These days many businesses tend to require every task to be completed successfully in the most efficient way. Therefore we decided to devote the next four articles to the topic of project management. Today we will have a closer look at an overview of project management. As project management is a very complex topic the article is divided into four categories: definition of project management, responsibilities of the project manager, the processes that are used in project management and some practical hints for efficient project management.
Definition
Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific and individual objective, for example, construct a building or implement a major new computer system. Project management includes developing a project plan, which includes defining and confirming the project goals and objectives, identifying tasks and how goals will be achieved, quantifying the resources needed, and determining budgets and timelines for completion. Projects usually follow major phases or stages (with various titles for these), including feasibility, definition, project planning, implementation, evaluation and support/maintenance.
Project Manager
The Project Manager is responsible for everything that is required to make the project a success - whether directly or indirectly. The Project Manager is at the centre of everything relating to the project. They control the contributions of the staff in the way that is just as important as managing the work of the team. Here is the summary of key responsibilities of the Project Manager:
The Project Manager needs to manage upwards - ensuring that the organisation and the project sponsors are doing all that is required to guarantee the success of the project.
The Project Manager is also the main central point for liaison with other departments, projects and initiatives within the organisation, taking into account the needs and contributions of other internal groups.
The Project Manager is equally the main point of contact for aspects requiring co-operation and co-ordination with external parties such as the project's suppliers and contractors, customers, suppliers, regulatory bodies, and other third parties - making sure everything is in place to guarantee success.
The Project Manager has direct responsibility for the activities of all project participants, all project tasks and all deliverables.
Bear in mind that the Project Manager needs to achieve this without direct control over the participants. The Project Manager will not have power over the leadership, nor the internal and external contributors. Even in the project team there may be external staff, part-timers and sub-contractors who get their salaries from somebody else.
The Project Management Process
Project management is a complex task, with many stages and processes. It should follow the full business lifecycle, from definition and justification of the project, through to delivering obvious benefits for the business.
As well as the project manager's main objective to deliver the results, there are many supporting disciplines and processes. These should ensure that the project will deliver a valuable result without surprises. The foremost need is to monitor the anticipated level of benefits and make adjustments to deliver optimum results. The leadership team should also actively identify and manage risks, issues, changed requirements and quality standards.
Here is a summary of the processes that are considered to be crucial when managing the project:
1. The concept, objectives, approach and justification of the project are properly defined, agreed and communicated.
2. Management-level planning maps out an overall management plan from which resources, acquisitions and sub-contracts can be identified, costed and put in place.
3. A project will pass through several stages or phases, each with a different objective and deliverable. Typically the phases will require different skills, structures and resource levels. It is normal to plan, estimate and resource each phase separately.
4. Planned benefits will be assessed and monitored throughout the project - optimising benefit should be the main goal of the project manager.
5. Quality requirements and approaches will be defined and agreed during the project start-up. Typically there will be rules that apply to the routine work of the team plus specified quality audits at the end of the phases.
6. Risks will be assessed at the start of the project. The risk management process will monitor risks throughout the project. Risk assessments and plans will be modified as appropriate.
7. All participants will be encouraged to communicate potential issues for resolution.
8. The scope of the project and specific changes to the solution will be controlled through a management process with appropriate balances and controls - focused on achieving optimum overall benefit.
9. A documentation management process will ensure all information is available to all those who require it, and is subject to careful control over authorship, reviews and updates.
10. Large projects inevitable require a process to handle expenditure on subcontractors, equipment, software, and facilities.
11. Where sub-contractors are involved, there will be a management process to agree and monitor contracts.
12. After the live solution has settled down, it is normal to organise a Post Implementation Review to measure the success of the project, to see what further improvements can be made, and to learn lessons for the future.
Projects put into practice
Few organisations get the most out of their programmes and projects. Intelligently adapting a company's current approach to adopt the features of best-practice management approaches can lead to considerable benefits. It will ensure your objectives are realistic and will produce optimum benefit. It will seek to deliver the goals with no surprise. It will ensure everything is done to optimise the overall benefit to the organisation, despite changes to the business, changes in the economy and the inevitable snags along the way. In these uncertain times you need to be able to answer the following questions with assurance.
Do I have confidence in the timescales, costs and benefits?
Do I understand all the risks to achieving that?
Am I certain this is the best investment we can make with our limited resources?
Each project should have a proper definition, for example: objectives, budget, performance measures, accountabilities and timescale. It should follow well-defined project management processes, designed to ensure it stays on track to deliver optimum benefit. To have any degree of confidence in the outcome of a project you need to put in place the right people with the right combination of skills. They should work with the best practice processes and tools to make sure the project is properly defined and run. This needs to be in place before the work starts.
To have any degree of confidence in the outcome of a project you need to put in place the right people with the right combination of skills. They should work with the best practice processes and tools to make sure the project is properly defined and run. This needs to be in place before the work starts.
Source: Simon Wallace. The ePMbook. 2004.
Exercise: fill in the empty gaps in the sentences with the word/words that appear in the article
1. ______________ is the process of risk analysis that involves developing and introducing plans for making the effects of risks less serious, especially the risk of losing money.
2. _____________ is an authority that has the power to control an area of business and make sure that it is operating fairly.
3. _____________ is relationship between two different departments in an organization, involving the exchange of information or ideas.
4. _____________ is the identity of the person who created something.
5. _____________ is a horizontal line that is used to represent time, with the past towards the left and the future towards the right.
6. ____________ is a person or company that has a contract to do work or provide goods or services for another company.
7. ___________ is a piece of work that must be completed, especially as part of a long project.
8. ___________ is the chances that something has of happening or being successful.
9. ___________ is a good reason why something exists or is done.
KEY: 1 the risk management 2 – a regulatory body 3 – liaison 4 – authorship 5 – timeline 6 – contractor 7 - deliverable 8 – feasibility 9 – justification.
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