Project Manager Goals

Introduction

Every organization requires good leadership in order to carry out all their projects successfully. This requires the organization to appoint efficient project managers to carry out various tasks, and of course, to guide and lead the project management team and get them to a point, where they have effectively completed any given project at hand, taking into account a whole load of factors.

In order to understand how project management can run smoothly, it is important to first identify the role and the tasks carried out by the project manager. So who is a project manager and why is he/she so important?

The Role of a Project Manager

The role of a project manager basically involves handling all aspects of the project.

This includes not just the logistics but also the planning, brainstorming and seeing to the overall completion of the project while also preventing glitches and ensuring that the project management team works well together.

The Goals of a Project Manager

Following should be the the main goals for a project manager, but they are not limited to the listed ones because it very much depends on the situation:

(1) Deadlines

A project manager must always be able to carry out his role in a very effective manner.

This means that in most cases he/she would have to run against time with the clock ticking away. All projects would have deadlines, so it is the duty of a project manager to complete the project by this given date.

It should be noted that although the project manager and his team may draw up a schedule at the outset that may seem perfect, as time goes on you will find that the requirements may change, and the projects may require new strategies to be implemented and more planning to be carried out.

Time therefore could be a big obstacle for a project manager achieving his/her goal. As the project manager you should never lose sight of the deadline, your role would be to keep pushing your team to finish the work and deliver on time.

Remember that your clients' satisfaction is your number one priority.

(2) Client Satisfaction

Satisfaction of the client, however, does not mean that you rush to finish the work on time without ensuring that standards are met.

The reputation of your organization would depend on the quality of the delivery of your projects. This is another factor you should not lose sight of throughout the project.

Your role would also be to keep reminding the team members that quality is key.

(3) No Budget Overrun

No project can be started off without the preparation of the budget. Although this is just a forecast of the costs that would be incurred, it is essential that this budget is prepared after careful research and comparing prices to get the best.

You would need to consider ways of cutting costs while also ensuring that you meet the needs of the client as well as meeting the standards expected of your organization.

This budget must include all costs with regard equipment, labor and everything else. You then need to try and always stick to the budget, although it's always best to leave some allowance for a few 100 dollars for any additional expenses that may arise.

(4) Requirements Coverage

Another goal of a project manager involves meeting all requirements of the client. You would need to therefore have all specifications at hand and go through them every once in a while to ensure that you are on track.

If there is confusion as to any requirements, it would be best for you to get them cleared at the very beginning.

(5) Team Management

While you would have to ensure that all aspects of the project are maintained, you are also responsible as project manager for the happiness of your team.

You need to keep in mind that it is the incentives and encouragement provided to them that will make them work harder and want to complete the work on time, thereby helping you reach your goals.

If the team members are unhappy with the way things are being carried out, productivity will also in turn decrease, pulling you further away from achieving your goals. It is essential therefore to always maintain a warm friendly relationship with them.

The communication within the team should be very effective. They should be willing to voice out their opinions while you listen to their suggestions and consider including them in the project.

This is after all a team effort. Your goals with regard to the project are also their goals.

Conclusion

The role of a project manager is therefore no easy task. It involves taking up a lot of responsibility as each of the goals of the project must be met without making too many sacrifices.

If these goals are outlined to the project management team at the very beginning, there in no way for the delivery of the goals to be delayed in any way as everyone will always be aware of what they need to achieve and by when

Project Management Triangle

Introduction

The project management triangle is used by managers to analyze or understand the difficulties that may arise due to implementing and executing a project. All projects irrespective of their size will have many constraints.

Although there are many such project constraints, these should not be barriers for successful project execution and for the effective decision making.

There are three main interdependent constraints for every project; time, cost and scope. This is also known as Project Management Triangle.

Let's try to understand each of the element of project triangle and then how to face challenges related to each.

The Three Constraints

The three constraints in a project management triangle are time, cost and scope.

1 - Time

A project's activities can either take shorter or longer amount of time to complete. Completion of tasks depends on a number of factors such as the number of people working on the project, experience, skills, etc.

Time is a crucial factor which is uncontrollable. On the other hand, failure to meet the deadlines in a project can create adverse effects. Most often, the main reason for organizations to fail in terms of time is due to lack of resources.

