What Is Project Management? (Comprehensive Guide)

Project management is oversight of the entire project lifecycle and involves using various tools and techniques to help ensure projects are completed on time and within budget. Project management tools and techniques also allow for more granular insights into various sub-tasks within a larger project. By combining these different overview and granular management techniques, the entire project is easier to manage.

Project management began as quality management initiatives, mostly in the engineering and manufacturing fields. Today, it is used in everything from marketing, healthcare, digital marketing and sales.

It’s important to note that project management differs from ongoing management within a department. Project management is focused on initiatives and goals, while ongoing management is focused on operations.

The main benefit of project management is that it increases project efficiency, which in turn lowers costs and decreases the time needed for completion.

It’s not uncommon for initiatives within an organization to be over budget and over schedule. Looking back, it’s often easy to see where things went wrong, but during the project, there are limited insights and ways to keep things on track.

Project management techniques help to solve this by essentially breaking larger, cumbersome projects into more easily manageable deliverables. Each of these can be managed as part of the whole.

The result is that projects stay on schedule and within budget while delivering a product of substantially higher quality.

While different project management methodologies may use their own unique terms, they all follow essentially the same core concepts.

First, the project is broken down into phases or what is sometimes referred to as the project lifecycle, as follows:

1.       Project initiation
2.       Project planning
3.       Project execution
4.       Project monitoring and controlling
5.       Project closing

Each of these phases will have its own tasks. For example, during the initiation and planning process, the project manager will deal with scheduling, project scope and the cost of the project. This area is often referred to as the triple constraint of project management (time-scope-cost). This phase will also involve bringing in stakeholders and getting corporate approval for the project to show that the end goal provides value for customers.

Next comes the execution and monitoring of the project and the individual deliverables or stages along the way. The original concepts of time, scope and budget still play a key role in this process, as adjustments can be made to maintain the overall goals within a successful project. Finally, the complete project is delivered and the end goal is met. Any issues or risks along the way will be documented to improve efficiency in subsequent projects.

Project management methodologies have the same goals, but they achieve those goals in different ways and by using different workflows. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks. Each one also tends to be more appropriate for specific fields or industries.

Below are the most popular project methodologies and what sets them apart.

Waterfall

Waterfall project management is focused on linear task completion and adherence to a strict timeline and task completion order. The sequence of completion for tasks is rigid in Waterfall project management. Waterfall works best for repeated and predictable projects. However, it doesn’t work well when flexibility is needed or previous tasks need to be revisited.

Agile

Agile is a flexible project management methodology and has become popular in software development where the goal is constant improvement over time. Agile focuses less on rigid sequences and more on an iterative approach that tries to improve a product through a triage type of system to address issues.

Scrum

Scrum is a type of Agile project management and is based on team efforts led by a Scrum Master. Scrums are categorized by unique techniques, such as sprints, where an entire team works towards one goal. Scrum works well for collaborative and team environments but can be adapted to other situations as well.

Lean

Lean project management focuses on getting the most results from the lowest amount of resources. It does this by prioritizing efficiency and eliminating wasteful redundancies or tasks not directly related to the end goal. Lean can work well for organizations looking to cut costs or improve efficiency.

Critical Path

Critical Path is a component of other popular project management methodologies. It focuses on the longest sequence of events from the start of a project to the end. This is defined as the critical path. The time needed for each step along the path is then determined via an algorithmic flow chart.

Kanban

Kanban is based on the Agile framework, providing a visual way of managing and monitoring a complex project. A “Kanban board” is used, and the board provides an overview of a project at a glance. The board contains cards that represent tasks or project goals. The cards are moved between columns as they reach different stages of completion.

Other visualization tools are used in the project management process, such as Gantt charts. These provide a more linear look at tasks and the relation each task has to the other.

With the popularity of project management in many industries, a host of tools have been developed to help with various aspects of project management and methodologies.

Scheduling and Planning Tools

Most project management tools will have scheduling and planning tools. These tools help with the initial phases of project development.

Dashboards

Dashboards allow project managers and individual team members to quickly see the information they need at a glance. When choosing project management software, the ability to customize dashboards is an important feature to look for.

Collaboration Platforms

Some project management solutions prioritize collaborative efforts either through built-in tools or enhanced communication integration. These collaborative tools can include software you may already be using. For example, if your teams already use Slack extensively, a project management solution that integrates with Slack can help you maintain your current workflow.

