Project Management 101: Terms and Techniques to Get You Started
This is a writing sample from Scripted writer Robert Thomson
Project Management 101: Terms and Techniques to Get You Started
Finding a balance between project management and leading people is not always easy. But if you have natural leadership skills, are detail-oriented, and like clear expectations, this project management information could prove beneficial.
If you are scaling your online-marketing projects or a small business owner planning to launch a content marketing strategy, you may be overwhelmed by all the options. Where do you start?
This guide is for anyone tasked with leading a short-term initiative, sometimes called an “accident project manager.” Whether you're new or experienced in leading projects of this type and scope - we'll show how it's done!
This lesson on essential project management will give you an understanding of the terminology and tools for leading any work task. You will also find links in each section, so that we can provide more detailed information about what is covered there if necessary.
What is Project Management?
Project management is a diverse, dynamic field that significantly impacts organizations and their stakeholders. But the flexible, wide-ranging scope that makes new projects exciting can create confusion. Where do product management roles end and other parts begin? And what’s the actual day-to-day work of product management?
Project management strategically directs every phase of the project lifecycle - from research, and development to testing and positioning - to develop technically feasible products that meet both needs and business goals.
The Project Team - Roles & Structure
Project management is not just about implementing new software, but also an opportunity for cross-functional communication with organizational stakeholders. This means effective project managers engage in conversations throughout the entire customer journey and all areas of your business--including C-level executives and marketing/sales departments!
Let's now know who is involved in project management.
Project manager: the sole person given the authority to manage a project.
They are responsible for defining the processes used to manage people, tasks, and delivery at every project stage, from planning to closing.
The project manager is responsible for keeping the entire team up-to-date on what's happening with their projects by effectively communicating, organizing workflows and managing tasks. They’re also responsible for creating a plan that ensures all deadlines are fulfilled, while considering any changes or unexpected issues. This includes ensuring no one exceeds their authority in certain areas, like scope creep!
Project owner: the individual or organization with a vested interest in the project.
The project owner is typically the sponsor, client, or customer who has asked for the project to be completed. They are responsible for providing the resources necessary to complete the project and are the final decision-makers regarding changes or problems.
Project sponsor: the individual or organization that provides the funding for a project.
The sponsor is typically the company or organization that will benefit from the project's completion. They are responsible for ensuring the project stays on track and within budget.
Project team: the group of individuals assigned to work on a project.
The project team is responsible for completing the work assigned to them by the project manager. They typically consist of subject matter experts, like designers, developers, and testers. They're the backbone of any project. These workers are proactive, understand how to escalate concerns, and provide updates on tasks throughout their work area, so everyone involved with a job or assignment can get what's needed quickly.
Project stakeholder: any individual or organization with a legitimate interest in the project.
Stakeholders can be internal (employees of the company) or external (customers, suppliers, etc.). They are typically involved in the project and have a say in its outcome.
Further reading on creating your project team:
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“What Is a RACI Chart? Here’s Everything You Need To Know”: A RACI chart is a visual diagram of the roles and responsibilities in a project team. When used, the decision-making process throughout a project can be much quicker.
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4 Project Management KPIs Important For Performance Management
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The New Art of Building High-Performing Teams: Seven characteristics that distinguish high-performing teams in today’s working environment.
Project Management 101: Documentation
Good project managers are detail-oriented and pay attention to everything that goes into their projects. There is a lot to be done from task management, resource management, scheduling, and workflow management, so to keep up, they create documentation for each one, from the goal or purpose to all benchmarks and how successful they were at achieving them. With lessons learned along the way so everyone can see what worked well (and maybe not so much) in real-time.
Project plan:
The project plan is the most critical document in any successful endeavor. It defines your goals, timeline and budget while considering all those pesky high-level requirements that need to be met. It formalizes who will lead each part together with their roles in the team, so there are no conflicts or problems downline
Important information to include in your project plan:
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The team's communication plan, the types of meetings and reports, and their occurrence cadence.
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A definition of what the project’s success will look like about the project goals.
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The approved project budget for both development and marketing efforts.
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The product management methodology will be used throughout the project.
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The task management plan or tool will track progress and tasks.
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The risks and issues identified, and how they will be addressed.
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The change management process will be used to track and manage changes to the project.
Project Scope
The scope can refer to either product or project scope. It is essential you know the difference:
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Product scope is all the functions and features that characterize a product or service together.
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The project's scope covers all the work required to produce a product that meets the requirements set out in the product scope (required functions and features).
The project scope is what everyone involved in the project agrees needs to be done, and what defines the project's success.
Project Requirements
Requirements are the blueprint of what your product or service should look like and how it performs. They're usually written in formal language with detailed explanations for each requirement, which tells engineers exactly where they need to start making changes. So, their work fits into this bigger picture - because nobody wants an incomplete project!
Requirements can come from anywhere - customer interviews, other companies' projects shared online, drawing board sessions, or even watching users interact with a product or service.
Once the project sponsor approves the requirements, all changes are required to go through a change order process to be implemented, just like any other changes to the project's goals or objectives.
Change Orders
It is vital to close the loop on changes to ensure the success of the project. Once approved by management, all requested alterations must undergo an official change order process before being implemented. This process ensures that all suggested updates are appropriately vetted and discussed with stakeholders before any decisions are made.
A change order document can be a spreadsheet or any type of file visible to the team. It’s important to document all change requests, both approved and denied.
