Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project Management Kurt Grotler Liberty University

Project Management Abstract This research paper will give an overall view of what is involved in Project Management. It will

discuss different traits of its manager, different stages of the process, and answer the questions of what they would have to work from as far as boundaries. This paper is to introduce others to the workings of a project manager and a team that he forms to help in the devolvement of a project.

Project Management Project Management What is project management and what do they do? This paper will give you a basic look at

what a project manager does and how they go about doing their job. What are the traits of a good project manager? We will look at the responsibilities of the manager, what they need to be involved in, and the guidelines in which to follow. Then the project, where it starts with an idea, goes through the development process and on to completion, if it was only that simple. Project management is not for the person wanting to sit at a desk and just answer questions. They have to be involved from the very beginning of the idea, so that they have a clear vision of what the stakeholders want and what is the best way to get there. Let us first break down what we mean when we say, Project Management. First is the project, by definition, it is temporary and unique. (Dobson & Leemann, 2010, p. 6) Projects will always have a start and an end date to them. They are also unique because they are individual processes; there is just one of them. Management is simple getting someone else to do your work for you, however, a better definition would go like this, a manager is supposed to make an unsolicited contribution to the organization. (Lewis, 2007, p. 25) When you put these together you have a project manager that understands the mission and vision of the organization, then they see how the project meshes with the organizations mission, and they steer the project to ensure that the interests of the organization is met. (Lewis, 2007, p. 26) With that said, we can say now that the primary responsibility of the project manager is to make sure that all the work is completed on time, in budget and scope, and at the correct performance level. (Lewis, 2007, p. 24) What value is there for these people? The value of the project management is related to the implementation of it in an organization. (Shi, 2011, p. 296) What Mr. Shi is talking about here is

Project Management that if the organization does not use project management correctly, they will not benefit from its existence. What type of person would make a really good project manager? While certain traits like technical engineer or maybe a very smart person with a MBA or a PhD sound like the right answer, its not, it really takes a person with very good people skills. (Lewis, 2007, p. 30) The whole idea behind being a successful project manager is to get others team members to do the

work so that it gets done to meet the goals of the organization. Another good trait to have is to be able to think outside the box and to make decisions without asking for someone else to make it for them. They have to always think of possible problems and have a solution for whatever that may be. They need to be a self-starter, if they are going to take on a project; they have to be involved from the start, so that they understand what the goals are that needs to be met. The last trait a project manager needs to be is the coach. Project Management is a team of people that need to be brought together thru team communication, collaboration, and cohesiveness. (Yang, Huang, & Wu, 2011, p. 260) These three traits help build the team to be more effective in coming together to talk about the stages and problem every day and the implement a solutions. The final thing that the project manager needs to know is what constraints are in place and the order that they are to be in. The constraints of a project are three things; time, cost and performance. Which one is the most important; that is left up to the organization or stakeholders, which are also the ones that control how the project will be worked upon. These three constraints make up the six dimensions of the project, in which order they may fall. The way these are described in Creative Project Management is; the one that has the most constraint is the driver of the project. This would have very little flexibility for it, where as the one that has the least amount of constraint would be the

Project Management most flexible. (Dobson & Leemann, 2010, p. 148) As an example, if cost is the most import and performance is the least, the project manager would be able to allow less expensive materials to do the job as long as they meet the standard of the project. Then if time is the in the middle of these two it would be somewhat important to make the end date of the project as set in the

beginning but not the main focus. The constraints are just the beginning of the project managers; they have so much more to do than just worry about those three components. Lets now start to look at the process of which a project manager starts this whole process. The traditional project management methodology is based on design/build or plan/do kinds of projects. (Larson & Drexler, 2009, p. 552) There are four parts to the project life. First is the defining stage; second is the planning stage; third is the executing stage; and last is the termination stage. Let look at each one by itself. The defining stage is the initial goal and technical specifications of the project are identified. (Larson & Drexler, 2009, p. 552) This is the time that everything is decided upon, such as what resources are going to be needed, how much it will cost and what is its purpose. This can be the most important part of any project, because if there is an error made at this point, it will show up at some time during the project. This may happen in the first couple of weeks or it could happen near the end and they wont have time to adjust the project to fix the error. At this stage of the project is where you sign on the stakeholders and the organization. The planning stage flows right from the defining stage. Plans are made to determine what the project will consist of, who is going to do what, what is the order of events should be, how potential risks will be handled, how information will be communicated, and to set up the budget. (Larson & Drexler, 2009, p. 553) This can also labeled strategy, tactics, and logistics. (Lewis, 2007, p. 35) When starting a project, dont always do things the way that they always have been

