What is project management? What are main characteristics of a project? What are the steps of project management life cycle?

 

What is project management: When people think about project management, they often have an image of large construction projects, buildings, and machinery worth millions of dollars. These type of projects represent project management at a very high level. But in reality, project management can be used in almost any setting.
 

Everyone, from teachers, students, wedding planners, through to office workers and do it your selfers
can employ the core skills of project management to help their day to day work run more smoothly,
and ensure a greater chance of success. Almost every job requires a level of planning, understanding of what and who is involved, how long it should take, and what it's going to cost.

Carefully managing each of these aspects and understanding what success looks like is exactly what project management is all about. This course has been designed to break the stereotypical boundaries of project management, to walk you through the core project management activities, and give you the tools and confidence needed to manage, lead, and communicate effectively throughout the project life cycle.

Whether you are involved in construction, information technology, corporate, or small business, or simply just running your own home project, a sound knowledge of essential project management skills
will ensure the result is far more successful, and reduce surprises along the way.

 

Project management transcends all industries. Projects can be large or small. They can be fairly simple and straightforward, or quite complex and time consuming.  

 

Characteristics of a project: Generally, there are four main characteristics of a project, regardless of its size and complexity.

1. Start and End Date: The first characteristic is that a project has a definite start and end date. It is a temporary undertaking within a fixed period of time, whether this is one week or six years. A project manager has to complete the project within the specified amount of time.

2. Goal or Outcome: The second key characteristic of a project is that it achieves a goal or an outcome. In other words, something is completed or achieved by the end of the project life cycle. In our examples, we saw that the end points were the wedding, the workplace system, and the tiling of a kitchen.

3. Benefit or Value: The third characteristic to consider is that a project provides benefit or value to the recipient. In other words, what will the recipient gain from the completed project? 

4. Allocation of Resources: Finally, a project requires an allocation of resources that need to be skillfully used. These resources will vary depending on the size and complexity of the project. And all projects will, in one way or another, allocate and use resources to achieve their goals or outcomes.
 

Project Management Life Cycle: Project management follows a distinct linear process or journey, which is known as the project management life cycle. The life cycle has four phases.
 

Initiation: The life cycle begins with initiation, which is the starting point of any project. It is usually the shortest phase but the most important, because it sets up the foundation of the project. It is in this phase that you flesh out the project objectives, success criteria, and high-level plan. Is also in this phase that you identify risks, stakeholders, and your team.

Planning: The second phase of the life cycle is planning. Planning is the primary function of any project manager and requires you to undertake a rigorous process of developing plans to ensure you achieve your project objectives. The area that you will focus on in this phase of the life cycle are scope, scheduling, and costing.

Execution: Phase three is project execution. This phase is about completing specific deliverables that are required to meet the scope and objectives of the project. In this phase, assessing risk and implementing strategies to reduce or mitigate risk is paramount. This phase also focuses on being an effective leader for your team and engaging your stakeholders in the execution of the project.

Closure: The final phase of the project management life cycle is the closure of the project. It is in this phase that the outcomes are achieved and the benefits of the completed project are experienced by the stakeholders. The closure of a project requires you to obtain feedback from your stakeholders and your team.