The Scope of Project Management - Essay Example

? Introduction The scope of project management involves the planning of the whole project, organizing the resources that would be utilised within the course of the project in addition to securing and the entire management of the resources in order to attain the goals that have been set for the project. A project is not a permanent venture, rather it is temporary and has a set timeframe for execution and its end. Moreover, the funds involved in the project are also limited and specified. According to Scasso and Larenas (1991, pp.157-161), project management is different from managing a business and needs specific skills and managerial strategic planning. The main problem that is faced when managing the project is that the manager has to achieve the goals that have been set within time limits and a defined budget. Project life-cycle management is the system of management of the whole product lifespan beginning from the concept, designing manufacturing and the service. Gido and Clements (2008) add that the Project lifecycle management forms the base of information for companies by giving them a structured method of sorting and utilizing information, which is crucial for the existence of the project. Project management is essential in the corporate world as ever firm needs a good managerial procedure for the information that is involved in the execution of a business endeavor. Benefits Being a software developer, I work on different projects for different firms to develop their software and realize how such project management helps enhance the efficiency of the firm. For instance I recently developed software for Grubb and Ellis. The firm had software development for the different stages of their work. The main project was to implement Lease Management of real estate commercial leases for receivable and payable leases with their respective general ledger charts of accounts, Project Management which included the construction of building improvement projects with budgets and electronic approvals and lastly Facilities management which included tenant services requests to fix problems within their premises which included maintenance both preventive and proactive. Gido and Clements (2008) explain that the benefit of this software for the firm was that it helped in the organization of the whole business. In addition, it reduced the time for execution and thus saved the firm a lot of time. Since every transaction and service was now organized, it reduced a lot of costs and increased the overall efficiency by making systematic ledger accounts of all transactions for receivable and payable of the real estate. Moreover, this also improved the entire service quality as individual transaction was visible and categorized which enabled the firm to make customized dealings and giving personalized attention to every customer. In addition, since every transaction and record was properly entered, there was a log of everything and the timing of every transaction; every customer request for maintenance etc was also known which made the entre service very precise, which was appreciated by the customers. Moreover, with such project management software, the firm was also able to assess potential opportunities for business and how beneficial every customer could be in the future. With this, the firm was able to direct its resources in a more positive fashion and in turn earn the business better revenues. In addition, since the data had been stored systematically, it now became easier to go back and forth to older data and save time. Moreover, an optimized version of every product was seen as everything was operated via software and the products and services were now easier to understand and implement. The model of the business can also be replicated in other regions if the firm plans to expand its business. The system would also enable the firm to operate its regional offices through one system and since there were centralized product and services records, decision-making was facilitated and there was a better control over the whole project. Lastly, since the project management was incorporated, improvising of customer data became easier, communication with the customers, keeping a record of their requests and complaints was facilitated which made the whole project work with minimum wastage of resources and labor and in turn earned the firm more revenue. Planning the project life-cycle As per Scasso and Larenas (1991, pp.157-161), the planning of the project involves four stages. Firstly there is the Initiation which is the actual starting of the project which entails fulfilling the documentations of the projects, preparing the feasibility of the entire projects, deciding the team members of the project and from where the project would be operational. To design software I usually require a team and allocating the right people for the job. This is the initial and crucial step without which the whole project may suffer. The next stage is the planning stage. This is where the whole step-by-step plan of the project is defined. This is also an important stage as the budget allocation, resource allocation, the plan, quality and the communication plans are described and decided upon. Once I know about the budget and resource allocation of the project, it becomes easier for me to execute the remaining project, as I am then aware of the limitations of the project within which I have to work. In the next stage, the execution is where the manager is in charge of taking control of the scope of the project, the quality standards that are to be maintained, the cost structure, the risks and the issues that could be involved in the course of the entire project. The closure is where the manager is ready to hand down the project to the customer, he is making the finishing touches and reducing the team and most importantly making sure that the project is reviewed before and after its final delivery so that the manager is open to plausible customer queries or complaints. Organization and leadership The organizational structure has a large part to play in the execution of the project. The organizational hierarchy whether vertical or horizontal plays a pivotal role in determining how the project will be executed. When working on a project for software development, I need certain amount of liberty in experimenting, permissions, decision making etc. which could accelerate or slow down the project development depending on the higher management. If the decision making is in my hands, things of course go faster however, if the approval has to be through the higher management then matters are delayed which slows down the software development. Moreover, the leadership qualities can determine the quality of the project and how well it shall be executed. The leader should first define the goals and make sure that the organizational goals and the project goals are well aligned. Moreover, every team member should be aware of the goals and should be working towards the same goals. There should be proper team building efforts so that the team is well coordinated and work with each other in a better fashion. There should also be regular training and development of the team members, informal relation development so that there is better coordination and the work environment is better for them. Moreover, there relationship between the members and the team leader should be friendly so that he is easily approachable and that he can easily communicate with them. This will make sure that any problem that occurs during the course of the project is quickly resolved. Moreover, new idea generation is more probable with such relations. In addition to this, the team members should be given motivation and recognition for their work so that they are enthusiastic about their work. Sponsorship The sponsorship of the project is the owner of the project. A sponsor is important for any project as the sponsor defines the decision making between the sponsor