Why is managing projects important?’ is a fascinating query that clients may ask. They’ll say: “Can’t we just brief the people working on the project and oversee them by ourselves? It’s a lot less expensive.”
They ask themselves if they actually require project management, as on paper , it seems like an unnecessary cost and expense because project managers do not really do anything, and they often interfere with what they want their team to accomplish!
If that’s the case What is the point of project management really matter?
In reality, conducting projects with no proper managing the project is waste of time and money. It’s usually thought of as an unneeded burden on budgets and, in reality, it’s expensive up to 20percent of an total budget of the project.
Can you afford not having project management?
What is holding the client and the team to each other? And if it isn’t there who will manage the turmoil, ups and downs and disasters of the projects?
Good project management is about more than keeping the iron triangle of project management in order, and delivering on time, budget and the project’s scope. It connects teams and clients to create a vision of the project’s success and puts everyone on the same page about the essentials to keep in the right direction for successful completion. When projects are effectively managed they have a positive effect that goes beyond the mere delivery of “the stuff”.
1. Strategic Alignment
Management of projects is crucial because it assures that what is done, is correct and can provide benefit against the business opportunities.
Each client has strategic objectives and the projects we execute for them will help them achieve these goals. Project management is crucial because one of the responsibilities of a PM is to ensure that there’s an appropriate level of precision in the design of projects to ensure they are a good fit within the overall framework of our client’s strategic frameworks.
A good project management system ensures that the goals of the projects closely coincide with the strategic objectives of the company.
In determining a sound business case, and also being systematic in how to calculate ROI, project management is crucial because it will aid in ensuring that what’s best is delivered in a way that will bring the most value.
Naturally, as projects grow, it’s possible that risks could arise, and then develop into problems or the business strategy could shift. However, a manager of the project will make sure the plan is a part of the adjustment. The management of projects is crucial as projects that diverge from direction, or aren’t able to meet requirements of the business could be costly or ineffective.
2. Leadership
Management of projects is crucial because it gives direction and leadership to projects.
Without the proper management of projects the team may be like a boat with no rudder. It’s moving, but with no direction or control. Leadership is the key to enabling team members to perform their most effective work. Project management gives leadership and vision, and also motivation to overcome obstacles as well as coaching and motivating the team members to do the best job they can.
Project managers are a part of the team, but also make sure there are that there are clear lines of accountability. With a project leader on the job, there’s never doubt regarding who’s the boss and accountable for what’s happening on a project (especially in the case of the RACI chart or comparable tools). Project managers implement procedures and ensure that everyone is on the team accountable as they are ultimately responsible for whether or not the project does not succeed or fails.
3. Clear Focus and Objectives
The importance of managing projects is that it makes sure there’s a good strategy to achieve the strategic objectives.
When the management of projects is given to the team to carry on their own You’ll see teams working with no clear briefs or any defined process for managing projects. The projects aren’t well-defined, and can be unclear or vague in their objectives and make the team certain of what they are supposed to do, or the reason for it.
We, as project leaders must be prepared to prevent this from happening and ensure the timely completion of projects by breaking down the project into tasks assigned to our teams.
Sometimes, the ability to implement such a strategy is what separates good project management from poor. By breaking up the work into smaller pieces of work helps teams stay focused on their goals and focus their efforts on getting to the objective through the execution of smaller actions, and rapidly detect risks as the management of risk is crucial in the management of projects.
Sometimes, the goals of a project have to shift in accordance with the risk that is becoming apparent. Without a dedicated supervision and oversight projects can swiftly fall apart, but effective project management (and an experienced project manager) will allow the team to stay focused, and if necessary, refocus on the goals they have set.
4. Realistic Project Design
The importance of managing projects is that it helps ensure that expectations are established regarding the scope of work to be completed on time, at what point and at what cost.
If there isn’t proper management of the project and a well-constructed project plan budget, estimates for budgets and project timeframes for delivery can be set which are too ambitious or lacking comparable estimating information of similar project. This means that without effective management of projects, they are delayed, or even over budget.
Effective project managers must be able negotiate reasonable and realistic timelines and milestones among the key teams, stakeholders, and the management. In many cases, the pressure put on the delivery can compromise the essential steps and, ultimately affects the quality of the final product.
We are all aware that many jobs will take more time than anticipated. A skilled project manager can to assess and evaluate the available resources, in conjunction with the necessary timeline and then create an achievable timetable. Management of projects is essential in scheduling since it adds an objective perspective to the scheduling.
A successful project manager has an orderly process with deadlines that are achievable, that allows everyone in the team to work within a reasonable time frame and not have unrealistic expectations.
5. Quality Control
Management of projects is crucial because it guarantees the quality of the work being produced, and consistently hits the target.
Projects also face tremendous pressure to finish. Without an experienced project manager who is supported by and has the approval of the executive management projects are often under-estimated or rushed through, with schedules slashed and processes have to be rushed. This results in poor quality results because there’s no quality management system in place.
