The Fundamentals of Project Management
Project management is one area of business that should not be overlooked when it comes to leader and management training. Project management can be summed up simply as the discipline of achieving specific goals; this is accomplished through the implementation of intricate planning, organization, securing of assets and resources, and managing those assets and resources.
At the core of the practice lie the fundamentals of project management – which addresses three specific unique constraints; the budget of the project, the scope or size of the project, and the time allotted to complete the project. Let’s take a look at each of these aspects, collectively referred to as the “project management triangle” and how they can affect project management.
Project management and the impact of budget
A projects’ budget will be very integral to its success and will greatly affect its daily operations. It is essentially a pivotal tool which will be utilized by various groups during the projects’ lifespan. By tracking the budget the project manager can come to a conclusion as to how the project is progressing, whether it’s on track or if there will be any issues down the road. It can be used to track the overall success, or complication, of a project. There may be situations where a project manager has to create a budget for a project, and in those circumstances it may be difficult to accurately assess what will be required if there are a variety of unknown factors.
Project scope
The scope of a project is an important component as it will determine the amount of work necessary to complete it. This aspect of project management deals with the features and functions of the services, products, or results the project is intended to produce or achieve. One typical problem with project scope is what is referred to as “scope creep” and it refers to the expansion of the projects features or functions as the project progresses, thus increasing the original scope which impacts both the budget and timeline for the project. This can become quite problematic and it is the role of the project manager to manage “scope creep” to ensure the project stays on track.
Time in the project management setting
Time is another critical aspect of project management. Estimating the time required to complete the project will have to call upon the other critical aspects of the project, the budget and the scope. Scope and budget can in many ways dictate the timeline of a project. Assessing how much work can be completed within a certain amount of time can usually fall upon the constraints of budget, for instance highly skilled workers may be able to complete a task in a shorter timeframe but it may cost significantly more to pay those workers. From this example, the projects’ timeline will be based upon the available budget for the workers and how much work they can complete based upon their level of competency.
The fundamentals of project management are diverse, and because project management is a field that’s been in development for quite a few years, this is a simple snap-shot detailing some of the fundamentals. If you are interested in learning more about project management a simple Google search will yield fantastic results.