Project management can help you build rocket ships, launch new products, improve patient care, and so much more! It involves planning, executing, and overseeing projects to reach specific goals within a set timeframe. But before we can dive deeper into Project Management, we must understand what a project is.

What is a Project?

A project is time-boxed endeavor, with a fixed start and end date, designed to produce a set of pre-determined variables.

A few examples projects include building a new wing of a museum, developing a new prescription drug, or creating a new type of software.

With this knowledge, we can start to understand project management more fully.

It includes various principles, skills, methods, and tools that help teams effectively manage project scope, resources, budgets, and timelines.

According to Project Management Institute (PMI), one of the world’s leading authorities on project management, project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.”

Example: Project Management in Action

We recently worked with a research firm made up of scientists that did not have formal project management practices in place.

Their organization produced research reports and papers, that could take months or years to create. Each research project – including the experiments that needed to be conducted, the scientists required, the materials, budgets, and more were tracked in a variety of different tools, while some aspects of the projects were not even fully tracked at all.

There was no cohesive structure to plan, track, and organize all of the research projects. As a result, the budgets for the research projects often ran over and scientists would get assigned to too many projects at once. This would create bottlenecks, and the research projects would stall.

By introducing project management best practices, and planning and monitoring their projects from start to finish, the research firm was able to make sure that the projects stayed within budget, that their scientists didn’t get assigned to too many overlapping projects at once, and that their research projects were completed as quickly as possible.

Now, their leaders are also beginning to tie their research project to their overarching goals, which is helping them prioritize the most important ones.

The Benefits of Project Management for an Organization

As you can see in the example above, effective project management can help organizations in many ways. Some of the benefits include:

By investing in strong project management practices, organizations can consistently meet their deadlines, stay within budget, and deliver high-quality results.

Brief History of Project Management

The practice of modern project management can be traced back to the 1800s. Some of the biggest milestones include:

Project Management Terms and Definitions

Before jumping into how organization’s use project management and some best practices, there are common terms you should understand. These include:

Overview of the Project Life Cycle

Project management uses a framework known as the project life cycle to ensure a project is completed as planned. This cycle is usually tailored to meet an organization’s needs and will look different for each business. Here is a general outline for what a project life cycle could look like. Again, keep in mind that it could be changed to meet your organization’s specific goals and needs.

Establish the project’s purpose, ensure it aligns with the organization’s goals, and get formal approval to proceed.
Key activities:

• Develop a project charter that outlines the project’s objectives, scope, stakeholders, and key deliverables.
• Identify stakeholders and gather requirements.
• Conduct a feasibility study to assess whether the project is viable and right for the organization’s goals.
• Define the project’s metrics and criteria for success.
• Get approval to start the project.

Make a project plan and detail the tasks, timelines, and resources needed to complete the project successfully.

Key activities:

• Develop a detailed project management plan that includes scope, schedule, budget, quality, resources, risk, and communication plans.
• Define the work breakdown structure (WBS) to break down the project into smaller tasks.
• Identify and allocate resources, including team members, materials, and budget.
• Develop a project schedule.
• Identify risks and develop a plan to manage them.
• Establish a plan to ensure clear communication with stakeholders.

Carry out the project plan and deliver the required work.

Key activities:

• Assign and manage tasks according to the project plan.
• Coordinate resources and team members to ensure work is completed as planned.
• Monitor project progress and make necessary adjustments to stay on track.
• If completing an IT project, analysis, development, and testing occur.
• Communicate with stakeholders to keep them informed of project progress.
• Implement quality assurance processes to ensure deliverables meet required standards.

Track progress and make necessary adjustments to ensure the project stays on course.

Key activities:

• Monitor project performance using metrics and KPIs.
• Track progress against the project plan and make adjustments as necessary.
• Manage changes to the project scope, schedule, and budget using a change control process.
• Conduct regular status meetings and progress reviews with the project team and stakeholders.
• Identify and manage risks and issues as they arise.

Track progress and make necessary adjustments to ensure the project stays on course.

Key activities:

• Complete all project tasks and ensure that deliverables meet the required quality standards.
• Obtain formal acceptance of the project deliverables from stakeholders.
• Conduct a final project review and document lessons learned.
• Close out all project contracts and complete any remaining administrative tasks.
• Release project resources and provide a final project report.
• Record lessons learned from the project.

Each of the project lifecycle phases are interconnected, and good management during one stage influences the success of the phases that follow.

Role of a Project Manager

The Project Manager is crucial for a project’s success. A project manager will guide a project team through different stages of the project lifecycle to achieve goals. You can think of a project manager as the ringleader of the project — they ensure the project gets done on time and within budget, while keeping everyone focused on completing their assigned tasks.

Essential Skills for Project Managers

• Communication: Maintaining open discussions among stakeholders, encouraging feedback, and promptly addressing concerns.
• Problem-Solving: Quickly resolving issues that arise during the project.
• Organization: Overseeing and tracking details both large and small to ensure a project’s completion.
• Adaptability: Modifying strategies based on changing project dynamics and team requirements.

A good project manager goes beyond just overseeing tasks; they also create a supportive environment where teams can collaborate well – even when the going gets tough. Their skill in balancing leadership with effective communication has a huge influence on the success or failure of a project.

