Project management is an integral element of the modern management system in Russia. Many domestic and foreign companies use project management to improve the quality of products and services, reduce costs, increase profits. What is project management and what are its main advantages?
What is a project?
The concept of "project" can be interpreted in completely different ways. The first option involves defining the project as a set of documentation, according to which the construction of a building or structure is possible. This article will discuss the second meaning of the word “project”.
There are a lot of definitions for a project , though they all agree on one thing: a project is an idea involving a specific material task in a limited period of time. At the same time, the main features of the project are called:
- Uniqueness (a project is what is being created for the first time).
- Limited time (the project always indicates the timing of its implementation).
- Focus (the project is always carried out to solve specific problems, expressed, as a rule, in quantitative units).
If all three conditions are met, then the set of actions can be called a project.
Programs and project portfolios
Projects are often combined into programs and portfolios. Moreover, programs are called a set of projects that are united by a common goal. For example, a program to improve the quality of education of the population may include projects to increase teachers' salaries by 20%, the construction of 15 new schools, the release of 26 new textbooks in core subjects.
The project portfolio brings together projects funded from a single source, regardless of their objectives. Thus, the N company’s project portfolio may include charity projects, the construction of a new corporate office, the celebration of the director’s anniversary and an increase in annual turnover by 10%.
Projects in portfolios and programs should also have the three main characteristics described above.
Basic principles of project management
In view of the dynamically developing market of technologies designed to facilitate the management process, it is difficult to name specific methods that fully describe project management.
Project management includes many approaches and tools and is based on the following basic principles:
- Focus on results. This principle is defined by the meaning of the term “project”. Project management is not just quality management, it is a targeted set of interrelated actions.
- The principle of the "design triangle." When managing a project, one should be guided by the interdependencies between: terms, budget, and project quality. A change in one of the factors leads to a change in the others, which makes them seem to be sides of one triangle.
- Consideration of the project life cycle. The life cycle of a project begins with the formation of the very idea of creating a project and ends at the end of the time period specified in the project. The project life cycle, as a rule, ends at the beginning of the product life cycle created as a result of the project.
- The process approach to management. This principle involves the evaluation of the project as a set of processes interconnected and ending with intermediate results in the form of semi-finished products or important documents. This approach allows you to monitor the implementation of the project without the so-called "blind spots".
Methods of stimulating project participants
Stimulation of project participants is usually given special attention when project management is chosen to perform specific tasks. Project management usually includes tangible and intangible motivational mechanisms.
Material incentives include bonuses, fines, surcharges for early performance of intermediate tasks.
Intangible methods of motivation include letters and disciplinary gifts in the form of time off, as well as the development of competition among project participants as part of a competitive competition.
The main stages of project management
Project management takes place through the stages of the project life cycle and the phases of management complexity. The relationship of stages and phases is given in the table below.
PHASES: | Cost management | Time management | Content Management | Management of risks |
STAGES: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Initiation | Preliminary estimate of funding | Preliminary Estimation of Project Dates | Definition of the main tasks | Preliminary analysis of possible negative factors |
Planning | Budget calculation and search for funding sources | Calculation of the project schedule | Calculation of project targets | Calculation of risk adjustment |
Implementation | Phased project financing | Monitoring the implementation of the schedule | Monitoring achievement of intermediate indicators | Monitoring changes in key factors |
Closing | Profit / Loss Measurement | Lag / lead score | Assessment of the implementation / non-fulfillment of project tasks | Analysis of mistakes |
Thus, the areas of project management include financial, personnel, structural areas of the organization.
Project Management Areas
The project management structure includes the breakdown of all the organization’s work into projects that are limited in terms of time and targets. At the same time, a team of each project and a team of project managers are formed, who report to the head on the progress of their project.
In this regard, project management is used, as a rule, in organizations of various industries and sizes, with a wide range of simultaneously executed orders. However, in small business, it uses project management to solve specific problems of modernizing production or, for example, introducing a new product.
