Introduction to professional project management

 

Projects

Let us start with the basic definition of projects;

• Organizations have business goals. Business goals are supported by business strategy. Business strategies are implemented through projects. 
• Projects have definite start and end dates 
• Projects deliver unique products, service and value as deliverables 
• Are temporary in nature. At the end of the project, the project team is dispersed 
• They are constrained by limited resources of time, cost and scope 
• Projects are considered as successful, if they are completed within time and cost, met the scope and delivered the intended value for which they were undertaken.

Designing and developing a new electric car is a project. 

Manufacturing a car, shift after shift is an operation. Operations deliver standard products or services where as projects deliver unique products or services. 

Project management approaches 

Depending on the nature of work involved, projects are managed using various approaches. The three main classifications of project management approaches are;

• Predictive project management 
• Agile project management 
• Hybrid project management 

Predictive project management 

Predictive project management is ideal for projects where;

1. The scope of work is clear 
2. Technology is familiar 
3. Ease of change is low 

For most part of the construction projects, predictive project management approach is ideal because once the concrete is poured, changes are difficult. Projects which are following predictive project management approaches passes through the project management life cycle of;

• Initiation
• Planning
• Execution
• Monitoring & Controlling 
• Closing 

Agile project management 

Agile project management approach is ideal for projects where the scope of the project is continuously evolving and the nature of work allows for changes. For new product development, R&D projects and for I.T projects, agile project management is ideal. In agile project management the project progresses through a series of iterations. Some of the well known agile project management frameworks are;

• Scrum
• XP
• Scaled Agile 
• Test driven development (TDD)
• Feature driven development (FDD)
• Disciplined Agile etc 

Hybrid project management 

Hybrid project management is a combined version of  both agile and predictive. Some phases of the project may follow agile where as some other phases may follow predictive. 

Hope you are clear about the definitions of projects, operations, predictive project management, agile project management and hybrid project management. I will be elaborating these further in the subsequent posts.