Project Management: Definition, phases, Categories, and characteristics

Project Management

The word project management is made up of two combined words which are Project and Management, A project refers to a set of activities, that aim at achieving specific objectives within a stipulated period and budget. If you want to produce a good definition of the word project make sure you induce the following words; Planned undertaking, Set of interrelated and coordinated activities, Budget, and specific objectives.

Management refers to the process of planning, Organizing, coordinating, and controlling resources, such as people, finances, materials, and information, to achieve specific goals. By merging these two words it makes Project management, what is Project management?

Project management is the use of methods, techniques, skills, knowledge, and experience to achieve specific objectives in the agreement based on accepted standards. The outcomes of project management are limited by time constraints and budgets.

Project management refers to the adept use of techniques and skills in planning and controlling tasks and resources needed for the project, from both inside and outside of the organization, to achieve results. Or is it a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific one-time effort?

Project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements” (PMBOK ® Guide 2004, p.8)

Project management is the preparation and management of events that, together, understand the project. Project management points to guarantee the successful use of resources and dispatch of the project aims on time and within cost constraints.

Project management compromises evolving a project plan, which involves defining project targets and objectives, stating tasks or how goals will be attained, what resources are needed, and linking budgets and timelines for completion.

Someone who leads a project is called a Project manager and a successful project manager must be competent in various skills of general management such as communication, organizing, leadership, team building, staffing, planning, instructing, implementing, monitoring, coordinating, and controlling. General management also includes various support disciplines such as dealing with legal contracts, computer systems, accounts and salaries, sales and marketing, and personnel and human resources.
Project management aims to achieve successful project completion with the resources available. while a successful project is one which:

• Has been finished on time

• Is within its cost budget

• Performs to a technical/performance standard that satisfies the end user.

For a better understanding of project management, we should first shed a clear explanation of what is a project, its characteristics, categories, and one example of a project.

Thus it can be said that a project is a planned understanding or set of interrelated or coordinated activities meant to achieve specific objectives within a stipulated period and budget.”

Everyone has been involved in projects, whether they are personal or business, community, and industry. the size and duration of a Project may vary according to the project category. They can be simple, like planning a party, or complex like launching a satellite to the moon.

It is also an attempted solution to a specific problem, a solution that gives promises of a benefit, which may be financial, environmental, economic, or social. The project is related to risk, which implies threatening remarks about the capacity to make ideal plans and forecast results with trust. A project consumes resources to execute a well-defined collection of specific tasks in a logical sequence. A project is an effort in which resources (people, money, and materials) are well planned in a new way, aimed at carrying out specific work that is bounded by the constraints of time, scope, and cost to make a desirable change expressed in terms of qualitative and quantitative objectives.

Characteristics of a project

Many important characteristics of project management help in planning, executing, and executing projects successfully. Some of the most important characteristics are:

Clear goals and objectives: The project must have clear goals and objectives that are specific, measurable, achievement, impact, and schedule (SMART). These objectives form the basis of the planning and execution of the project.

Planning: Good project management involves planning. This includes identifying tasks, scheduling, allocating resources, and identifying potential risks. Detailed project information is a method for teamwork.

Resource Management: Project managers must effectively allocate and manage resources such as human resources, budgets, materials, and equipment. This includes resource planning, procurement, and implementation throughout the project lifecycle.

Risk Management: Project risk and effective project management includes identifying, assessing, and mitigating risk. This includes developing risk management strategies to minimize the impact of potential problems.

Communication: Clear communication is very important for project management. The project manager must communicate effectively with stakeholders, partners, and other stakeholders to ensure everyone understands their roles, responsibilities, and actions.

Team Leadership: Project managers need good leadership skills to motivate and lead their teams. This includes setting expectations, resolving conflicts, providing feedback, and creating a collaborative work environment.

Quality Management: Ensuring quality delivery is very important for project management. This includes defining performance standards, performing quality assurance activities, and implementing corrective actions as necessary to maintain or improve quality throughout the project.

Monitoring: The project manager should regularly monitor the progress of the project against the plan, follow the performance indicators, and take corrective actions accordingly. This includes regular status updates, performance reviews, and adjustments to the campaign plan as needed.

Adaptability: Projects often face change, uncertainty, and unexpected challenges. Project managers must be flexible and flexible, able to adjust plans and strategies to accommodate changes while keeping the project going.

Closing and Evaluation: Effective project management includes appropriate closing activities such as delivering the final product or service, ensuring customer acceptance, and evaluating the project to learn from success and future work.

Together, these features make project management more efficient and help ensure projects are completed within scope, on time, and budget.

Categorization of Projects

Generally, projects can be classified according to common characteristics as follows below:

Economic projects: These are projects that aim at generating income for example; cash crop farming, business concerns like shopkeeping, an industry, and a commercial farm.

Social Projects: These are projects that aim at providing social services and do not earn direct income example projects on education, health, water and sanitation, road construction, and maintenance.

Private Projects: These are projects that belong to and are managed by individuals or groups of individuals. They aim at making a profit e.g. an individual’s retail shops; or a farm belonging to a women's association.

Public/Community Projects: These are projects that are community-owned and benefit society (community) as a whole without exclusion e.g. roads, public grazing land, swamp or forest, where everyone may be free to harvest herbs, firewood, fruits, building materials without questioning; public utilities like water, electricity, postal services, etc.

