In this issue we look at the steps you could take to turn your career dreams into practical reality; consider a possible future in Project Management and show you the best way to resolve conflict.

• Editor's Desk
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• Bite 3
• Working Web
• Last Word

What is Project Management?

There are many things that we do that could be classified as a project, yet we don’t realise it. Projects are all around us. They’re at work, they’re at home, they’re in your child’s school. In fact, it could be argued that your children are projects in themselves, although it’s probably best that you don’t tell them that! Let’s look at a simple definition of a project.

A project is a one-off exercise, with clear objectives, to be completed within a specific timescale.

This is the essence of a project. Some people argue that defining a project is so complicated, the definition is worthy of a book in its own right. However, the basic definition above will identify most of the projects that you will come across, so let’s look at each element in a bit more detail.

A project is a one-off exercise. A project is not a daily activity, where you take the same steps every day. It’s unique, or different from your day-to-day routine. Doing the weekly food shopping is not a project, but doing the shopping to cater for a family golden wedding anniversary party is. (Married couples generally celebrate their golden wedding anniversary once, unless they happen to be bigamists!) Running a bakery business with one shop is a regular routine, but expanding the business to open a second shop, would be a project, because you only open a second shop once. Opening a third shop would be another new project. Getting the filing done is a routine work activity, but introducing a new filing system, or even moving the filing to a new location, is a project. Do you remember doing projects at school? Maths and English were never projects because you did them regularly each week, but every so often teachers would focus on one subject matter, such as the Second World War, and concentrate on that one topic for several days.

As I said earlier, there are many things that happen in our ordinary day-to-day lives that we wouldn’t necessarily consider as a project, but in actual fact, they are; buying a new car, for example. Filling it with petrol is not a project because it is something we do regularly, but changing the car involves doing some research, finding out what’s out there, arranging test drives and sorting out the insurance. It’s a one-off exercise, that won’t be repeated for a while. And when you do, technology will have moved on, or your family circumstances may have changed, so it will be a new project because you’ll be looking at different cars.

So, for something to be a project, it needs to be an activity that isn’t undertaken regularly as part of your normal day-to-day business.

A project needs clear objectives. A project needs to achieve something! Cynics may argue that some projects don’t achieve anything, but those tend to be the ones that failed. Even so, when those projects were started, there was an objective they were trying to achieve. The fact the project didn’t meet its objective does not mean that it wasn’t a project in the first place. The objective of changing over to a new filing system may be to make filing easier, simpler and quicker. A baker who wants to expand the family business will have the objective of opening one new shop. The objective of buying the food for a golden wedding anniversary party is to feed people at the event.

A project’s objective is the reason for doing the project in the first place. If you need a new car, then the project is to buy one and you’ll know when you have achieved your objective because you’ll have a shiny new set of wheels sitting outside your house. The simplest projects have one objective, however, bigger projects can have more than one objective. Having one clear objective means that everyone knows what the project is trying to achieve, and also when the project is finished. When your new car is parked outside your house, the project of buying a new car is now finished. A project has to be completed within a specific timescale. All projects have an end date. Usually this is fixed. It is the ultimate deadline. When a country hosts the Olympics (now that’s what you call a project!), the project of getting the entire infrastructure in place (stadia, transport links, athlete accommodation, etc) has the opening ceremony in front of the whole world as its deadline! Actually, the deadline will be well before this, but the point I’m making is that the opening ceremony has to happen on a specific date. If the project is running a week behind schedule, a country can’t turn round and say to the world, “Sorry, but can you all come back next week, because we’re not quite finished yet.”

Every project will come to an end, because that’s what makes it a project as opposed to a normal activity, so it must have a completion date. If someone is employed as a project manager, then effectively, their job is to make themselves redundant, because when they’ve finished the project, that’s what they’ll be!

Often, a project will have a specified start date too, which also re-enforces the point that a project is not a routine, or continuous process. A country should not start preparing to deliver the Olympics, until the Olympic committee have formally announced that they will be the host nation, typically seven years earlier.

