Please respond to both POST1: and POST2: with at least 200 words and APA Cited reference.

Required

• Chapter 1 in Project Management Toolbox
• Part 1, Section 2.4 in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), 6th edition
• Chapter 3 in Lock, D. (2012). Project management. Burlington, VT: Gower.
• Ozmen, E. (2013). Project management methodology (PMM): How can PMM serve organisations today? Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2013—EMEA, Istanbul, Turkey. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/project-management-methodology-serve-organizations-5803

Recommended

• Project Management Institute (2016). Connecting business strategy and project management. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/series/benefits-realization/connecting-business-strategy-project-management
• Wyss, S. (2013). The perfect methodology—a tool, not a burden! Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2013—EMEA, Istanbul, Turkey. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/project-methodology-tool-development-technique-5785
• Zwikael, O. & Chih, Y. Y. (2014). Project benefit management: formulation and appraisal of target benefits. Paper presented at Project Management Institute Research and Education Conference, Phoenix, AZ. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/project-benefit-management-8957

POST1:

Creating a PM Toolbox

There are three major steps in creating a PM Toolbox. These steps include securing strategic alignment; customizing the PM Toolbox; and improving the PM Toolbox continuously (Martinelli & Milosevich, 2016). An organization must utilize all three of the steps in order to create a beneficial, strategically-aligned PM Toolbox. Strategic alignment is essential as it helps to ensure that an organization correctly allocates its resources (Wakeman, 2019).

Characteristics of Strategically Aligned Toolboxes

Strategically aligned toolboxes have many characteristics. The characteristics are tied to the organization’s core business strategy. According to Martinelli & Milosevich (2016), an organization that has a Best-Cost business strategy will utilize a Performance-Cost Driven PM Toolbox. The Performance-Cost Driven PM Toolbox focuses on both of a project’s performance and cost elements. This type of Toolbox includes the following characteristics:

• Central role and priority belong to cost-performance tools
• PM spends a majority of time managing performance requirements and cost
• Performance and tools are the primary basis for decisions (Martinelli & Milosevich, 2016)

Impact of Core Business Strategy on PM Toolboxes

An organization’s core business strategy impacts the choice of PM Toolboxes. Martinelli & Milosevich (2016) state that the “business strategy drives the project strategy, which in turn drive methods and processes, which influences the PM Toolbox design” (p. 4). For example, an organization that has a differentiation business strategy would emphasize getting their products to market quickly. Thus, the organization would utilize a Schedule driven PM Toolbox (Martinelli & Milosevich, 2016).

References

Martinelli, R.J., & Milosevich, D.Z. (2016). Project management toolbox: Tools and

techniques for the practicing project manager (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and

Sons

Wakeman, D. (2019, December 5). 3 Steps to align project and strategy. Retrieved from

https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/3-steps-to-ali…

POST2:

Module 1: Discussion

In this discussion we are talking about the Project Managers Toolbox or PM Toolbox. A PM’s Toolbox can be anything from a program to a job aide, anything to help with managing a project. The three characteristics of strategically aligned toolboxes that are important for the success of any project are alignment with strategies, customization of the Toolbox, and continuous improvement. (Martinelli & Milosevich, 2016).

1. Alignment with strategies – the PM should know and understand the company’s strategic business goals. They need to know why a project is being undertaken. This helps the PM to eliminate any obstacles. (Martinelli & Milosevich, 2016).
2. Customization of the Toolbox – there are three options either the size of the project (complexity of the project), the family or group that pertains the project, or the type which uses both size and family together. (Martinelli & Milosevich, 2016).
3. Continuous Improvement – As things change over time each toolbox must continually be improved upon and updated. (Martinelli & Milosevich, 2016).

A company’s core business strategy will impact the choice of the PM’s toolbox and the characteristics of it. Once the PM has the knowledge it needs about the company’s business strategies, they will utilize that information to create the appropriate toolbox for the project they are working on. For example, if one PM has identified his project as being small and having little complexity to it then the list of items in that toolbox could be limited to only several items. But another PM’s project is determined to be a project that will take 7 years to implement with multiple groups, programs, and people then the toolbox needed to manage that project could be by far more.

-Amy

References:

Martinelli, R. J., & Milosevich, D. Z. (2016). Project management toolbox: Tools and techniques for the practicing project manager (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.