Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
By Henry Brown
Few businesses would experience any success without clear project management in place. But a surprising number of business people don’t actually understand project management, its role, its benefits or why it’s so important to any company’s success. This means it is often devalued and overlooked. Here’s some information on why you need to start taking project management seriously in regard to your business and its progression!
What is project management?
First, let’s focus on defining what project management actually is. Put simply, project management is a responsibility or role in a company that requires an individual to apply processes, methods, skills, knowledge, and experience to guide an individual or team to complete a specific project. Most projects will have objectives that need to be met and deadlines that need to be taken into account. Most projects will also have a specified timescale and budget that the project manager will need to stick to. Now, you may be wondering how project management differs from general management. The key is the timescale. Management in general is an ongoing process. When you manage a team, as a manager, you will have to do this for the duration of your job. If you are given a project to manage, you will have an end goal in mind. If your job role is a project manager, you will have a series of concludable projects and tasks to take control of. When one finishes, you will move on to another.
Why focus on project management?
Of course, before you invest any time or money into any business process or venture, you’re going to want to know what’s in it for you and your business. This is pretty simple to explain in regards to project management. Put simply, without effective project management, you’re not going to get very far. Project management will allow you to ensure that your team’s time is being used in the best way possible. Your project manager will be able to look over the logistics of different tasks and determine whether they are profitable or not – how long they will take, how much they will cost, the anticipated results and more. Your project manager will then be able to initiate, plan and oversee the work that needs to be carried out to bring approved projects to life. This will maximize your team’s productive use of resources. It will ensure that the project runs to time. It will ensure everyone knows what’s expected of them and what they need to deliver – plus, by what date. It will also satiate any stakeholders’ need for reassurance on projects that require funding. The project can be presented to them, showing everything they need to guarantee their investment.
Project management software
If you’re a small business and you don’t have the budget to hire a full time project manager for your company, you may want to start out by using project management software like SharePoint project management. This requires a smaller amount of investment and will be something that you can manage yourself or assign to an existing team member with a similar job role and capacity to manage the system. This is a low cost way to get into the process. When you have a project manager in place, you may want to invest in project management software anyway to help simplify their job.
Hiring a project manager
If you have the budget for a part time or full time project manager, this is a great area to look into too. When recruiting make sure you know exactly what you’re looking for and what you can afford to exchange for these services. You will find yourself paying a larger salary to a more experienced project manager, but you will also benefit from their expertise, experience and knowledge. Generally, good project managers have a unique skillset, which includes:
-Effective communication
-Good organizational skills
-Strong leadership skills
-Logic and analysis
-Decisiveness
-Negotiation skills
-Empathy
It really is important that you take time to interview all candidates who seem to tick the boxes. A face-to-face interaction will help you to get a feel from their style. You will see how it could feel to work with or for them on a project and determine whether their approach suits your business and its existing values and culture.
As you can see, there’s a lot to take into consideration when it comes to project management. Hopefully, some of the information above will help you to see the value of project management, as well as how you can find the right solutions to suit your needs and your business’ needs.
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Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop, he’s roaming the streets of London, uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.
