It’s easy to see the trauma that war causes. Too many veterans come home with PTSD and suffer from a range of difficulties because of it.But more and more people are experiencing their own ordeals that leave scars on their minds that are tough to heal. Chances are you’ve had a traumatic event or two in your own life.Whether you realize it or not these do affect you, and in some cases a lot.You’re probably wondering about the impact that these tragic memories have on your mind and body. And why is it so difficult to get free of the pain they cause?

Trauma 😞

Finding relief from trauma is what <a href="https://www.nicabm.com/faculty/bessel-van-der-kolk/">Bessel van der Kolk’s </a> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18693771-the-body-keeps-the-score">The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma </a>is all about.This will help you see the effects of it on your life.But more importantly, you’ll discover a few techniques that can free you of it’s torment.

The Book 📚

Here are the 3 most helpful lessons this book teaches about trauma and recovery:<ol><li>EMDR is a slightly mysterious technique that the author uses to help trauma patients recover, and with wonderfully positive results.</li><li>You can connect your body and mind through yoga to help you deal with your troubling past.</li><li>Having a network of supportive people and practicing mindfulness are two more ways that bring healing.</li></ol>Ready to find out how to recover from your most difficult experiences that still haunt you? Let’s dive right in!

The Lesson Plan 🏫

Lesson 1: Trauma patients who go through the EMDR technique have seen incredible results in recovery.Difficult events can have a long-lasting negative effect. Just remembering them can raise blood pressure and deactivate <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/predictably-irrational-summary/">rational thinking </a>parts of a victim’s brain.Many of these experiences came from childhood and have been around for a long time.But there is hope for even the nastiest of demons you face.

Lesson 1 💡

One technique is as simple as moving a finger across a patient’s vision. As they follow the finger with their eyes, audio cues from the medical professional help them make new associations.EMDR, or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing might sound crazy, but it’s wildly effective at helping people recover from trauma. The reason it’s so helpful is because of the way it allows victims to integrate their traumatic memories.Part of the problem with these events is that their memory can play out as if it’s happening in the present.

Technique 🦾

The author used this technique to help a woman named Kathy who had just attempted suicide for the third time.At a young age, she’d been raped, assaulted, and abused by her father. Using EMDR, van der Kolk helped Kathy re-imagine these memories in a helpful way.She imagined a bulldozer destroying her childhood home and the memories that came with it. Another visualization had her thinking about locking her dad out of a cafe.She progressed well and 15 years later the author reconnected with her to discover she was happy and healthy.

Example ✅

Lesson 2: Dealing with your troubling past is easier when you practice yoga to help you connect your mind and body.Your body and mind are more connected than you might think.Figuring out how your emotions work and impact your body is essential for balance and stability in life. Trauma makes this really hard because of the way it puts a sort of alarm system in our bodies.A child who was sexually abused, for example, might feel panic when doing something as simple as cuddling with their significant other.

Lesson 2 💡

People usually try to numb these feelings with drug or alcohol abuse, or by overworking themselves.But these temporary fixes only put a bandage on rather than getting to the root of the issue.That’s where unifying <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-body-summary/">the body </a>and mind with yoga comes in handy. Yoga allows trauma victims a way to understand emotions and how their body handles them. The author had a patient named Annie who had been raped and suffered from PTSD that decided to give it a try.It was tough at first because just a simple pat on the back triggered her alarm system.

Dealing with it

Lesson 3: Mindfulness and a support network of friends and family who care are also great ways to experience healing.The aim of mindfulness is to mentally connect with and become aware of your body and emotions instead of just denying them.It’s difficult to do this after <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/when-bad-things-happen-to-good-people-summary/">adversity </a>because we don’t like to deal with painful emotions like sadness or anger.But suppressing them, as many victims do, just leads to more problems. Only by confronting your demons can you begin to heal from them.<a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-miracle-of-mindfulness-summary/">Meditation techniques help you </a>reconnect with the way you really feel so that you can start this process.

