Project Management: 4 Stages of Project Management

Project management is the work of coordinating a business's project activities, keeping a project schedule on track and presenting final deliverables that adhere to the project plan. Project managers who specialize in organizing and executing complex projects typically take on this work. Unlike the everyday tasks involved with running a business, projects are temporary and require specialized tactics to reach completion.

Project management methodologies can take different forms to address a business needs and the unique goals of a project.

1. 1. Agile project management: This project management process works for businesses focused on executing projects quickly, prioritizing speed and flexibility. It emphasizes iterative adaptation, or the idea of using cyclical processes to improve each round of work. Within this project management style is a technique called “scrum” management that emphasizes team-based project objectives. With the scrum technique, the manager typically breaks the project work into brief cycles called “sprints.” The project manager then meets regularly with team members—typically on a daily or weekly basis—throughout the project lifecycle to identify and remove roadblocks.
2. 2. Waterfall project management: This is a sequential approach to project planning where a team or single employee completes one project phase before implementing subsequent phases. Project managers can adapt the waterfall process and work it into other project management techniques to prioritize time, budget, or quality depending on the company’s primary goals.
3. 3. Lean project management: In this approach to project management, the project manager identifies baseline project needs and maintains a lean project scope and compressed time frame for completion. Drawing on lean manufacturing techniques, this methodology prizes budget- and time-conscious project management skills.
   
4. 4. Critical path method: The critical path method (CPM) is a mathematically derived approach that uses project management software to identify crucial tasks and optimize the time frames for those tasks. This method stands in opposition to traditional project scheduling, which often uses Gantt charts (bar charts that reflect timelines and overlapping schedules) and personal calendars.
5. 5. Program evaluation and review technique: Commonly known as PERT, this project management tool helps teams assess complex project requirements, particularly when many stakeholders, dependencies, and project risks exist concurrently.

Strong project management leads to overall project success, and skilled project managers are able to balance several constraints.

• Budget: A skilled project manager keeps each task within a set budget and does not stretch the company's finances to meet project goals.
• Coordination: Various project teams with different areas of expertise and approaches to work may struggle to communicate with each other. For instance, the programmers who work on software development may communicate differently than the salespeople who interface with clients and consumers. An effective project manager can keep these disparate teams on the same page and working toward a common goal.
• Time frame: Left to their own devices, a perfectionist worker might never declare a project finished. A project management professional enforces deadlines and keeps track of each team member’s progress to meet a client’s expectations or agreed-upon deliverables on time.
• Leadership: Employees need to understand the decision-making hierarchy to operate effectively. Having a clear point person at the top of the organizational ladder makes this hierarchy clear. In a very small company, a CEO might double as a project manager, but large companies juggling many types of projects rely on project managers to delegate tasks and decisions.

Once key stakeholders have completed the business case—the task of determining whether a project is both feasible and necessary—the project management workflow begins.

1. 1. Project kickoff: A successful project management cycle begins with a clear statement of purpose. Sometimes called a project pitch, a project brief, or a project charter, this document functions as a mission statement and directive for the assignment.
2. 2. Planning: Once the client and managers have identified and agreed upon the core goals, the project management team must begin devising a timeline and a work breakdown structure. Teams must understand the deliverables expected of them and how those deliverables fit into the overall endeavor. At this stage of the process, some companies involve a risk management specialist who can identify any potential pitfalls.
3. 3. Execution: With the timeline and specific roles established, it is time to launch into the actual work of the project. During this stage, the project manager must make real-time adjustments to schedules, procurement, and the budget to keep the team on track. When obstacles arise, managers have to communicate changes to the plan across teams and sometimes change management styles to address unforeseen challenges.
4. 4. Project completion: At a project's completion, the company presents final deliverables and reviews project performance. It is a time to celebrate the conclusion of a successful project, study the mistakes of an unsuccessful one, debrief among team members, and plan for future endeavors.

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