Article Overview
Project management has emerged out as the perfect technique to counter projects irrespective of their nature and length. But what are the hidden benefits of project management? Read here.
Table of Contents
How Project Management Works
Initiation Phase
Planning Phase
Execution Phase
Monitoring & Control Phase
Closure Phase
Benefits of Using Project Management
Customer Satisfaction
Risk Management
Edge Among Competitors
Goals Achievement
Work Quality Enhancement
Improved Budgeting
Defined Team Roles
Better Team Management
Better Resource Management
Quality Enhancement
Conclusion
Companies now target more than one area to achieve their goals, and for that, they need to manage their resources very cautiously. Project management has emerged out as the perfect technique to counter projects irrespective of their nature and length. It has also boosted the performance of the companies and has enhanced the experience of the customers and clients too.
According to PMI, there’s no super-secret formula to project success, it takes engaged executive sponsors, projects aligned to organizational strategy, control over scope creep. This says a lot of why project management is essential for the leaders to not only grow their business but to stay ahead of the curve in corporate competition.
How Project Management Works
Let's dive deep into how project management goes down and how it paves the way for efficient planning.
A solid start establishes a project for success and lays the foundation for all other stages of the life cycle. At this stage, the PM first measures the feasibility and value of the project to determine if it is worth carrying out the project.
As soon as the project receives the green light, the team members are informed about the goals assigned during the project, and the project phase starts. The PM must work closely with clients and management to adequately prepare future planning processes.
At this stage, the PM must form a team and support the project. One way to do this is to bring the team closer and show the importance and value of the project. It is vital for everyone to be on the same page.
The planning phase focuses on drafting to achieve project goals in time and budget. This roadmap is used by the team to guide the execution of the project. At this stage, the scope is defined, and a robust project management plan is developed. This is one of the most crucial steps in the project management life cycle because any mistake during planning can ultimately result in a massive loss for the company.
The plan includes identifying costs, available resources, potential funding options and risks, and setting realistic times. You also need to measure your progress, including performance measures or criteria, and make sure your project is on the right track.
Execution is the stage most relevant to actual project management. PMs should expect active activities during this time, from resource allocation and results generation to development updates, status reviews, and performance report creation. The project manager must formally mark the beginning of the execution phase, lead the team in the right direction, and arrange a start-up meeting so that everything is prepared correctly for the team members to perform their work.
Although it is sequenced as the fourth phase in the project management lifecycle, the monitoring phase is actually most often implemented during the execution phase and not subsequently performed. 
As the team executes the project plan, the PM begins to monitor and control the project plan to keep progress on schedule.To achieve this, the PM will:
- monitor the tasks that are on the critical path
- review, control, and take action to respond to scope creep.
- update stakeholders through status checks according to defined communication plans
- compare planned and actual costs
- find out how to optimize performance
The final phase of the project management lifecycle is the closing and requires a number of key tasks and activities. This includes providing the completed project to customers, submitting financial statements to stakeholders, disclosing resources, and terminating contractors hired explicitly for project management. In the final stages, the PM also holds post-mortem meetings to assess what went wrong, highlight performance, and see what improvements can be made to future projects. Identifying and auditing valuable team members through this meeting is a proven way to strengthen the credibility and brand of PM.
PMI reports that only 58% of the companies truly understand the value of using project management practices. This one statistic is enough to define how much they are missing out on in their business activities.
It's no surprise that customer satisfaction represents the biggest advantage. Customers are satisfied whenever the project is completed within scope, time and budget. And satisfied customers are regular customers. Intelligent project management provides tools that allow your relationships with your clients to thrive and meet their needs and even exceed expectations. Project management skills ultimately help organizations to better serve their customers than ever before.
Nobody likes it when something is wrong. Robust project management includes tools for assessing and managing risks for best results. Effective risk management provides the opportunity to identify potential risks and manage and mitigate these risks. This gives organizations and customers a more confident and competent team to achieve project goals.
Reputation Integrity is about how people perceive organization and values. It is based in part on what you do when you speak, which is directly linked to fruitful project management. Moreover, competitive advantage is a company's advantage because it gives customers and clients higher or inherent value compared to other companies. Good project managers value this aspect. The competitive advantage of solid project management ensures that companies and stakeholders succeed.
Project management is a skill to pursue. Industries such as engineering, healthcare, financial services, technology, and law require people with high levels of organizational and leadership skills. Project management skills train managers to develop. Through an online course or online training, you have the tools and know-how to get results and stand out from the competition.
Project management is essentially the practice of turning ideas into reality. If the specialist learns how to plan, budget, prioritize and execute the project, this can be done in personal and professional life.
A goal without a plan can keep you busy for hours, weeks or months. However, if you approach a goal like a project manager, you can create actionable steps to achieve the goal to anticipate problems and prioritize what really matters.
Knowing how to complete a project will not only be a less stressful experience but will also improve your quality of work and increase your satisfaction. During life, the average person spends 13 years and 2 months at work. If we want to spend too much time doing something, it's best to be satisfied with what we do.
Project management training can help you manage your resources more effectively. For example, if you need to do something well, you need to place the order early so that it can be done slower and cheaper.
As soon as the preparatory work is completed, it continues to the actual management part of project management. However, if the project owner is not clear about the team, the team members find it difficult to finish the work, forget the details, or bother who to contact with the question.
Companies with a formal project management role have a project manager that ensures that the project plan proceeds as planned, but companies without this responsibility often leave this responsibility to the person who leads or starts the project. For example, if you are an editor who posts new articles, a developer who is responsible for migrating a website, or an account manager who updates a customer reporting system, you might be the person who coordinates all the moving parts of your project.
Participation in the project management process helps not only you but also those who lead you. You are better organized and give your team members a clearer path to success.
Better be the equipment that can identify and handle obstacles or dangers before hitting a snowball. Snowball problems are usually time-consuming, expensive or both. Identifying problems earlier allows you to preserve these resources in your personal and professional life.
The term can be project management, but project management is only part of the puzzle. Before starting work, you should set a project goal so that everyone is clear about the purpose of the task and the desired outcome.
People on the project team can also benefit from this. By actually thinking through the problem, you're trying to solve and giving the team a direction. The team will focus on the task that affects the impact rather than the goal and won't get lost in unnecessary work.
To put these tips into practice, you need to use project management tools to help your team collaborate more effectively and keep working.
There are literally dozens of tools to choose from. But most existing project management tools should not be covered. Most of these tools are designed for existing processes and can take a long time to set up and integrate. Instead, find something that is easy to adopt, flexible, and customizable. Bonus points if you can connect tasks between projects (which can be difficult in email and spreadsheets) and communicate with the team members on which the work is performed.
Although project management seemed to have its hand in just improving the timeline and activities of the project, it has its root a lot deeper. From enhancing the quality of the end-product to team management, it is a perfect strategy to tackle the most complex of the projects. Still, managers and stakeholders are not showing that much affection to embrace project management as it deserves due to their typical planning ways.
Moreover, project management is becoming a lot easier through modern PM tools that are made to address the issues of managers who did not like the process of maintaining a project timeline on spreadsheets or who were less aware of the implementation of PM. Interactive Gantt charts, ERP features, and other features are only boasting the reliability of PM tools.