Lesson 3

This unique tool can calm the impacts of trauma on the mind and body. Whether it’s depression or chronic pain, mindfulness can help.It’s also known to strengthen your immune system, help you regulate emotions, and get your hormones in better balance.Relationships are another vital component of the recovery process.Your network of family, friends, and medical professionals can help you always have someone to turn to for help.You can connect with other helpful people through local AA meetings, religious groups, and veterans’ organizations.

The Tool 🔨

“It is very odd to live in a world where if you died, it would shock people but surprise no one.”

In trauma recovery, its not just the mind that needs work. The body is stunningly, if not arguably the most important component to recovery. 

The Body Keeps The Score Summary will help you overcome your traumatic past by showing the psychology of trauma and how therapy can help.

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Did You Know: The Body Keeps The Score?

This is an important breakdown if your studying for the PMP certification.This is best used with the Deepstash Ai text to audio feature!

Hybrid Project Management

Hybrid project management is a technique where high-level project phases are planned using the waterfall approach and project phase work (actual tasks) execution is done the Agile way. (As defined by PMI.org)It is rather easy to draw conclusions that some of the above-mentioned challenges can be “cured” by combining Agile and Waterfall into one.The result of the combination is also logical. But achieving that combo is not easy or trivial, hence certain conventions must be established.

What is hybrid project management?

Hybrid project management is getting more and more attention. In fact, it was named the top trend in the <a href="https://teamhood.com/project-management/project-management-radar-2021/">Project Management Radar 2021</a>.That is why we have created this article. To help people learn more about it and answer some of the common questions.<a href="https://teamhood.com/project-management-resources/hybrid-project-management/#:~:text=that%20utilizes%20both.-,What%20is%20hybrid%20project%20management%3F,As%20defined%20by%20PMI.org)">Basis of this article (cite)</a>

Hybrid Project Management – A Top Trend

While there are many project management methodologies to choose from or even combine, in our humble opinion there are only two real contenders based on popularity and their inherent differences – <a href="https://teamhood.com/project-management/waterfall-vs-agile-project-management/">Waterfall</a> and <a href="https://teamhood.com/agile-resources/what-is-agile/">Agile</a>.To be able to make a reasonable choice – first, we should understand the specifics of each methodology.

How to choose between Agile or Waterfall?

<ul><li>Higher cost of change</li><li>Learning and steering are complicated</li><li>The end goal is defined very early</li><li>Effort demanding planning and progress tracking</li><li>Higher risk for projects where there are numerous unknowns</li><li>Not focused on early value confirmation</li><li>Requires significant experience from the project team</li><li>End goal-centric (can be positive or negative depending on project type)</li></ul>

Essential specifics arising from Waterfall project management:

<ul><li>Makes project contracts more complex</li><li>Requires both project requestors/sponsors and the project team to be aligned on the approach</li><li>Not suitable for projects with strict deadlines where phases/stages are well-known</li><li>Requires significant experience from the project team</li><li>Harder to follow and estimate in the early days</li><li>Customer-centric (can be positive or negative depending on project type)</li><li>Highly visual with tools like Kanban board</li></ul>

Essential specifics arising from Agile project management:

Before we dive into actual hybrid project management tools we need to clearly understand what is the logical way of merging these two ideologies.This is why we provide simple examples to get you up to speed with this potentially game-changing approach. This allows you to use <a href="https://teamhood.com/kanban/kanban-gantt-chart/">Kanban and Gantt charts</a> at the same time.

How to combine Agile and Waterfall

First of all, we will use the waterfall approach only for high-level deadlines, deliverables, and contracts with customers:Agree only on top-level things like final deadlines, milestones, deliverables, or classical project phases.Identify phases of a project where Agile can come in. The rule here could be if the phase duration is longer than a month, it is worth switching to Agile.Otherwise, just go for the classic.