A dedicated project manager ensures that not just does a project have the resources and time to complete the task, but also that the final product is quality and tested at each stage.
A good project management system requires gated stages where teams can evaluate the results for quality, effectiveness, and ROI. The management of projects is essential to quality since it permits the process to be arranged in a sequential and gradual manner and allows teams to evaluate and test their results at every step through the process.
6. Risk Management
Management of projects is crucial because it ensures that risks are appropriately controlled and minimized in order to ensure they do not become issues.
Risk management is essential to the success of a project. It is tempting to put them in the back of the closet and not even mention them with the client and then hope that everything will go well. However, having a solid method for identifying of, managing, and the mitigation of risk can to prevent risk from becoming a problem. Particularly for complicated projects, managing risk is where the significance of managing projects really is in play.
An effective project management process requires that project managers evaluate all possible risks for the project, determine the severity of them, then create an action plan to mitigate them, and create a contingency plan should one of them occur. It is essential to know the appropriate questions to ask to identify risks before they occur.
Naturally, risks need to be prioritized in accordance with the likelihood of them happening and the appropriate response is assigned per risk (some PMs employ a risk management program for this). A good project management system is essential for this reason, since projects don’t always go according to plan and how we handle the possibility of changing and adapting our plan for managing projects is essential to deliver successful projects.
7. Process Orderly
It is crucial to manage projects because it helps ensure that the right people are doing the right things in the appropriate order – it makes sure that the proper project management procedures are followed throughout the entire life-cycle of the project.
It’s surprising that many of the largest and well-known businesses use reactive planning methods which aren’t based on any actual project management techniques.
Reactivity, as opposed to proactivity – may lead projects to enter survival mode. This happens when teams break up as tasks overlap and plans become chaotic, causing inefficiency and discontent among the group.
An effective process and planning can have a huge impact because the team understands who’s in charge of what when, how, and when. A clear process can help define roles, simplify procedures and processes, predict the risks and set up checks and balances that ensure the project’s goals are always aligned with the overall plan. Management of projects is crucial because , without an organized easy-to-understand process, businesses run the risk of project failure, erosion of trust in relationships with their customers, as well as the waste of resources.
8. Continuous Oversight
The importance of managing projects is that it makes sure that the progress of a project is accurately tracked and reported.
It’s possible that status reports sound dull and unimportant – but If everything goes according to plan, it may be a bit like documentation for the sake of documentation. However, continuous oversight of projects making sure that the project is running in the right direction compared to the initial plan, is crucial to ensure that a project remains in the right direction.
When the proper oversight and reports are in place,, it allows you to easily see when a project is starting to diverge from its planned direction. The earlier you can detect any deviation from the plan and the more straightforward it will be to correct the course.
Effective project managers regularly create easily digestible progress reports or status reports to aid in managing stakeholder relations. This helps clients and project members to keep track of the project independently. Typically, these status reports provide information on the tasks that were completed and planned, the time employed and how they measure against the schedule as well as what the progress of the project progressing against milestones or milestones, risks, assumptions issues and dependencies, as well as any other outputs from the project as it progresses.
The data is valuable not just for tracking the progress of the project but also helps clients gain trust from the other people in their company as well as allowing them to keep track of the project’s progress. This also provides your team with a an easy, consistent method to stay in contact with your clients on a regular basis to build relationships with your clients.
9. Subject Expertise in the Subject
Management of projects is crucial because it is essential for a person to see if everyone is doing the things they are supposed to.
With some years of experience Project managers are able to know the basics of a variety of the aspects involved in executing the projects they oversee. They’ll acquire technical knowledge as well as project management expertise and subject matter knowledge and will be knowledgeable about the work their teams carry out their work on, the platforms and systems they employ, as well as the potential and limitations and the types of problems that are typical.
The ability to have this kind of knowledge in the field allows them to have insightful and well-informed conversations with customers as well as teams, stakeholders and even suppliers. They’re well-equipped to be the central point of communication for the project, making sure that when the project moves across different teams and phases of work, no detail is lost or omitted.
In the absence of subject matter experts through the management of projects, you may discover that a project is not balanced and the creative team is unable to comprehend technological limitations, or developers lose sight of the creative idea behind the project. Project management helps keep everyone focused on an overall vision and brings everyone in and makes the appropriate compromises that will make the project an accomplishment.
10. Making the most of and learning from success and the lessons learned from failure
The importance of managing projects is that it draws lessons from the mistakes and successes from the previous.
Project management can help break bad habits, and when managing projects, it’s crucial to not repeat the same mistakes again. Project managers utilize review sessions, lesson learned or post-project reviews, to think about the things that worked well and what didn’t go smoothly, and how could be changed to ensure the success of the next project.
This creates a valuable document that can be used as an inventory of “dos and nots” in the future, allowing the organization to take lessons from both failures and successes. Without this information teams often end up doing the same mistake repeatedly.
These are excellent documents to present at a kickoff to remind team members of the mistakes made, such as underestimating projects, as well as success stories such as the advantages of a reliable procedure or the necessity of keeping timesheet reports current!