A whopping seventy percent of projects fail to meet customers’ expectations at the time of delivery. And the most significant reason tied to this fairly-high rate of failure is poor project management. If you face a problem understanding the topics, take assignment experts UK help on project management topics.
Certainly, project management isn’t a cakewalk. From preparation to production, every stage needs to be evaluated and processed by the project manager carefully to deliver customer-centric services. On that note, there are a lot of segments where the execution of the stages can go wrong, including planning minutia, customizing products for clients, and delivering products on time. These faults occur mainly because the entire project management task is viewed as one task. And the better way to minimize these faults is to break the huge task into manageable phases.
In this regard, I will describe the five phases of project management in this blog so that you can execute every seemingly back-breaking step with ease and perfection.
1. Project initiation
The idea to start and execute a project depends on how you initiate the idea. That brings us to our first step, which is project initiation. The project initiation is the phase that marks the beginning of the project management cycle. You start this phase by defining achievable goals for your project on a broad level. This is achieved by understanding the project’s basic requirements and creating a project charter. The project charter comprises your goals, budget, constraints, and expected timeline. And then, you proceed to identify the key stakeholders for your project. Stakeholders are those people who are actively involved in your project. And the ideal way to create the list of stakeholders is to register each stakeholder with their designation, roles, and influence.
The project initiation phase needs to be established after carefully considering your resources and knowledge of the relative market. Also, determine the timeframe to avoid delay in production and delivery.
2. Project planning
Proper project initiation helps you to identify the project goals, and adequate project planning aids project development with precision. And failing to plan properly can overpower your doggedness to deliver customer-centric services. On that note, every project needs careful planning for successful execution.
Project planning usually starts with setting the already developed goals, which are achieved through the clear method and the smart method. You use the smart method to set goals after critically analyzing the project requirements. On the other hand, you use the clear method to set goals that deliver tailored services to the modern-day workplace.
After you set your goals, you will be required to identify the project’s estimated costs, resources, and requirements. You should also define the project’s scope and break down the work schedule for timely project management.
Apart from all these essential steps, you should create a communication and risk management plan in case your project includes external stakeholders.
Note: Whenever you are planning for a project, make sure you are identifying projects’ roles, baseline performance measures, the resources for solving unforeseen problems, quality, progress checkpoints, and time.
3. Project execution
The next vital step to effective project management is project execution. Executing the project plan is to implement the plan in line with the set goals. And this is the stage where the team does the actual work.
Several steps should be followed to produce the project deliverables, which the project owner should govern. On that note, the project owner needs to stay active and engaged with the team members to ensure effective management of the project. Staying engaged involves establishing workflows, responsibly collaborating between stakeholders, and monitoring the team’s progress. Through continuous vigilance, project owners help every team member stay on the same page so that the project runs smoothly.
For example, the project owner can conduct regular meetings to keep track of progress, communicate essential modifications, and manage customer acceptance of the product that is in progress.
Note: There are a few avant-garde collaboration tools available in the market that you can use to promote successful collaboration and increase team productivity.
4. Project Monitoring
The next step to effectual project management is project monitoring and control. A project monitored and controlled during the execution stage is a project whose failure can be minimized by 20%. On that note, project execution and project monitoring can overlap as they take place at the same time.
Project monitoring typically revolves around measuring the performance of team members and, in turn, the project progression. And this is achieved through the usage of key performance indicator tools. Several factors can be measured using key performance indicator tools, such as:
- If the project is on schedule
- Is there any additional cost that is being incurred for manufacturing the products and services?
- Are the problems being addressed by the project owner adequately?
- If every task in the queue is completed with efficiency
It is usually during the project monitoring and control stage that the owner should responsibly track the effort and cost of manufacturing products. And it is through monitoring that owners ensure frugal use of resources to complete the project within the budget.
Note: The project owner should review the business case now and then and make adequate adjustments to the project plan.
5. Project closing
The final stage in the project management process is the project closing step. Once the project closes, the project owners hold meetings to assess the project’s successes and failures. It is through careful inspection of the formulated project that helps the team members to recognize the areas of improvement in the project. And the inspection is usually carried out in the last stage, which is the project closing stage of project management.
However, remember that for the project to close formally, it should be evaluated thoroughly by the project manager. As project owners, they will be required to develop a punch list of things in the project that need modifications or were not accomplished in the process. Additionally, project owners must create the final project report, gather the deliverables, and store the documents in a particular place.
Note: You can use cloud-based solutions to gather and save project-related documents in one place throughout the project’s life.
Parting thoughts,
Project management becomes a lot easier when you divide its execution into the five stages mentioned in the blog. The five stages, including the project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closing, develop the project life cycle. And if you consider executing these five stages carefully, project management can always be a success.
Author’s Bio:
Anne Gill is an MBA graduate working as an MBA writer at MyAssignmenthelp.co.uk. Here, she offers project management assignment help to students.
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