5 Project Management Steps: Process Group Project Management

Project management is a key aspect of running any business. If you are running your business on a tight budget, then you will need to run your business like a well-oiled machine. The one way to ensure that your project management is smooth is to go through this five step process.

Managing a project requires many methods of operations. To succeed at any project you need to take into account the whole project—from scope and finances to tasks and conversations about the project after the project starts. In traditional times the project manager has five phases. The 5 phases of project management are called lifecycles.

This blog post will show you how to incorporate process group project management into your project management strategies. Process group project management is a key aspect of project management. By implementing process group project management within your project, you can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your team. Process group project management will allow you to keep your team on track and ensure the success of your project.

We will focus on the following:

• What project life cycle is
• The concept of Project Management
• 5 Phases of project management
• Best project management software

What is Project Life Cycle

Project life cycle is this fancy term that describes the steps that are undertaken to complete a project. The project life cycle is a series of steps taken, the bare minimum of which includes planning, execution, and delivery. These steps are often completed in a specific order and serve as a guide to help eliminate project failure. Furthermore, project life cycle is a fancy way of saying project management, as it encompasses all of the most important aspects of managing a project, from initiation to completion.

This life cycle is one of the most important aspects of project management because every project life cycle has a different set of phases that it progresses through. As you can see, the project life cycle process is not a linear process, but rather a cyclical process. Another important thing to note is that the project life cycle is not a linear process. It's a cycle, because once a project has completed one life cycle, it goes through another. Depending on the length and size of the project, it will go through multiple cycles.

PMBOK® Guide Concept of the Project Management Life Cycle

Generally speaking, PMBOK® guides outline the components of a project lifecycle. Developing and testing this element involves the whole construction process. The system provides timely and centralised control of projects which helps its stakeholders improve their outcomes. The process aims to define the tasks required in advance for a new phase. Let’s break down the project life cycle into its basic parts:

What are the 5 phases of project management?

Project phases consist of various activities related to project planning. Their relationships throughout the lifecycle are sometimes sequential and each phase ends with completion of a particular project deliverable. Several phases in project management have different focus from others in the project lifecycle. However, project managers skill sets and activities could be different across phases. The repetitive process in a process group enables an excellent measure of control over the entire process stage.

The steps in this process consist of five phases: initiation, planning, execution, control and closure.

Phase 1: Initiation

The first phase of project management is the initiation phase. It is one of the most important phases of the project. It determines the success or failure of the project. The initiation phase is where the project is planned and the decision that whether the project should be taken up or not is made. The initiation phase is also known as the project approval phase. In this phase the project manager and the key stakeholders meet to identify the need for the project and whether it is feasible and will produce the desired results. The project manager has to prepare a project charter that describes the project, the background, the scope and objectives, the benefits, assumptions and constraints. The approval of the project charter is a very important step in the initiation phase. The project charter is the key document that formalizes the approval of the project.

In the initial phases the idea will be turned into an effective and practical idea. This stage is where you must make a business analysis and define project objectives. It must be done to determine the needs of the project and develop the project charter. Project charters are important documents containing information on project goals and constraints, appointment of project managers, budget and projected time. Once you have your projects goals identify key stakeholders. Create stakeholder registries for role, designation, communication, influence, and others.

Phase 2: Planning

It's important to plan each project from start to finish. You need to think about what you're going to do, how you're going to do it, how much time it will take and do you have the resources for it. Planning is the first phase of project management. You need to know how much time, energy and money you're going to spend on the project. In most cases, you don't want to spend more time or energy than you have to. You also want to make sure you don't start a project that you don't have the resources for. For example, if you're planning on moving into a new house but don't have enough money to buy furniture, you're going to have to find a way to make some money or get a loan.

It is perhaps the hardest stage to complete during the planning of the project. The objectives of this study include the underlying rationale and the feasibility analysis of the proposed product. This is what is expected and will determine the future direction of our society. Sometimes a project is the result of a business need or purpose to solve problems or explore new ways of doing business. In order to reduce customer service call volume, companies will study and explore how these numbers are driving them. This study will tell you how you can decrease phone calls and improve customer service.

Phase 3: Execution of the project

Developing and finalising deliverables are part of project execution. Kick-off meetings are followed by status updates, performance reviews, and performance monitoring as the project proceeds forward.

It's time to start the project. The execution stage is often the most lengthy in a project manager because the real work takes place. Your teams can collaborate, evaluate work and prepare presentations with stakeholder groups and revise. During the earlier project planning phase, project managers do heavy lifting. A project manager leads an organisation’s teams and stakeholders through milestones in a process. The project manager usually has the role to handle: Its a long list! Tell me the best way project management handles the whole thing? The plan will be followed.

The Execution Phase includes the following tasks:

• Build a team
• Allocate resources
• Implement project management strategies
• If necessary, procurement management
• The Project manager oversees and controls the project's implementation.
• Assignments are carried out
• Progress meetings
• Project schedule revision
• Planning and scheduling as necessary

These two phases frequently happen simultaneously, despite the fact that the project monitoring phase has a different set of needs.

Consider adopting cloud-based project management tools so that team members may instantly update task statuses.

Phase 4: Project monitoring and control

The third and fourth phases of projects do not follow sequential patterns. The project management phase operates concurrently with project execution, enabling the completion and adherence to project deliverable objectives. The key to determining a successful project's success is identifying critical success factors (CSI), as well as objective key results (OKRs), which indicate how much fidelity the plan is aimed for. The manager is also responsible for quantifying the efforts and the costs during the project monitoring phase. This tracking is not only necessary to ensure projects remain on schedule, it is also a crucial part of future projects.

• Project objectives: A project's ability to stay on schedule and within budget gives a good indication of whether it will accomplish its stakeholders' goals. Objectives are broad goals, while Key Results and more specific milestones aid in achieving your objectives.
• Measurability of the goal and the key outcome - Instead of saying, "raise company revenue," you'd rather say, "grow profits by xxxxx within 12345 timespan."
• Time-bound - as previously indicated, you must specify the time frame in which you will be making an effort to achieve your goals.
• Key results serve as checkpoints along the path to achieving your goal. These secondary goals serve to further the primary goal. They also have a time limit and are measured. Good key results will be chosen in a way that accomplishing them will unquestionably signify that the target has been met.

Skhokho OKRs

Once you've decided on your objectives and key results, it's important to be able to assess and monitor them continuously. This is where Skhokho OKR solution plays a part.

You can perform the following with Skhokho OKR Software:

1. Establish the broad goals for your company and then allocate duties and deadlines. So everyone is aware of who is in charge of the goal, when it should get started, and when it is supposed to end.
2. Report frequently on the Key Result's development. For instance, if your primary goal is to accumulate 10% sales in 4 months, you should regularly monitor this percentage. The progress toward the goal can be tracked when you report on the percentage of sales you are receiving within that 4 months.

Phase 5: Closed project

After the final delivery of the project, testing of the product and the release, you get the final product. During Project Closeout phase, the team is expected to complete necessary steps for closing the project, presenting the proposal to stakeholders, final reporting and celebrating the project. Most organizations go from one project to another without completing a project in a timely manner. Taking time off to close the project is an excellent way to celebrate and review the project. Lets see what we can do in the next phase.