These moving parts are known as project management areas, which are key project aspects that must be overseen as projects progress. If open source project courses are of interest, also consider some of these free project management courses to help improve project-related knowledge and skills. Many businesses are adopting agile as the preferred project methodology, creating the need for employees to develop their knowledge in this area. Agile certs such as the Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) can give you a leg up, as can Scrum-based certs such as the Certified ScrumMaster (CSM). See our lists of top agile certs and top Scrum credentials to take your career to the next level. Even though every project has its own goals and challenges, team members can utilize similar project management tools and techniques to complete their various deliverables.

• However, the courses from universities provide a solid grounding in the theory of project management, and skill formation through practical work and placements, and are great on your CV.
• During the monitoring phase, the project manager(s) keep tabs on the progress of the project overall and the status of the team.
• See our lists of top agile certs and top Scrum credentials to take your career to the next level.
• The Lean method, developed by Toyota in the 1970s, seeks to maximize value and minimize waste.

Project management has final deliverables that are constrained to a finite timescale and budget. There are many project management charts and diagrams that project managers use to plan, schedule and track their projects. A project dashboard is a project-tracking tool that allows you to monitor your costs, tasks and progress. It’s a very useful tool during project execution because it helps project managers quickly determine whether their projects are on track. Kanban is a widely used project management approach that consists of managing work through visual boards and cards.

Effective project management with Confluence

But not all project management software has the same features and, as a project manager, it’s your responsibility to decide which tool works best for your organization. The Gantt chart is the preferred method used by project managers to schedule their projects. Some tasks are dependent on others before they can start or end, and these task dependencies can create bottlenecks later in the project. Just like kanban or lean, six sigma is a set of tools and techniques that were developed to improve production processes and later became a project management approach. A linear project management approach, in which stakeholder requirements are gathered at the beginning of the project, and then a sequential project plan is created. In a nutshell, project management is important because it helps organizations control all the moving parts of projects to bring them to successful completion.

A project manager is responsible for the daily operations of a single project. Projects that adhere to best practices in project management are more likely to stay focused on the initial objectives of the project and, ultimately, experience success. At this level, a project manager can apply project management knowledge when they participate in a project in any capacity and common knowledge is not sufficient to perform at a satisfactory level of competence.

Project Management Frameworks

They need to motivate their teams as well as plan, monitor and report on their progress. They must have strong project management skills and be able to clearly connect with both stakeholders and the project team. Throughout your career, you’ll find yourself working with a variety of software and technology to help streamline the tasks at hand. The types of tools available will depend on the industry or project and can include tools to track time, create plans and reports, manage invoices, and share calendars among other aspects of project management. A project manager is vital because they act as the bridge between a project’s plan and its execution.

In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics outlook for project managers is bright. A project manager, with the help of their team, is charged with multiple responsibilities that span the five project phases of a project life cycle outline below. Each phase emphasizes a different mix of project management skills and knowledge areas, including integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, risk procurement, and stakeholder management. Project management software helps teams organize all project manager course project essentials in one place, while streamlining and simplifying the project management process overall. At every phase of the project lifecycle, project management software supports teams’ ability to assign tasks, manage deadlines, view task dependencies, track team progress against goals, access data insights, and much more. The project execution phase is when project managers need to oversee the project management knowledge areas as their project progresses toward the monitoring and control phase.

Degrees and master’s degrees

In the waterfall model, each phase of the project must be fully completed before the next phase can begin, and project deliverables are turned over only at the conclusion of the project. The project manager is responsible for day-to-day management of the project and must be competent in managing the six aspects of a project, i.e. scope, schedule, finance, risk, quality and resources. Additionally, formal project managers are typically certified through agencies like the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the U.S. or PRINCE2 in the U.K.

Extreme Programming is a software development methodology that relies on frequent releases in short development cycles to foster rapid learning and responsiveness to change. XP accomplishes this by rigorous definition of customer-centric requirements, paired with automated unit testing, incremental design, and immediate implementation of code. Developers then frequently release new code into the development environment where it can be tested. For the best chance at success, every project needs an owner who is responsible for its completion and success. Project managers exist to fill this need, keep a team on task and ensure the project meets the needs of all stakeholders. This designation could be a subset of responsibilities—or an official job title.

Project Monitoring and Control

Project management is a process that allows project managers to plan, execute, track and complete projects with the help of a project team. To do so, they must use project management principles, skills, methodologies and tools to lead team members through each of the project management steps which are known as the project lifecycle. A project manager is responsible for managing people, tasks, schedules, and resources through the project lifecycle.

PMs juggle various tasks daily, including monitoring project progress, talking things through with stakeholders, tackling issues that arise, and tweaking plans to keep everything on track with the project’s goals. This guide explores the role of PMs, highlighting their critical responsibilities, key skills, and best strategies. It also examines how platforms like Confluence can help PMs enhance team collaboration and communication across the project life cycle. Slack is a communication-focused collaboration software that enables teams to communicate asynchronously through messaging, audio calling, and video conferencing.

Project management methodologies

While the structure and rules follow the teachings of the methodology, frameworks can color in detail how and when those rules are applied in a project setting. The project initiation phase focuses on establishing a high-level vision for the project while securing approvals from sanctioning stakeholders. This phase is not meant to dive into excessive detail, but rather to get the ball rolling and get the team thinking about what is to come. Check out the video below for an in-depth walkthrough of the five phases of the project management lifecycle.

During the initial phases of project planning, teams clearly outline team roles and responsibilities while monitoring individual workloads as work progresses, ensuring that resources are allocated appropriately. A Gantt chart is a visual representation of a project timeline that shows all the project tasks in one graph. Gantt charts are used for project planning, project scheduling, task management and resource management. Once the project gets approved, the project manager must assemble a project team and set up a project management office.

While many project management software offerings include collaboration features, Slack is a faster solution for teams who need to communicate efficiently as project updates come up. Agile project management focuses on an iterative and highly flexible approach to project management that focuses on delivering the project in pieces throughout the project lifecycle, rather than all at once at the project’s conclusion. In Agile project management, teams have more flexibility to adapt to challenges and redirections than in more structured methodologies, such as Waterfall. A key factor that distinguishes project management from just ‘management’ is that it has this final deliverable and a finite timespan, unlike management which is an ongoing process.