So what is project management?
We all practise project management, but there is a big difference
between carrying out a very simple project involving one or two people
and one involving a complex mix of people, organisations and tasks.
The art of planning for the future has always been a human trait.
In essence a project can be captured on paper with a few simple
elements: a start date, an end date, the tasks that have to be carried
out and when they should be finished, and some idea of the resources
(people, machines etc) that will be needed during the course of
the project.
When the plan starts to involve different things happening at different
times, some of which are dependent on each other, plus resources
required at different times and in different quantities and perhaps
working at different rates, the paper plan could start to cover
a vast area and be unreadable.
This was a problem facing the US Navy in the development of the
Polaris missile system. There were so many aspects to the project
that a new technique had to be invented to cope with it: the PERT
technique. This and later developments led to mathematical techniques
that can be used to find the critical path through a series of planned
tasks that interconnect during the life of a project.
You could begin the story of modern project management from this
time. But that would be unfair as project management is not only
about planning but also about human attributes like leadership and
motivation.
Nevertheless, the idea that complex plans could be analysed by
a computer to allow someone to control a project is the basis of
much of the development in technology that now allow projects of
any size and complexity not only to be planned but also modelled
to answer 'what if?' questions.
The original programs and computers tended to produce answers long
after an event had taken place. Now, there are many project planning
and scheduling programs that can provide real time information,
as well as linking to risk analysis, time recording, costing, estimating
and other aspects of project control.
But computer programs are not project management: they are tools
for project managers to use. Project management is all that mix
of components of control, leadership, teamwork, resource management
etc, that goes into a successful project.
Project managers can be found in all industries. Their numbers
have grown rapidly as industry and commerce has realised that much
of what it does is project work. And as project-based organisations
have started to emerge, project management is becoming established
as both a professional career path and a way of controlling business.
So opportunities in project management now exist not only in being
a project manager, but also as part of the support team in a project
or programme office or as a team leader for part of a project. There
are also qualifications that can be attained through the professional
associations.
One reason for the rapid growth is the need to understand how to
look after complex projects, often in high tech areas, which are
critical to business success but also have to use scarce resources
efficiently.
Most people still want their projects to be on time, meet quality
objectives, and not cost more than the budget. These form the classic
time, quality, cost triangle.
In fact if you have an unlimited budget and unlimited time, project
management becomes rather easy. For most people, however, time and
money are critical and that is what makes project management so
important today.
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