Further reading on creating your status reports:
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“Project Management Communication Skills When in Crisis”: Project managers need to be master communicators, especially when things go unexpectedly. Here are communication skills and tips you need to know to be successful in a crisis.
Status Reports
The status report is the perfect way to stay honest with yourself, your project team and key stakeholders about what is happening. This ongoing transparent report allows you to update everyone involved in real-time, so there are no surprises when it comes to the next rounds of updates or decisions - this will lead to more efficient workflows.
The format of status reports may vary depending on the organization, but they should always answer these four questions:
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What has been done since the last report?
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What is currently being worked on?
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What will be worked on next?
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What are the current project risks and issues?
Further reading on creating your status reports:
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Your Project Status Report Checklist: What to Include When You Report to Stakeholders
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6 Accounting Reports To Analyze Your Small-Business Operations
Project Management Tools
Project management tools help project managers and teams deliver projects from start to finish. They help organize and simplify processes that allow you to optimize productivity and achieve maximum results. Over 85% of businesses actively use project management software, and the market is expected to reach a valuation of $7 billion by 2026.
Let’s look at the most basic (as this is only a 101 guide) project management planning tools and show how they function within project management software programs.
Gantt Chart
At its core, a Gantt chart is simply an efficient way to represent your projects schedule visually. It offers project managers greater insight into the breakdown and relationship between all tasks within their scope, while also providing visual representation for progress against deadlines or other milestones throughout each day/weekend segment over time.
Screenshot of a Gantt chart in TeamGantt (Source)
With its visualized structure, Gantt charts are ideal for reporting information to stakeholders and customers. Gantt chart project management tools come as specialized software products or all-in-one solutions. You can even create your own Gantt chart using spreadsheet-like applications such as Excel.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
The Work Breakdown Structure or WBS is a hierarchical chart that outlines major project deliverables and then breaks those down into smaller, more manageable tasks. It’s useful for complex projects to help identify where your team needs detailed requirements of the task at hand as well as determining when you should be focusing on critical paths in order make sure deadlines are met within desired ranges!
Screenshot of a WBS in TASKBOSS (Source)
Critical Path
The critical path for a project is the sequence and timing of tasks that must be completed to complete the project on schedule. A task belongs on the critical path when, for example, a one-day delay for that task would cause a one-day delay for the entire project. The critical path will be the longest time needed for the project work to be completed.
Screenshot of a project Critical Path in Project Office (Source)
Risk Register
Every project has potential events that, if they occur, would have a negative impact on at least one project objective. These events are project risks, and as the project manager, you should create a risk register document to track each risk event, the action needed to reduce or correct the risk, and its status. Every project manager should create a risk register, so you can anticipate and address risk before it throws your project off course.
Screenshot of the Risk Assessment Register in in Onspring (https://www.softwareadvice.com/ca/risk-management/onspring-profile/)
Further reading on Risk Management
How To Manage Lifecycle Uncertainty Using Project Risk Management Tools
Popular Project Management Methodologies
The following section defines standard methods of IT project management designed for software development teams. Other industries, such as construction, may not benefit from the iterative building approach used in these methodologies because it's tailored explicitly toward managing large-scale projects with multiple stakeholders and complicated scope changes throughout each phase of delivery.
If you manage projects, you need to learn about project management methodologies. Here’s a quick overview of the most commonly used project management methods that you can use.
Waterfall
The waterfall project management method is a straightforward and linear approach that requires you to move from one phase of the process only after completing it.
The waterfall method is a project management approach that’s great for highly structured projects like manufacturing and construction. It uses Gantt charts to plan your work schedule, ensuring you don't miss any deadlines with this slow-moving process.
Agile
Agile is an adaptive, flexible methodology for gathering project requirements, execution, and delivery, typically used for software projects with short bursts of work called Sprints. You’ll start the project with high-level requirements, but not every detail will be worked out before the team begins work. Instead, the team will focus on blocks of work, show them to the project sponsor, and then either make changes or move on to the next work block.
The agile methodology is a dynamic way to work and collaborate with others. Since the publication of the Manifesto 17 years ago by software developers who wanted their practices applied more widely across all industries, it has become popular in product development. It has been used for non-software products, motor vehicles, medical devices, food, clothing, events, music and more. It is also used in projects that require a more responsive and fast-moving production schedule, such as marketing.
Scrum
Scrum is an Agile teamwork methodology that delivers iterative, incremental work segments and is typically used for software product development. The term Scrum comes from the game of rugby, where the team leader, the Scrum Master, enables the Scrum team to work quickly and make decisions on their own. A Scrum team is an empowered team.
The scrum methodology has been used predominantly in software development, but proponents note it's applicable across any industry or business. Retail logistics is just one example of how this process can be applied - there are many others!
Others Project Management Methodologies to consider:
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PMI/PMBOK
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Critical Path Method
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Kanban Methodology
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Lean Methodology
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Six Sigma
How to find the right PM software
If you read this 101 article, the odds are that an enterprise project management system is not what interests or needs you. But don’t worry! We'll help even the smallest teams find their perfect software with our comprehensive guide for beginners like yourself.
Recommended Next Steps
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Check out thousands of user reviews on the top project management tools in our annual FrontRunners report.
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Read our Project Management Buyers Guide.
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Call our software advice experts at (844) 680-2046 for a free consultation.
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Read our five-step strategy to help you select the right tool for your business: “How to Evaluate New Software in 5 Steps”.
Read “5 Common Costly Mistakes Made During the Software Selection Process (and How to Avoid Them)”
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