1. FATIMA S. ALVIARNE
Reference: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK Guide) 2000 Edition
Project Management Institute
2. It's a temporary endeavor
undertaken to create a unique
product, service or result.
3. Application of processes, methods,
knowledge, skills and experience to
achieve the project objectives.
4. The goals are to maximize the return on
project investment so that the project is
completed on time, within budget, and
within scope and to achieve suitable
measures of quality.
5. A PROJECT MANAGER
is responsible and
accountable for setting
realistic and achievable
boundaries for the project
and for leading the project
team to complete the
project within the approved
boundaries.
It's a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.
Temporary means that every project has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources.
Unique means that the product or service is different in some distinguishing way from all other products or service.
“Project management” is the application of skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet a project objective. Project management is accomplished through the use of the processes such as: initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing.
The goals are to maximize the return on project investment so that the project is completed on time, within budget, and within scope and to achieve suitable measures of quality.
A project manager is responsible and accountable for setting realistic and achievable boundaries for the project and for leading the project team to complete the project within the approved boundaries. As the definition indicates, at its core, project management is about creating a structure to manage a process to achieve a project objective. The project management framework outlines exactly how that process works and the areas of knowledge that impact project success.
Principle 1: Project Objective and Goals
The first principle of project management is understanding your objective. Simply put, what do you hope to accomplish or what’s the purpose of this initiative? Determining what you intend to accomplish will help you develop your overall project structure moving forward.
After determining your objective, you’ll need to develop project SMART goals. These goals need to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. If your goal is simply to increase overall sales, that’s not a SMART goal. Rather, your goal should be to increase sales of a certain product by 10 percent over the next six months as a result of the new tool being developed by your project.
Principle 2: Budgeting
Once you determine your project objective and goals, you’ll begin planning how to accomplish your mission.
At this point, you’ll begin to discover constraints that will impact your ability to achieve your project the way you may have planned. One of those big constraints is your budget. The budget will play a major role in your overall project scope, so this principle of project management should not be ignored or overlooked.
Principle 3: Scheduling and Estimating
Another constraint that you’ll need to consider is time, so it’s important to develop a comprehensive calendar and work estimate for your project.
Principle 4: Define Team Responsibilities
The next principle of project management is to define individual responsibilities among your team. This is a vital step because by outlining everyone’s roles, you’ll begin to see which deliverables need to be ready in order for certain members to begin their work, and you’ll identify potential blockers and constraints now rather than in the middle of your project.
Principle 5: Define Milestones
While not an absolute requirement for your project – especially smaller or shorter projects – defining milestones is an important principle you should consider.
Milestones help signify the completion of a specific portion of your project.
In addition to providing a transparent way to track progress, milestones can help increase team morale by calling out team member achievements. This is extremely beneficial during long, complex, or difficult projects.
Principle 6: Manage Changing Priorities and Business Goals
While the project is underway, one of the biggest disruptions you may face is changing priorities or business/ORGANIZATIONS goals.
To minimize the impact on the work in progress, you and your team will need to be ready to adapt in order to keep your overall project on track.
Principle 7: Accountability and Responsibility
This principle of project management is important both for the project manager and each member of the team. While the project manager will have a specific skill set to keep the team on task, all members of the team also need to hold themselves and each other accountable for the work they need to accomplish.
Principle 8: Retrospect and Measure Success
In order to determine what went well and what needs improvement, you and your team need to review your project after it’s completed and discuss the areas of success and areas that need work. You’ll then need to take this information and apply it to your next project to consistently improve your process.