Project management

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques that are necessary to meet the requirements of a particular “project.” A project is a unique and temporary endeavor, undertaken to achieve a particular goal, to which MANAGEMENT can be applied regardless of the project’s size, budget, or time line. In order to be considered a project, the endeavor must be unique; have a well-defined start, middle, and end date or time; have objectives; and result in an end PRODUCT. The goal of project management is to assure that the project will produce a product/work with the highest quality for the least cost and in the most efficient manner. People have been planning and managing projects since the beginning of time. Whenever a civilization took root, there were buildings to erect, roads to pave, and laws to write. Since these people did not have the advanced tools, techniques, and methodologies that exist today, they began to create project time-line materials and resources as they started to weigh the risks involved with beginning a new endeavor. Over time, people realized that the techniques for cost control, time-line development and RISK MANAGEMENT were applicable to a wide range of projects, such as erecting bridges and deciding how to govern their newly created communities. These early ideas were the precursors to project management. The phrase project management emerged in the late 1950s when size, scope, duration, and RESOURCES required for new projects began to attract more attention. The development of project management is often traced to the U.S. Navy and the development of the Polaris missile system. This was such a complex and multifaceted project that it required a new type of management. The U.S. Navy developed a process to find the critical path through a series of planned tasks that interconnect during the life of a project. Project management came about as a result of this newly created technique, called PROGRAM EVALUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE, or PERT. Today project management is used globally by CORPORATIONs, governments, and smaller organizations alike as a means of meeting their customers’ needs by both standardizing and reducing the basic tasks necessary to complete projects in the most effective and efficient manner. Intense global COMPETITION demands that new business developments be completed on time and within a specified budget. Project management is practiced by many groups, such as business owners, consultants, suppliers, and is found across all industries. Opportunities in project management include being a project manager, team leader, or part of the support team in a project. Project management not only focuses on planning but also incorporates human attributes such as LEADERSHIP skills and the ability to motivate others. There are four processes that make up project management: organizing, monitoring, planning and controlling. The delivered product or work helps the STAKEHOLDERS to reach their objectives. The first process in project management is to organize a suitable environment; the project can only succeed in an environment that suits the needs activities involved. This includes items like organization, having the needed resources, and anticipating and solving problems as soon as possible. The second process is to keep the working conditions vibrant by monitoring how the project is being run. These conditions will evolve and be prone to outside influence, causing additional problems or pressures. The project manager has to adapt the project environment when necessary to make it possible to work efficiently. The third process is to plan the activities necessary to create the product, a plan that defines what will take place in order to build the information system. The final process is to control the plan’s execution. As the project develops, its outcome will become clearer and more detailed, and new facts or problems may appear. The project’s execution plan will have to be detailed and possibly changed or adapted to assure efficient work. Integration is one of the most basic elements of project management. It brings together the skills that are necessary to achieve project success and ensures that the necessary activities are accomplished properly. It is important to understand that project management is not just implementation management but also the discipline of defining and delivering successful projects. The object of project management is the project itself and how to manage it successfully. There are many things that can go wrong with the project-management philosophy—poor communication, for example. Many times a project may fail because the project team does not know exactly what to get done or what has already been done. Other barriers include disagreements, failure to comply with standards and regulations, inclement weather, union strikes, personality conflicts, poor management, and poorly defined goals. Project-management professionals are people who best understand the project process and practices; who can form and shape project strategy; who can best judge how to obtain resources, arrange work flows, and optimize cash flows and financial returns; and who can motivate teams, monitor, and replan. If all of these actions are performed from the beginning of the project’s conception to its completion, then it will benefit immensely. Because modern businesses want projects completed in an effective and efficient manner, project management has become a highly desirable and sought-after skill, especially now that global competition demands that new business development be completed on time and within budget. Consequently, it has became both a way to control business projects and a specialized career path.
See also CRITICAL PATH METHOD.