What is Project Management – A Comprehensive Guide to Steps, Principles, Objectives, Tasks and Tools
The management of various projects, especially large projects, needs many careful studies for their success in a distinctive style, as management science in general is one of the most prominent sciences
Definition of Project Management
This simple definition represents a compromise that resulted from intense discussions within the Project Management Institute (PMI) during the eighties.
One of the priorities of PMI at that time was the development of project management as a profession and although controversy continues over whether project management is a profession with an actionable code of conduct and other traditional standards for recognition as a profession, the development of a body of knowledge in project management (PMBOK Guide) and project management certifications derived from these have helped efforts enhance the understanding and development of the field of project management.
Discusses project management in terms of producing project results within the three objectives of cost, schedule and specification. Project managers must then develop and implement a project plan that meets cost criteria, schedule, and specifications.
According to this view, project management is the application of everything that a project manager does to meet these standards.
This approach to defining project management shares the PMI's focus on project outcomes in terms of requirements.
What are the components of project management
Any project is implemented through four main pillars:
1- Funds
Funds must be provided to cover all expenses for the construction and operation of the first phase of the project, as this is determined by the economic feasibility study of the project.
2- Management
He manages the project from the first stage of the development of the economic feasibility study to the stages of production, profitability and payment of costs.
3- Public hands
Facilitates production issues and implements management visions of the project.
4- Supplies
It includes the land of the project or site as well as machinery, production tools and raw materials necessary for the project.
You can find out more on our website about project management and feasibility studies for different projects at Farouk Group, and we can help you submit your study application to manage your own project by filling out the form.
Manage project resources and customer expectations
Meredith and Mantel added a fourth aspect of project management: customer expectations.
One definition of a client's focus in describing project management is "the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet or exceed customer expectations."
This definition emphasizes offering a product or service to a customer that meets expectations rather than project specifications.
"It is possible to meet all project specifications and not meet customer expectations or not meet one or more specifications while meeting or exceeding customer expectations."
Meredith and Mantel discuss the trends observed by Darnell Russell Darnell, the greatest project of the year.
For example, leaders of structural, MEP teams will report to the engineering manager. In a larger and more complex project, the engineering manager may create area team leaders and structural, electrical, and mechanical engineers will report to the district team leader. If the project is geographically dispersed, with teams of engineering offices in different cities working on the project, the structuring of the engineering function by region allows better coordination and control. (See figure "Reduce censorship by increasing reporting levels.")
Administrative issues in project management
related to human life. It aims to organize various administrative processes of all types and levels in order to achieve the individual and collective interests of individuals.
It also contributes to finding the strongest solutions necessary for all problems, through appropriate and thoughtful processes that are implemented to suit the nature of professional life related to certain systems through research processes, analysis of administrative systems and information management.
The discussion of what should be included in the definition of project management included discussions for the purpose of project management. Is the primary goal to meet customer expectations or is the primary goal to meet written specifications and requirements? It is not easy to settle this discussion about meeting the requirements of the project. Assuming that the project client determines the requirements of the project, project management can be the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the client's requirements or expectations. The PMI definition of project management provides a good understanding of project management, but it does not help us understand the success of a project. Therefore, we must include the client.
These expectations often increase over the life of the project. Meredith and Mantell point out that this is a form of increased range. A project scope is a carefully written document that reflects the performance specifications of project outputs. Scoping a project and managing scale change is a very different process than developing an understanding of customer expectations and managing those expectations. Darnall focused on setting and managing client expectations as an important project management skill separate from development and scope management.
Customer expectations include an emotional element that includes many customer wishes that cannot be easily recorded in the specification document. Although closely related to project specifications, customer expectations are driven by different needs.
It is possible that the project team will exceed all the specifications of the project and end up with an unsatisfied customer.
The opposite is also true, the project can be delayed and increase the budget as customer satisfaction increases.
Although it may be unexpected, the client's response to project events is complex and replaces project specification data.
Definition of the project in general
The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines the project by its main characteristics.
"All projects are temporary and are implemented to create a unique product, service, or outcome."
These two simple concepts create a work environment that dictates a different management approach than that used by the operations manager, whose work is geared towards continuous improvement of existing processes over longer periods of time. A project manager needs a different set of skills to identify and successfully implement interim projects.
