How To Improve Project Management Process? 4 Important Stages

Before we start discussing the stages of project management, let’s have a brief look at what project management actually is and why is it that important.

Project management is termed as an approach that involves the use of numerous principles, methodologies, and guidelines, which are developed to lead a project from its beginning phase heading towards the ending phase.

Project management has a lot more to do than just keeping a check on the management triangle which is time, budget, and scope. It consolidates between team and client, creates a vision for accomplishment, and keeps everyone on the same pitch to lead the way towards objective.

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With the right approach in project management, a positive impact is developed, which influences more than the delivery of tasks and targets. On average, projects go over 27 percent of their planned budget, as per Harvard Business Review. This indeed shows the high importance of project management.

Why Project Management Process Improvement Plan is Essential?

Project Management is vital as it assures that tasks assigned are as per plan and will provide worthwhile and further opportunities to the business. It ensures that the outcome of projects is aligned according to the imperative objectives of the company.

Project management provides leadership and guidance to projects. It removes hurdles and roadblocks by leading and inspiring the team to attain targets.

A project management process improvement plan is crucial because it helps in developing a proper method for the execution of strategic goals. Convenient expectations are assigned regarding what, when, and how tasks will be completed.

Another aspect of project management is that it helps to reduce operational cost, which is crucial for any business to remain within the assigned budget.

Stages of Project Management Process Improvement Plan

Here is a quick review of the four stages:

1. Initiation (to identify the target)

As it is the first stage of the project management process improvement plan, it emphasizes the identification of a business need, issue, or opportunity, which can be fixed and resolved by the project.

The company’s top management deliberates the ways their team can take care of this need by fixing the issue and grabbing the opportunity. This step also helps in outlining the core objective of the project; analyzing the suitability, and identifying the targets to meet.

a) Role of project managers:

There is an entirely different aspect that can bring a lot more effectiveness to project management by changing the mentality of managers. This means rather than decisions being imposed on them, the project managers must go for a mental switch and approach as project leaders.

The project manager’s input at the strategic level becomes highly essential as they are the ones who are responsible for the execution of the project. Their performance gets low when they are given tasks by higher management, which are out of their scope.

b) Keynotes of initiation:

• Prepare the feasibility report, which recognizes the core issue to be solved by the project.
• To determine the outlook by analyzing all necessary details of the project.
• Classifying the stakeholders, as it identifies who can be affected by the project and takes them in confidence.

To create a flowchart describing all the procedures and actions from the beginning till the end.

Some important artifacts produced during the project initiation phase:

• Business case: A business case document justifies the project objectives and the ROI.
• Feasibility study: A feasibility study determines if the project can be executed within a reasonable time and cost.
• Project charter: A project charter document outlines project descriptions and a list of project deliverables
• Project team charter: Gathering resources to execute the process. These artifacts include details such as job descriptions, roles, and responsibilities.
• Project scope: This document is created after a project kickoff meeting, where the project team members and stakeholders get together to determine the scope of the project, project goals and objectives, and timeline.

2. Planning (to outline the process)

In this step of the project management process improvement plan, teams are built and brought together, schedules are created, and budgets are prepared.

a) Team building:

“To assign the right person for the right job,” can be a challenging task for management. The company needs to gauge the skills and expertise required for the project so that they can appoint the right employees to the team. Management may also need to get people either freelance professionals for specific tasks or staff from other departments of the organization.

b) Preparing Schedule:

Scheduling becomes of high significance as if the project does not start on time, continue at the required pace, and end at the estimated timeline, it will adversely impact the output of the project. Therefore, the schedule must be given due importance and must be followed throughout the project.