Waterfall for planning

Secondly, introduce Agile execution cycles for project tasks.<ul><li>Identify project work types & break them into tasks that are less than a day.</li><li>Create a prioritized work backlog that fulfills the project phase or whole project goal/milestone.</li><li>Agree to work in iterations (sprints) of 2 or 4 weeks. 2 weeks is good if the less experienced team & more alignment are required.</li><li>Before every iteration plan what your project team will work on by taking prioritized items from the work backlog.</li><li>Estimate every task so you know how many you can fit into a single sprint.</li></ul>

Agile for execution (Pt1 of 2)

<ul><li>At the end of every sprint do a retrospective – what went well and what can be improved?</li><li>Capture metrics on how many tasks and total estimation were completed.</li><li>Use captured completion metrics to adjust your next sprint planning.</li></ul>

Agile for execution (Pt2 of 2)

<ol><li>Finally, make sure you can monitor progress and steer accordingly by:</li><li>Having tools such as project burndown charts to visualize progress.</li><li>Perform daily status meetings to check if work is being completed according to Sprint’s goal (planned work).</li><li>Do project status checks against deliverables and project goals.</li><li>Involve stakeholders in project communication and progress reports after each sprint to showcase the value delivered.</li></ol>

Combined metrics and practices for progress reporting

It is highly recommended to follow the best practices of Agile ceremonies to ensure there is a process in place to continuously raise the quality of work being done and approaches being taken.Shortlist which is not limited to suggested ceremonies (practices/meetings):<ol><li>Daily status checks with the project team</li><li>Backlog refinement and prioritization</li><li>Sprint planning</li><li>Sprint retrospective</li></ol>Bonus technique from classic project management:5. Lessons learned / broader retrospective after each project phase

Agile ceremonies for continuous improvement

Since there is this great Agile manifesto to draw a line on where to focus while working with the methodology, it would be great to do the same for hybrid project management and propose a hybrid project management manifesto:<ol><li>Responding to change by following a detailed plan</li><li>Created value over formalities</li><li>Customer collaboration over contract negotiation</li></ol>It is about focusing on why somebody is requesting a project, and what is the expected value.Lastly, it is about collaborating and solving impediments instead of spending time to negotiate a fine-tuned contract for all the possible outcomes.

Hybrid project management manifesto

Comparing methodologies is not easy but still, can be done side by side to the most extent.Here you will find a comparison of methodologies on the following aspects:<ul><li>Repository of work</li><li>Planning approach</li><li>Commitments</li><li>Focus</li><li>Emphasis</li><li>Budget</li><li>Goals</li><li>Project duration</li><li>Resource availability</li><li>Delivery approach (On time delivery)</li><li>Scope</li><li>Effort required for changes</li><li>Estimating</li></ul>

When to choose hybrid project management vs Agile or Waterfall?

The unfortunate problem that which majority of professionals undergo is that their companies are either far invested in CPM or Agile.Resulting in tooling which is also far stretched to support one of those methodologies.What should be the core features of a tool to support Hybrid project management?<ol><li>Gantt charts for high-level project phases</li><li>Task groups or multiple backlogs</li><li>Sprints or Iterations with capacity planning and velocity metrics</li><li>Kanban boards for daily task execution</li><li>Agile metrics</li><li>Burndown charts</li></ol>

Hybrid project management software

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PMP Study: Hybrid Project Management, what is it? Expect questions of this approach on your exam.

The Agile Project Manager Mindset

<ul>
<li>Be always a servant leader to the team at all times. This includes empowering them and removing any impediments. Give tools and stand down.</li>
<li>Engage the product owner to document the features and to prioritize them in the product backlog.</li>
<li>Only the product owner can prioritize the features in the backlog. If the owner refuses, then you need to train them on the benefits of the value. DO NOT prioritize the features yourself.</li>
</ul>

The Agile Project Management Mindset Pt1

<ul>
<li>Use a co-location.</li>
<li>Face to face communication with a whiteboard and marker are the best form of communications.</li>
<li>Provide agile teams with lots of wall space so they can write on them and use sticky notes.</li>
</ul>

The Agile Project Management Mindset Pt2

<ul>
<li>Information should always be radiated through the use of large charts and graphs, such as the use of a burnup or burndown chart.</li>
<li>Any problem that occurs on a project should be resolved by the project team. Always let the project team choose a solution while coaching and supporting their solutions.</li>
<li>Provide a safe environment for disagreements. Don’t punish anyone for having a difference of opinion. Conflicts are a positive step and opportunity to learn.</li>
</ul>