and the manager of the project. Moreover, Parker (2011) adds that the sponsor also makes the whole team realise the benefits of the project and why every decision-making is separated and defined. The sponsor also makes sure that he is aware of the broader managerial functions of the project. Lastly, the sponsor also undertakes senior managerial functions. The sponsor of the project is required to be skilled and has to know the corporate strategies of the firm and have an inside out knowledge of the firm’s operations. Moreover, the sponsor and the project manager should also have a steady partnership so that the team may be directly appropriately and the objectives of the project may be achieved. Team building The right team is the essence for having a successful project. The process of selecting the team therefore has to be a very careful procedure. It is essential to keep the objectives of the project in perspective before the team for the project is selected. For instance, when I have to undertake a project I look into the time frame of the project, the cost structure and the skills required to do the job. These features help me in defining the team. I then select the team, which has the required skill set but at the same time I make sure I remain within the budget that has been allocated for the project. I also choose those members who I know will surely achieve the target within the specified timeframe. This is essential for the software development. Sometimes expensive personnel are needed to customise the software however, a careful judgement has to be made as to how much budget the project can accommodate. However, choosing the right team is difficult as friends, acquaintances and sympathies for the teammate may tempt one to make decisions that are not looking out for the benefit of the project. This in turn makes the project suffer. But according to McGraw (2009), team building and team selection is a procedure, which needs to be above self-interests and the interests of the others. Once when choosing a team, I selected a friend who had the potential to do the job but there was a better option available. I chose him because he wanted to be a part of the project. However, because of his inefficiency, there was a fault in the software that could not be detected in time and the team missed its deadline. The result was that our team did not get the second project from the same firm. Gray (2005) adds that the team has to grow and evolve, learn and be educated and there is a lot of patience required for the success of the project. Moreover, the team should be trained such that it welcomes suggestions that are made by other team members and there should be a general healthy team environment. However, the team manager has to be in consistent control and make sure that the team is working towards the project’s goals. There has to be perfect coordination in the team. The team should be able to talk to each team member, feel free to discuss whatever they require to, ask several questions, answer all the questions asked, come up with innovative ideas, respect one another and keep each other motivated. The morals of the team should be consistently high. Lastly team building should not be the responsibility of the team manager only but it should be the responsibility of every member of the team. Project breakdown The foundation of the any project is how the project panning is broken down. Work Breakdown Structure is the deliverable breakdown of the different types of work involved in the project so that it becomes easy for the team to accomplish the desired goals within the defined period of time. The breakdown of the project enables the manager and the team to reach the project goals in a more efficient manner and the resources, time and the budgets are also allocated in this manner. The hierarchal tree structure is one way to break down the project into smaller hierarchies so that the objectives are broken down into shorter more achievable goals. According to Parker (2011), another reason why the project is broken down is that it becomes easier to allocate the resources, the monitoring of the project becomes easier, responsibilities are assigned in a better manner and the controlling of the project becomes easier. With the work breakdown, the team is well aware of how much that has to be achieved and has a better understanding of the objectives that have been laid down for each individual. With such breakdowns, the actual costs to be incurred can be estimated along with the probable risks that could be involved during the life of the project may also be assessed. Moreover the requirements of the customer can be easily furnished at every step and this will enable the manager to make a project tat is closest to the needs of the customer. Once the need for the work breakdown is established, the steps taken for the WBS have to be considered. This involves firstly defining the project’s scope, the managerial plan and the assets. Once these are defined, the WBS template is used along with Decomposition tools. The Work breakdown Structure, WBS dictionary and scope baseline are required to design the breakdown. Its essential to get every member along with the stakeholders together. Firstly the project title has to be defined. Next, it should be aimed that all the objectives set within the WBS, should be 100% achieved. With this in mind, in reality the WBS enables the team to achieve 90%-95% of the goals. In the decomposition, each objective is again broken down into smaller deliverables, which is a realistic goal reachable within the timeframe. Work packages are the lowest levels of breakdowns of the WBS and this is also where the project manager makes sure that he is monitoring every step. The size of the work package depends upon the project in hand but usually no package should be less than 8 hours or greater than 80 hours long. To use software to breakdown the work in this manner enables a better structure and a more organized form of the project. This will also enable the project to be completed on time. Moreover, Parker (2011) adds that the manager will also be able to monitor which team member has achieved their goals and which have not and then they can be motivated accordingly. Moreover, a Rolling Wave Planning is when a project plan is made with the current information and the manager goes back to make the planning more deeper with more information. The Rolling Wave Plan has to be a few months ahead of the actual time of work so that these changes may be easily incorporated. Conclusion Project management involves strategic planning along with a step-by-step breakdown of the whole project with small objectives so that the long-term objectives of the project may be met. The manager plays a key role along with the sponsor, the team and the stakeholders for the project to be as per the customer’s requirements. Its management is unique and is different from long-term businesses and requires a unique skill set for the project to be completed within the budget and timeframe. The team plays a vital role in helping the manager achieve the goals. The manager on the other hand has to be a leader, a motivator and trainer so that he is able to maintain a congenial work oriented environment for the team. References Gray, L. (2005). Project Management. Anglais. Gido, J. and Clements, J. (2008). Successful Project Management. Cengage Learning. McGraw, B. (2009). Project Management: Keys to managing a Virtual or remote project team. Accessed on: 10th Dec 2011. Available at: http://fearnoproject.com/2009/07/17/project-management-keys-to-managing-a-remote-project-team/ Parker, T. (2011). Project manager-solving team conflicts Accessed on: 9th Dec 2011. Available at: http://projectmanagementblog.com/project-manager-solving-team-conflicts Scasso, H and Larenas, G. (1991). Project-breakdown structure: the tool for representing the project system in project management. International Journal of Project Management. Vol. 9, no. 3, pp.157-161. Read More