Elements of Project Management - Essay Example

PROJECT MANAGEMENT (Student Name) (Course No.) (Lecturer) (University) (Date) Introduction Projects are commonly referred to as short-term undertakings with the ultimate aim of achieving unique results or products. Projects are temporary in that they have distinct beginning and ending time thus the scope and resources allocated are clearly defined. The exclusivity of the projects is embedded in the fact that they are rare operations carried out to accomplish a specific task. Project management is, therefore, defined as the use of knowledge, tools and techniques in project activities to achieve the project requirements. The five characteristics that make project management unique are; the project transience, its source of power, observation, responsibility without authority and the need for specialized tools and techniques (Hallows, 2005, p. 4-5). Project management commonly involves individuals with different responsibilities geared towards achieving the goals of the project. The project manager, for instance, leads and manages the project team, recruiting project staff, resolving issues at the project level, managing coordination of partners and the working groups as well as monitoring project progress and performance. The project sponsor is directly affected by the project activities and gives duty to the project manager. The steering committee consists of senior managers with the highest authority of resolving issues in within the project. The committee also controls the business issues of the project. The advisory committee consists of project stakeholders responsible for giving advice to the project. All projects are limited in one way or another by the scope, time and the goals intended to be achieved. Together, these limitations are referred to as the Triple Constraints of project management (Marks, 2012, p. 17). Scope, for instance, defines coverage of the project, that is, what the project intends to achieve. Time refers to the duration of the project while the cost is the amount of money required for the completion of the project. Discussion In February 2014, 100m of the Dawlish sea wall was damaged by severe storms causing the destruction of the railway line. This was considered the worst damage to the sea wall since the Victorian times. Following the destruction of the railway line, the connection from the south west to the rest of the United Kingdom was affected, leading to the need for the railway line to be repaired as fast as possible. During the project life, important considerations were given to the time management planning, risk management and resources management. Time management planning One of the most important elements in the successful completion of any project is time management. Project management requires considerations of two aspects of time, that is, the duration each activity undertakes as well as the calendar period over which the activity will be done. Time estimation is also important since some activities consume more time compared to others. The Dawlish Railway project was scheduled to be completed within two months following the urgency of connecting the south western part of the United Kingdom with the rest of the country. The project, which commenced on the 5thof February was completed on the 28th of March, following a properly planned schedule. Initially, the repair of the railway was planned to take six weeks but was the time span increased to eight weeks following a second wave attack. Following the proper planning of the activities to be undertaken daily, the completion of the project was successful ad within two months, the railway line that was damaged was in operation. Managing risks Risk management is another area of important concern in all projects. Risk management involves identifying all the risks that are associated with the project and mitigating against them before they occur. Risk management is one of the important areas in project management that requires a lot of competence from the project manager (Kendrick, 2009, p. 234). Successful risk management requires that the project identifies and communicates the risks, prioritize the risks, analyse them and respond appropriately to the risks. This way, the risks associated with the project are able to be taken care of prior to their occurrence hence limiting the negative effects of the project. Since the project was as a result of storms that caused massive damage on the sea wall, spilling further to the railway line, it was important that the sea wall be constructed to prevent further destruction of the sea wall. Since nature is unpredictable, there was the need of the repair team to work hand in hand with the weather forecast team to avoid instance such as the death of workers on site following the severe storms. Another risk that the project team identified was the disturbance of the people living in the surrounding areas through noise pollution and disturbance of the land. To counter this, the people were informed of the disturbances earlier enough to avoid conflict. Also, all operational licences were put in place prior to the commencement of the exercise to avoid conflict with the district council of the area. Resources management Human resource management is vital in the successful completion of a project. This is because the project team is regarded as the most important resource to the accomplishment of the project (Klimoski, 2014, p. 56). Depending on the project phase or the delivery requirement, there is the need for different levels of expertise. Thus proper management of the project team is important in successfully completing the project. For the project manager to be competent in managing the project team, there should be a lot of commitment, support and involvement in the project activities. In the case of the Dawlish Railway line repair project, there was massive teamwork between the different parties, bringing a sense of motivation, which enabled the accomplishment of the project within the stipulated time (APM Project Management Award Winners, 2014, p.2). Within 48 hours after the storm report, different stakeholders had assembled, planning how the railway repair project will be undertaken, with others joining the team or supporting the team as the project continued. From the above discussion, it is evident that the success of any project is embedded in the proper planning of the resources as well as the activities involved. It is, therefore, important for the project managers to be well acquainted with the proper project management skills and techniques to be able to deliver the expected results of the given project. Additionally, important considerations should be given to each of the nine factors that affect the success of a project. References APM Project Management Award Winners (2014). Dawlish Sea Wall Emergency Works, p. 1-5. Hallows, J. (2005). Information systems project management how to deliver function and value in information technology projects. New York, AMACOM, p.4-10 Kendrick, T. (2009). Identifying and managing project risk essential tools for failure-proofing your project. New York, AMACO, p. 234. Klimoski, R. J. (2014). Advancing human resource project management, p.56. Marks, T. (2012). 20:20 project management: how to deliver on time, on budget and on spec. London, Kogan Page, p. 17. Read More