The Agile Project Management Mindset Pt3

<ul>
<li>Try to limit the work in progress through the use of the Kanban. Kanban boards should be displayed either on a large whiteboard or less desirable monitor.</li>
<li>Consistently communicate and re-communicate the project vision to the team.</li>
<li>Understand the needs of your team members and find out what may motivate them.</li>
</ul>

The Agile Project Management Mindset Pt4

<ul>
<li>Make sure people understand what failure and success will look like on the project.</li>
<li>Be a central figure to the team, not a dictator.</li>
<li>Have good ethical values.</li>
</ul>

The Agile Project Management Mindset Pt5

<ul><li>Review the methods work was completed by doing a retrospective.</li><li>Utilize feedback loops. Feedback loops occur when you’ve completed the task and then take what you’ve learned from that and input the lessons learned into the next task.</li></ul>

The Agile Project Management Mindset Pt6

PMP Study: Agile Project Management Mindset

This is an important breakdown if your studying for the PMP certification. 
This is best used with the Deepstash text to audio feature!

The Traditional Project Manager Mindset

<ul>
<li>Identification and analysis of stakeholders is done throughout, not just the beginning.</li>
<li>Always follow a plan and never allow changes to the plan without an approved change request.</li>
<li>Any stakeholder that wants to change any component of the project management plan will need to submit a change request.</li>
<li>All change requests will need to be reviewed and assessed.</li>
<li>Never take action without first creating a plan.</li>
<li>Consult with the project team before making decisions, it would be more practical of an approach.</li>
</ul>

The Traditional Project Manager Mindset Pt1

<ul>
<li>Your final decision should always benefit the project. Most value over project outcome.</li>
<li>Try to use tools that are inclusive (whiteboard) over complex software.</li>
<li>All scope changes should be assessed on how it will impact all other parts of the project: schedule, cost, quality, resources, communications, risk, procurement and stakeholder engagement.</li>
<li>When conducting estimates use a bottom-up approach NOT top down. This will lead to more correct estimates but requires more in-depth work.</li>
</ul>

The Traditional Project Manager Mindset Pt2

·       Your main job is to be the integrator of all the components of the project. Don’t concentrate on one while ignoring the others.·       Update the lessons learned register throughout the project.·       When closing the project, ensure all bills are paid and resources are released.·       Projects that are terminated early still needs to be closed formally through the close project or phase process.

The Traditional Project Manager Mindset Pt3

<ul>
<li>The best people to break down the work is the project team.</li>
<li>The best people to determine when an activity may happen are also the project team.</li>
<li>Quality requirements should be defined early and checked often to ensure it gets done.</li>
<li>The customers are the best people to check a deliverable for scope conference and quality requirements being met as they are the ones that will use the product.</li>
</ul>

The Traditional Project Manager Mindset Pt4

<ul>
<li>Before resolving conflict between team members, be sure to understand the source of the conflict.</li>
<li>Conflicts between team members should always be resolved for the benefit of the project objectives, not to take sides with either party.</li>
<li>Before communications are sent out to stakeholders, ensure to analyze their needs and determine what they’re looking for, how often and by what method they would like it to be delivered, and who will deliver it to them.</li>
</ul>

The Traditional Project Manager Mindset Pt5 (1 of 2)

Utilize the skills of emotional intelligence to analyze your own feelings and those around you to respond to stakeholders’ needs and requirements. Emotional intelligence allows you to solve problems quicker and more effectively.

