Project management is the act of taking a project and determining the scope, desired outcome, requirements, and deliverables needed to successfully execute the project.
Project management is a discipline that can increase the success of project delivery, and make things much easier for the team.
To be clear, the project is a temporary initiative with a beginning and end. There’s usually business value and a customer for whom the project will be executed.
Project management entails determining what the requirements are and how the project will be executed – or how the business value will be delivered to the customer. There’s usually a project manager who works with the team to determine the timeline and schedule, the budget, the requirements, and ensure everyone has the same understanding of how the project will move forward.
The basic steps of project management.
- Identify stakeholders – this includes the customer and others who have an interest or are impacted by the project.
- Understand expectations of the customers and stakeholders.
- Identify the project scope – what will be included and what will not be done (so there are no surprises at the end).
- Determine the project budget – How much is this going to cost?
- Gather requirements that give more detail about what you’re creating with your project.
- Identify targets and milestones (in waterfall project management you’d create a work breakdown structure and turn that into a project schedule).
- Create the project schedule by determining what needs to be done, and the sequence of events to be carried out to reach the project goals.
- Determine reporting needs – if you’ve got stakeholders who need to be informed through the course of the project, it is important to know who they are, what they need to know, and how that should occur.
- Determine how the product will be delivered to the customer. Is it a software solution that involves training and a rollout plan to many users? Is it a house that will be delivered when certain agreed-upon items have been completed? (my expertise is software projects so this is how I tend to think).
- Execute the project – Carry out the plan to create the solution for the customer.
The value of project management to an organization.
Here are several ways that project management can be valuable to an organization:
Project management brings many benefits to an organization. Here’s a list of a few points to be considered:
- Establish a clear path of success for your project.
- Utilize organization and planning techniques so everyone is working together.
- Establish team accountability – Everyone knows who is responsible for what.
- Create a clearly defined scope so you know exactly what you’re delivering, and what you’re not delivering (sometimes this is critically important).
- Create a clear budget so you know how much your project will cost.
- Manage customer expectations.
- Ensure solution quality – the project manager works with the team to ensure that quality is built in from the beginning of the project.
- Communicate to stakeholders – The project manager serves as the primary point of contact for project communications with various audiences and keeps everyone informed. Customer input and feedback also provides value to the project team.
- Risk Management – The project manager identifies potential risks at the beginning of the project and works with the team to actively manage for these through the life of the project.
There’s quite a bit that goes into project management, but it ensures the project does what it sets out to do.
This helps businesses be more successful than if they’re just winging it and hoping for the best.
