peer response

This week delved a little deeper into the concepts of Project Management including its framework and management areas of stakeholder management and impact of cultures on project management. The Project Management Body of Knowledge or PMBOK is the fundamental body of knowledge for project managers (Watts, 2014) and is categorized into 10 knowledge areas: managing integration, scope, time, costs, quality, human resources, communication, risk, procurement and stakeholders (Watts, 2014).

1. Managing integration: Projects are dynamic, they go through several changes over the phases of the project and each phase can have different set of challenges and requirements. Managing integration involves understanding and establishing project scope as well as planning, monitoring, and control of varied project activities and tasks.
2. Managing scope: Scope of the project determines all the project variables and gives an idea about required project tasks and deliverables. It helps plan for the project in terms of timelines, resources, budget. Managing scope involves planning, breaking down the project and creating a WBS or Work Breakdown Structure, monitoring, verifying, and control (Watts, 2014).
3. Managing time: After the project scope has been defined, a schedule or timeline for managing the project tasks is developed. Sequence of the tasks is determined based on priority, critical path items are identified, tracked and monitored. Resources for each task are identified. Tools used for managing the time or schedule include using a Gantt chart.
4. Managing costs: For a project to be successful, it must be completed within the stipulated time period and budget as projects utilize resources. The amount of money spent on resources should be less than the overall budget. Managing costs include budget forecasting and estimation, monitoring and controlling expenses as well as managing project time and resource planning.
5. Managing quality: Project tasks or deliverables need to be executed as per client expectations and quality. There should also be uniformity and the quality should repeatedly maintain performance standards. Managing quality entails quality planning, quality assurance and quality control (Watts, 2014).
6. Managing human resources: Projects are driven and executed by teams involving people from different departments, companies, and sometimes different working locations. Managing human resources requires good intrapersonal skills and involves developing good working relationships and trust amongst the team members.
7. Managing communication: As projects can involve multiple stakeholders including internal and external, managing communication is vital. A communication plan should be established for every project that outlines preferred medium of communication across stakeholders, plan for dissemination of information, performance reporting, progress on the project and milestones.
8. Managing risk: All projects are subject to risks, depending on the complexity of the project scope, risks vary in magnitude. It is therefore, crucial to anticipate risks and plan for them in advance. Managing risks efficiently includes risk identification, planning, analysis, monitoring, and control .
9. Managing Procurement: Managing procurement means managing different vendors and services for the project. It is about establishing service agreements, work orders, contracts as well as managing the selection of vendors and contract closure.
10. Managing stakeholders: Stakeholders can influence the success of a project. Identifying the key stakeholders involved throughout the phases or life cycle of a project can contribute towards success. Stakeholders can include top management, project team, your manager, colleagues, peers, customers, government in some cases for example, the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry, contractors, and suppliers. Managing stakeholders means understanding their work culture, how to communicate with them efficiently and effectively, assessing and analyzing their influence on the project or project deliverables understanding their expectations, keeping them involved and informed.

References:

Watts, A. (2014). Project Management. Victoria, B.C.: BCcampus. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/.