What is Project Management?

If you’re wondering what is project management all about, you’re in the right place. Project management is an integral part of every organisation across every sector and industry today. It may seem complex to understand fully; however, we hope that after reading this article, you’ll have a tighter grasp on what project management is, what project planning is, what a project manager does, a project program and a project lead. By the end you’ll know exactly what is meant by project management.

 

What does Project Management Mean?

 

Project management involves the use of various principles, procedures and policies that are established to guide a project from its conception stage all the way along until its completion. It compasses all to do with the management of a project all the way throughout its lifecycle. This is what is project management definition.

What does project management entail? Planning and organisation are major parts of project management as well as the implementation of created plans. A project itself, is described as a specific start undertaken with parameters designed to be followed in order to produce a defined outcome. A project holds its own against ongoing processes since it has a specific start and end date whereas processes can be ongoing for an unidentified period of time.

What is project scheduling to project management? It is part of the process! Project management is used all the way from the initiation phase to the closure phase. From initiating the project to planning what the project will look like and what will be involved all the way to writing up the last report and holding a closure meeting, project management is involved in all steps. It essentially helps a team to deliver quality results, on time and within budget at each stage of the project’s lifecycle.

Projects can be managed in a traditional way by using pen and paper, however in today’s technologically advancing world, project management software, such as Sinnaps is widely available and can take your project to the next level. If the question- what is IT project management? – is on your mind, this is to what it’s referring.

The plan is used to guide all aspects of a project along a path from start to finish. The ideal goal of effective project management and the role of project manager work is to reach the expected outcome of a project on time and within budget. Through anticipating certain challenges and bottlenecks of a project and coordinating an efficient and effective team, Sinnaps, the online project management app, can greatly increase the probability of a project reaching its goals in the most ideal way.

 

What is Project Planning?

 

What’s project management in terms of planning? Project planning is the second stage of the project lifecycle and often referred to as the most important. Project planning is an integral part of project management. Planning serves as a roadmap of the project for a team to follow. The goals and objectives of the project are defined in this stage. A plan specifies how specific tasks will be carried out and by whom in order to achieve the desired goal of the project. Resources are also determined in the project plan. Overall, it identifies all the work to be done in a project and by whom it will be carried out and when.

An effective, well-thought-out project plan is often a determining factor is a project’s success. Before the project is begun it must be planned. It serves as a means of communication on the Project Manager’s side and a control mechanism for the project’s progress. They provide direction for teams and contain all the various planning documents which form the planning process.  

Roles and responsibilities of project stakeholders are identified and shared so that they can become familiar with what is expected of them. This is a part of planning that helps with managing the humans part of your project. Any issues that arise with the plan can be resolved out so that they do not cause a problem during the project’s process. The identification of the key milestones allows for team members to gear up to work towards these goals and sets out a timeframe in which to complete certain objectives.

The project management plan serves as a visualisation of what the running of the project will look like. The project scope is established as is the schedule. The Work Breakdown Structure determines the deliverables of the project along with task dependencies and the critical path of the project that has a significant influence on the rest of the project.

Project managers, who’s tasks will be discussed later in the article, spend a lot of time developing project plans. They understand that it is better to plan now in order to smoothly execute later rather than to begin a project blind that is filled with uncertainty and misalignment. In the end, the goal of the project plan is to lead to the successful completion of the project.

 

What a Project Manager Does?

 

What’s a project manager? A project manager is an important person in the realm of project management. A project manager is a person who is organised, goal-oriented and passionate about the project they are heading. They have a strong understanding of what projects have in common and have strategies in place to succeed and deal with change.

Essentially, project managers are change agents. The ability to deal with change effectively is what makes a good project manager. The goals of the project are internalised by the PMs and they inspire the project team to also work towards the completion of these goals. Project managers are people who fair well with new challenges and drive business results.

Many times, PMs must work under pressure and in complex environments. The ability to shift readily within these environments and the ability to see the project from a large perspective as well as paying attention to small, but crucial, details are very important.

Project managers are specifically responsible for several different aspects when managing a project. Companies understand the value of project managers and the responsibilities they undertake and hire professionals that are specifically trained in this area. Project manager roles and responsibilities are defined by reaching the end goal of the project within budget and on time.

Managing a project can be multifaceted and involves several steps. The following are some of the most important tasks of a project manager when managing a project:

• Defining a projects goals and objectives.
• Identifying the steps needed to achieve these goals.
• Identifying the resources required.
• Defining the budget and time required for each step.
• Defining the time required to compete the whole project.
• Overseeing implementation and execution of project work.
• Delivering the finished outcome.

To make a project plan durable and reliable, PMs implement controls to continuously assess performance progress. PMs can use online project management tools such as Sinnaps, the project management app to help them with this task through automatically generated reports and statistics on a project’s progress.

Strong communication and negotiation skills are required when working with a team as well as with other project stakeholders. It is the responsibility of the PM to set out clearly the channels of communications that are to be followed throughout the working of a project.

If you’re wondering about what is project management certification, it has to do with expert project managers receiving certificates in honour of their expertise in the field of project management. Effective project managers can take any project from zero to hero, because all projects, when correctly managed, have the potential to succeed.

 

How to manage your project efficiently?

