“Simple” Project Management: for Noobs to Pros: Simple Enough for the First Project Complex Enough to be Steppingstones to the PMP certification

By Ng Wei Kwan PMP

Project Management is the discipline of initiating, planning, executing, and controlling complex projects to achieve goals and objectives. Project Managers are responsible for leading teams, managing resources, communicating with stakeholders, and delivering quality results on time and within budget. Project Management books are guides to successfully steer initiatives in various domains and industries and cover topics such as work breakdown structures, stakeholder communication, scheduling, team management, etc.

If the above scares you…well, you are not alone! For some reason, the industry has elevated Project Management to a level somewhat daunting to the average person. This is especially so for high-school students to fresh graduates assigned to do their first project.

Seriously, while nice to have, a PMP or a Master’s in Project Management (just like MBA for businesses) is not essential. Simple Project Management: For Noobs to Pro is a guide for the person who has little or no experience in project management to start a project. While it does use the process from the PMBOK, the goal is to make it simple enough for the first project and complex enough to be used as steppingstones to obtaining the PMP certification.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: May 6, 2024
• ISBN: 9781543781557

Ng Wei Kwan PMP

Ng Wei Kwan (the last name is written first) is Program/Project Manager at Agilent Technologies Singapore. His day job is as Program Manager where he manages the New Product Introduction (NPI) programs for the QTOF LC/MS instruments, as well as the Ion Mobility LC/MS. His other (smaller) projects include leading the “Made in China 2025” initiative in collaboration with the Agilent Shanghai plant, manufacturing lead for China OEM LC/MS instruments, and supervising the production of Gas Chromatograph (GC) mainframes. He also serves as the Design for Manufacturing (DFM) lead as well as Eco (Sustainability) Champion for the Singapore site, plus conducting classes for Project Management. Prior to joining Agilent, he worked at Heraeus as section manager after a successful setup of the Spark Plasma Sinter (power metallurgy) for manufacturing of Ruthenium sputtering targets, Hewlett Packard as NPI lead and product engineer, and OrcaDesign – a 3rd party design-house where he worked on Motorola pagers and Whirlpool air-conditioners. He received his B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University and the Graduate Diploma in Medical Device Manufacturing from the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech). He received his PMP certification in 2014. Wei Kwan has been married for over twenty-two years with two kids. If asked, he would say that his greatest project is guiding (together with his wife) both his kids thru the competitive Singapore education system: from getting into the Gifted Education Program to attending Raffles Institution and obtaining straight As in the Singapore-Cambridge GCE “A” levels – with offers from National University of Singapore, Waseda, University College and Imperial College. He is working on a book to share his journey (for interested parents).

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SIMPLE

PROJECT

MANAGEMENT:

FOR NOOBS TO PROS

SIMPLE ENOUGH FOR THE FIRST PROJECT

COMPLEX ENOUGH TO BE STEPPINGSTONES

TO THE PMP CERTIFICATION

NG WEI KWAN, PMP

Copyright © 2024 by Ng Wei Kwan, PMP.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

For Shuhui, Shanna, and Shawn

CONTENTS

Acknowledgment

Preface

How to Use the Book

Abbreviations

Chapter 1 Introduction to Project Management

Chapter 2 Why Do Projects Fail?

Chapter 3 Why Do Projects Succeed?

Chapter 4 Skills of the Project Manager

Chapter 5 Project Management Process

Chapter 6 Initiating The Project

Chapter 7 Planning the Project

Chapter 8 Executing the Project

Chapter 9 Monitoring and Controlling the Project

Chapter 10 Closing the Project

Road to Obtaining the PMP

Bibliography

About The Author

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

My thanks to the publishing team from Partridge Publishing, especially to Carl Amaba and Jerry Gabriel for their guidance and support in the journey of bringing the book to fruition. I would like to thank my colleagues at Agilent, especially to Ilini Ng and Tulshiram Choudhari, as well as those from Hewlett-Packard for introducing me to the world of engineering and leadership in NPI projects. Ronny Ng for sponsoring my first project and Hong Hong, thanks for showing me that a project manager can do a whole lot more than just managing the scope, schedule and resources.

