Have you ever been involved in a complex project that just did not go the way you wanted? Often failure is pre-ordained due to the approach to the project. The concept of project management exists because it helps assure completion of a project successfully. This course covers the basics of project management where you will learn what project management involves and how to approach it successfully.
While project management can be a very complicated and dry subject, we have attempted to make the subject easy to comprehend and identify the necessary skills and learned behaviors a project manager needs to succeed. We cover the major subject areas of the topic and provide valuable information and insight in to the how's and why's of dozens of important subjects such as:
Project management is the application of knowledge, resources, skills, tools, and techniques to a variety of activities in order to meet the requirements for a particular project. There are five basic groups of processes that comprise project management. They are:
Initiating Process
Planning Process
Executing Process
Monitoring and Control Process
Closing Process
There are nine areas of knowledge involved with management expertise. These areas include:
Project Integration Management
Project Scope Management
Project Time Management
Project Cost Management
Project Quality Management
Project Human Resources Management
Project Communications Management
Project Risk Management
Project Procurement Management
Today, with a global marketplace, projects are more complex and require more speed of execution than in the past. The maxim of project management is: do it, do it right, and do it now!
PROJECT MANAGER
Project management and project manager are often synonymous terms. The project manager rarely participates directly in the activities and actions that produce the end result. Rather, they strive to maintain the progress and productive interaction of the elements involved in such a way as to minimize the risk to the project. Very often, the project manager is either a client or representative of a client that determines the exact needs and action plans necessary for the success of the project.
Regardless of the field or discipline, the project manager's talents must include the ability to envision the entire project from start to finish and ensure that the vision is reached. Any type of service or product business will likely have the implementation of plans overseen by a project or product manager.
Like any human undertaking, projects need to be performed and delivered under naturally occurring constraints. These constraints are scope, time, and cost. One side of the triangle cannot be changed without affecting the two sides.
Time refers to the time available to complete the project. Cost refers to budget for the project. Scope refers to what must be accomplished to produce the desired end result.
Not only do these three natural constraints coexist, but they also compete with each other. For example, increasing the scope of a project typically means increased costs and more time required. A tight time constraint acts to reduce the scope and increase costs. A tight budget could easily translate to increased time requirements and reductions in scope.
The discipline of project management is about providing the tools and techniques that enable the project team (not just the project manager) to organize their work to meet these constraints.
