Project management focuses on the organization and planning of a project and the resources required. This encompasses identifying the lifecycle that is being used, applying it in user-centred process, and guiding your team through each phase until completion.
The value of project management:
Through proper execution of project management, you can assure that the direction and main goals of the project will be maintained, while simultaneously supporting the clients tasks and objectives. You will additionally manage the amount of risks taken with the project and effectively utilize your resources. It will also provide the help for colleagues to understand their roles and responsibilities, the deliverables, and the timetable that will need to be followed to finish the project on time.
The areas within project management:
The areas within project management are as follows; integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human, communication, risk, and procurement management.
Building your team and highlighting communication:
Your team size will vary depending on the scale of your project, and they may fulfill one or more tasks. It is important to decide how the team will communicate and collaborate with each other. This will include planning meetings, workflow, and how important documents will be managed and stored.
Project phases and incorporating user centered design principles (UCD):
Each project will usually be organized into different phases that will outline what will have to be completed and by whom. Specific deliverables will need to be completed before a phase can be considered complete. Every phase together is considered a lifecycle with the first phase being considered as phase zero. Phase zero of a lifecycle is where sandboxing, envisioning, and conceptualizing the project takes place. The UCD process includes planning, analyzing collected data, writing content, and developing and testing.
Formulating a project plan:
Formulating a plan that your team all agrees on can be a good reference point throughout the project. It is best to use the UCD best practices to outline a project which is the objectives, scope, resources, scheduling, dependencies, assumptions, and risk assessments.
Creating a schedule:
The use of scheduling is important in project management because it will help to map out the progress as your project moves along. It will help you map out each of your colleagues progresses and how their part fits into the overall vision, and shows the dependencies. The lifecycle schedule will show the specific deliverables and touch points. It will help to define what needs to be done (or what has been completed).
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