Project Management done, but ask everyone what is the best way to do this, look at different processes, or orders of doing things, remember to think outside of the box. After this, they need to start asking who, what, when, and where questions to everyone on the team and stakeholders. A well prepared team is the best team. The project manager also needs to make sure that the right supplies, equipment, and information is supplied to team members during this time of the planning. Once all of these questions have been answered, start looking at each possible problem and develop and corrective action plan for each one. At the end of you planning stage, the project manager should set up a project plan book, this will just have the plans in it at first, but by the end of the project, every change, report and other documents will be added to the book. This will allow

others to have a complete history of their project. (Lewis, 2007, p. 37) Things in this book should be; problem statement, mission statement, objective, requirements, exit criteria, end-item specifications to be met, work breakdown structure, schedules, required resources, control system, major contributors, and risk areas with contingencies. (Lewis, 2007, pp. 37-38) The final stage of the planning process is to have everything signed off on so that the execution stage can begin. The project is on its way now that it is in the executing stage of the process. This is the part of the process that the three constraints take affect that were discussed early in this article. Time, cost and performance are now in control of what happens from here on out. The executing stage is where the actual work of the project is performed. The three constraints are used to measure control. Is the project on schedule, within budget, and meeting specifications? What revision/changes are needed? (Larson & Drexler, 2009, p. 553) With this part of the project, the project manager needs to keep an up-to-date progress chart of everything happening at the site of the project. They have to make sure that deadlines are met; one segment cannot start until

Project Management another segment is finished. Resources need to be in place so that the next operation can begin on time. It can become like a puzzle, they start on the outside frame, finish that and then start to fill in the inside, match pieces that connect to the outer edge and grows in. Once this part is drawing near completion, it is time to execute the termination stage. The termination stage is not like the word sounds; it just means that the end is here, the project is finished and it is time to sign off on the project to the organization and the stakeholders. That is it, nothing more to do, wrong. At the end of every project there is an

evaluation that is done by the project management team. They will go through the plan book and evaluate each step of the way, what went right, what went wrong, what problem was not addressed at the beginning, with answers to these questions, this project management team get stronger after each project because they collect more information before they go to the next project. Project management is a process that is continually advancing with each job; to stop learning from one job will put them behind on the informational side of the business. As part of a project management team or as a project manager, it is so important to be a people person, enjoy them, understand them, and encourage them. They have to know what the scope of the project is, work inside of the three constraints, time, cost, and performance. It is good if they are a self-starter, they have to be involved in the very beginning so they have a clear understanding of what is expected by the organization. Next, make sure all the questions are answered in the planning stage, who does what on so on, make sure that plan book is complete to start with the plan that is signed off on. During the execution stage, be prepared for problems, set-backs and goals to happen. Keep the teams communicating with each other, to achieve the end objective. Then finally, hand the finished project over to the organization and stakeholder.

Project Management Sit down with the team, and evaluate the project from beginning to end and make changes has needed for future projects. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the life of a project management team. They are people

that enjoy other people, are quick to think and make decisions without seeking others and taking responsibility for their actions. They see what needs to be done, how to do it and what it will take to get it done. God knew what project management was when He created the Heavens and the Earth, Nehemiah knew when he went back to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall around the city, and David and Solomon in building the Temple. Project Management has been around since the beginning of time, we just didnt know what to call it then.

Project Management References NIV, The Holy Bible. (1991). Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.

Dobson, M. S., & Leemann, T. (2010). Creative Project Management. New York: McGraw-Hill. Larson, E., & Drexler, J. J. (2009). Project Management in Real Time: A service-learning project. Journal of Management Education, 551-573. Lewis, J. P. (2007). Fundamentals of Project Management.Third Edition. New York: AMACOM. Shi, Q. (2011). Rethinking the implementation of project management: A value adding path map approach. International Journal of Project Management, 295-302. Yang, L.-R., Huang, C.-F., & Wu, K.-S. (2011). The association among project manager's leadership style, teamwork and project success. International Journal of Project Management, 258-267.