Explain what a project charter authorizes and sets out, and tell a project apart from routine work.
Explain how the jobs of a project manager and project members differ, and work out the staff needed from headcount and productivity.
Decide who counts as a stakeholder, calculate the number of one-to-one communication channels, and pick a way of passing on information that suits its nature.
A project charter (プロジェクト憲章) is the document that formally authorizes a new project and first sets out its purpose and the authority of the person in charge.
Initiating
Planning
Executing
Monitoring & Controlling
Closing
Closing: the deliverables are handed over, and the lessons learned stay with the organization for next time.
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A project is a one-time effort to produce a unique result within a fixed period, which sets it apart from routine operations (定常業務) repeated the same way every month or year. The charter is created in initiating (立上げ), the first stage of a project, and the project officially begins once it is approved. Detailed arrangements for schedule and cost come later, when the appointed manager writes them up separately as the project management plan.
AnalogyIt is like the student council at a school festival formally approving a new event and issuing a note that names its aim and the person in charge. The detailed preparations are worked out later by that approved leader.
How to rememberThe Japanese 憲章 is the word used for the UN Charter, a founding agreement on what an organization is for and who may decide what. The English charter also means a grant that permits something to be founded.
Exam points
ExamIn initiating, the project's purpose is made clear first, and a project manager is appointed with defined responsibility and authority. Detailed schedules and per-phase budgets are worked out in later planning, so they need not be ready at initiation.
ExamThe project charter is the document that formally authorizes a project to start, and it is produced in initiating. The plan the project manager writes after launch, setting out how the whole project will be executed, monitored and controlled, is the project management plan (プロジェクトマネジメント計画書).
ExamA project is a one-time effort with a deadline that aims at a new result. Routine operations that repeat the same work are not projects.
A project manager (プロジェクトマネージャ) bears responsibility for meeting the project's goals and is the manager who draws up the plan, checks progress and deals with problems.
Basic constraints the project manager keeps in balance
Scope (what to build and which work to do)
Time (when to finish)
Cost (how much it may take)
The project manager is appointed in initiating and, in planning, balances the three constraints shown in the figure. The core of the job is not doing the work personally but planning, acting early on gaps between plan and actual results, and coordinating among the people involved. When a request arrives midway to change the work or the deliverables, it goes through change control (変更管理), which estimates the impact and decides whether to approve it.
AnalogyIt is like the site supervisor on a house build. Rather than raising posts in person, the supervisor sets the order of work, keeps an eye on material deliveries and crew bookings, and reshuffles the steps when something slips.
How to rememberManage comes from the Latin manus, "hand", and first meant handling a horse. Picture someone holding the reins and setting the direction for everyone.
Exam points
ExamThe project manager draws up a plan toward the goal and, during execution, manages progress, quality and cost. A PMO (project management office, プロジェクトマネジメントオフィス), by contrast, coordinates staff across several projects and supports project managers; it does not provide funding.
ExamThe traditional triple constraint is scope, time and cost; risk is not one of them. Risks are identified and prepared for separately, in risk management.
ExamAt the current productivity, the final cost is the cost so far ÷ the share completed, and its gap from the budget is the overrun. With a 2-million-yen budget and 900,000 yen spent at 30% complete, the final cost is 3 million yen and the overrun 1 million yen.
A project member (プロジェクトメンバー) is someone who joins a project and takes on work such as design or testing according to the roles and responsibilities assigned.
Team makeup
Equivalent standard workers
Days for 60 person-days of work (60 days for one standard worker)
5 standard workers
5 workers' worth
60 ÷ 5 = 12 days
6 standard workers
6 workers' worth
60 ÷ 6 = 10 days
4 standard workers plus 2 at half productivity
4 + 2 × 0.5 = 5 workers' worth
60 ÷ 5 = 12 days
Workload is measured in person-days (人日), the amount one standard worker does in a day (person-months when counted by month), found by multiplying headcount by days. A less productive worker is first counted as a fraction of a standard worker by multiplying by their productivity ratio. Members report progress and problems to the project manager, who pulls the reports together for decisions on the whole project.
AnalogyIt is like a singer in a choir. Instead of conducting, each singer rehearses and polishes their own part and carries one piece of the overall sound.
How to rememberMember comes from the Latin membrum, "limb", a part of the body. Set the limbs, each working its own post, against the head that directs the whole, and the difference in roles becomes clear.
