Project management

Project management methods provide useful tools and techniques that represent accumulated best practice. How you to choose to apply them is up to you, but they are too useful to ignore.  Here is a general project process overview.

The choice of project management methodology is less important than the way it is applied, the different systems have much in common but none of them will manage the project for you. They provide a framework but the success of a project depends on the skills and intelligence of the people running it.

Projects go through a number of phases. Managing its progress ensures it all runs smoothly.

Formal methods of project management offer a framework to manage the process, providing a series of elements – templates and procedures – to manage the project through its life cycle. The key elements consist of:

• Defining the project accurately, systematically clarifying objectives
• Dividing the project up into manageable tasks and stages
• Controlling the project through its stages using the project definition as a baseline
• Highlighting risks and developing specific procedures to deal with them
• Providing mechanisms to deal with quality issues
• Clarifying roles to provide the basis for effective teamwork

The need to provide accountability and effective communication is implicit throughout.

Below are typical areas that a projects success depends upon.

• Scope Management
• Time Management
• Cost Management
• Quality Management
• Human Resources Management
• Communications Management
• Project Risk Management
• Project Procurement Management
• Project Integration Management

A project is technically a short-term endeavor to create a unique product or service. Practically, it is an undertaking to create a deliverable that satisfies the mission of the project customers

Projects fail at the beginning, not the end.