Project Management Iteration -The Panagora Blog

Project management can be encapsulated in phases most of which are iterated simultaneously before the project completion stage.Project management is important in every project related industry. It is the overall management of project stages. According to the Project Management Institute, project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities to meet the requirements of a particular project. A project manager is a professional agent that manages the project. The project manager’s role is as important as every other principal in the execution of projects and indispensable to the successful execution of those projects.

It is common to see only the obvious phases of project execution as the sole and major phase in project management. However, there are about 5 aspects of project management which are enunciated below:

Initiation & Set-up:

Depending on the industry this is the initial period of project planning .This is the commencement of the project. At this stage, the project is defined at a large scope; feasibility is also established with all factors being considered. Research is done at this stage – area of choice, architectural design and other determinants are included in the feasibility report with detailed breakdown of project aspirations,job description and scope of the project plan based on resources and manpower available in the throughput stages.

Planning  : 

In accordance with the popular saying, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Planning is the most important aspect before the execution of a project, goals are vetted and set. Planning is cardinal to the successful management of the project; specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound goals are set. This identifies costs, quality, available resources and realistic scheduling in the management plan. This phase identifies materials, finance and human resources needed for execution. Furthermore, tasking and assigning accountable responsibility to the project team members is done. Performance metric to gauge the progress of the project at each phase is also established at the project planning phase.

Execution:

This is the most obvious step of any project. This is where mobilized resources are put in motion. This is the evidence of prior planning in the preceding stage of project management. This involves assignment of resources and procurement of material resources. It is the construction phase. Task and resources are managed and the progress of the project is gauged with the established performance measure at the project planning phase.

Monitoring :

This stage is as important as any other stage. Project monitoring is the measurement of project progression and performance. Monitoring ensures that operation goes in alignment with the project plan. It checks the actualization of project objectives, quality of outputs- services and materials, cost tracking and overall performance of the project. It is advised this be done by an independent agent to provide a neutral view. The independent project monitoring agent checkmates the compliance of the project execution in line with the project plan.

Completion and Closure: 

This is the completion stage. Modules,Operations and processes are inspected and evaluated, reported and terminated. Procurement is finalized, resources are released and valuable efforts are recognized. This is the result of correlation of concerted efforts of the team members on the project. Project is closed when the requirements planned are met and is then transferred to the project owner thru bringing to an end the Iteration phases.