So, what skills does a project manager need?

Now that you know what a project is, let’s look at the sorts of skills a project manager should have to enable them to manage this one-off objective that has to be completed within a specific timescale.

At times, many project managers feel they should be able to juggle. Projects can have any number of variables, and managing the project means having the skill to keep all those variables up in the air all at the same time. The bigger the project, the more variables, or balls, there are to keep moving. However, if a company advertises for a project manager, juggling won’t be listed on the person specification.

A project manager needs to have the following:

• An understanding of various project management techniques that they can call upon to help them deliver the project,

• The ability to problem solve,

• Good listening skills,

• The ability to get on with people,

• The ability to learn,

• Understand the importance of a deadline.

An understanding of various project management techniques. Depending upon the project you’re undertaking, you’ll need to decide which techniques and disciplines you’ll need to bring to the table to help you manage the project. Think of the various project management techniques as individual tools in a toolbox. When a carpenter, or plumber, undertakes a repair, they don’t necessarily use every tool in their toolbox, but they know which ones to use to help them finish the particular job they are working on.

The ability to problem solve. Project management is all about developing something new. It’s a project because it’s not something you do on a regular basis. To implement a project means taking on the role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek and boldly going into the unknown. This means that things will go wrong. Rarely in life, does everything go to plan, and that’s just the day-to-day stuff! So, you need to be prepared to have to cope with problems and come up with solutions. Make sure you’re the one who doesn’t panic, but stops, takes a deep breath and counts to ten, if necessary, before making any comment or decision. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be the one who provides the solution, but you may need to be the one who finds someone to provide the solution and then make the decision to go with that solution.

This also means having good listening skills. When your team around you are panicking because things are going wrong, you need to be the one who will sit down and listen to what people are saying. This will help you identify what the real problems are, which will enable you to help identify the solution.

The ability to get on with people. For many projects, getting them finished involves teamwork. Somewhere, somehow, other people will be involved. If you’re looking to change your car, you’ll need to liaise with sales people. Managing a project means you need to get on with people, and be able to work with people that you wouldn’t normally work with or socialise with. When things go wrong, which they will, you need to be able to get everyone on the team behind you and pulling together, working as one. As we go through the course, you’ll discover that the people you will work with are one of your most important resources that you as a project manager have available to you. Good project managers are those who involve all the right people in the decision-making process, particularly when a problem needs solving. They also make sure that they get the best out of everybody on the team.

The ability to learn. Delivering a project means stepping into the unknown. You will come across challenges, situations and information that you won’t understand, because you will be experiencing it for the first time. Learning to pass your driving test can be seen as a project because it has a clear objective, is a one-off event (hopefully you won’t need to learn to drive to pass a test again) and it has a deadline. Yet whilst you’re tackling this project you will encounter new situations on the road that you won’t have encountered before. Project management is a continual learning process because new situations may develop all the time, situations which you have to solve. Sometimes, you won’t solve them straight away, you’ll make mistakes and things may get worse before they get better. But once you do solve a problem, that solution then becomes another project management tool to go into your toolbox, for possible use on a future project. And, if ever a project does go to plan, congratulate yourself and then consider whether there was anything you could have done better.

Understand the importance of a deadline. There are some people in life who are just so laid back, they appear to be permanently horizontal. They don’t worry about deadlines. They’re always late for parties, dentist appointments and managerial meetings. Project managers can’t have this attitude. They need to understand why there are deadlines and then work towards them. Being able to understand why a deadline is when it is, and what impact it has if this deadline is not met, is vital for project management. It’s a common joke that deadlines are nice in theory, but it’s just a shame they are never achieved. However, because delivering a project means stepping into the unknown, it’s probable that you may encounter a problem that causes you to miss a deadline. As a project manager, you need to understand what the implications are of missing that deadline, and look for ways in which you may be able to make up time.

If, after reading this, you’ve decided that Project Management is the job for you then get more information about Business Training's Project Management Course.