Chapter 1: Main parts in Managing a Project

Congratulations to you for choosing to pursue the PMP Certification. Well, to begin this journey we need to understand the 5 main parts in Managing a Project Successfully.

Note: We havent formally defined what a project is, but dont worry just yet. It will be covered will all the syllabus of the PMP Certification in the subsequent chapters.

This chapter is just going to outline the 5 main parts in Managing a Project Successfully.

So, lets get started!!!

Part I: Initiating the Project

This is the first part of the sequence of events that help you to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, control and close a project. All the topics covered herein will deal with the steps required to start a project properly and to ensure that all the due diligence is done in a proper way to result in a successful projects.

In order to initiate a project, you will need to know what a project is, and you will want to have a bird’s eye view of the field of project management. Also, you need to know how projects are selected and Initiated.

All of these are covered in depth in Part 1.

Part II: Planning the Project

You have already defined your project and started it at the end of Part I. You can’t wait to start executing it. But hold on for a moment!

When you are executing your project, how will you know that your project is on the right track? or even better When you are executing your project, how will you know that your project will end in a success?

You can answer the above 2 questions only if you had a proper planning phase before you jumped into executing the project.

Also, to lead the project to success, you have to monitor and control it throughout its lifetime. Planning gives you the tools and the framework to do that. You need to plan for the resources that are needed to complete the project. Any management task has certain risks associated with it. So, you need to have plans to manage those risks and also the quality of the work done.

Initiation determines what will be done, whereas planning embraces that what, refines it, and determines how it will be done.

These are the things you will learn in Part 2

Part III: Executing the Project

After the project is authorized through initiation and planning, it’s time to start the execution. You will be directing and managing the project execution throughout the lifecycle of the project. To perform the project work, you will also need to acquire, develop, and manage the project team. Furthermore, your organization might not have the resources to finish certain parts of the project work. You will need to conduct procurements for those parts of the work. In addition to producing deliverables, project execution will also include assuring quality, distributing information on project progress and issues, and managing stakeholder expectations.

You will learn how to do all these things in Part 3

Part IV: Monitoring and Controlling the Project

Any task has to be consistently monitored and corrective measures taken at times when things are going off-track if it has to be a success. And the same is true with projects as well. You need to continually monitor and control your project. In general, monitoring means watching the course, and controlling means taking action to either stay the course or change the wrong course. Applied to project management, you monitor the project by activities such as making performance measurements to ensure that it is on the track set by the project management plan, and you control the project to keep it on track and to bring it back on track if it falls off.

You will learn about how to Monitor the Progress of your project and how to Control it in Part 4.

Part V: Closing the Project

This is the last and final step in any project. To be honest, common sense tells us that anything that was started needs to end. A project is not an activity that is going to continue for eternity. It will end too.

Finishing a project deliberately means finishing it in a controlled way, not just letting it finish, even when it’s cancelled.

To close a project successfully, you verify the deliverables to the customer and get an acceptance about their correctness. All legal contracts too need to be closed in a proper way.

You will learn, how to do all these things in Part 5.

Last but not the least, you will also learn about Professional and Social Responsibilities as a Project Manager and about behaving ethically and morally during your time as a good manager.

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