Project management

Project management is the way we guide a team to reach specific goals. We need to finish on time and stay within our budget. It starts with making project documentation that explains what we need to do. The big challenges are keeping the work within its scope, finishing on time, and using our resources well to optimize the results.

The aim of project management is to finish a project that meets what the client needs. Sometimes, we need to adjust the client's plan to make it more realistic. Once the goals are clear, everyone—like project managers, designers, and contractors—should make choices based on those goals. If goals are unclear or too strict, it can make decision-making hard.

A project is a special, short-time effort to create something new, like a product or service. It has a clear start and end. Unlike regular business work, which happens all the time, projects are unique and temporary. Managing projects well needs special skills and ways that are different from managing regular business work.

History

Before 1900, big projects like buildings were led by creative architects, engineers, and builders. Famous examples include Vitruvius, Christopher Wren, Thomas Telford, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

In the 1950s, organizations started using special tools to manage projects better.

Project management began in fields like building, engineering, and defense. Important people include Henry Gantt, who made the Gantt chart, and Henri Fayol, who described five key management ideas. In the 1950s, new planning methods were created, like the critical path method by DuPont Corporation and Remington Rand Corporation, and the program evaluation and review technique by the U.S. Navy, Lockheed Corporation, and Booz Allen Hamilton for the Polaris missile program. These tools made project planning and management easier.

Types

Project management methods can be used for any kind of project. They are often changed to fit the needs of different jobs. For example, the construction industry uses a special type called construction project management for building houses and bridges. The information technology industry has its own version called IT project management. This helps manage computer systems and software.

Each type of project management has three main goals: finishing on time, staying within budget, and meeting quality standards.

Project managers create plans for each industry. These plans help teams stay organized and work efficiently.

Approaches

A study from 2017 showed that a project's success depends on four key areas. These are called the four P's: Plan (planning and forecasting), Process (how work is done), People (teamwork and communication), and Power (who makes decisions).

There are many ways to organize project work, such as phased, lean, iterative, and incremental methods. Projects can be planned based on goals (what to achieve) or steps (how to do it). For example, benefits realisation management ensures a project achieves its goals. The critical path method helps plan project schedules. Critical chain project management manages uncertainties by focusing on key tasks. Earned value management tracks progress and cost. Iterative and incremental project management is good for large, changing projects, and includes agile project management and Scrum. Lean project management aims to reduce waste and save time. Projects usually have five phases: starting, planning, doing, checking, and finishing, though some industries use different names. Process-based management uses models to improve practices. Project production management uses operations management for big projects. Product-based planning focuses on project results, with PRINCE2 being a common method.

Process groups

Project management helps a team finish a project on time, within budget, and meet its goals. It has several important steps:

• Initiation: Finding out what the project needs to do and planning the basic steps.
• Planning: Deciding how to do the work, what resources are needed, and setting a schedule.
• Execution: Doing the work and using resources correctly.
• Monitoring and controlling: Checking progress and making changes if needed.
• Closing: Finishing the project, reviewing what worked, and learning for future projects.

Projects with new ideas or research might have extra checkpoints to decide if they should continue. Meetings are important in project management to keep everyone updated and help make decisions together.

Characteristics of projects

Projects have five key features. First, they always have specific start and end dates. Second, they are done by a group of people working together. Third, the result is a unique product or service, like designing a new car or writing a book. Fourth, projects are temporary — they eventually finish. Finally, projects are progressively elaborated, meaning details are added and refined as work continues.

Project complexity

Main article: Project complexity

Complexity is important in project management. It describes how hard it is to understand and control a project’s behavior. Complex projects are important when many projects happen at once. Knowing a project’s complexity helps managers plan and lead better. Complexity can be structural, with many parts, or dynamic, with unexpected changes. Projects can be simple or very complex. Understanding this helps teams choose the right approach for each project.

Project managers

Main article: Project manager

A project manager is a person who helps a team finish a project. They make sure everyone knows their jobs and that the project stays on schedule. Project managers work in many places, like building things, making new products, and big industrial jobs.

Project success vs. project performance

Projects can be judged in two ways: how well the work was done and how useful the result is.

Project management success means finishing the project on time, within the budget, and as planned. This is about doing the work well.

Project success is about whether the project really helps after it’s finished. This includes if the product or service works well, gives benefits, and makes a good impact. These ideas help us understand if a project was truly worth doing.

Risk management

Main article: Project risk management

Risk management helps teams think about problems before they happen. By spotting risks early, teams can make better choices to keep projects moving smoothly. This is important for big projects, like those handled by the Department of Defense. Teams look at costs, time, and how well the project is doing. There are also international standards and special tools to help with this.

Work breakdown structure and other breakdown structures

Main articles: Work breakdown structure and Scope (project management)

The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a way to split big tasks into smaller, easier parts. It helps organize work for any project, like building something or finishing a large assignment. The WBS shows all the steps needed to complete the project, from the main goal down to very small tasks.

There are other tools to help plan projects, such as the organizational breakdown structure (OBS), product breakdown structure (PBS), cost breakdown structure (CBS), and risk breakdown structure (RBS). These tools help make sure everything in the project is planned and tracked well.

International standards

There are international standards that help guide project management. One important standard is ISO 21500:2012. It gives general advice on managing projects.

Other standards include ISO 9000 for quality management and ISO 31000:2009 for risk management.

The PMBOK Guide from the Project Management Institute and PRINCE2 from AXELOS also give useful advice for managing projects well.

Program management and project networks

Main article: Program management

Some projects, whether they are the same or different, can be grouped together into something called program management. A program is a group of projects that all work toward one big goal. Each project has its own tasks and time frame, but a program has bigger goals and a longer timeline.

There are also other structures that mix programs and portfolios, such as project networks, mega-projects, and mega-programs. A project network is a short-term project with several phases that involve different parts of an organization. Mega-projects and mega-programs are very large and important, often needing special skills and a lot of attention.

Project portfolio management

Main article: Project portfolio management

Many organizations use project portfolio management (PPM) to pick the best projects and help them succeed. Portfolios are groups of similar projects. By using the same methods for all projects in a portfolio, organizations can work better, succeed more, and lower risks. They often create special teams called project management offices to help manage these portfolios.

Project management software

Project management software helps people plan, organize, and manage tasks and resources for projects. This software makes it easier to create plans, track time and money, share information, and help make decisions. There are many different programs, each with tools to help with different parts of a project.

Virtual project management

Virtual program management (VPM) is the management of projects done by a virtual team. This type of project management is different from traditional projects because it involves remote work. People may work together even though they are in different places, cultures, time zones, and languages. It is important to pay special attention to communication and coordination so the project can succeed.