Project Management 101
As someone who isn’t the best at time management and gets easily distracted, I was a little overwhelmed when I first saw the project management assignment. However, as I began to conduct research and watch the video lectures, I realized the assignment wouldn’t be as overwhelming as I thought it would be. In fact, I realized project management is something I will continue to practice for future classes and work assignments.
What is Project Management?
According to the Project Management Institute, project management is defined as “…the use of specific knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to deliver something of value to people.” Project management dates back to the early 1900s and was founded by Henry Gantt and Henri Fayol. Project management was first used in engineering. Gantt created the Gantt chart, which is a bar chart for scheduling, and he is known as “the father of planning and control techniques.” Fayol invented five management functions that are utilized in program and project management. Both of these foundations led to various types of project management types, which branch out in different industries. Today, project management can be used for all sorts of projects and everyday life. The most common form of project management is the waterfall, which is a stable project management technique that forecasts a goal. Other forms include agile, lean, scrum and Kanban project management.
The type of project management I utilized when planning the rest of my ICM foundations course is Kanban. Kanban is a style of project management that utilizes a visual board and timeline that maintains a workflow. It visualizes what parts of the project are done, what is in progress and what needs to be completed. As I created my Kanban board via Trello, it helped me grasp a better sense of time management, organization, planning and brainstorming. I was able to think beyond the course and wonder how I can create a better work-life balance, especially when creating a visual board. The more in-depth I was with my planning, the more productive and energized I felt.
The Process of Project Management
As mentioned earlier, project management takes various steps. When using the Kanban method, the first step is to visualize your project flow. When creating my Trello board, I went back to blackboard to look through the modules and see which projects needed to get done, when projects needed to get done and what to prioritize. I broke everything down from modules, to assignments, to class deadlines and to personal deadlines. I attached the required readings that needed to be read into different module cards and added photos to important assignments so they would stand out. I also added checklists to ensure I wouldn’t miss any steps and to motivate myself to get things done quicker.
For bigger projects, such as the white paper, I created personal deadlines so that I wouldn’t overwhelm myself. One of the most important parts of project management is to prioritize and create realistic goals. I did this while creating my Trello board by analyzing which tasks would be most time-consuming and what should be done first. When looking at the requirements for the white paper, I broke the assignments down into three parts. The first part being the first half of the paper, the second part being the second half of the paper and the third part being the graphics, edits, bibliography and title page. One of my biggest weaknesses when it comes to time management is over or underestimating how long a task will take. To prevent this from happening with the white paper, I made sure I started my tasks early in the week to give myself cushion time to ensure tasks would get done for the final deadline. Within each card on my board, I added tags that would be color coated and labeled on the status of what is complete, what is in progress and what hasn’t been started yet. Putting down deadlines and knowing how complete a task is are key components to creating a Kanban board.
In a traditional Kanban board, the goal is to have a card delivered from the commitment point to the delivery point as fast as possible, with this time frame being called the Lead Time. However, since there were multiple modules, I wanted to see the order of modules go from left to right and check all the card boxes within the columns. For me personally, having cards remain in order will help me stay more organized and not confuse myself by rearranging tasks and leaving room for accidentally placing tasks in the wrong columns.
The Future of Project Management
After learning and practicing more on project management, I realized how powerful of a tool it can be for not just projects, but also for time management in general. Creating deadlines, goals and visualizing tasks can help productivity and organization to create a better work-life balance. Over time, I’ve developed a habit of waiting until the last minute to complete a project. However, project management will allow me to slow down and think more deeply about a project, which will result in a higher quality product. Ultimately, this skill will allow me to find my highest potential with any challenge that comes my way in my classes, career and beyond.
References
Coursera. Types of project management: Methodologies, industries, and more. (n.d.). Coursera. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://www.coursera.org/articles/types-of-project-management
Kanban. (2022, July 24). Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban
Naydenov, P. (2022, April 04). Kanban project management: How to use and implement it. Kanbanize. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://kanbanize.com/blog/how-to-use-kanban-for-project-management/
Project Management. (2022, September 14). Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management
Project Management Institute. (n.d.). What is Project Management? PMI. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/what-is-project-management
Rehkopf, M. (n.d.). What is a Kanban Board? Atlassian. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanban/boards
Featured Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay