What is Project Management?
You may have heard about Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications. Articles and social media posts will often mention the value of the certificate or tell you how to start. Additionally, employers often encourage or even require their managers to get certified. Before we go into how you become a project manager, we’ll first go over what precisely project management is.
Per the name, project managers manage projects from start to finish. They’ll oversee team members and the budget and make sure everything stays on track. Primarily, project managers ensure all goals are completed within the constraints of the project. For example, they’ll consider the budget, timeframe, and scope. Many guides have broken the entire process of completing a project into four or five specific stages, which we’ll go through shortly.
The Basics of Project Management
Project managers ensure that each project is completed on time, within budget, and with a quality end result. Many businesses without qualified professionals struggle to reach their goals, at least without going over the constraints. For example, around 85% of business projects go over budget.
Running into extra costs can be unavoidable in some situations. Indeed, you always need to plan for the unexpected with any project. However, factors like poor management, planning, and execution impact project completion.
On the other hand, 73% of businesses that use formal project management reach their goals. As such, project management jobs are essential.
Thus, certified project managers make a great deal more annually. One of the biggest factors for individuals to pursue a PMP is the salary boost. Notably, estimates from various companies cite that PMP-certified employees earn anywhere from 16-25% more than their uncertified counterparts.
Part of the reason certified project managers make so much more is that earning your PMP takes time and effort. Truly, a lot goes into passing the certification exam. For example, you’ll need to learn the terminology, processes, software, and skills to succeed.
Keep reading to learn the five stages of project management.
Five Stages of Project Management
1. Conception
Projects have to start somewhere. Sometimes, they come up as a result of a problem or issue. Other times, someone will come up with a new product, service, or idea to improve a business. Either way, all projects go through this initial stage in one way or another.
Majorly, the conception stage requires a degree of creativity and research to create your goals. You’ll also figure out the scope of your project in this stage. Your budget, timeframe, and any other constraints need to be discussed before you start planning. Additionally, identify any stakeholders for your project. Project stakeholders include anyone who will be involved, such as with the budget or any department that is needed to complete it.
Overall, you should create a strong framework for your project in this initial stage. Many projects never make it out of the conception stage.
Why It Matters
You may find the scope is larger than your company can handle. Perhaps it’ll be a lot more costly than you originally thought. Or you might realize that the project won’t make as big of a difference as you hoped, or there’s no market for a product. However, this doesn’t mean failure or poor quality ideas. On the other hand, being able to identify a doomed project is a valuable skill.
If you jump immediately into the planning stage with every project, your business will inevitably lose resources, time, and money. Thus, don’t rush through this first step.
2. Planning
The second stage of project management requires a lot of time and effort. Effective planning makes for effective execution and a quality result. Without a plan, you’ll be fighting your way through the process. You’ll likely need to change something along the way, whether it’s your timeframe, budget, or team. Thus, you should prepare some form of backup or stretch plan.
If your project may go over budget, make sure funds exist to support it through those last stages. Otherwise, you may find that you and your team spent a lot of time and effort on a project that will never see the light of day.
Why It Matters
Around 39% of projects fail due to poor planning. Thus, you need to make sure you consider the risks. Is the market for your supplies stable, or could costs vary as time goes on? Are you competing against another company? Could they reach the finish line before you, and does that matter for your project? Basically, know your resources and limits and plan effectively using the research you did in stage one.
Notably, it’s also easy to spend too much time on the second stage. There’s no hard and fast rule for how long to plan, but your planning needs to move to “doing.”. It may be difficult to move forward when you’re first getting started. It can be frightening to be responsible for so much. However, experience can be the best teacher for this stage.
Over time, you’ll grow more confident in yourself and your abilities and learn from any hiccups and mistakes. Few projects ever go perfectly. Thus, plan for inevitable delays or costs and know your project.
3. Execution
In the third stage, you and your team turn your plan into reality. As we’ve mentioned, even the best laid plans may fall apart a little bit during this stage. Simply put, there are too many factors outside of your control. However, a strong plan will provide a strong framework. Additionally, with your research, you’ll have alternatives prepared.
Additionally, you’ll utilize your leadership skills the most in this stage. Mainly, project managers work to keep everyone on task and ensure the team reaches goals and milestones. You’ll also need to motivate your team. Thus, you’ll need to communicate with everyone involved in the project. No one should be out of the loop. Truly, poor communication can result in steps that are no longer relevant to the plan.
Why It Matters
For example, if the marketing department doesn’t know about a change in development or services, they’ll market the wrong product. Not only is this bad for sales, but it can even leave you in legal trouble.
Furthermore, make sure all stakeholders know what’s happening. Even if they’re not directly involved, they’ll be more willing to devote resources to your project if they’re invested.
