The project life cycle refers to the whole process from the beginning to the end of the project. The purpose of project organization is very strong. Project organization exists in the life cycle. In the process of project implementation, the organization usually divides the project into different stages to better manage the project.
2.1 Project life cycle
2.1.1 Life cycle model
- Waterfall model (Predictive life cycle)
- Agile Model (Adaptive lifecycle)
- Iterative model
- The incremental model
- Hybrid model
2.1.2 Common characteristics of project life cycle
- The life cycle can be divided into four general phases: initiating the project, organizing and preparing, executing the project, and closing the project
- The project phases are sequenced end to end
- The cost and personnel requirements of the project gradually increase with the development of the project, and then decrease after reaching a peak.
- The assurance of successful completion of the project increases as the project progresses
- The project stakeholders have the greatest influence on the final features and cost of the project product, which decreases with the development of the project. The main reason for this is that change becomes more difficult and expensive as the project progresses.
2.2 Business environmental factors and organizational process assets
2.2.1 Business environment factors
Business environmental factors are conditions beyond the control of the project team that will affect, limit or dictate the project. It may come from inside or outside the organization. Business environmental factors are an input to most planning processes.
1. Business environment factors within the organization
- Organizational culture, structure and governance
- Geographical distribution of facilities and resources
- infrastructure
- Information technology software
- Resource availability
- Staff ability
2. Business environment factors outside the organization
- Market conditions
- Social and cultural influences and problems
- Legal restrictions
- Commercial database
- Academic research
- Government or industry standards
- Financial considerations
- Physical environment elements
2.2.2 Organizational process assets
Organizational process assets are plans, processes, policies, procedures, and knowledge bases that are specific to and used by the execution organization and affect the management of specific projects. It includes lessons learned and historical information from past projects, schedule, risk data, and earned value data.
2.3 Impact of the organization on project management
2.3.1 Organizational system
A system is a collection of components that can achieve functions that a single component cannot. The basic principles of the system include: the system is dynamic, the system can be optimized, the system components can be optimized, the system and its components can not be optimized, and the system presents nonlinear response.
System factors include but are not limited to management elements, governance frameworks and organizational structure types.
Type of organizational structure:
- Owned model (simple model)
- Multiple departments
- Project-oriented
- Virtual type
- A hybrid
2.3.2 Functional organization
The department manager in the figure is the same as the functional manager.
Functional organization refers to the division of the organization according to functions and similarities of functions.
When a project is implemented in a functional organization, the project coordinator is entrusted with the responsibility of communication and coordination, and has certain rights to assign work and allocate resources, as well as certain decision-making rights. The project coordinator reports to someone more senior than the functional manager, and project team members still report to their supervisor (the functional manager).
advantages
- It is conducive to the improvement of the technical level of the organization.
- Flexibility and low cost in resource utilization
- Facilitate the overall coordination of organizational activities
disadvantages
- Coordination difficulty
- There is no clear responsible person and the responsibility of project team members is diluted.
- Customers may not have a dedicated point of contact.
Table: Advantages and disadvantages of functional organizations
| advantages | disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Facilitate the management of experts | Functional work tends to take precedence over project work |
| Team members have only one supervisor | There is no communication with other functions |
| Functional departments can provide employees with a good platform for career development, and their career paths are clear | There is no full-time project manager, the project manager has no authority |
| Being with professionals is conducive to the improvement of professional skills | Ignoring the interests of other functional departments in the project |
| Project team members can work on both project and daily tasks at the same time, with the flexibility to coordinate between the two | No career prospects in project management |
| Coordination and communication within the same functional department is easier | |
| The same functional department can respond quickly and effectively to problems within its own area of expertise |
2.3.3 Project-based organization
Project-based organization groups all resources by project, that is, each project has all the resources necessary to accomplish the project tasks. Each project execution organization has a clear project manager, that is, the person in charge of each project, directly under the leadership of the organization’s director or the major project manager, responsible for the use of the project resources to complete the project task. Each project team is relatively independent of each other.
advantages
- Clear objectives, unified command.
- It is conducive to project control and quick decision making.
- Conducive to the growth of all-round talents.
