Project Management 101
Project management is a very important business concept because it is in place to ensure that projects are completed in a timely fashion as well as to the best of the company's ability. Project Management is basically the discipline of making goals and reaching those goals. Usually, the entire scope of project management is taken care of by an individual project manager. Definition of a Project A project can be several things. Generally projects involve engineering or the construction of a product, but they do not always have to. A project is the way through which one will achieve a result. Quite simply, a project is a task and at the completion of the project is the result. Two Approaches to Projects There are two approaches to projects and project management. The traditional approach sees the project as a process. There is a beginning, an end, and everything in-between. The non-traditional approach, called the agile software development approach where the project is viewed as relatively small tasks. One approach is to view the entire project (traditional) and the other approach is to view each individual step as a small task (agile software development). Project Management History Project management ideas have been around for quite sometime, but it was not isolated until after the Sputnik crisis of the cold war. Project management arose because the United States Department of Defense needed to develop their military faster and more efficiently. In order to do this, the Department of Defense invented the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). At the exact same time, the DuPont Corporation invented something similar called the critical path method (CPM). These were the foundations of modern project management. Techniques for Project Management Project management usually involves setting up a timetable. There are pre-determined goals that need to be met at certain times. Ideally, the project is well organized so that the manufacturer and/or business can plan on the project being completed at a certain time. Project management aims at being efficient, and still producing high quality. By setting specific dates and having the entire project sometimes over-seen by a project manager generally makes employees work more efficiently. The project manager is the single most important part of project management. The project manager makes sure that everything in the project is moving smoothly. He or she is usually very organized and makes sure that the employees meet the requirements at the specified time intervals. Project managers usually have the most accurate idea of the project destination. Conclusion Project management may not be a terribly difficult concept to understand, but it is very important. In any business (especially manufacturers) completing a product or reaching a goal is the life-blood of that business. Project management serves to insure that everyone working on a project is on the same page and understands the goals and timetable. Project management is also an ongoing process throughout the entire project. Project managers serve to ensure that projects run smoothly and are completed efficiently. Robert Flanglin enjoys writing about project management and has a blog about it entitled Project Management Source ( http://www.projectmanagementsource.com ).
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Meetings: Don?t Just Show Up, Stand Out and Shine
Meetings, whether they're regularly scheduled routines in your company or now-and-then get-togethers, can be a place for you to gain positive visibility and to showcase your capabilities. Here are three strategies that will help you stand out and shine.
Learn About Commercial Collections Agencies Fees
As with any other service, there are good and bad commercial collection agencies. Beware of any agency that offers you cut rate commissions far below the accepted Commercial Law League rates, offers you kickbacks on commissions, or makes outlandish promises about recovery success.
Time Management - How to Have Productive Meetings
One of the greatest time wasters of all are unnecessary or poorly run meetings. If you want to dramatically improve your time management skills, then learn how to have productive meetings.
Never Hire Anyone Dumber Than You Are!
In a previous life I was a Navy Pilot. Great life, great people to be around. People who were all doing great things around the world flying off great big aircraft carriers. In an environment that complex and dangerous, you need to have teams of people working as one, or bad things begin to happen in large quantities.
Solve Problems Permanently - Ask WHY
As Albert Einstein said:-
Knowledge Management - Lessons Learned and How To Identify Them
Many organisations use the term "lessons learned" to describe the way in which they avoid repeating mistakes, or ensure that they build on past successes, yet a lesson can only be applied if it has been successfully identified, and captured first. Even in "learning organisations" who profess to be good at knowledge management and knowledge sharing, the process for identifying lessons learned can lacks rigour or depth. All too often, lessons end up as "motherhood and apple pie" statements, and end up in reports on shelves gathering dust (or its electronic equivalent).
Problem Solving - Think Cleopatras Ass
Picture the scene. Anthony pops down to the guardhouse, partly because he wants a break with the lads, but also because he has a problem. Cleopatra says she wants to bathe in ass's milk. So Anthony tells the guys in the guardhouse, that he needs
some help. "The wife wants to bathe in ass's milk now." He says.
Passion for Profits
Business owners and managers are busier than ever. As their businesses grow and become more complex, they find that they don't have the time to be all things to all people. In the early stages of a business, the owner or manager waits on customers, does the buying, collects past due accounts, supervises just about everyone on staff and may even stay late to stuff the monthly statements.
Cultural Differences: Making it Work Virtually
Working virtually adds a whole new dimension to the phrase "cultural differences". It immediately becomes apparent how different people around the world work, live and network.
Work Priorities: Where Can You Spend Your Time Most Effectively?
Understanding where you can spend time most effectively requires concentration in three areas:
Faith is the LIFE-blood of Your ACTIONS before the Benefit -
Nothing has changed. Your ancestors lived by faith. Some planted crops and waited for the harvest. Others worked for the "boss" and by faith expected pay for their labor.
How To Decrease Downtime and Increase Productivity
All maintenance activities of the workforce must be documented, this includes breakdown repairs, callouts, preventive maintenance, replacement maintenance, overhauls, and Testing & Inspection work. Maintenance work by production line employees must be included, whether or not the employee is listed as in maintenance. These activities can then be mined for maintenance information "gold".
Quality Standards with ISO 9001
Standardizing Quality Systems
Communicating When A Crisis Strikes
How would you handle communication if your business or practice got into a crisis situation?
Joint Accountability: Another Key for Your Effectiveness
I once was part of a group of management professors who often taught in executive development seminars. Other non-management professors in the school ran these. Occasionally these non-management professors would approach someone else in the management group to express their concerns about our teaching - they wouldn't approach the person who had taught for them.
Why Would Anyone Hold a Bad Meeting?
Pssst, want a stock tip that will make you rich? Okay, here it is: phone a public
corporation and ask to speak with the CEO.
Are You in AWE of Your Employees?
Employers have become so concerned about seeming "unfair" or worse becoming the victims of lawsuits by unhappy ex-employees that they've stopped requiring minimum standards of employees. This can only lead to poor individual and eventually poor company performance. Your best employee performers will resent the fact that you use company money to pay people who aren't up to standard and will reduce their own level of performance or leave.
Classifying Motivational Needs
While there exist several useful definitions of motivation, for our purposes we will define it as an individual's desire to do something based upon a need. When a person is confronted with a need (either perceived or actual), he or she usually is motivated to perform specific actions for some sort of gratification. Once a particular need has been satisfied, the motivation to continue the actions diminishes and remains at "zero level" until the need arises again. In order to fully appreciate this phenomenon, we must further examine motivational theory and analyze the unique characteristics of individual needs.
Performance Appraisal Scenarios: Improve Your Communication
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION DURING THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL:
If the employee has trouble getting started on the self-appraisal you might say: "Why don't you start by talking about the XYZ project?" (Pick a topic that the employee will feel comfortable with, a success rather than a failure.) "It seems to me that the PDQ project was harder than we expected. What's your perspective on that?" "I know this sort of thing is hard to do. Start wherever you like. I'm eager to hear what these past six months have been like from your point of view."
Building Bridges of Communication
If you are a consultant to a client, or a salesperson attempting a closer relationship with your customer, here are five techniques that help achieve just that.
|
