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Managing Projects Via A P.M.P. Or Prince Course...

All processes can benefit from the discipline of Project Management. Should you consider training to get employment in this area, you'll find the work to be really thought-provoking and challenging. It appeals to people who are numerate and logical, and who have a good technical aptitude. It's also useful to have good interpersonal skills as the work often requires quite detailed communication with others.

...With Ease And Efficiency

The number of project management teams has increased over the years as commercial organisations realise their worth. All stages of a business or production process need to be professionally controlled and optimised, hence the need for Project Management. Learning how to use scarce resources efficiently in a commercial context will allow you to get into this valuable sector.

Project Management courses at various different levels can be studied through a number of training institutions. These range from the basic fundamentals of planning, goal-setting, budgeting and executing projects to advanced management techniques on the most complex of projects and programmes.

Terminology

There's a certain amount of industry jargon to understand with project management. In addition to language you'll need to learn the principles involved, and the most important PM skills and techniques. There are a number of schools of thought in project management but you will discover many processes have a lot in common.

As Old As The Pyramids

Much of what we term Project Management today has been around for a very long time. In the Industrial Revolution, civil engineers such as Thomas Telford and Brunel would have taken responsibility for project managing their own builds. Henry Gantt and Henri Fayol were born in the mid-nineteenth century and are considered to be two of the key forefathers of project management. Gantt was called the father of planning and control techniques. Fayolism was one of the first comprehensive general management theory statements and the management functions and principles it described still have relevancy today. Fayol's principles of management refer to how people are managed to best effect.

A More Modern Approach

It took another four decades or so for Americans to really start to embrace the idea that Project Management was a distinctive discipline arising from management techniques. When the US Navy was developing the Polaris Missile system, a new technique was needed to cope with all the various aspects of the job. The answer was to produce a revival of Taylor's scientific management, a project model known as PERT. Along with later developments this led to mathematical techniques being used to find the critical path through a project. Alongside scheduling projections came technology for engineering economics, cost estimating and cost management.

IMPA

European project managers formed an association known as the IPMA towards the end of the sixties. A non-profit Swiss registered organisation, it now claims to have over 40,000 global members. The International Project Management Association offers a four level certification track ranging from Associate to Director.

The PMI (Project Management Institute)

America followed in '69 with their non-profit professional organisation, the Project Management Institute (PMI). In the nineties it published its first version of the definitive guide to project management, the PMBOK Guide. It's designed to cover variables that will apply to the majority of projects throughout industry. Anyone looking to get into or further their career in Project Management today would do well to have a thorough understanding of this set of guidelines and best practices. Learning programs can be accessed which teach the elements of the guide in great detail. Once trained, you will be ready to take the global standard PMI certifications, the PMP (Project Management Professional) and the CAPM (Certified Associate of Project Management).

PRINCE2 (Derived from PROMPT and PRINCE)

You will discover many training organisations offering various courses in PRINCE2 - a generic project management method that was released in 1996. It offers a structured approach, combining the original PRINCE program with IBM's MITP (managing the implementation of the total project) methodology. Students of PRINCE2 will learn how the method provides a framework covering the wide variety of disciplines and activities needed for a successful project.

The model ensures that the focus is always on the viability of the project in relation to the overall business objectives. Based on management by exception, it's efficient and exacting.

There are other project management methods and training schemes that you might find interesting, depending on the knowledge you currently have. Learning how to lead and help people understand the processes will prove just as important as learning the processes yourself. Shop around on the internet to find the ideal training for you.