PMP / Lesson 1: Creating a high-...

Negotiate project agreements

How to pass PMP exam in 15 weeks
Lesson 1: Creating a high-performance team
- Build a team
- Define team ground rules
- Negotiate project agreements
- Empower team members and stakeholders
- Train team members and stakeholders
- Engage and support virtual teams
- Build shared understanding about a project
Lesson 2: Starting the project
- Determine appropriate project methodology/methods and practices
- Plan and manage scope
- Plan and manage budget and resources
- Plan and manage schedule
- Plan and manage quality of products and deliverables
- Integrate project planning activities
- Plan and manage procurement
- Establish project governance structure
- Plan and manage project/phase closure
Lesson 3: Doing the work
- Assess and manage risks
- Execute project to deliver business value
- Manage communications
- Engage stakeholders
- Create project artifacts
- Manage project changes
- Manage project issues
- Ensure knowledge transfer for project continuity
Lesson 4: Keeping the team on track
- Lead a team
- Support team performance
- Address and remove impediments, obstacles, and blockers
- Manage conflict
- Collaborate with stakeholders
- Mentor relevant stakeholders
- Apply emotional intelligence to promote team performance
Lesson 5: Keeping the business in minds
- Evaluate and address internal and external business environment changes
- Support organizational change
- Employ continuous process improvement
- Manage compliance requirements
- Evaluate and deliver project benefits and value
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30 Manage Resource Questions Answer and Explanation
30 Manage Procurement Questions Answer and Explanation
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Enablers

Analyze the bounds of the negotiations for agreement. (ECO 1.8.1)
Assess priorities and determine ultimate objective(s). (ECO 1.8.2)
Verify objective(s) of the agreement is met. (ECO 1.8.3)
Participate in agreement negotiations. (ECO 1.8.4)
Determine a negotiation strategy (ECO 1.8.5)

Deliverables, and Tools

Negotiations

Negotiations are discussions that are aimed at reaching an agreement.

Documents might include:

A statement of work or major deliverables
A schedule with milestones and dates
Performance reporting expectations
Pricing and payment terms
Inspection, quality requirements, and acceptance criteria
Warranty and future support
Incentives or Penalties
Insurance and Performance Bonds
Subcontractor approvals
Terms and Conditions
Change Request handling
Termination clauses and Dispute Resolution

Service Level Agreements

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) * are defined as a contract between a service provider (internal or external) and the end user that describes the level of service expected from the service provider.

Performance Report

Project performance metrics might include:

Percentage of work completed
Quality and technical performance metrics
Start and finish of scheduled activities
Change requests
Defects
Actual costs and durations

Work performance data * is defined as the raw observations and measurements identified during activities being performed to carry out the project work. Work performance data is integrated and contextualized in reports that should:

Generate decisions
Raise issues, actions, and awareness

Agile projects include:

Completed and accepted
Progress through a product backlog
Team delivery of stories against iteration plans

Expert Judgment

Expert judgment*: Judgment provided based upon expertise in an application area, knowledge area, discipline, industry, etc., as appropriate for the activity being performed. Such expertise may be provided by any group or person with specialized education, knowledge, skill, experience, or training.

Negotiation Strategy

Negotiations for the exact parameters of a contract are generally driven by the procurement manager.

The project manager and project teams may be engaged as part of the negotiations.

In a traditional project approach, one important objective is a clear designation of the project’s intended deliverables and how they will be measured and compensated.

In a more agile approach, the exact deliverables will be variable as the customer modifies, adds, and reprioritizes items in their product backlog, and so clearly delineated ways to ensure agreed performance levels must be defined.

Resource Calendars

The resource calendar identifies working days, shifts, and when specific resources are made available to the project.

Used to determine which resources (people, equipment, material, etc.) are available during a planned activity period and should be taken into account when estimating project activities.
Used to identify key resource attributes such as skills and experience levels to ascertain if the resources with the proper skills to carry out certain types of work will be available during different aspects of the project.

Lessons Learned

The lessons-learned register * is a project document used to record knowledge gained during a project so that it can be used in the current project and entered into the lessons learned repository.

An effective project team should regularly review its performance and identify lessons learned and identify specific improvements that will increase the team's overall efficiency and effectiveness.
Agile teams schedule a ceremony called a retrospective at the end of each iteration to identify potential issues, identify potential solutions, and improve the processes the team uses to improve its overall performance.

Go Live Black-Out Times

Black-out times where other changes to their systems are suspended to reduce risks as a solution is released to customers.
Go live will occur at the end of the project timeline, and black-out times may be negotiated in advance based on the overall project schedule and timeline
In an agile approach, there may be a number of releases of aspects of the solution over the project’s timeline, and black-out times (if needed) will be negotiated as the project approaches a release threshold.

Guidelines to Participate in Negotiations

Project managers and project team members will often be engaged throughout the negotiations process.

Project team can suggest or identify:

Deliverables and milestones
Risks and issues
Expert judgment about problem definition and solution approaches
Practices for how the project will be operated (traditional waterfall, Agile, etc.)
Resource requirements

Project Agreement Objectives

An important part of the project agreement is clarity on how the respective parties will report on and verify that the objectives of the project are met.

In a traditional project, each deliverable is identified and objective acceptance criteria for each are identified.

In an agile project, since the actual deliverables will vary as the product backlog is added to, reprioritized, and so forth, each story needs to have clearly defined acceptance criteria approved by the customer. The project may also specify a Definition of Done for the project, releases, iterations, and user stories.