As organizations have recognized the criticality of projects to their corporate success, project management has become a focal point of improvement efforts. Project management centres of excellence (e.g., project management offices), training programs and organization change programs to improve project management practices are increasingly common parts of strategic plans to improve organizational effectiveness.
Project management covers the full range of activities from the beginning to the end of a project and also needs to address the management of multiple projects within programs and across organizations.
In summary, Project Management as a profession now addresses:
The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities to meet the order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project.
Concern with the overall planning and co-ordination of a project from inception to completion aimed at meeting the client requirements and ensuring completion on time, within cost and to required quality standards.
Overseeing the execution of entire project, including hiring members of the production team, assigning tasks, organizing and scheduling the writing and production process, and attending to all administrative details - keeping in mind the defined goals of the project.
Project Managers need to have technical skills like scheduling, cost estimating and statistical risk management and encompasses complex disciplines such as scope (product) definition, procurement management, human resource management and communications.
Hence we can surmise that project management is a discipline. It applies principles, concepts, tools and techniques to improve project performance and organizational effectiveness. Project management adds value by improving the probability of consistently successful projects. |