Welcome Friends...!
Let me first Introduce myself. My name is M. K. Tiwari and I am an experienced Project Manager in the field of Information Technology certified by PMI. Writing and educating is my hobby and Project Management is my passion.
After completing my Engineering degree, I started my career as an Engineer and gradually moved into the Project Management. My journey from Engineering to Project management was a journey of a techie to become an Artist.
Yes...managing project is an art in true sense. An artist who knows how to play with colors can make a normal picture come alive and one who don't know this can spoil a beautiful picture. The only difference between an Artist and a Project Manager is that one don't need to be a born Project Manager. You can learn it and by practicing you can master it. I have seen people who are more worried about getting certified rather than learning the Project Management. By keeping only certification in mind, it is going to be very difficult become a good Project Manager and even getting certified. But if you are willing to learn, certification will also come along the way.
Managing a project successfully is all about balancing the Project Constraints (Scope, Time, Cost, Quality), handling stakeholders (Customer, Team and Vendors), Managing Risks effectively and establishing proper communication channels. This is as simple as that. So friends, fasten your seat belt and get ready for the most thrilling journey of improving your knowledge and professional capability.
As a Project Manager, you need to possess and exhibit certain abilities-
a) You need to understand what is Project and how to manage it. This includes the knowledge of concepts, latest trends, methodologies, tools and technology.
b) Work Hard...Knowing how to manage is not going to work alone. You along with your team will have to work hard. Remember, working hard doesn't mean working extra hours. It simply means properly utilizing self along with your team's time and work in a focused way to accomplish the task.
c) At the role of Project Manager you work as a leader and hence you need to know how to behave when you are at work. you also need to use your leadership skills and the interpersonal skills. In my views,,The interpersonal skills is the most important competency because Human Resources are the most valuable assets for any Organization and accomplishing your project goals at the cost of your resources is simply failure for a Project Manager.
Don't worry..! None of above is a rocket science. Each of these can be learned and practiced.
Let us first understand what is a Project. Please spend as much time as you want to understand this. If I want to write the definition of Project, it is just one simple statement but I have seen many Project Managers who don't really understand what a Project is, and as a result, they keep doing same mistake again and again and end up saying that Project Management concepts are bookish and doesn't help in real world Project constraints and scenarios.
Project, Program, Portfolio and Operations are closely interrelated. Knowing each of them clearly and understanding the difference is very important. To explain these concepts, i'll take an example and analyze it.
Scenario-1:
Mr. A has been given a task to develop a capability for the organization to make 4x4 size paper playing cards. Mr. B in the same organization is working on developing facility to produce plastic cards. Both Mr. A and Mr. B will handover the facilities to Mr. C who along with his team will start production work. A and B reports to Mr. D who is taking care of all assignment related to cards and manages resources between all such tasks for effective and efficient use of resources. Mr D in turns reports to Mr. E who is overall in-charge of all indoor games business of the company.
Lets define the various roles match them with these people-
1. Project:
A project is a temporary (i.e. definite start and end) endeavor to create a unique Product or Service.
=> Mr. A and Mr. B are Project managers because they are working to develop a new product and once it is developed, their task is complete.
2. Program:
A program is a group of interrelated projects which can be managed collectively to gain some benefit.
=> Mr. D is a Program manager.
3. Portfolio:
A portfolio is an strategic group of several Projects, programs and other activity.
=> Mr. E is a Portfolio Manager who is managing portfolio of entire indoor games.
4. Operations:
It is an ongoing activity.
=> Mr. C is an Operations Manager.
So friends, thanks for reading this blog. I'll be waiting for your comments and suggestions.
