A project is a temporary and unique activity aimed towards achieving certain objectives and is constrained by time, cost and scope. In order to attain the objectives of the project addressing these constraints, multiple tasks has to be carried out in right time and right sequence. Thus the project management efforts are divided into the following five phases to simplify the task of project managers:
Initiating
Initiating is the build-up phase that lays groundwork for the project. This initial stage is about clarifying vales, setting objectives and estimating length, cost and scope of the project. It helps to analyze feasibility of the project to decide whether to undertake it or not. If the project is considered feasible, the project charter including the preset values, objectives and constraints along with estimated start and end date of the project, list of people involved in project with their roles and criteria for measuring success of the project is prepared with the commitment and support of the senior management. A kick-off meeting can be scheduled in this phase to let all the stakeholders and team members review the charter and discuss on next steps to be carried out (Wallace, 2015).
Planning
Planning refers to orderly listing of actual tasks that people involved in the project must complete to produce the project’s deliverables. It provides guidance for obtaining resources, acquiring financing, procuring required materials, producing quality outputs, handling risks, creating acceptance and communicating benefits to the stakeholders (Bisk Education, 2018). The planning phase provides Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to simplify the tasks related with project completion. Many companies use Gantt chart for this purpose as it lists every tasks with the starting and ending date in graphical format.
Executing
Executing is about putting the plans set in earlier stage into action. If planning is done properly, the execution becomes much easier and less time consuming for the project managers. It attempts to coordinate efforts for ensuring that the tasks are carried out as per the WBS. Executing includes tasks like communicating with stakeholders, allocating work assignments, negotiating contracts, coaching team members, holding meetings, writing updates, doing presentations for the board and conducting research among others.
Monitoring
Monitoring deals with tracking progress in the project to ensure that the actions are in accordance with the plan. It also helps to identify and rectify the deviations if there are any. In practice, the execution and monitoring goes hand in hand. Monitoring helps to prevent scope creep, calculate key performance indicators and track variations from allotted cost and time. It is important to incorporate the changes affecting the project during the project execution.The expected and actual performances are compared to ensure that team is on the right track.
Closing
Closing is wrapping up the things and ending the project in orderly manner. It involves debriefing with team and acknowledging the efforts and accomplishments of the team members (Harvard Business Review, 2016). The project is reviewed to analyze what went well and what could be improved. The overall process is documented including both good and bad aspects to use as reference in future and add to the knowledge base of the organization.
I will also follow the similar steps mentioned above to plan a project as manager. For example: If I have to lead project, I will first organize a meeting with all the team members and discuss about objective, time, cost and scope of the project. After that I will classify the overall task of project into small chunks and assign those to different members. After that the team members will start performing the tasks assigned to them and I will continuously monitor the work of each members to make sure that the objective of project is met on time. Upon completion of the project, I will document the overall process. In order to make the task of project management simpler and easier, different software can be used based on the available budget, objective and requirement of the project. Scoro, Proofhub, Basecamp, Asana, Podio, Workzone, Jira, Notion, Eventcollab etc. are some of the software that can be used for project management as suggested by Leis (2017). These software help to track project timing, project tasks and cost (Wallace, 2015).
A project is a temporary and unique activity aimed towards achieving certain objectives and is constrained by time, cost and scope. In order to attain the objectives of the project addressing these constraints, multiple tasks has to be carried out in right time and right sequence. Thus the project management efforts are divided into the following five phases to simplify the task of project managers:
Initiating
Initiating is the build-up phase that lays groundwork for the project. This initial stage is about clarifying vales, setting objectives and estimating length, cost and scope of the project. It helps to analyze feasibility of the project to decide whether to undertake it or not. If the project is considered feasible, the project charter including the preset values, objectives and constraints along with estimated start and end date of the project, list of people involved in project with their roles and criteria for measuring success of the project is prepared with the commitment and support of the senior management. A kick-off meeting can be scheduled in this phase to let all the stakeholders and team members review the charter and discuss on next steps to be carried out (Wallace, 2015).
Planning
Planning refers to orderly listing of actual tasks that people involved in the project must complete to produce the project’s deliverables. It provides guidance for obtaining resources, acquiring financing, procuring required materials, producing quality outputs, handling risks, creating acceptance and communicating benefits to the stakeholders (Bisk Education, 2018). The planning phase provides Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to simplify the tasks related with project completion. Many companies use Gantt chart for this purpose as it lists every tasks with the starting and ending date in graphical format.
Executing
Executing is about putting the plans set in earlier stage into action. If planning is done properly, the execution becomes much easier and less time consuming for the project managers. It attempts to coordinate efforts for ensuring that the tasks are carried out as per the WBS. Executing includes tasks like communicating with stakeholders, allocating work assignments, negotiating contracts, coaching team members, holding meetings, writing updates, doing presentations for the board and conducting research among others.
Monitoring
Monitoring deals with tracking progress in the project to ensure that the actions are in accordance with the plan. It also helps to identify and rectify the deviations if there are any. In practice, the execution and monitoring goes hand in hand. Monitoring helps to prevent scope creep, calculate key performance indicators and track variations from allotted cost and time. It is important to incorporate the changes affecting the project during the project execution.The expected and actual performances are compared to ensure that team is on the right track.
Closing
Closing is wrapping up the things and ending the project in orderly manner. It involves debriefing with team and acknowledging the efforts and accomplishments of the team members (Harvard Business Review, 2016). The project is reviewed to analyze what went well and what could be improved. The overall process is documented including both good and bad aspects to use as reference in future and add to the knowledge base of the organization.
I will also follow the similar steps mentioned above to plan a project as manager. For example: If I have to lead project, I will first organize a meeting with all the team members and discuss about objective, time, cost and scope of the project. After that I will classify the overall task of project into small chunks and assign those to different members. After that the team members will start performing the tasks assigned to them and I will continuously monitor the work of each members to make sure that the objective of project is met on time. Upon completion of the project, I will document the overall process. In order to make the task of project management simpler and easier, different software can be used based on the available budget, objective and requirement of the project. Scoro, Proofhub, Basecamp, Asana, Podio, Workzone, Jira, Notion, Eventcollab etc. are some of the software that can be used for project management as suggested by Leis (2017). These software help to track project timing, project tasks and cost (Wallace, 2015).
References
Bisk Education. (2018). Five Phases of the Project Management Lifecycle. Retrieved from Villanova University: villanovau.com/resources/project-m...
Harvard Business Review. (2016). The Four Phases of Project Management. Harvard Business Review . Retrieved from hbr.org/2016/11/the-four-phases-of...
Leis, M. (2017, February 7). 42 Best Project Management Software and Tools. Retrieved from Scoro: scoro.com/blog/best-project-manage...
Wallace, P. (2015). Introduction to Information Systems (Second ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.