What is Project Management?

Project Management is not about managing people alone. PMI bifurcates project
management into different process groups and knowledge areas. Process groups include
initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.

Knowledge areas include integration, scope, time cost, quality, human resources,
communication, risk, procurement, and stakeholder management.

Project initiation
1. Initiating

A new project is broadly defined and submitted for formal approval. This phase often
begins with a business case, which outlines the objectives, purpose, and deliverables of the
proposed project. Stakeholders are identified and preliminary requirements are
documented. Key outputs include the project charter which assists with Planning. Any
feasibility testing should also take place during this phase.

2. Planning

A comprehensive project plan is developed which outlines project costs and the budget,
scope, duration, deliverables, and quality, communications, metrics, risks, and resources.

3. Executing

The project is now ready to launch! The project manager typically uses a kick-off meeting
to introduce key tasks and milestones to the team, and discuss the project in detail. The
main activities associated with project execution include resource management, tracking
work, team meetings and reporting on progress. The project manager should regularly
assess progress to-date and adjust the original project plan as needed.

4. Monitoring/Controlling

Monitoring is conducted in parallel with project execution. Using KPIs and other metrics
defined in the project plan, the project manager monitors progress and performance to
avoid scope creep. Earned Value Management is a particularly useful tool during this phase.
5. Closing

Once the project is completed, run a post-mortem to document lessons learned for future
projects. It is also important to recognize and celebrate success. Finally, reassign
resources and update project documentation, including any collaboration sites.

Depending on the size and complexity of the project, you may need to tailor the five
phases as appropriate.

Let’s look at the first phase, Initiating, in more detail.

Phase One: Initiating

The Initiating Phase is the foundation of the project. During this stage, the project
manager needs to establish the business case for the project; ensure that the proposed
outcome is aligned with the organization’s strategic goals; prepare an initial budget and
timeline, decide how to manage the project, and also involve relevant stakeholders and
team members.

The business case or project proposal must clearly explain the objectives, purpose, and
deliverables of the project; identify potential risks and outline key resources needed to
complete the project. This can also include the selection process for a suitable project
manager.

As the approval process for a new project will vary from organization to organization, it is
important to confirm and include all required details.

Once the project is approved, the business case will inform the project charter, which
documents stakeholders, project constraints, approaches to change management and other
relevant information. The charter should also outline key tasks and a proposed schedule to
aid Phase Two: Planning.

In Collaborative Project Management: A Handbook, we recommend you also decide how you
will manage the project during this phase. This decision should be based on the complexity
of the work involved and the experience of your team.

As you can see from the below spectrum, some projects require a lighter touch whilst
others need more rigorous project management processes. The choice will depend on
project maturity levels with your organization, the number of projects, the complexity of
projects, and the duration of projects.
Having identified relevant stakeholders, it is time to engage them! Winning the support of
stakeholders is vital to project success. Make sure stakeholders know what you will need
from them early on.

Finally, create a collaborative project management site to track the project and help the
team work efficiently together. If you are not using project management software,
SharePoint is an ideal way to get started.

4 phases of the project management life cycle

The project management life cycle is usually broken down into four phases: initiation,
planning, execution, and closure—these make up the path that takes your project from the
beginning to the end. Some methodologies also include a fifth phase, controlling or
monitoring. For our purposes, this phase is covered under the execution and closure
phases.

To help you visualize the project management lifecycle, use this free customizable
template. It’s easy to edit and share with your team.
1. Initiation

In the initiation phase of the project, you identify a business need, problem, or
opportunity and brainstorm ways that your team can meet this need, solve this problem, or
seize this opportunity. During this step, you figure out an objective for your project,
determine whether the project is feasible, and identify the major deliverables for the
project.

Instead of waiting to have the project strategy decided for you, Moira
Alexander advocates for a mental switch from being a project "manager" to becoming
a project "leader":

"Project managers must be able to sell business leaders on the intrinsic value they offer to
the business at a strategic level when they are at the table from the start of strategic
planning instead of after the fact decision-making. Project managers effectiveness is
drastically muted when offering a "fix-it" or "workaround" once high-level directional
business decisions are made without their expertise."

