Project management is a complex and far-reaching discipline, requiring a structured and well-defined approach. It involves a number of different processes and working methods, essential to the creation and successful completion of any type of project, from inception to launch.
Furious, as a central operations management system, supports a wide variety of project professionals, such as project managers and project directors, on a daily basis. Our teams are constantly exchanging and analyzing best practices, and this includes understanding and applying the five key project management processes, a project life cycle that must be scrupulously respected.
Indeed, beyond strong communication, organizational, and anticipation skills, a seasoned project manager should rely on the PMBOK Guide from the Project Management Institute. This document is a reference in the field, offering useful knowledge, methods and techniques for successfully managing a project, from start-up to close-out.
This article aims to help you better understand the different phases and key elements of project management. You’ll find a detailed analysis of the management steps, tools and methodologies to use as well as advice on how to successfully integrate your projects. We’ll also cover the importance of regularly updating information and ensuring that processes are properly managed throughout the project.
We hope this article will serve as a useful roadmap, a solid starting point for anyone wishing to get started in project management, or looking to improve their current practice. The various points and indicators discussed here will give you an in-depth understanding of the key success factors, and enable you to manage your projects with greater efficiency and precision. Welcome to the complex and demanding world of project management!
What is project management and why is it crucial to a company's success?
Project management is the art of planning, organizing and managing resources to achieve specific project objectives within a given timeframe. But why is it so important?
- Alignment of objectives: ensures that project objectives are aligned with the company's strategic objectives.
- Optimizing resources: this enables efficient use of human, financial and material resources.
- Risk management: helps identify, analyze and mitigate risks, thus ensuring greater project stability.
- Improved communication: facilitates clear and transparent communication between all stakeholders, avoiding misunderstandings and conflicts.
- Monitoring and control: this enables you to track project progress and make any necessary adjustments in real time.
Project management fundamentals: an overview
Project management is based on several fundamental principles that guide project managers throughout the process. Here’s an overview of these key principles:
- Clearly defined objectives: before starting, it's essential to clearly define the project's objectives.
- Precise planning: detailed planning is crucial to define the path to be followed, the resources required and the project timetable.
- Efficient resource management: making the best use of available resources is an art in itself.
- Transparent communication: maintain open and transparent lines of communication with all stakeholders.
- Flexibility and adaptability: being ready to adapt to changes and unforeseen events.
- Constant monitoring: regularly track progress and be ready to adjust the plan if necessary.
These principles are the cornerstone of all successful project management, ensuring that the project stays on track and achieves its objectives efficiently and effectively.
Project management: planning
This phase consists of defining in detail how the project will be carried out:
- Define the scope of the project - what will be included and what will not. It's like drawing up a detailed recipe, with every ingredient, every cooking step, every detail taken into account. Furious's visualization tools fundamentally change the way you manage your projects and assess their performance.
At a glance, Furious shows you resource availability, team schedules, project profitability, individual and divisional productivity, and customer satisfaction.
Several dashboards enable you to easily visualize KPI’s and help you define the actions to be taken. You identify the resources needed to complete the project, including the project team, equipment, materials and other resources.
- Draw up a detailed schedule showing when each project task will be completed. Furious' collaborative and conversational planning tools take 80% of the planning burden off your shoulders.
- Communication plans are also put in place, to ensure that all stakeholders are kept informed of project progress and that information is shared effectively. With Furious, around a single, visual and conversational platform, your collaborators work together, share easily, and are alerted to potential errors.
- Finally, develop plans for managing risks and problems. Furious, for example, e-mails you reports on projects where it detects anomalies.
Project management: execution
In the execution phase, the project team implements the project plan.
Tasks are completed and deliverables, the tangible products of the project, are produced.
This phase also includes resource management, to ensure that resources are used efficiently and that the project stays within budget. Furious’s anticipation engine suggests the best production mix to optimize your monthly production landing in real time.
Communication plans are implemented to keep all stakeholders informed of project progress.
Managing stakeholder expectations is also an important part of this phase, to ensure that the project meets their needs and expectations. Furious natively integrates automatic rating tools for your customers and collaborators, as well as a set of real-time quality indices.
Let’s continue our culinary analogy. It’s time to follow the recipe, complete each task, manage resources and make sure everything goes according to plan.
There are moments of stress, laughter and surprise. Maybe the assistant cook turns out to be a whiz at cutting, or the temperamental oven decides to cooperate for once.
You also need to manage stakeholder expectations, giving them regular updates on the progress of the meal (your uncle is getting impatient and grandma is hungry!).
Project management: monitoring and control
This phase runs in parallel with project execution.
It involves monitoring the project’s progress against the project plan, to ensure that the project is on track to achieve its objectives.
Risks and problems are managed to minimize their impact on the project.
The quality of deliverables must be monitored, so that corrective action can be taken if necessary.
Basically, you need to keep an eye on the progress of the meal, make sure everything’s in order, deal with any little mishaps (like the sauce spilling over or the roast burning) and adjust your plans if necessary.
While you’re cooking, you need to keep an eye on everything that’s going on. It’s an exercise in balance and vigilance, requiring nerves of steel and a good dose of humor.
Furious assists your project managers every day to maximize profitability, anticipate workloads, and alert them on potential errors. Our anticipation engine coupled with our conversational approach becomes indispensable for managing your projects.
Project management: closing
The final phase of the project is the closing.
This implies :
- ensure that all work has been completed,
- that all deliverables have been accepted,
- carry out a post-project evaluation to learn lessons,
- and document the project's achievements for future use.
The meal is ready! The guests are served, and it’s the moment of truth.
You check that everyone is satisfied, that all the dishes have been served, and do a post-cookout review to see what worked and what could be improved for next time.
It’s a time for celebration, but also for learning and growth.
Our Furious ERP tool gives you a clear and precise view of the use of your human, material and financial resources. Thanks to customizable dashboards and detailed reports, you can track the progress of each project in real time, so you can learn continuously!
These five processes provide a framework for project management that helps to ensure that the project is carried out efficiently and successfully.
Project management tools and methodologies
Project management requires not only skills and experience, but also the right tools and a rigorous methodology. In this section, we’ll explore these two crucial aspects, which can greatly influence the success of your projects.
What tools should you use to optimize project management?
Selecting the right tools is crucial to optimizing your project management. Here are some of the most popular and effective tools:
- Project management software: tools such as Furious or Trello can be used to track the progress of tasks, manage resources and facilitate team communication.
- Collaboration tools: Slack, Microsoft Teams and others offer platforms for fluid, instant communication.
- Planning software: Furious Squad, for example, offers advanced features for project planning and tracking.
- Resource management tools: they help to allocate resources efficiently and avoid team overwork.
The use of these tools can significantly improve team productivity and ensure better management of time and resources.
The importance of methodology to project success
Adopting a project management methodology is just as important as choosing the right tools. For example, v-cycle project management and prince2 methodology are approaches that help structure the various stages of a project in a sequential and predictive manner. They also help prioritize work tasks, ensuring optimized project management. Here’s why a well-chosen methodology is crucial:
- Structure and clarity: a well-defined methodology provides a clear structure, making it easy to understand the steps to follow.
- Better resource management: optimize the use of available resources.
- Risk reduction: by anticipating potential problems, a methodology helps to minimize risk.
- Improved communication: it encourages transparent and effective communication between all stakeholders.
Whether you opt for Agile, v-based, Scrum or any other methodology, the important thing is to find the one that best suits the nature of your project and your team. By associating the right tools with the right methodology, you’re putting all the chances on your side to bring your projects to a successful conclusion.
In fact, don’t hesitate to review the few basic rules for profitable project management we talk about here 😉
