What is Project Management?

A project is a temporary endeavor, as opposed to process, which is a regular activity. Project has a defined goal (example: “creating a unique product”) as well as a defined beginning and end in time. Each project passes through the following five stages: initiation, planning, execution, control, and closing (these are called "process groups").

Project management is concerned with the judicious use of resources like people, time, and materials to achieve the project goals. Over the years, project managers have developed different guiding processes, suitable for different industries and contexts. These best practices are known as project management methodologies. Some of the popular methodologies are: Agile, Waterfall, Scrum, Rapid Applications Development, and Kanban.

Applications of Project Management

Industries follow project management to achieve efficiency in developing products or delivering services. Project management also improves customer satisfaction; propels growth, creates an organizational culture of execution. It is used to assess risks, increase quality and quantity, and ensure better return on investment.

The Past and the Future

There has been some form of project management since early civilisation. There are evidences to suggest that the Pharaohs and Chinese used managerial science to build The Great Pyramid of Giza (2570 BC), and the Great Wall of China (208 BC), respectively.

The modern project management was born with the creation of the scheduling diagram called Gantt chart. It was developed in 1917 by Henry Gantt. Throughout the industrial age and now globalization, there have been many new breakthroughs in project management. Most of the methodologies are captured in Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), first launched in 1969, by Project Management Institute. PMBOK has today become a standard.

In the near future, the influence of digital tools in the area of analysis, planning, and management projects is going to help project managers achieve enormous productivity gains. There will also be new techniques and better practices that will improve the way we use resources to achieve our goals.

CAREER PROSPECTS

According to a recent report from Project Management Institute (PMI), titled, The High Cost of Low Performance, high-performing organisations are able to successfully complete 89% of their projects, while low performers could complete only 36%. Studies find that the reasons of project failure could be addressed only by trained and experienced project managers.

Organisations very much realize that it takes project management to succeed. According to Price Waterhouse Coopers, an astounding 97% of global organizations believe that project management is critical to business performance and organizational success. And they are keen to hire trained and certified project management professionals.

HR requirements and Career Growth

However, there are no enough qualified project management professionals available in the market today. It is estimated that there are about 6 million Project Management professionals working across the world. But over 50% of them are not certified at least by a reputed body like Project Management Institute.

Hence, there is a huge demand for trained and certified project management professionals to fill emerging job opportunities. Through the decade ending in 2020, about 15 million new project management roles are expected to be created. If you have formal training, PMI certifications and a working knowledge in Project Management software, you can look forward to start a promising career in project management.

According to Glass door, the median salary for project managers is $87,500 in the U.S. In India, the average salary of a project manager differs from industry to industry. For a Project Manager in the IT industry, it is about Rs 13, 00,000 per year.

Synergy's Courses

Synergy offers preparatory and regular training for all PMI certifications including Project Management Professional (PMP®), Program Management Professional, Portfolio Management Professional, and Certified Associate in Project Management. The Institute also offers its own Project Management course: Project Management Expert, besides certificate, diploma, and master diploma programs in Project Management methodologies like Scrum and project management tools like Microsoft Project and AstaPowerproject.

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