Clearly, it's worth it to do what it takes to make your voice heard early—before the
strategy is set in stone.
Project management steps for the initiation phase

Steps for the project initiation phase may include the following:

Undertaking a feasibility study: Identifying the primary problem your project will solve
and whether your project will deliver a solution to that problem

Identifying scope: Defining the depth and breadth of the project

Identifying deliverables: Defining the product or service to provide

Identifying project stakeholders: Figuring out whom the project affects and what their
needs may be

Developing a business case: Using the above criteria to compare the potential costs and
benefits for the project to determine if it moves forward

You’ll also develop a statement of work or project initiation document, which may include
basic project life cycle flowcharts.

2. Planning

Once the project is approved to move forward based on your business case, statement of
work, or project initiation document, you move into the planning phase. In this phase, you
break down the larger project into smaller tasks, build your team, and prepare a schedule
for the completion of assignments. During this phase, you create smaller goals within the
larger project, making sure each is achievable within the time frame. Smaller goals should
have a high potential for success.

Take a look at this example workflow diagram that you can use as a template to plan your
projects.
Project management steps for the planning phase

Steps for the project planning phase may include the following:

Creating a project plan: Identifying the project timeline, including the phases of the
project, the tasks to be performed, and possible constraints

Creating workflow documents or process maps: Visualizing the project timeline by

diagramming key milestones using our Gantt chart maker

Estimating budget and creating a financial plan: Using cost estimates to determine how
much to spend on the project to get the maximum return on investment

Gathering resources: Building your functional team from internal and external talent pools
while making sure everyone has the necessary tools (software, hardware, etc.) to complete
their tasks

Anticipating risks and potential quality roadblocks: Identifying issues that may cause your
project to stall while planning to mitigate those risks and maintain the project’s quality and
timeline

The planning phase is also where you bring your team on board, usually with a project
kickoff meeting. It is important to have everything outlined and explained so that team
members can quickly get to work in the next phase.
3. Execution

You’ve received business approval, developed a plan, and built your team. Now it’s time to
get to work. The execution phase turns your plan into action. The project manager’s job in
this phase of the project management life cycle is to keep work on track, organize team
members, manage timelines, and make sure the work is done according to the original plan.

Project management steps for the execution phase

Steps for the project execution phase may include the following:

Creating tasks and organizing workflows: Assigning granular aspects of the projects to the
appropriate team members, making sure team members are not overworked

Briefing team members on tasks: Explaining tasks to team members, providing necessary
guidance on how they should be completed, and organizing process-related training if
necessary

Communicating with team members, clients, and upper management: Providing updates to
project stakeholders at all levels

Monitoring quality of work: Ensuring that team members are meeting their time and quality
goals for tasks

Managing budget: Monitoring spending and keeping the project on track in terms of assets
and resources

If you have a properly documented process already in place, executing the project will be
much easier.

4. Closure

Once your team has completed work on a project, you enter the closure phase. In the
closure phase, you provide final deliverables, release project resources, and determine the
success of the project. Just because the major project work is over, that doesn’t mean
the project manager’s job is done—there are still important things to do, including
evaluating what did and did not work with the project.

Project management steps for the closure phase

Steps for the project closure phase may include the following:

Analyzing project performance: Determining whether the project's goals were met (tasks
completed, on time and on budget) and the initial problem solved using a prepared
checklist.
Analyzing team performance: Evaluating how team members performed, including whether
they met their goals along with timeliness and quality of work

Documenting project closure: Making sure that all aspects of the project are completed
with no loose ends remaining and providing reports to key stakeholders

Conducting post-implementation reviews: Conducting a final analysis of the project, taking

into account lessons learned for similar projects in the future

Accounting for used and unused budget: Allocating remaining resources for future
projects

By remaining on task even though the project’s work is completed, you will be prepared to
take everything you’ve learned and implement it for your next project.

Project palnning
Project planning is at the heart of the project life cycle, and tells everyone involved where
you’re going and how you’re going to get there. The planning phase is when the project
plans are documented, the project deliverables and requirements are defined, and the
project schedule is created. It involves creating a set of plans to help guide your team
through the implementation and closure phases of the project. The plans created during
this phase will help you manage time, cost, quality, changes, risk, and related issues.
They will also help you control staff and external suppliers to ensure that you deliver the
project on time, within budget, and within schedule.

The project planning phase is often the most challenging phase for a project manager, as
you need to make an educated guess about the staff, resources, and equipment needed to
complete your project. You may also need to plan your communications and procurement
activities, as well as contract any third-party suppliers.

