Project management foundation

How do projects get started? When someone has a problem to solve or an opportunity to pursue.

We all want our projects to be successful. Organizations want to enjoy the benefits that those projects produce. And as project managers, we look forward to our next project with opportunities to learn about new industries or manage projects around the world. Delivering a project successfully is more than writing up and handing out to-do lists.

Your job, as project manager, is an on-going balancing act between project scope and the time, resources, and budget you've been given. To make things more interesting, people will ask for changes mid-stream, risks will become real issues, and work never goes according to plan. So you have to continually correct course pretty much until the project is done.

In this article, we'll use a case study to explore how to manage project successfully. We'll look at how to start a project the right way and then put together a comprehensive plan for running it. I'll guide you through keeping your project on track from start to finish. With these techniques under your belt, you'll be able to meet stakeholders expectations and handle the changes that inevitably arise.

You don't need to know anything about project management before you start this article. It works either as an introduction to project management for beginners or a refresher if you've been managing projects for a while.

In this article we're going to follow a project through the project management life cycle. So for the next few hours you're going to be a project manager for the Breslin Korlebu Teaching hospital. The hospital is adding a new cancer wing and improving its facilities. Thanks to government grants and generous donations from several donors. You'll be managing a project to replace the system and processes for scheduling patients into rooms throughout the hospital. The goal is to improve the hospital's scheduling capability and maximize the use of facilities. A more complete description of the case study is available in the exercise files.

As the project manager, you'll never be bored. And you'll almost always be in high demand. With your new found skills, you may even find that you get more done at home and when having fun. Thank you for joining me at the beginning of this fascinating and fun journey into project management.

With these foundations under your belt, you're ready to start managing projects. From getting them off the ground to planning them out. From managing and controlling to finally wrapping them up. And don't forget to celebrate success. Whether you're just starting out or refreshing what you know, there are lots of additional resources to help you grow. So here's to your future as a project manager. Now get out there and get things done.