PROJECT PERFORMANCE

Project Performance



Project Performance

Introduction

This paper supplies proven methods for organizing any project, selecting the right team, developing a budget, devising a realistic timetable, and meeting goals set by upper management. It also offers tips for every aspect of project management, including scheduling, gaining cooperation from external sources, getting around missed deadlines, and dealing with a change in direction. By following the guidelines, project managers will be better equipped to achieve desired results and gain a reputation for top-notch organizational skills, bottom-line responsibility, quality control, and dependability. This paper edition also incorporates the newest strategies and techniques of project management (Gido & Clements 2006, Pp. 415-521).

Defining Project Management

Most managers cringe at the prospect of handling a project assignment. This is because the routines involved in the operation of a department are recurring, and therefore known and predictable. Projects, on the other hand, are temporary and non-recurring, and by nature they are chaotic. As a result, they are more difficult to manage (Kerzner 2006, Pp.475-510).

Managers also dread projects because few companies have dedicated project teams, and projects are often given to a manager whose department is related to the assignment. This is no guarantee the manager will know up front all that will be involved, however, especially with regard to time, money, and objectives. To properly execute a project, managers must apply and adapt their existing skills to a task that is exceptional, out of the ordinary, and by definition, temporary in nature.

Professionals who operate in project management mode all the time (such as engineers, contractors, and architects) are able to successfully execute a project as part of their "skills package." For most managers, however, project management falls outside normal departmental operational procedure and carries a new set of demands. The first step for project managers is to understand that the project is best defined by comparing it to routine assignments, and then identify any operational constraints associated with it (Cicmil & Hodgson 2006, Pp. 111-122).

Projects differ from routine operations in several ways:

A project is an exception to the usual range of departmental functions. It therefore requires investigating and then compiling, arranging, and reporting findings.

A project rarely involves just one department. Activities extend beyond the project manager's immediate area and involve workers across (and sometimes outside) the company.

Project goals and deadlines are specific. They have isolated and finite goals that do not recur, as well as identified start and end dates.

The end result is defined. Whereas departmental operations involve ongoing process maintenance, projects produce a specific outcome that is separate from departmental functions.

Projects operate under three specific constraints: time, money, and results. In regular departmental operations, these constraints are ongoing, but a project will succeed or fail on the basis of these three constraints.

Factors Affecting Project Performance

Following are given some factors which must be taken into consideration while a project is being implemented. These factors are suggested in the book “Project Management Demystified” by Reiss.

Four Current Project Management Trends

Project management is a dynamic process; it requires new thought patterns that must ...