Today, you can benefit from the various types of project management software available. These tools help you effectively track and access the work of each team member or department. Additionally, having everything in one place makes it easier to update everyone. Truly, if your plan forms in your emails, it’s easy to lose important messages and leave people out.
Altogether, a project manager will have a lot to do in this stage. You’ll need to assign or update tasks, make sure you’re hitting deadlines, maintain resources, and amend the plan as needed.
4. Performance & Monitoring
Often, stages three and four will take place at the same time. Stage four involves watching your project’s metrics and ensuring everyone is on task. Additionally, you’ll want to look at the quality of the work done thus far. To monitor your project, you’ll use Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs.
Your KPIs depend on your specific project, but you’ll likely have a few that repeat across any project. For example, you’ll measure financial data, team members, and processes.
Why It Matters
On top of measuring, you should continue to communicate your findings to stakeholders and be open to talking to your team members. If someone is falling behind, you should see if they need help. On the other hand, they might be more effective in working on a different aspect of your project.
Basically, the monitoring stage shows you precisely what’s going on with your project. Effective project managers will utilize the data to help their team figure out if something needs changing.
5. Project Close
Once your team is done and the product is handed over to your stakeholders, you’re still not finished. You should use this time to organize all vital documents and communications. That way, if anyone has questions or wants to reference your process, you’ll be ready.
You may find that a few tasks were left unfinished, such as reports or follow-up emails. Handle these yourself or delegate them to the team. Either way, ensure all loose ends are tied up.
Additionally, a good project manager will brief their team while the project is fresh. You should hold a meeting to discuss how the process went. If you have any concerns, take the time to address them. For example, maybe your team wasn’t communicating effectively. At a meeting, you can speak to everyone without calling anyone out. Also, you can use the data to plan training on communication.
Finally, you and your team just completed a project. As several projects fall apart or fail across all businesses, this is a reason to celebrate. Give everyone a chance to celebrate their success and build up morale. Consider organizing a small party or get-together during lunch.
Want to Become a Project Manager?
Now that you know what goes into project management, you’re likely wondering how you can become a project manager. While you can enter the field without a PMP certification, many companies now prefer or require formal training. Additionally, as we know, businesses with formal project management processes are more successful.
Here’s how you can become a certified project manager.
Certification Requirements
As project management can be intensive, a lot of skill and knowledge is required to succeed. As such, to earn your PMP certification, you need more than just an educational background. Indeed, you can’t jump out of high school or college and straight into a certificate. You need real-world experience to apply. However, you do have a few options.
Required Experience for PMP
If you’re pursuing a PMP certificate with a high school diploma or a degree, you’ll still need real-world experience. However, it can be difficult to figure out what applies.
Basically, you should have experience in one or more of the above five stages of project management. You do not need equal experience in every stage to qualify. For example, were you part of a team and helped create a product? Or did you help a project manager with monitoring progress?
You may have even been involved in projects outside of work as well. Regardless, you need the documentation proving your experience. Gather up any records for each project or see if someone of authority can verify your involvement.
Then, create a portfolio. There are different requirements based on your education. Thus, make sure your total hours of experience line up with the PMP qualifications.
So, how do you become a project manager?
High School Diploma
You don’t need a college degree to get your PMP. Individuals with a high school diploma or equivalent can become certified, though they’ll need additional experience to qualify. This is also the track for those with an associate’s degree.
You’ll need 60 months (or 5 years) of experience leading projects to take this route.
Additionally, you must have 35 hours of project management training (or CAPM certification). You can obtain these training hours through specialized programs offered by an accredited college or university.
Four-Year Degree
If you already have a four-year degree, you’ll need fewer hours of experience. You’ll need 36 months (or 3 years) instead of five with this route.
However, the educational requirements remain the same. If your degree didn’t involve project management training, you will need to seek a program to get these hours in. If you’re unsure if you already earned these 35 hours, you’ll need to look back through the courses you took. Basically, the classes need to be related to project management.
Thus, if you majored in English or Biology, you probably need to enroll in a program to complete this requirement. Thankfully, there are many online courses available to meet those 35 hours.
Final Thoughts
Lakewood University is an accredited institution offering undergraduate and graduate-level project management programs. In addition to earning your 35 educational hours, you’ll receive access to PMP exam preparation materials as part of your enrollment.
Additionally, if you’re interested in pursuing your MBA, you can earn both your master’s degree and your certification at the same time. Lakewood’s MBA curriculum was organized so that students graduate with all of the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Your marketability and earning potential increase exponentially by earning both your master’s and PMP.
Notably, individuals with an MBA earn around $29,000 more annually than those with a bachelor’s degree. The numbers add up quickly when you add the extra 16-25% earned with your PMP. Truly, the earning potential can be life-changing.
If you’re ready to get started, reach out to our admissions department today to learn more!