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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Discussion Question: Project Management

Think about how we use project management at work and in our personal lives. Is it necessary to plan complex projects differently than simple projects? Why or why not?

Project management is something that everyone uses in their professional and personal lives without even recognizing the use of the skills at the time. At work, even if you are not a project manager, you often manage projects, even if you are simply managing yourself and how the project is completed.

In your personal life, project management can be translated to something such as a move across country. You have a date in mind that you have set when you want to move. In order to meet that date, you need to pack your belongings, arrange for the movement of them, shuttle yourself and family across country. Now in order to make sure that the move across country is successful, you need to make sure that your property is sold or available for rent, you need to have a new residence lined up, and you need to have a job when you get there. Everything that you as an individual need to accomplish to make all of those goals happen is project management.

So far as care taken into planning simple versus complex projects, the approach should be the same, just the workload should be different. That is, the same overall goals are the same regardless of the complexity of a project – budget, success, deadline, and specifications. The only element that changes is the amount of work that goes into planning to make sure these goals are met.

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