When we actually implement a project, we often encounter various unexpected situations, causing the project to not develop according to the progress and direction we expected.
So what are the core elements in project management? What problems will you encounter during the project? How should we solve the problem after encountering it?
These are the main issues Dongfang wants to talk about today.
1. What is a project?
What is a project for a product manager? A project is to organize limited resources to complete a task within a constrained time frame. The final result delivered is the output of the project.
There are three core elements of a project:
Resources
Time
Output
These three elements constitute the project as a whole. What is the connection between these three elements? Let’s first take a look at the project process.
At the beginning of a project we will first set the expected output. After setting the output, we will work backwards to estimate how much resources need to be invested and how long the research and development time will take.
We can see from the above figure that resources, time, and output constitute the entire project. The output of a project is determined by resources and time.
When we conduct project management, we are essentially controlling these three. Keep the entire project under our control by adjusting resources, time and expected output.
If we put output first, we can control time and resources. If project time is the first priority, what we can control are resources and expected output.
We also need to establish an awareness that projects are dynamic. During the course of the project, these three elements may change due to external influences.
Why do projects often not go as we expect? The reason is that the project operation process itself is a dynamic system. The three sub-elements are subject to change, and the entire project is naturally changing dynamically.
What we call project management is actually maintaining the project within a relatively stable dynamic range.
2. Three elements of the project
We already know that the core elements of the project are resources, time and output, and project management also controls these three. Therefore, we must have a deep understanding of these three elements before we can do a good job in project management.
1. Resources
In a project, the core resource is personnel, and personnel form a team. So the management of resources is actually the management of a team.
In addition to the technical strength of the team members themselves, we can also improve the overall combat effectiveness of a team through other means. So how can a team have high combat effectiveness?
We must do the following two things:
Respect the independent personality of individuals.
Build a shared understanding of the team.
How to understand these two points?
Each team member is an independent individual and has his or her own personality. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. For example, some people don't talk much, and the tasks they deliver can be completed efficiently, but they are not good at communication; some are team coordinators, and although they are not the strongest in terms of technical strength, they can coordinate project advancement well.
A person’s independent personality,