Project Management

Project Management Basics

What are the project management basics?

In the highly competitive and globalised corporate climate of today, the ability to successfully complete projects on time, within budget, and in a manner that is congruent with business objectives is essential to establishing a competitive advantage. Because of this, it is essential for the person in charge of the project to have a deep comprehension of project management, ranging from a familiarity with the discipline's fundamental ideas to a wealth of practical experience.

Project managers are tasked with an extremely difficult job that requires a unique combination of organisational expertise, analytical acumen, and strong interpersonal skills.

A significant number of PMs rely on software and other tools designed specifically for project management, which aid projects at all stages of the project life cycle. Throughout the life cycle of a project, Wrike can assist your company in the management of goals and objectives, the creation of Gantt charts and Kanban boards, and a great deal more. Try out Wrike right away to learn how project managers manage to pull off successful endeavours.

In the following section, we will introduce you to the fundamentals of project management and discuss what it means to serve in the role of a project manager.

In addition, if you are searching for a way to get your project management journey off to a good start, you can activate a free trial of Wrike right now.

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What is a project?

First things first: before we get into the nuts and bolts, let's talk about

what exactly a "project" is. It's likely that you've been tasked with a large number of "projects" at both your place of employment and your educational institution, but what exactly does that term mean?

According to the definition provided by the Project Management Institute (PMI), a "project" is "a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result."

There are a few important details that stand out in this definition, and they are as follows:

• The use of the word "temporary" implies that projects are required to have a beginning and an end. Therefore, a timeframe, a scope, and a list of resources are essential components of every project. Due to the fact that it is just transitory and has a beginning and an end, it is not considered to be a part of the ongoing business operations. This brings up the second point, which is as follows.
• It is necessary for a project's goal to be "to create a product, service, or result that has never been done before." This indicates that a project will be launched in order to accomplish a specific aim that is normally outside the sphere of the typical day-to-day business operation. In other words, the project will be started in order to achieve a goal that is not typical of business operations. Because of this, the project team may comprise individuals who do not often collaborate with one another, and it may ask for resources that are not typically included in the scope of day-to-day operations.

The following elements are required to be a part of every project:

• What do you want to accomplish, or what is your goal?
• When exactly are you hoping to accomplish this goal?
• A budget should answer the question, "How much will it cost to achieve?"
• Who are the significant players who have an interest in this project and are considered to be stakeholders?
• Who will be in charge of managing the project and ensuring that everything that has to be finished actually is finished?

A project is not something that is done on a regular basis. Because they do not have a clearly defined beginning and closing point, day-to-day operations and maintenance are not regarded to be projects.

What is project management?

The application of one's knowledge, skills, tools, and procedures to the completion of a project in accordance with certain requirements can be referred to as the practise of project management.

The key to effective execution of this procedure is to first recognise the issue at hand, then devise a strategy for resolving the issue, and finally carry out the strategy in question until the issue has been resolved. This may appear to be straightforward, but there is a significant amount of work involved at each and every level of the process. If an appropriate management strategy is implemented, the project will be finished on time and without exceeding the budget.

The construction of the Pyramids of Giza and the Great Wall of China are among the first known examples of project management in human history. The modernization of this practise, on the other hand, didn't start until the 19th century, when railroad firms started hiring thousands of employees to build the transcontinental railroad and buying tonnes of raw materials.

Frederick Taylor was the first person to apply the principles of PM to the workweek in the early 20th century. He developed tactics for working smarter and decreasing inefficiencies rather than insisting that labourers work harder and longer. Henry Gantt, a colleague of Taylor's, took those notions and created a new technique to visualise the management of projects by graphing when specific activities or a sequence of tasks were accomplished using bars and charts.

During World War II, military and industrial leaders were utilising ever more precise management methods, which eventually led to more standardised processes such as the critical path method.

The widespread adoption of these methodologies led to the establishment of the International Project Management Association in 1965 and the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 1969, respectively. The Agile Manifesto was written in 2001 with the purpose of codifying the Agile project management practises already in use.

As new technologies (automation, artificial intelligence, and so on) are introduced to the market, the landscape of project management is becoming more and more competitive, and the field itself is undergoing ongoing transformation as a result.

What are the stages of project management?

The following are the five process groups that comprise project management:

• Beginning: The purpose of this stage is to define the project that will be undertaken.
• During the planning stage, a comprehensive set of instructions will be drafted for all participants.
• The next step is called "Executing and Monitoring," and it is during this stage that the project team and deliverables are developed. The performance of the project will be monitored and measured by the PMs to ensure that it remains on track.
• In conclusion, the project has been finished, a post-mortem has been conducted, and the project has been handed off to another team so that they can continue to manage it.

Why is project management important?

