Question

Discuss the importance of effective project management in following the workflow and achieving the specific project deliverables. Address appropriate strategies and methodologies for Software Development, or Web Design and Development. Be thorough. Take into consideration all stakeholders and identify both positive and negative potential outcomes

Answer 1

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of a particular project. There are five phases of project management.

1. Project Initiation

This is the first phase of the project, and the goal of this phase is to define the project at a broad level. This phase usually begins with a business case. In this step, identify whether the project is feasible and if it should be undertaken. If feasibility testing needs to be done in this phase.This will create a feasibility report as deliverable.A project initiation document (PID) that outlines the purpose and requirements of the project created as part of this. It should include business needs, stakeholders, and the business case.

2. Project Planning

This phase is key to successful project management and focuses on developing a roadmap that everyone will follow. This phase typically begins with setting goals, create criteria that you can use to measure the success of a goal, identify the most important goals and what it will take to achieve them,  able to work toward a particular goal and create a timeframe to achieve the goal. During this phase, the scope of the project is defined and a project management plan is developed. It involves identifying the cost, quality, available resources, and a realistic timetable. The project plans also includes establishing baselines or performance measures. A baseline is essential to determine if a project is on track. At this time, roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, s Here are some of the documents a PM will create during this phase to ensure the project will stay on track:

a. Scope Statement – A document that clearly defines the business need, benefits of the project, objectives, deliverables, and key milestones. It may change during the project, but it shouldn’t be done without the approval of the project manager and the client.

b. Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS) –This is a visual representation that breaks down the scope of the project into manageable sections for the team.

c. Milestones – Identify high-level goals that need to be met throughout the project and include them in the Gantt chart.

d. Gantt Chart – A visual timeline that you can use to plan out tasks and visualize your project timeline.

e. Communication Plan – This is of particular importance if your project involves outside stakeholders. Develop the proper messaging around the project and create a schedule of when to communicate with team members based on deliverables and milestones.

f. Risk Management Plan – Identify all foreseeable risks. Common risks include unrealistic time and cost estimates, customer review cycle, budget cuts, changing requirements, and lack of committed resources.

3. Project Execution

This is the phase where deliverables are developed and completed. Tasks completed during the Execution Phase includes develop the team, assign resources, execute project management plans, tracking the system, task assignments, status meetings, project schedule updations and project plan modifications.

4. Project Monitoring

This is all about measuring project progression and performance and ensuring that everything happening aligns with the project management plan. Project managers will use key performance indicators to determine if the project is on track.It cheks the following

a. Project Objectives: Measuring if a project is on schedule and budget and it also meet stakeholder objectives.

b. Quality Deliverables: This determines if specific task deliverables are being met.

c. Effort and Cost Tracking: PMs will account for the effort and cost of resources to see if the budget is on track. This type of tracking informs if a project will meet its completion date based on current performance.

d. Project Performance: This monitors changes in the project. It takes into consideration the amount and types of issues that arise and how quickly they are addressed.

5. Project Closure

This phase represents the completed project. Valuable team members are recognized. Once a project is complete, a PM will often hold a meeting called as a “post mortem”, to evaluate what went well in a project and identify project failures.