In today’s highly competitive business world the term project management war is used to capture the concept of effectively managing multiple projects, time constraints and resource scarcity. Projects, especially the big and complex ones are like going to war and since wars are fought each day right from the board room, it means managing projects with several tactics to ensure the goals where planned for are achieved. Since organizations continue to delegate project outcomes to project managers, Work War skills are more compulsory than ever before. This article aims to discuss the relationship between project management and stakeholders and suggest ways to better manage today’s contentious project arena.
On Understanding the War in Project Management
The term project management warrior is used to describe a very complicated and turbulent process of project leadership and project implementation. This ‘war’ is not being waged between members of a team but between them and all the projects now requiring the management of resources, coordination, and completion within a specified time frame and cost.
In a project management war, project managers often face multiple fronts, including:
Time Management
It is always difficult to meet project goals especially in a way that all activities are completed within the given time frame.
Resource Allocation
It involves expediting the right personnel, resources and other accessories within the right time as a critical success factor that drives any project.
Stakeholder Communication
Despite the fact that there may be different self-interests from the side of all the stakeholders, it is appropriate to make them all aware and consistently share the same goals and vision during the entire project.
Risk Management
Another area of managing project risk is identification of risks that might occur in future but they are not present at the moment.
Key Challenges in the Project Management War
As we saw, leading a successful project management war defines various difficulties that can jeopardize any project no matter how well it has been planned. Below are some of the most common obstacles project managers face:
1. Scope Creep
This is manifested through the extension of the baseline project size, wherein new features, tasks or requirements which are not part of the defined scope to begin with, are introduced progressively. Thus, whereas some flexibility may be required, the practice of permitting many changes can create problems with time and cost. The fact is that in the war of project management, one of the key goals is to keep the project from getting sidetracked and buried in unnecessary details of work which is otherwise termed as scope creep.
2. Efficient Collaboration of the Team
The kind of communication that goes on should be the fundamental aspect of any project. However, when working with several teams or departments, inefficient cooperation or absence of it becomes a problem. The lack of proper communication between project members is a great challenge that must be prevented by project managers so that all the members of the team are indeed working towards realization of the project and its set schedule.
3. Time Constraints
And, historically, time is one of the scarcest resources in a project management war. According to the nature of the project, teams have to be productive and cannot afford to waste time. Increased working pressure, low moral being and increased rate of making mistakes are some of the implications of working under pressure and this is likely to affect the success of the project. Project managers must always schedule the activities correctly, use time wisely and ensure that probable time-related issues are minimized.
4. Budget Management
Financial management of a project is as essential a feature as any in the project management war. That is why projects can quickly go over the budget, their considerable portion, for various reasons, may remain unspent. A project manager knows exactly what he has to spend on the specific project and must be able to balance between cost constraints and quality of work.
Tactics for Effectively be Winning the Project Management Battleground
In warfare, there’s more than just the battle and winning the project management war is not a different thing thus strategizing, leadership and problem solving are key to success. This paper identifies some of the following strategies that a project manager can undertake when operating in the battle field of complex projects.
1. Develop a Clear Project Plan
As the basic characteristic, project plan is poised as the fundamental preliminary of well-grounded projects. Project plan is a formal statement that defines the project’s aims and objectives, the areas it will cover, the estimated duration, cost and the necessary resources. A clear project plan minimizes misinterpretation of objectives, controls the boundaries of the project and as well guides the execution of the project.
2. Before Starting Working on the Plan, It Will Be Effective to Give Consideration Regarding Which Issues and Assets Are Most Demanding
Not all elements are equal in conflict in a project management war. This means that every project manager has the responsibility of ranking activities within a project in terms of their contribution to the success of that project. The use of priority schemes allows project managing to complete the important tasks at first, thereby achieving important project goals. Also, proper distribution of resources minimizes probabilities of holdup and guarantees continuous and proper execution of projects.
3. Foster Open Communication
It is essential that the need to communicate openly with one another is the key to win a war in project management. In this case, project managers can encourage the reporting process, daily/weekly/monthly meetings and great scenarios where the team members share information, progress, issues and concerns. Informed stakeholders unstitched roles associated with miscommunication and guarantees that every involved worker.
4. Manage Risks Proactively
Managing risks is a core activity in every project regardless of the sort of business or industry in which a project is being conducted. The situation in a project management war is that a project manager has to analyze potential threats and make contingency plans with them. In order to prevent the adverse effects of such occurrences the progress of the project is checked often with plans adapted if need be.
5. Use Project Management Tools
Software technology can be used to facilitate the Delivery of the management objectives in order to win the project management war. Currently, one has Trello that enables orderly project tracking and necessary dissection, Asana or even the Microsoft Project. Objectively these tools give actual updates of the development of the project so that the project managers can be informed and orderly.
Leadership Intervention in Project Management Warfare
These are some of the rationale for the management war that show the appropriateness of leadership as a war necessity. Project managers need to be able to lead their team effectively in order to motivate them, work with potential conflicts, and mainly to get the project done.
Leadership in project management involves:
Setting Clear Expectations
There is nothing as wrong as team members moving in different directions because no one is sure of what is expected of them; the project manager should map out the goals and objectives of the project, which are to be accomplished within a specific period with specific outcomes.
Empowering Team Members
When assigning sub-tasks as activities and providing team members with project responsibilities, it becomes easy for a project manager to encourage the team to be productive.
Providing Support
Project managers should always be on call to provide support to the team or allay the fears of team members to overcome through them the challenges which interface them.
Celebrating Successes
Maintaining focus on the work accomplished will go a long way in boosting morale for the rest of the project.
The Future of Project Management: Adapting to New Challenges
Of course, the desire of business and organizations to grow means that the project management war also changes. New tendencies that influence project management can be discussed as follows: remote work, a focus on technology, and sustainable development. Managers need to learn these new features and they can only be achieved through constant updates with industry.
Also, general responsibilities of project managers are shifting toward a strategic level. In addition to supervising the project managers and day-to-day activities, managers are today required to focus more on accomplishing the objectives of the organization, spearhead on the implementation of innovative ideas and ideas adopted by the organization, and ensure that most of the projects being implemented are in line with the vision of the organization. Still, one more characteristic that seems to be a must for project managers today and the years to come is that they are ready for anything, they are strong-willed and think ahead.
Conclusion: The Controls of the PM War
However, to survive the turbulent sea of high risk projects, which few people realize is a war, one has to learn the strategies of the project management war. Six business concepts such as developing clear plans, prioritization, communication, risk management, and technology integration in general enable project managers to navigate through the battle and accomplish the missions. Of course, it doesn’t mean that every PM fight will be won by expert project management leadership and a strategic mind in observing new trends in project management.