The Traditional Project Manager Mindset Pt5 (2 of 2)

<ul>
<li>Identify as much risk as possible as early as possible on a project. All identified risks should be documented in the risk register along with their corresponding risk responses.</li>
<li>A negative risk is known as a threat while positive risk is known as an opportunity. Ensure to identify and document responses to both.</li>
<li>When selecting a contract to use on a project with potential sellers, always use a contract that is mutually beneficial to both the seller and buyer that fits the overall project objectives.</li>
</ul>

The Traditional Project Manager Mindset Pt6 (1 of 2)

<ul>
<li>Engage stakeholders often and regularly. Use things such as meetings, one on one conversations, phone calls and presentations to engage them.</li>
<li>When engaging your stakeholders, ensure they understand the communications they are receiving. Tailor your communication to individual stakeholder needs.</li>
</ul>

The Traditional Project Manager Mindset Pt6 (2 of 2)

PMP Study: Traditional Project Manager Mindset breakdown

We all know someone who constantly seems to be the source of drama. As a therapist and psychologist, I’ve spent 20 years hopping the fence between being caught in the drama and observing it.“I often have cravings for drama,” one patient, who we’ll call Helen, told me. “I can invent false narratives that end up making me angry with people.”Here are seven toxic signs of someone who is addicted to drama — and how to deal with them:

Drama Kings & Queens

When there isn’t an unrelenting sense of urgency, something always feels wrong to them. So to reinforce the urgency, they create a life that is overflowing with commitments, projects and deadlines.

1. They feel a sense of urgency.

They might try to get your attention by adding escalating words (“extremely bad” versus “bad”) or metaphors (“It was like he saw right through me and I melted into the abyss of space” versus “He ignored what I had to say”).And, just to make sure you’re paying attention, they’ll perform it with dramatic gestures and facial expressions.

2. They use exaggerated language.

People with a tendency toward drama rarely stay in the background or on the sidelines. Even when they are able to suppress their urge to be the center of attention, they don’t do it for long.Being in the middle of larger-than-life action tends to make them feel important.

3. They need to be the center of attention.

Retelling the same emotional story to different audiences allows them to vent continually. It’s common for them to add variations to the original situation, too.

4. They reenact and retell stories with unnecessary intensity.

You’ll often find people who are addicted to drama consumed by what’s happening in the lives of others.There is a growing prevalence of loneliness in this country, and in the absence of feeling seen and heard, it’s easy to get distracted by those around us.

5. They focus on the negative or exhilarating elements of other peoples’ lives.

Like the star of any show, they need the one-way interaction of an audience — people whose only role is to bear witness to the drama.They also like to assign roles to the rest of the cast. And if cast mates don’t deliver the right lines, there will likely be trouble.

6. The are preoccupied with (and stuck in) their own story.

Their inability to control (or predict) the external world leads to feeling overwhelmed, helpless and victimized. This is something all of us experience, but it’s acute for those with a propensity for drama.Say you take the wrong exit from a traffic circle. For many people, it’s a minor inconvenience or mistake. But to the drama addict, it’s an unfair catastrophe that happened to them.

7. They feel a lack of control.

Being able to identify the signs of a drama addict will empower you with a sense of awareness, giving you a better idea of how to handle the situation.Below are some tips:

How to deal with the drama

When you see someone start to engage in the drama cycle, tell yourself these statements to help you take a step back:<ul><li>“They are again being pulled into their drama cravings.”</li><li>“They are trying to avoid something very painful right now.”</li><li>“They are exhibiting this intense behavior because they are asking to be seen.”</li></ul>This isn’t about making excuses. It’s to help you avoid being pulled into the drama and instead be a compassionate witness.

1. Reframe and soften your response.

Explain what you are and aren’t open to hearing:<ul><li>“I’m having a difficult time and can’t hold space for this right now.”</li><li>“I can be present to listen to what happened, but I don’t have the capacity to hear any blaming as to why it happened.”</li><li>“Now is not a good time. What’s your availability like later?”</li></ul>Setting a firm but kind boundary will not only make you feel better, it can also help lower the temperature for the drama addict in the moment.

2. Clarify what you can hear.

The truth is that sometimes you will just have to walk away and end the relationship (for now).While the terms “break up,” “walk away from someone,” or “leave the relationship” are often used, the reality is that you are making the conscious choice to return your energy and attention back to yourself.

3. Distance yourself.

When faced with senseless drama, spiteful criticisms and misguided opinions, walking away is the best way to stand up for yourself. To respond with anger is an endorsement of their attitude.

We all experience drama. Some are just regal about it, its bred into their personalities. Identify and overcome!

