The Importance of Project Management

1. Importance of Project Management

There are various reasons as to why project management is important today and in the future of an organization. First, it helps a company to have a direction and leadership of its projects because if a project is not well led and managed, then the team moves without direction. Secondly, it ensures that achievable projects are set and a proper plan for executing the project objectives is designed (Hornstein 291). Therefore, it ensures that those involved are able to remain focused and dedicate their full energy towards accomplishing the ultimate goal. Project management is critical to any organization as it ensures that what is being delivered is right and will give true value to the organization. Thirdly, project management allows an organization to have meaningful resource estimates and project completion deadlines. Good project managers are in a position to involve all the stakeholders of a project to come up with cost-effective projects at the same time giving a quality output. Where there is effective project management, it is possible to allow adjustments especially if more time or money to work on the task is required. Another importance of project management in an organization is that it aids in management and mitigation of risks associated with a certain project (Hornstein 293). Properly managed projects have their risks well identified and managed at early stages to ensure that the task is not interfered with. It also ensures that there a proper matching of skills. A project with mismatched skills can be tedious to complete since the team members are not well informed of what they are supposed to be doing. Additionally, it also helps in proper tracking and reporting of a project's progress.

2. Critical Skills in Project Management

Skills which are very critical in project management include, leadership, risk management, communication, proper scheduling and cost management amongst others. From the course, the most valuable skill I have learned is communication. Almost all the other project management skills go hand in hand with effective communication. An effective project leader must be able to properly articulate the project and its objectives all the parties involved raging from team members, contractor's vendors, and customers. Therefore, for any project to be properly managed, then proper communication is mandatory. Communication as a skill in project management will help me organize and carry out successful projects in my career. I firmly believe that mastering this skill will help enable me to work well with others on any project I will be involved. It will also help me teach others on the subject of project management importance and skills.

3. The Lessons I Have Learned

Communication in group projects

I have learned that effective communication in group projects is a key aspect if a quality outcome is desired. A group project can only achieve its objectives if every member is involved in all the necessary discussions pertaining the task. The inclusion of group members in giving out ideas makes sure that each is motivated and feels that they are part and parcel of the whole project. Each party should also strive to be a good listener.

Roles and Responsibilities

The roles and responsibilities in a group must be distributed carefully and fairly. A team leader must ensure that all the members participate in the project activities. For instance, the project leader takes the supervisory role, while the group members actively work on the various stages of the project. If the project has sponsors, they work closely with the manager to ensure a smooth running of the project.

Teamwork

Teamwork, especially for a group project, is a fundamental skill. I have understood that the success of a given project depends on how the members of a group are committed to working with each other. Effective teamwork happens if each party understands the specific tasks to work on. It is also attained when the whole team has taken a full ownership of the goals and is self- motivated to achieve them.

Project Charter

A Project Charter is a statement of objectives for a given project. It also has the details of the project roles and responsibilities, main stakeholders and the powers of the project manager (Furterer 362). It is an important document since it is used throughout the project cycle.

Project Estimating

Project estimating is also a critical part of project planning. It involves a quantitative estimation of the expenses and time to be spent on a particular project. I have learned that no matter how big or small a project is, estimation must be done in order to avoid failures.

MS Project Application

MS project application is a software used in project management, designed by Microsoft. It meant to aid project managers in planning, allocation of resources, progress tracking and budget management (Kerzner and Kerzner 16). If a manager wants to make it easier to work on a project then it is important to acquire MS project.

4. Reflection

Given a chance to do it again, I would make practical application of everything I learned in project management. I would get a reasonable team and come up with a project related to my career. I would take the project manager role and oversee the whole process to ensure that we achieve all the objectives. Such a project would help me figure out if I have understood well the concept of project management and if not learn the areas that need improvement.

Works Cited

Furterer, Sandra. "Project Charter Review Process Design— A Design for Six Sigma Case Study." Design for Six Sigma in Product and Service Development. CRC Press, 2016. 354-405.

Hornstein, Henry A. "The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity." International Journal of Project Management 33.2 (2015): 291-298.

Kerzner, Harold, and Harold R. Kerzner. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons, (2017): 13-26.