The Fundamentals of Project Management

[Mike Garrett]

Many people consider project management to be the direct activity of engaging in a project. A kind of- it will happen no matter what, attitude. To some degree this is true, but this kind of passive stance toward project management leads to many of the typical issues we see in construction: cost overruns, change orders, schedule extensions, and scope creep. These issues plague most projects that do not have a well defined project management plan.

Project management plans can be large binded and tabbed documents, but most of the time that is not necessary. As a project manager (and if you are running your construction projects, or an owner doing some of the work on site, you are THE project manager) you need to have a plan for the entire project in 3 different areas:

Scope- what work is to be completed on the project to achieve the desired result,

Schedule- a reasonable expectation of time required to accomplish the scope,

And budget- the money needed to actualize the scope within the defined schedule

(also known as the project constraints)

There are many ways to deal with all of these constraints and different projects require different strategies, but the important thing to remember is that the 3 constraints are tied together- if one changes, the others need to adjust as well. This is why having a plan is so important. A well defined plan will establish who is responsible for what scope, when it will be completed, and what it will cost, as well as a procedure that defines the decision making process when any of the constraints are changed.

Developing and enforcing the project management plan is just one of the things a good project manager does, making your construction project successful is what a great project manager accomplishes. While there are some general contractors out there that are great project managers- most are construction managers at best (they understand what needs to be done in what order to complete the project- which is also vital!). It is important for investors and property owners to understand this division of expertise. Great project managers maintain the 3 constraints regardless of the construction process, and have their goals aligned with the owners; changes to the constraints are not of benefit to the project manager- keeping the project on schedule, within budget, and minimizing scope creep is of benefit!