Project Life Cycle, Use of Project Management - Research Paper Example

Project management Affiliation Project Definition A project is a temporary endeavor that is carried out to create a unique service, product or results. To be temporary implies that there is discrete and defined start and conclusion. The primary characteristic of the project is a performance against its schedule – that does it commences and ends on time. The uniqueness of the project does not mean that there are no similarities between other projects. The process of producing a particular project is the one that is unique. Each project must be generated within constraints, with specific resources, through risks, at a particular place and within a defined period. The project needs progressive elaboration that reveals and focuses details of the project through time (Meredith & Mantel, 2012). This makes projects distinguished from programs and operations. A program is a group of interrelated projects coordinated to obtain benefits and control that cannot be achieved when managing the projects individually. Operations are continued and repetitive activities that are carried to achieve mission of the organization without a definable end or unique output. Project Life Cycle Project management is a planned and organized one-time activity that achieves the specified goals. Developing project plan that covers defining project objectives and goals, specifying tasks, stating how goals will be achieved, the resources needed, budget, timelines for implementing and completing the project will ensure success of a project as planned. The following are the basic five phases in the project life cycle (Project, 2013). 1. Project Initiation This is the opening or starting point of the project. The project is initiated by defining the reasons, the objectives and scope of it. The project team at this level proposes the solutions to be implemented, and the early budget. This gives a go for a project. The draft of the scope and objectives will help the team to work on the course without deviating. The draft schedule will also provide the timeline through wish the project is expected to be completed. This also helps the project team to get organized. Terms of references are also incorporated so that the team can know how and to whom referencing is made. This phase leads to another step. 2. Planning phase After the initiation phase and creating of drafts, the project management plan is designed. The plan will guide the team during project development and after. This step defines the required skills that will be in development team. It also describes the risk pal, non-labor resources, detailed action items and milestones. The is a need to develop a quality plan because it is upon the plan that the success of the project is measured. Baseline schedule and budget are crucial to help form project framework. Planning for the deliverables and communication plan are also important and help to avoid misunderstanding problems. Issues Register is important to enable the team documents any problem that they find in the project. This phase leads to another step. 3. Development phase In this phase, everything that is required for the project is arranged. Potential suppliers are brought in; materials for the project are ordered, instructions dispensed to persons among others. All matters and plan should be clear for the parties that will carry out the implementation of the project. The success of the project at the phase is based on two elements. First, there should be complete sets of design specifications. Secondly, there should be proper standards, processes and tools in the project. However, in small projects development phase may not be necessary. This phase leads to the next stage of implementation. 4. Implementation phase Execution phase of the projects comes after the team has fully understood the characteristics and detailed plans for the project. This phase is action oriented to build and program the project. The principal aim of this stage is a production of the deliverables. The team must continuously monitor and control the process to avoid deviation from the plan. This will guarantee quality management in the project. It is important to manage time so that the project can be completed at the stated time. Cost management plays a crucial role to avoid wastage or to run short of finances. All the cost should be in the budget plan. Risk management and subsequent issue resolution will help to avert any downfall in the project. Reporting of any issue that can jeopardize or improve the project at this time is necessary. The progress of the project will also be communicated to the team to enable them judge their performance. After quality assurance process, the product then is presented to the consumers for acceptance. If they accept, then the project is ready for closure. 5. Project Closure Phase This involves presenting the final product to the consumers, handing over project documents, source code, manuals and Network layouts. Celebrations can be held in relation to the success of the project. The project team is given the feedback and recommendations made for future actions. The final step is to undertake Post Implementation Review to determine the level of project success and document any learned lessons (Meredith & Mantel, 2012) The importance of project management to accomplish tasks in organizations Project management is using knowledge and skills to manage projects and its deliverables with an aim of producing finished products or services. Project management involves the identification of requirement, establishment of objectives, balancing of demands and ensuring a common purpose is achieved. In the modern era full of myriads of challenges, an organization will probably collapse if there is no project management. Each organization has various projects that are running. If the managers do not uphold project management, then most of these projects will fail. Understanding the techniques of effective project management helps an organization to carry out many projects successfully (Barker & Cole, 2012). This is an apparent indication that project management is essential to any organizations. Some of the importances of project management are discussed below. Organizations are interested in having goals that are clear, measurable and achievable. Project management offers the managers the ability to set objectives and goals that are achievable. This is crucial to the success of the project. Additionally, the managers can determine the scope of the project. The scope establishes the breadth of the project or to which extent the organization will be affected. These skills help to determine the collective outcome of the project that is put in place. This cannot be achieved without the project management skills. Timeline is important when projects are to be carried out. Absence of a timeline then means that project will be conducted without a defined direction. Managers use the skills of project management to complete projects on time. Working within the project management plan parameters, each activity has the target date for completion of each phase. The manager will direct the team to work within the stated period. With these skills, organizations can carry out multi-projects and finish them on time. This will see the success of the organization (Carroll, 2012). Project management helps keep the project within the planned budget. Budgeting is done and during the planning phase, the cost of all the requirements is stated and the budget is made. The project activities will be run on that budget. Through project management techniques, resource conflict solutions help to minimize cost (Craig, 2012). This means that the team does not work on the budget, and they are efficient. If an organization operates without a project plan then it will be guided blindly in terms of cost and a lot of financial misappropriation will be witnessed, and the projects can run out of funds. A sure way to ensure safe budget is through effective project management. The use of project management helps spell out the probable risks. This will help manage them early enough before they escalate to levels that can lead to collapse of the project. This means that the managers are aware of the risks and the possible ways to handle them. This is enhanced by the continual monitoring and evaluation of the project to ensure that the progress is in line with the objectives of the project. The skills help in coordination of resources in order to avoid conflicts. Coordination of human resources leads to a harmonized team that will achieve the objectives of the organization (Craig, 2012). References Barker, S., & Cole, R. (2012). Brilliant project management: What the best project managers know, do and say. Harlow: Pearson Business. Craig, J. C. (2012). Project management lite: Just enough to get the job done ...nothing more. S.l: s.n. Carroll, J. (2012). Effective project management in easy steps. Southam: In Easy Steps. Meredith, J. R., & Mantel, S. J. (2012). Project management: A managerial approach. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Project, M. I. (2013). Guide to the project management body of knowledge: Pmbok guide. S.l.: `Project Management Inst. Read More