The purpose of the project planning phase is to:

Establish business requirements

Establish cost, schedule, list of deliverables, and delivery dates

Establish resources plans

Obtain management approval and proceed to the next phase

The basic processes of project planning are:

Scope planning – specifying the in-scope requirements for the project to facilitate
creating the work breakdown structure
Preparation of the work breakdown structure – spelling out the breakdown of the project
into tasks and sub-tasks

Project schedule development – listing the entire schedule of the activities and detailing
their sequence of implementation

Resource planning – indicating who will do what work, at which time, and if any special skills
are needed to accomplish the project tasks

Budget planning – specifying the budgeted cost to be incurred at the completion of the
project

Procurement planning – focusing on vendors outside your company and subcontracting

Risk management – planning for possible risks and considering optional contingency plans
and mitigation strategies

Quality planning – assessing quality criteria to be used for the project

Communication planning – designing the communication strategy with all project

stakeholders

The planning phase refines the project’s objectives, which were gathered during the
initiation phase. It includes planning the steps necessary to meet those objectives by
further identifying the specific activities and resources required to complete the project.
Now that these objectives have been recognized, they must be clearly articulated,
detailing an in-depth scrutiny of each recognized objective. With such scrutiny, our
understanding of the objective may change. Often the very act of trying to describe
something precisely gives us a better understanding of what we are looking at. This
articulation serves as the basis for the development of requirements. What this means is
that after an objective has been clearly articulated, we can describe it in concrete
(measurable) terms and identify what we have to do to achieve it. Obviously, if we do a
poor job of articulating the objective, our requirements will be misdirected and the
resulting project will not represent the true need.

Users will often begin describing their objectives in qualitative language. The project
manager must work with the user to provide quantifiable definitions to those qualitative
terms. These quantifiable criteria include schedule, cost, and quality measures. In the case
of project objectives, these elements are used as measurements to determine project
satisfaction and successful completion. Subjective evaluations are replaced by actual
numeric attributes.

8 key roles and responsibilities of project manager

1. Activity and resource planning

Planning is instrumental for meeting project deadlines, and many projects fail due to poor
planning. First and foremost, good project managers define the project’s scope and
determine available resources. Good project managers know how to realistically set time
estimates and evaluate the team or teams’ capabilities.

They then create a clear and concise plan to both execute the project and monitor its
progress. Projects are naturally unpredictable, so good project managers know how to
make adjustments along the way as needed before the project reaches its final stages.

2. Organizing and motivating a project team

Good project managers don’t get their teams bogged down with elaborate spreadsheets,
long checklists, and whiteboards. Instead, they put their teams front and center. They
develop clear, straightforward plans that stimulate their teams to reach their full
potential. They cut down on bureaucracy and steer their teams down a clear path to the
final goal.

3. Controlling time management

Clients usually judge a project’s success or failure on whether it has been delivered on
time. Therefore, meeting deadlines is non-negotiable. Good project managers know how to
set realistic deadlines, and how to communicate them consistently to their teams.

They know how to effectively do the following:

Define activity

Sequence activity

Estimate the duration of activity

Develop a schedule

Maintain a schedule

4. Cost estimating and developing the budget

Good project managers know how to keep a project within its set budget. Even if a project
meets a client’s expectations and is delivered on time, it will still be a failure if it goes
wildly over-budget. Good project managers frequently review the budget and plan ahead to
avoid massive budget overruns.

5. Ensuring customer satisfaction

In the end, a project is only a success if the customer is happy. One of the key
responsibilities of every project manager is to minimize uncertainty, avoid any unwanted
surprises and involve their clients in the project as much as is reasonably possible. Good
project managers know how to maintain effective communication and keep the company’s
clients up-to-date.

6. Analyzing and managing project risk

The bigger the project is, the more likely there are to be hurdles and pitfalls that weren’t
part of the initial plan. Hiccups are inevitable, but good project managers know how
meticulously and almost intuitively, identify and evaluate potential risks before the project
begins. They know how to then avoid risks or at least minimize their impact.

7. Monitoring progress

During the initial stages, project managers and their teams have a clear vision and high
hopes of producing the desired result. However, the path to the finish line is never
without some bumps along the way. When things don’t go according to a plan, a project
manager needs to monitor and analyze both expenditures and team performance and to
always efficiently take corrective measures.

8. Managing reports and necessary documentation

Finally, experienced project managers know how essential final reports and proper
documentation are. Good project managers can present comprehensive reports
documenting that all project requirements were fulfilled, as well as the projects’ history,
including what was done, who was involved, and what could be done better in the future.

