Project Management:
Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a successful project. It is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing and managing resources to achieve specific goals. The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals and objectives while honoring the perceived/ define constraints ( time, cost, quality, space).
The secondary elements are more ambitions challenge is to optimize the allocation and integration of input resources to meet pre-defined objective. (e.g. Assume you has Rs. 100 far a day; spending on food, copy, pen, mobile phone call and bus fee is Rs. 45, Rs. 10, Rs. 15, Rs. 30 and Rs. 20 respectively).
As a discipline, Project management developed from several fields of application including Civil construction, engineering and heavy defense activity. The prefathers’ of project management are ‘Henry Gantt’ called the father of ‘planning and control techniques’ who is famous for his use of the Gantt chart as a project management tool and ‘Henry Fayol’ for his creation of the fine management functions which from the foundation of the body of knowledge associated with project and programme. Both Gantt and Fayol were students of F.W. Taylor’s theories of scientific management. His work is for runner to modern project management tools including work break down structure (WBS) and resource allocation.
Anyone holding a responsible position in a project is a project manager and if pursues his own style in discharging his so called project management responsibilities, he can hardly be blamed.
Definition of project management.
Project management is the dynamic process that utilizes the appropriate resources of the organization in a controlled and structured manner to achieve some clearly defined objectives identified ad strategic needs. It is always conducted within a defined set of constraints (time, cost, quality standard). Project management is a road to success. Project management is the discipline or temporary endeavor with a defined beginning time and end time constrained and often constrained by funding or deliverables undertaken to meet unique goal and objective typically to bring about beneficial change or added value.
Project management is about creating an environment and conditions in which a defined goal or objectives can be achieved in controlled manner by a team of people.
Project management includes developing a project plan which includes defining and conforming the project goals and objectives, identify tasks and new goal will be achieved, quantifying the resources needed and determining budgets and timelines for competition. It also includes managing the implementation of the project plan along with operating regular controls, to ensure that there is accurate and objectives information on performance. Relative to plan and the mechanisms to implement recovery actions where necessary.
PERT: Programme, Evaluation and Review Techinques
WBS: Work Break down Structure
CPM: Critical Path Method
SOW: Statement of work
Concept of Project:
A project is not a physical objective, nor is it the end result. It has something to do with the going on in between which must be same whether we build a high technology process plant or merely hold an election, to deserve a common name and to be termed as a project.
A project is initiated to achieve a mission- whatever the mission may be. A project is completed as soon as the mission is fulfilled. (The project lives between these two cut-off points and therefore this time span is known as project life cycle). What then is a project ? It starts from scratch (origin point) with a definite mission, generates activities involving a variety of human and non- human resources all directed towards fulfillments of the mission and stops ones the mission is fulfilled. (In other words, Project as a combination of human and non- human resources pooled together in a temporary organization to achieve a specific purpose). The purpose and the set of activities which can achieve that purpose distinguish one project from another.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary: “Project as an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned and designed to achieve particular aim. Eg: research project, a business development project, a new product development project.
Project is an enterprise in which human or machine, material and financial resources are organized in a Novel (systematic) way to undertake a unique scope of work of given specification within constraints of Time, Cost and Quality. So, as to deliver beneficial change defined by quantitative methods.
Project is a beneficial change which was the special project management techniques to plan and control the scope of work in order to deliver a product to satisfy the clients and stakeholders needs and expectation.
Origin and Meaning of Project:
The work Project was first used in around 16th century and derived from the Latin word ‘PROJCERE’ means throw forward. The Latin root thus suggest movement, a certain relationship with space and time. The implied process includes:
- A point of departure
- Use as a base from which
- One throws oneself forward
- Towards goals
Historically, the word and concept were first used by architects in the different century.
Conclusion:
- A project is a method which enables us to move from idea to action- structuring the various stage (start, time, planning, time, implementing time, cost time) in that process.
- Project set out to alter the social environment in which it is to take place.
- Takes shapes in the certain social, spatial and temporal context.
- Has an educational dimension and enables people to learn by experiment.
- is the product of collective activity
- Necessarily involves evaluation with dream and actual situation or which establishes a link between idea and action.