What Are The Most Important Elements Within Project Management?

Project planning is crucial for project success it does not exist in a vacuum. It’s part of the project management cycle which involves four distinct phases: Initiation, planning, execution as well as closure. Planning is essential for several different reasons. It ensures that:

• Projects run easily and according to a plan.
• You deliver projects on time as well as on budget.
• All players have a shared understanding of the project objectives.
• Everyone understands their roles towards achieving those objectives.
• You have the ability to manage time, costs as well as risks better.
• You have an early warning system in position. By monitoring progress against a specific plan, you are able to identify when there are deviations which could harm the project.
• You are able to all your thoughts down on paper and are able to break down the project into controllable chunks.

Obviously, the accomplishment of the project hangs on how good your planning is. The great news is that project planning isn’t difficult. And, you certainly don’t have to have to go “full-out” at it by following comprehensive project management approaches.

The Role Of The Project Manager

As a project manager, it’s your primary job to guide a project successfully through to completion within a specific time as well as budget. As their leader, your team will look to you as a teacher, mentor as well as problem solver. You will be required to be ready in order to help them with any questions or problems. In addition, you need to communicate with the client. They will expect that you are organised and up to date with all elements of the project.

As a project manager, you will be required to develop a project plan, define the scope of projects, as well as schedule everything in the tool. Given that, it’s very important to select a project management tool sensibly. In order to truly gain from a project management tool, you don’t just need to know the best way to operate it but also be circumspective when picking one for your own use.

Key Elements of Effective Project Planning

The details are very important for any project. However, the problem is that when you begin any new project, pinning down those details may be difficult — which can cause overwhelm. This overwhelm may contribute toward the project never taking off in the first place. The better approach is to concentrate on basic milestones and goals.

Who Are Stakeholders?

Stakeholders include anyone who is affected by the project. These may be end-users, employees, project sponsors as well as clients. Regardless, it is necessary for you to consider all stakeholders and their needs.

However, when meeting with stakeholders you need to make sure that you lead a structured conversation. You don’t need your stakeholders to lead you off course. This may mean that – at the end of the meeting – all you’re left with is a long list of wants that aren’t relevant to the project.

You want to keep it on point and also list only what’s important for the project. By all means, acknowledge other concerns and demands, but let them know you don’t think those points are relevant right now. Instead, suggest to “park” them for later on.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

If you want to become a project management guru in the media industry, then you need to do our Project Management for the Media Course. Follow this link to find out more.