Project Management

What is a project ?

According to Old Dominion University College of Science (2012), a sequence of tasks planned from beginning to an end bounded by time, resources and required results is a project, in depth it contains a defined outcome and deliverable, deadline and a budget.

Source: CPM Scheduling (2012)

What is project management ? 

Application of knowledge, skills and techniques in order to achieve a particular task efficiently and effectively, thus it ensures that company's bond their project outcomes with their business goals (PMI, 2013). 

APM (2013) mentions that project management is controlling the tools which are used for change, therefore it involves the following factors;

• Understanding the needs of stakeholders.
• Planning what needs to be done, when, by whom, and to what standards.
• Building and motivating the team.
• Coordinating the work of different people 

Segmentation of project management ? 

As shown by PMI (2013) it is divided into 5 main segments, they are:

• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing
• Monitoring and Controlling
• Closing

Virginia Tech Information Technology (2013) has done further explanation of the segments;

Initiating: This is the starting point of any project, hence at this point all the key factors which is associated with achieving a successful project is taken into consideration, thus it is called the pre-sale, it means the service provider shows the capability and the confidence of completing the project as required by the client efficiently and effectively.

Planning: This is one of the key components of the segments, at this point if the team takes a wrong step a domino effect will be created, where all the other steps will be failed. Therefore the team is required to look into this matter detailed, this details includes the scope, budget and timelines. After the finalization of the above requirements the project scheduling is done, for this purpose gantt chart is used in general. 

Executing: After all the paper work is done, comes to the execution phase, where each team member is responsible for carrying out each task efficiently sticking to the timeline, the progress of the team members are monitored using the project detail schedule, most importantly the senior managers of the team requires daily reports of the process and the client may also keep track of the progress.

Monitoring and controlling: This stage is known as the testing stage or it can used as the troubleshooting stage, where the monitoring and controlling is done adhering to the initial protocols made, hence these protocols can be project plan, quality assurance test plan and the communication  plan.

Closing: This step can the conclusion or the closing out of a project, which is the final step of a project before handing it over to the client fruitfully. If all the project matches to the client requirements it is handed over to the client, or else an evaluation is done again to check any mistakes and errors adhering to the protocol. After this stage errors of the project will be a responsibility of the operation team. 

Source: SPM (2012)

Skills associated during project management

Marando (2012) shows that effectively and efficiently management of projects and programs are one of the important skills, however most of the project managers were not able to successfully achieve desired objectives and goals due to the lack of above skill. 

Therefore soft and hard skills are one of the fundamental skills associated with project management, thus balancing it is one of the great challenges faced by many project managers Marando (2012). 

Soft skills: According to Marando (2012) it an interpersonal skill which enables problems solving, influencing, leadership, communication, negotiation, expectation management and decision making also soft skills are vastly intangible.

Hard skills: The exact contrast of the soft skills, this involves the technical aspect of a project manger, generally used during producing tangible deliverables such as work breakdown structure, budget, project schedule, critical path diagram, earned value reports, dashboards etc.  Marando (2012). 

What is a triple constrain ?

Penn State University (2012) shows that each and every project carried out in world progresses adhering to the triple constrain, it includes time, money and scope, therefore it is very important that a project manger identify the constrains clearly as it is very important to stakeholder or the sponsor of the project. 

Source: UOU Higher Education Academy (2012)

Cost- Involves the budget and all the monetary issues related to the project

Time- Involves the schedule and the time constrains related to the project 

Scope- Involves the goals of the project

  Penn State University (2012)

Author understands project management is the key learning outcome of the Business and Information Technology degree, thus it is essential to master the subject in order to achieve a better position in the industry. First and fore most understanding of the skills involved in project management is vital, as 90% of the world's projects are failed due to lack skills in management. As mentioned in the skills area having a balance in the soft and hard skills is needed in order to proceed as a successful project manger. Finally author would like to state that none of the stakeholder or sponsors of projects are not willing to spend a single cent extra apart from their budget as the current world is running to an economic downturn in the long run, thus they expect more for what they pay.

References 

APM, 2013. APM. [Online]
Available at: http://www.apm.org.uk/WhatIsPM
[Accessed 17 01 2013].

CPM Scheduling, 2012. CPM Scheduling. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cpmscheduling.com/index.php/project-management/what-is-a-project
[Accessed 18 01 2013].

Marando, A., 2012. Brandies University. [Online]
Available at: http://projectmgmt.brandeis.edu/downloads/BRU_MSMPP_WP_Feb2012_Balancing_Project_Management.pdf
[Accessed 17 01 2013].

Old Dominion University College of Science , 2012. Old Dominion University College of Science. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cs410/whatisaproject.htm
[Accessed 18 01 2013].

Penn State University , 2012. Penn State University. [Online]
Available at: http://www.personal.psu.edu/glh10/ist110/topic/topic81/topic81_02.html
[Accessed 18 01 2013].

PMI, 2013. PMI. [Online]
Available at: http://www.pmi.org/About-Us/About-Us-What-is-Project-Management.aspx
[Accessed 17 01 2013].

SPM, 2012. SPM. [Online]
Available at: http://www.s-p-e.com/companyinfo/projectmanagement.htm
[Accessed 17 01 2013].

UOU Higher Education Academy, 2012. Zdnet. [Online]
Available at: http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/Events/HEAYork2005/presentations/Tuesday/Kevin%20and%20Ken/project_mgmt/intro/intro_pm.htm
[Accessed 17 01 2013].

Virginia Tech Information Technology, 2013. Virginia Tech Information Technology. [Online]
Available at: http://www.itplanning.org.vt.edu/pm/processtable.html
[Accessed 17 01 2013].