Google Project Management Certificate
- Adam Minahan
- May 23, 2024
- 17 min read
Updated: Sep 20, 2024
I recently completed the Google Professional Certificate in Project Management on Coursera. I have compliled some of my notes here to create a brief overview of what I have learned so that I can apply it to future projects.
Foundations of Project Management
What is a "project"?
A unique and temporary pursuit that usually includes unique deliverables
A series of tasks to reach a desired outcome with a defined beginning and end
What is "project management"?
It is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet project requirements and achieve desired outcomes.
Why use project management?
It helps a project deliver expected outcomes within budget.
What does a project manager do?
Essentially, they use organizational and interpersonal skills to manage projects from start to finish and work as guides for the team to facilitate effciency.
They are not necessarily the boss of the people on a team, simply the manager of the tasks the team must complete.
They are involved in:
Planning and organizing
Gathering requirements from stakeholders, customers and team members through kick-off meetings, surveys, interviews, etc.
Keeping everyone aligned and tasks moving
Managing tasks
Keeping everyone in the loop on what they should be doing
Communicating milestones to larger team or customers
Budgeting
Controlling costs and other factors
What is the value of a project manager?
Add value to their teams by effectively prioritizing the tasks required to complete a project
Act as a liason between the team and the stakeholders
Delegate tasks to the right people with the right skills
Prioritize tasks appropriately to maximize efficiency
Communicate effectively with team and stakeholders
Keep in regular contact with teams
Identify areas where team members may need support
How do project managers impact organizations?
Focuses on the customer by asking questions such as:
What is the problem you would like us to help solve?
How is the problem impacting your organization?
What prompted you to ask for help now?
What is your hope for the outcome of this project?
Builds a great team
Knows all team members' motivations, strengths, and weaknesses
Considers the skills and the available resources needed
Ensures all team members feel valued, trusted, and appreciated
Fosters relationships and communication
Takes the time to check in daily with team to see how they're doing and to see if they need anything
Manages the project
Sees impact of each process within the project and communicates impacts to team
Ensures that everyone working on the project understands their task goal as well as the big picture goal for the finished product
Breaks down barriers
Allows team to innovate and empowers them to share ideas
Exemplifies ingenuity and collobration and encourages team to follow suit
What are a project manager's key roles and responsibilties?
Plans and organizes
Makes use of productivity tools and creating processes
Creates plans, timelines, schedules and other forms of documentation to track project completion
Budgets and controls costs and other factors
Monitors and manages the budget
Tracks issues and risks
Manages quality
Removes unforeseen barriers
Delegates and keeps track of project tasks (activities that need to be accomplished within a set period of time by either team or stakeholders)
Teaches and mentors
Explains expectations to avoid rework, confusion, and frustration
Builds relationships
Shows that they care about team as people, not just employees
Communicates with customers, clients, vendors, and other stakeholders to gain insights
Controls change
Needs to be flexible and adjust to statekholder needs
Protects team from constant change and rework
Documents initial expectations of project to clearly indentify changes being requested
Understands impact of changes on budget and lets stakeholder know
Empowers team
Lets them work directly with stakeholders to show they are trusted
Lets them share ideas and find solutions
Uses their input in the planning and execution of project
Delegates responsibilities and lets them make decisions
Communicates status and concern
Maintains an open door policy and builds trust
What is a project manager's role within a team?
Clarifies goals
Gets team members with the right skills
Holds all team members accountable for their assigned tasks
Ensures that issues and risks are tracked and visible, and establishes escalation paths
Understands and helps teammates adopt effective workflows
Measures progress
Collaborates with other teams at the organization to deliver solutions that meet the requirements based on project scope, schedule and budget
Recognizes and rewards effort
What are the core skills of a project manager?
Enabling decision making
Gathering insights/data and communicating to relevant people
Communicating and escalating
Documenting plans, sending emails about project status, holding meetings with stakeholders to communicate progress, concerns, etc.
Flexibility
Prepared for unpredictable moments
Stay cool under pressure
Strong organizational skills
Uses:
Planning and scheduling software (templates, workflows, calendars)
Collaboration tools (email, collaboration software, dashboards)
Documentation (files, plans, spreadsheets)
Quality assurance tools (evaluations, productivity trackers, reports)
Handling ambiguity
Keep calm
Express empathy
Communicate knowledge clearly
Make decisions and stick to them
Trust expertise of team
How does a project manager demonstrate leadership?
Influences without authority
Guides teammates to complete work without acting as boss
Uses key interpersonal skills
Communication
Checks in with teammates to understand progress
Provides clear feedback
Negotiation
Compromises on need deadlines
Conflict mediation
Sets up meetings between teammates with disagreements
Understands motivations
Learns how teammates prefer to receive feedback
What are the phases of the project management "life cycle"?
