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Project Management in a Nutshell
Sunday, 10 January 2010 00:00 | 
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If you strip project management down to it's bare bones, it's all about delivering project on time, within budget and to a standard which everyone is satisfied with. It might sound easy at first, but coordinating a large team of people to deliver sometimes complex goals and targets with limited time and budget can be a nightmare. The project manager must focus on assisting his or her team in keeping their eye on the prize, and completing the project with those three crucial elements in mind. 
One of the best ways to ensure the success of a project is to extensively plan it. Drawing up detailed plans of what is to be done by whom is the key to managing a project successfully. Sometimes things happen which might try to throw the plan off, so contingency plans must also be drawn up. This planning and re-planning process is what project management is all about. Allowing for over-runs or small accidents in the project plan allows the whole team not to have to fret over every element of the project.
It is also a key part of a project manager's job to inject their team with a sense of urgency. While each member of the project team will have a slightly different role and plenty of unique responsibilities, it's important that the project manager tries to help them keep their eye on the clock. Regular meetings, status checks and reminders help ensure that all elements of the project are delivered at their planned time.
But despite a sense of urgency in getting the project completed on time, it's important that project managers accurately describe precisely what they are expecting from their team. To ensure that the work is carried out to specification, and to the quality that is expect of them it is important that the project manager vividly detail what is to be done. Vague descriptions of tasks won't do at all here, project managers need to see every element of the project in detail, and communicate that vision to their team.
Balancing time, budget and quality of work is always tricky for project managers and their teams, but when a project is completed successfully, there is a real sense of achievement and satisfaction. Project managers have a variety of tools at their disposal, but they must know the project inside out in order to show their team how it can be achieved.
Last Updated (Sunday, 10 January 2010 01:14)
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