The Value of Project Management

Have you ever been on a team that just seemed unhinged, not coordinated, somewhat chaotic?  No one seemed to be moving in the same direction, had a different view of the end game, there may have been a bit of drama between team members?  This was all likely due to lack of leadership.  This not only applies to corporate projects, but this also really applies to anything that has a team structure.  Sports team, volunteer group, small business, large corporation… gosh even at home with your significant other and kids (which by the way, team management can be applied to the home and family element.  We will talk about that in another book).  Without leadership, the team is not moving in the same direction. 

Project Management is leadership. 

What do I mean by that?  On a project, the team needs someone to take the wheel, someone to put the plan together, to ensure we have the right tasks, durations, dependencies, resources assigned, procured and in place to complete all steps in the project start to project close.  To make sure there is budget allocated and a mechanism to track spending.  A Project Manager puts governance in place to help track status, manage risk, issues, change and stakeholders.  Without project management, the team typically does not know who is doing what, where the gaps are (in a structured way) or the what the result is supposed to look like.

When projects begin to launch on time, in a structured and fact-based way, this my friends is when the value of your Project Management Team is surfaced. You will become the go-to for anything that needs to be planned or executed.