What is Project?

• A project is a temporary venture that exists to produce a defined outcome. Each

project will have agreed and unique objectives as well as its own project plan,
budget, timescale, deliverables and tasks.
• A project may also involve people from different teams within an organization
who are brought together to accomplish a specific goal.

What is Management?

• It is the functions of planning, organizing and directing the resources and

activities of an enterprise for the attainment of its objectives.

• Management is the coordination and administration of tasks to achieve a goal.

• Management is the process of guiding the development, maintenance, and

allocation of resources to attain organizational goals.

What is project management?

Project management is a critical practice that applies knowledge of process, skills, tools,

deliverables, and techniques to project activities to ensure a solid path to project success

by meeting goals and requirements.

• Project management is the application of methodologies, tools and processes to

successfully plan and execute projects.

• Project management is the application of skills, experience, knowledge,

methods, and processes to achieve the objectives of a project.

Project management intelligently makes use of teams and resources to complete project
activities within the boundaries of time, cost and scope.
We encounter projects in our everyday lives—in business and at home. Think about
projects for a minute: at work you might be building or contributing to a deliverable (like a
report, a website, a tool or product, or even a building), and at home you might be making
a meal, planning a vacation, or even working on upgrades to your home. These are true
projects that have a defined start and end date, a goal, a scope, and resources. And, they
all require some level of management.

In business, which is where we’ll focus in this chapter, projects are typically unique
operations that are conducted to meet specific goals. Projects may include the
development of software to increase employee productivity, the construction of a building
to house community events, or the design of a website to decrease call volume to a
business. The list could go on and on. All of these types of projects require a team of
people who are responsible for different aspects of the delivery. For instance, you’d likely
see a designer, developer, and copywriter working on website design projects. In many
instances, a project manager is staffed to these projects to ensure that the team delivers
the project on time, under budget, and meeting its stated goals.

Project management core components

The following core components form part of project management:

• Defining why the project is necessary or important.

• Estimating how long it will take to complete and specifying the quality of
deliverables. Also, listing what the project requires and what resources to use.
• Justifying the investment by preparing a business case.
• Securing funding.
• Getting all the relevant people to agree to the project.
• Developing a management plan for the project.
• Leading and motivating all team members.
• Managing any project changes, issues, or risks.
• Tracking the project’s progress against the original plan.
• Making sure the project is within budget.
• Liaising with stakeholders and the project organization.
What does a project manager do?

No matter where they work—construction, consulting agencies, marketing teams,

manufacturing, HR teams, software developers, and event planners—or the types of
projects they manage, project managers are the men and women on the front lines of
projects, defending their teams, clients, and projects from miscommunication, missed
deadlines, scope creep, and any other failures. They champion the well-being of the
people involved in their projects and look to make or facilitate strategic decisions that
uphold the goals of their projects. That’s a hefty job description, and it requires a fine
balance of managing the administrative details of a project and its people. While PMs are
often lumped in the “behind the scenes” aspect of project, to be highly effective, they need
to be a part of the bigger strategic project conversations.

PMs are not robots. They are not on your team to just take notes and make sure you’re
recording your time properly. Yes, they do work in spreadsheets and follow-up on
deadlines at a sometimes-annoying rate. But the PM role is important on your team for
several reasons.

There are so many intangible tasks and qualities of project managers that it’s not
uncommon for people to not fully understand just what a PM does, and if they need one
or not. Here’s the thing: You always need a PM, no matter what. That PM might be called
a producer, account manager, designer, or even developer.
Project manager roles and responsibilities

As mentioned, the role and even the title may differ slightly from place to place, but the
basics of what a PM will do for a team are fairly consistent (though some may be less
formal than others). The role of the project manager involves many tasks and
responsibilities including:

• Traditional approaches
• Agile methodologies
• Change management methodologies
• Process based methodologies
• Planning and defining scope
• Setting and managing expectations
• Crafting process
• Creating project plans
• Managing tasks
• Resource planning
• Time/cost estimating
• Analyzing and managing risks and issues
• Monitoring and reporting project status
• Team leadership
• Strategic influencing
• Facilitating communications and collaboration
• Planning and facilitating meetings

That is a lot to include in one job description—one that does not actually hold any
operational or management responsibility for the team working on the projects. Often,
you will find PMs in a tough position of trying to make things happen, but without the
authority to truly push an issue. In order for that to happen, the PM has to gain the trust
and respect of their teams and have the endorsement of senior management.
Project management process

There is no single way to run all projects. You’ll find that most organizations spend a lot
of time making mistakes and adjusting their approach in order to get it just right, only to
find that when they thought it was “just right” it needed to be tweaked again. Factors like
changing business needs and goals, new or different staff and expertise, evolving or
new technology are often among reasons why processes have to change. But what’s
most important is that an organization or team has a basic framework for how projects
operate. As you research project management, you will find that most models identify
three basic phases (with varying names, tasks, and deliverables) to organize activities:

Research, discovery, and planning

Typically, an organization will perform some level of research to determine the validity of
a project. This could take the form of market research, user research, competitive
analyses, among many other activities. These are the critical steps in the project that
help define goals and requirements for what needs to be designed or built. This is also
when a project team can come together to define how they will work together, and what
their execution plan will be, taking all outside factors into consideration.

