What is Project Management? | Explained in 10 Minutes

Summary

This video script offers a concise introduction to project management, explaining it as the process of planning, organizing, and managing resources to achieve a goal. It underscores the importance of project management in ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and to quality standards. The script simplifies the concept with a sub shop analogy, highlighting the project manager's role in coordinating various tasks for efficiency. It outlines the five key phases of project management: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing. The summary concludes by emphasizing the rewarding aspects of project management, such as process improvement and the satisfaction of delivering successful projects.

Takeaways

• 😀 Project management is the process of planning, organizing, and managing resources to accomplish a goal.
• 🛠️ Project management is important for ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and to required quality standards, while managing risks and aligning with strategic objectives.
• 👥 The role of a project manager is to coordinate various specialists and tasks to work together efficiently towards a common goal.
• 🚀 A project manager is not always necessary but can be critical in scenarios where coordination and efficiency are paramount.
• 🏗️ The project manager's role involves understanding the business goal, the required operations, and the right people to achieve the goal.
• 🌐 A project manager's value is exemplified by orchestrating various teams and resources to work in harmony, like aligning a bakery with a sub shop's opening.
• 🔄 Project management helps to bring order to chaos, making processes more understandable and teams more efficient, which can lead to increased revenue.
• 📈 There are five key phases in project management: initiation, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.
• 📝 The planning phase involves creating a master plan and various smaller plans such as cost, resource, vendor, and scheduling plans.
• 👀 The monitoring and controlling phase is about keeping an eye on the project's progress, identifying and resolving issues to keep the project on track.
• 🎉 The closing phase marks the end of the project, delivering the final product, and celebrating the completion of the project's goals.

Q & A

What is project management defined as in the script?

Project management is defined as the process of planning, organizing, and managing resources to accomplish a goal.

Why is project management considered important according to the script?

Project management is important because it helps organizations achieve their goals by ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and to the required quality standards. It also manages risks and aligns projects with the organization's strategic objectives.

What role does a project manager play in a team according to the script?

A project manager ensures that team members, who are good at their specific tasks, are working in the right order and communicating effectively to complete the project efficiently.

Is a project manager always necessary for a company?

While a project manager may not be necessary in every scenario, they are critical in others where their role in coordinating tasks and resources is essential for project success.

How does the script describe the necessity of a project manager?

The script describes the necessity of a project manager by explaining their role in understanding business goals, the order of operations, and the right people needed to achieve those goals.

What is the example given in the script to illustrate the value of a project manager?

The script uses the example of a sub shop to illustrate the value of a project manager, explaining how they coordinate different teams and vendors to ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently.

What are the five phases of project management mentioned in the script?

The five phases of project management mentioned are initiation, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.

What does the initiation phase involve in project management?

The initiation phase involves understanding the teams, project goals, resources, limitations, and what needs to be accomplished at the start of a project.

Can you explain the planning phase of project management as described in the script?

The planning phase is where the project manager creates a master plan, including cost, resource, vendor, and scheduling plans, to figure out how to accomplish the project's goals.

What happens during the executing phase of project management?

During the executing phase, the plans created in the planning phase are put into action, teams are mobilized, and progress is tracked to ensure things are going smoothly.

What is the purpose of the monitoring and controlling phase in project management?

The purpose of the monitoring and controlling phase is for the project manager to oversee the project's progress, ensure it is on the right track, and resolve any issues that arise to keep the team focused on moving forward.

What makes the closing phase of project management exciting according to the script?

The closing phase is exciting because it marks the end of hard work and effort, where the final product or project is delivered to the client, potentially leading to celebration if things have gone well.

What does the script suggest as the most enjoyable part of project management?

The script suggests that the most enjoyable part of project management is the process improvement aspect, where project managers can bring order to chaos and see the benefits of their efforts.

How does the script describe the satisfaction a project manager gets from completing a project?

