CONTROL | What is project management? Explain the two techniques of project management

What is project management? Explain the two techniques of project management.

ANSWER

Project management makes sure that activities required to complete a project are planned well and accomplished on time. It is the responsibility for overall planning, supervision, and control of projects. A project manager’s job is to ensure that a project is well planned and then completed according to plan—on time, within budget, and consistent with objectives. Two useful techniques for project management and control are Gantt charts and CPM/PERT.

A Gantt chart graphically displays the scheduling of tasks that go into completing a project. Use of the visual overview of what needs to be done on a project allows for progress checks to be made at different time intervals. It helps with event or activity sequencing to make sure that things get accomplished in time for later work to build upon them.

CPM/PERT is a combination of the critical path method and the program evaluation and review technique. Project planning based on CPM/PERT uses a network chart. Such charts break a project into a series of small sub-activities that each has clear beginning and end points. These points become “nodes” in the charts, and the arrows between nodes show in what order things must be done. The full diagram shows all the interrelationships that must be coordinated for the entire project to be successfully completed. Use of CPM/PERT techniques helps project managers track activities to make sure they happen in the right sequence and on time.

Source: Management, 11th Edition & 12th Edition- John R. Schermerhorn