The Importance of Project Management:

1. Strategic Alignment: 

Mark Langley, the president and CEO of PMI, has said, “If your organization is not good at project management, you are putting too much at risk in terms of ultimately delivering on strategy.”

Strategic Alignment is the process of linking the organization’s structure and resources with its strategy and the ultimate objective. 

All the clients that approach you or give you a project, have certain objectives for their own organization and this project is a step in achieving that goal. Project Management is important here as it can align the tasks in such a way that the project connects with the strategic alignment of the customer too. 

A project manager ensures that the project helps in fulfilling the strategic alignment of the organization. 

 

2. Clear Focus and Objectives:

Project Management is important as it comes up with a proper project plan for achieving the strategic goals. 

If you leave the work of project management to your team you will see that there would be no accountability, the team would be working without proper brief, there would be a lack in focus, it could be possible that there are no clear objectives due to not having a proper project description, and the project can get stuck when any risk or problem arises.

Lack of clear goals was the most common reason for project failure in 2017.

A project manager can prevent such situations by breaking the project into tasks and helping/managing the team in completing the tasks on time and by project analysis.

The work is divided into small tasks and the completion of these tasks leads to the completion of the project. An efficient project manager foresees the risks, therefore risk management is an important part of project management.

If any risk or problem arises, an efficient project manager would be able to solve it without causing any delay in the project.

 

3. Leadership:

A project manager is like a leader whose goal is to complete the project within the time and budget and deliver what was promised or better. 

Doing a Project without Project Management is like sailing a ship of pirates without captain Jack Sparrow. Without a leader, the pirates(in this case the team) doesn’t properly know what they have to do. Leader guides the team and help them to bring out their greatest work. Project Management provides leadership, motivation, vision, removes roadblocks and inspires the team as and when necessary. 

A Project Manager or Project Management Software ensures that there is accountability in the project. They keep the team on the same page, as ultimately it is the work done by the team that's going to result in the success or failure of the project. 

 

4. Project Planning: 

The average overrun of projects was 27 percent, but one in six projects had a cost overrun of 200% on average and a schedule overrun of almost  70 percent. 

This is due to a lack of proper planning. Project Management ensures that proper information is available to the organization and the clients of what can be achieved, what will be the budget, which resources would be used and the duration to complete the project. Without proper project management, unrealistic goals can be set which would ultimately lead to delayed or over-budgeted projects.

A good Project manager creates a clear process and sets realistic project milestones and achievable deadlines. 

5. Reduced Costs and Quality Control: 

 

In 2018, according to PMI, 9.9% of every dollar invested was wasted due to poor project performance - that’s $99 million for every $1 billion invested. 

Project management reduces project costs by optimized use of resources, improving efficiency, and decreasing risks. Therefore, even with the added cost of a project manager, you stand to gain much more. 

As it is important to deliver what was promised to the client, the project manager ensures that the quality of the deliverables remains up to the marks. The projects are to be delivered really soon and such a rush may result in ignoring the quality. It’s the duty of the project manager to deliver a quality project on time. 

 

6. Orderly Process:

Project Manager ensures that the right person does the right task at the right time. He ensures that the process goes according to the plan throughout the project. 

Lack of this results in the teams working in a reactive environment where the risks and issues are solved when they arise. A project manager keeps in mind the known issues and make such a plan that eliminates most of the issues. 

Proper planning makes the workflow transparent as everyone is aware of who is doing what by when. Proper process helps in boosting the process. It ensures such a plan is made that is aligned with the overall strategy. Project Management is important here as, without an orderly and easily understandable process, the organization risks project failure. 

 

7. SME (Subject Matter Expert):

Project Management is important here as it ensures that everyone is doing their respective work properly.

Unlike any other manager, the project manager also ensures that everyone is doing their respective work and are completing their tasks on time. The project manager understands their team, the expertise and limitations of the members, what system they use, and blends all this to deliver the ultimate results. 

Without SME through project management, the projects become unbalanced as the creatives ignore the limitations of technology. The developers doesn’t understand the creative view of the project. Project management does the right compromises here to bring everyone together and turn the project into a success.