Project management is an important part of strategic management and a crucial part of nation building, business processes as well as non-profit work that requires utmost care from planning to delivery date. Project management is essential in getting things done.
Without the systematic approach of project management the accomplishment of goals may deemed too costly and impossible to complete. Project management does not only deal with setting objectives but also the clarification of what is the expected outcome and if how can it be delivered on time.
Project management may evolve through time, the techniques may change but there is one thing that would remain and it is the presence of the project manager. The following outlines the key roles and responsibilities of the project manager as well as the key tasks and functions that are required within the life-cycle of a project.
The Project Manager
Before going any further it is important to clarify the meaning of a project. This can be achieved by defining what a project is not and understand that it is not a typical workload or job that has to be performed or accomplished (Gray & Larson, 2008).
It has to be pointed out that a project must not be confused by work that is done on a daily basis or processes that falls into the familiarity of a routine. For instance in a factory job a system can be implemented and a supervisor simply observes if the system is working or not. A project is a process that is expected to be done once – from defining phase to handover.
Leadership
A project manager is not just a fancy title given to the person who is expected to manage a team. There are expected behavior qualities for a project manager. One of which is a certain level of leadership capability. In simple terms a project manager should be a good leader when it comes to communicating the desired outcome of the project (Lock, 2007). He or she must be a good leader in the sense that there is the capability to motivate the team members.
Management Skills
A project manager is different from a coach because the job requirements go beyond the capability to motivate and guide the team. The project manager must possess management skills.
This must become evident during the planning phase where the project manager must understand the meaning of time and budget constraints and then make the necessary plans and strategies that can deal with expected problems. On the other hand their management skills must also come into the fore when there is a need to make adjustments, especially when unforeseen problems crop up.
Accountability
The project manager is accountable to the financiers or to the people that have invested in a particular project. They must have the ability to make the necessary reports needed to inform them as to the progress of the project and if the team are still within the budget and more importantly if they can deliver on time. Furthermore, the accountability aspect of the project manager’s job is seen at the end of the life cycle of the project when resources had to be redeployed.
Life Cycle of Project
There are different types of projects that can be tackled using project management principles. As a result the typical phases that can be found in project management can be modified to suit different types of needs. The most common projects that are easy to understand and familiar to those in the corporate and business world are those that are related to Information Technology.
The creation of management information systems and other IT infrastructures is a familiar undertaking to many people because even small businesses and small organizations are taking steps to ensure that they become a part of globally interconnected world and to be kept abreast of developments in the digital age.
Thus, it is a helpful way to fully understand the concepts pertaining to project management by having an overview of the life cycle of a project in the world of Information Technology. In this regard it is interesting to point out that the modified version includes the following steps: 1) analysis; 2) design; 3) coding; 4; test; 5; installation; and 6) maintenance (Cleland & Ireland, 2007).
What this does is to demonstrate that project managers should never be boxed-in into a formula when it comes to preparing and executing a project. The steps in the project can be easily modified to fit the unique requirements of the problem at hand. In the case of Information Technology the process flow requires analysis of computer hardware, software, programming languages as well as coding.
However, for simplicity’s sake it is imperative that project managers must fully understand that at the core of project management lies four basic phases: 1) Defining the Project; 2) Planning; 3) Execution; and 4) Delivery.
Defining the Project
The defining stage is important because this is the time when the project manager must determine what the project is all about. It is during this time when the project manager is informed of the specifications of a particular project as well project objectives. This is basically the time to have an overview of the project and determine if it is even feasible to take on the challenge of accomplishing what was set in the objectives.
This is also the stage wherein the project manager has to form teams. This can be an elaborate process for projects that are unique and never been done before. But for project managers that are familiar with the basic parameters of related and recurring projects that team members are all known beforehand because he or she had worked with them in previous projects.
Thus, their capabilities and temperaments are known. In this way the project manager can easily see if these people can work together and if they possess the necessary skills needed to accomplish the task at hand.
