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What Is Project Management? (And Why You Are A Project Manager)

By Andrew Thompson

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 04Jun2008 Word count: 766 Viewed: 301 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Many people have used the term 'Project Management' without a real appreciation of what Project Management actually is. If you read the textbooks they will talk about projects as having a beginning, a middle and an end, which is the essential and obvious difference from normal business operations. Text books also talk about uniqueness, a timescale, using resources and carrying a budget. They may also talk about risk, issue and change management. But what does all this mean in practical terms?

If you think closely about what a project is you will probably arrive at four broad phases. 1)An Initiation/Start which is the stage where you decide you need a project 2)Planning is the stage where you plan the project and map out what is going to happen when 3)Execution is the stage where you implement the project and things start moving and 4)Closure is the stage where you decide the project is completed (and you pay the supplier).

These four phases are called a project lifecycle. This all sounds very complicated and business-like, so let me explain what it means in real terms.

Imagine your old kitchen fell apart and, over breakfast one day you said to your partner 'I think it's about time we had a new kitchen'. Assuming your partner agrees then congratulations, you have just initiated a project (and achieved the buyin of a key stakeholder!)

Next stage is the planning stage where you will probably first decide your budget. Then chances are you will want to decide what kind of units you want so you may go to a kitchen supplier to provide the whole lot, or you may go to individual suppliers for the units, cooker, fridge, electrics, plastering, tiling etc. Once you have decided on all of this you will agree a price and a schedule, determine whether it is within your budget, (and if it isn't you may go through the planning cycle again). You will also need to decide the order your suppliers come on site (you probably don't want the tiler to come before the plasterer). This stage will probably take the most time (it's all in the planning!)

Next you will enter the execution stage - which is where all your suppliers will perform their part of the project at the specified time to the specified budget (!) and voila - your new kitchen will be installed.

And finally, you will want to close the project. You will inspect the suppliers work, pay them, and then tie all the payments up into your overall budget...... simple, eh?

Whether you are aware of it or not, you have project managed the installation of your new kitchen and in doing so you have invoked some simple project management processes - the obvious ones are planning, budgeting, supplier management, but you may have also unconsciously invoked others. For instance you may have done some risk management (say if the kitchen is not completed on time), communications or stakeholder management (who needs to know that the kitchen is out of action and when will it be completed?), contracts management (agreeing the size and scope and payment terms of the work to be performed ), change management (what happens if you change your mind, or you are forced to change your mind by unforeseen circumstances). Wittingly or not, you will most likely have invoked some or all (or more) of these processes and more in the management of your fairly simple kitchen installation project.

But what if the project was a house, or a supermarket, or a factory? These would be far more complicated to implement. There will be more suppliers involved, more money at stake, a greater likelihood that things could go wrong and therefore greater risk. There are likely to be more stakeholders, more lines of communication. It is essential that all these items are managed, all processes and schedules documented - and it would be very sensible to do this through a proven process. Why re-invent the wheel when there are tools out there which have handled these situations before.

And this is what a Project Manager does, and is where Project Management Methodologies and Tools come in. A good Project Methodology will provide all the tools, all the processes so that you can document and manage your project, whatever its size and scope. If you work for a medium or large company chances are it uses a project methodology to standardise the process. For the consultant or freelance Project Manager there are methodologies and templates you can download from the internet and start using straight away.

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