Project Management

1.1 principles of project management
The basic principles of project management
While every project is unique in its own way, there are certain basics which define most project work. These are:
• objectives
• constraints
• lifecycle
Every project takes place in its own specific context - a project may be stand-alone, part of a greater body of work, or it could be one in a series of projects. It may bring together as a project team a group of people who have never worked together before or give responsibilities and roles to people who are new to them. All of these factors need to be identified and considered in order for a project to be completed successfully.
It's important to remember that the level of detail you need at the various project stages should remain appropriate for the size and complexity of the project.
Defining your objectives
The main point of any project is to achieve specified goals and objectives. Once these objectives have been fulfilled, the project is disbanded, and in most cases, work handed over into normal operations. It is therefore vital to any project that the goals and objectives required are clearly defined, measurable and achievable. Without this, any project is likely to suffer from a lack of focus and an increased chance of failure.
Once objectives have been established, they should be clearly communicated and agreed with all staff and stakeholders on the project.
Understanding your constraints
A constraint is any factor which can limit or have an impact on a project.
Typical constraints are funding, the scope of the project, available resources and time. It is important to understand what the constraints of any project are in order to clearly define the boundaries in which project work must be done.
Projects which do not honour their constraints are often regarded as failures and tend to incur a significant cost to their business.



Lifecycle
Projects have a definite start and finish point within which their...