How vital are project managers for an organisation?
What are the changes that have taken place in project management scope?
How has the role of project managers evolved over decades?
Why does project management play a crucial role in facilitating growth and success for corporations?
The answers for these questions above can be found by digging deep into the world of project management and understanding its essential elements, principles, critical practices and other additional information that helps in bringing theoretical models into practicality.
Project managers are among the managerial types that need to align documentation, business processing, bringing in talented employees, and negotiating with other stakeholders and associates to acquire different elements for completing projects.
Getting Up and Close with Project Management Particulars
Management that operates at this level requires a nuanced understanding of existing workflows and other protocols that constitute a firm. Project managers know that to facilitate positive changes in their corporations, they need to round up a skilled, driven, and talented set of employees to achieve the assignment’s objectives. With different resources available to them and a competent human workforce, managers can draft strategies and work on them to take their firms towards growth and success.
A trustworthy and internationally recognised PMP online certification can offer in-depth knowledge of critical aspects of this domain. The project management professional certification from IIM is an excellent program to widen horizons about this sector. Professionals who aim to move into these career paths need to start from the very beginning and understand project management’s evolution throughout the ages.
How has the Role of Project Managers Evolved over Decades?
“Operations keep the lights on, strategy provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train that moves the organisation forward.”
The above quote by Joy Gumz, crisply describes the importance of project management in organisational juncture as being driving fuel for bringing about consistent changes and practices that can help firms. Project managers need to have a mechanism that aligns both the corporational and project’s goal together to achieve long-lasting results. It’s the duty of managers that their employees don’t venture outside of project scope and stay updated on latest developments taking in the projects.
Project management matters since it binds different sectors together and takes resources from multiple departments for giving a final form to the theoretical ideas, planning, thinking and strategies. A PMP online certification through a credible resource can help professionals understand its evolution throughout the ages. Moreover, looking at the timeline can assist young managers in getting better perspectives about this job profile and understand the changes through different times.
Earlier project management was all about maintaining and building good relationships with employers and employees, performing routine tasks manually and keeping a tab over things in records over papers and sheets. The project management professional certification from IIM highlights the major periods wherein significant evolution has taken place in the field of project management.
The Project Management Life Cycle, and Its 4 Phases
Here are the periods in development of project management as we know today:-
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Project management in Early 1950s
The time period of the 1960s was defined by innovations taking place in automobiles, telecommunication and other technologies that helped in shortening project schedules. The development of effective resource allocation and mobility and its association with telecommunication systems helped increase the delivery of messages across corporate chains.
The incorporation of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) started gaining popularity around this time, and it led to finer project management systems such as Gantt Charts, amongst others. Some of the descriptive projects that took place during this timeline include the construction of Hoover Dam, giving touchpoints to Manhattan Project and others.
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Project Management in Early 1970s
The years between the 1960s and early 1970s were defined by major developments in managerial sciences and practices. During this time frame, result-driven project management tools such as CPM and PERT came into existence and became mainstream in corporational operations. There were tremendous scientific and technological advances that took place during these years.
There was a progression from mainframe to mini-computers that led to its utilisation by small-scale companies. With computers becoming commonplace, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft that further revolutionised project management techniques via a standard interface, leading to more information sharing and removing manual operations.
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Project Management in Early 1990s
The periods of the 1980s and 1990s were defined by the sporadic rise in the information management sector. The introduction of personal computers (PC) led to the transformation of project management scope and helped in multi-tasking through affordable computer systems. PCs played a titular role in maintaining efficiency and controlling complex project schedules.
Major projects that took place during these times include England’s France Channel project, Space Shuttle Challenger project and Calgary Winter Olympics, the first-ever sports event that applied project management techniques and software.
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Project Management in Early 2000s – Present
The new decade was defined by the introduction of the Internet that changed businesses across the globe. The Internet brought about greater connectivity, end-to-end encryption of data services, storing of data in databases and other innovations. With various data-sharing services available today- both servers and cloud-based systems helps in maintaining a backup of all project management particulars.
Moreover, as technology matured and grew over the years, there was a shift in the Internet to generations of fast processing computer cellular networks. The current age of fifth-generation models and their integration of Internet of Things (IoT) is expanding project management practices for quick and precise results.
As seen from the list above, each period brought about new innovations in project management and helped solve complex assignments.
Summing it Up!
Projects act as the primary driving fuel for bringing about positive organisational structures and making them better at realising opportunities. Project managers are influential personalities who draft theoretical models and bring them into practicality for seeking out new business ideas and their implementation in corporate scenarios. As seen from the article above, different eras have replenished project management with its innovations. A PMP online certification allows new managers to understand the timelines in a refined manner. The project management professional certification from IIM is a great course for gaming a foothold over this sector’s constituent elements.
More Information:
Role of Project Managers: IT and beyond
What is the meaning of Project Management?