The script describes the satisfaction as coming from delivering something to the client, seeing their reactions, potentially creating new business partners, and experiencing the novelty that each project brings.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Project Management

The first paragraph introduces the concept of project management, explaining it as the process of planning, organizing, and managing resources to achieve a goal. It emphasizes the importance of project management in ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and to the required quality standards. The paragraph uses the analogy of a sub shop to illustrate the role of a project manager in coordinating various specialized roles towards a common goal. It concludes by outlining the five key phases of project management: initiation, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.

05:00

🛠️ Project Management Phases Explained

The second paragraph delves into the specifics of the five phases of project management. It starts with the initiation phase, where project goals, teams, and resources are identified. The planning phase involves creating a comprehensive master plan, including cost, resource, vendor, and scheduling plans. The executing phase is about putting the plans into action and mobilizing teams. The monitoring and controlling phase is about overseeing the project's progress and addressing any issues that arise. Finally, the closing phase marks the end of the project, delivering the final product and celebrating the completion of the project. The paragraph also touches on the personal enjoyment of project management, particularly the process improvement aspect and the satisfaction derived from delivering projects and seeing the positive impact on teams and clients.

Keywords

💡Project Management

Project Management is defined as the process of planning, organizing, and managing resources to accomplish a specific goal. It is central to the video's theme, illustrating the systematic approach required to ensure projects are completed efficiently and effectively. The script uses the example of a company that builds houses, where different specialists need coordination to complete the project successfully.

💡Strategic Objectives

Strategic Objectives refer to the broad, long-term goals that an organization aims to achieve. In the context of the video, project management ensures that projects are aligned with these objectives, emphasizing the importance of having a clear direction and purpose for all project activities.

💡Resource Management

Resource Management involves the efficient allocation and utilization of resources, including human, financial, and physical assets. The video script highlights the role of project management in organizing these resources to achieve project goals, such as coordinating the various specialists in a house-building company.

💡Risk Management

Risk Management is the process of identifying, assessing, and controlling risks to minimize their impact on a project. The video mentions that project management helps manage risks, which is crucial for ensuring that projects stay on track and meet their objectives despite potential challenges.

💡Quality Standards

Quality Standards are the levels of excellence or fitness for purpose that a project or product must meet. The script emphasizes the importance of project management in ensuring that projects are completed to the required quality standards, which is vital for customer satisfaction and reputation.

💡Project Manager

A Project Manager is an individual responsible for overseeing a project from start to finish. The video defines the role as someone who understands the business goal, the necessary steps to achieve it, and coordinates the right people and operations. The script uses the analogy of a sub shop to illustrate the importance of a project manager in assembling and aligning different parts of a project.

💡Initiation Phase

The Initiation Phase is the first phase of project management where the project's goals, teams, and resources are identified. The video script describes this phase as the starting point for understanding what needs to be accomplished, setting the stage for the subsequent planning and execution.

💡Planning Phase

The Planning Phase involves creating a detailed plan for the project, including cost, resource, vendor, and scheduling plans. The video script explains that this phase is where the project manager thinks about what needs to be in place for the project to be successful and how to carry it out thoughtfully.

💡Executing Phase

The Executing Phase is when the plans from the previous phase are put into action. The video script describes this as the phase where teams are mobilized and work begins on the project, with the project manager ensuring that everything is going smoothly according to the plan.

💡Monitoring and Controlling Phase

The Monitoring and Controlling Phase is about overseeing the project's progress and making adjustments as necessary. The video script states that the project manager's responsibility during this phase is to resolve any issues that arise, ensuring the project stays on course.

💡Closing Phase

The Closing Phase marks the end of a project, where the final product or service is delivered to the client. The video script describes this phase as exciting, as it represents the culmination of all the hard work and effort put in by the team, with the potential for celebration or further revisions depending on the outcome.

💡Process Improvement

Process Improvement refers to the ongoing effort to make business processes more efficient and effective. The video script highlights the project manager's role in process improvement, providing order to chaos and helping teams to work more strategically, which can alleviate work pains and enhance overall performance.

