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Overview of Project Management

This illustration below describes one of the most common and well-understood pitfalls in project development, namely the different perspectives that the various roles in project development bring to the task at hand. The goal of project management (and of this module) is to limit this problem by bringing together a collection of tools and processes to get all stakeholders on the same page.

cartoon about different perspectives of project development
Source: The Project Cartoon

Steps in Project Management

An overview of the steps in project management is provided below. While this module is concerned principally with the first three steps (identification, formulation, and planning), it is important to keep all the steps in mind. Note that not all steps are applicable to every project, and that each step may be modified to fill the needs of a particular project.

Select each section below to learn more about the steps in project management.

Project management is a basket of many tools. For the purpose of this module, we will address two of those tools: the project charter and gantt chart respectively. Continue to the next page to learn how to develop a project charter.

Identification & Formulation

Identification is the first step in the strategic planning process or project life cycle. Before significant time and resources are spent on a project, the project is identified and examined to ensure it will benefit the organization. It is important here to establish a system of objectives.

Formulation involves developing a concise, exact statement of a project is established to set the boundaries or limits of work to be performed by the project, which is called the project scope.

Planning

Schedules like Gantt charts are utilized to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment. The goal is to plan how to tackle the project scope, while meeting all of the expectations of the project.

Analysis & Pilot Testing

The data and/or feedback is thoroughly analyzed. Pilot testing is a small-scale trial of the larger intervention. While conducting pilot testing does not ensure success in the main intervention, it increases the likelihood of success because it provides valuable insights about the project. It can help find gaps as well as strengths in the design, which the group can decide to translate to the main project.

Implementation & Termination

During implementation, the intervention is actually carried out according to the work plan. It includes executing each of the activities outlined in the planning stage. Finally, during termination, the project ends and any follow-up is discussed.

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