Program and Project Management Fundamentals
This section covers Program and Project Management Fundamentals. The exam tests whether you can distinguish projects, programs, and portfolios; charter work; decompose scope; schedule dependencies; manage risk and stakeholders; and control change. Expect scenarios about an HR system rollout, a policy refresh, or an onboarding redesign.
Core rules
- A project is temporary and creates a unique product, service, or result. A program groups related projects for shared benefits. A portfolio groups projects and programs aligned to strategy.
- The charter authorizes the project and names the sponsor, manager, objectives, high-level scope, success criteria, milestones, budget, and constraints.
- The WBS decomposes deliverables, not org units. The 100% rule says child work sums to the parent.
- The critical path is the longest dependent path and sets the shortest duration. Float or slack is how long a task can slip without delaying the project.
- Use a RACI matrix for roles, a RAID log for risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies, and a change control board for scope changes.
- Predictive or waterfall delivery suits stable, regulated work; Agile suits discovery and iterative delivery. Both need a definition of done and benefits tracking.
Worked example
An onboarding redesign has tasks: A charter (2 weeks), B process mapping (3 weeks after A), C policy review (1 week after A), and D build (2 weeks after B and C). Paths: A-B-D = 7 weeks; A-C-D = 5 weeks. The critical path is A-B-D, so C has 2 weeks of float. If B slips one week, the project slips one week. A later request to add a mobile module is a scope change: log it, assess schedule, cost, and risk, approve or reject it at the change board, then rebaseline.
Traps
Treating a program as one big project; building a WBS by department; crashing every task; gold-plating; ignoring stakeholders; calling Agile "no plan"; and closing without measuring benefits.