Easy Stages of the Project Management Process

So when starting out on a new project as the project manager, what should you be thinking about?

It is always a good idea, as in most planned activities, to keep the end in mind and to think through the high level structure the project will take.

Many project management methods describe the procedures they will use to deliver the end result using in the following high level definition:

1. Initiation
2. Planning
3. Execution
4. Control
5. Closure

Make note the neat loop between planning, execution and control. This is a feedback loop that allows all projects to remain on track or identify and make modifications to the planned delivery based on actual outcomes within the execution processes.

Phew getting a bit technical there ... sorry! At this point, and for the purposes of this post, these processes are fairly self explanatory. So let's for now keep it simple and say only that every project should have them.

For each of these processes there are documents and techniques to ensure that the project is delivered how it was meant to be delivered. We can, and shall, cover some of that detail in other articles.