Introduction to Project
Management Organizational
Structure
Project management structure is very vital to the success of any project team; an
organization or project team that is structured gives support to the work that’s
being done. Misaligned project management teams or organizations create a
negative impact on the outcome of a project. This is simply because the
organizational structure has an influence on the authority of the project manager,
thereby affecting how projects are run. It goes without saying that non-
structured project management teams often lack guidance and a guided team
drives successful projects.

In this post, we are going to be looking at the project management organizational

structure from two angles; we will be studying them in terms of who the project
leader is and who is responsible for decision making where the project is
concerned.

As we know, an organization could be defined as a group of persons who come

together to accomplish set goals; in order to successfully achieve those set goals, a
project manager would need to familiarize himself with the project management
office structure.

Three Types of Project Management

Structures
An organizational structure could be described as the official line of authority and
control within an organization. Project management structures tell us how
reporting relationships work in a particular organization.

Depending on the environment the organization finds itself operating in, the goals
they set for themselves and the nature of work being done, you would find that
organizations are structured in 3 ways:

 Functional Organizational Structure

 Matrix Organizational Structure – This can be further broken down into – Balanced
matrix, Strong Matrix, and Weak Matrix
 Projectized Organization Structure

Now that we know how organizational structures are categorized, let’s take a
closer look at each one of them to see what makes them unique.

Functional Organizational Structure

In a functional organizational structure, you would find the components of
a hierarchy system where authority-driven decisions on budget, schedule, and
equipment rest on the shoulders of the functional manager who possesses a
significant level of expertise in the same field.
That is to say that the project manager, in this type of organization has little to no
authority here; in some functional organizations, that position does not even exist.

What would you find, however, is that the work is broken down into departments
such as the human resource department, sales department, finance, public
relations, administration, etc.

In simple terms, it can be likened to that of a more traditional company where

staff is presided over by a supervisor, based on their functions within the
organization and communication is most often done through the department heads
to senior management.

What is fascinating about this type of organizational structure is that employees

appear to be more skilled in their respective departments, thereby leading to
greater work efficiency. Everyone knows who to hold accountable if something
were to go wrong as responsibilities are predetermined.

On the downside, the work may prove monotonous over time, which could result in
less enthusiasm and reduced loyalty to the organization. In addition to that, you
would also find that cross-departmental communication becomes poor and the high
level of bureaucracy could affect decision-making negatively.

Projectized Organizational Structure

The projectized organizational structure is the complete opposite of the functional
organizational structure even though the organization may still group staff
according to their work functions.

In this case, the project management team structure is organized in such a way
that the project manager has project authority. He has jurisdiction over the
project’s budget, schedule, and the project team. You would find him at the top of
the hierarchical structure, calling all the shots; with employees playing supporting
roles for the project. At the end of the project, the project team members are
released and resources directed towards more relevant areas.

What’s great about this kind of structure is that there is a clear, established line
of authority; resulting in faster decision-making and approval. Communication
becomes easier and more effective and project team members gain more
experience working on different types of projects as the need for them arises.
A major disadvantage to this type of organizational structure, however, would be
that employees could see themselves being under a lot of pressure most of the
time, especially if they happen to work on multiple projects at the same time. This
often leads to poor communication amongst the team members as everyone is left
more or less playing “catch-up”.

Matrix Organizational Structure

The matrix organizational structure can be found lying somewhere between the
functional organizational structure and the projectized organizational structure
depending on what type of matrix structure is being run.

For instance, the strong matrix organizational structure has some similarities with
that of a projectized organizational structure in the sense that the project
manager is responsible for a project. If the organization is running a weak matrix
structure, then the project authority would fall to the hands of a functional
manager – as it is in a functional organization. Interestingly enough, in a balanced
matrix organization, both the project manager and the functional manager shares
equal authority for the project.

If an organization finds itself working in a dynamic environment, then this might be

the right structure to run with it and it promotes greater efficiency, helping the
organization respond to customer demands or changes in the marketplace, faster.

This is easily achieved because while the project manager exhibits project
authority in a horizontal manner, the functional manager does so in a vertical,
flowing downwards. For example, the project manager could be responsible for
handling project schedule or budget while the functional manager would be
responsible for outlining and distributing responsibilities, overseeing the
performance of the equipment, etc.

In Summary
In this post, we looked at what an organizational structure was and how vital it was
for project managers to understand the different organizational structures.

We looked at the merits and demerits of running a functional, projectized and

matrix structure and we noted that the decision to go with either of them would
depend on the kind of environment in which the organization operates in, their
goals and the nature of work being done.