Highlights

Project management is the process of planning, organizing, and managing resources to accomplish a goal.

Project management helps organizations achieve their goals by ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and to required quality standards.

A project manager's role is to coordinate various specialists to work together efficiently towards the project's completion.

Project management is critical in scenarios where coordination and efficiency are necessary for success.

A project manager understands the business goal, the required operations, and the right people to execute them.

The value of a project manager is evident in ensuring all moving parts of a project align for a well-oiled machine.

Project management is useful in building processes to make chaos more understandable and teams more efficient.

Efficiency in project management can lead to increased revenue, adding direct value to a company.

There are five key phases in project management: initiation, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.

The initiation phase involves understanding team composition, project goals, resources, and limitations.

The planning phase is about creating a master plan and various smaller plans to reach the project's end goal.

In the executing phase, the project manager puts the plans into action and mobilizes the team.

The monitoring and controlling phase is about keeping an eye on progress and resolving any issues that arise.

The closing phase marks the end of the project, where the final product is delivered and the team's efforts are celebrated.

Project management offers the excitement of process improvement and the satisfaction of delivering completed projects.

A project manager gets to experience the start and finish of projects, providing a sense of accomplishment and variety.

Working on different projects allows a project manager to interact with diverse stakeholders and continuously learn and adapt.

Transcripts

project management explained in less

than 10 minutes let's get into it this

video is for those who are either

looking to break into project management

or for those who literally have no idea

what project management is but are

interested to learn more so let's start

with what is project management so in

one sentence project management is the

process of planning organizing and

managing resources to accomplish a goal

so why is project management important

well per chat GPT project management is

important because it helps helps

organizations achieve their goals by

ensuring projects are completed on time

within budget and to the required

quality standards it also helps to

manage risks and ensure that projects

are aligned with the organization's

strategic objectives wow that was a

mouthful so that was a lot of

information here's how I would explain

it basically you know when you work on a

team and you when you work for a company

you're likely hired for a certain role a

certain task right and likely you are

very good at doing your one thing that

you were hired for so for example when

it comes to a company that builds houses

often times you'll have someone who just

paints walls you'll have someone who

specializes in doing the roofing you

have someone that specializes in doing

the

plumbing you have all these people that

are doing various types of jobs but the

project manager's role is to make sure

that all of these people that are really

good at doing their job they're doing it

in the right order and that they're

communicating with each other in order

to get the project done in the most

efficient way is a project manager 100%

necessary for a company you know in some

scenarios maybe not but in other

scenarios it's critical by my definition

a project manager is someone who

understands the business goal who

understands what needs to happen in

order for the goal to be achieved who

understands the right people and the

right order of operations to get the job

done so naturally you may ask okay well

why is a project manager necessary then

right let me give you an example where

you can really see the value ad that a

project manager

provides so let's think about maybe a

sub shop right name your favorite Jimmy

John's

Subway anyone out there in order to

create a sub sandwich you need to have

someone that creates the bread someone

that gives you the meat someone that

gets you all the vegetables all the

seasonings all the dressings you need

someone to give you the equipment in

order to toast the bread if that's what

your calling is and you need someone to

assemble all at the end so that's a lot

of different moving parts right so what

happens if you know the baker bakes the

bread and you know the the sub shop

hasn't opened yet well the baker loses

money because the sub shop isn't able to

purchase their bread to sell it what

happens if there's a shortage on you

know vegetables on the dressings well

the sub shop probably can't be

successful the customer really wants

that dressing at that spot and I know

I'm kind of going on tangent here but

stay with me where a project manager

comes into play is it's their job to

finding the most efficient way to get

all these different teams to get all

these moving Parts assembled and aligned

to make sure it's a Well oiled machine

so that you get to your end

goal so one example of this is you're a

project manager you'll make sure that

you align the bakery you'll align the

sub shop you'll align all of your

vendors and Distributors to make sure

that they are engaged at the right

points in time so that once the sub shop

opens you'll have all the materials and