Exam points
ExamFor staffing, divide the remaining work by the remaining time to get the headcount needed; if the question asks how many to add, subtract those who keep working, divide by the newcomers' productivity ratio and round up. If the total work is not given, divide the effort so far by the share completed.
ExamIn questions that give progress as a table of percentages, count work in percent, and take the percentage one person advanced per month over the recent period the question specifies as the productivity. Dividing the remaining percentage by that productivity and the remaining months gives the headcount needed (subtract the current headcount to get how many to add).
ExamBefore deciding how members are deployed, make each person's roles and responsibilities clear so everyone knows them. Deciding roles, required skills and joining dates, and planning and running training for missing skills, are activities of project human resource management (プロジェクト人的資源マネジメント).
A stakeholder (ステークホルダ, also 利害関係者) is any person or organization that affects, or is affected by, how a project is run or how it turns out.
Example: stakeholders in a project to rebuild a store's booking system
Inside the project
Project manager
Project members
Outside the project
Head-office executive funding it
Store staff using the system daily
Customers making bookings
Vendor supplying the servers
People working inside the project are parties to it just as outside users and funders are, because their workload and evaluation shift with the outcome. Different positions bring different expectations of the project, and these sometimes clash. The project manager learns early who expects what and mediates between them.
AnalogyWith road works, the parties affected are not only the construction company but also neighbors forced to take detours and shops whose frontage is dug up.
How to rememberA stake is a wager or a share put in, and to have a stake in something means to have an interest in how it turns out. Read stakeholders as people with something riding on the result, and it is clear why insiders and outsiders both count.
Exam points
ExamProject team members and the project manager are stakeholders too. The term is not limited to the sponsor who pays or those who benefit: users, partner firms and every other person or organization involved count.
ExamThe party that ordered the development is a stakeholder too: it does not leave everything to the developers and helps resolve issues when they arise. To change the specification, it follows the agreed change procedure instead of asking a developer directly.
Mix-upAn event that could affect a project for better or worse is a risk (リスク), not a stakeholder. Stakeholders are the people and organizations involved, not events.
Project communications management (プロジェクトコミュニケーションマネジメント) plans who gets what, when and by which means among the people involved, and manages the flow so information reaches them as planned.
People n
One-to-one channels n(n−1)÷2
2 people
2 × 1 ÷ 2 = 1
6 people
6 × 5 ÷ 2 = 15
8 people
8 × 7 ÷ 2 = 28
12 people
12 × 11 ÷ 2 = 66
When everyone talks one-to-one directly, n people give n(n−1)÷2 channels, a number that climbs quickly as the team grows. There are three ways to communicate: push (プッシュ型), where the sender delivers to the recipient; pull (プル型), where the recipient fetches the information when needed; and interactive (相互型), a two-way exchange on the spot. Whom to report to, when and how is settled at the start of the project, and decisions made in meetings are recorded in the minutes and shared with those concerned.
AnalogyIt is like a trip organizer who sends the meeting time to everyone at once, posts the detailed itinerary on a shared page for each person to check, and settles room assignments by talking it over together.
How to rememberCounting channels is the same as counting handshakes when everyone shakes hands with everyone else once. Each person shakes n−1 hands, and every handshake is counted twice, so divide by 2.
Exam points
ExamThe number of one-to-one channels is n(n−1)÷2, and the increase when the team grows is the difference between before and after. Going from 6 to 8 people raises the count from 15 to 28, an increase of 13.
ExamPull communication means the recipient goes by choice to where the information is kept, such as opening a document in a shared folder when needed. Sending to everyone is push, and talking it over is interactive.
ExamWho reports what to whom, when and by what means is agreed at the start of the project, along with who produces project information and how it is distributed. Decisions made in meetings are recorded under the agreed rules for minutes and sent to the people who need to know.
The project charter formally authorizes a new project at initiation, states its purpose first and gives the manager authority.
The project manager plans and acts on gaps between plan and actual results, while members carry out the work itself according to their roles and responsibilities.
For staffing, divide the remaining work by the remaining time to get the standard headcount, subtract those who stay on, divide by the newcomers' productivity ratio and round up. When progress has drifted from the plan, count work as a percentage of progress.
Stakeholders include people working inside the project, not only people and organizations affected outside it.
One-to-one channels number n(n−1)÷2, and push, pull or another method is chosen to fit the nature of the information.