Local or National Projects: Local projects are those projects that are initiated or funded by a given country's local authority District, or province. a national road construction network.

International Projects: These are projects that involve or are implemented by two or more countries. They may be referred to as Bilateral Involving 2 countries e.g. Rusumo Hydropower plant Multi lateral involving more than 2 countries most of the time these types of projects are implemented by regional community organizations like East African Community (EAC), Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Projects like Railway road from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania.

Project management areas

Project scope management: involves the activity required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to absolute the project successfully. The project is primarily concerned with explaining and controlling what is or is not included in the project, to meet the backing’ and stakeholders’ goals and objectives. The project be composed of authorization, scope planning, scope definition, scope change management, and scope verification.

Project time management: The project requires the exercise required to ensure the timely production of the project. The project will be composed of activity definition, pursuit prioritizing, full-length estimating, setting the calendar, plan evolution, and time control.

Project cost management: Refers to the process required to ensure that the project is completed within the approved budget. Project concerns of funds planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting, cash flow, and cost control.

Project quality management: Refers to the process required to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken. It comprises determining the required state, quality
planning, quality assurance, and quality control.

The Attributes of Successful Project Management

The effectiveness of project management is critical in assuring the success of any substantial undertaking. The sector of authority for the project manager involves planning, control, and execution. A project should be initiated with a feasibility study, where a clear definition of the goals and ultimate benefits need to be established. Senior support for projects is important to ensure authority and direction throughout the project's progress and ensure that the organization's goals are effectively achieved within this process. The specific form of bear given can affect the degree of refusal to the project encounters.

Knowledge, skills, goals, and personalities are all factors that need to be considered within project management. The project manager and his/her company must conjointly own the obligatory and requisite interactive and practical skillfulness to specialist control over the numerous activities within the project.

The phases of execution should be joined at the project planning stage. Disaggregating the stages at its early point assists in the project's successful development by providing several milestones that need to be accomplished for completion. In addition to planning, the control of the evolving project is also a prerequisite to success. Rule wants sufficient observing and response apparatus by which senior and project managers can contrast progress against initial projections at each level of the project. Monitoring and response also enable the project manager to foresee problems and therefore take trending remedial measures for the sake of the project overall.

Projects usually consist of introducing a new system of some sort and, in nearly all cases, new methods and ways of performance. This collision on the work of others: the "users". User discussion is an important element in the favorable outcome of projects and, indeed, the level of user participation can affect the additional of bear for the project or its execution plan. The crucial standard of the project manager is that of being a speaker, not just within the project team itself, but with the rest of the company and outside bodies as well.

Recently more and more pursuits have been addressed on a project foundation. Project squads and project management processes are common in almost all firms. The basic approaches to project management continue to exist in the same way as the type of project being examined.

Project cycle

The project begins with idea initiation, continues to planning, proceeds to execution goes to monitoring and controlling then ends to closing, and begins again. This process is continuous and is referred to as The Project Development Cycle. How projects are planned and carried out follows a sequence that has become known as the projectConclusion Project cycle. The cycle starts with the identification of an idea and develops that idea into a working plan that can be implemented and evaluated. Ideas are identified in the context of an agreed strategy. It provides a structure to ensure that stakeholders are consulted and relevant information is available so that informed decisions can be made at key stages in the life of a project.

Phase 1: Project Initiation

Initiation Phase is the beginning of the project where the project manager determines the scope and objectives. It is important at this time that stakeholders have common goals and create a framework for the success of the project.

The manager then reviews the project and creates a project charter that explains the purpose, objectives, and capabilities of the project. project. The contract includes the following important information:
i. Project objectives and justification
ii. Key objectives and deliverables
iii. Stakeholders and stakeholders
iv. Start time and budget estimates

Phase 2: Project planning

As with any good project, planning is key. Here is the final result, preparation for obstacles and many important factors come into play. A good plan makes a big difference, and PCM specializes in creating solid game plans that focus on low risk. It is the longest task in the life cycle of the project and the most difficult work schedule. This is the execution of the plan and the team will work on the project to deliver a good product. The previous stages clearly show each step of the process.

Phase 3: Project Execution

This is the longest task in the life cycle of the project and the most difficult work schedule. This is the execution of the plan and the team will work on the project to deliver a good product. The previous stages clearly show each step of the process.

Phase 4: Monitoring and Control

The monitoring and control phase consists of regular reviews of the project and the work the team does to ensure everything is going as planned. At this stage, the project manager detects the difference between the project plan and the budget, determines the cause, and corrects it. Tools like status reporting, time tracking, financial reporting, risk management plans, and stakeholder analysis make it easy to track the highs and lows of metrics. To change the plan, team members must submit a change for approval.

Phase 5: Closing

The closing phase is the end of the project. During this period, the aim is to obtain final approval and signatures, conduct a post-project review, determine what went well, identify areas that can be improved, and write study materials. These activities foster a culture of lifelong learning and promote accountability and transparency.

Conclusion

Project management has become a proven approach to achieving specific objectives in time. If properly applied, project management techniques supply structure, focus, and control and help to drive a project team to the completion of work. Today, the definition of a project has expanded to include recurring situations, one-time crises, and dealing with difficult issues, so that projects and project management apply to various business situations that have to deal with complexity. Legal offices, hospitals, and other services as well as traditional manufacturing firms have become enthusiastic about how project management is improving their delivery of services or creation of new products.   

Author: Donald Masimbi