Budgeting and Expense Tracking

Different industries will require different levels of budgeting and expense tracking. Some project management tools offer enhanced integrations with popular business software. For example, Zoho Projects offers detailed time tracking and expense reporting along with integrations for popular accounting apps.

Resource Management

Resource management can be crucial during the project management process. Some project management solutions, such as Wrike, prioritize this aspect of project management and offer advanced reporting and analytics to monitor resource allocation and management.

Documentation

For project managers, teams and stakeholders, documentation is vital to improving project strategies and analyzing their effectiveness. Robust reporting and analytical tools are key to providing proper documentation before, during and after the project objectives have been reached.

Collaboration

Collaboration is a key component of any project. Being able to work across teams efficiently leads to better outcomes and lower costs. Fostering an environment that rewards effective collaboration and offering the tools needed for collaboration are all part of this essential skill.

Communication

Communication in project management is about openness and trust. Everyone involved in the project should feel as though their voice can be heard. Team members should also never feel worried about asking for clarification or where to turn if they hit a roadblock.

Leadership

Leadership is about building trust. Even if you don’t have a leadership role in a specific project, you can still project the qualities of a leader. This creates a sense of support among the team, knowing everyone is playing their part and that reaching the goal is everyone’s responsibility.

Organization

Organization is needed at every step of project management. A good project manager should have a solid grasp of organizing complex problems and systems. They also need to understand which project management tools will help them best keep the project and the team organized.

Time Management

Without time management, the project will quickly deteriorate and fall behind schedule. Project management tools and methodologies have many features to help with time management. A good team and project manager will know which methodologies will work best for their time management needs.

You can think of the project management framework as an outline or blueprint for the project or goal. In general, the framework will consist of three main components. The first is the lifecycle of the project. This describes the initial planning, execution, management and completion of the project. Other areas considered during this phase are risk management, budgeting and scheduling.

Next in the framework is the project control cycle. This involves the management of the project, reporting and communicating with stakeholders regarding progress.

Finally, there are the tools and templates to be used to complete the entire project management task. Many effective project management methodologies have predefined strategies, templates and tools that can quickly and easily be adapted for a given project.

A project management plan outlines the entire project process. It will contain baselines for the scope of the project, the schedule of the project and the costs. Baselines are important in project management as they provide guidelines and metrics to which managers should adhere. Another component will be the management plan. This outlines how the baselines will be managed as the project moves along.

Next up will be change management. This involves both project management and team management. This involves implementing the changes necessary to reach the end goals of the project. Finally, there will need to be process improvement. This is like an after-action report so that improvements can be made team-wide to improve efficiencies.

Project management can include many roles. The most prominent begins with the sponsor. This is the individual or group that is calling for the project to be implemented. This can be the owner of the business, executives or a working group. Next is the project manager. This role is tasked with overseeing the project at various stages along the way. Some projects may have other similar roles, such as project creative manager, program manager and other roles specific to the project. Project managers are often certified by various groups, such as the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Next are project team members. These are members tasked within the project to contribute and complete milestones to move the project toward completion. In project management, you’ll also often hear about stakeholders. A stakeholder can be any person or group who has a vested interest in the completion and the success of the project. These are the most common roles, but each project can have other specific roles if needed to more efficiently design, manage and execute the project.

Many fields and industries today use project management methodologies.

For example, an IT department may be tasked with rolling out a new piece of software company-wide. Utilizing project management methodologies allows for a smooth and predictable roll-out. The planning phase also lets stakeholders determine if the value is worth the expense.

In software development, an app or SaaS provider may use Agile methodologies to improve the product and address bugs in the software. New feature requests and service requests are represented as specific tasks in the Agile framework. These are triaged based on importance and then addressed one by one until completion.

This Agile software example is a more continuous type of project management versus a single project. However, project management methodologies work equally well in both settings, and that type of flexibility across industries and applications is one of its main strengths.

Project management provides a reliable and proven set of tools to efficiently complete a wide variety of projects and initiatives. These proven tools help to keep projects on schedule and within budget at each step along the way.

These common project management skills and tools can be used by virtually every industry or organization that is focused on improving efficiency and the quality of the product or service they offer to customers.