When do we use project management?
Projects are separate from business-as-usual activities and occur when an organisation wants to deliver a solution to set requirements within an agreed budget and timeframe. Projects require a team of people to come together temporarily to focus on specific project objectives. As a result, effective teamwork is central to successful projects.
Projects require a team of people to come together temporarily to focus on specific project objectives. As a result, effective teamwork is central to successful projects. Project management is concerned with managing discrete packages of work to achieve specific objectives. The way the work is managed depends upon a wide variety of factors.
The scale, significance and complexity of the work are obvious factors: relocating a small office and organising the Olympics share many basic principles, but offer very different managerial challenges. Objectives may be expressed in terms of:
- outputs (such as a new HQ building);
- outcomes (such as staff being relocated from multiple locations to the new HQ);
- benefits (such as reduced travel and facilities management costs);
- strategic objectives (such as doubling the organization’s share price in three years).
Why do we use project management?
Project management is aimed at producing an end product that will effect some change for the benefit of the organisation that instigated the project. It is the initiation, planning and control of a range of tasks required to deliver this end product. Projects that require formal management are those that:
- produce something new or altered, tangible or intangible;
- have a finite timespan: a definite start and end;
- are likely to be complex in terms of work or groups involved;
- require the management of change;
- require the management of risks.
Investment in effective project management will have a number of benefits, such as:
- providing a greater likelihood of achieving the desired result;
- ensuring efficient and best value use of resources;
- satisfying the differing needs of the project’s stakeholders.
Who uses project management?
Anyone and everyone manages projects, even if they aren’t formally called a ‘project manager’. Ever organised an event? That’s a project you managed with a team of people, and project management is a life skill for all. More formally, projects crop up in all industries and business:
- Transport and Infrastructure
- IT
- Product manufacture
- Building and Construction
- Finance and Law
The core components of project management
- defining the reason why a project is necessary;
- capturing project requirements, specifying quality of the deliverables, estimating resources and timescales;
- preparing a business case to justify the investment;
- securing corporate agreement and funding;
- leading and motivating the project delivery team
- developing and implementing a management plan for the project;
- managing the risks, issues and changes on the project;
- monitoring progress against plan;
- managing the project budget;
- maintaining communications with stakeholders and the project organisation;
- provider management;
- closing the project in a controlled fashion when appropriate.
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