What is project management? A plain-English guide

Project management is the work of getting a project from idea to finished result: deciding what will be delivered, planning how and when, leading the people who do the work and keeping it on track when things change. PMI defines it as applying knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project's requirements.

This guide explains it in plain English: what counts as a project, the stages every project goes through, the triple constraint, what a project manager does and how to start a career in it.

What is a project?

A project is temporary work that creates something unique: a new building, a software release, a product launch or an office move. In PMI's words, it is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.

Two things separate a project from everyday work. It has a start and an end, and it produces something new. Running payroll every month is operations. Replacing the payroll system is a project. When the new system goes live, the project ends and operations take over.

What does project management involve?

Most projects move through five broad stages, which PMI calls process groups:

1. Initiating: agree why the project exists, what it should achieve and who the sponsor is.

2. Planning: define the scope, build the schedule and budget, and plan for risk, quality and communication.

3. Executing: lead the team and do the work.

4. Monitoring and controlling: track progress against the plan, manage changes and fix problems early.

5. Closing: hand over the result, get formal acceptance and capture the lessons learned.

In practice the stages overlap. Monitoring runs alongside the work, and on agile projects the plan, build and review cycle repeats every few weeks instead of happening once.

The triple constraint: scope, time and cost

Every project balances three things: what will be delivered (scope), when (time) and for how much (cost). Change one, and at least one of the others has to move. Want it sooner? Add money or cut scope. Cut the budget? Expect less or wait longer. Quality sits in the middle, because squeezing all three at once usually shows up as lower quality.

PMI's guidance now talks about competing constraints and adds quality, resources and risk to the original three. Even so, the triple constraint is still the simplest way to explain a trade-off to a sponsor.

Waterfall, agile and hybrid

How you move through those stages depends on the approach. Waterfall plans everything up front and delivers in fixed phases. Agile delivers in short cycles and adjusts the plan as the team learns. Hybrid mixes the two. Our guide to project management methodologies explains when each one fits.

What does a project manager do?

The project manager is accountable for delivering the project. In a typical week, that means agreeing scope with stakeholders, planning and tracking the work, managing risks and changes, leading the team and reporting to the sponsor.

The job is less about being the expert in the work and more about making sure the work happens. Our guide to project management skills covers the skills that matter most, and our guide to project deliverables explains how a project's output is defined and signed off.

A worked example: an office move

Say a company has to move 60 staff into a new office by 1 March. Here is the same project through the five stages:

1. Initiating: the sponsor, the operations director, sets the goal of everyone working in the new office on 2 March without losing a working day.

2. Planning: the project manager lists the deliverables (fit-out, network and phones, furniture, movers and a staff guide), plans the schedule backwards from 1 March, agrees a budget and lists the risks, such as the internet line not being ready in time.

3. Executing: contractors fit out the space, IT installs the network and staff pack their desks.

4. Monitoring and controlling: in week six, the internet provider slips by ten days. The project manager pays for a temporary connection, spending budget to protect the date. That is the triple constraint at work.

5. Closing: staff move over a weekend, the operations director signs off, and a short review records what to do differently next time.

Nobody in that example needed a project manager's title. Many people manage projects like this as part of another job, and that is often how a project management career starts.

Is project management a good career?

For many people, yes. Project managers work in almost every industry, from construction and IT to healthcare, finance and government, so the skills travel. PMI projects a global need for 30 million project professionals by 2035.

It suits people who like organising, solving problems and working with others, and who are comfortable being accountable for results they do not produce themselves. It suits people less if they want to stay hands-on in technical work.

How do you get started?

Start with the projects you can lead now, even small ones, and learn the vocabulary and methods properly. Two PMI credentials mark the usual path:

• The CAPM is the entry point. It needs no work experience: a secondary diploma and 23 hours of project management education by exam day. Our guide to whether the CAPM is worth it helps you decide.

• The PMP comes once you have led projects. With a bachelor's degree, PMI asks for 36 months of experience leading projects. Our guide to PMP eligibility covers the other routes.

Our CAPM course is live, instructor-led CAPM training online from a PMI Authorized Training Partner (ATP #4456), with no work experience needed.