When a project comes in, it is immediately assigned to a team with a hard deadline almost always without structured planning. This is how most companies operate and a vast majority fail because they undervalue the importance of project management.
If your business is not paying enough attention to project management, critical delivery items may fall off the radar causing the company’s revenue flow/cycles to be in jeopardy. This is because project management is a very important and indispensable aspect of every business regardless of size or domain.
Here’s why your business must understand the importance of project management and why it must be done right.
What is Project Management?
The Project Management Institute defines project management as the use of specific skills, knowledge, techniques and tools to deliver something that is valuable to people.
If you are associated with a company having a complex set of components that have to be completed and assembled in a set fashion to create a functioning product, such as in the field of engineering, construction, healthcare, information technology etc, chances are that your organisation is highly dependable on good project management processes and more importantly skilled project managers to see mission-critical projects over the finish line.
A project manager is one of the most important stakeholders contributing to the successful delivery of an important project and ensuring that cash flow is not held up due to poor delivery. Tasks that project managers usually execute include:
- Preparing a to-do list
- Prioritising tasks
- Assigning them to teams
- Progressing on the tasks
- Taking feedback from the client
- Working on the feedback
- Delivering a complete project on budget on time to meet stakeholder requirements
What Makes Project Management Important?
Project management brings leadership, ownership, and direction to projects. Without project management, teams can be lost out in the open sea headed towards dangerous territory or the land of no return. Similar to a ship without a compass, sextant, or a captain. Project management leaders enable teams to do their best work with the highest efficiency. Here are some reasons why you should get it right!
Project management mobilises resources and orchestrates the journey of the project to its north star
Project management optimises resources and delivers ROI (return on investment) on time within the allocated budget. We need to eliminate waste, avoid never-ending email loops, set the right priorities, plan in resource available time, draft required skills on time, and ensure resource time and skill utilisation is optimised optimally.
Project Management Translates to Clear Focus & Objectives
If the objectives aren’t clear, your team wouldn’t know where to go, which will eventually lead to chaos. However, with the right project management in place, your team can focus better and have a clear view of the objectives that are to be achieved.
Project Management Allows Better Planning
A famous saying goes, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It simply means without planning, you cannot expect to achieve your goals or objectives.
Project management helps you get a clear idea of your objectives. This allows you to formulate a plan around those objectives, which further makes achieving them pretty easy. In a nutshell, with project management in place, you can plan and achieve your objectives better.
Project Management Helps with Better Resource Allocation
Project management allows you to determine what resources are required for a specific project. This way, a project manager can easily assign tasks to resources who best fit a particular role or function. Other non-human resources such as machinery, tools, and conference rooms can be assigned to avoid project delays.
Project Management Helps Manage Risk
Another aspect that justifies the importance of project management is the ability to manage risks. With the right project management in place, you can strategise or pre-plan everything, including the things that could pose a threat to the project’s progress. This way, you can always stay ahead or avoid unwanted issues and thus manoeuvre through risks effectively.
Project Management Helps with Quality Control
Whenever a project arrives, it arrives with a set of guidelines that the project members need to adhere to. With effective project management, understanding these guidelines and maintaining quality becomes easy. The project manager can easily guide the team as to what quality they need to maintain. This ensures quality control that delivers the best outcomes.
All of the above makes project management so important. However, merely using the term project management or having one in place isn’t enough. You need to get it right. Why? Find out below.
Why Should you Get Project Management Right and How?
When it comes to project management, you need to make sure that it’s done perfectly with the right balance of all the essential elements. It’s because the fate of your project and the company’s bottom line, directly and indirectly, depends on it. If you appoint an inexperienced project manager without the right skill set, chances are the project may deviate off it’s desired path.
An experienced project manager can be the difference between achieving success or failure. So what are the qualities that a good project manager needs to have? Read on…
1. Leadership
To get project management right, you need a person/project manager who has a vision and knows how to lead the team in the right direction. After all, at the end of the day, it’s the leader who motivates or inspires the team to do more.
2. Communication
Miscommunication often leads to delays and failures. So, make sure to choose a project manager who knows how to transfer complex information in simple words and ensures clear communication.
3. Understands the importance of project management
A person who doesn’t believe in project management is the worst choice to be appointed as the project manager. So, carefully evaluate and pick someone who is aware of the nitty gritties and understands the importance of project management. You will be setting yourself up for success.
4. Planning
Another attribute you need to look for is planning skills. Better planning can significantly up the project management game. Ideal project managers should plan all the risks in advance along with ways to deal with the same.
5. Time Management
Time management simply means planning and delivering the tasks on or before time. An ideal project manager should know how to create a positive sense of urgency and get the job done on time.
Tried and tested tips from our project management experts at IG
- Don’t just manage your project team
It’s not about being in charge. Hear your team out and help them overcome their obstacles. Build trust through honesty and support, loyalty will follow. - Understand business culture
Culture can be different throughout the business and understanding this is key to the success of your project. Work and align with the organisation’s core cultures, don’t try to change these. - Don’t be afraid to share negative feedback
We all make mistakes and have room to learn. Negative feedback is not a criticism, It is something that helps you and others grow their knowledge. However, also make sure the positives are highlighted regularly. - Co-create value to project success
It’s not just about seeing tasks over the finish line. Ensure you are co-creating value for both the team you are managing and towards business goals. - Engage with all stakeholders from the beginning, these relationships are key to success
Not all stakeholders are part of the core project team, people will be affected throughout the lifecycle but should be engaged from the start and kept up to date throughout the process so there are no surprises, and feedback can be given easily
Conclusion
By now, you’ve probably got a clearer picture of the importance of project management. However, what’s more important is getting it right. You can achieve this by following our tried and tested suggestions for achieving successful outcomes in every project, especially mission-critical ones.
We understand that the project management process could get tedious and requires a huge effort right from scouting and recruiting to managing and implementing the right resources. It may be wise to get in touch with an organisation that specialises in project management giving you the right mix of expertise for faster implementation, flawless execution, and an exceptional track record in delivering high-value projects that co-create value for the business. This lets your business free up time on mundane tasks while you focus on your core competencies.
Have you had project management challenges? Let us know in the comments below or get in touch with Inextricable Group for a free consultation.