2 - Cost

It's imperative for both the project manager and the organization to have an estimated cost when undertaking a project. Budgets will ensure that project is developed or implemented below a certain cost.

Sometimes, project managers have to allocate additional resources in order to meet the deadlines with a penalty of additional project costs.

3 - Scope

Scope looks at the outcome of the project undertaken. This consists of a list of deliverables, which need to be addressed by the project team.

A successful project manager will know to manage both the scope of the project and any change in scope which impacts time and cost.

Quality

Quality is not a part of the project management triangle, but it is the ultimate objective of every delivery. Hence, the project management triangle represents implies quality.

Many project managers are under the notion that 'high quality comes with high cost', which to some extent is true. By using low quality resources to accomplish project deadlines does not ensure success of the overall project.

Like with the scope, quality will also be an important deliverable for the project.

Six stages of Project Management

A project undergoes six stages during its life cycles and they are noted below:

• Project Definition - This refers to defining the objectives and the factors to be considered to make the project successful.
• Project Initiation - This refers to the resources as well as the planning before the project starts.
• Project Planning - Outlines the plan as to how the project should be executed. This is where project management triangle is essential. It looks at the time, cost and scope of the project.
• Project Execution - Undertaking work to deliver the outcome of the project.
• Project Monitoring & Control - Taking necessary measures, so that the operation of the project runs smoothly.
• Project Closure - Acceptance of the deliverables and discontinuing resources that were required to run the project.

Overcoming Challenges to Project Constraints

It is always a requirement to overcome the challenges related to the project triangle during the project execution period. Project managers need to understand that the three constraints outlined in the project management triangle can be adjusted.

The important aspect is to deal with it. The project manager needs to strike a balance between the three constraints so that quality of the project will not be compromised.

To overcome the constraints, the project managers have several methods to keep the project going. Some of these will be based on preventing stakeholders from changing the scope and maintaining limits on both financial and human resources.

A project manager's role is evolved around responsibility. A project manager needs to supervise and control the project from the beginning to the closure.

The following factors will outline a project manager's role:

• The project manager needs to define the project and split the tasks amongst team members. The project manager also needs to obtain key resources and build teamwork.
• The project manager needs to set the objectives required for the project and work towards meeting these objectives.
• The most important activity of a project manager is to keep stakeholders informed on the progress of the project.
• The project manager needs to asses and carefully monitor risks of the project.

Skills Required for a Project Manager

In order to overcome the challenges related to project triangle and meet the project objectives, the project manager needs to have a range of skills, which includes:

• Leadership
• Managing people
• Negotiation
• Time management
• Effective communication
• Planning
• Controlling
• Conflict resolution
• Problem solving

Conclusion

Project management is very often represented on a triangle. A successful project manager needs to keep a balance between the triple constraints so that the quality of the project or outcome is not compromised.

There are many tools and techniques that are available in order to face the challenges related to the three constraints. A good project manager will use appropriate tools in order to execute the project successfully.

Project Management Tools

Introduction

Project management is one of the high-responsibility tasks in modern organizations. Project management is used in many types of projects ranging from software development to developing the next generation fighter aircrafts.

In order to execute a project successfully, the project manager or the project management team should be supported by a set of tools.

These tools can be specifically designed tools or regular productivity tools that can be adopted for project management work.

The use of such tools usually makes the project managers work easy as well as it standardizes the work and the routine of a project manager.

Following are some of those tools used by project managers in all domains:

Project Plan

All the projects that should be managed by a project manager should have a project plan. The project plan details many aspects of the project to be executed.

First of all, it details out the project scope. Then, it describes the approach or strategy used for addressing the project scope and project objectives.

The strategy is the core of the project plan. The strategy could vary depending on the project purpose and specific project requirements.

The resource allocation and delivery schedule are other two main components of the project plan. These detail each activity involved in the project as well as the information such as who executes them and when.

This is important information for the project manager as well as all the other stakeholders of the project.

Milestone Checklist

This is one of the best tools the project manager can use to determine whether he or she is on track in terms of the project progress.

The project manager does not have to use expensive software to track this. The project manager can use a simple Excel template to do this job.

The milestone checklist should be a live document that should be updated once or twice a week.

