What is the point of Project Management?

Well - ask yourself the question - What is the point of project management?

I like to think it is a simple question of economics.

Imagine you owned a small shop selling confectionery to local kids. You decide that as you you have some extra space in the back of the shop that you can install a couple of tables and start selling ice creams too.

The benefits are obvious in that you expect to make additional revenue. The costs are easily identified because you have a quote for the re-decorating that must be done and also the costs of the tables and ice cream maker. You may need more staff but that will come from an expansion in sales and you can make do with current staffing levels for now.

Do you see where this is going yet?

So imagine you kick off this new endeavour and before you know it the decorator calls off, just after you accepted a delivery date for the new tables and chairs.

The question now is do you still feel in control?

Are you wondering if the delivery can be postponed? What if it cannot and the tables need to be put outside to allow the decorator to complete his job?

Will the tables be safe out on the street? Is there space to store them there? Will this impact the existing confectionery sales in a bad way?

Too many questions begin piling up and not many answers are available to reduce your stress levels. And that is just a simple little example with minimal complexity.

The point of project management is to keep control of changes.

As all change usually involved a cost of some sort, a managed project will ensure that:
- spending is done in the right sequence and
- jobs are completed correctly and
- on time to a given schedule
- that doesn't prevent the existing business from being carried out.

Simple isn't it?