All projects, big or small, can benefit from good management.
Although ‘project management’ can sound like a buzzword, there is no denying that a well-managed project is significantly more likely to be successful. For this reason alone, projects need managers.
Project management takes skill and intuition. Project managers have the perfect combination of both to enable a project to run as smoothly as possible.
To understand more, take a look at their most important roles.
Serves as Point of Contact
Construction projects are a multi-disciplinary undertaking, involving
a team of specialists honed in their own craft and expertise. The project manager is in the centre of it, acting as the point of contact and disseminating project information to everyone from the team members to the project customer.
Manage Expenditure
Budget is one of the biggest constraints of any project. There are many reasons
you can go over-budget and many ways a project manager can prevent it. The project manager not only regulates monetary costs, but also handles both internal and external workforce resources, as well as the equipment costs.
Manage Time
Time, like budget, is the most important constraint of any project. ‘By not imposing time constraints, projects can spiral out of control and costs can become enormous,’
Baseline Group says.
Since members have day-to-day duties, time management can be difficult. A project manager steps in and resolves this by managing timetables and deadlines, ensuring all members work on their assigned activities in the right order.
Improve Efficiency
Every project is comprised of interconnected activities. The project manager works with everyone to confirm which activities to prioritise and in what order they must occur. This streamlines the operation and every task goes faster and more efficiently.
Assess Potential Risks
A chance for risks will always be there, no matter how well planned a project is. A project manager identifies risks and draws up a risk-response process to monitor their status. Risk prevention is a critical part of the planning phase, but if problems are not prevented, managing them is the next best move.
Communicate With Stakeholders
It is important to keep stakeholders and clients in the loop through every phase of the project, including risks and successes. The project manager communicates performance, as well as goals, to clients in a regularly scheduled report.
The project manager acts like the captain of the ship. And like the captain, they get your ship to shore smoothly and safely – that is, your project to commercial success.
