What I Learned From A Project Manager

In the current business environment, the demand for project managers is ever growing. In short, project management is a provisional project constrained by time, cost and scope (A guide to the project management body of knowledge, 2013). Between the immense organization, optimization, and communication assets skilled project management brings to a project, it is easy to see why project management is a booming field of study. Furthermore, project management can be both financially and personally rewarding when long term milestones and goals come to fruition.

Executive Summary Project management is the science of planning, organizing, executing, and managing the resources needed to achieve a specific goal. Effective project managers (PM) strategically facilitate the entire project management process to ensure the project’s success. To do this the PM must adequately meet the specific requirements (i.e., time, scope, quality, and cost) set forth by the project and its stakeholders. It is theorized that PM must possess a set of core competencies in order to successfully manage a project. Those competencies are development of project management knowledge areas, application of appropriate project management tools and techniques, understanding of the project

Project Management can be used in everything you do in life; both personal and work related.

A good project management plan takes some preparation it includes the basic concepts of proper planning, organization and great project manager management skills. It includes a variety of resources that come together to achieve a certain goal. As project manager it is imperative that he or she deliver the necessary results within the time limitation as well as within the allotted budget. Effective project managers allocate certain aspects of the project to their team in order to ensure the project’s success.

Project management requires a solid management plan focusing on scope and scheduling risks, communication, good decision making, how to deal with uncertainties, ethics, and to practice the situational leadership

Planning the project allows the project managers to anticipate the effect of errors without expending money, time or resources. Planning projects and analysing the costs and benefits enables the manager to review options, propose the estimates, visualize risks and simulate the plan, prior to committing the project to a specific course of action.

The definition of the Project Management Process is called as “a set of interrelated actions and activities that are performed to achieve a pre-specified set of products, results, or services" (PMBOK® Guide, Chapter 3). Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing are the five project management process groups. The objectives for this topic are to have a better understanding of the

There are many obstacles to overcome in the realm of project management. Managers have to overcome many hurdles simply because they are working with customers who are at liberty to change their mind, budgets may change, etc. Project managers have to be able to quickly readjust and refocus in order to meet the needs of their customers and keep them happy. It is vital the project managers have certain tools and information in order to be successful at managing projects. It is said that effective project management hinges on a leader’s ability to identify a precise goal, construct a plan for achieving a goal and staying aware of the team’s progress toward the goal (Five Secrets to Project Management Success, n.d).

Project management across the organization helps create a strategic value that gives companies an edge on their competitors. Project management matters because it is a way to “map out” your plans to control spending and improve project results. It may be a way to reduce risks, cut costs and improve success rates. Being able to deliver projects on time and within budget often determines whether a company will get the next job or not. Projects have been around since beginning of time. Even a life cycle of a living being is a project. Let us break down project management in order to demonstrate the impact project management has within organizations.

All projects are unique and have constraints, resources, stakeholder, and different results that need to be achieved. These usually need to be achieved in a specific set of time. To have an accurate estimate for projects, project managers focus on planning and controlling, thus ignoring the preparation for any unplanned situations. Project management is applied to a variety of different projects and there are different approaches that can be utilized for specific projects.

“Project management is a growing filed used increasingly by businesses of all sizes” (Harbour). In other words, project management occupies a significant position during the development of the company. Without well designed and planned management, any entrepreneurs and organizations are unable to deliver good quality of products and service to customers within budget, schedule or other constrains based on the specification (Master of Science in Project Management, Par.1).

Before going into how project management can help organisations handle projects successfully it’s essential to discuss and understand what the two terms are. A project is where either an individual or group of people come together and form a team in order to specify and complete a task whether it’s to create a unique product or a service. A project consists of unique coordinated tasks for individuals with a clear starting and finishing date, which should be completed within the defined scope, time and cost. Project Management is series of processes which allow the projects and its unique tasks

It has been recognized over the last 30 years that project management is an efficient tool to handle novel or complex activities which is called a project (Munns and Bjeirmi 1996). According to El-Reddy (2011), project management is defined as the planning, organization, direction, and control of all kinds of resources in a specific time period for acquiring a defined objective comprised of numerous financial and non-financial targets. The goal of a project manager is to complete the defined objective on time. The project manager has to coordinate the deployment of available personnel, and the range of skills they bring, to accomplish project goals on time and on budget as claimed by

Project management is a series of steps taken in sequence to manage a project through all phases from conception to completion. The steps are documented in a strategic plan. The plan is used to ensure that all parties are working towards a common goal. Project management requires applying knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to specific activities in accordance with established standards and guidelines. There are five basic functions of project management: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. Basic activities of project management include: identifying project requirements to define the outcomes; addressing various needs, concerns and expectations of others; setting up, maintaining and carrying out communications; managing others; creating project deliverables; and balancing competing project constraints.

Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific (and usually) one-time objective, for example, construct a building or implement a major new computer system.