Executing

Once the project is planned, it’s time to execute. The execution can play out in several
different ways, using different processes like Waterfall, Agile, or variants therein.
Essentially what you will find in this phase is time for collaboration, creation, review, and
iteration. Teams will partner with stakeholder groups to present work, accept feedback,
and complete deliverables that are mutually agreed upon, leading up to a final
deliverable. This happens to be the phase that is riddled with change, delays, and
sometimes even dispute. For that reason, it happens to be the phase where the PM is
most active.
Testing, measuring, iterating

After a project has launched, it’s time to make sure it’s tracking well against its goals. In
an Agile project, a minimum viable product (or MVP) will be launched to gain early
feedback to iterate. On Waterfall projects, the feature-complete product will be launched
and tested. In either case, test results will reveal what is and is not working for users
and stakeholders. Teams will take test results and alter—or build on—the product to
create something that is closer to those goals. This is natural for Agile projects, but not
so much for Waterfall projects, which would require a new or “Phase 2” project to be
added on.

There's no right or wrong way to roll out a process. What’s most important is that it
matches the values and talent of the organization. It will become quite evident if it's not
a right fit for a team because people will be unhappy and work won't get done without
issues. The best thing you can do is sit down with your team to discuss what will work
best and why. Document decisions, roll out a process, and be open to discussing it and
changing it when needed. Keep the 3 steps above in the back of your mind for an
overall framework to operate by, and do what feels right for your project and your team.

What are the benefits of project management?

There are so many intangible tasks and qualities of project managers that it’s not
uncommon for people to not fully understand their worth. The benefits of any role seem
to come down to perception, but a bulk of a PM’s work is “behind the scenes,” so how
can you demonstrate the benefits? First, it starts with the individual. Each and every PM
should know their role and their worth and follow-through on being a good PM for their
teams. Second, it comes down to the organization. A PM will not thrive in an
organization that does not value the role and see the benefits of it. And, lastly, the
benefit of having a PM on a team is realized by the people who work with them. If they
are not bought in, the PM will have a hard time helping.
Some people see the benefits of having a PM on a team, and others don’t. And that is
okay—sometimes just having someone on a smaller team to handle logistics and
communications is enough. That’s right, you don’t always need a PM, but you do need
someone who will handle PM tasks. If simply stating that managing tasks and
communications can provide more time to team members to collaborate and create isn’t
enough to sell you on the value of PM, read on for more direct benefits.

More efficient teams

Having a PM on your team means that you’ve got a person dedicated to making sure
that work is done on time and at the right time. That person is also looking to make sure
that the team’s practices are running smoothly, and if they are not, they will be corrected
through discussion. This is the kind of thing that makes teams happier, because they
can focus on working hard and producing successful products.

Happiness

Everyone—clients and teams—walks away from projects that are done on time and
within budget with a smile on their faces. They’re also happy when they’re
communicating well. Guess who helps to make all of that happen?

Organization

Teams with project managers benefit from the fact that someone is paying attention to
how, when, and why something should happen. Great PMs utilize tools like project
plans and RACI matrices to help us out the details. When you have a dedicated PM,
there is time to organize and use the right tools to help a team.
Team growth and development

When you’re trying to work on a task and manage it along with everyone and everything
else, it can be tough. That means that you don’t have the time to focus on your work
product, or developing strategies or methodologies to do it better. When a PM is
involved, that stress is peeled away and the team gets to collaborate and grow by trying
new approaches to deliverables. There’s something to be said for letting experts focus
solely on their craft (even when that expert is a PM).

Flexibility

Great PMs know that projects change, and they are always on the lookout for it. And
when that change becomes a real factor, they immediately find ways to adapt the
project’s path. Having a PM on your team means that you’ll always know when a risk,
issue, or change is on the horizon, and you’ll be able to plan for them.

Quality

When your team is focused on their craft, the quality of work goes up because they
have all the time they need (well, within scope) to do that job. And, a good PM will
always have quality of work on their minds as they help to deliver work to stakeholders.
It’s common for a PM to contribute to internal reviews, proofread content, and make
sure that work is flawless before it goes out the door.

Quantity

This one is important for business owners. When you remove the burden of PM from
your team and place it on one person, you free up their time to take on more projects
and produce more work. Sounds like a win-win.

There are surely many more benefits to project management, like the hard facts and
details you get out of typical PM reports and deliverables: transparency on budget and
timeline, accountability for tasks, and so on. Those tend to be the things people think
about when they hear “project management,” and they are absolutely great benefits. But
as you see, those benefits create other benefits that affect not only the bottom line, but
the people and the process.
References:

• https://www.apm.org.uk/blog/project-management-an-introduction/
• https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/what-is-project-management
• https://www.teamgantt.com/guide-to-project-management/what-is-project-
management
• https://managementhelp.org/projectmanagement/#defined
• https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/project-management/
• https://www.axelos.com/best-practice-solutions/prince2/what-is-project-management