For partnerships, projects present requirements of an exceptional kind. For these, it is essential to successfully implement the project within a specified time, using all available human and financial resources. This requires proper preparation and coordination. For this reason, several project management methods are available to help implement projects in a timely, safe and successful manner.
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The Importance Of Project Management For Partnerships
The term project management summarizes all necessary actions that translate to the initiation, planning, and management, as well as the control and completion of projects. Project management aims to plan and control the projects to limit possible risks correctly. In addition, it enables various opportunities to be identified and used in good time so that the project goals are achieved, with high quality, on time, and within the specified budget.
Projects are generally considered the main driving force behind the design of change processes in companies. Therefore, projects should be geared even more toward a company’s goals and strategies.
Successful project management requires a standardized and formalized approach to projects to minimize certain risks and increase success. Various project management methods are used to serve this purpose. The more complex the project and the larger the number of project participants, the greater the need for project management methods.
Some project management methods make it easier for a partnership to implement projects. These methods are usually well documented and are generally supported by suitable software so that alliances can easily use the understanding and application of the respective methods. However, selecting the method that suits one’s needs depends on some parameters. The individual project phases, the project size, its type, the respective industry, and other factors decide which method is the right one. In addition, not every method is suitable for the beginning of an activity – at least not if systematic project management is to be set up.
Five different methods, in particular, are popular with partnerships because they are easy to understand and implement. The individual project management methods are described and explained in more detail below.
Project Management Method 1: Project Structure Planning
The project structure plan (WBS) method is a hierarchical breakdown of a project’s entire scope of delivery and services into operationalizable units. With this method, the work breakdown structure is displayed graphically, usually in the form of a tree structure. The project object is then subdivided into sub-projects according to object-oriented or functional criteria. The aim is to break down the work breakdown structure into manageable and delegable units. Based on these units or work packages, the respective expenses are estimated step by step, resources are allocated, and schedules are created.
Project planning with visual WBS is beneficial. With these, only the tasks and activities are created, after which they are dragged to the correct place in the actual project plan. This project management method is ideal for project orders placed provisionally. However, these should not be overly complex projects whose project structure can only be represented with difficulty by a structured plan.
The advantages of this project management method lie in the fact that it acts as a link between the rough planning steps and the detailed planning. The entire scope of the project in project structure plans is presented entirely and clearly, without immediately showing the levels of complexity. Another advantage is the visualization of the project. Because of the visual representation, it is possible to explain the project to everyone involved quickly and easily. This method also allows assembling the respective project from individual building blocks as if it were a puzzle. The actual contents of the project planning cannot be forgotten thanks to a project structure plan.
However, this project management method takes some time for users who are more used to working with task lists and milestones. This can be seen as a disadvantage of this method. In addition, this project management method is not necessarily suitable for complex project structure plans. Because with such, it can sometimes be challenging to recognize the project process and, above all, the critical path. In addition, the temporal aspect is not shown in the project structure plan during project planning.
Method 2: Network Planning Technique
The network plan technique enables a hierarchical, static structure of the structure plan into a dynamic system. In contrast to the project structure plan, in which the project structure is shown, the network plan shows the project process and models the individual functions.
The network planning technique calculates the start and end dates of the unique methods, the buffer times, and the project duration. A distinction is made between several different variants of the network plan technique. The difference is based on the visualization types and the calculation methods. This project management method is best used when there is a need to model and visualize temporal and logical dependencies on the events and activities in the project. The main prerequisite for using this method is a clear definition of the individual projects,
The advantages of this project management method are the possibility of modeling the complete project process and forecasting the project duration, the project end, the milestones dates, and the activities’ start and end dates. If the tasks are delayed, and there is a need for action, the warning messages about the assignment due date will inform you immediately. In addition, the network planning technique offers the possibility of identifying critical resources and processes and the options for accelerating project processing by parallelizing the individual work. A disadvantage is a high effort required to create the network plan.
Method 3: Milestone Trend Analysis
Compared to the network planning technique, no dependencies between the individual milestones are taken into account with this method. A target/actual comparison is made between the planned and the exact end dates of the personal milestones. This is a simple method that is only used to monitor the on-time delivery of projects. For this reason, this method can be applied to all projects, regardless of their size.
