Project Management     


Cross-Cutting Knowledge and Skills

List of cross-cutting knowledge and skills used in multiple domains

Active listening- is an important inter-personal skill the project manager needs to manage stakeholders.

Brainstorming-  is a data gathering and ideal generation technique used to identify risk and problems areas and devise solutions.  Involve a group of team members and subject matter experts.

Change Management-  Involves change control boards, expert judgement, and meetings between different stakeholders.  The outcome of these meetings is either approval or rejection of the change request.

Communication Channels -  The potential number of communication channels within the project environment can be calculated using the formula  N(N-1)/2

Tools are techniques used for communication include :

·         Face to Face

·         Video conferencing

·         Teleconferencing

·         Social Media

Communication methods can be :

·         Interactive

·         Push

·         Pull

Conflict resolutions techniques include different methods such as:

·         Problem solving

·         Forcing

·         Avoiding

·         Smoothing

·         Compromising

Data Gathering Techniques -used to collect, organize, and present data and information.

Decision Making – Can be an individual basis or with a group of stakeholders.  If a group is involves then called group decision making.

Facilitation Techniques – Have broad applications within project management processes and guide the development of documents such as the project Charter.

Some of the key techniques used by facilitators to help team and individuals accomplish objectives:

·         Brainstorming

·         Conflict resolution

·         Problem solving

·         Meeting Management

Information Gathering techniques

·         Brainstorming

·         Interviewing

·         Delpi techniques

·         Root-cause analysis

Leadership – involves focusing the efforts of a group od people toward a common goal and enable them to work as a team.

Negotiating – involves holding discussions with stakeholders to get the best resources, budget, and timeline in a win-win proposition.

Influencing – strategy of sharing power and relying on inter-personal skills to get stakeholders and team by-in toward goals.

Presentation tools and techniques – include visual aids such as pictures, videos, traffic lights, stores, tubes, and so on.

Prioritizing – involves ordering deliverables and activities based on stakeholder and business needs.

Schedule Management – plays an important role as activities and deliverables are prioritized based on the project schedule.

Problem Solving Techniques

·         Define Problem

·         Generate Alternatives

·         Evaluate and select alternatives

·         Implement Solutions

Include brainstorming, SWOT Analysis, Fishbone diagram, and 5 whys

Applicable laws and regulations

·         Labor laws

·         Country specific standards

·         Statutory requirements

The project manager has to keep jurisdiction appropriate laws and regulations for project contract consideration.

Business Acumen -- is an individual quickness and aptitude to understand the business situation and choose an appropriate response.  And it is an important skill for a project manager to possess.

Coaching  - is a means of developing the project team to higher levels of competence and performances.

Mentoring  -  involves guiding less experience people to reach the next level.

Training – is a formal or informal method to enhance the team’s skill level.

Motivation – involve creating an environment in which the project objectives are achieved while keeping the team moral high.

Configuration Management – is a collection of procedures used to track, monitor, and manage project artifacts such as hardware, documentation, software code, and drawings.

Customer Satisfaction Matrix – are set by identifying parameters that help to measure whether the customer requirements are fulfilled.

Some of these metrics are:

·         Standards

·         Technical specifications

·         Service level agreements

Delegation - Involves assigning an activity to the appropriate team member or stakeholder and is an important skill as projects managers themselves cannot execute all the activities.

Emotional Intelligence  - is the capability to identify, access, and manage one’s own emotions and that of other people, as well as the collective emotion of a group.

Requires the project manager to be aware of and sensitive to people ‘s culture and background.

Expert Judgment- Is provided based on expertise in an application area, knowledge area, discipline, or industry, as appropriate for the activity performed.

Expertise may be by any group or person with specialized education, knowledge skill , experience, or training.

Generational Sensitivity  - refers to understanding team members who belong to different age groups and also being sensitive to the skill and cultural diversity within the team.

Team members can use one-on-one meetings and organize team activities to establish good rapport with the team members.

Inter-Personal Skills  - refer to the ability to establish and maintain relationships with other people and include skills such as:

·         Leadership

·         Team Building

·         Motivation

·         Communication

·         Influencing

·         Decision Making

·         Political and Cultural Awareness

·         Trust Building

·         Conflict Management

·         Coaching

Knowledge Management  - Requires an understanding of the DIKW ( Data, Information, Knowledge, , Wisdom) model.

This model is used to generate data, gather information, and create reports on work performance

Knowledge management is added newly in the 67th Edition of PEMBOK

Lessons Learned Techniques -  refers to the documentation of the knowledge gained during a project that shows how the project event were addressed or could have been addressed with the aim of improving future performance.

·         Must be performed throughout the project

·         Is part of continuous improvement

Meeting Management Techniques – include preparing an agenda, setting ground rules, dealing with conflicts, and other meeting related duties.

Organizational and Operational Awareness  - refers to situational awareness based on organizational practices and is an enterprise environmental factor.

Peer-Review Process -  is performed by people at the same level of expertise and is a horizontal channel of feedback.

Relationship Management – refers to managing relations with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders and ensuring smooth communication.

Risk Assessment Techniques  - Covers qualitative and quantitative risk analysis using different tools such as:

·         Decision Tree

·         Monte Carlo

·         Probability and impact assessment

Situational Awareness  - refer to an understanding of current trends and practices in laws, culture, skills, technology, and changes within the organization.

Stakeholder Management Planing  - refers to different strategies to engage stakeholders.  The five levels of stakeholder engagement are :

·         Unaware

·         Resistant

·         Neutral

·         Supportive

·         Leading

Team Building Techniques  - Are used throughout the project to ensure they communicate and operate efficiently and deliver value to the customer.

 

Virtual or remote team Management – involves managing the team when it is spread across different locations, time zones, or shifts.