Category: Project Management

Project management is a lifelong career with many different progression routes. It doesn’t come without its difficulties, but often that is what drives the success of the career. It’s a relatively easy role to walk into, once the right training and qualifications have been achieved. If you feel like you’re hard-working, excellent at problem-solving, and love understanding how things work, then this is the role for you.

If you’re not too sure how to get into project management, what the career involves, and how you can progress, the following information will be of use to you.

What Is Project Management

Project management requires you to be highly adaptable. You will work within time constraints to achieve project criteria, while also ensuring that you’re working within all the parameters set. You’ll be working alongside a group of people who will require the knowledge base that you will build over time, to execute the project as per the request of the business who has contracted you. Ensuring that you use methodical skills, knowledge, and streamlined processes to complete the project within the given timescale is essential. Time is money, and any delays can cost you, and the business contracting you a lot of money. Therefore working at a high standard, while also work efficiently, is vital. You will be accountable for the success or failure of the project, so working under pressure will become second nature to you.

Typical Progression Routes

Project management is a career that will open many doors. There are multiple different, very fruitful, progression routes that people chose to go down. Naturally, one of the routes is a management consultant. As a consultant, businesses will call on you to solve issues, create value, and generally improve the running of their business. Or, you could go down the route of the head of projects. Some feel this is a more natural route to take, as the line of work is so similar to the one you’ll begin in. With project management, you will be the leader of one project and will still answer to the person above you. Being head of projects makes you that person at the top. Those are just two of the progression routes people naturally follow; here are a few more for you to consider:

• Director of projects
• Programme manager
• Portfolio manager
• Business manager

The Need For Further Training

The need for further training will always follow you with this career. As industries are growing by the day, the need for them to adapt to the global changes is vast. That adaptation that businesses and projects are taking means the strategies and methods in place will always be adjusting. Therefore, you need to adapt to them, and train to learn new skills as the years go on. Depending on what progression route you chose to take, you’ll always find yourself needing to learn something new, to progress into a new role. Not only that, but there are a ton of different courses you could take that would boost your employability and knowledge within the role. For example, first aid training, site safety, and fire safety, to name but a few. It’s always wise to make sure you’re the one with an extensive knowledge base, as you will be the one that people are coming to for answers. The more you train, the more you’re going to know.

A great place to start this journey is with our Project Management training London.

Practical and Theory Competence 

Throughout your career, you will have your practical competence tested. Practical competence is your ability to perform the specified tasks that your role requires you to do so. This can be tested through management reviews, on the job monitoring. So it’s important to make sure that you’re always honing in your skills. As a project manager, it can be easy to relax into the managerial role, allowing you to sit back while others do what you say. Theory competence is the same. Your theory will be tested on every project, with the knowledge you hold being used to ensure the project is completed to the highest standard. The fact that you will be the go-to person means more extensive reading and research into the theory of project management should be done regularly.

Job Prospects

The job prospects are vast. You might start your journey by going in as a project assistant and working your way up through the ranks. As a project manager, you can expect your salary to be very attractive, and as you choose to progress through the progression routes we mentioned above, this will increase tenfold.

Do you want to learn more about project management and the steps involved to be a great project manager? Continue reading to find out the definition of the process and why project management is essential in 21st-century workplaces.

What Is Project Management?

Taken literally, a project manager oversees various tasks, big and small, to deliver a result to a specific standard. It’s vital to apply processes and principles to help deal with glitches that rear their head along the way. For example, you will have to initiate, plan, execute and manage any changes that occur as a result of new policies.

How Does It Differ To General Management?

It’s easy to see project management steps and general management steps as the same; however, there are differences. The main one is that usual business activity is an on-going process that never stops. The company has core values, and they try to use strategic goals to push the business forward so that it grows and expands.

Our Project Manager training London teaches that to hit your targets, a leader must regularly create new packages. Whether you, the manager, have to work with new people or complete a completely different project, you must follow this process.

Why Is The Completion Of Tasks Essential?

As we already know, the long-term effect is that it helps the company grow and expand into new sectors. But, they are the big, complex tasks – what about the small, simple ones? Are they as important? The answer is yes.

These tasks, no matter how tiny or seemingly insignificant, maintain the company’s trajectory. A manager that can’t fulfil their end of the deal will impact everything from punctuality to budget and the business’ reputation. Think of the Butterfly Effect – one small modification results in a new future.

If the small tasks aren’t taken care of efficiently, then the big ones will have their time restrictions and budgets impacted. As a whole, the reputation of the organisation will take a hit.

The Main Components Of Project Management

The following four factors need factoring into every project, and one can’t be favoured over another. If any are, the foundation of the task will crumble and fall.

• Time: the duration of the project/how long it will last
• Cost: the amount of money allocated to the project’s budget
• Scope: what the project hopes to change or strengthen. This can be in terms of added value regardless of significant alterations
• Quality: the standard of work when the project is completed

So, if you increase the amount of time to complete a task, the cost will rise too.

How Does Project Manager Training Prepare You?

The idea that leaders are born and not created isn’t accurate. Yes, you might not feel as if you have the skills required right now, but you can learn them over time. The key is to follow the basic methodology of project management training. With the framework below, you’ll be able to tackle any job regardless of the size and break it down into bitesize chunks.

Initiate The Project

By writing down what you hope to achieve, there is a reference point that you can consult during the process. Often, project management goes off the rails because the person in charge loses sight of what their aim to achieve. Merely defining the overall goals and speaking with the relevant stakeholders to confirm should be your first port of call.

Craft A Plan

Once you know the targets are on point, then you can begin to plan. An excellent approach is to write down the tasks within a project and assign them a list that states how you’re going to tackle individual problems.

Execute

This is self-explanatory. It’s time to bring the initial steps together and execute your plan. Building a team and assigning deadlines are two ways to ensure there are structure and liability.

Monitor

Although employees work best independently, you must ensure the project is on track, time and standards-wise. Monitoring includes asking for regular updates on everything from the progress of the project to the budget restraints. Focus on factors that impact and reflect the team’s true performance.

Close It Out

After you are happy with the quality of the project, and that you’ve hit all the parameters, you need to deliver it to the client.

Projects Example

Almost every project uses the framework above. Take the California water system. Initially, they initiated the project’s aim – to bring water to California during dry seasons. They planned to do this by using groundwater and surface water in the surrounding areas and executed the plan with the State Water Project. 

After monitoring and closing out the project, more than 66% of residents receive water from the SWP.