Project Management 

Project management strategy is the key to project success. To take advantage of opportunities, projects must be more than just tactical or operational. Building market share, extending product lines, increasing revenue, satisfying customers, and building for the future are more important measures of project success.

 Project management is an active element in the implementation of a company’s strategic intent, achieve better results, and increase the company’s competitive advantage or value. Project management strategy focuses on the desired strategic results. It is an overachieving set of guidelines to be used by the project in making decisions and taking action in alignment with corporate, business, marketing, and operational strategies.

 Broadly speaking, project management style can be categorized based on three criteria:

1. Product of the Project
2. Type of Project site
3. Project Management methodology

Project Management based on Product type

Below are the 10 major types of project management, based on product of project.

Project Management based on type of sites

Based on the type of sites, project management style can be categories in two types: Greenfield and Brownfield.

Greenfield is a commonly used word to describe a new project. A greenfield project is one that lacks constraints imposed by prior work on the site. Typically, what a greenfield project entails is development on a completely vacant site.

By opposition Brownfield refers to the project of expansion or revamping or services on an existing facility. A brownfield project is one that carries constraints related to the current state of the site. It is a property that is either contaminated or that people think might be contaminated. Common examples of brownfields include former gas stations, metal plating facilities, and oilrig.

Based on Project Management methodology

According to the PMI, a methodology is defined as “a system of practices, techniques, procedures, and rules used by those who work in a discipline. Lean practices, Kanban, and Six Sigma are project management methodologies examples”. Their aim to assist project managers with guidance throughout the project, and the steps taken to complete the tasks.

Different methodologies have different strategies that aid in managing issues should they arise during the project’s execution. While there are project management methodologies a-plenty, I’ve narrowed it down to eight popular ones.

1.  Waterfall

Waterfall project management is a sequential, linear process of project management. It consists of several discrete phases. No phase begins until the prior phase is complete, and each phase’s completion is terminal—waterfall management does not allow you to return to a previous phase. It is a very straightforward way to manage a project.

The Waterfall system is the most traditional method for managing a project, with team members working linearly towards a common goal. Each member has a clearly defined role, and none of the phases or goals are expected to change.

2.  PMI Methodology

PMI stands for the Project Management Institute, a not-for-profit organization for project managers and program managers. PMI was started in 1969 and now has a membership of more than 2.9 million professionals worldwide. This globally recognized certificate assures employers that a person is trained and qualified to manage projects. PMI is also the organization that oversees the documentation of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) within the PMBOK Guide.

PMBOK stands for the Project Management Body of Knowledge and is a set of standard terminology and guidelines for project management.

3.  PRINCE2

PRINCE was derived from an earlier method called PROMPT II (Project Resource Organisation Management Planning Techniques). In 1989 the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) adopted a version of PROMPT II as a UK Government standard for information systems (IT) project management.

PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a structured project management methodology and practitioner certification programme. PRINCE2 emphasises dividing projects into manageable and controllable stages.

PRINCE2 is based on seven principles while following the processes and this principle cannot be tailored. If a project does not adhere to these principles, it is not being managed using PRINCE2.

Not every aspect of PRINCE2 will be applicable to every project, thus every process has a note on scalability. This provides guidance to the project manager as to how much of the process to apply. The positive aspect of this is that PRINCE2 can be tailored to the needs of a particular project.

4.  Agile Project Management

Initially rooted in the software development industry, the term was coined in the early 1990s with “application development crisis” event. Back then, there was a significant lag time of about three years between a business need for an application and the actual software delivery. Often, by the time of the final product release, the technology was already different, or customer requirements had drastically changed. This resulted in many failed projects and sunk costs.

The thought leaders in the software development industry started organizing informal meetings between themselves, determined to find a way to develop software solutions more easily and effectively. Through these meetings, what eventually emerged was the “Agile Manifesto” that changed how we manage projects today.

Agile is best suited for projects that are iterative and incremental. It’s a type of process where demands and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams and their customers.

5.  Scrum Project Management

Scrum is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.

Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems. Scrum co-creators Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland have written The Scrum Guide to explain Scrum clearly and succinctly.  This Guide contains the definition of Scrum. This definition consists of Scrum’s accountabilities, events, artifacts, and the rules that bind them together. 

6.  Kanban

 Kanban is a popular framework used to implement agile and software development. It requires real-time communication of capacity and full transparency of work. Work items are represented visually on a kanban board, allowing team members to see the state of every piece of work at any time.

It’s a method to manage and improve work across human systems. This approach aims to manage work by balancing demands with available capacity, and by improving the handling of system-level bottlenecks.

Kanban achieves efficiency by using visual cues that signal various stages of the development process. The cues involved in the process are a Kanban board, Kanban cards, and even Kanban swimlanes for those looking for that extra bit of organization.

7.  Lean

The Project Management Institute sums it up: “To be Lean is to provide what is needed, when it is needed, with the minimum materials, equipment, labor, and space.” Lean manufacturing identifies three types of waste: muda, muri, and mura (known collectively as the 3M).

Lean methodology promotes maximizing customer value, while minimizing waste. It aims to create more value for the customer by using fewer resources. Lean manufacturing principles were developed by Toyota in the 1950s and applied in the 1970s to combat the energy crisis. The term “lean” was coined in the late 1980s.

8.  Six Sigma

The term Six Sigma was used originally used by Motorola in the early 1980s to describe the overall management approach summarized in this paper. The Six Sigma method has since been successfully used by many other organizations including General Electric, Boeing, DuPont, Toshiba, Seagate, and many others.

The Six Sigma method focuses on understanding customers’ requirements better and eliminating defects and waste. These objectives are achieved through profound knowledge of statistics, engineering and project management, as well as the underlying processes and systems. Objective of Six Sigma projects are to improve the organization’s products, services and processes across various disciplines, including production, marketing, finance, and administration.

It is achieved through understanding the underlying processes and reducing or eliminating defects and waste. The Six Sigma management method integrates profound knowledge of statistics, engineering, process, and project management.

Conclusion

Choosing the right project management style is crucial for your business. You must understand project management is a very vast knowledge area with different types of management, it is important to understand different types. The right project management style can elevate your project and help the project manager to get the best out of each team.

Which project management style worked best for your organization? Let me know by leaving a comment below right now.
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