Four key management areas

1.      Planning

Under this planning management area project manager has to concern about what needs to be achieved and why? When should it be done by? How will it be done? What will be the order of the cost? When you get the answers for those questions the planning part has already done.

2.      Organizing

I. What should be defined for everyone involved is explained by Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) which further explains what their role is, their responsibilities and who to report to.

II. Right structure ensures everyone that knows what is happening, is it committed to the project, communicates effectively and has common objects.

To be successful in project management, there are some multiple things project manager has to handle. Such as project, team members, reports, requirements and etc. for that PM has to be an organized person. Then only project manager becomes a good performer. As long as he/she keeps track of your project team, progress, several projects documents, the flow of information and changes to the project. It is easy to manage the project.

3.      Controlling

Triple constraints come under this controlling part.

Triple Constraints of a project

Search & Analysis

To come up with a good project, the project manager has to be concerned about triple constraints. It helps to create a successful project.

According to Kathy Schwalbe Information Technology Project Management (6^th edition), triple constraints include of scope, time and cost. Scope includes of what work will be done as part of the project, what unique product, service or result does the customer or sponsor expect from the project, how will the scope be verified. Time is how long should it take to complete the project, what is the project’s schedule, how will the team track actual schedule performance, who can approve changes to the schedule. And cost is what should it cost to complete the project, what is the project budget, how will costs be tracked and who can authorize changes to the budget.

According to PMBOK (6^th edition), balancing the competing project constraints include scope, quality, schedule, budget, resources and risk. Changes can be happened if the relationship between these factors changed. If the team couldn’t get their targeted budget, then the scope and the quality will be low and the risk will be high. The risk can be negative or positive. Most of the projects fail, because of this unbalance of these constraints.

Conclusion

Comparing with these two, my suggestion is Kathy Schwalbe’s explanation is better than PMBOK explanation. Because Kathy has explained three constraints directly, so it is easy to balance. But in PMBOK they have come up with six factors but each meaning has similarities. Therefore using three constraints makes easier to detect as well as it is easy to understand and also it gives a big feedback on how to produce a good service or a product by combining and balancing these three constraints.

Reference

• NA, 2008, A Guide to the Project Management Body of  Knowledge, 4th ed, 14 Campus Blvd., Newton Square, PA 19073-3299 USA
• Kathy Schwalbe, Information Technology Project Management, 6th ed, USA

Project Management

Search

• A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.        (PMBOK 4th Edition, 2008) 
• A project is a temporary group activity designed to produce a unique product, service or result. A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and there for defined scope and resources.                                                                                                                                             (PMI, 2012) 
• Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. Project Management processes fall into 5 groups. These are Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.     (PMBOK 4th Edition, 2008)

Analysis 


Advantages of Project Management

• This reduces the chance of project failing.
• To meet requirements and expectations to be result, the minimum of quality should be there.
• Make things simpler and easier for with a single point of contact running the overall project.
• Encourage consistent communications among staff and suppliers.
• Keep costs, time frames and resources to budget.               (Project Management- The Basics, 2008)

Disadvantages of Project Management

• Inflation

Conclusion

A project can be a group or individual one. But in an organisation most projects are group projects and those projects are led by a project manager. For a specific project there should be only one project manager, otherwise group members decisions can be different as unexpected. The goal of the project is to produce a unique product, service or result. A project is mentioned as temporary, because it has a defined beginning and end time. When planning a project we have to concern about so many sides and things. Therefore before we starting a project we have to do a research about the product.
                                                                              As a Project Manager, he/she has to be more aware about the scope of the project. Project Management is a methodical approach which is the application of skills, knowledge, tools and techniques which use to meet the project necessities. So the project manager has to be concerned about project management processes, which are called initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. Project management can apply for any type of projects, but widely use for software development projects.
                                                           The project management provides many advantages. It reduces the chances of project failing from various ways. Communicating among group members is one of the best way to success their projects. All members must be keeping touch with the project manager. And the cost, end date and resources must keep as estimated, should not increase any of these.
                                                                                                                         Inflation is a disadvantage in project management. Because the estimated cost can not be changed whether the general price level arose. So it is a disadvantage for the project team. But it happens very rarely. so as I feel following project management rules let us to success our projects.

Reference


PMI 2012, Project Management Institute Website, [Online], Available: http://www.pmi.org/About-Us/About-Us-What-is-Project-Management.aspx [Accessed 19 March 2012]
Project Management, 2008, Business Link Website, [Online], Available: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1085941143&type=RESOURCES [Accessed 19 March 2012]


Bibliography


NA, 2008, A Guide to the Project Management Body of  Knowledge, 4th ed, 14 Campus Blvd., Newton Square, PA 19073-3299 USA