% non-productive.

Leadership depends on respect, not titular status; can have technical and administrative leaders; democratic beats autocratic; support technical career paths.

GROUPCohesiveness, loyalty, communication

• Cohesive group: the group matters more than any individual. Advantages: group quality standards · work closely (less ignorance) · learn from each other · egoless programming.
• Encourage via social events, group identity and territory, team-building, openness with information.
• Groupthink: preserving the group regardless of technical or organizational considerations; prevent it by forcing external involvement.
• Communication factors: status (higher status dominates) · personalities (too many alike is a problem) · channels (a central coordinator tends to be ineffective).
• Group size < 10, optimal under 7; break big projects into smaller ones.

HIREChoosing people and staff selection factors

Based on CV, interview, interviews with co-workers, recommendations; psychological/aptitude tests are of disputed usefulness.

• Application domain experience: must understand the domain
• Platform experience: matters for low-level programming
• Programming language: only for short projects
• Educational background: fades with experience
• Communication ability: very important
• Adaptability: shows ability to learn
• Attitude: important, hard to assess
• Personality: compatible; no type is best

ENVWorking environment

• Physical workplace affects productivity and satisfaction: comfort, privacy, facilities; health and safety (lighting, heating, furniture).
• Environmental factors: privacy (uninterrupted work) · outside awareness (natural light) · personalization.
• Individual offices increase productivity, but teams also need meeting spaces.
• "Human resources" treats people as inanimate and interchangeable; treat them as collaborators, stakeholders, teammates.

5The PM's people skills

1. Interpersonal skills: effective communication (defined protocol, timely, just the right info) · influencing the organization · leadership · motivation (financial incentives are among the least effective) · negotiation and conflict management · problem solving.
2. Shaping project culture
3. Managing people
4. Making people better
5. Leadership

CULTUREShaping project culture

• Understand the organization's culture and each member's background (education, experience, generation, personality).
• Cultural roles: leader · listener/talker · complainer/naysayer · expert · charger/plodder. Stay non-judgmental.
• Project roles: project manager (plans, tracks) · team leader (builds the team) · development leader (superior product).
• Project environment: cultural/social factors and international/political factors (time zones, holidays, laws).
• Monitor role satisfaction (especially at launch), task-to-people fit, and the team's cultural climate.

GUIDEManaging people (Peopleware)

The main problems are sociological, not technological.

• Gain visibility without micromanagement
• Review process and products, not people
• Coordinate, don't manipulate
• Use your knowledge, not your position of power
• Channel people, don't put dams in front of them
• Focus on project and people needs, not your authority

Production-line errors with thought workers: squeeze out error · hard line on "goofing off" · interchangeable workers · optimize the steady state · run by the book · eliminate experimentation.

GROWMaking people better

• Make professional development a project goal; short-term (this project) and long-term (future) goals.
• Members set personal improvement goals (technical, leadership, domain, communication, management).
• Track individual time in detail for a fixed interval: awareness-building, not monitoring.
• PSP (Personal Software Process): manage quality, make commitments you can meet, improve estimating, reduce defects.

LEADTechnical vs adaptive leadership

Leadership = the capacity to mobilize a group to solve the most challenging problems (not authority).

Adaptive leaders lead with good questions, need clarity of purpose, and can delegate known problems.

CONSENSUSWorking toward consensus

Consensus = everyone feels heard and commits, not that everyone agrees. Simple majority rule can hurt a small team.

1. Pose the problem or decision
2. Solicit input on options
3. Discuss pros and cons
4. Work toward options with most benefit
5. Help opponents buy in: persuade, don't dictate

Consensus takes longer than mandate but pays off. Passive/aggressive agreement = subsumed conflict.

Leading people adds: be confident · use all the team's talents.