Project Management
The hierarchy of needs of the PM
Project Management & Process Management
I remember a Quality Director, when asked about BPM initiatives in his company, answering that their project management orientation was the better proof of it.
Both management techniques have some similarities (enterprise cross approach, horizontal organization...) and are customer focus, but PM directly and BPM indirectly. What does that mean ?
Usually, Project Management is the first step towards Management by Process. The project manager is a Formula 1 pilot. It is an effectiveness booster: to get things done in time.
However, pilot skills are not enough, whatever competion or not. When you need to improve efficiency (to get things done in time but at the lowest possible cost, you have to involve designers & mechanicals. That is the role of the Business Process workers.
Project Management: a Key Business Process
When a company experiments customer insatisfaction, a reasonable decision is to put somebody to take care of it. No matters is the customer is the Customer or internal customers (represented by process owners. Project Management is usefull on both outside & inside. That is why it is so important to put it at the center of any Business Process Improvement initiative.
Project Management & its hierarchy of needs
Following with our bionic view of the Business world, let us identified what could be the needs that a Project Manager experiments. Making a parallel with the approach of A.Maslow in its hierarchy of individual needs.
Requirements - Resources & Budget
As a project manager on both sides (with external Customers and internal customers), my concern is first to identify:
- What to do: requirements or statement of work
- When to do it: committed delivery dates
- Who compose the team: Resources
- How many Budget I have
Project Scope Management
Planning & Risk Analysis
Once defined the scope of the project, second step or needs to satisfied is to get a global view of work to perfom on a time scale and on an organization: activities placed in time and in hands.
At this moment, one of the most added value given by a project manager can be obtained: the analysis of the risks and their management.
Communication
A Project is a Team or, better said, several teams: core project team, ad-hoc teams with other members of the organization, team with customer or suppliers. And no team exist without communication:
- on the objectives and the scope
- on the organization and workbreakdown
- to make accountable people on tasks and actions
- on project status, achievements, red flags and challenges
Delivery
All that has been said before is about means to get a result. My mentor in Project Management used to say: all in all, the only thing we ask to a PM is to get things to be delivered in time.
In
Delivering "in" time open a lot of doors:
- new business with a satisfied customer
- cost under control to satisfy shareholder
- people satisfaction and motivation at work
At the end a project manager considered "In" within the organization with doors opened to promotions.
More resources on Project Management
Project Management Concepts
Setting objectives to manage a project
Project Balanced Scorecard
Project Manager Tools
Manage Project with web-based tools
Online templates to improve visibility on Projects