We all know someone who constantly seems to be the source of drama. As a psychologist and therapist, Dr. Scott Lyons has spent 20 years studying the toxic signs of people who are "addicted to drama" — and how to deal with them

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Are you addicted to DRAMA? Here are 7 toxic signs of someone who is...

Earned Value Analysis (EVA) is a method that allows the project manager to measure the amount of work actually performed on a project beyond the basic review of cost and schedule reports.EVA provides a method that permits the project to be measured by progress achieved. The project manager is then able, using the progress measured, to forecast a project’s total cost and date of completion, based on trend analysis or application of the project’s “burn rate”.This method relies on a key measure known as the project’s earned value.

What is Earned Value Analysis?

Oftentimes the term “earned value” is defined as the “budgeted cost of worked performed” or BCWP.This budgeted cost of work performed measure enables the project manager to compute performance indices or burn rates for cost and schedule performance, which provides information on how well the project is doing or performing relative to its original plans.These indices, when applied to future work, allow for to project manager to forecast how the project will do in the future, assuming the burn rates will not fluctuate, which oftentimes is a large assumption.

What to remember about EVA...

Earned Value Management Systems allow the project manager to answer the following three questions, as they relate to the project:Where have we been?Where are we now?Where are we going?In Earned Value Management, unlike in traditional management, there are three data sources:– the budget (or planned) value of work scheduled– the actual value of work completed– the “earned value” of the physical work completedEarned Value takes these three data sources; compares the budgeted value of work scheduled & “earned value of physical work completed” & the actual value of work completed.

EVM Foundational Concepts

Planned Value describes how far along project work is supposed to be at any given point in the project schedule and cost estimate.PV, also known as Budget Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS), can be defined as:<ul><li>Define Scope: What you are tasked to do (Scope Statement)</li><li>Assign Scope: Breakdown scope into manageable parts (WBS)</li><li>Schedule Scope: Time-phased, logic driven with critical path (Project Schedule)</li><li>Budget Scope: develop cost (budget) for all approved scope (Performance Measurement Baseline)</li><li>Baseline: Snap-shot in time, frozen. What performance measurement will be based upon.</li></ul>

Planned Value (PV)

Actual Cost (AC), also called actual expenditures, is the cost incurred for executing work on a project. This figure tells you what you have spent and, as with Planned Value, can be looked at in terms of cumulative and current.<ul><li>Cumulative AC is the sum of the actual cost for activities performed to date.</li><li>Current AC is the actual costs of activities performed during a given period. This period could represent days, weeks, months, etc. AC is also called Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP).</li></ul>

Actual Costs (AC)

To report the accomplishments of the project, you must apply Earned Value (EV) to the figures and calculations in the project. EV is the quantification of the “worth” of the work done to date.In other words, EV tells you, in physical terms, what the project has accomplished. As with PV and AC, EV can be presented in a Cumulative and Current fashion.<ul><li>Cumulative EV is the sum of the budget for the activities accomplished to date.</li><li>Current EV is the sum of the budget for the activities accomplished in a given period. Earned Value is also called Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP).</li></ul>

Earned Value (EV)

The PM will be provided with financial information from accounting that will expressed the actual cost incurred on the project's work is performed, then the PM will seek information from the team that will state the budgeted cost of work performed on the project, or earned value.After those three values are established, a variance analysis can be performed.There are two basic expressions of variance, schedule variance and cost variance.

Variance Analysis (VA)

Schedule Variance status does indicate the dollar value difference between work that is ahead or behind the plan and reflects a given measurement method.Schedule Variance status does not address impact of work sequence.The formula utilized to express schedule variance is project earned value minus the project planned value as of the date of examination.*VERY IMPORTANT*(SV = EV – PV) If the variance is equal to 0, the project is on schedule.If a negative variance is determined, the project is behind schedule and if the variance is positive the project is ahead of schedule.

Schedule Variance (SV)

The cost variance is defined as the “difference between earned value and actual costs. (CV = EV – AC)” (PMI, 2004, p. 357)Sometimes this formula is expressed as the difference between budgeted cost of work performed and actual cost work performed.*VERY IMPORTANT*If the variance is equal to 0, the project is on budget.If a negative variance is determined, the project is over budget and if the variance is positive the project is under budget.

