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General Strengths of the Project Management Life Cycle (PMLC) Theory
The PMLC has four phases namely initiation, planning, execution and closure. There are many activities under these phases and all of them are logically sequenced to prepare the project move to the next stage. The sequence calls for timely approvals to authorize activities, ensuring that time and cost budgets consider all work activities. Having a methodology like PMLC will readily guide work during most of the project and this saves valuable time for all members. There is an emphasis on planning as a phase and in all activities and it is based on the belief that planning prevents rework and misdirected work.
Good Project Management
Good project management would strike a balance between adhering to a PM methodology at all times and being flexible and adaptable to unexpected situations. The focus on meeting milestones and staying within the budget should take precedence than nice-to-haves that are encountered along the way. Creativity can only be entertained if they address project goals. Planning should characterize the project because it assures the highest chances of success for activities. Plans must be followed with urgent execution. Any time saved can be precious buffer for other critical activities. Communications must be encouraged to disseminate statuses and increase ideas for problem solving.
Knowledge Management in Project Management
The uniqueness of every project allows it to contribute new lessons on project management. The reusability of these lessons to future projects is invaluable for the enterprise (Yeong, 2010). Project managers or designated staff must act as knowledge managers during projects to ensure that project knowledge is captured, assessed and stored for future reference. The PM must establish a practice that would encourage members to recognize and capture PM knowledge as it occurs in the project. Knowledge can also be a regular feature during project meetings.
Criteria and Measurements for Project Success
Project success can go beyond completing on time, within cost and within scope. Like quality and the customer, it is the project owner and users who can say if the project was a success or not. Three areas must be covered as criteria: business, project management and technical. Each will have its own objectives and also its own time, cost and scope parameters. Good project management will constantly measure activities according to set criteria of work and intervene quickly to set things back on track. If it is not measurable, then it is not manageable.
Ranking Project Management Issues
Urgent issues should be addressed first because they usually slow down projects. Once resolved, the rest of the issues should be measured by impact, be they negative or positive. The planning stage is the most important as this determines how easy or difficult the project will be. The wrong plan that was executed perfectly will still produce undesirable results.
Product issues usually rank very high as it pertains to the main deliverable especially near the end of the project. During the early stages, people issues are given more attention because these issues can propagate through the rest of the project.
Effective Communication Techniques
Poor communications can lead to the wrong deliverables in a project. There must be a balance of verbal and written communications as verbal communications lends to building relationships while written communications is best in documenting the project. The intensity of communications will depend on the characteristics of stakeholders in the project. The power/interest grid can identify involved stakeholders from uninterested ones (Mei, 2014). We can then customize the project’s communications program based on the needs of those heavily invested.
References
Yeong, A. (2010). Integrating knowledge management with project management for project success. Journal of Project, Program & Portfolio Management Vol 1 No 2 (2010) 8-19.
Mei, Y.F. (April 9, 2014). Effective Communication: A Challenge To Project Managers. Retrieved August 15, 2016 from https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/effective-communication-a-challenge-to-project-managers.html