This method allows trends to be easily identified and interpreted, and deviations from the plan are identified very early. The technique itself is intuitively understandable and straightforward. Because this method also involves those responsible for the project actively monitoring deadlines, it is only effective if all those involved work closely and trustingly together. A disadvantage is insufficient consideration of the dependencies between the individual milestones. In this way, the landmarks, which form the critical path, are not visible. For this reason, these have a direct effect on meeting deadlines.
Method 4: Lean Project Management
In general, lean project management means creating value for all people interested in or affected by the project while avoiding waste as much as possible. This means that all activities are measured again and again against the added value of the expected result for the customer. If it turns out that an action does not meet the requirements, it will be postponed or canceled altogether.
This method is tailored to the customer and their requirements. The focus of this method is not on the tasks but on the results. And this is precisely where the advantages of this project management method lie. Since this method focuses on customer requirements, this can mean an increase in efficiency for partnerships. But although lean project management is all about eliminating redundant processes and thus saving time and money, identifying the sources of error is not easy. At the same time, a high level of assertiveness is required from the project manager. In addition, high demands are placed on the entire project team regarding power.
Method 5: Kanban
Kanban is a process method. But this is very often and very often used in projects. This is due to the clear and concise presentation that Kanban offers. This method is used to ensure a continuous workflow.
Cards, which represent the essential elements of project planning and control and facilitate the transfer of information, ensure a clear and concise presentation. Through the visualization through cards, all project tasks and processes are displayed, whereby the processes and the possible problems that hinder them become visible. For this purpose, the individual work steps are shown on a board, divided into rows and columns, with cards that are provided with tasks. The work steps are in the columns, so each column represents a work step. In this way, the respective task’s status is always visible. The parallel running tasks may only be provided with a limited number of tickets.
The advantages of this agile method are that it is easy to understand. Maps can also be updated offline. Otherwise, simple processes can be presented clearly with this method, which also means that this method is more suitable for simple techniques and projects. In complex projects, planning with a large number of cards would become confusing. Therein lies the disadvantage of this method.
Practical Example
The application of the individual methods can best be explained with a practical example: Let’s assume a partnership that is an advertising agency wants to optimize its work processes and increase its orders through clearer visibility on the market. All partnership employees sit down together to select the project methods for the upcoming projects.
The project structure and network plan technology are considered for relaunching the website. Although a project structure plan would optimally accommodate the task planning of a simple website, the web project turns out to be complex since intermediate dates and external work are required in the project. For this reason, the network plan technique is selected because it better meets a more extensive project’s requirements.
The lean project management method is discarded because it is more suitable for customer projects and less for your projects. To use these in customer projects, the customers must also get involved. This means that they agree to be available for timely feedback and to accept any proposed changes to the project that turn out to be better for the bottom line.
The Kanban method is chosen for inventory reduction. The reason for this is to be found in the fact that material consumption maps are used for this project. The overview of the processes is critical in such a project, and therefore Kanban is ideal for this project.
Conclusion
Project management, especially conscious project management, helps young entrepreneurs and partnerships to coordinate individual tasks better and more efficiently, thereby increasing the quality of the project results.
While a simple Excel list is sufficient for a one-person company for the first projects, partnerships require suitable software-Solutions and the proper project management methods. Because these methods help to keep all team members on the same level in each project phase. If an employee suddenly leaves the company, the project management methods with the appropriate software solutions offer the possibility of retaining the knowledge despite losing employees. Otherwise, the projects with the associated documents are kept in a central location. When choosing the right software solution, it should only be noted that it enables a web interface so everyone involved can access the project at any time, regardless of location and from several devices.
When it comes to the selection of the respective project management method, it depends on your decision-making factors. Factors such as the size of the project, the budget, the type of project, the respective industry, etc., determine which method is best to be used for the individual project. Among the various project management methods, the practices of project management, network planning, milestone trend analysis, lean project management, and Kanban are now among the most popular and selected project management methods. This boasts easy comprehensibility and clarity so that all project members without special qualifications can easily understand the respective process. In addition, these methods can be combined.
No matter which project management method the respective partnership decides on: this does not solve all problems immediately, but at least those involved are relieved of the standard tasks and can concentrate fully on the actual project goals.
