What is project management?

What is project management?

         In the twenty-first century it has become fashionable to manage one's own investments. People nowadays are very much serious on deploying their projects in order to ensure the success of it. Indeed, our environment today is very complex that it requires ongoing implementations. By the use of project management skills, we can be able to manage chaos by providing framework for working amidst persistent change. Or in better understanding, by use of it we can create an environment conducive to getting critical projects done! So what is project management then?
Project management as described by the book, is an application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. Project management is accomplished though application and integration of the project management processes of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing. Project management is then about organization, about changing people’s behaviors, about managing, or about decision making. And the person responsible for accomplishing the project’s objectives is called a project manager.

           We all know already that there is no magic formula to guarantee the success of a project. But there are techniques and strategies that will help plan and manage projects. These things are in the scope of project management. Project management therefore provides methods and tools to ensure that objectives are successfully achieved. Thus, without proper project management, a project would certainly fail.

           There 3 constraints I learned on managing a project. First is to find its scope. Finding the scope means developing a common understanding as to what is included in, or excluded from, a project. What is it you are supposed to accomplish by managing this project? What is the project objective? Is it a real time system? Is it all screen-based? What reports can be produced? Where does the information come from? What manipulation is required for the data? Is all the data compatible? Do you want to generate standard letters? How many letters? How customizable are the letters? Do you want to store the questions? Do you want to store the answers? Etc. etc. etc. Scope is not about determining the time and cost. We are not talking about deciding how long it will take, or how much it will cost. Time and cost are outputs of scope or comes after the scope is defined. So it is of paramount importance to define the scope to determine the outcomes. Poor scopes leads to failure, so we must see to it that the scope we included or excluded are accurate.

The other two are time and cost. In project management time management describes how to monitor and control time spent within a project. It is all about recording the time spent by people on a project. The time process helps the manager know which tasks has been worked on, when and for how long. It also get varies depending on the present circumstances. Time factor is not in total control despite more sources and alternatives are available to achieve the task. If you have limited resources you can’t control over the time. It is one time of limitation once you are behind the time schedule.

               In the case of the cost, we can't know the exactly until the project is complete because we can't accurately predict the future. Cost of the project depends on the different factors like change in the rate of materials, equipments & machinery, change in rate of labors and other various factors. However, we can do an estimate. Doing an estimate would create a good understanding of how projects should unfold through the project life span.
Before ending this piece, I conclude that it is therefore important to understand project management for us to be aware on decision making. Through this we can manage any risk that would eventually comes our way while achieving our project’s objectives.

What is management?

What is management?

               If we are going to ask by this question, as first thought, we would probably shout “it is what managers do!” I would possibly do that, but I will not shout huh? Lol. Seriously, the definitions of this term over the internet all have similar concepts. My friend Wikipedia says “it is an act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives efficiently and effectively” and that it “comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal” and my other friend in Suite101 says “Management is an organizational function, like sales, marketing or finance. It doesn't necessarily mean managing people. We can manage ourselves or the material assigned to us at work. If you managed a project very well on your own, it would mean that you did the job in a well-organized, efficient manner, making good use of all resources at your disposal” Ohh.. They just have the same idea I have in mind, they just raised their hands first! Lol. But I guess I have to share my ideas too…Well, to sum up all my understanding, management, I guess, is like raising your kid. You need to have a plan for his future first. You need to guide, direct, instruct, control, or advice him so that he will not be into the path he should not walk. Through that you will be rest assured that you will have the best results after all the things you’ve done. If you are a parent, you understand that it is pretty hard to do. Management therefore not is just a simple task. It requires great responsibility in order to perform it well. It requires time, skills, and resources if necessary. What would be the world if there are no managers like? Do you agree we need managers to plan for us? What about leadership?
          On the class, I learned that management is different from leadership. I thought before there is no difference. But with the help of our facilitator I recognized that leadership and management are two different functions or simply they provide two dissimilar purposes. A manager executes while a leader directs. Implementing existing directions and maintains efficient operations are the main role of managers. Making new directions to influence others through innovation are the things leaders do. Managers focused only on performance, they only make sure that the project would be efficient that’s why they are seen as task-oriented, controlling and insensitive to peoples needs. On the other hand, leaders induce us to change. They don’t control us. They are just to direct us for the better. We don’t necessarily follow them. We can have a choice. These are the reasons why leaders described as inspiring, visionary and emotionally engaging. But for clarifications, managers also provide direction but only on HOW to execute efficiently. Managers are more on occupying a position, while leaders are more about doing something different. However I’m with no against with management. In fact I do not agree with our facilitators thought of changing our course description from Project management to project leadership. But I do not also agree if leadership will be out of bounce. Both management and leadership skills are needed at the organizational, team, and personal levels. It's not a case of either/or, but and/also. Futurist, Joel Barker provides another helpful distinction between the two roles; "managers manage within paradigms, leaders lead between paradigms". Both are needed. Trying to run an organization with only leadership or management is like trying to cut a page with half a pair of scissors. Leadership and management are a matched set; are both needed to be effective.
         I also learned from the discussion the PODC thingy in management to make a group of individual more effective and to achieve their objectives efficiently. ‘P’ stands for Planning. Planning has a broad definition but for simplifications, it means setting up. Planning refers to the process of deciding what to do and how to do it. It involves preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific goal. To reduce to bare bones, think a plan as a map. When following a plan, you can always see how much you have progressed towards your project goal and how far you are from your destination. Without a proper business plan the business has no direction. One can do the business without plan, but the results are not what one wants. It is rightly said “Well plan is half done”. A carelessly planned project will take three times longer to complete than expected .A carefully planned project will take only twice as long.

          ‘O’ stands for Organizing. This is the second function of management. This happens after a plan is already in place. It transforms plans into reality by deploying people effectively through assigning and coordinating tasks, and makes use of the resources orderly and wisely. There is also called an organizational structure. It is framework intended for decision making. The organizational structure is defined as set of formal tasks assigned to individuals and departments, formal reporting relationships, including lines of authority, decision responsibility, number of hierarchical levels, and span of managerial control, and design of systems to ensure effective coordination of employees across departments.

        ‘D’ stands for directing. It is a process in which managers guide and instruct to achieve their goals. They said it is actually the heart of the whole management process. Without it, planning and other functions are with no importance. This function involves influencing human behavior. This might be through motivation, leadership, discipline, development, etc. In this function, managers are transforming into good leaders’. They are bound to accomplish the organizations’ objectives while concurrently helping each team members grow.

          The last function is controlling or control. This function involves instructing team members in order to achieve the organization’s goals or simply making sure other people do what should be done. For managers, the key to maintain management control is to establish performance standards for employees because it will give them an idea of what is expected of them and tells them how you assess their performance. Controlling also is a function in the management cycle closely related to planning. After plans are made, controlling function ensures that the plans made are carried out, or, if circumstances necessitate, that the plans are modified.

          I remembered during my high school days I was asked what I eventually wanted to be. Without hesitation, I answered “to be a manager”. I never thought that time that managing is not easy as it may seem. The position it will create needs great responsibility. You must be well skilled before entering this area. Some might think that managers do not have any personal production, that they don’t do anything aside from instructing. The true fact is, every manager has something to do that no one else can or should do.