Importance of Project Management In the early phase of “modern” project management, the importance of project management was directly related to the nature of projects, usually military projects. Some of these projects were conceived during the Cold War era. Since the 80’s project management has shifted towards broader application in the public and private sectors, particularly in construction and engineering, even if some of the most powerful “tools” such as earned value management were developed earlier.
The importance of project management
Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a project as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or outcome. The temporary nature of projects indicates that the project has a definite beginning and end.
The goal of project management is to make the final results in a limited time and budget. Project management is important for planning, coordinating and controlling all activities in a project. The process helps in forecasting the risks in the project, and the possible ways to deal with them.
Project management deals with a project in 6 different phases, also known as the project life cycle.
The six stages are as follows:
Initiation is a step to verify feasibility and measure the value of the project.
Planning The planning stage involves making a plan to achieve the project’s objectives.
Implementation: The implementation phase involves the allocation of resources and the work of outputs.
Watching
The monitoring phase involves the project manager’s monitoring and control of the project’s work.
Shutdown Shutdown is the final stage of the project, where everything, including what went wrong and what happened, is properly summarized throughout the process.
Important limitations of management:
Scope: Scope refers to the inputs provided to move the project from the first step to the last step. Scope defines the features, boundaries, budget, and deadlines of the project.
Schedule: A schedule is a plan to perform a specific task within a certain period of time and achieve the desired goal. The schedule indicates the start date, end date, and duration of the project.
Cost: Cost refers to the process of estimating, allocating and controlling the funds needed for a project. There are actions taken on the project to ensure that the project is on budget.
Quality: Quality refers to what the client or stakeholder requires from the project outputs. Quality includes the processes and activities that have to be performed to achieve the objectives and requirements for which they have been undertaken.
Resources: Resources help to carry out a specific task in a project in the best possible way. Resources can be people, equipment, money, utilities, or anything else that is required to meet the requirements of the project.
Stakeholders: Stakeholders are those who have an interest in the project outputs. Stakeholders can be part of the project team, project manager, project sponsors, clients or users.
Communication: Communication among all stakeholders is an essential aspect of project management for the successful implementation of a project. Improving communication increases the stakes for success and reduces the likelihood of risk.
Risk: A risk is an unexpected event that can affect anything in the project, people, technology, processes, or resources. Each project has a certain amount of risk, making a successful project; One must first identify this risk to deal with it efficiently.
Procurement: Procurement refers to the process of obtaining all materials and services needed to achieve project objectives. Purchasing includes the need to purchase, lease, or contract with some external resource.
Critical Success Factor: Critical success factor refers to the elements that are necessary for an organization to achieve project objectives. The critical success factor may differ from one organization to another, depending on the objectives of each.
Deliverables: Outputs refer to the outputs within the scope of the project. There can be one or more deliverables within a single project; These deliverables may be items that will be sent externally to the customer or a stakeholder.
Division of Work: Work breakdown is an approach to efficient delivery that refers to the division of a task into smaller components. Smaller parts make the task independent and more manageable by the team.