Project management requires a rational schedule keeping in consideration all the restraints and unforeseen issues and their solutions. Teams must be prepared to deliver their best effort within the deadline to achieve the intended result. For example, if a company is planning to launch cloth lining for the spring season, they will schedule it accordingly. If the product does not hit the shelves on time, customers will get the other brand. This will result in a total loss for the company by not being up to the schedule.

c) Assigning Budget:

Every business keeps a close eye on its budget and takes measures not to exceed it. Therefore creating a budget requires a lot more attention, and calculations are thoroughly done to figure out the cost of work done. The best approach to budgeting is breaking down the project into various categories like staff, training, research, marketing, and others.

To get the figures more accurate, getting advice from an expert would be helpful to cross-check if something went missing. Expenses and overheads like licensing fees, insurance, and legal procedures need comprehensive estimations.

3. Execution (to implement the course of action)

This stage can be called “Showtime” as now things will come out of conference rooms and papers& work will be done at the ground level. It brings the plans into action and requires an emphasis on keeping the work cycle moving. This phase pays attention to organizing teams, maintaining timelines, and to assure the project is running as per schedule.

a) Tasks for Project Managers:

Project managers must keep interacting with higher management, clients, and team members to keep updated regarding the progress of the project. They also need to take up the status of stakeholders at all levels of execution. Proper site/factory visits are arranged to check the status as per standards and compliance requirements.

b) Holding Meetings at Regular Intervals:

At this stage of the project management process improvement plan, meetings are held at regular intervals among various levels for monitoring the progress of work. The objective is to keep the project on track and find a solution if a problem arises.

4. Closure (to end the project)

Only 2.5 percent of companies can complete 100 percent of their projects successfully, as per a survey from Gallup.

As the teams move toward completion, the project enters the closure phase. This phase affirms providing the final outcome, releasing resources, and assuring the completion of the project with success. It also assures the quality of work delivered has to be up to the standards.

a) Ending Tasks:

One of the most important tasks of the closure phase is evaluating the overall outcome of the project from aspects related to management, quality assurance, finance, timely completion, and others. Team performance is analyzed in regard to their achievement of tasks. A final closure report is documented assuring that all the assignments were completed with no loopholes, thus forwarding this report to key stakeholders.

Some important artifacts generated during the project closure phase include:

• Visual task report: A visual metric of the task performed is generated and handed over to the product owners.
• Project completion confirmation: The project completion document is signed-off.
• Project review documentation: Final product is reviewed by the product owners and stakeholders to ensure that it meets their business requirements.
• Deliverable transfer: After project completion, the deliverables are transferred to the stake owners. Finally, a document is signed-off to ensure that all deliverables are handed-off and acknowledged.

Top Skills Project Managers Need to Improve the Project Management Process:

• Scope Management: Project managers should be able to determine the scope of the project including project development aspects such as budgeting, scheduling, and task creation to clearly define what is feasible and what is outside the scope of the project.
• Task Management: To improve task management project managers should be able to create a proper work breakdown structure that will assign the right task to the right team. It is also essential to outline the task dependencies so that the tasks laid out are executed and completed on time.
• Resource Management: Resource management is an important aspect of project development where project managers have to correctly gauge the skill set of each resource to hire the right resources and assign them the right task depending on their skill set.
• Schedule Management: Schedule management involves breaking down tasks and scheduling it by defining the completion date. Project managers should facilitate faster delivery of the project yet ensure high-quality product development.
• Risk Management: Risk management includes assessing the course of project development and defining possible risks involved and ways to mitigate them. When done the right way, preparing a proper risk management plan can save a significant amount of investment, and resources and save the project from toppling over.
• Communication: Project managers should establish proper communication with stakeholders as well as team members to ensure that the project is developed as smoothly as possible.

Conclusion

Project managers keep the project management phases simple by employing project collaboration tools to record, maintain timelines, create task lists, assign to teams, and perform other actions with ease on cloud-based tools.

Project management tools such as Orangescrum also assist team members and project managers create project-related artifacts and task reports with a single click.

Take a tour of our project collaboration tool at www.orangescrum.com and learn how we can transform project management for your business.