Your company will benefit from project managers in the following ways:

• Have a project planning and implementation procedure that is more predictable.
• Maintain adherence to the project's requirements regarding its budget, schedule, and scope.
• Find solutions to project obstacles and escalate problems more quickly and easily.
• Find the projects that don't add any relevant value to the company's bottom line and kill them.
• Improve your effectiveness.
• Increase the level of collaboration both across and within teams.
• Determine and prepare for potential dangers.

What do project managers do?

To summarise, project managers are accountable for the planning, execution, monitoring, and controlling of projects, as well as their successful completion. As a result, they are required to have an in-depth knowledge of the subject area. However, that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the fundamentals of project management. The following is a list of some of the primary responsibilities:

• Construct the plan: It is the responsibility of project managers to choose the most practical and effective path for the project. The scope of the project, a timetable, and a budget must all be included in the plan. This may also involve determining which tools are most suited for the task at hand.
• Put together the squad: Finding the right team to work with is really important. The scale of each initiative and the roles that must be filled in order to successfully complete the project will dictate the composition of each team working on the project. The ideal situation would consist of locating specialists and subject matter experts for each of the required duties.
• The project manager is responsible for providing their team with a detailed description of the precise tasks that need to be completed as well as a timeframe for each component of the project. Although every member of the team will be responsible for their own assignments, many of the tasks will involve collaboration from members of the team both from within and outside the organisation.
• Now that the team has been assembled and their duties have been assigned, the project manager is responsible for ensuring that the machine runs smoothly by attending to both the fundamentals and anything else that may arise. This will include checking in with individuals to get status updates, locating and removing bottlenecks, resolving disagreements, maintaining a good morale among team members, as well as offering training and mentoring.
• Take charge of the finances Given that the majority of projects will call for at least some expenditures, it is essential to learn how to assemble a project budget and effectively manage costs in order to achieve success. This will entail contrasting the actual expenses with the estimates and modifying the project plan if required.
• In the same way that they are responsible for managing the budget, project managers are entrusted with ensuring that everything stays on schedule in order for the team to reach the anticipated completion dates and times. In order to accomplish this, you will need to establish deadlines that are reasonable for the entirety of the project's life cycle, keep a clear calendar, and maintain regular communication with the team regarding progress updates.
• Engage the stakeholders: Stakeholders are important players in the project you're working on. They are often influential individuals whose lives will be altered as a result of the project. Project managers have a responsibility to establish positive relationships with stakeholders and keep lines of communication open with them. Stakeholders not only have the potential to remove obstacles and give your team more power, but they also have the potential to create unneeded bottlenecks and derail a project if they are dissatisfied with the path it is taking.
• You are now in charge of the project: Even if all of the project's goals have been accomplished, that does not indicate that the job of the project manager is finished. The team that will be responsible for managing, maintaining, and running the project going forward must now receive delivery of the project from the project manager. After this time, the project manager will no longer be the primary point of contact and will instead be given responsibility for another undertaking.
• Record the steps of the process: The practise of identifying and documenting "lessons learned" is not only beneficial for one's own personal development but also for the organisation as a whole, since it allows for the experience to be communicated to other teams for their potential use in the future. Because of this, other people will be able to avoid making the same mistakes that you did or take use of the shortcuts that you found.

Project manager certifications

Obtaining a general project management certification is not required; nevertheless, certain organisations may prefer certified project managers or provide certified project managers a higher salary. The Project Management Professional (PMP) is the most well-known certification, and the Project Management Institute (PMI) is the organisation that offers it. However, it is not the only certification that can be obtained. The following is a list of some of the additional choices:

• Associate in the Management of Projects
• C.A.P.M. stands for Certified Associate in Project Management.
• The CPD stands for "Certified Project Director."
• Certified Project Manager (also known as IAPM)
• (CSM) stands for "Certified ScrumMaster."
• Certification from CompTIA in Project+
• Professional in Project Management (PPM) with a PRINCE2 Foundation or PRINCE2 Practitioner certification.
• "Master Project Manager" (abbreviated as "MPM")

Streamline your projects with Wrike

You will be able to effortlessly streamline all of your projects onto one platform with Wrike, which will allow you to work more efficiently. Wrike's fully modifiable workflows and real-time collaboration features make it possible to ensure that workloads are evenly distributed and that accurate progress reports are generated. In addition, we provide you with Gantt charts and Kanban boards to assist you in monitoring the project milestones and delivering the goods on time.

Wrike is able to assist you in accomplishing your project management goals and increasing your overall productivity, regardless of the size of your organisation or team.

Now that you have a solid grasp of the fundamentals, it is essential to educate yourself on the various approaches that are used in project management. Each methodology serves a specific function, and depending on the nature of the project, you'll need to select the appropriate methodology or framework in order to successfully complete it.

The next section provides an in-depth explanation of each methodology.