Eight Top questions asked about project Managers and their answers.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Questions

1. What is the role of a Project Manager?

2. Why are project management techniques used by organisations?

3. When were the first project management techniques documented?

4. Project management methodology has four distinct phases. What are they?

5. What does Phase 1, the Investigation phase of project management, involve? Who undertakes this phase?

6. List four steps in Phase 2, the Planning and Design Phase of project management.

7. What does Phase 3, the Production Phase of project management involve?

8. In the Evaluation and Monitoring phase of project management what questions might a Project Manager address?

Answers

1. Project Managers concern themselves with how to get a particular job done. They organise people, equipment and procedures in an appropriate way to get a project completed in time and within budget.

2. Project Management techniques ensure that organisational objectives and system objectives are met in a timely, accurate, relevant and complete way. They provide the adequate control of people, resources and procedures and clearly identify tasks that must be completed and the desired completion time.

3. The first documented techniques were in the early 1900s with the development of the GANTT chart method.

4. Phase 1: Investigation

    Phase 2: Planning and Design

    Phase 3: Production

    Phases 4: Monitoring and Evaluation

5. This phase involves the initial commissioning of the project, the identification of initial aims and goals and investigation into the possible way the project can be completed. The Investigation phase is undertaken by top-level management or strategic planners.

6. Choose from any of the following:

•   Defining the exact purpose of the project and clearly defining goals

•   Breaking the project into tasks or activities and defining the purpose of each

•   Estimating the shortest and longest possible time required for each activity

• Identifying milestones and key time markers in the project that keep the project     on schedule

•   Determining the sequence of each activity and any constraints affecting the sequence

•   Deciding which activities should be completed before others can commence

•   Identifying activities that can be done simultaneously

•   Assigning resources, people, materials and equipment to activities

•   Costing of resources

•   Drawing up a calendar of events

7. This phases involves: providing resources, completing the set activities, monitoring, controlling and recording the progress of the project on a GANTT chart, comparing current progress to the planned schedule, updating and refining the schedule as required and monitoring resources to ensure there are no problems meeting the budget.

8. The Project Manager might address issues of quality asking questions such as: How well it has the project met the objectives? Is the final quality of the product satisfactory? The Manager might also address issues of cost: Did the project stay within the budget specified?  Lastly issues of time would be considered: Did the project finish on or before the specified date? Was it the shortest possible time for the project?