What is Project Management? Benefits and Phases of PM
From launching a new product to implementing complex IT systems, project management goes for structured delivery of objectives efficiently and cost-effectively.
This article discusses the basic concept behind project management, benefits, and key phases that take place through the project life cycle.
Meaning of Project Management
In essence, project management is a process that initiates, plans, executes, monitors, and closes a project with specified goals and often sets time, budget, and resource constraints. Definition of a project: A project, by definition, is a temporary endeavour undertaken to produce a unique product, service, or process that can have an end date for start and end.
Project management involves various methodologies, tools, and techniques to help teams achieve project goals. These include Agile, Waterfall, PRINCE2, Lean, and many other forms of methodologies, which differ from one another with respective frameworks suitable for specific needs that any project may require. The role of a project manager is therefore crucial as he or she leads the entire project from inception until completion, managing resource utilization, risks, and all other factors while keeping all concerned with the objectives at stake.
Benefits of Project Management
Project management enables a business to accomplish a project in an organised manner, consequently increasing efficiency, optimising resource use, mitigating risk, and minimising costs.
Successful project management can also boost a business’s customer satisfaction. This is especially true for businesses that manage client work. They can finish the assignment on schedule and within the budget agreed upon, leading in client pleasure and loyalty. This enhances the company’s reputation, which results in increased clientele.
Additionally, project management fosters employee development by allowing them to gain critical skills such as project management software use and teamwork. Additionally, project management enables a business to incorporate risk assessment into its work. For instance, if a corporation is working on a satellite launch project, it can quantify the risk of failure and then plan its resource utilisation to minimise it.
Most importantly, planning is critical to the success of any endeavour. Effective planning enables the team to finish the project to the best of their abilities and expectations (or the expectations of their clients). It enables the business to plan for both the short and long term.
Objectives of Project Management
Project management (PM) accomplishes several objectives, which are to ensure that successful projects are delivered. Project management ensures that the product of the project is accomplished in line with the overall organizational goals and objectives that are achieved while maintaining appropriate use of resources, time, and stakeholder expectations. Some of the foremost objectives of project management are stated below:
Meets Project Goals and Deliverables
The main aim of PM is to deliver the outcome or result of the project. This means setting out what needs to be done, a well-defined scope of the project, and ensuring that the team members know and work towards set goals. Effective PM will ensure that the final product or service will meet the requirement and objectives.
Optimising Time Management
Effective time management is critical in PM since projects are usually time-bound. Project management strives to ensure that the projects are completed within the stipulated time frame by providing realistic timelines, setting up milestones, and monitoring the progress. It involves controlling the delay that might occur during the project and prioritizing tasks as well as how to organize the project schedule efficiently.
Adherence to Budget Constraints
Project managers should ensure and keep a budget, considering the available financial resources of the project. The fundamental goal of PM is to successfully manage all costs without exceeding the budget with cost-effectiveness at the expense of resources, labour, and materials. This decreases cost overruns and ensures that there is cost-effectiveness.
Efficient Resource Management
One of the key factors of success in any project is resource management which ensures efficient utilization of resources allocated for the job. Identifying and selecting the right equipment, manpower, material, and technology that enables the task performance without delay leads to the smooth completion of the entire project. Optimizing both human and physical resources avoids running out and over-allocating.
Mitigating and Controlling Risks
Risk management is a very important objective in PM since all projects have uncertainties and potential issues. The project managers identify, assess, and develop mitigation plans for risks to reduce the possibility of disruptions. Risk management proactively ensures that the project stays on track, even when unforeseen events arise.
Improving Communication and Collaboration
Effective communication and collaboration among project team members and stakeholders are fundamental to successful projects. In this regard, PM intends to establish clear lines of communication so that all persons involved are kept abreast of the project’s current status, responsibilities, and changes. This means fewer misunderstandings and better expectations are aligned, leading to more collaborative environments.
The Phases of Project Management
Professional project management requires a disciplined approach. Although each project is different, various principles of project management must be used to maximise the chances of success.
Evaluation
The evaluation of the project idea always comes first. The project’s planning can only begin once the project idea has been determined to be realistic and feasible.
Planning
After evaluation comes the planning stage. Planning should always be done during the initial phase, and all involved parties must be satisfied with the proposal. This is important to avoid conflicts during the later phases of the project.
The roadmap must be finalised during the planning phase. All costs should be accounted for, and a clear list of objectives must be established.
The company must also plan the extraction of resources and answer questions such as:
- What are the resources necessary for this project?
- How can we obtain these resources? For example, which suppliers should we contact?
- (For employees) Do we have a good enough workforce for this project, or should we contract some of the work to third parties (such as freelancers)?
To create a clear roadmap image, all relevant parties, including internal and external stakeholders, must come together and discuss the project. It’s necessary to define dates for each important goal.
Execution
In this phase, all team members are assigned tasks and informed about the project details. During this phase, all resources will be distributed among the various teams and team members, ensuring that everything goes as planned.
Monitoring
While the project is executed, the project’s progress and the workforce’s efficiency will be analyzed. This is when the adjustments related to all resources are made. Everything must proceed according to plan, always considering the decided deadlines. Meetings to review the status of the project and of the budget can be organized regularly.
Conclusion
The final phase, or the conclusion phase, will see the delivery of the products, but not before all project participants gather to review the findings. This is the stage in which the project’s outcome in its current state is thoroughly analyzed. This is a critical duty because it assists in identifying aspects of the project that can be improved. In this manner, future errors can be avoided, and efficiency can be increased.