All organization are founded on goals and objectives: and this is its project. Projects are objectives or tasks designed to accomplish or produce an estimated outcome.
Every project comes with set objectives, timeframe, budget, and plans, and this is where project management comes in.
What is Project Management?
Project management is the deployment of plans, strategies, skill, knowledge, and other sundry resources to achieve objectives of an organization or an individual. Project management comes with a timeline and budget.
Unlike the “usual management” that is a continuum, project management suffers time and budget constraint.
Across all business niches, project management helps define, translate and execute the organizations goals effectively. Because of the huge role that project management plays in businesses, organizations should pay attention when employing project managers.
There is no universal project management type. Every industry has its own plan designed to meet the peculiar challenges or tasks it confronts: based on project size, nature, industry or sector.
Types of Project Management.
Project management is a chain of processes designed to get a job done. As challenges and tasks differ, so do the strategies and approaches deployed to solve them.
There are many project management types: more will emerge as new industries emerge.
Amongst those are Waterfall, agile, lean, and scrum project management.
Waterfall Project Management.
Referred to as traditional project management: the waterfall management approach adopts sequential order. Projects are done one after the other in one direction. Given how waterfall project management works, project sequence and timelines have to be adhered to for quality outcome.
Also, in this type of management, the size of manpower increases as tasks increases.
Agile Project Management
Agile project management projects the principle of monitoring and improvement. This type of project management fits in industries where changes or updates are regular, especially the technology industry.
Unlike waterfall project management, which adopts a sequential system of handling projects, agile project management approach tasks in phase, parallel to each other by different departments of the organization team.
Lean Project Management.
The principle of lean project management is to avoid waste of time and resources. The goal is to provide more value for the customer without too much cost. This methodology is perfect for the manufacturing industry but not limited to it.
This type of management is suitable for organizations that are short on resources but want to achieve more value.
Scrum Project Management.
This method falls under lean project management. Scrum toes the line of lean principles: low cost, time management, and a small team. Also, Scrum methodology is suitable for industries with regular changes and updates, especially the tech industry.
Other Industry Project Management Types
Construction Project Management.
This type of project management addresses its deliverables, such as roads, bridges, and buildings. This industry has designated training to certify qualified project managers.
IT Project Management
This type of project management is for the information technology industry: tailored to address projects related to the technology industry. This type deals with improvements and changes more than any other type of project management.
Biotechnology Project Management.
This is a regulated industry and therefore requires strict methodology. Biotechnology project management focuses on the complexity of biotechnology research and development.
Public Project Management.
This type serves all public works by the government: either by its agencies or contractors.
Project management approach.
There are four project management approaches: plan, process, people, and power.
Plan
To create perfect project management: accurate planning has to be adopted. To create a suitable plan, understanding the project and thinking painstakingly regarding the activities required to achieve the desired goal is the first thing to do.
The ability to think ahead with human evolution in view is essential. Also, the use of logic and imagination to visualize a desired result: and the steps necessary to achieve that result should for the bases of planning.
Forecasting is an aspect of planning. Therefore, imagining what the future will look like should form the core of planning.
Process
After a plan, creating a process template that will sequentially outline activities to reach the desired goal comes second.
The process helps in the decision-making and implementation of plans.
People
Without the right people, plans will be flawed and implementation hard. Collaboration and communication should form the core of hiring people.
Also, people with foresight should be involved in the formation of plans. Overall, the people must be competent to drive solid project management.
Power
Powers are chains of authority in an organization: organograms. The power lines of an organization have to be well structured. There has to be strong leadership and a guide that will measure input and output and keep everybody in line.
The leadership must be of strong character and personality to influence and motivate
Conclusively, all project management types have one thing in common: they address three goals: time, quality, and cost. Projects are successful when they are done per schedule, within budget, and according to previously agreed quality standards.
