The Processes Necessary for Successful Project Management - Report Example

The Processes Necessary for Successful Project Management The Processes Necessary for Successful Project Management Introduction Projects by explanation are transitory undertakings comprised of linked set of activities that are undertaken to develop a distinctive product or service within specific requirements. This distinctive nature of projects makes it easy to remain distinctive from its environment concentrating exclusively on the delivery of activities. This explains why projects go on with its objectives without being affected by the changes that take place in its environment. Development projects must function in a wider environment and project managers have to look at projects in the light of this bigger context. To be effective in managing intricate situations, project managers have to take a holistic view of the project and comprehend how it is placed within the wider environment. By pursuing this holistic view of projects, project managers are better placed to comprehend the outside factors that will affect the project. This is critical since it is the only way that the success of a project can be guaranteed. Projects do not exist in seclusion but they are instead affected by internal and external processes. In most cases, every project is dependent on processes, people and tools that are all brought together and affected by the organizational (internal) environment as well as the project ecosystem (world). (Stevens, 2002). Project Life Cycle Management Ideally, utilizing a system approach for project management is a holistic and systematic approach to deal with the intricate challenges that a project will encounter. For this reason, the project is a system that has a set of interconnected and transitory phases, all operating within an atmosphere to attain a specific function. The conventional methods involved a linear cause and consequence relationships. By adopting a systems approach, projects can visualize the entire span of bidirectional relationships. Instead of analysing a challenge in terms of an input and an output, the life cycle of project management dictates that it be viewed as a complete set of inputs, processes and controls. This wider picture offers more adequate results as compared to the conventional methods, and makes it possible to approach change as a continual process (Nieto-Morote & Ruz-Vila, 2011). Figure 1.1 The Project Management Ecosystem The development activities outlined in the policies and procedures and the functions needed in managing development projects are inclusive of government and donor requirements that exert great influence on the project. Processes establish the work that requires to be done and this brings about the need for people skills. On the other hand, people refers to the skills and abilities of the individuals in charge of managing the project as well as those individuals who need to follow through the processes and measures to make sure that the quality and services provided by the organization are up to standard. On its part, tools refer to the techniques and procedures adopted by the organization for the purpose of facilitating the management of the project, meet its requirements and ease its contractual needs (Lindner, & Wald, 2011). Ideally, a successful project management process must deal with the different stages of the project lifecycle. In some instances, the work stages are random, founded on organizational project practices. In all the instances, the stages are well outlined and the changeover from one work stage to another basically involves the relocation of some type of deliverable, the enormous majority of all projects are usually highly iterative. Work stages of a project are outlined by definite agenda landmarks and deliverables, or work products (Lindner, & Wald, 2011). I applied this knowledge in my work as a project manager working with the city council. In doing this, I would define the nature of work that needed to be completed in each project stage as well as the person who would carry out the work in each stage. I would also define when the deliverables gets generated and how they are delivered at every step of the project. This would also factor in the individuals responsible for review as well as the approval of each of the deliverables. Lastly, I would define how the delivery, review and support of each deliverable, as well as the function of each project stage would be screened and controlled. Due to the complexity of some projects, there is need of having a project sponsor to offer leadership to the various project phases. Ideally, a project sponsor is an individual who justifies and makes it possible for a project to be established and also to ensure that there is continual corporate accountability that would ensure that the project comes to completion in a successful manner. A project sponsor is responsible for overseeing every step of the project and this role is inclusive of the appointment and support of the project manager (Muller, & Turner, 2010). In the project that I worked on some years ago, I had a project sponsor who was responsible for ensuring that I dealt with all the pressures arising from the project. In project management, the leadership style of the project manager is critical in that it can determine whether the project fails or succeeds. For big projects, a project sponsor must tailor his leadership style to match with that of the project manager. In most cases, the leadership styles are supposed to vary in dependence with the project challenge and the competence of the project manager. In essence, based on the perceived risks and threats in relation to the project, a benefactor of the project need to make sure that the project manager involved with task possesses the expected leadership qualities in order to curb challenges that come with it. In the event that the project involves a low risk, the project sponsor does not have to look for a project manager with high competence (Muller, & Turner, 2010). Team Building in a Project For a project to be successful, the element of team building is critical because such activities are carried out in order to build a sense of trust and loyalty which are key if the ideal results will be gotten from the project team. Although team building is often seen as the creation of fun events as well as getting to know the members by understanding their personality traits, the most effective team building is the one that encompasses various tools and techniques. This means that a team building session is only effective as long as the ideal techniques and tools are applied during the team building session (Joseph, 2003). For a team building session to be successful there is need to bring in all the members of the team in a meeting where the purpose of the project as well as the roles and responsibilities of each individual are outlined. Ideally, teams that know how to function together are considered to be more effective and efficient. This can be attained by setting up ground rules that would have to be followed in the entire duration of the project. The comprehension of how the work is to be completed makes it effortless for the team to operate together. Effective team building should also factor in the element of conflict resolution since conflicts must arise during the duration of the project. The team building exercises should also be used as forums for rewarding exemplary performance since this acts