Carrying Out the Project Work

Planning is intellectual. Execution is visceral. This is where the carefully constructed plan meets the messy, unpredictable reality of human teams, shifting priorities, supply chain disruptions, and stakeholder politics.

Lifecycle Phase 3 — Carrying Out the Project Work — is where the majority of project resources are consumed, where the deliverables take physical form, and where the project manager's leadership is tested most severely. It spans two PMBOK Process Groups simultaneously: Executing and Monitoring & Controlling.

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Why Execution Demands a Different Mindset

Core Principle: During planning, the project manager is an architect. During execution, they become an air traffic controller — managing multiple moving elements in real time while maintaining situational awareness.

The Executing Process Group integrates people and other resources to carry out the project management plan. But execution without control is chaos. That is why the Monitoring & Controlling Process Group runs in parallel — constantly measuring performance, detecting variances, and triggering corrective action.

EXECUTING — Process Group

MONITORING & — CONTROLLING — Process Group

Direct & Manage — Project Work

Perform Quality — Assurance

Acquire, Develop & — Manage Project Team

Manage — Communications

Conduct — Procurements

Manage Stakeholder — Engagement

Monitor & Control — Project Work

Perform Integrated — Change Control

Validate & Control — Scope

Control Schedule, — Costs & Quality

Control Risks & — Procurements

Relationship details

From	Relationship	To
EXECUTING — Process Group	leads to	MONITORING & — CONTROLLING — Process Group
EXECUTING — Process Group	leads to	Direct & Manage — Project Work
EXECUTING — Process Group	leads to	Perform Quality — Assurance
EXECUTING — Process Group	leads to	Acquire, Develop & — Manage Project Team
EXECUTING — Process Group	leads to	Manage — Communications
EXECUTING — Process Group	leads to	Conduct — Procurements
EXECUTING — Process Group	leads to	Manage Stakeholder — Engagement
MONITORING & — CONTROLLING — Process Group	leads to	Monitor & Control — Project Work
MONITORING & — CONTROLLING — Process Group	leads to	Perform Integrated — Change Control
MONITORING & — CONTROLLING — Process Group	leads to	Validate & Control — Scope
MONITORING & — CONTROLLING — Process Group	leads to	Control Schedule, — Costs & Quality
MONITORING & — CONTROLLING — Process Group	leads to	Control Risks & — Procurements

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Directing and Managing Project Execution

This is the central execution process — the engine of Phase 3. It involves performing the work defined in the project management plan to achieve the project's objectives.

What Happens Here

• Work is assigned and performed according to the plan
• Deliverables are produced progressively
• Work performance data is collected for analysis
• Change requests are generated when variances are detected
• The project team implements approved changes

Performance Reviews

Definition: Performance reviews are held to assess project status or progress — not to correct the PM's mistakes or to apprise project costs in isolation.

$$Project\ Performance = f(Scope,\ Schedule,\ Cost,\ Quality)$$

Project performance must be measured at regular intervals to identify variances from the plan. This is not limited to cost or schedule alone — it encompasses all dimensions of project health.

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Developing and Managing the Project Team

Acquiring the Team

With the Human Resource Plan from Phase 2 as the guide, the PM now acquires and develops the team.

Motivation Theories in Practice

Two foundational motivation theories directly apply to team management:

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (highest to lowest):

Self-Actualisation

Self-Esteem

Social / Belonging

Security / Safety

Physiological

Relationship details

From	Relationship	To
Self-Actualisation	leads to	Self-Esteem
Self-Esteem	leads to	Social / Belonging
Social / Belonging	leads to	Security / Safety
Security / Safety	leads to	Physiological

Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory:

Exam Tip: Herzberg's motivators include regular promotions and growth opportunities. Good salary, supervision, and job security are hygiene factors — they prevent dissatisfaction but do not drive motivation.

Conflict Resolution

Key Fact: Withdrawal allows a cooling off period but seldom resolves the issue in the long term. Problem solving (confronting) is the most effective method.

Group Decision-Making

Brainstorming encourages team building, analysis of alternatives, and uninhibited verbalization. It does NOT encourage convergent thinking — the entire point of brainstorming is to generate diverse, divergent ideas.

The Delphi Method is best suited for decision-making through structured rounds of anonymous expert input. It is not a cost control or estimation technique.

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Managing Project Communications

The PM as Communication Hub

The project manager is the critical element in a project's communication system. They facilitate all project-related communication — upward to sponsors and management, downward to the team, and outward to customers, vendors, and stakeholders.

Communication Tools and Techniques

The major tools and techniques of managing communications include: communication technology, communication models, communication methods, information management systems, and performance reporting.