Because projects are temporary, they have a specific beginning and end project managers must manage the beginning activities and the end of the project activities. The processes of team development, work organization, and prioritization require a different set of knowledge and skills because project management team members understand that they are temporary. They rarely report directly to the project manager, and the success or failure of a project may not affect their reputation or job in the same way as the success or failure of any of their other job responsibilities.
The second characteristic of business, the delivery of a unique product, service or result, also changes the management approach to work.
Organizational priorities in project management
The project is influenced by the type of organization in which the project is managed and how it is organized to manage projects.
Organizations play a social role by performing economic, religious, and administrative functions.
Local factories, places of worship, and hospitals are all organizations that serve certain social or community needs.
Factories create wealth and jobs, houses of worship serve the social, spiritual, and common needs of communities, and government organizations provide regulations and services that enable organized society. These organizations have different views on time, and each organization develops an operational approach to achieve the organization's goal within this time horizon. For example, a religious group may begin to build a place of worship that will take several years, the performance of the government is reviewed at election time, and a public company must justify its use of funds each year in the annual report.
Progressive improvement of the organization
Organizations produce a product or service effectively and efficiently to achieve the purpose and objectives of the organization as defined by key stakeholders – those who have an interest or interest. The organization strives to develop stable and predictable work processes and then improve these work processes over time by increasing quality, reducing costs and shorter delivery times. Total Quality Management, Lean Manufacturing, and many other management philosophies and methodologies have focused on providing tools and processes to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization.
Historically, these methodologies have focused on creating gradual and continuous improvement in business processes.
Recently, organizations are increasingly focusing on additional changes that take advantage of new technologies to significantly improve the effectiveness or efficiency of the organization.
These initiatives to increase organizational effectiveness or efficiency are often identified as projects.
Economic organizations will start a project to produce a new product, introduce or reorganize business processes to significantly reduce product costs, or merge with other organizations to reduce competition or reduce costs and make additional profit.
A social organization, such as a hospital, can build a new ward, introduce a new service, or design new business processes to cut costs.
A government organization may introduce a new program that manages public records more efficiently, builds a new route to reduce traffic congestion, or brings together departments to cut costs.
Each initiative corresponds to our definition of the project.
Each is a temporary work and provides a unique product or service.
Effectively managing these projects requires the application of project management knowledge, skills, and tools.
Project Life Cycle
Any enterprise of whatever nature and scale of its activities goes through a life cycle, being represented in:
1. Project Thinking
This stage is the stage in which the idea of the project creates itself, during which you look for the priority of this idea.
2. Project Planning
This stage moves the project from a specific idea to a plan that highlights its objectives, all its activities and services, in addition to the target groups and ways to use them.
3. Resource control
As for this phase, the human and financial resources needed by the project for its implementation have been identified, in addition to appointing individuals and work teams and assigning responsibilities to them.
4. Implementation of the project
It executes the project and manages it well, in addition to making sure that it is moving according to what was planned in the right direction.
How to choose and share a project idea
Identifying needs to achieve more than one idea can be confusing, you may not be able to determine the right idea that you want to implement, and to address this situation, you need to arrange your ideas according to their priority and importance, and the following factors can be used to determine the right idea for your project:
1- Determine to what extent this idea achieves the mission and goals of your project.
2- Determine the benefits of applying this idea.
3- Determine the extent to which the target audience accepts this idea.
4- Determine the expertise necessary to implement the project.
5- Determine the availability of the ability to implement this idea.
6- Determine the cost required to implement the idea.
After choosing a project idea, you should explain the idea by preparing it in an idea reference sheet and discussing it with the people implementing your project.
How do you plan your project?
This stage comes to translate your project idea into a set of activities and objectives to be implemented, because the usual planning skills are implemented at this stage.
It is very important to link your project plan with its strategic plan, because the project is part of the strategic plan, knowing that you can prepare your project plan based on the following elements:
1- Specify the name of the project
Create a name for your project based on the goals you want to achieve and design a logo for it.
2- Defining a project management strategy
Define the strategy for successful project implementation.
3- Define the objectives of the project
At this stage, you clarify your project goals to be achieved, and it should lead to your project strategy.
Preparation and formulation of objectives for various projects
1- It must be accurate.
2- Measurable.
3- Possible.
4- Realistic goals.
Project Resource Management
At this stage, you have to prepare and prepare the human cadre that will undertake the various works of the project, in addition to allocating and preparing the necessary financial and in-kind resources for your project as follows:
First: Human Resources
Identify the main functions of your project, represented by the project manager, assistant and researcher, as well as accountant, secretary, etc. You should do your best to hire the right people for these jobs accurately.
