5 Project Management Phases you Should Know to Track your Projects.

To make a project successful, a project management team should be skilled and professional. Most of the projects get fruitful results when the project manager develops an effective plan and follows it accordingly with the cooperation of his or her team.

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It is not an easy task; a project manager needs to consider different aspects at the same time like the budget, outcome, customers' feedback, and many other things. Project management is a skill that keeps track of a project by dividing it into different steps to meet the demands of customers and it is the major reason for a business to get sustainability in the market.

5 project management phases to know about:

Below are some of the 5 project management phases you should know about.

1. Initiating the project

Before finalizing the project's plan, some needful starters should be addressed. The management team, the owner, and the stakeholders sit together to share their ideas and finalize the goal, name, and purpose of the project.

Written contracts are signed as an agreement between a company and stakeholder that ensures a project's deal. Needful studies are made to achieve the set goal and decide the right strategies to meet the demands of stakeholders.

Some tests are made to prove whether the project going to be started is feasible or not, will get profit and cause good reputation to set in public. A strong and skilled team is hired for the completion of a project on time and demand. This first and very important phase of project management deals with different keys to make your project successful.

Defines reason why this project is important

The initiating phase of a project explains the reasons to start this project and its importance to the team. Important and mandatory documents are developed to set the alignment of steps. Business aspects are discussed in detail with the management team and stakeholders and financial risk as well.

An estimation of the suitability of a project

After that, an estimation of project suitability regarding the country's law and profit chances is also made. It helps to estimate whether this project will be fruitful or not by comparing it with modern business demands in the market.

Developing a project charter

After this estimation, a project charter is made that is a type of documentation that defines the goals of a project very clearly, a list of formal tasks is developed, and time is also scheduled for working on the project for all team members.

Selection of team

The next step is the selection of team members. The skilled and experienced people are selected for the right execution of the project.

Assigning roles

After the selection of a skilled team, the project manager shares a schedule and specifies their tasks individually by assigning specific duties to each member.

It is a very important and basic phase when it comes to 5 project management phases.

2. Intending to make a solid plan

After having a warm discussion on board level and approval of the project, here comes the next and crucial phase of project management that is to develop a solid plan to make your project successful anyway.

Before making a project functional, there is a need to make a plan to achieve the goals of a project. For this purpose, different steps are followed like

Developing a to-do list

When you start working on a project you should be very clear on the daily tasks you are going to perform on a regular basis. Business scholars say that a written plan is mandatory and key to success as it keeps you reminding your tasks.

So first of all, make a to-do list in written and in soft form. Be determined to your work and lead your team members in the right direction by having good communication with them.

Making personal and team Gantt charts

There is a great need to be accountable for yourself so that you can analyze have you achieved your weekly or monthly targets. To have a clear analysis of your work, make a Gantt chart before start working and schedule your tasks which you will be performing daily or once a week.

The project manager should develop Gantt charts both for the whole team and individually and check them weekly or monthly to have a crystal clear analysis of task completion and do needful if any task is lacking.

Finding the big rocks

When you have developed a to-do list and Gantt chart, it is very easy to categorize your work. Find the most important and urgent tasks and concentrate on them. The big rocks represent the tasks that are not permanent but important to perform before meeting a deadline.

Big rocks can be changed after the completion of each and you need to shift your paradigms to deal with different big rocks of your project.

Plan a Budget

Project management is successful when their plan to meet the expenses is strong. The financial manager and his team present an estimated cost budget that is supposed to invest in the running project. This cost set for a project makes your team determined to be on budget while using the limited resources.

Risk assessment

It is important to have a check and balance about the risks that may appear during the processing of your project. You must have a plan to assess the risks that may be predictable or not, and find their solutions immediately to avoid huge damage.

3. Implementing the plan

After making plans and completing a lot of paperwork, the working phase is reached. Plans that were developed at the board level are going to be put into practice. This is a real and actual working phase with a long time duration as compared to all other phases.

During this phase, a project manager needs to be more careful and concerned about the project as it is going to be evaluated after being executed.

This phase includes the responsibilities of a project manager like

Keeping track of team members

Now the responsibility on the shoulder of the project manager rises and demands effective actions to keep an eye on the performance of the team members by making sure whether every team member is owning his duties and performing the task in the same way as instructed.

Assessment of risks and management as well

Now the actual working may face several risks related to budget, quality, or something else. The project manager is responsible to assess the risk and fix it on time.

Sustainability of being on a budget

The project manager makes sure that team members are following the budget instead of exceeding the relaxation. And if there is a need to make changes in the budget, it should be discussed before implementation.

Maintaining the quality of product

The quality of products of a company decides its position in the market and makes it reputable among the public. So, it is mandatory to be updated about the quality of delivering products.

Having good communication with the team

Good communication is necessary to make a project successful as it provides trust and a positive environment that enhances the efficiency of workers.

This is another important phase of top 5 project management phases.

4. Investigating and evaluating the processes

After execution of a plan, making delivery of company's products, and being in public it is the time to investigate the outcomes. You can do it by

Checking status of the achievement of the goals

In this phase the project management team keeps checking the way they are following is either leading them to their actual objective set in the initiating phase or not. If not, the project manager is responsible to control it and put it on the right path.

Comparing budget plan with actual expenses

The project manager compares the planned cost of the project with the expenses the team has made and analyzes whether they are going right with it or not. If the answer is no, it is an alarming situation and can cause problems for a project manager but it can be resolved by having good communication with investors and stakeholders.

Evaluating the performance and keeping a check and balance of budget and other measurable things is of advantage for a project manager to manage the project easily and effectively.

5. Intimating the results

The final phase of a project that is of equal importance like other phases is the result intimation of a project. It is a follow-up phase of project management. In this phase, results are measured and compared with the plan.

It is the responsibility of the project manager to look into the result and check the on-time delivery to the client, find ambiguities, and suggest ways to rectify the weaknesses if find any. It is the closing phase; contracts are completed and celebrations are made on completing the project successfully. Final document formalities are made and contracts are terminated after completion.

A final review is presented by the project manager by arranging a meeting or a celebration party and the important key points are explained showing that they were on a budget, have followed the timeline, and achieved the objective set during the first phase before implementing the project management.

Final thoughts:

So, these were 5 project management phases. If you want to make the project successful you are going to start with a company as a project manager you should develop project management skills and follow five phases of project management to achieve desired results.

Develop a Gantt chart for you and your team to be on track and on time with high-quality results.


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