WHAT IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT?(partial quotations are made)

 

Before we begin explaining the importance of project management, it is important to understand what project management is and what it entails. Project management involves the use of various principles, procedures and policies that are established to guide a project from its conception stage all the way along until its completion. 

Every project management professional will admit that planning and organisation are major parts of project management as well as the implementation of created plans. This article will give you a project management step by step guide. A project itself, is described as a specific start undertaken with parameters designed to be followed in order to produce a defined outcome. A project holds its own against ongoing processes due to the fact that it has a specific start and end date whereas processes can be ongoing for an unidentified period of time.

The plan is used to guide all aspects of a project along the project management basic steps; a path from start to finish, highlighting the importance of project planning. The ideal goal of effective project management and the role of project manager work is to reach the expected outcome of a project on time and within budget. Through anticipating certain challenges and bottlenecks of a project and coordinating an efficient and effective team, Sinnaps, the online project management app, can greatly increase the probability of a project reaching its goals in the most ideal way.

 

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WHY IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT IMPORTANT?

Managing a project more often than not requires a team of people with skills and abilities that complement each other and help to work towards reaching the goal of the project. The team, along with its project manager are responsible for planning, organising and monitoring project progress. Any project management professional will tell you that every project follows a project life cycle and certain project management steps that bring it from start to finish. Projects are a lot more than simply preparing resources and materials and require a deeper element of management.

Project management can be a hard skill to acquire, but most definitely comes with its benefits and it is well worth investing your time into learning the skill. Project management is important for the following reasons:

Clearly defines the plan of the project before it begins: The importance of planning in project management cannot be ignored. The more complex project, the more scope there is for chaos. One of project management’s primary functions is to tame the chaos by mapping out a clear plan of the project from beginning to end.

Establishes an agreed schedule and plan: Schedules help to eliminate delays or overruns and provide a plan to be followed for all those involved with the project.

Creates a base for teamwork: People are required to work in a team on a project. This is due to team synergy benefits through the sharing and support of knowledge and skills. Bringing people together in this way inspires team members to collaborate on a successful project.

Resources are maximised: Both human and financial resources tend to be expensive. Project tracking and project risk management ensure that all resources are used efficiently and are accounted for economically.

Helps to manage integration: Projects that are completed within an organisation are generally integrated with wider business processes and systems. Integration forms the value aspect of projects and their management.

Helps to keep control of costs: Depending on the scope of the project, some projects can incur organisations significant costs. It is important therefore to keep on budget and to control spending. Project management greatly reduces the risk of budget overruns.

Helps to manage change: Today, more than ever, change is something which all organisations face. Projects, during their running, also face changes and must be prepared to face such deviations from the original plan. Project management allows for effective change management and makes it less of a complex task.

Quality is continuously managed: More so than ever, it is important to produce quality results. Project management helps to identify, manage and control quality. Quality results make clients happy, which is a win-win situation for all involved.

Knowledge: The more projects a business undertakes, the more knowledge it will acquire over time. This will serve as an asset to any business and project management helps to capture and retain knowledge.

Creates an opportunity for learning: Sometimes, projects work out perfectly and other times, project fail miserably. Either way, much can be learned from previous experience and past mistakes can be avoided in the future. Project management ensures that these lessons are learned and applied in the future.

 

IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ORGANISATIONS

Organisations are constantly facing new challenges and opportunities. The world and marketplace is fast-paced and filled with uncertainties and opportunities for growth. Without the practise of project management, organisations would find themselves drowning in an ocean of failed projects and processes with few options of salvation. All organisations need to take project management seriously in order to survive and thrive.

Without a clear path to follow when it comes to managing projects, the task of achieving their desired objectives would prove very difficult. Constraints such as time, resources, budgets, scope and quality are all too significant to simply pass over without applying a scientific approach. Project management provides exactly that: a scientific approach that helps to ensure successful results through structure and organisation.

By using project management methods, organisations can gain control over the running of projects and make sure that they are keeping on track and within budget. Project deliverables need to be managed effectively so that no one loses track over what is happening. One failed project may not seem like a lot to a company, however when we are talking about large organisations with multiple, complex and on-going projects, project management is vital.

Due to the triple constraint which project managers face with regards to quality, time and scope, the way in which a PM deals with these constraints on top of all the other aspects of the project that need to be managed means a lot when judging a PM’s skill on a project manager resume. Without Project Management there would be chaos in organisations which would induce stress, uncertainty and higher rates of failure, highlighting project management’s essential nature to organisations.