To my church cell group—Edmund, Sim Wee, Kuan Bee, Ka Kian, Keng Wei, Dale, Yvette, and Kim Boon—thanks for the prayers and support.

My wife, Shuhui, has been an enormous influence—thanks for your love, patience, and understanding. To my kids who provided their comments thru the eyes of a high schooler and a university student. My family has always been there for me, no matter what. I dedicate the book to them.

PREFACE

Project management is not new and neither is it exclusive knowledge known only to the selected few. Type the keyword project management in any search engines and there is no less than four billion results on this.

For major projects such as plant transfer or new factory setup, it is probably the right decision to hire a PMP-certified project manager (who has demonstrated the necessary project experience and knowledge) or a person armed with a master’s in project management, with sufficient track record to run the project. At the very least, they can help ensure that the project runs within the scope, budget, and resource (among other things) stipulated by upper management.

However, for smaller ones, it is perfectly fine to manage this without one … how else can the project manager (PM) gain the experience to manage projects in the first place? Same rule applies for personal or family projects.

This book is leveraged from the Project Management course that I conduct on a regular basis, leveraged from Hewlett-Packard’s Project Management Fundamentals (PMF) and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). I have added relevant information from other sources, especially from various books and websites, and feedback gathered while teaching the class.

While the guide is primarily for the noob, we shall still adhere to the process groups from the PMBOK (i.e., IPEMCC which comprises the actions of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling and finally closing the project). Thus the title—it is simple enough such that a beginner who knows next to nothing about project management can use this to lead small projects to the PMP aspirant who can use this as a guide to lead medium to large projects for submission for PMP certification.

HOW TO USE THE BOOK

Ideally, read once thru the entire book to understand the full picture of how project management works. If in a rush, I would skip and start from Chapter 5 onward. Do have a pen and paper (or Post-it notes) with you and write whatever comes to your mind as you answer the questions asked at each stage. We will later gather the info and then put this into the project charter at the end of the planning stage.

Good luck in your project!

Ng Wei Kwan, PMP

ABBREVIATIONS

PM—Project Manager / Project Management

PMBOK—Project Management Body of Knowledge, a textbook published by PMI. A must-read for those interested in obtaining the PMP certification

PMP—Project Management Professional, a certification granted by PMI for PMs who has demonstrated knowledge and experience in project management. Candidates are required to provide proof of training + thirty-six to sixty months of project management experience (subjected to audit) and pass the four-hour 180-question test.

PMI—Project Management Institute

POS—Preliminary Objective Statement

WBS—Work Breakdown Structure

Q&A—question and answer

1

INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT

What is a project, anyway?

Many of us are already doing projects, whether we are aware of it or not. The most common one is the official project that we did in school or at our workplace, where we lead or participate in a group activities to accomplish a certain result or a research paper that will require spending hours on Google to get the materials we need. The good part of this is that the project may have an assigned mentor who can provide guidance or a sponsor that can give financial support.

There are projects that entail learning a skill (in college, via an app over the internet, or an external class) and putting the skill into practice in order to earn that additional income … some call this a side hustle. There are also those that are more personal in nature: the home renovation, the wedding plan, the vacation to Tokyo or Bali, weight loss, or retirement plan.

The official definition of Project from the Project Management Institute (PMI) is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. We can also add to the definition, a means of organizing activities that cannot be addressed within normal operational limits.

Think about it: our day-to-day activities involve waking up, preparing and eating our breakfast, then going to work where we have a day job. Then we come home for dinner, shower, and rest (while watching Netflix or surfing social media) before preparing for bed.

If we want to do a project, this has to be done outside the daily scheme of things. It is something extra, out of the ordinary that (we hope) will make our life better or more comfortable. Depending on the circumstances (especially for breadwinners), few have the luxury of quitting their day job and focus 100 percent on the project—the risk may be too great.

The fact remains that people aren’t doing it because they are too busy or just plain lazy. Many are perfectly fine just living life as per normal. We use the phrases such as let nature takes it course or leaving it to fate. Obviously, the ones who will take the extra effort or doing something