as a motivation for other people within the team to working harder towards attaining the project goals (Joseph, 2003). In order for a project to become successful, it is important to have the scope defines and secured because it used to define the parameters of the project. In reality, the scope needs to be defines from the beginning with a detailed description that covers all crucial components and limitations that may be available. The project scope should incorporate all the information necessary for the project team to acquire the necessary product on time and within the confines of the budget. The project manager should ensure that the project scope is outlined from the beginning of the project as well as make sure that all the project stakeholders have agreed on the terms before even the project has commenced (Muller, & Turner, 2010). In creating the scope, the users should be incorporated into the product development instead of just assuming that one knows what the users require. In order to avoid running into challenges later on in the project life, it is critical to understand the intricacy of the project from the start. This fact demands that the team carry out research to determine the possible challenges that might arise and how to deal with them. As a project manager, I spent nearly four months conducting research on what needed to be done to complete the project and what it would entail. This enabled me to avoid the pitfalls that are associated with a new project that has not been implemented elsewhere (Muller, & Turner, 2010). Work Breakdown Structure A work breakdown structure is a very critical project management tool; ideally, this is a sub-division of the work that should be conducted by the project team because work breakdown structure is a part of the range and should be a phase of the planning stage. After undergoing the approval stage, a project manager is supposed to come up with a comprehensive list of all the activities that will be needed for the completion of the project. However, this is often a major mistake as a list cannot merely be able to enable one to break the project into more minute pieces that can help in the completion of the project. A work breakdown structure is a management tool that makes it possible for the project manager to break the project into finer and more manageable components that are referred to as work packages. Instead of just breaking down the project into smaller components, a work breakdown structure breaks down all the project deliverables into finer details, and this shows that the work breakdown structure should factor in the entire project management efforts as a whole. This calls for thorough knowledge of how project management works and the various components that are required for successful completion of a project (Artto, 2012). Given that a project cannot be said to be successful until it has been fully completed, the need for contingency planning cannot be underscored. Ideally, a project manager should factor in everything that can go wrong in the life of the project development and come up with effective measures to ensure that the life cycle of the project is maintained for the entire duration of its existence. A lack of efficient contingency planning can ground rather successful projects into a halt leading to untold losses. In reality, a contingency plan is an ideal tool for dealing with any crisis that might occur during the project development stage. Apart from protecting the project from any risks occurring during the development stage, a contingency plan is important since any unmitigated risk during the life of a project can have adverse effects on the entire organization. With this realization in mind, as a project manager in my last assignment, I ensured that every stakeholder in my last project listed everything that could go wrong in the development of the project as well as formulating possible solutions to mitigate these risks in the event that they occurred (Artto, 2012). For a project sponsor, a phase review is a critical tool that should be conducted because it is a checkpoint that is conducted at the completion of any phase in a project to make sure that the project has attained its objectives and deliverables as originally projected. The phase review represents an authorization stage to allow the project to proceed. In essence, the review calls for proper documentation that covers the present state of the task as well as offering an appeal to the sponsor to request permission to move to the next phase. For the project sponsor, this is an important tool since it helps in determining if anything needs to be changed before the project enters the next level and whether the leadership style needs to be changed for the next phase of the project (Artto, 2012). . Given the complexity of some projects, there is need for an organization to invest in good Project Management software. The importance of PM software is that it aids an organization to manage a project in its entire life cycle as well as give employees the opportunity to bring in their input at different stages of the project process. In addition to this, such software helps organizations to conduct the scheduling, cost control as well as budget management as well as other processes that are important for the successful completion of a project. Apart from handling the complexities of bigger projects, such applications help in ensuring that the cost remains down for the entire duration of the project life. In addition to this, project software makes it possible for an organization to link all the departments and individuals that are involved in the entire process (Stellman, & Greene, 2005). Conclusion Ideally, projects do not exist in seclusion but they are instead affected by internal and external processes. In most cases, every project is dependent on processes, people and tools that are all brought together and affected by internal environment as well as external environment. Projects are in their nature complex and demand some careful applications for them to come to successful completions. Ideally, there are a number of project management tools that should be applied if the project is to come to a successful completion. For the process to be successful, an organization should appoint a competent team that would ensure that all the processes of the project are stuck to for the purpose of ensuring that nothing goes wrong during the development stage. This also calls for the incorporation of the people working on the product as well as the users in order to ensure that only the right product is developed. References Artto, K. (2012). Foundations of Program Management: A Biometric View. International Journal of Project Management, 29(1): 1-18. Joseph, P. (2003). PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Lindner, F., & Wald, A. (2011). Success Factors of Knowledge Management in Temporary Organizations. International Journal of Project Management 29(7): 877-888 Muller, P., & Turner, R. (2010). Leadership Competency Profiles of Successful Project Managers. International Journal of Project Management, 28 (5): 102-110. Nieto-Morote, A., & Ruz-Vila, F. (2011). A Fuzzy Approach to Construction Project Risk Management. Advances in Engineering Software, 29(2): 220-231 Stevens, M. (2002). Project Management Pathways. Buckinghamshire: Association for Project Management.  Stellman, A., & Greene, J. (2005). Applied Software Project Management. Sebastopol, CA: OReilly Media Read More