 

WHAT ARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS?

6 Essential Skills for Project Managers

  1. Communication. Did you know that 90 percent of a project manager's time is spent communicating? ... 
  2. Leadership. Leadership is the current buzzword in the project management industry, and with good reason: If you can lead, you can deliver. ... 
  3. Team management. ... 
  4. Negotiation. ... 
  5. Personal organization. ... 
  6. Risk management.

Years ago I was in Brazil managing the installation of a monitoring system for a large construction project. As I told the chief electrician how a piece of equipment was to be mounted, he raised his eyebrows and said: “You’re the boss.”

I knew what was happening: Because I was the project manager, the chief electrician didn’t feel he could disagree with me, even though he did. In this case he was right, I was wrong, and the result was a loss of time and resources.

Technical training in project management does not prepare you for dealing with such nuanced circumstances. As a project management professional, you’re a change agent working with teams that are made up of complex individuals in many different roles. Somehow you’re supposed to be a leader, and know how to read body language, negotiate, and be a master at myriad other skills. How do you do it all?

Here is my short list of six must-have skills for project managers, and some books that will help you get there.

 

1. Communication

Did you know that 90 percent of a project manager’s time is spent communicating? It’s essential that project managers can effectively convey vision, ideas, goals, and issues—as well as produce reports and presentations, among other skills.

Communication is a broad topic, so it’s difficult to approach it from an all-encompassing angle. A good place to start is by improving your presentation skills, which translates into everything from a kickoff meeting to a pitch to clients and stakeholders. The best resources I’ve seen on this are the works of Nancy Duarte. Her books, “Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences” (free on iBooks) and “slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations opened my eyes to the power of an expertly executed presentation  As you read through the books, watch for different insights you can use in presentations and other aspects of your work.

 

2. Leadership

Leadership is the current buzzword in the project management industry, and with good reason: If you can lead, you can deliver. But most importantly, leadership is often what is missing in the project manager’s arsenal of highly developed technical skills. If you’re a project manager, I can guarantee you have felt the need to improve yourself as a leader at some point.

Thousands of resources exist that promote better leadership. Susanne Madsen, a project management and leadership coach, who also writes for this blog, has a new book out that’s a must-read for any project manager interested in developing leadership skills. “The Power of Project Leadership: 7 Keys to Help You Transform from Project Manager to Project Leader”  is filled with actionable information you can implement immediately to become a better project leader.

You can also listen to Susanne talk about leadership my podcast interview with her.

 

3. Team management

Besides leading a team from a strategic perspective, project managers also need to manage from an operational point of view. An effective team manager excels at administering and coordinating groups of individuals by promoting teamwork, delegating tasks, resolving conflict, setting goals, and evaluating performance. Leadership is about inspiring others to walk with you; team management makes sure your team has the right shoes.

As part of the Harvard’s Pocket Mentor Series, “covers all the basics on team management, including insight on how to create a team identity, resolve conflicts, address poor team performance, and many other areas.  It’s a short read and will get you thinking about the right topics when it comes to managing teams.

 

4. Negotiation

Going back to the communication skill—a lot of this communication has to do with negotiating the use of resources, budgets, schedules, scope creep, and a variety of other compromises that are unavoidable. Knowing how to negotiate well so that all parties are satisfied is a key skill for the successful project manager.

I read “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In” a couple of years ago and was impressed at how authors Roger Fisher and William Ury were able to explain the inner workings of negotiations, and how to make the most out of this unavoidable experience.

 

5. Personal organization

Have you ever heard that you cannot give what you do not have? How can you get things done and organize work for other people if your own personal life and projects are disorganized and going nowhere?  Get organized personally, and you will immediately improve as a project manager.

I read David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” a few years ago, and that was a pivotal point in my life. I was already a project manager then, but was going nowhere with my career, and my work was not up to the standards it is today.  This book helped me get my life and my commitments under control.

 

6. Risk management

During my “Project Management for You” podcast series, I interviewed top-notch project managers and asked them about their go-to project management tool or technique.  I was surprised to see them suggesting risk management. They are absolutely right: If you can predict and create solutions to issues before they arise, you increase your chances of delivering projects successfully.  Risks by definition are not urgent; as a result, many project managers fail to consider risks as seriously as they should.