Initiate the project
Define project goals and deliverables
Identify budget, resources and people needed
Document all this information
Get approved
Make a plan
Outline important tasks
Build schedule
Create itemized budget
Execute and complete tasks
Monitor progress
Remove obstacles
Address weaknesses
Adapt to changes
Keep team aware of deadlines and expectations
Close the project
Evaluate how project went
Use key lessons for future projects
What are some project management methodologies?
Project management methodologies can be broken down into two approaches:
Linear: Blueprint is created beforehand and followed systematically.
Iterative: Some phases and tasks overlap. Adjustments are made to different parts of the project all along the way.
Waterfall vs. Agile
Waterfall is a traditional methodology that has team members compelte tasks and phrases sequentially. Each stage should be completed before embarking ont he next.
Agile uses short, collaborative phases that produce work that is given feedback and changes are implemented in the next phase.
Waterfall | Agile | |
Project manager's role | Serves as active leader; prioritizes and delegates tasks to team members | Serves as a facilitator; removes barriers; takes more of a backseat as team members have more responsibility for their work |
Scope | Project plan and deliverables are established and documented in early stages of initiating project | Focused on delivering value quickly, so project is developed in short iterations; feedback or unforeseen issues inform future iterations |
Schedule | Follows a linear path that includes initiating, planning, executing, and closing a project | Project organized into short phases called sprints, which have a defined duration anda list of deliverables to be completed |
Cost | Costs are carefully estimated upfront and closely monitored | Costs could change often |
Quality | Project manager clearly defines criteria to measure quality at the outset | Team tests product to get user and stakeholder feedback and implements improvements |
Communication | Project manager constantly communicates progress to stakeholders | Team and customers communicate constantly to improve project |
Stakeholders | Project manager manages and monitors stakeholder engagmente | Deliverables are steadily provided to stakeholders to receive feedback and implement relevant changes on the go |
Lean
This methodology is all about removing waste from processes. It should be implemented if you would like to use limited resources, reduce waster, and streamline processes. The Lean S5 quality tool can be used to maximize benefits:
Sort: Remove all items not needed for the project and use only the essentials.
Set in order: Label and arrange tools so that they are easy to find and use.
Shine: Keep everything organized.
Standardize: Perform processes in the same way every time.
Sustain: Maintain correct procedures and instill discipline in the team.
The Lean methodology uses a Kanban to keep things organized:
Six Sigma
This methodology uses seven principles to ensure that quality processes are always followed in order to reduce variation and maintain consistency in a project. The principles should be applied to measurable aspects of a product or processes, like time, cost, or quantity, to see if they meet the set standards. These principles are:
Always focus on the customer.
Identify and understand how the work gets done. Understand how work really happens.
Make your processes flow smoothly.
Reduce waste and concentrate on value.
Stop defects by removing variation.
Involve and collaborate with your team.
Approach improvement activity in a systematic way.
Six Sigma uses a process improvement approach called DMAIC:
Define
Measure
Analyze
Improve
Control
Lean and Six Sigma can be combined to both reduce waste and ensure consistency. This new methodology is called Lean Six Sigma.
What are different types of organizational structures?
Classic: Top-down or functional structures; follows a chain-of-command
Matrix: Not only accountable to those above in the hierarchy, but also must report to adajacent departments
How does organizational structure impact project management?
Tells us who to report to
Tells us how to get the resources a project needs
Sets amount of authority and responsibilty a project manager has
Classic: Not much authority; need permission for certain tasks or obtaining resources; might need to go through a chain of approval for things such as a budget adjustment
Matrix: Employees often have two or more people they need to report to; may need to share resources and negotiate priorities with other teams
What is the role of a Project Management Office (PMO)?
It is a group within an organization that defines, sets, and helps maintain project management standards and processes throughout that organization. It often acts as a coordinated center for all of the organization’s projects, helping them run more smoothly and efficiently.
A PMO's functions:
Strategic planning and governance
Selects projects suitable for business goals
Provides case for projects to management
Defines project criteria
Best practices
Share lessons learned from previous projects
Provides guidance about processes, tools, and metrics
Ensure consistency
Common project culture
Trains employees to follow optimal approaches
Resource management
Allocates resources
Sets budgets, processes, schedules, etc.
Define roles and responsibilities
Provides training, mentoring, and coaching
Creation of project documentation, archives, and tools
Invests in and provides software and templates
Maintains history of all projets in organization
How does organizational culture impact project management?
