Project management involves channeling the efforts of a team of professionals towards achieving a goal within a specified deadline and as per quality standards required. It involves applying a specific set of skills to coordinate the work of a group of individuals and the effective employment of a company’s resources to ensure that a task gets finished on time.
Project management is an important aspect of various industries such as information technology (IT), engineering and construction, healthcare and many more, where a company’s employees need to work in perfect harmony to meet their target. It is a practice that includes efficient management of human resources, technology, monetary resources, and intellectual property.
Steps Involved in Project Management
Five Steps
- Project Initiation – In order to determine whether the project is beneficial for the company, the first step of project management involves two processes:
i. Business Case Document – This document details the importance of the project for the company in terms of potential benefits.
ii. Feasibility Study – This document outlines the resources that may be required in the process of carrying out the project. - Project Planning – One of the most important project management steps, this stage involves a thorough evaluation of the work that needs to be done, allocation of funds and resources, outlining the scope of the project and scheduling a deadline.
- Project Execution – This step marks the beginning of the creative phase, where the responsibilities are divided among team members, resources are gathered and individual assignments are executed.
- Project Monitoring – This step involves a thorough assessment of the adherence to deadlines, the resources employed and the targets achieved while keeping the stakeholders informed about the day-to-day progress of the project.
- Project Closure – The final project management steps involve a final evaluation of the success of the project, and the lessons learned through the process.
Objectives of Project Management
- Function – One of the most important project management objectives is to ensure that the project perfectly performs the function for which it was designed. If a project is unable to serve its purpose, it is considered a failure.
- Cost – Project management involves adhering to a strict budget, so that the cost-benefit analysis does not become inapplicable. Going over the stipulated budget may lead to untimely termination of the project due to lack of funds, while going under it may adversely affect the quality of the outcome.
- Timing – It is important to prevent delays, since the project may fail to serve its purpose beyond the deadline. Inability to adhere to the deadline may add a financial burden on the organisation and more.
Methods of Project Management
There are 8 Common Methods
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- Agile – One of the most flexible project management methods, this allows the goals to be continuously updated on receiving feedback.
- Kanban – This relies on visual cues to guide a team towards the goal of continuous delivery.
- Extreme Programming (XP) – This focuses on improvement of the quality of products and client satisfaction.
- Waterfall – One of the traditional project management methods, this takes a linear approach towards completion.
- Scrum – It spends less time on designing, and prevents delays in the launching of a product.
- Adaptive Project Framework – It caters to the continuously evolving needs of a project in case the requirements are not clear in the beginning.
- PERT – This works best for projects that run on tight schedules and limited budget.
- PRINCE2 – This assigns clearly demarcated responsibilities and provides well-justified outputs.