Project management is important in the professional work environment, especially when your team is managing the projects. It aims to make the business run the project with a specific measurement process.

For your information, nowadays candidates with a strong understanding of project management will be favoured by recruiters. Maybe you wanna try this position?

Well, we will give you all the project management things you need to know. So here it is for the details.

What is project management?

Project management is a method of planning and managing resources that companies can use to complete a project. There are some processes namely project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and project closing.

The period makes the difference between project management and management in general. The company needs project management to run a specific project. While conventional management covers a wider aspect that can’t be determined by the project manager.

A project manager is a person who will take responsibility for the project and all the details. Then, the project managers must have many skills namely communication, negotiation, business knowledge, etc.

According to the Project Management Institute, project management has 10 aspects below:

• Integration
• Project scope
• Time
• Cost
• Quality
• Procurement
• Human resources
• Communication
• Risk management
• Stakeholder management

Project scope is the core of almost the whole project from the 10 aspects of project management above.

Moreover, a change in the project scope, cost, and time can change the other aspects. Risk management is also important for your team. Because risk management helps you to identify and control threats to your business's capital and earnings. So it’s also important for the company and the leader to include the risk management aspects. Especially when your team is working remotely.

5 Stages of Project Management

There is a process if we want to create a project, right? The process will be held by a person as the project manager. Then the project manager will manage the process containing some stages of the project.

To sum it up, here are the project management stages:

1. Project Initiation

The stage of project initiation is the first phase that turns an idea into a goal. You need to define the business case and the project at this stage. To define that, you need to determine the project charter.

What is a project charter? The project charter is an important document consisting of the project goals, project manager appointment, budgeting, workflow timeline, deadline, etc.

Once you create the project goal, you must include the key project stakeholders and people who will be involved in the project. The importance of project management is ensuring the process will be in accordance with the goals.

2. Project Planning

After creating the project initiate, then you can create the project planning. Project planning is a kind of project roadmap. Unless you are using the agile project management model, the second stage of project management involves almost half of project management.

In this stage, you will identify the technical need, develop the project schedule, setting up a communication plan and goals. The project manager will make a detailed design of the entire project. The details can be:

• How many resources are needed
• External resources needed
• Communication plan
• Specific deadlines
• Implementation plan
• Stakeholders that are involved in the project

Those aspects need to be involved to know important things such as risks and progress while the project is in progress.

3. Project Execution

When the project is approved by the project manager and stakeholders, the project can be implemented. The project manager has the responsibility to ensure that the process runs well according to the timeline and budget.

The process starts with choosing the resources that will be used on the project, choosing a leadership team, project contracts, etc. Moreover, the project manager also ensures that the work runs smoothly by choosing the great team member, and also maintaining healthy communication with team members and stakeholders involved in the project.

Of course, a project manager is expected to lead well, be able to communicate, be professional, and manage the project.

4. Project Monitoring and Controlling (Supervision)

A project manager must know every process that is in accordance with the plan. Not only that, a project manager must know that there is something wrong or that activity is off track.

Moreover, a project manager can make sure the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) of the team members. Then, a project manager is also responsible for quantitative tracking of the effort and the cost. It ensures that the project is controlled.

5. Project Closing

As the term ‘closing’, this is the final stage of the project management stages. It implies the end of the process after all the delivery stages. During the closing, the project manager will conclude contracts with external parties involved, archive important documents, and also make project reports.

After that, most of the team hold a reflection meeting to contemplate the project's successes and failures. It can be an effective way to continue team improvement.

The final task of this stage can be accessed by the project manager of your company. More so, there is the report that covers every process of this project management stage.

Run your project management stages easy

Breaking down a project into multiple stages can be a bit of a handful. You need to define the project's goals, initiate the plan, execute the plan, make sure everything runs smoothly, lead the team, and many more. In addition to careful planning, you also need to determine the resources that will be used to complete the project.

Sometimes we can get overwhelmed by all the processes. But now technology has developed over years. It has created a chance to help us in managing projects. In addition, project management tools give your team a framework to do the action and make it easy to plan and execute.

Having a cutting-edge tool on your team’s side helps your project management run smoothly and easier. It also ensures your team effectively collaborates, communicates, and organises all the projects. Try VirtualSpace for experiencing the best project management tool for remote teams!