Cost Variance (CV)

Another analysis that can be done by using EVMS is that of Performance or establishing the project’s burn rate.Two examination of performance are available to the project manager, Schedule Performance Index (SPI) and Cost Performance Index (CPI).

Performance Indexes (PI)

The SPI is defined by PMI’s PMBOK® Guide as “a measure of schedule efficiency on a project.It is the ratio of earned value (EV) to planned value (PV). The SPI is equal to earned value divided by planned value, SPI = EV/PV.An SPI equal to or greater than one indicates a favorable condition and a value of less than one indicates an unfavorable condition.Assuming your SPI efficiency remains through out the reminder of work; your project will finish ahead of schedule.

Schedule Performance Index (SPI)

The CPI is defined by PMI’s PMBOK® Guide as a measure of cost efficiency on a project.It is the ratio of earned value (EV) to actual costs (AC). The CPI is equal to the earned value divided by the actual costs, CPI = EV – AC.Assuming your CPI efficiency remains the same throughout the reminder of work; your project will be over budget.

Cost Performance Index (CPI)

Potential Causes of Favorable Cost Performance:<ul><li>Efficiencies being realized</li><li>Work less complex than anticipated</li><li>Fewer revisions and rework</li><li>Favorable Market Fluctuations in the Cost of Labor or Material</li><li>Overhead Rate Decreases</li></ul>Potential Causes of Unfavorable Cost Performance<ul><li>Work more complex than anticipated</li><li>Design review comments extensive</li><li>Rework</li><li>Unclear Requirements</li><li>Scope Creep</li><li>Unfavorable Market Fluctuations in the Cost Labor or Material</li><li>Overhead Rate Increases</li></ul>

Cost Performance Index (CPI) Deeper Understanding Pt.2

Anticipating future progress requires determining when the project will be completed and how much it will cost to complete it.The Estimate at Completion (EAC) is the actual cost to date plus an objective estimate of costs for remaining authorized work.The objective in preparing an EAC is to provide an accurate projection of cost at the completion of the project.The Budget at Completion (BAC) is the sum of all budgets allocated to a project scope.The Project BAC must always equal the Project Total PV. If they are not equal, your earned value calculations and analysis will be inaccurate.

Estimates to Complete (EAC)

<ul><li>Planned Value (PV) - How much work should be done?</li><li>Earned Value (EV) - How much work was done?</li><li>Actual Cost (AC) - How much did the work cost?</li><li>Budget at Completion (BAC) - What is the total job budgeted to cost?</li><li>Estimate at Completion (EAC) - What do we expect the total job to cost?</li></ul>The EAC is the best estimate of the total cost at the completion of the project. The EAC is a periodic evaluation of the project status, usually on a monthly basis or when a significant change happens to the project.

EAC Deeper Understanding PT.2

<ol><li>Organize the project team & the scope of work, using a work breakdown structure. Each task should have a single WBS number and organizational code.</li><li>Schedule the tasks in a logical manner so that lower level schedule elements & the top level milestones.</li><li>Allocate the total budget resources to time-phased control accounts.</li><li>Establish objective means for measuring work accomplishment. Budget should be earned equal to planning.</li><li>Control the project by analyzing cost and performance variances, assessing final costs, developing corrective actions, and controlling changes to the integrated baseline.</li></ol>

Summary of Earned Value Management (EVM)

Project Management Institute. (2004) A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). (Third ed.) Newtown Square, PA: Project Management InstituteProject Management Institute. (2005) Practice standard for earned value management (PMI Global Standard) (2005 ed.) Newtown Square, PA: Project Management InstituteGovernment Electronics and Information Association. (2002) Earned value management systems Approved: May 19, 1998. Reaffirmed: August 28, 2002. ANSI/EIA-748-A-1998United States Department of Energy (2005) Earned value management application guide, version 1.6. 1-1-2005.

