Foundations of Project Management

This unit introduces core project management concepts, roles, and planning tools that establish a foundation for successful project work. Students will learn to define projects, map work with network diagrams, match people to tasks, apply basic monitoring and control techniques, and incorporate communication, Agile concepts, earned value basics, and ethical principles into early project plans.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze project characteristics and stakeholder needs to distinguish projects from ongoing operations and clearly articulate project purpose and measurable objectives
• Demonstrate understanding of the project manager role, organizational environments, and key team roles by creating a responsibility matrix and matching resources to tasks based on collected information
• Apply planning and control tools by constructing a network diagram, preparing a preliminary project plan, and explaining basic earned value metrics to support monitoring and controlling during performance
• Evaluate communication strategies, Agile principles, and professional ethics by developing a project communication plan aligned with a principled code of conduct and core values