- Project team members are easily motivated, loyal and responsible to the project.
disadvantages
- Duplication of institutions, resource constraints.
- Not conducive to the organization of professional technical level.
- Instability.
It boils down to this:
| advantages | disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Project organization is simple and effective | At the end of the project, members have no “home” to return to |
| Project manager’s power is sufficient, conducive to unified command | It is not conducive to the professional and technical development of members |
| Project members are loyal to the project | Re-configure equipment and personnel |
| Communicate more effectively | Low resource utilization |
| Fast decision making | Functional departments are indifferent to projects |
| Facilitate project team building | |
2.3.4 Matrix organization
Matrix organization is characterized by the combination of vertical departments divided according to functions and horizontal departments divided according to projects, which has formed a management system similar to matrix.
Matrix organization can be divided into weak matrix, strong matrix and balanced matrix according to the project manager’s power.
1. Weak matrix organization
A weak matrix retains most of the characteristics of a functional organization, with the project manager acting more like a coordinator or liaison than a true project manager, as shown in the figure above.
Project liaison staff does not have the power to assign work and allocate resources, so there is no decision-making power. They only play the role of communication and coordination, and their level is generally lower, between project team members and functional managers.
2. Strong matrix organization
In a strong matrix organizational structure, resources are owned and controlled by functional departments, and each project manager borrows resources from functional departments according to project needs, as shown in the figure above.
In a strong matrix organization, each project is a temporary organization, which is disbanded once the project task is completed, and the individual professionals return to each functional department to perform other tasks.
3. Balanced matrix organization
Balance matrix organization (matrix organization) is to strengthen the management of the project and the improvement of the weak matrix organization.
The difference with weak matrix organization is that the project team appoints a manager responsible for the project, namely the project manager, for which the project manager is given the power and responsibility to complete the project tasks.
4. Advantages and disadvantages of matrix organization
| advantages | disadvantages |
|---|---|
| There are full-time project managers | Responsible structure, responsible communication, difficult management |
| Project managers have a degree of control over resources | Project members have more than one boss |
| Can obtain the support of functional departments | Power struggle between project manager and functional manager |
| High resource utilization | Competition between project work and functional work for resources |
| Promote cross-departmental coordination | The struggle between the functional departments |
| Conducive to horizontal information flow | A lot of rules and procedures are required |
| Project team members have homes | The project manager does not have sufficient authority over project members |
2.3.5 Project Management Office (PMO)
In practice, PMO tasks range from training, deployment of project management tools and software, release of standard policies and procedures, and release of templates to actual management of projects and project structures, some or all of which the PMO performs as required.
1. PMO and Project Manager
The difference between a project manager and a PMO is mainly reflected in the following five aspects:
- Project managers and Pmos pursue different goals and are driven by different needs.
- A project manager is responsible for achieving specific project outcome goals within project constraints, while a PMO is an organization with a special mandate that includes an organization-level perspective.
- While the project manager focuses on specific project objectives, the PMO manages significant, large-scale project scope changes to better meet the organization’s strategic objectives.
- The project manager controls the resources assigned to the project to best achieve the project goals, while the PMO optimizes the use of shared resources across all projects.
- The project manager manages the scope, schedule, cost, and quality of the intermediate product, while the PMO manages the overall initiative, overall opportunity, and dependencies of all projects.
2. Type of PMO
A PMO is an organizational structure that standardizes project-related governance processes and promotes the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and technologies. It is divided into the following three types:
- Support type
- Control type
- instruction
3. Functions of the PMO
Routine functions of an organizational PMO:
- Supervises the supporting environment for project management within the organization
- Develop project managers
- Provide project management knowledge and consultation
- Multi-project management and monitoring within the organization
The strategic intelligence of organization level PMO mainly includes project portfolio management and improving organization project management ability.
2.3.6 Selection of organizational structure
We talked about the three categories of organizational structure, but in the real project management process, the organizational structure should be selected according to the actual project, and different project period, the requirements for the project structure are also different. The project should be organized around the work, and as the work changes, so does the scope of the project organization.
Finally, the impact of organizational structure on the project.