Gantt Chart

Gantt chart illustrates the project schedule and shows the project manager the interdependencies of each activity. Gantt charts are universally used for any type of project from construction to software development.

Although deriving a Gantt chart looks quite easy, it is one of the most complex tasks when the project is involved in hundreds of activities.

There are many ways you can create a Gantt chart. If the project is small and simple in nature, you can create your own Gantt chart in Excel or download an Excel template from the Internet.

If the project has a high financial value or high-risk exposure, then the project manager can use software tools such as MS Project.

Project Management Softwares

With the introduction of computer technology, there have been a number of software tools specifically developed for project management purpose. MS Project is one such tool that has won the hearts of project managers all over the world.

MS Project can be used as a standalone tool for tracking project progress or it can be used for tracking complex projects distributed in many geographical areas and managed by a number of project managers.

There are many other software packages for project management in addition to MS Project. Most of these new additions are online portals for project management activities where the project members have access to project details and progress from anywhere.

Project Reviews

A comprehensive project review mechanism is a great tool for project management. More mature companies tend to have more strict and comprehensive project reviews as opposed to basic ones done by smaller organizations.

In project reviews, the project progress and the adherence to the process standards are mainly considered. Usually, project reviews are accompanied by project audits by a 3rd party (internal or external).

The non-compliances and action items are then tracked in order to complete them.

Delivery Reviews

Delivery reviews make sure that the deliveries made by the project team meet the customer requirements and adhere to the general guidelines of quality.

Usually, a 3rd party team or supervisors (internal) conduct the delivery review and the main stakeholders of the project delivery do participate for this event.

The delivery review may decide to reject the delivery due to the quality standards and non-compliances.

Score Cards

When it comes to performance of the project team, a scorecard is the way of tracking it. Every project manager is responsible of accessing the performance of the team members and reporting it to the upper management and HR.

This information is then used for promotion purposes as well as human resource development. A comprehensive score card and performance assessment can place the team member in the correct position.

Conclusion

A project manager cannot execute his/her job without a proper set of tools. These tools do not have to be renowned software or something, but it can pretty well be simple and proven techniques to manage project work.

Having a solid set of project management tools always makes project managers' work pleasurable and productive.

Project Management Processes

Introduction

Project management is one of the critical processes of any project. This is due to the fact that project management is the core process that connects all other project activities and processes together.

When it comes to the activities of project management, there are plenty. However, these plenty of project management activities can be categorized into five main processes.

Let's have a look at the five main project management processes in detail.

1 - Project Initiation

Project initiation is the starting point of any project. In this process, all the activities related to winning a project takes place. Usually, the main activity of this phase is the pre-sale.

During the pre-sale period, the service provider proves the eligibility and ability of completing the project to the client and eventually wins the business. Then, it is the detailed requirements gathering which comes next.

During the requirements gathering activity, all the client requirements are gathered and analysed for implementation. In this activity, negotiations may take place to change certain requirements or remove certain requirements altogether.

Usually, project initiation process ends with requirements sign-off.

2 - Project Planning

Project planning is one of the main project management processes. If the project management team gets this step wrong, there could be heavy negative consequences during the next phases of the project.

Therefore, the project management team will have to pay detailed attention to this process of the project.

In this process, the project plan is derived in order to address the project requirements such as, requirements scope, budget and timelines. Once the project plan is derived, then the project schedule is developed.

Depending on the budget and the schedule, the resources are then allocated to the project. This phase is the most important phase when it comes to project cost and effort.

3 - Project Execution

After all paperwork is done, in this phase, the project management executes the project in order to achieve project objectives.

When it comes to execution, each member of the team carries out their own assignments within the given deadline for each activity. The detailed project schedule will be used for tracking the project progress.

During the project execution, there are many reporting activities to be done. The senior management of the company will require daily or weekly status updates on the project progress.

In addition to that, the client may also want to track the progress of the project. During the project execution, it is a must to track the effort and cost of the project in order to determine whether the project is progressing in the right direction or not.

In addition to reporting, there are multiple deliveries to be made during the project execution. Usually, project deliveries are not onetime deliveries made at the end of the project. Instead, the deliveries are scattered through out the project execution period and delivered upon agreed timelines.

