Manage a Project
Congratulations!
Now you are a project manager. Someone gave you the project manager job. It’s time to start working on the project.
You have to follow the PMI defined steps diligently to success as a project manager.
Project Phases:
- Initiation: Defining objective, scope and deliverables.
- Planning: Planning the tasks and scheduling them
- Execution: Performing the scheduled tasks
- Managing and controlling: Monitor the tasks and resolving any issues.
- Closing: Complete the project and create handover
. All projects follow similar steps to mana
- Initiation: This is the first phase of the project.
Identify the stakeholders and gather requirements from them.
Define the scope of the project. Under this it’s important to define what is In-Scope and what is Out-of-Scope for the project. This will be part of the Project Charter and get signatures from the stakeholders. This will avoid scope creep in the future.
Engage the stakeholders and sponsor with frequent communication will help in keeping the organization priorities and project objective in sync.
Constraints: Identify the constraints and address it how to handle
Assumptions: List all assumptions of the project and clarify how things will be handled when there are changes
- Planning
Project Plan is created in this phase which will help to complete the project successfully.
Project plans are created using a tool and distributed with the stakeholders and the team. MS Project is used widely among project managers. There are other tools which have more functionalities and ease of use.
Milestones are identified for the project. Work Breakdown Structure is created for each milestone with the associated tasks. The tasks are identified and scheduled in the project plan.
Resources to complete the tasks are assigned in the project plan. Start date and End date are assigned to each task with the predecessors. Critical path is identified and resources are reallocated accordingly
3. Execution phase is when the project plan is executed. Project manager makes sure the milestones are achieved as planned. He/She removes any obstacles, coaches and leads the team to complete the project in time and money.
- The Monitoring and controlling of the project happens in this phase. The project manager tracks the project performance with the planned execution. The milestones are checked if they are completed as planned. Any deviation is communicated to the team and updated to the sponsors including all stakeholders.
Risks: Check for any upcoming risk which will affect the project execution. Identify root cause problem of the risk and analyze to resolve the issue. Communicate to the sponsors on all risks.
Closing: The project has to be closed following a predefined process. All activities and milestones are completed at this stage. It is well documented with all the activities, timelines and resources involved.