Organizational culture is defined as an organization's values, mission, and history as well as the values that the employees share.
It is important to understand an organization's culture to minimize conflict and complete a project with support and harmony.
We should align the project to the values of the organization and the stakeholders to get buy-in.
To get an idea of an organization's culture, make observations and ask:
How does communication happen?
Meetings, emails, over the phone?
How are decisions made?
Majority vote vs. top-down
What kind of rituals are in place when new employees start?
Taken out to lunch, given tour, introduced to others
How are projects typically run?
Classic vs Matrix
What kinds of practices, behaviors, and values are reflected by the people in the organization?
Overtime/weekend work an expectation, social events
What is a project manager's role in change management?
There are three core concepts related to a project manager's role in change management. They are:
Creating a sense of urgency and ownership around the changes/project
Get others to feel responsible for making the changes/project successful
Figuring out right combination of skills and personalities
Effective communication
Be up front with plans and ideas
Make information available and make sure everyone is up to date
When thinking about your role as a project manager during changes, ask:
How will the organization react to change?
Which influencers can affect change?
What are the best means of communication?
What change management practices will lead to the successful implementation of my project?
Best change management practices include:
Be proactive
Create a feedback document so people can address concerns
Create demonstrations, question and answer forums, or marketing videos
Communicate about upcoming changes
Follow a consistent process
Practice empathy
People will be resistent to changes due to challenges and anxiety
Use tools
Surveys to gain input and insight
Flowcharts to visualize the process
Culture mapping to show how company's values, norms, and employee behavior will be affected by changes
Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project
What are the key components of project initiation?
Cost-benefit analysis
Comparing the expected value of a project (benefits) to the dollar cost; the benefits should always outweigh the costs
To determine benefits ask:
What value will this project create?
How much money could it save the organization?
How much money will it bring in?
How will time be saved?
How will users benefit?
To determine the costs ask:
How much time will people have to spend on this project?
What will be the one-time costs?
What are the ongoing costs?
Any long-term costs?
Intangible benefits include:
Customer satisfaciton
Employee satisfaction
Employee productivity
Brand perception
Goals
What have you been asked to do and what are you trying to achieve?
Scope
Work that needs to happen to complete the project
Deliverables
Products/services made for client (tangible or intangible)
Success Criteria
Standards used to measure success of project reaching goals
Stakeholders
People who have an interest in the success of project
Resources
Budget, people, materials at disposal for project
Should be planned ahead of time
Project charter
Define project, its goals, and what is needed to accomplish goals
Review with key stakeholders
What are "SMART" goals?
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
What are "OKRs"?
Objectives and Key Results
These help establish and clarify goals and measurable outcomes.
Objective:
Defines what needs to be achieved
Describes desired outcome
Key Results:
Measurable outcomes that show that objectives were met
Example:
Objective: Decrease employee errors with software
Key Results: 70% reduction in errors
OKRs can be set at three levels (and they should all be aligned):
Organizational
Departamental
Project
Strong objectives are:
Aspirational
Aligned with organizational goals
Action-oriented
Concrete
Significant
To make strong objectives ask:
Does the objective help in achieving the project’s overall goals?
Does the objective align with company and departmental OKRs?
Is the objective inspiring and motivational?
Will achieving the objective make a significant impact?
Strong key results are:
Results-oriented
Measurable and verifiable
Specific and time-bound
Aggressive yet realistic
To make strong key results ask:
What does success mean?
What metrics would prove that we’ve successfully achieved the objective?
How is a project's scope determined?
Find out what will be and what will not be included in the project related to:
Budget
Timeline
Resources
Questions to ask:
Where did the project come from?
Why is it needed?
What is it expected to achieve?
What does the project sponsor have in mind?
Who approves the final results?
Think about:
Stakeholders
Goals
Deliverables
Resources
Budget
Schedule
Flexibility
What is "scope creep" and how can it be avoided?
Scope creep is when the work of the project grows larger than what was originally planned and agreeed upon.
To avoid it:
Define your projects requirements: Communicate with stakeholders and document their exact requests during the initiation phase.
Set a clear project schedule: Time and task management are essential.
Determine what is out of scope: Communicate what is out of scope and the consequences of including those things. Document agreements.
Provide alternatives: A cost-benefit analysis may be needed.
Set up a change control process: Determine the process for defining, changing, and approving/rejecting proposed changes.
Learn how to say no: Document costs incurred for changes.
Collect costs for out-of-scope work:
How can we manage project scope?
To mange scope, project manager's can refer to the Triple Constraint Model. Each constraint impacts the other. Changing one impacts the others.
