What Is Project Management?

Imagine that you work as a project manager for a company called Disaster Recovery. Your job is to organize and coordinate human and financial resources so that  projects, 1-
time events that have a specific start and end date, are completed.

Projects can include a variety of different things, such as designing new software to increase efficiency, building a bridge, creating a new product, or even expanding sales into a
new territory. However, your favorite projects involve helping cities and people recover from disasters.

Your boss has just told you that a natural disaster has destroyed part of Corpus Christi, Texas and Disaster Recovery has been hired to help rebuild. These projects can be done
informally or the company can engage in project management to complete the task. Project management (PM) is when a company applies its human and financial resources to
plan and execute a specific task.

Five Stages of Project Management

The first thing that you do as project manager is review the stages of PM and get to work implementing them. There are five stages of PM.

The first stage is project initiation. You work with your clients to gather as much information as they can regarding project specifications so that they can develop a plan. In this
stage, project team members are assigned. Team members may come from a wide variety of fields or geographical regions and may not have worked together in the past.
Project goals are also communicated to team members in this stage.

The next stage is project planning. In this stage a written project charter is drafted. You have decided to use PM tools, such as Gantt charts, because the project is large and
complicated. A Gantt chart is a chart which shows the workflow of a project, a detailed schedule of what will happen and when. Gantt charts were developed by Henry Gantt, an
American mechanical engineer.

The third stage of PM is the execution stage. This is the stage in which the resources are distributed. Relevant project information and assignments are given to team members.
Communication is a key component of the PM process.

Monitoring and controlling the project is the fourth stage. Project managers use program evaluation and review technique (PERT) to analyze and review any progress made in
the project. The current status of the project is compared to the project schedule, and changes to the plan and/or schedule are made if needed. PERT was originally designed by
the United States Navy to evaluate and track their submarine missile program.
The final stage of the project is the closing. This is the part of the project where the customer reviews the finished project and agrees that it is completed to their satisfaction. An
after-action review is also completed at this stage. This just means that team members discuss problems, how problems were solved, and project successes that occurred so that
you can make notes and develop better practices for future projects.

Lesson Summary

A project is a 1-time event with a specific beginning and end date. A few examples of projects are:

 Disaster recovery efforts

 The design of a software program

 The construction of a bridge

Project management is the utilization of human and financial resources to organize and manage a large event. Team members are often from different departments or regions
that work together just for this project. PM tools such as a Gantt chart and PERT are used to show workflow and progress of a project.

There are five stages in PM. The stages are:

1. Initiation

2. Planning

3. Execution

4. Monitoring and controlling

5. Closing