Project Management: What Is It, The 3 Types, and Real Examples
Project management involves the planning and organization of a company's resources to move a specific task, event, or duty toward completion. It can involve a one-time project or an ongoing activity, and resources managed include personnel, finances, technology, and intellectual property.
Project management often is associated with fields in engineering and construction and, more lately, healthcare and information technology (IT), which typically have a complex set of components that have to be completed and assembled in a set fashion to create a functioning product.
No matter the industry, project managers tend to have roughly the same job: to help define the goals and objectives of the project and determine when the various project components are to be completed and by whom. They also create quality control checks to ensure completed components meet a certain standard.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
On a very basic level, project management includes the planning, initiation, execution, monitoring, and closing of a project.
Many different types of project management methodologies and techniques exist, including traditional, waterfall, agile, and lean.
Project management is used across industries and is an important part of the success of construction, engineering, and IT companies.
Understanding Project Management
Generally speaking, the project management process includes the following stages: planning, initiation, execution, monitoring, and closing.
From start to finish, every project needs a plan that outlines how things will get off the ground, how they will be built, and how they will finish.
For example, in architecture, the plan starts with an idea, progresses to drawings, and moves on to blueprint drafting, with numerous little pieces coming together between each step. The architect is just one person providing one piece of the puzzle. The project manager puts it all together.
Every project usually has a budget and a time frame. Project management uses a type of triage process to keep everything moving smoothly, on time, and on budget. That means when the planned time frame is coming to an end, the project manager may keep all the team members working on the project to finish on schedule.
Many types of project management have been developed to meet the specific needs of certain industries or types of projects. Three of those types are waterfall, agile, and lean.
Waterfall Project Management
This is similar to traditional project management but includes the caveat that each task needs to be completed before the next one starts. Steps are linear and progress flows in one direction—like a waterfall. Because of this, attention to task sequences and timelines is very important in this type of project management. Often, the size of the team working on the project will grow as smaller tasks are completed and larger tasks begin.
Agile Project Management
The computer software industry was one of the first to use this methodology. With the basis originating in the 12 core principles of the Agile Manifesto, agile project management is an iterative process focused on the continuous monitoring and improvement of deliverables.
Agile Manifesto. "Manifesto for Agile Software Development."
At its core, high-quality deliverables are a result of providing customer value, team interactions, and adapting to current business circumstances.
Agile project management does not follow a sequential stage-by-stage approach. Instead, phases of the project are completed in parallel to each other by various team members in an organisation. This approach can find and rectify errors without having to restart the entire procedure.
Lean Project Management
This methodology is all about avoiding waste, both of time and of resources. The main idea is to create more value for customers with fewer resources. When managing a project with this approach, the goal is similar to that of the lean enterprise production principle. The only resources that will be used on the project are those that directly contribute to its successful completion.
There are many more methodologies and types of project management than listed here, but these are some of the most common. The type used depends on the preference of the project manager or the company whose project is being managed.
Example of Project Management
Let's say a project manager is tasked with leading a team to develop software products. They begin by identifying the scope of the project. They then assign tasks to the project team, which can include developers, engineers, technical writers, and quality assurance specialists. The project manager creates a schedule and sets deadlines.
Often, a project manager will use visual representations of workflow, such as Gantt charts or PERT charts, to determine which tasks are to be completed by which departments. They set a budget that includes sufficient funds to keep the project within budget even in the face of unexpected contingencies. The project manager also makes sure the team has the resources it needs to build, test, and deploy a software product.
When a large IT company acquires smaller companies, a key part of the project manager's job is to integrate project team members from various backgrounds and instill a sense of group purpose about meeting the end goal. Project managers may have some technical know-how but also have the important task of taking high-level corporate visions and delivering tangible results on time and within budget.
What Are the Key Steps in Project Management?
Project management can be broken down into five steps: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closing. These obviously are broad steps, and a project manager's job is to apply them specifically to the project at hand in a way that is most efficient. How those steps are executed can vary depending on the type of project management being used.
What Are Examples of Project Types?
A common example of a project would be product development. Multiple departments are involved in creating the product, marketing it, selling it, and more. The team that designs a project is different from the teams that manufacture, market, or sell the product. As part of a project, each of these teams would be working with a project manager who helps move the product development from one stage to the next.
What Makes a Good Project Plan?
Communication is key to a good project plan. Each team's responsibilities should be detailed with a goal, a time frame, and resources available, for example. Visual explanations such as Gantt charts also are helpful. These are bar graphs that can show each stage of a project and, for example, the time when that stage will take place. This is just one example as the best way to outline a plan for those involved depends on the scope and details of the plan.
The Bottom Line
Project management is an important part of bringing different teams or different departments together to achieve a singular goal. If creating a product, for example, someone needs to design it, someone needs to build it, someone needs to test it, someone needs to market it, etc. The project manager helps define the ultimate goal of the project and set forth a timeline for how and when that project will be achieved. That way, for example, product testers and product marketers can know what to expect and when to expect it—as well as what they are expected to achieve when the project reaches their respective stages.