The three constraints of the Triple Contraint Model are:
Time
Project timeline and schedule
Scope
Cost
Budget
Here is an article on the Triple Constraint Model.
What is the difference between "launching" and "landing" a project?
Launching: Delivering deliverables of the project to the client or user
Landing: Measuring the successful of the project using the success criteria established at the project's outset
How should we choose a project team?
First, consider:
Required roles for the team to complete each task
How many people are needed for the team (consider project size)
Think about the necessary skills to know who will do what
Technical, problem-solving, leadership
Availability of team members
Motivation levels of team members
What are the essential project roles?
Project manager
Stakeholders
Primary: Directly affected by project outcome
Project team members
Project sponsor
Initiates the project and is responsible for presenting a business case for its existence, signing the project charter, and releasing resources to the project manager
What are the responsibilities of the project roles?
Project manager
Monitor quality of work
Manage the timeline
Scope accurately
Use team-building techniques
Manage the budget
Plan and direct project work
Project sponsor
Advise on key business decisions
Advocate for alignment with senior management
Approve budget and resources
Project team member
Possess specific expertise
Contribute to individual project objetives
Work independently and collaboratively
How can we conduct a stakeholder analysis?
What is a "RACI Chart" and how do I build one?
Check out this artcle: "What Is a RACI Chart? How to Use RACI to Assign Project Roles"
Why do projects fail?
Unclear expectations
Make sure to ask:
What is the end goal?
What are the expected deliverables and schedule?
What is the budget?
Who are the stakeholders?
Unrealistic expectations
Miscommunication
Lack of resources
Scope creep
What are some important project documents?
Project proposal: Persuades client to move forward with project
Project charter: Clearly defines key details of project; serves as a point of reference through the project life cycle; makes clear that benefits outweigh costs; shows agreement with stakeholders on details of project and matches needs of organization
What should a project charter include?
project summary
goals and objectives
benefits and costs
project team
scope
success criteria
major requirements or key deliverables
budget
schedule and milestones
constraints and assumptions
risks
OKRs
approvals
What are some benefits of project management tools?
Track tast deadlines
Provide visibility to teammates
Manage a budget
Create helpful diagrams
Manage contracts
Project Planning: Putting It All Together
Tips for leading a successful kick-off meeting
Choose a time that works for everyone
Choos an appropriate length of the meeting
Invite the appropriate people
Designate a notetaker
Make an agenda and send it out ahead of time
Stick to the agenda
Send a follow up email summarizing the meeting and delegating action items
Milestones vs tasks
Milestone: An important point during a project where something is completed such as a deliverable or a phase
Milestones help keep the project on task and help us see that the project is progressing on pace. They also help motivate the team and demonstrate progress to stakeholders.
Task: An activity that needs to be completed within a set period of time; assigned to one or more individuals
Many tasks make up a milestone.
Best practices for setting milestones
Top-down scheduling: Project manager breaks down milestones into project tasks
Bottom-up scheduling: Project manager looks at all tasks and then rolls them into managable chunks that turn into milestones
Don't set too many milestones as that would downplay their importance or it may make the project look bigger than it actually is
Don't mix up tasks and milestones; milestones are moments in time and tasks are what need to be done to get to those moments
Don't list milestones and tasks seperately
What is a "work breakdown structure (WBS)"?
It is a tool that creates a hierarchy for milestones and tasks and puts them in the order they need to be completed. It should show the tasks that need to be done to reach each milestones. Team members will have a clear picture of what they need to do.
The three main steps to making a WBS are:
Begin with a high-level view of the project. List major deliverables and milestones
Set the tasks needed to complete those milestones..
Find the subtasks that need to be done to finish the main tasks.
You can make a Gantt Chart for your WBS.
Project plan templates
Project budgeting best practices
Reference previous projects that were similar
Get the opinions of your team and manager
Time-phase the budget
Make sure the budget is accurate and error-free
Categorize direct (wages, materials, rentals, licenses, transportation, training) and indirect costs (utilities, insurance, secruity, general office supplies, etc.)
Create a baseline budget for start up costs
Conduct a reserve analysis to see how much buffer funds you have available
Project budget templates
What is the procurement process?
Initiating: planning what is needed to meet your project goals
Selecting: deciding which suppliers and vendors to use
Contract writing: developing, reviewing, and signing contracts
Controlling: making payments and maintaining and ensuring quality
Completing: measuring success
Risk vs Issue
Risks are potential "what ifs" that could happen and "issues" are the problems a project actually has.
Risk management helps us understand:
What could go wrong
Who you'll need to consult
How to mitigate risks
The phases of risk management
Identify the risk.
Analyze the risk.
Evaluate the risk.
Treat the risk.
