What is Project Management?

As per PMBOK, Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. Again, let’s understand what it really means?

Project Management

Let’s understand project management through an example of a necklace. Project Management is similar to a thread in a pearls necklace. It does not matter how good and how many pearls you have, until you have a thread, you cannot form a necklace. If a project is a necklace, its functions, disciplines, people, stakeholders etc. are its pearls and project management is the thread that binds all the pearls.  You cannot wear individual pearls until you have a thread. Similarly, you cannot deliver result of a project with individual functions, people and stakeholder until you integrate them through project management. You may not have wonderful pearls with you but if you bind the pearls you have in a beautiful manner, you can have a wonderful necklace. You may not have best out of best resources with you in a project but if you integrate them strategically through project management, you can have wonderful results. If wonderful pearls are not threaded properly, necklace may not look good. Your champion performer may not be able to give you excellent results in the absence of project management.

Project Management activities (processes) help a project manager to integrate all stakeholders, team members and technical activities in a project. Therefore it is important for a project manager to have sound understanding and experience of project management processes.