Project management in the construction industry
In the construction industry, the application of the project management methodology is especially relevant. In companies that perform the functions of a customer or a contractor, project management uses the natural division of work into projects (according to the product principle, that is, the construction of each building is a separate project), and the structure of top management practically does not require a major reorganization.
The management of the design organization is also often carried out according to the design principle, successfully using already formed design teams as a project team.
Project Management in Government
Project management in government is a fairly new trend of our time. The program-targeted management method, developing since the Soviet period, has now taken the form of project management throughout the country. Now, programs that include individual projects with targets and implementation deadlines are used to solve tasks strategically important for the state . However, the methodology for managing such programs is still far from ideal and requires modernization and updating.
Experience in implementing project management in the Belgorod region
Project public administration is well established all over the world. In Russia, there is experience in the application of this technology in the Belgorod region.
This large-scale experiment affected almost all aspects of the civil service in the Belgorod region. Among the main elements are training in project management, organizational and methodological support, field inspections, motivation, assessment of employees' competencies, expert commissions for reviewing projects.
Project management of the Belgorod region now includes collegial project management bodies:
- Interdepartmental commission managing project activities.
- Industry expert commissions making decisions on opening / closing projects.
- Regional project office monitoring compliance with the project management methodology.
The principle of "one window"
It was in the framework of the transition to project management that the Belgorod region in 2010 switched to the approval of investment projects through the “one window” system, which is now well known in Moscow. The role of this window is just performed by one of the newly introduced services - the regional project office. Now, exactly one month after contacting the project office, the business entity receives a document of approval.
Automated Information System "Project Management"
Information and technical support for project management in the Belgorod region is carried out through the automated project management information system (AIS). This is a web-application that does not require the installation of additional software and performs the following functions for projects, portfolios and programs:
- Maintenance of the registry (database).
- Scheduling.
- Budgeting.
- Monitoring implementation at the regional and municipal levels.
- Distribution of authority and responsibility of the team.
- Making changes to the content.
- Alert system for upcoming and upcoming project events.
- Document flow.
- Automated analytical reporting.
- Integration with the electronic Government of the Belgorod region.
Advantages and disadvantages of project management
The described experience in implementing project management in the Belgorod region was successful. The effect of these changes was expressed primarily in an increase in the growth rate of the gross regional product by 0.1% (more than 3 billion rubles), a reduction in the time spent on coordination of projects (by 2 months for each project), and an increase in the rate of development of investments in the region by 23 % However, the most important result is the formation of project thinking among employees who actively analyze and try to solve the problem, sometimes even using innovative, innovative methods.
The motivation and restructuring of the managerial structure made it possible to obtain a positive effect not only for the civil service, but also for business, creating a favorable investment climate and removing barriers to entrepreneurship.
The population of the region is now actively involved in the selection and monitoring of the implementation of important strategic projects. For people, project management is an opportunity that uses the services of high quality and high mobility.
However, despite all the advantages of the project management structure, there are drawbacks to this approach.
First of all, the transition period. It takes a certain amount of time for the project team to work together and fulfill its functions as a well-coordinated mechanism.
Secondly, with the introduction of project management in the enterprise, the search for a good project manager may be delayed. Very high requirements are imposed on the personal and professional qualities of the project manager: comprehensive qualifications, complete immersion in the project, experience in managing projects of the required specificity.
The third drawback of project management can be considered the need for fragmentation of company resources between projects. In "not rich" firms, this can generally be unrealizable. Project managers will have to "fight" for funding and personnel, which is unacceptable in the conditions of total control of all stages of the project life cycle.
One of the most important shortcomings of the project management path in the organization is the employment of project team members and the project manager after its completion. The workload of the team, as you know, is the most important rule of a successful business, and in the case of project work, regularly “hanging in the air” groups of specialists appear who simultaneously lose their constant workload.
Summarizing the above, we can conclude that project management is an integral part of the modern business space, and the study of its fundamentals is simply necessary for competent management decisions both at the state level and within a single business.