References:

Originally published in part of 2006 PMI Global Congress Proceedings – Seattle WA

PMP Study: Earned Valued Management Systems (BAC,EV, etc...)

Project management is a complex and interdisciplinary field. To complete a project successfully, you must complete it on time, on budget and meeting the agreed quality level . To achieve this, you must use project management processes. There are different project management frameworks such as PMP, Prince2 , IPMA etc. The most reputable project management framework is PMP (Project Management Professional) from PMI (Project Management Institute). Here is the comprehensive list of 49 PMP Processes, and how they help to complete a project successfully and prep you for the test.

49 Project Management Processes

Project integration is the basic role of project managers since it provides a tie between different knowledge areas. It’s the mean for the project manager to connect project components and tie them together.As the PM integrates the work of others and integrates other <a href="https://blog.masterofproject.com/ten-project-management-knowledge-areas/">Project Management Knowledge Areas </a>into a unified effort towards project success. It includes processes, activities, and tasks used to combine different project efforts into a unified directed effort towards project success.

Project Management Processes – Integration Management

Develop Project Charter process objective is to provide formalize the project existence . In addition to provide the project manager with an authorization document to have access to resources required for the project.The process of Develop Project Charter is performed once at the earliest stage of project initiation to facilitate the work of the project manager. The key deliverable of this process includes the project charter.

PMP Process #1 – Develop Project Charter Process

Develop Project Management Plan process objective is to combine all project plans into a single integrated project management plan . The process is vital to project planning since it’s meant to rectify any misalignment between component plans. In that sense, this process is crucial for project success. Even if there are expert planners taking care of component plans, The project manager must be on top of this process.The key output of this process is the project management plan, an integrated and aligned version of all project sub plans approved and signed by key stakeholders.

PMP Process #2 – Develop Project Management Plan Process

Direct and Manage Project Work process refers to leading and controlling the project work activities. ﻿The key outputs of this process are the finished work deliverables and change requests for project work. This process aims to increase the probability of project success.

PMP Process #3 – Direct and Manage Project Work Process

This process aims to improve the project product and results using existing knowledge . In addition to the previous objective, Manage Project Knowledge process also helps to update company and project team knowledge.Also, Manage Project Knowledge outputs help improving future phases of the project as well as future projects results.

PMP Process #4 – Manage Project Knowledge Process

Monitor and Control Project Work process refers to the activities of assessing, reviewing and documenting project work. ﻿Its main objective is to provide a clear status of the project work, identify performance issues and improvement areas.Also, the main deliverable of this process is work performance reports.

PMP Process #5 – Monitor and Control Project Work Process

This process is concerned with managing change requests effectively throughout the project lifetime . Also, Perform Integrated Change Control process takes care of change requests documentation.Besides that, the process focuses on assessing its impact on different project aspects including scope, cost, time and other project variables. As a result of performing this process in the right manner, project results improve dramatically.

PMP Process #6 – Perform Integrated Change Control Process

Close Project or Phase process refers to the activities the project management team do to complete all remaining phase or project activities. The project manager performs this process each time he completes a phase or when he closes the whole project. This process focuses on ensuring all planned work for the phase or project is complete and all relevant information are stored in the right place. It also helps in providing an official announcement of phase or project closure. The key deliverable of the Close Project or Phase process is the final project or phase product.

PMP Process #7 – Close Project or Phase Process

<a href="https://blog.masterofproject.com/scope-management-overview/">Scope management </a>knowledge area aims to ensure that the project team completes all project related work and only this project related work . Accordingly, this knowledge area focuses on defining what is project related work so the project team can do it. Also, defining what is not included in the project work so that the project team makes sure they do not do it.

2) Project Management Processes – Scope Management

This process main purpose is to set the way to plan, manage control and assess project scope . The key deliverable of the Plan Scope Management process is scope management plan. You can consider as a guide for the project team on how to deal with project scope in different stages of the project. In addition to requirements management plan which also is a guide but for how to deal end to end with project requirements.

PMP Process #8 – Plan Scope Management Process

Project management processes help a project to reach its objectives. We have covered the 49 PMP processes and details about each one.

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