all the goods your customer customers

will be loving it again probably a

pretty weird example to use here but I

like to use these visual examples

because they honestly help me with

understanding and interpreting you know

such an ambiguous role out there so in

conclusion project management is useful

because there's a lot of Chaos in this

world and project managers are skilled

in building processes in making the

chaos more understandable so that

companies and that teams can be more

efficient as a result of that efficiency

companies can often times generate more

Vue which is a direct value add to the

company so now that we've gone over what

is a project manager and you know why

should you care about project management

let's go over some of the key

fundamentals that every project manager

should know so in general there are five

phases that a project manager follows

from start to finish for a project phase

one is the initiation phase phase two is

the planning phase phase three is the

executing phase phase four is the

monitoring and controlling phase and

then phase five is the closing phase so

initiation phase that basically means

you know very start of a project it's

understanding who your teams are

understanding what the goals of the

project are understanding what resources

what limitations you have and to just

understand in general what needs to be

accomplished phase two planning phase

this is where the project manager

creates a master plan to figure out you

know how are we going to accomplish this

the master plan consists of many other

smaller plans you can think about like

cost plan resource plan vendor plans

scheduling plans all these different

plans that project manager should think

about in order to successfully reach the

end goal during the planning phase the

project manager is thinking about what

things need to be in place in order for

the project to be successful and how to

carry the project out very thoughtfully

phase three the executing phase this is

where all that preparation in the

planning phase is being put to the test

so you taking action on the plans that

you've put into place you're fully

mobilizing your teams and getting them

to work on the project and you're

tracking you're making sure things are

going smoothly phase four monitoring

controlling so the Project's now you

know actively being worked on you're

making progress hopefully monitoring

controlling phase is for the project

manager to keep an eye on the project to

make sure that things are progressing in

the right direction and within the right

time so if there are any roadblocks if

there are any issues the project

manager's responsibility is to figure

out the best way to resolve those issues

to free up their teams and to allow

their teams to focus on how to move

forward and then we reached phase five

the closing phase and this is honestly

one of the most exciting parts of a

project because all that hard work that

your teams have put in all the effort

throughout those months or potentially

years of you guys working on the project

finally comes to a close and you get to

deliver the final product or project to

you know whoever you've been working

with closing phase is exciting because

if things have gone well your client

will be super ecstatic and it'll be a

time of Celebration can be super

nerve-wracking if things do not go well

and there a lot of revisions there are a

lot of things to be made then but in

general those are the five phases that a

project manager

follows it's a process that helps to

organize how a project will be carried

out regardless of what industry you work

in Okay so we've gone over what is a

project manager why does it matter why

do you care and what are the phases of

project management I'll leave you guys

with one last piece before we get to the

conclusion and that is you know what do

I find most enjoyable about project

management personally I would say it's

the process Improvement part A lot of

times when you work at a company

um often times there are inefficiencies

especially as a company grows and scales

a lot of times things just aren't being

done in a very strategic or efficient

manner being able to provide order to a

world full of chaos is super exciting

you get to ultimately see the benefits

that manifest from that so helping teams

put process together to make things just

better seeing my teammates faces when

you know some of the Pains of their work

have been alleviated I think that's one

of the most exciting parts of being a

project manager to add on to that as

well I would say being able to just work

on new things as a project manager you

get assigned new projects and ultimately

the exciting part is there is a start

and there is a finish once a project is

complete you get the satisfaction of

delivering you know something to your

client getting to see their reactions

and if you done a good job you've

created you know a new business partner

and things never get boring when it

comes to projects every project is

completely different even on paper if

it's the exact same it's still not

because you're working with different

stakeholders you're working with

different types of people being

successful at those projects is

something that continues to move me

forward I hope you found this video

informative and helpful you know for

those beginners who looking to break

into project management or for anyone

else who's just curious about the

industry comment below if you have any

questions or any comments and thanks so

much for watching we'll catch you on the

next video yeah