As previously stated, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel when there are so many templates already available online. PRINCE2, CCPM (critical chain project management), scrum (primarily used in development environments), and the waterfall methodology are some of the most popular. Many Gantt charts incorporate the waterfall methodology into their design, making it a simple transition from one software to the next.
These three elements are carried out in no particular order, but rather in conjunction with one another to ensure that the project runs smoothly. But let’s delve a little deeper into these three.
1. Tools & Templates
A framework’s actions can be sequential (which a waterfall methodology would be ideal for) or simultaneous (which a Kanban board would be ideal for).
2. Project Lifecycle
The project lifecycle is essentially how your project management framework will be set up in general. Examining your project lifecycle will help you start mapping out your project management framework.
The project lifecycle is usually divided into five stages. Initiation, planning, execution, management, and review are the steps.
- Initiation: Research, planning, coordination with both stakeholders, brainstorming ideas, and interviewing customers/stakeholders/partners/manufacturers for input are all part of the initial phase.
- Planning: Now that you’ve identified all of the necessary components to make the project a success, you can begin putting the puzzle pieces together. What happens when each milestone is reached? How many teams will be participating? What are the risks that each team faces, and who will be in charge of managing them? During this phase, the stakeholder team will answer and sign off on all of these questions and more.
- Execution: The project gets underway! The project will now move into the production phase, where designers, developers, writers, and other team members will create the actual deliverable.
- Management: During the management phase, you’ll track, review, and report all updates to key stakeholders, especially at each milestone. Additionally, just in case, you’ll want to make a note of everything, anomaly or not, and keep all notes in a repository to refer to later.
- Review: The project is finished, and the deliverable has been delivered successfully. With stakeholders, team members, customers, and manufacturers, you’ll go over all notes, key successes, and areas that could be improved.
As a result, the lifecycle stage is arguably the most important and largest component of your project management framework. Because there are so many moving parts, the lifecycle is frequently used to show key stakeholders each stage in relation to each milestone, as well as what goals will be set to achieve at each point. Once the project is completed, each new phase and milestone will be reported as a new metric.
3. Project Control Cycle
This is essentially the project’s monitoring and management section. During this stage, you’ll use software to consolidate communication from all channels into a single location. Different project management metrics allow you to track the progress of all members of your team, keep an eye on potential risks that you identified prior to kick-off, and manage key stakeholder expectations.
This process can take as long as the project lifecycle portion of the project, depending on the size of your team and how many countries and time zones it operates in. This is because dealing with people involves dealing with variables. And there’s a risk in every variable.
Unfortunately, risk was identified as one of the issues that 57 percent of leadership teams surveyed felt they were least prepared to deal with. Only 36% of businesses have a plan in place to deal with risk effectively.
The project would most likely fail if there was no project manager to properly manage and monitor the risks, optimise the programme throughout the project process, and create channels for open communication across multiple projects.
Need more insights on the same? Enrol in a PMP training program today! Or get in touch with PMI-ATPs at Education Edge today.