The foundations of project management?

The ability to deliver projects on schedule, on budget, and aligned with set business’ goals is key to project management, and a must if you want to gain an edge in today’s highly competitive global business market. This is why it’s of utmost importance for the project manager in charge to have a comprehensive understanding of project management, from the foundations of project management to extensive experience in all aspects of the job. This includes knowing the industry, knowing how to get the best out of your team, knowing the systems and processes used in project management, and being able to work well under pressure to produce quality results.

In today’s highly-demanding workplace, it is no longer enough to just carry out the basics of project management, you also need to become skilled at predicting, recognising, diagnosing, and responding to problematic situations before they become an issue of major concern, or before they become a hindrance to the success of the project. The goal is to create an environment where they no longer occur.

Whether you’ve been a project manager for 10 months or 10 years, it’s always a good idea to brush up on the fundamentals of project management and make sure you still have a solid foundation to work off of. In a constantly evolving world, and industry, it’s always essential to keep up with the latest tried and trusted methodologies that the industry experts have developed through their expertise, knowledge and experience.

This article looks into the foundations of project management and it’s a great guide to use to see just how well you know and how well you are utilising the foundations of project management.

What is project management?

Project management is a set of techniques that anyone can apply to achieve the goals in which they have set out for themselves or their project. Project management helps with making goals more attainable and the projects you are working on more successful. This is because by setting a goal to work towards, and following due process, everything is documented and analysed in order to ensure that high quality work is produced throughout the project without any major hiccups. When those hiccups do arise, they do not show up completely unannounced as you have seen the risk beforehand.

What are the stages of project management?

The six phases of the project life cycle are as follows:

Project Initiation:

The goal for this stage is to define the project.

Project Planning:

It’s all about planning in this phase as the name suggests and writing a comprehensive project management plan should be your top priority.

Project Execution:

Project execution is specifically about getting things done. Once the project planning is complete, the next step is to bring your project to life.

Project Monitoring and Controlling:

Project Monitoring and Controlling is where you check the work against your initial plan, and adapt to any changes.

Project Closure:

In this phase, you will provide final deliverables, release project resources, and determine the success of the project.

Post-Project Optimisation:

Post-project optimisation is all about implementing the changes that will improve the success of all your future projects by reflecting and analysing the completed project to find out how the project went in terms of meeting objectives, where the project went wrong, where you and your team could do better and how to better prepare for the next project.

The foundations of project management

The foundations of project management lie on the project managers as they are the ones responsible for the planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and completion of projects. In order to deliver successful projects time after time, a project manager must have a complete understanding of the foundations of project management. These are the foundations on which project management is built:

Creating a scope of work:

A project manager is in charge of plotting out the most realistic course for the project, aka building the roadmap. This means it is their responsibility to create a scope of work and communicate the scope to the stakeholders and their teams involved. The Project Scope is, in essence, the size of the project and included in it is the total number of products, services and resources needed in order to complete the project. Once the scope of work has been defined, the project manager now needs to build a project plan which should include the tools needed for the project scope, timeline, and budget needed to complete the project.

Assembling the team:

Once you have figured out the scope of work, it is now team time to assemble your team. Identifying the right team members needed in order to bring a project to success is critical to the foundations of project management. Every project team will vary depending on the scope of work, so finding specialists and subject matter experts for each of the necessary tasks is ideal if you’re looking to make sure your project is a success and to prevent any unnecessary hiccups along the way.

Assigning tasks:

Project managers must provide their team with a clear set of the tasks that needed to be done and a timeline for each part of the project. Although each team member will be responsible for their own assignments, there may be tasks that will require collaboration from both internal and external team members, and it’s the project manager’s job to ensure that everyone is on the same page and knows exactly what is expected of them.

Leading the team to success:

Now that the team has been assembled and their tasks have been assigned, the project manager must lead their team to success by creating a team environment that all the members can thrive in. This comes in the form of checking on individuals regularly for status updates, identifying and clearing any roadblocks that arise throughout the project, negotiating disagreements across the board, keeping morale high, and providing training and mentoring where needed. By creating a team environment, you can increase productivity and communication and ensure a smooth project completion.

Managing budget:

It is a project manager’s responsibility to manage all expenses relating to the project and make sure that the team doesn’t go over budget. Most projects will require some expenses which means understanding how to put together a project budget is critical for the success of not only the project but for your success as a project manager as well. Putting together a project budget and managing costs will involve comparing real-life expenditures to estimates, and adjusting the project plan if necessary.

Managing timelines:

The same as with the budget, managing timelines is a project manager’s responsibility to ensure that all tasks are completed on time by both their team and any other resources needed. Managing timelines includes setting up realistic deadlines throughout the lifecycle of the project, communicating consistently with your team for status updates, and maintaining a detailed schedule so that everyone knows exactly where they are in the project.

Engaging stakeholders:

Stakeholders play a large role in your project as they are typically influential people who have invested in you and your team to deliver the project. An essential part of project management foundations is that project managers need to maintain a good relationship and an open line of communication with stakeholders throughout the project in order to help clear any roadblocks that may arise before they become a big concern and to help empower your team where possible.

Documenting the process:

Identifying and documenting everything that has been done and learnt in the project enables you and your team to learn from the mistakes made and better the next project. This foundation of project management will help others avoid making the same mistakes, or help them take advantage of shortcuts discovered. By keeping detailed records, you always have something to refer back to in case you need it.

Final words

Whether or not you’ve studied project management or learnt on the job, the foundations are the same. By keeping up to date and ensuring you know the basics will help you increase your project’s success rate, cut out any unnecessary stress, and increase both your and your team’s productivity and efficiency. Learn how to better your projects with a project management short course and brush up on the foundations of project management more in depth and in your own time.