Project management is a growing field used increasingly by businesses of all sizes. As entrepreneurs and company executives‘ deal with the daily responsibilities of managing an organization, it is important to use dedicated project managers to oversee projects from
conception to completion. Understanding effective project management techniques helps organizations carry out large-scale projects on time, on budget and with minimal disruption to the rest of the business.
Organizing Chaos
Projects are naturally chaotic. The primary business function of project management is organizing & planning projects to tame this chaos. It‘s hard to think of any complex business endeavour that was ever achieved without organization & planning. Project management is the organization, planning and control of projects.
Managing Risk
Any good project has plenty of risk. After all, the nature of business is taking risks. Risk is a fundamental part of business strategy. However, risk needs to be managed. Risk is that chance of a negative event or loss. Uncontrolled risk taking ends in asset destruction and compliance issues. Project management identifies, manages and controls risk.
Managing Quality
Quality is the value of what you produce. There’s not much sense producing something that has no value. Leaving quality to chance is analogous to producing something of random value. Project management identifies, manages and controls quality.
Managing Integration
Projects don’t happen in a vacuum. They need to be integrated with business processes, systems and organizations. You can’t build a sales system that doesn’t integrate with your sales process and sales organization. It wouldn’t add much value. Integration is often
key to project value. Project management identifies and manages integration.
Managing Change
Projects always happen in an environment in which nothing is constant except change. Projects are always a moving target. Managing change is a complex and daunting task. It’s not optional. Unless you can put your business universe on pause, change happens whether you manage it or not. Project management manages change.
Learning From Failure
Projects fail. When they do, it’s important to learn from the process. Learning from failure is key to business innovation and quality improvement. Project management ensures that lessons are learned from project success and failure.
