GAQM APM cheat sheet

Project: a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result; temporary means it has a defined start and end, not necessarily short duration.

Operations differ from projects: operations are ongoing and repetitive, projects are temporary and unique; a program is a group of related projects managed together for synergistic benefit.

Portfolio management selects and prioritizes the set of programs and projects that best support organizational strategy; it answers 'are we doing the right work', project management answers 'are we doing the work right'.

Triple constraint (iron triangle): scope, time, cost are interdependent; a change to one usually forces change in at least one other, with quality and risk as balancing factors.

Project life cycle phases are sequential and their names/deliverables are industry-specific; the phase gate (kill point) is the decision point at the end of a phase to continue, revise, or terminate.

Predictive (waterfall) life cycles plan the whole scope up front; adaptive/iterative and agile life cycles refine scope progressively in short increments.

Project manager role: integrate across functional boundaries and balance competing demands; functional manager owns resources and technical specialty, sponsor funds and champions the project.

Organizational structures: functional (PM has little authority), matrix (weak/balanced/strong by PM authority), and projectized (PM has high authority and near-total control of resources).

A PMO (project management office) can be supportive (templates, training), controlling (compliance to methodology), or directive (PMs report to the PMO and manage projects directly).

Business case documents the justification (cost-benefit, strategic fit) for the project; benefits management plan describes how and when benefits will be measured and realized.

Project charter formally authorizes the project and names the project manager; it is issued by the sponsor and should contain high-level scope, objectives, success criteria, key milestones, budget summary, and assigned authority.

The charter is not a contract and does not contain detailed requirements; the project manager should be assigned as early as possible, ideally before or during charter development.

Stakeholder register records identification, role, interest, influence, expectations, and classification (e.g., power/interest grid); it is a living document updated through the project.

Scope management plan defines how scope will be defined, validated, and controlled, including the process for creating the WBS and accepting deliverables.

Requirements documentation captures functional and non-functional needs; a requirements traceability matrix links each requirement to its source and to WBS/deliverable/test to confirm coverage.

Project scope statement includes product scope description, deliverables, acceptance criteria, exclusions, constraints, and assumptions; exclusions help prevent scope creep.

WBS decomposes total scope into work packages; the 100% rule says the WBS captures all work and only the work required - no more, no less.

Scope baseline = approved scope statement + WBS + WBS dictionary; it is the reference against which scope changes and performance are measured.

Schedule network diagrams use nodes (activities) and arrows (logical relationships): FS (finish-to-start, most common), SS, FF, SF; leads and lags modify the dependency.

Critical path = longest path through the network; it determines the shortest possible project duration, and its total float is zero (or the smallest value in the network).

Total float = LS − ES = LF − EF; free float = ES of the successor − EF of the activity; float is not slack time to be spent casually, it is schedule buffer.

Forward pass computes early start/early finish; backward pass computes late start/late finish; the difference between the two passes defines float and the critical path.

PERT three-point estimate: expected = (O + 4M + P) / 6; standard deviation = (P − O) / 6; use for uncertain activity durations.

Schedule compression: crashing adds resources/cost to shorten duration (works only on critical path activities); fast tracking overlaps activities that were sequential (raises rework risk).

Resource leveling adjusts start/finish dates to resolve over-allocation and can change the critical path; resource smoothing uses float to level demand without changing the end date.

Cost baseline is the time-phased budget excluding management reserve; contingency reserve covers identified risks (known-unknowns) and management reserve covers unidentified risks.

Estimate types by accuracy: rough order of magnitude (−25% to +75%), budget estimate (−10% to +25%), definitive estimate (−5% to +10%).

Earned value: PV (planned value), EV (earned value = % complete × BAC), AC (actual cost); EV is always based on the approved scope baseline.

CV = EV − AC (positive = under budget); SV = EV − PV (positive = ahead of schedule); CPI = EV / AC; SPI = EV / PV.

EAC forecast: atypical variance EAC = AC + BAC − EV; typical variance EAC = BAC / CPI; ETC = EAC − AC; VAC = BAC − EAC.

TCPI = (BAC − EV) / (BAC − AC) for meeting BAC; use (BAC − EV) / (EAC − AC) when the forecast EAC replaces BAC.

SPI and CPI are ratio indices; CPI below 1.0 means spending more than earned, and a sustained CPI trend is generally a better long-run forecast than SPI.

Integrated change control: every change request is documented, assessed for impact on scope/schedule/cost/quality/risk, approved or rejected by the change control board or designated authority, then implemented and verified.

Scope creep = uncontrolled scope additions without approved change; gold plating = adding unrequested features; both erode the scope baseline.

Issue log records and tracks open issues and their owners; risk register tracks uncertain future events; lessons learned register is updated during execution, not only at closure.

Quality control (control quality) inspects deliverables and records results as verified deliverables; quality assurance audits processes to confirm the quality process is being followed.

Close project or phase: confirm all deliverables accepted, obtain formal sign-off, release resources, archive project documents, and update organizational process assets.

Final product transition includes handover to operations or the customer, training, warranty/support terms, and confirmation that acceptance criteria in the scope statement are met.

Contract closure: verify all contract terms are satisfied, settle claims, and formally close each procurement; procurement closure can occur before final project closure.

Lessons learned repository feeds the organizational knowledge base; the lessons learned register is finalized and shared so future projects can reuse it.

Benefits realization is usually measured after closure by the sponsor or business owner; the project manager's accountability typically ends at deliverable acceptance.

Quality management: plan quality (standards and metrics), manage quality (process audits, prevention), control quality (inspection of outputs, correction of defects).

Cost of quality = cost of conformance (prevention + appraisal) + cost of nonconformance (internal + external failure); prevention is cheaper than external failure.

Quality vs grade: low grade can be acceptable if it meets requirements; low quality is never acceptable because it fails to meet requirements.

Continuous improvement tools: PDCA (plan-do-check-act) and Kaizen for incremental improvement; root-cause tools include fishbone (Ishikawa) and 5 Whys; Pareto chart applies the 80/20 rule to prioritize causes.