But for special projects with objectives and parameters never before seen and documented, the task of choosing team members may prove tricky. This is the crucial part of the cycle because choosing the wrong people to work for a certain team and project can easily derail the work and instead of accomplishing the project on time this would result in delays, added expenses and worst of all it can force the financiers to pull the plug and ask the project manager to stop all related work.
Planning
Once the team members are identified and their roles properly assigned the project reaches a new level. There is increased activity when it comes to pushing the project forward. In this stage the key players are focused in determining the scope of the project and the detailed plan on how to accomplish what they have set out to do.
It is also at this stage when the various constraints are identified (Shelly et al., 2010). The most obvious constraints would be time and money but aside from these things there are issues that have to be dealt with such as policies, regulations, restrictions, permits, etc.
It is also at this stage wherein the project manager has to identify the various stakeholders of the project. These are the people that would be benefit and those that would be negatively affected by the project – directly and indirectly.
This is also a critical phase of the project’s lifecycle because there are so many factors that can shutdown a project especially when the government is involved and other legal entities are affected and yet have the power to put up hurdles and other problems delaying the progress or making it impossible to continue.
Execution
If this is a plot of the story then this stage is the climax. This is the apex of the activity and highest point in the life cycle of the project. Majority of the resources set aside for the project are expended at this point. If this is a bridge-building project then the equipment necessary to build the structure must be moved towards the exact spot where the project manager intends to build. At the same time the logistical requirements needed to move the materials needed must be take cared of beforehand.
Finally, the structure must be built on a step-by-step process as designed in the planning phase. While the work is going on full-blast the project manager keeps an eye on the other details of the project while at the same time maintaining a bird’s eye-view of all the components required to make a project running smoothly and efficiently.
At this stage the project manager must be constantly aware of budget and time constraints. It is imperative to know if the project can be sustained until delivery date and if there is enough time to do the necessary work.
This is also the stage wherein the project manager has to make adjustments if needed (Westland, 2006). The planning stage can only predict the outcome of the work flow to a certain extent and that project managers can never anticipate future problems all the time.
For instance, workers can get sick or the estimated number of workers was wrong and there is a need to hire more men. These are the kind of adjustments that a project manager must competently handle.
Delivery
All the work done in the previous stages would amount to nothing if the project manager and his team fail to deliver. If this is a road project for a particular town or community then it must be handed over to the authorities. If this is a management information system that was created by a third-party then it must be handed over to the corporate leaders and they in turn would hand it over to their IT personnel.
In most cases the project does not end with the delivery of a product or a finished structure, the people who are going to use it must be trained to adequately handle these products or infrastructure.
Thus, in some cases there is a need to train key people that can help maintain the system that is the byproduct of the project. At the same time these processes requires a great deal of paperwork as well as other legal matters that has to be attended to.
Finally, the project manager and his team are also responsible for redeploying resources. In many cases the resources used for a particular project are not consumable, specifically heavy equipment that are rented or bought had to be moved to another location or redeployed for the sake of cost-efficiency purposes.
Conclusion
In the modern world were cost-efficiency and labor challenges characterizes the problems of industries it is of great importance to fully understand the meaning of project management. It is a way to accomplish complicated tasks with budget and time constraints.
As a result it is a useful tool to accomplish things that are important with the assurance that financiers, businessmen, leaders and various stakeholders will have a firm grasp of what is going on every step of the way and be always informed of the likelihood of the projects success or failure.
At the end of the day project management principles is a set of principles and systematic thinking that makes the seemingly impossible goal to be a reality. But this is easier said than done. Nevertheless, those who are sponsoring a project or financing a project can increase the chances of success if they know how to choose the correct person who would take on the role of project manager.
References
Cleland, D. & R. Ireland. (2007). Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Gray, C. & E. Larson. (2008). Project Management: The Managerial Process. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lock, D. (2007). Project Management. VT: Gower Publishing.
Shelly, G. et al. (2010). Systems Analysis and Design. MA: Cengage Learning.
Westland, J. (2006). The Project Management Life Cycle: A Complete Step-by-Step Methodology for Planning, Executing and Closing the Project Successfully. PA: Kogan Page.