Reporting Guidelines

Exam Tip: A formal project report is the least likely method for explaining project planning guidelines to the team — reports document the past; memos, directives, and meetings convey future direction.

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Implementing Project Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is a proactive process — it ensures that the project is using the right processes to meet requirements, not just inspecting deliverables after the fact.

Quality Assurance vs. Quality Control

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Conducting Project Procurement

Contract Administration

Effective contract administration requires implementing the contract change control system — not holding bidders conferences (that happens during procurement planning) or developing statements of work.

Handling Change Requests from Customers

When a customer requests a change — even a small one — the project manager must:

1. Ask the customer to file a formal change request
2. Assess the cost and schedule impact
3. Process the request through the change control system

The Golden Rule of Change Management: The impact of every change must be assessed and must go through formal change control — regardless of size, goodwill, or the value of the client relationship.

Contract Administration Change Requests

Contract administration change requests may include modifications to contract terms, termination for unsatisfactory work, modification to product descriptions, and contracted changes. Seller invoices are NOT change requests — they are financial documents.

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Monitoring and Controlling Project Work

This process group runs continuously throughout Phase 3, measuring performance against the baseline and triggering corrective action when necessary.

Integrated Change Control

Definition: Perform Integrated Change Control is the process of reviewing all change requests, approving changes, and managing changes to deliverables, organisational process assets, project documents, and the project management plan.

The change control process should include: scope change control, contract administration, quality control, and risk change control. Resource levelling is a scheduling technique, NOT a change control component.

The Three Major Causes of Change

1. Errors in the initial assessment of how to achieve project goals
2. New information about the project deliverable
3. A new mandate (external directive or requirement change)

Change Triggers

Errors in Initial — Assessment

New Information — About Deliverable

New Mandate / — External Directive

Change Request

Impact — Assessment

Update Baselines — & Execute

Document & — Archive

Relationship details

From	Relationship	To
Change Triggers	leads to	Errors in Initial — Assessment
Change Triggers	leads to	New Information — About Deliverable
Change Triggers	leads to	New Mandate / — External Directive
Errors in Initial — Assessment	leads to	Change Request
New Information — About Deliverable	leads to	Change Request
New Mandate / — External Directive	leads to	Change Request
Change Request	leads to	Impact — Assessment
Impact — Assessment	Approved	Update Baselines — & Execute
Impact — Assessment	Rejected	Document & — Archive

Change Requests — Sources

Change requests can occur due to:

• An external event such as a change in government regulation
• An error or omission in defining the scope of the product
• An error or omission in defining the scope of the project

All three of these are valid sources. Change requests exist to ensure that the planned outcome of the project is achieved despite evolving circumstances.

Customer Acceptance Testing

When a project meets all product specs, is under budget, and ahead of schedule, but the customer requests changes before acceptance — the correct response is to ask the customer to file a change request. Do not absorb unbudgeted work, bill them later, or refuse outright.

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Managing Project Stakeholders

Stakeholder engagement during execution is about maintaining alignment and managing expectations through consistent, strategic communication.

Phase Review Purpose

The purpose of reviewing deliverables and project performance at the conclusion of a project phase is to determine whether the project should continue to the next phase — not to adjust baselines or obtain customer acceptance.

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Common Pitfalls

Gold-plating. Adding unrequested features because the project is under budget or ahead of schedule. Every addition carries risk and dilutes focus.

Informal change management. Agreeing to "small" changes without formal documentation creates scope creep — the silent killer of projects.

Neglecting the Monitoring & Controlling parallel. Execution without real-time measurement is flying blind. Performance data must be collected, analysed, and acted upon continuously.

Underestimating communication overhead. Managing communications is not a background task — it is one of eight core executing processes and demands deliberate effort.

Forcing conflict resolution. Forcing creates short-term compliance but long-term resentment. Problem-solving is always the superior approach.

Treating quality assurance as inspection. QA is about process. QC is about product. Confusing the two leads to reactive firefighting instead of proactive prevention.

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Key Takeaways

• Phase 3 spans two process groups simultaneously: Executing and Monitoring & Controlling.
• The PM acts as the central communication hub, spending 75–90% of their time communicating.
• Performance reviews assess project status — measure project performance regularly across all dimensions.
• Maslow's hierarchy ranks needs from physiological to self-actualisation. Herzberg's motivators (promotions, recognition) drive satisfaction; hygiene factors only prevent dissatisfaction.
• Withdrawal is the weakest conflict resolution method. Problem-solving is the strongest.
• Every change request must go through formal change control — no exceptions, regardless of size.
• The three major causes of change: initial assessment errors, new information, and new mandates.
• QA (executing, process-focused, proactive) ≠ QC (monitoring, product-focused, reactive).
• Phase reviews determine whether the project should continue to the next phase.