“Managing Uncertainty: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times” by Michel Syrett and Marion Devine is a great introduction to navigating around risky environments in project management.

Project management is a job that demands a varied and vast skill set. Start by honing your practices in each skill set, and keep adding and incorporating them into your work.  I hope you continue working on becoming the best project manager you can be.

 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES

In order to achieve goals and planned results within a defined schedule and a budget, a manager uses a project. Regardless of which field or which trade, there are assortments of methodologies to help managers at every stage of a project from the initiation to implementation to the closure. In this tutorial, we will try to discuss the most commonly used project management methodologies.

A methodology is a model, which project managers employ for the design, planning, implementation and achievement of their project objectives. There are different project management methodologies to benefit different projects.

For example, there is a specific methodology, which NASA uses to build a space station while the Navy employs a different methodology to build submarines. Hence, there are different project management methodologies that cater to the needs of different projects spanned across different business domains.

Project Methodologies

Following are the most frequently used project management methodologies in the project management practice:

1 - Adaptive Project Framework

In this methodology, the project scope is a variable. Additionally, the time and the cost are constants for the project. Therefore, during the project execution, the project scope is adjusted in order to get the maximum business value from the project.

2 - Agile Software Development

Agile software development methodology is for a project that needs extreme agility in requirements. The key features of agile are its short-termed delivery cycles (sprints), agile requirements, dynamic team culture, less restrictive project control and emphasis on real-time communication.

3 - Crystal Methods

In crystal method, the project processes are given a low priority. Instead of the processes, this method focuses more on team communication, team member skills, people and interaction. Crystal methods come under agile category.

4 - Dynamic Systems Development Model (DSDM)

This is the successor of Rapid Application Development (RAD) methodology. This is also a subset of agile software development methodology and boasts about the training and documents support this methodology has. This method emphasizes more on the active user involvement during the project life cycle.

5 - Extreme Programming (XP)

Lowering the cost of requirement changes is the main objective of extreme programming. XP emphasizes on fine scale feedback, continuous process, shared understanding and programmer welfare. In XP, there is no detailed requirements specification or software architecture built.

6 - Feature Driven Development (FDD)

This methodology is more focused on simple and well-defined processes, short iterative and feature driven delivery cycles. All the planning and execution in this project type take place based on the features.

7 - Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

This methodology is a collection of best practices in project management. ITIL covers a broad aspect of project management which starts from the organizational management level.

8 - Joint Application Development (JAD)

Involving the client from the early stages with the project tasks is emphasized by this methodology. The project team and the client hold JAD sessions collaboratively in order to get the contribution from the client. These JAD sessions take place during the entire project life cycle.

9 - Lean Development (LD)

Lean development focuses on developing change-tolerance software. In this method, satisfying the customer comes as the highest priority. The team is motivated to provide the highest value for the money paid by the customer.

10 - PRINCE2

PRINCE2 takes a process-based approach to project management. This methodology is based on eight high-level processes.

11 - Rapid Application Development (RAD)

This methodology focuses on developing products faster with higher quality. When it comes to gathering requirements, it uses the workshop method. Prototyping is used for getting clear requirements and re-use the software components to accelerate the development timelines.

In this method, all types of internal communications are considered informal.

12 - Rational Unified Process (RUP)

RUP tries to capture all the positive aspects of modern software development methodologies and offer them in one package. This is one of the first project management methodologies that suggested an iterative approach to software development.

13 - Scrum

This is an agile methodology. The main goal of this methodology is to improve team productivity dramatically by removing every possible burden. Scrum projects are managed by a Scrum master.

14 - Spiral

Spiral methodology is the extended waterfall model with prototyping. This method is used instead of using the waterfall model for large projects.

15 - Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

This is a conceptual model used in software development projects. In this method, there is a possibility of combining two or more project management methodologies for the best outcome. SDLC also heavily emphasizes on the use of documentation and has strict guidelines on it.

16 - Waterfall (Traditional)

This is the legacy model for software development projects. This methodology has been in practice for decades before the new methodologies were introduced. In this model, development lifecycle has fixed phases and linear timelines. This model is not capable of addressing the challenges in the modern software development domain.

 

Conclusion

Selecting the most suitable project management methodology could be a tricky task. When it comes to selecting an appropriate one, there are a few dozens of factors you should consider. Each project management methodology carries its own strengths and weaknesses.

Therefore, there is no good or bad methodology and what you should follow is the most suitable one for your project management requirements.