Have you ever wondered “Why is project management important?”
If you’ve never worked with a project manager before, it can be tempting to forego the expense in favor of managing a project yourself. After all, project management can be a hefty financial investment, so why not just do it yourself?
But that would be a mistake.
A good project manager is the glue that holds a project together and ensures objectives are met on time, on budget, and to a high quality standard. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), organizations that don’t properly include project management in their strategies have more than a 60% higher rate of overall failure.
Failed projects can quickly derail your initiatives and delay or even prevent business growth.
Project management is more than simply tracking deadlines and setting a budget. A good project manager takes control of a project from beginning to end, ensuring that the initiatives and goals are strategically aligned, the project has stakeholder support, and everyone is on the same page. So why is project management important? Let’s break it down.
What is project management?
To understand why project management is important, we first need to define exactly what project management is.
PMI defines project management as “ the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.” A basic project management lifecycle covers four stages:
- Initiation
- Planning
- Execution
- Closure
In other words, the purpose of project management is to plan and manage a project to successfully complete its listed goals and deliverables. It involves identifying and managing risks, carefully managing resources, smart budgeting, and clear communication across multiple teams and stakeholders.
Why is project management important?
Because projects are often complex and involve numerous stakeholders, having a project manager to lead the initiative and keep everyone on the same page is critical to project success.
In fact, PMI found that organizations using any type of project management methodology are better at meeting budget and staying on schedule while meeting scope, quality standards, and expected benefits.
So why manage projects so methodically?
Here are six reasons why you should use project management.
1. Realistic project planning
The need for project management during the planning phase cannot be overstated. Too often, organizations overestimate how quickly they can achieve deliverables, underestimate the costs, or both—a recipe for failure.
A good project manager considers the big picture and sets realistic and achievable goals, budgets, and timelines. Without careful management, a project can quickly get off track before it has even begun.
To set realistic goals, budgets, and timelines, the project manager communicates with different stakeholders to understand the strategic priorities and business objectives of the initiative. Based on their research, the project manager then outlines a project plan that balances those priorities within the constraints of time and budget. This process involves cost estimation, resource management, and risk assessment.
