The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and a key focus is Professional Development and Skills. No matter what kind of organization you’re in, a key skill to have is project management. The ability to effectively manage projects will assure that your operations continue to run smoothly it will likely assure that you’ll advance in your career. The following contributed post is entitled, Five Stages Of Project Management.
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When it comes to getting your project just right, there are a few phases that you will need to be aware of. Project management isn’t just about managing people – it is about all of the details too. You use tools, skills, people, and techniques in your specialty to bring the project to life.
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Here are the five stages of project management.
Initiation
The start of the project can often be messy, but the goals will now be defined at a broad level. There will be a lot of research to decide if the project is actually possible. There will be some feasibility testing done here too.
All of the critical decisions makers like stakeholders and board members will do their own due diligence to decide if the project will go ahead too. If everything seems to be okay, then there will be a project initiation document drawn up that will outline the purpose and requirements.
Project Planning
Many project managers find this to be an enjoyable stage. Developing a roadmap for critical players to follow. There are a few options that project managers will consider the best goal setting methods. SMART and CLEAR. Here is a breakdown:
SMART – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely
CLEAR – Collaborative, Limited, Emotional, Appreciable, Refinable
The full scope of the project is now clear. The roles and responsibilities are noted, and everyone will not be accountable for their parts. The scope statement, Work Breakdown Schedule, Milestones, TimeLine, Communication Plan, Risk Management Plan will all need to be written up.
Execution
The deliverables are now developed and completed. These will be a lot happening in this phase, many meetings, status updates, performance updates. There are a lot of moving parts in this phase. Here are a few:
Develop a team: if you need to hire in contractors here is where you will do it. Depending on the project, you’ll need designers, government contractors like Salt3, extra assistants, and other skilled workers.
● Resources being assigned
● Execute the project management plans
● Procurement if required
● Tracking
● Status meetings
● Continuous updates of the project status
The execution phase and the performance phases will begin to overlap.
Performance
This will have been running for a short while by now, and it is time to take note of the progression and the performance. This phase will have a heavy focus on the KPIs that were outlined in the first stages. There are several ways to check on project performance, here are a few:
● Quality deliverables
● Project Performance
● Effort and Cost tracking
● Project Objectives
There may be some minor (or major) adjustments to the schedules, and some movement of the resources were required to keep things on track.
Closure
This phase is pretty much what it says on the tin. Contractors who have been hired will now be terminated. The key players in completion will be recognised and celebrated in most cases. There will be an evaluation about what went well, what didn’t, and where there is room for improvement for further projects. A project manager will now also create a plan for the company to follow, a final budget and final report too.
