Project Management
Room 17
Project Management is closer to you than you think. It’s something we do every day. Have you ever achieved a goal while working through a restriction, like time was not on your side or you had insufficient funds or you lacked the technical skill/expertise or you didn’t have enough physical strength? I bet you tried any means to make sure you hit the target, right? Yeah, then you are already into it.
People like to think project management is a career and associates with companies/businesses. Nope! I want you to think of it as a life skill so important that people are paid money to do it. This gives you the right perspective to truly understand the subject. If it is a life skill, then it is important everyone dedicates attention to it. I will further justify my assertion to draw more insights on what we are about to explore.
Project Management Tutorial: Self Engineering
I am a mind enthusiast and that makes me more interested in the underlying basis/principle of the why and how things are the way they are. The concept of project management is not merely a career path, but a fundamental life skill that is deeply ingrained in our daily experiences. It is not confined to boardrooms or corporate settings; rather, it spans every aspect of our lives.
The vision here is to shift the perspective and encourage people to view the skill as a universally relevant tool that empowers individuals to navigate the complexities of modern life with confidence and efficiency.
Why Learn Project Management?
On a normal day, you would expect any writer to blurt out the same repetitive generalized importance of project management. This is not one of those days. The subject is very important to me that you learn it and thus, I will try and personalize this section with my convincing argument on why you and I cannot afford to not develop the skill.
Personal Development:
Learning to manage a project, just as I said, is a life skill. It is an endeavor that can reveal our true self, including strengths and weaknesses we may not have even noticed. We are squeezed to bring out potentials to help ourselves and others. This causes us to look more within; the more we look, the more we understand who we are and adjust to get the best version of ourselves.
Enhanced Organizational Skills:
Managing, irrespective of the what, gives a kind of control over something. I don’t know about you, but the control is like having a say or hand in whatever is happening and how they happen. You begin to feel responsible for it. As a result, you begin to plan, create schedules for events, attempt to hold off every external force that could negatively impact the course, get the right factors involved and make sure things fall in place according to plan. Therefore, learning to manage literally anything develops your ability to organize – making sure the right things happen.
Improved Time Management:
Every project is time-bound, so managing time is a very important requirement for a project’s success. Managing a project or learning how to do it can help us appreciate the worth value of time because we get to understand each second matters and how making the most out of each can be significantly beneficial. The perspective gained translates to every other aspect of our lives, making us great managers of time. Personal development, isn’t it?
Better Communication Skills:
Learning to manage a project helps you communicate better, first, with yourself and, then, others who are relevant stakeholders. A simple reason is that you have to think through several information and develop the best plan. This puts you locked in your mind with your inner voices.
After, you will need to explain this plan to stakeholders and your team. It’s like communicating your feelings; you’ve to make them see things the same way you do before you can get them on the same page.
We can all attest how that requires a sharpened communication skill. The constant need for the flow of thoughts among all parties involved throughout the project will help you understand people more and how best you can relay information to them.
Risk Management:
No one knows the future, but it is valuable to predict it, prepare for it and keep the ball always in your court. Risk is the possibility of reality moving sideways from expectations. Therefore, managing risks is an integral part of every endeavor.
Project management equips you with the ability to identify potential risks and map up contingency or mitigation measures. The effect is you minimize the chances of not meeting requirements, either time or cost or outcome.
This proactive skill is very advantageous in managing personal lives too.
Budgeting and Cost Control:
Knowing that you are working with a limited resource such as money, you cannot afford to misappropriate it because the detrimental effect on the project is huge. How many times have you stopped working on something because there were no support funds? A plethora of cases I guess.
Learning project management helps you better understand how money can accelerate or decelerate a project’s progress. With the insight, it becomes important to create and manage budgets, strictly adhere to them, and control costs religiously. If spending always falls within the budget allocation, there won’t be any cause for alarm.
Increased Productivity:
It is undoubtedly true that you will become productive and a very efficient-effective one. Just look at what we’ve done so far. You learn to utilize time, money and resources well, communicate effectively to everyone around, and identify risks even beforehand. These are major barriers that affect the output of endeavors. Therefore, working around and through them means you get the best out of every situation.
Adaptability and Flexibility:
Like I said earlier, no one knows the future. Things can easily go sideways and suddenly there’s a challenge at hand. Managing a project or even your life exposes you to such encounters. You learn to adapt to changes, overcome obstacles, and find creative solutions to unforeseen challenges.
Entrepreneurial Skills:
I believe everyone is an entrepreneur whether we admit or not. Since we are all interested in pursuing our own endeavor or business or entrepreneurial ventures, project management skills are essential for planning, executing and managing projects effectively to achieve business or personal goals.
Career Advancement Opportunities:
Is it surprising this skill is associated with top management or executives or positions in companies/institutions? At that level, you will automatically be in charge of some human and other resources. It is expected you use them to achieve assigned tasks. This depicts project management is a basic requirement and a highly valued skill for top positions. Learning it gives you access to several career opportunities and, hence, a higher earning potential.
Applications of Project Management
Project management finds applications in various domains and activities across the two different scopes: personal life and professional life/work.
I encourage you to embark on this simple yet enlightening exercise. Take each reason why I want you to learn project management and draw connections to both your personal development and professional lives.
Reflect on how they can enhance your daily routines at work, like pursuing a course or leading a team or starting a new business, and at home, like organizing a family gathering, planning a vacation or cleaning your house.
By recognizing the universal relevance of the skill, you will not only streamline your tasks and projects but also unlock opportunities for growth, efficiency and success in all aspects of your life.
