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CHAPTER 1Overview of Project Management

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to achieve a particular aim (such as to create a unique product or service), and to which project management can be applied, regardless of the project’s size, budget, or timeline. It is the response to a need, the solution to a problem. A project is defined as a problem scheduled for solution.

As defined in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide), project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of a particular project. Project management is comprised of five processes – Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling, and Closing – as well as nine knowledge areas. These nine areas center on management expertise in Project Integration, Project Scope, Project Cost, Project Quality, Project Human Resources, Project Communications, Project Risk Management and Project Procurement.

The phrase “project management” emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the size, scope, duration, and resources required for new projects began to deserve more analysis and attention. Today, project management is used globally by multibillion-dollar corporations, governments, and smaller organizations alike. It serves as a means of meeting customers’ or constituents’ needs by both standardizing and reducing the basic tasks necessary to complete a project in the most effective and efficient manner. As a result, project management leadership is an increasingly desirable and sought-after skill as intense global competition demands that new projects and business development be completed on time and within budget.

The Steps in Managing a Project

The actual steps to manage a project are straightforward. Accomplishing them may not be. The model in Exhibit 1 illustrates the steps. Subsequent chapters of this book will elaborate on how each step is accomplished. The following is a brief description of the actions involved.

Define the Problem

As was discussed previously, you need to identify what the problem is that is to be solved by the project. It may help to visualize the desired end result. What will be different? What will you see, hear, taste, touch, or smell? (Use sensory evidence if things can’t be quantified.) What client need should be satisfied by the project?

Develop Solution Options

How many different ways might you go about solving the problem? Brainstorm solution alternatives (you can do this alone or as a group). Of the available choices, which do you think will best solve the problem? Is it more or less costly than other suitable options? Will it result in a complete or partial fix?

Plan the Project

Planning is answering questions—what must be done, by whom, for how much, how, when, and so on. Obviously, answering these questions often requires a crystal ball. Answering these questions requires organizational skills applied to realistic thinking, and may in some cases require special knowledge of the project or a special skill set.

Execute the Plan

Once the plan is drafted, it must be implemented. Interestingly, we sometimes find that people go to great effort to put together a plan, and then fail to follow it. If a plan is not followed, there is not much point in planning. No plan, no control.

Monitor and Control Progress

Plans are developed so that end results may be achieved successfully. Unless you monitor your progress, you cannot be sure you will succeed. It would be like having a road map to a destination but not following the route to your destination. Needless to say, if a deviation from the plan is discovered, you must ask what must be done to get back on track and what caused the deviation to occur so as to be better prepared to avoid another setback in the future. If it seems impossible or unreasonable to return to the original plan, you must determine what modifications must be made to adapt to the new realities.

Close the Project

Once the destination has been reached, the project is finished, but you should take one final step. Some people may call it an audit, a review, a postmortem, and so on. The point is to look back on the project as a source of learning and improving the process the next time around. An easy way to do this is to ask yourself some simple questions. Note the way the questions are phrased. What was done well? What could have been improved? What were some of the best parts of the project plan? What did I contribute to the success of the plan? How could I improve? What else did we learn? The important thing in this stage is realizing that there is always room for improvement in ourselves. However, asking “What did we do wrong?” is likely to elicit a defensive reaction so the focus should always be on improvement, not on placing blame.

Exhibit 1: The Steps in Project Management

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®)

The Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org) has attempted to define a minimum body of knowledge that a project manager needs in order to be effective. At present, PMI identifies nine general areas of knowledge, which are summarized below.

The nine areas of knowledge are the following:

1.Project integration management. Project integration management ensures that the project is properly planned, executed, and controlled. It includes the exercise of formal project change control.

2.Project scope management. Project scope defines the magnitude or size of the job. Changes to project scope are often the factors that kill a project. Scope management includes authorizing the job, developing a scope statement that defines the boundaries of the project, subdividing the work into manageable components with deliverables, verifying that scope planned has been achieved, and implementing scope change control procedures.

3.Project time management. Time management implies personal and combined efforts to manage progress over time. For projects, this amounts to developing a schedule that can be met, then controlling work to ensure that it is.

4.Project cost management. This involves estimating the cost of resources, including people, equipment, materials, and items such as travel and other support details. After this is done, costs are budgeted and tracked to keep the project within that budget.

5.Project quality management. One cause of project failure is the tendency to overlook or sacrifice quality in order to meet a tight deadline. It is not very helpful to complete a project on time, only to discover that the thing delivered won’t work properly. Quality management includes both quality assurance (planning to meet quality requirements) and quality control (steps taken to monitor results to see whether they conform to requirements).

6.Project human resource management. Managing human resources is often overlooked in projects. It involves identifying the people needed to do the job; defining their roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships; acquiring those people; and then managing them as the project is executed.

7.Project communications management. As the title implies, communication management involves planning, executing, and controlling the acquisition and dissemination of all information relevant to the needs of all project stakeholders. This information includes project status, accomplishments, events that may affect other stakeholders or projects, and so on.

8.Project risk management. Risk management is the systematic process of identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk. It includes maximizing the probability and consequences of positive events and minimizing the probability and consequences of adverse events to project objectives.

9.Project procurement management. Procurement of necessary goods and services for the project is the logistical aspect of managing a job. It involves deciding what must be procured, issuing requests for bids or quotes, selecting vendors, administering contracts, and closing them when the job is finished.

The following are some examples of projects:

►Developing and introducing a new product

►Designing and implementing an information technology (IT) system

►Modernizing a factory

►Consolidating two manufacturing plants

►Designing and producing a brochure

►Executing an environmental clean-up of a contaminated site

►Building a shopping mall

►Rebuilding a town after a natural disaster

►Designing a business internship program for high school students

►Building a Wi-Fi system.