Perfect Projects – What Is Project Management?
Project management is essential in every company because projects with proper management are likely to succeed. But what exactly is project management? We explain the most important thing you should know about this topic!
Table of Contents
What Makes A Project?
An activity must therefore meet various conditions to be defined as a project. These conditions are:
- No routine: A project represents a new challenge and lies outside the everyday areas of activity.
- Goal-oriented: A project has a defined goal. Only when this is achieved can the project be completed.
- Time limit: Every project has a defined beginning and end.
- Specified resources: All resources such as personnel, budget or materials are limited in quantity and should not be exceeded for successful project completion.
- Required expertise: Several employees, usually from different departments, are involved in a project. This ensures broad technical knowledge of the content and optimal solutions.
Also Read: What Does PMO or Project Management Office Mean
The Concept Of Project Management
In project management, projects and their goals are planned and controlled. The project goals should be achieved within the defined framework for the company – in terms of costs, quality and time. For this purpose, project managers guide each project through the areas of project definition, project implementation and project completion.
Depending on the complexity of the tasks, project management is about the entirety of
- management tasks
- organization
- techniques and
- middle
To ensure the successful completion of a project.
Project definition: To achieve the project goal, the project planning is done with the client in the first step.
The project goal and the process are defined with the help of various methods. These methods include SWOT analysis, project structure plans or network plans. In addition, resources such as costs, materials and personnel are planned and determined for the project in this phase.
This is followed by project implementation.
In the second step, the previously defined goals are pursued. Each project’s progress is documented and compared with the previously created plans. Regular target/actual comparisons are used to identify deviations and counteract the risk of delaying the achievement of goals. From this step, the objective can only be changed by agreement with the client since the cost and time factors are already coordinated with the project objective.
The final step in process management is project closure.
Here all completed project steps must correspond to the objective. This way, the result can be handed over to the client in the agreed quality. All data is then passed on to revision: with the help of a post-calculation, possible deviations can be considered in subsequent project planning.
Practical Tools For Project Management
There are many different project management tools on the market. You support the planning and implementation of projects and make an important contribution to the success of projects in companies. There are software tools that
- present all tasks of the project.
- Implement projects in an optimized way.
- Ensure control and transparency of complex projects.
- Simplify teamwork.
Conclusion
The goal of project management is to control projects in a meaningful way and thus shape change processes in companies successfully. Be it the switch to mobile working for your employees, redesigning your website, or considering offering webinars for existing and potential customers. None of these projects can do without project management.