By Mahenur Alam
What is project management?
Project management can be defined as the discipline of applying specific processes and principles to initiate, plan, execute and manage the way that new initiatives or changes are implemented within an organization. Project management is different to management of business as usual activity, which is an ongoing process, as it involves creating new work packages to achieve agreed ends or goals.
Why Is Project Management Important at any workplace
1. Strategic Alignment
value against the business opportunity.1
Every client has strategic goals and the projects that we do for them . Project management is important because it ensures there’s rigor in architecting projects properly so that they fit well within the broader context of our client’s strategic frameworks Good project management ensures that the goals of projects closely align with the strategic goals of the business.
In identifying a solid business case, and being methodical about calculating ROI, project management is important because it can help to ensure the right thing is delivered, that’s going to deliver real value.
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2. Leadership
Project management is important because it brings leadership and direction to projects.
Without project management, a team can be like a ship without a rudder; moving but without direction, control or purpose. Leadership allows and enables a team to do their best work. Project management provides leadership and vision, motivation, removing roadblocks, coaching and inspiring the team to do their best work.
Project managers serve the team but also ensure clear lines of accountability. With a project manager in place there’s no confusion about who’s in charge and in control of whatever’s going on in a project. Project managers enforce process and keep everyone on the team in line too because ultimately they carry responsibility for whether the project fails or succeeds.
3. Clear Focus & Objectives
Project management is important because it ensures there’s a proper plan for executing on strategic goals.
Where project management is left to the team to work out by themselves, you’ll find teams work without proper briefs, projects lack focus, can have vague or nebulous objectives, and leave the team not quite sure what they’re supposed to be doing, or why.
As project managers, we position ourselves to prevent such a situation and drive the timely accomplishment of tasks, by breaking up a project into tasks for our teams. Oftentimes, the foresight to take such an approach is what differentiates good project management from bad.
4. Realistic Project Planning
Project management is important because it ensures proper expectations are set around what can be delivered, by when, and for how much.
Without proper project management, budget estimates and project delivery timelines can be set that are over-ambitious or lacking in analogous estimating insight from similar projects. Ultimately this means without good project management, projects get delivered late, and over budget.
Effective project managers should be able to negotiate reasonable and achievable deadlines and milestones across stakeholders, teams, and management. Too often, the urgency placed on delivery compromises the necessary steps, and ultimately, the quality of the project’s outcome.
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5. Quality Control
Projects management is important because it ensures the quality of whatever is being delivered, consistently hits the mark.
Projects are also usually under enormous pressure to be completed. Without a dedicated project manager, who has the support and buy-in of executive management, tasks are underestimated, schedules tightened and processes rushed. The result is bad quality output. Dedicated project management ensures that not only does a project have the time and resources to deliver, but also that the output is quality tested at every stage.
6. Risk Management
Project management is important because it ensures risks are properly managed and mitigated against to avoid becoming issues.
Risk Management is critical to project success. The temptation is just to sweep them under the carpet, never talk about them to the client and hope for the best. But having a robust process around the ,identification is what helps prevent risks from becoming issues.
7. Orderly Process
Project management is important because it ensuresthe right people do right things– it ensures proper project process is followed throughout the project lifecycle.
Surprisingly, many large and well-known companies have reactive planning processes. But reactivity – as opposed to proactivity – can often cause projects to go into survival mode. This is a when teams fracture, tasks duplicate, and planning becomes reactive creating inefficiency and frustration in the team.
Proper planning and process can make a massive difference as the team knows who’s doing what, when, and how. Proper process helps to clarify roles, streamline processes and inputs, anticipate risks, and creates the checks and balances to ensure the project is continually aligned with the overall strategy..
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