Chapter 1

Project Management: The Key to Achieving Results

In This Chapter

Avoiding the common pitfalls that lead to project failure

Working out if you’re dealing with a ‘job’ or a ‘project’

Coming to grips with the Project Manager’s role

Knowing what to do at each stage in the project

Running projects well is fast becoming an essential management skill. Many organisations, private and public sector, now recognise that they are losing money and business opportunities unnecessarily because they are failing to plan and control their projects effectively. Companies, charities and public sector organisations are constantly changing, and ever faster, as they adapt to new market conditions, business practices, regulatory requirements and technology. Running projects often creates the change, and as a result businesses are increasingly driven to find individuals who can excel in this project-oriented environment.

So, hang on tight — you’re going to need an effective set of skills and techniques to steer your projects to successful completion. This chapter gets you off to a great start by showing you what project management involves and offers some insight on why projects succeed or fail.

This chapter also gets you into the project management mindset by outlining the Project Manager’s role and covers the lifespan of the project, from the initial idea, right through to closure.

Taking on a Project

Because you’re reading this book, chances are you’ve been asked to manage a project for the first time or you’re already involved in projects and looking for easier and better ways of doing things. If the project is indeed your first one, that’s a challenge that gives you an opportunity to excel in something you haven’t done before; for many, managing a project even opens a door to a new career.

The really good news here, whether you’re completely new or have some experience, is that project management has been around for a long while. In that time, Project Managers have come up with highly effective strategies and a range of very practical techniques. You can benefit from all that experience, and this book takes you through what you need to know.

Avoiding the Pitfalls

By following a sound approach to the project, you avoid many pitfalls that continue to contribute to, or cause, project failure on a mind-boggling scale. You may ask why, if good ways of doing things are out there, people ignore them and then see their projects fail. Good question. People make the same project mistakes repeatedly, and they’re largely avoidable.

The following list looks at the main causes of project failure. The list makes for depressing reading, but gives a good background against which to contrast successful project management and the approach in this book.

That’s ten reasons for failure, but you can probably think of a few more. The interesting thing about these problems is that avoiding them is, for the most part, actually not that difficult.

Deciding if the Job Is a Project

Before you start to think too deeply about running a project, check whether it really is one. Consider these three things:

Grasping the four control areas

Projects, large or small, involve four areas of control:

You need to balance these four control areas for each project. Many projects get into difficulties when these areas don’t gel. For example, say you look at a project, think about the four control factors and think to yourself, ‘They want that scope, to that quality level, with just that resource and by then? They’ve got to be joking!’ Strangely, organisational managers often commit projects to failure by insisting on unachievable deadlines or unrealistic resources. What’s even stranger is that those same managers are surprised and even angry when the projects get into difficulties and fail.

Although many other considerations may affect a project’s performance, the four areas of control are the basis of a project’s definition for the following reasons:

Recognising project diversity

Projects come in a wide assortment of shapes and sizes. For example, projects can:

The Project Manager’s Role

The Project Manager’s job is to manage the project on a day-to-day basis to bring it to a successful conclusion. Usually, as Project Manager, you’re accountable to a senior manager who’s the project sponsor, or to a small group of managers who form a project steering committee or project board. The Project Manager’s job is also challenging. For instance, you’re often coordinating technically specialised professionals — who may have...