Monitor and control the risk.
See this article for more information on the process of risk management.
Tools for risk management
Fishbone diagram
Risk register
Risk assessment
Probability and impact matrix
Types of risks
Time
Budget
Scope (possibility that a project will not produce the results outlined in the project goals)
Single point of failure
Dependency (one task of the project cannot be completed or begin before another task)
Internal vs external
Risk mitigation strategies
Decision tree
Risk management plan
Communicate risks to stakeholders
Risk management template
Access it here.
Communication plan template
Click here.
Project Execution: Running the Project
Items to track
Project schedule
Action items, key tasks and activites
Progress toward milestones
Costs
Key decisions, changes, dependencies, and risks
Tools for project tracking
Key components of a project status report
Project name
Summary
Status
Milestones and tasks
Issues
Project status report template
Click here.
Dependencies
"Dependencies are the links that connect one project task to another, and as we mentioned, they're often the greatest source of risk to a project. Two or more project tasks may have a relationship with one another in which the completion of one task is reliant on the initiation of another task, and vice versa."
ROAM analysis template
Click here.
Quality managemet concepts
"Quality standards provide requirements, specifications, or guidelines that can be used to ensure that products, processes, or services are fit for achieving the desired outcome. These standards must be met in order for the product, process, or service to be considered successful by the organization and the customer. You will set quality standards with your team and your customer at the beginning of your project. Well-defined standards lead to less rework and schedule delays throughout your project."
"Quality planning involves the actions of you or your team to establish and conduct a process for identifying and determining exactly which standards of quality are relevant to the project as a whole and how to satisfy them. During this process, you'll plan the procedures to achieve the quality standards for your project."
"Quality assurance, or QA, is a review process that evaluates whether the project is moving toward delivering a high-quality service or product. It includes regular audits to confirm that everything is going to plan and that the necessary procedures are being followed. Quality assurance helps you make sure that you and your customers are getting the exact product you contracted for."
"Quality control, or QC, involves monitoring project results and delivery to determine if they are meeting desired results. It includes the techniques that are used to ensure quality standards are maintained when a problem is identified. Quality control is a subset of quality assurance activities. While QA seeks to prevent defects before they occur, QC aims to identify defects after they have happened and also entails taking corrective action to resolve these issues."
Retrospective template
Click here.
Tuckman's Stages of Group Development
Click here.
Cogner's four steps to persuade
Establish credibility
Frame for common ground
Provide evidence
Connect emotionally
Meeting agenda template
Click here.
Project closeout report template
Click here.
Agile Project Management
Agile Manifesto
Find it here.
VUCA
Find it here.
Scrum founding principles
(Copy and pased directly from the course)
Built-in instability: In the Scrum world, teams are given the freedom to achieve important outcomes with “challenging requirements.” Takeuchi and Nonaka explain that this gives teams “an element of tension” necessary to “carry out a project of strategic importance to the company.”
Self-organizing teams: Scrum Teams were intended to operate like their own start-up, with a unique order that lacks true hierarchy. These teams are considered self-organizing when they exhibit autonomy, continuous growth, and collaboration.
Overlapping development phases: Individuals on a Scrum Team must “work toward synchronizing their pace to meet deadlines.” At some point throughout the process, each individual’s pace starts to overlap with others, and eventually, a collective pace is formed within the team.
Multi-learning: Scrum is a framework that relies heavily on trial and error. Scrum Team members also aim to stay up-to-date with changing market conditions and can then respond quickly to those conditions.
Subtle control: As we mentioned, Scrum Teams are self-organizing and operate like a start-up, but that doesn’t mean there is no structure at all. By creating checkpoints throughout the project to analyze team interactions and progress, Scrum Teams maintain control without hindering creativity.
Organizational transfer of learning: On Scrum Teams, everyone is encouraged to learn skills that may be new to them as they support other team members.
Scrum pillars and values
Pillars of Scrum:
Transparency
Inspection
Adaptation
Values of Scrum:
Courage
Commitment
Focus
Openness
Respect
Scrum Guide
Find it here.
Characteristics of a great Scrum team
Find it here.
Product backlog template
Click here.
Product Roadmap First Principles
Find it here.
This is nothing
It won't allow me to delete it.
The influencer change framework
Three keys to influence:
Clarify measurable results
Make your SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals transparent
Find vital behaviors Real change occurs by identifying and encouraging vital behaviors at pivotal moments, informed by expert consultation, research, and cultural assessment.
Use the six sources of influence
Personal motivation
Personal ability
Social motivation
Social ability
Structural motivation
Incentives
Structural ability
Click here to read a summary of the book The Influence Change Framework.