Free online Project Management Course

Some communication and negotiation skills in this lesson…

 

 

 

Organising an Effective Team

 

A project team is just as important when defining what is project management as a project manager. It is important to organise a group of people to support and work together to reach the objectives of the project. Teams and team members do their part in contributing to the goals of the project. They are assigned individual or group tasks that lead to the completion of the project.

It is important to manage you team effectively by practising clear and honest communication, being enthusiastic and providing any necessary support and guidance the team requires. It is also crucial to keep your team in the loop on how things are going with the project so that they are aware of specific areas on which to focus.

 

What is a Program in Project Management?

 

A program in project management refers to a collection of projects managed in a group. Usually this is done with the intention of achieving economies of scale. It is similar to the way in which project management focuses on managing the various tasks with a project, well program management is the same but rather than tasks, it manages the various projects part of the program.  

Program management is used when the benefits of managing a few projects at once are higher than those associated with managing the projects as individuals.

Portfolio management is closely related and refers to organisations managing and evaluating a large number of projects by grouping them. The groups are known as strategic portfolios. Their effectiveness is analysed as are their estimates against actual figures and if they are in alignment with the wider strategic direction of the organisation.

 

What is a Project Lead?

 

Project leads differ from project managers in the fact that they play several roles including: the implementer, the team lead and the project manager. Often, they are designers and developers themselves and are familiar with the project user’s needs. Through their knowledge of the implementation plan they can come up with creative alternatives if needs be. Through also being a project manager, they can also anticipate and prepare for constraints.

A project manager on their own has the same capabilities as the project lead in terms of project management, however a project lead is usually an expert in the area of the project and so does not need as much time or outside help with coming up with alternative solutions to problems as a project manager would. They lead the project in the direction it needs to go and often make more decisions without getting advice from members, however this is usually accepted due to their expertise in a certain area or topic.

Controlling and Monitoring your Project

 

Project management is enhanced by certain Sinnaps tools such as the Gantt-flow. Time durations are spread across each activity and task and the project itself overall. Task dependencies are clearly portrayed as are the various information flows and activity relationships.  The Gantt-flow is user-friendly and very effective in project management.

If tracking time is important to your project, the critical path can help immensely. This path outlines the most critical activities in the project.  Sinnaps includes weekly progress reports that are automatically calculated and sent to everyone involved in the project. In this way, everyone becomes aware of how things are going with the project and whether any changes need to be introduced during project management steps and processes.

Documentation and report templates are widely available in the Sinnaps community so that you can generate complete reports and documents as needed without needing to draw each document up from scratch, saving you a lot of valuable time.

Sinnaps also monitors resource allocation and time management. Key performance indicators allow everyone involved in the project to keep track of project progress.

 

 

Each member can be assigned to specific tasks. Within each of these tasks, there is an option to in-chat. This allows for the resolution of any doubts or worries and acts as an effective communicative tool. Apart from the in-chat feature, there is a project wall, which identifies any changes or updates that have been made to the project.

 

What is Software Project Management? Sinnaps

 

You may wonder what is project management process work or what is project methodology? A lot of this is included in software project management. Software project management is essentially using software, such as Sinnaps, to manage your projects. The benefits include automatic calculation of the critical path, constant updates, time-saving and the fact that it is cloud-based, meaning none of your data will be lost.

 

Start managing professional projects

 

You may wonder what are project management tools that you can use to optimise your projects. Project management is made easy with Sinnaps, the project management software and the various tools it provides. The online app presents an effective and efficient way to plan your projects on an updated version of the traditional Gantt Chart known as the Gantt-flow.

 

 

The Gantt-flow is a platform where a project team can input the tasks that form part of the whole project. Task relationships and interdependencies are clearly outlined for all involved to consult. Team members and resources are assigned to each task and bottlenecks are identified. This is mapped out across the timeline of the project and serves as its visualisation- a useful tool for project managers, members and other stakeholders to follow. Project management sample projects are also available through templates from other Sinnaps users.

The critical path of the project which includes the most critical and important tasks to the project’s completion are easily traceable across the top of the Gantt-flow. Sinnaps calculates automatically the project’s critical path using PERT and CPM technologies and is one of the best project planner apps to use. The software allows to calculate automatically the critical path, and this is what answers the question- what is project management system work?

Communication that is open and clear is a crucial part of project management throughout and is especially vital during the planning stage of the project. Sinnaps takes this aspect into consideration by the creation of live in-chat features and a project wall where members can consult any changes or addition that have been made to the project plan. Weekly updates on the project’s progress are also sent to team individuals through e-mail to make sure they are kept up to date with progress and notified of any changes.

If you feel like you don’t know where to start in terms of project management or would like to see a complete project management plan/document/progress report example, you can use the templates that the Sinnaps community provides. You can export these templates to excel and edit them to your project’s own specific requirements. In the long-run, a successful project plan template could save you crucial time in the future.

 

Overall, project management is essential to any project. It is an effective and efficient way to reach the desired objectives of your projects. With software such as Sinnaps you will instantly see that project management is not as complex as it sounds and is more accessible than you think. Whether you are doing a large-scale project or one that is smaller, begin managing it with Sinnaps today!

Here at Sinnaps, we love hearing what you think. Give this article a like if it has helped you and leave a comment sharing your opinion or asking any question you may have! We’ll be sure to get back to you! 😉

 

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