It also identifies the skills required in each job, as this helps in reaching and hiring the right employees. It is also best to determine the skill level of the project staff and provide them with in-depth skills and experience to upgrade their skills. for the project.
Develop a working system for your project after identifying, hiring, and training the necessary skills for employees.
You need to achieve an effective system and this depends on the project schedule by making a list of tasks that each employee must perform in the life of the project, which is called "job description" after distributing the tasks to them according to the job description.
In the interest of the productivity and efficiency of employees, the time and effort required to carry out the various tasks and tasks assigned to them must be determined, and therefore you can establish a specific schedule of tasks assigned to employees, specifying them for them. Tasks that will be carried out with time and effort.
Second: Management of financial resources, technologies and equipment
At this stage and after being placed in the project schedule, your project funds and equipment are tracked and prepared, and the funds that will be spent on the project in its various stages, procedures and activities are estimated.
The equipment and devices necessary for employees to perform their work on the project are determined, and from this an estimated budget is drawn up for your project to help you with the availability of these funds and technologies necessary for the implementation of the project.
Project Management Request
At this stage, your project is implemented and announced, as the work team proceeds to implement the procedures and procedures agreed upon during the project plan and the strategic work plan, because the importance of management at this stage allows ways to control the progress of the project as intended. Make necessary changes and improvements to your project procedures and tasks in the event of changes in the work environment.
You can track the progress of your project using the following methods:
First: Track your project plan
Ensure that the project is moving in the right direction to achieve the desired goals, in addition to monitoring the services and activities that have been organized and delivered in a timely manner to the target groups.
Identify the remaining activities to be completed, as well as ensure the consistency and availability of steps and actions necessary to implement your project, in particular actions related to each other. in all its substantive aspects.
Second: Control of financial resources
It must be ensured that the balance of the implemented project does not suffer from any shortage or shortage of funds, and that the funds are spent only on supplies allocated to it, in addition to ensuring that unexpected expenses are dealt with on an ongoing basis, that is: need careful monitoring during the implementation of the project.
Third: Follow-up of employees
When you aim to achieve the necessary achievements and activities of the project staff and adjust them in the right direction, this is done by following you to the extent of their commitment to the implementation of the project plan and your business plan.
In addition to preparing the required work reports and holding the necessary meetings on an ongoing basis to discuss the project with the exchange of information and experiences on this topic, in addition to following up on the extent of their preparations to implement the remaining project activities.
And your follow-up of the extent of their commitment to accomplish their tasks and perform their roles well and the extent of their cooperation as a team to facilitate the procedures of the project and make the right decision about it.
Fourth: Implementation of the risk management strategy
You may not be able to expect everything to happen during the planning and preparation phase of your project, as this is an overarching situation.
Project Management & Operations Management
There is no single organizational approach to projects. Organization Each project is organized so that the work is carried out effectively and efficiently.
Several factors affect the organizational approach to project implementation.
The project complexity profile, the culture of the parent organization, the preferences of the project manager, the knowledge and skills of the team, and the parent organization that has PMO are examples of factors that affect the organization of the project.
When developing the organizational structure of the enterprise, the project manager takes into account the extent of control of each manager.
The control range represents the number of people reporting to the manager.
For example, the project manager does not want all the engineers in the project to report to the engineering manager and has the report of the chief engineer to the engineering manager, while other engineers report to the chief engineer.
The engineering manager can organize the structure of engineering reports so that different engineering discipline managers can report to him.
The project management function provides project-specific assistance such as:
Accounting Services
Legal Services
Property Management
Human Resource Management
Other support jobs exist in most organizations
In most organizations, the parent organization supports these functions.
For example, people hired for a project will receive human resources (HR) support from the human resources department of the parent organization.
The salary, benefits, and HR policies of the employees assigned to the project will be taken care of by the HR department.
The parent organization will provide accounting functions such as determining the cost of funds, taxes, project reports at the end of the year and disposing of assets at the end of the project.
In smaller and less complex projects, the project manager will have sufficient knowledge of these issues to contact the functional managers of the parent organization. In more complex projects, the project may have an administrative manager who is responsible for coordinating the administrative functions of the projects. In larger, more complex projects, a managerial function can be created as part of the project team, with many functions assigned to a resource for the project. In all cases, the administrative function of the enterprise is closely related to the legal and organizational responsibilities of the parent organization, and close coordination is important.
