Project Management Knowledge Areas
A project and the activities to manage a project can be divided into ten technical knowledge areas.
Integration Management
Scope Management
Time Management
Cost Management
Quality Management
Resource Management
Communications Management
Risk Management
Procurement Management
Stakeholder Management
What is project management?
Without getting too complex, project management is simply how to initiate, plan, execute, control, and close an effort of tasks to achieve the desired goals of an endeavor. We boil the information down to the basics for a new project manager getting started.
Project Management as a Career
Becoming a project manager as a career is rewarding. An average project manager’s salary is desirable. Project managers are needed in almost every type of industry and service sectors such as construction and information technology.
Project Management Best Practices
To be a successful project manager, it is important to use proven industry-standard project management best practices. Over time, these project management best practices have been developed by analyzing projects and incorporating the lessons learned.
While every project is unique, applying established tools, skills, and techniques to your project will help you achieve your project goals while managing your constraints. If you are new to project management, the information we provide will help you get your project started on the right foot.
Project management life cycle
If you are just starting out as a project manager, you should have a general outline of the lifecycle of a typical project.
Initiating – This is where you define the scope of the project with the budget and time frames. Stakeholders determine if the project is feasible. It is also where a charter is defined and approved, which basically authorizes the project.
Planning – During the planning phase, a project management plan is developed. Basically, this is a roadmap of the project activities and tasks. The plan is made up of processes such as schedules, work breakdown structure, milestones, budgets, resourcing, risk plan, communication plan, and procurement planning.
Executing – During the execution phase, resources are assigned, and tasks are performed. Changes are reviewed and
Monitor and control – The monitor and control activities occur through the entire project but are the most active during the execution phase. Project performance to meet objectives is reviewed. Effort and cost are reported on. The quality of the deliverables are assessed.
Closing – This where the project management plan and all the dependencies are reviewed for completion. The final reports are created, and the deliverables are signed off on. All documents and artifacts are archived and stored.
Next Steps…
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