Project Management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources in such a way that these resources deliver all the work required to complete a project within defined scope, quality, and time and cost constraints.
A project is a temporary and one-time endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service that brings about beneficial change or added value. This property of being a temporary and a one-time undertaking contrast with processes, or operations, which are permanent or semi-permanent ongoing functional work to create the same product or service over and over again. The management of these two systems is often very different and requires varying technical skills and philosophy, hence requiring the development of project management.
The first challenge of project management is to ensure that a project is delivered within defined constraints. The second, more ambitious challenge is the optimized allocation and integration of inputs needed to meet pre-defined objectives. A project is a carefully defined set of activities that use resources (money, people, materials, energy, space, provisions, communication, quality, risk, etc.) to meet the pre-defined objectives.
Definitions:-
- PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge - as defined by the Project Management Institute - PMI):
"Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements."
- PRINCE2 (Project Management Methodology):
"The planning, monitoring and control of all aspects of the project and the motivation of all those involved in it to achieve the project objectives on time and to the specified cost, quality and performance.”
- DIN 69901 (Deutsches Institut für Normung - German Organization for Standardization):
"Project management is the complete set of tasks, techniques, tools applied during project execution."
About the Author
Faisal Aman He is B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering from "University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Pakistan"