Source of this information is http://www.pmhut.com/
In
late 19th century, in the United States, large-scale government projects were
the impetus for making important decisions that became the basis for
project management methodology such as the transcontinental
railroad, which began construction in the 1860s. Suddenly, business leaders
found themselves faced with the daunting task of organizing the manual labor of
thousands of workers and the processing and assembly of unprecedented
quantities of raw material.
Figure
1: This is what can happen without effective project management.
Near
the turn of the century, Frederick Taylor began his detailed studies
of work. He applied scientific reasoning to work by showing that labor can be
analyzed and improved by focusing on its elementary parts that introduced the
concept of working more efficiently, rather than working harder and longer.
Project management in its present form began to
take root a few decades ago. In the early 1960s, industrial and business
organizations began to understand the benefits of organizing work around
projects. They understood the critical need to communicate and integrate work
across multiple departments and professions.
Project management seems to appear in the media
mostly when it fails. Studies are released frequently to great fanfare on why
projects fail. Senior officials appear in the news to apologize for major cost
overruns in public projects.
You’d think that project management would be
something to avoid!
But to an entrepreneur it is one of the most
important skills they need. And it is one of the most important skills they
need to seek out as their organization grows. Unfortunately, it is also one of
the least understood skills that a typical entrepreneur brings to the table.
And it is the last skill they think of as they build their
business.
What is project management? And more importantly,
why should you care?
One might think from the term that project
management is managing projects. However, that is portfolio management. Project
management is a much more difficult and complex discipline. In this article,
I’m going to define project management, and explain how it differs from normal
business management. Along the way, I’ll also explain why
you, as an entrepreneur, need to encourage its development within your
business.
First off, let’s get the term project out of the
way. A project is a business endeavor, which produces a unique product, service
or result. So far, that isn’t very helpful. Most business operations do that.
However, a project has two key characteristics that aren’t common.
First, it is temporary. It has a beginning and an
end. Most business operations do not have an end. Or at least one hopes not.
Normally, business operations begin during the entrepreneurial phase of the
business. But they quickly settle into a permanent routine. Project management,
however, does not
deal with the routine.
Second, projects are unique. They exist to create
a single product, different from all other products. An operating business is
all about repetition. It’s about creating the same product over and over. Only
in that way, can the process be refined.
Building your business is a project. It has a
beginning — when you first conceived the business. And it has an end — when the
business moves into the growth and stability phases. And it creates a unique
result — the business.
Project management, then is all about managing
under these two conditions.
Normal operating management is concerned with
repeating the same thing over a long period. And it develops the appropriate
skills and knowledge to deal with that. For example, a manager learns to keep
his team happy and producing at their maximum. He seldom if ever
deals with the initial building of a team. And hopefully, he
never has to deal with the end of his team.
Project management however, is concerned with
building a unique result in a cycle of creation, doing, disbanding. It has
developed the appropriate skills and knowledge to deal with beginning and
ending a cycle. For example, a project manager learns to build a team and to
disband a team. She is constantly in the building and ending phases and often
never deals with a static team’s problems.
From an entrepreneur’s view, there are two major
points of interest. First, building a company is a project. During that
project, the entrepreneur will be involved in both strategic and operation
elements. For example, he or she needs to identify the market and niche to
address. And they will frequently be involved in selling to major or even all
customers. However, management of the process of building a business is a case
of project management.
But it doesn’t end with building the business.
In any business, there is a need to identify what
is happening around the organization and how the business should react. This is
strategic management. Its focus is on change and the future.
On the other hand, the organization needs to
carry out its current function. This is the job of the operations elements of
the business. Marketing, accounting, production are all concerned with today,
and yesterday. Their focus is on continuation and repeating the same processes.
Change is their enemy.
Of course, operations can’t be allowed to stay
running in the place. They need to be steered or the business will fail
eventually. The plans, goals and strategies identified by the strategic
managers need to implemented. This is the role of project management. And it’s
why an entrepreneur needs to ensure that project management skills are
available to the organization as quickly as possible.
The Project Management Institute, better known as
PMI, and on the web at pmi.org, is a certifying entity that offers a credential
called the Project Management Professional. Managers will often follow their
name with PMP; this means they are certified. To qualify for the credential,
applicants must meet a number of requirements. I often get calls from people
who want to change fields and work as a project manager but don’t have
certification. It actually works in reverse; to be eligible for certification
PMI requires that project management experience before you can earn your
certification. That’s where some of the confusion really begins. The clearest
point of reference you should always look to is the most current version of the
Project Management Professional Handbook, available for download at PMI.org. It
details everything you need to know about certification-how to get it, how to
qualify, and once you do become PM certified how to maintain your credentials.
