Project Management

C H A P T E R

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Introduction

Why Project Management?

Chapter Outline

PROJECT PROFILE Case—Disney’s Expedition Everest INTRODUCTION 1.1 WHAT IS A PROJECT? General Project Characteristics 1.2 WHY ARE PROJECTS IMPORTANT? PROJECT PROFILE Dubai—Land of Mega-Projects 1.3 PROJECT LIFE CYCLES PROJECT MANAGERS IN PRACTICE Christy Rutkowski, Regency Construction Services 1.4 DETERMINANTS OF PROJECT SUCCESS PROJECT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH IN BRIEF Assessing Information Technology (IT) Project Success 1.5 DEVELOPING PROJECT MANAGEMENT MATURITY 1.6 PROJECT ELEMENTS AND TEXT ORGANIZATION Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study 1.1 MegaTech, Inc. Case Study 1.2 The IT Department at Hamelin Hospital Internet Exercises PMP Certification Sample Questions Notes

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Chapter Objectives

After completing this chapter you should be able to: 1. Understand why project management is becoming such a powerful and popular practice in business. 2. Recognize the basic properties of projects, including their definition.

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Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, Second Edition, by Jeffrey K. Pinto. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc.

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Chapter 1 • Introduction

3. Understand why effective project management is such a challenge. 4. Differentiate between project management practices and more traditional, process-oriented business functions. 5. Recognize the key motivators that are pushing companies to adopt project management practices. 6. Understand and explain the project life cycle, its stages, and the activities that typically occur at each stage in the project. 7. Understand the concept of project “success,” including various definitions of success, as well as the alternative models of success. 8. Understand the purpose of project management maturity models and the process of benchmarking in organizations. 9. Identify the relevant maturity stages that organizations go through to become proficient in...