Key Areas of Focus in Project Management

In addition to following to leading project teams through the project lifecycle, there are ten key knowledge areas that project managers must master to ensure their projects’ success. Each area and their importance are defined in the Project Management Institute’s PMBOK® Guide.

1. Project Integration Management

Ensures that all elements of the project are properly coordinated. This includes developing the project charter, project plan, monitoring and controlling project work, and overseeing integrated change control.

2. Project Scope Management

Ensures that the project includes all the work required, and only the required work. This helps prevent scope creep.

3. Project Schedule Management

Ensures the project is completed on time and involves planning and scheduling project activities.

4. Project Cost Management

Ensures the project stays within budget and focuses on estimating, tracking, and controlling costs.

5. Project Quality Management

Ensures that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken and meets stakeholder exceptions.

6. Project Resource Management

Ensures the project has the right resources to complete the project. It involves identifying, acquiring, and allocating resources (people, materials, tools). As the project is being worked on, it also requires efficient resource management to optimize productivity.

7. Project Communication Management

Establishes and ensures clear communication channels between project stakeholders. This area involves fostering collaboration and reducing misunderstandings.

8. Project Risk Management

Ensures the project is not jeopardized by identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risks in order to minimize their impact.

9. Project Procurement Management

Ensures the products, services, or results needed from outside the project team are available. This involves acquiring goods and services from external sources.

10. Project Stakeholder Management

Ensures project stakeholders’ expectations are met. This involves identifying all people or organizations impacted by the project, analyzing their expectations, and developing appropriate strategies for effective stakeholder engagement.

Each of these key areas interconnects, contributing to the successful management of projects.

Key Roles within the Project Team

In addition to project managers, there are also several key roles that contribute to a project’s success or failure. These include:

Identifying and involving these key roles early on fosters a collaborative environment essential for a project’s success.

Challenges in Project Management: Overcoming Obstacles to Success

Project management is not without its challenges. Understanding these challenges allows you avoid pitfalls.

Challenge

Strategy to avoid problems

1. Scope Creep: Uncontrolled changes or continuous growth in project scope can derail timelines and budgets.

2. Resource Allocation: Limited resources can affect project execution, leading to delays and decreased quality.

3. Communication Barriers: Miscommunication among team members and stakeholders often leads to misunderstandings and errors.

4. Risk Management: Unforeseen risks can arise during each phase of a project and can cause delays.

5. Team Dynamics: Teams may face conflicts due to varying personalities and working styles.

Establish clear project requirements and maintain a clear change control process.

Prioritize tasks and allocate resources based on project needs, ensuring flexibility to adjust as necessary.

Utilize collaborative tools for transparent communication, hold regular meetings, and encourage feedback.

Conduct thorough risk assessments at the project’s outset, develop mitigation plans, and monitor risks throughout the project lifecycle.

Foster a culture of collaboration and ask for others’ perspectives, encouraging open dialogue among team members.

Tools for Effective Project Management

Good project management also requires having the right tools to plan, track, and collaborate throughout a project’s entire lifecycle. Most organizations use project management software to help their teams plan, execute, and optimize their projects from start to finish.

Some best features to look for in a project management tool include:

Demand and Project Intake Capabilities – To collect, assess, and prioritize new project ideas.

Project Views – To view projects however you need to including Gantt, Kanban, list, grid, and timeline views.

Task Tracking – To assign and monitor tasks that need to be completed during the project lifecycle.

Critical Path Features – To see cross-project dependencies and the optimized project execution path that automatically updates as changes occur.

Reporting Capabilities – To ensure all stakeholders have tailored and easy-to-consume data to make informed project decisions quickly.

Customizable Fields – To track anything and everything important to your specific project.

Flexible Options – To make adjustments easily including adding different initiatives, users, and updating fields any stage.

Risk Management Capabilities – To easily identify, track, and resolve risks and issues that may impact the delivery of your projects.

Resource Allocation and Management Features – To assign resources, including team members, to projects and track any overallocations or under allocations that may cause bottlenecks or threaten the success of your projects.

Timesheets – To allow team members to track their time working on different projects and tasks, in order to improve current and future project planning.

Capacity and Demand Management – To see resource availability by person, role, and team. These features should account for PTO, holidays, and differentiate between full- and part-time employees so that you can plan effectively.

Customizable Dashboards – To allow every stakeholder to stay informed of their project’s progress. You should be able to customize dashboards by project, configure for different stakeholders, share across teams, and auto-create reports to identify project roadblocks.

“What If” Scenarios – To see how changes to resources would affect your project timelines and results. Build what-if scenarios for teams and initiatives to make planning easier.

Integrations – To ensure your project data can seamlessly flow between your organization’s preferred tools.

Collaboration Features – To easily alert stakeholders and team members to project changes and updates.

Financial Planning and Tracking – To ensure your organization is not overspending on projects.

Objectives and Key Results (OKR) Tracking – To align projects with your organization’s overarching goals and ensure they are delivering as expected. These features are best leveraged by organizations focused on Project Portfolio Management and Strategic Planning.

If you want to learn more about choosing the best software for your needs, check out our guide on selecting the right PPM software.

Conclusion

Effective project management can help you and your organization accomplish your goals. It involves planning, executing, and monitoring projects to ensure work is completed on time and within budget.

By investing in your project management skills and tools, you can achieve better results, including:

And, If you want to learn more about project management best practices, check out our resource library.