Project Management Principles - Essay Example

I feel that the first part of project management is the planning stage. This must be executed properly because it sets up the rest of the project. This is perhaps the most critical stage of the whole process because only once the problem has been correctly recognized it can be fixed in an appropriate manner. Once the purpose has been stated, the planning stage can commence. An important part of the planning is to define what is required for the problem to be solved. These requirements should be clearly stated and communicated to employees in such a fashion that everyone is on board with the plan of action. The next stage of project management is prioritizing. This is an often unnoticed stage in the process because it does not openly contribute to the solution. Actually, prioritizing targets is a very sensible thing to do because there may not be enough time or resources available to complete everything to an acceptable standard. It should be expected that the project may not be completed within the budgeted timeframe, so alternative plans need to be prepared just in case the unthinkable happens. Generally, organizations should plan to take more time than is needed just to be safe.
In order to help accomplish the goals and objectives of a project management plan, a project manager needs to be appointed as the leader. This person is vital because they will determine the potential success or failure of the project. This person holds a critical role within the organization because his responsibility is to deal with any obstacles that may crop up. Other than this position, there should also be a project sponsor. The project sponsor is the person who will receive a benefit from the project. There are three people that should report to the project sponsor: application architects, technical architects, and data architects. Apart from these people, there should also be analysts, designers, modelers, and developers. It is preferred that experts are given these positions, but trainees are also acceptable. If this happens to be the case, then there should be no more than two trainees to one expert.

Once the project has begun, senior management will require an approximate estimate of how long each stage of the project will take. There are three methods that are commonly used within organizations for giving estimations: top-down, parametric, and bottom-up. The first method is not very accurate but can be useful in giving a rough estimate at the start of the project management process. The parametric system is slightly more accurate in that this process sums the number of work units by the time it takes to complete one work unit. This technique is generally useful when a certain task has previously been completed and thus the new task can be estimated based on that fact. Lastly, the bottom-up method is the most accurate, but every single detail is required to give an approximation on how long a task will take.

        In terms of issues that may come up in project management, I feel that lack of clarity plays a huge part in the project not going to plan. At the beginning of the project, if every step is not laid out, then it will be difficult to determine which processes have been completed. A written agreement should be made between the project manager, the project customer, and the project sponsor. This document should identify the project’s objective and how this objective will be met. It may be that the project needs to change slightly once the process has begun. If this is the case, then the change management process needs to be implemented so changes can be made when needed. This leads to the next issue with project management—shifting managerial priorities. The business environment is always changing so there is always the need to change with it. For project managers, this will require pre-planning to account for any future market changes, whether they are internal or external. Projects are largely in the hands of outside forces. One such force may be an incoming company president who orders any current projects to remain on hold. This can potentially slow down the implementation of a project manager’s recommendations. A project manager needs to have open lines of communication with his subordinates and always be ready to change the project plan depending on the situation. Once again, the change management process will be required because it can address the needs of a business at short notice. More specifically, change management has the tools to deal with external changes that the organization has no control over.

        To sum up, project management is a vital component of an organization. A big part of achieving this is to appoint the right people for the right positions. All employees involved in the project management process need to be adaptable and open to change.

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