4 - Control and Validation

During the project life cycle, the project activities should be thoroughly controlled and validated. The controlling can be mainly done by adhering to the initial protocols such as project plan, quality assurance test plan and communication plan for the project.

Sometimes, there can be instances that are not covered by such protocols. In such cases, the project manager should use adequate and necessary measurements in order to control such situations.

Validation is a supporting activity that runs from first day to the last day of a project. Each and every activity and delivery should have its own validation criteria in order to verify the successful outcome or the successful completion.

When it comes to project deliveries and requirements, a separate team called 'quality assurance team' will assist the project team for validation and verification functions.

5 - Closeout and Evaluation

Once all the project requirements are achieved, it is time to hand over the implemented system and closeout the project. If the project deliveries are in par with the acceptance criteria defined by the client, the project will be duly accepted and paid by the customer.

Once the project closeout takes place, it is time to evaluate the entire project. In this evaluation, the mistakes made by the project team will be identified and will take necessary steps to avoid them in the future projects.

During the project evaluation process, the service provider may notice that they haven't gained the expected margins for the project and may have exceeded the timelines planned at the beginning.

In such cases, the project is not a 100% success to the service provider. Therefore, such instances should be studied carefully and should take necessary actions to avoid in the future.

Conclusion

Project management is a responsible process. The project management process connects all other project activities together and creates the harmony in the project.

Therefore, the project management team should have a detailed understanding on all the project management processes and the tools that they can make use for each project management process.

Project Management Office (PMO)

Introduction

When organizations grow, they establish different entities for governing respective practices.

The Project Management Office (PMO) is the entity created for governing the processes, practices, tools and other activities related to project management in an organization.

This office (team) defines and maintains the standards for project management in the organization.

Usually, the management of the organization assigns a team of experts in the field of project management in order to run the project management office.

The organization looks for qualifications such as PMI certifications and extensive experience is managing large projects when selecting people for the project management office.

Building a Project Management Office

Due to the complexity of present projects, the project management function should be a matured and streamlined practice.

Therefore, organizations look for better ways of managing the projects in order to maximize the profit margins. For this, organizations look into process optimization, productivity enhancement and building their bottom-line.

Since there are many parameters involved in the project management function (such as people, technology, communication and resources), governing the project management function by the senior management can be risky.

Therefore, a project management office is the ideal solution for building and maintaining the project management practice as a capable function of the organization.

Implementing a project management office is as same as any other organizational change project. Therefore, it is approached with a strong and rigid methodology with a lot of experience.

There are a number of key steps involved in building a project management office and PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) can be a great reference for this purpose.

Is It an Overhead?

Some traditional organizations view the project management office as an overhead. This is mainly due to the fact that the organization is small enough where there is no explicit need for a project management office.

In such organizations, the general management can govern project management practice. For the rest of the organizations where there are large projects, a project management office is a lot more than an overhead.

At present, the world economy is at a recession. Therefore, a lot of companies look at cutting costs in order to retain in the corporate environment.

Among the ways of doing this, cutting down staff and closing down departments have become two popular options. In such cases, project management office has become an easy victim, as it does not add any figure to the bottom-line of the company.

Therefore, it has become a challenge for the project management offices to justify their work to the upper management.

The Advantages of an PMO

Project management is one of the key functions of an organization. Therefore, refining the processes related to project management could add a lot of value to the organization's bottom-line.

This is what exactly a successful project management office does.

Why Does PMO Fail?

Based on the historical statistics, only one-third of project management offices work and the rest do not work as expected.

This is one of the main concerns that senior management faces when deciding to build a project management office for an organization. The management is doubtful about the success of the project management office from the beginning.

One of the main reasons for project management office to fail is the lack of executive management support. In most cases, the executive management does not have enough knowledge on how to support and guide a project management office.

Secondly, incapability of the project management office causes failures. This is mainly due to the people and resources assigned to the project management office.

Conclusion

Project management office is one of the entities that will add value to large organizations in the long run. A project management office could be an overhead for smaller scale organizations and such establishment may end up as a failure.

A successful project management office can enhance the productivity of the project teams and cause a lot of cost savings. In addition to that, it can make the organization a more matured and capable entity.