The content of the project management method

Managers sometimes simply do not have enough time to think about what place the project management method occupies in their practical activities. And meanwhile, this question is very serious. First, the project management paradigm is gaining more and more methodological significance in the context of the overall management system of a modern company. Secondly, knowledge, skills and abilities in this area are increasingly included in the standard set of competencies of managers not only at the top, but more often at the middle and even lower levels of management.

The history of the method

The principles of historicism and dialectics used to assess the development of management methods allow a deeper analysis of the ongoing changes in the level of organization and the effectiveness of management mechanisms. In Soviet universities, one of the basic courses in economic specialties was the theory of political economy. In many ways, this discipline was an apology for the socialist way of managing. However, this course also had its advantages. This knowledge expanded the horizon of vision of the future specialist both from the standpoint of the history of the development of management methods, and from the point of view of their capabilities in reality.

The training course revealed the signs, principles and stages of socio-economic formations through which society passes in its development. The position that each social structure has its own dominant type of relationship and the basic method of production management, in my opinion, has not yet lost its value. The diagram below shows the main milestones in the development of industrial relations in the world and the corresponding qualitative shifts in management.

Model of the development of industrial relations from the beginning of the development of bourgeois society to the present day

It is known that projects as a means of implementing large-scale unique tasks have existed since time immemorial. Consider, for example, the wonders of the world. The pyramids of Cheops in Egypt, obviously, were built by the design method. Another question is what method of management was dominant in the course of historical development. From the spiral model shown above, you can see how development has progressed in recent centuries.

1. The bourgeois revolutions of the 18th-19th centuries finally put an end to the handicraft type of production in Europe and laid the foundation for a gradual transition from a functional method of management to a process one. Process management in the world began to develop most actively in the 20th century. This was the first qualitative leap in the recent history of industrial relations, which made it possible to make a revolution in management methodology.
2. Since the late 40s of the last century, a new methodology has been emerging in the United States, which is called the project management method. At present, this method is far from having exhausted its potential. Moreover, management of this type is developing in conjunction with the process method.

The formational approach to assessing history has largely lost its relevance. It can be said that now we are living in a transitional stage to the information society, and it is permissible to imagine a certain correspondence of the dominant methods of management to the form of the social order. Functions dominated pre-industrial society. The industrial format is dominated by process principles. In the post-industrial order, there is an active transition from processes to projects.

The basis of the design method

The essence and concept of the project management paradigm, as for the previous methods, is best revealed through understanding the type of the task being implemented, the composition of the operations of the performers and the form of interaction between them. If handicraft was characterized as the production of a typical product by a single performer, factory production was already carried out according to specialized functions by workers of different professions. Mass industrial production began to be characterized by chains of interrelated jobs, rather than functions performed by different employees.

Post-industrial companies are gradually becoming not only more flexible, each client and each product is increasingly becoming unique. Thus, both business development and the business processes themselves are getting new features, for which it is the project method that looks more natural. But what does the concept of a project task consist of and how to manage it? We will consider the definition of the project through the positions expressed in official international and Russian sources.

Official project definitions

As an alternative to cyclic tasks, which are business processes, by projects I mean the management tools for solving unique tasks, the results of which are achieved under constraints. In the sense of the concept under consideration, tasks are digitized, concretized design goals. The concept itself is based on the main features of the project, which we need to analyze.

1. The presence of specific project objectives arising from a defined overhead strategy.
2. The uniqueness and uniqueness of the design task.
3. A set of restrictions (temporary, financial, etc.) under which a project is being implemented that has a beginning and an end.

Constraint management in design implementation is of particular importance for the success of solving a unique problem. It is important for the company's management and the project manager to know what limiting factors will be faced in its implementation. For these purposes, such a visual tool as the "design triangle" or "triangle of constraints" is well suited.

Project Constraint Triangle Diagram

The project implementation is based on the adoption of two main types of restrictions: financial and temporary. These two characteristics of the project contribute to filling the unique task with planned content and proper quality (state 1), but are not exclusive conditions for the success of the project. At the same time, it is difficult to achieve a reduction in their impact on achieving a full-fledged result (2). It is more likely that with budget cuts and/or time cuts, content and/or quality will also be cut (2a). The project triangle, at the same time, allows you to realize in time that an increase in content or an increase in quality inevitably leads to an expansion of the boundaries of the budget and duration (3).

The essence and principles of the design method

The essence of the project method is to present the problem being solved as unique, in special organizational and methodological forms of its management, called project management. implies the application of knowledge, methods, certain skills and technological solutions in the implementation of tasks of the type in question in order to achieve or even exceed the stated expectations of the project participants. Project management is also an area of ​​scientific knowledge that allows you to determine the goals of the activity and organize the work of a group of people so that the intended result is achieved as a result of its implementation.

Project management cycle diagram

The development of project management occurs in a cyclical spiral, the development of which we can observe in the diagram shown above. The entire national and world experience of managers applying the principles of the project approach is collected and summarized. General approaches to the methodology and its development are developed, the best solutions are selected, adapted for distribution in practical application. On this basis, the activities of international associations have been built and generally accepted project management standards have been developed. The active associations and standards are listed below.

List of international associations and standards in the field of PM

Recently, in connection with the active integration of the project approach into businesses of various sectors of the economy, the so-called "project-oriented management" is gaining distribution and development. This type of management is characteristic of project-oriented companies operating in construction, consulting, IT development, etc. However, companies traditionally associated with mass production, for example, in the provision of services, the production of vehicles, computer equipment, passing through new stages of development, are increasingly using the project approach. Consider the principles of this method:

• the principle of purposefulness and connection with basic business strategies;
• the principle of competition between projects and resources;
• the principle of economic efficiency of the results achieved;
• the principle of consistency and complexity;
• the principle of hierarchy of tasks performed;
• the principle of a matrix approach to planning and organization;
• the principle of openness for the study and development of implementation experience;
• the principle of "Best practice";
• the principle of balancing the imposed responsibility and the powers granted;
• the principle of flexibility.

Components of the project approach system

The approach under consideration is based on the question of the success of achieving the set goal. Success is determined by three factors: the formulation of the right goals and the competent setting of tasks, effective project management, balanced technical and resource support. The algorithm, the composition of concepts, terms and documents that define the main components of the project are built into the corresponding diagram below.

Main components of the design system

The large stages shown in the diagram (three columns) step by step allow you to define control objects, build a project team and set it up, set up and run project management processes on a regular basis. The central element of the model is the project manager as a key managerial role and function of solving a unique problem. correlate a different algorithm for understanding the project in connection with its beginning, execution and end, considering the stages:

• concepts;
• developments;
• implementation;
• completion.

Project management processes are structured in international and national standards. They are divided into five groups, the main of which is the group of execution organization processes. At the moment when the PM already has a plan for milestones, a work schedule, a budget one, he boldly proceeds to implement it. Tasks are set for the performers, contracts are agreed and signed, the project team begins to work in full force. The algorithm of the sequence of processes, their duration and intensity is presented to your attention in the diagram below.

Sequence and Duration of Project Management Processes

The second group in terms of intensity and duration are planning processes. Starting almost simultaneously with the initiation procedures, planning is rapidly gaining momentum. After the start of the active execution phase, the planning is regularly replayed for the purpose of adjustment, which is quite natural for the project method. The project plan is a comprehensive document that includes the following components.

1. Milestone plan.
2. Calendar plan.
3. responsibility matrix.
4. Personnel plan.
5. Supply plan.
6. Communication plan.
7. Project Risk Mitigation Plan.

Relatively short initiation processes are intended to ensure that the need for the project is recognized, that it is identified as the object of management, and that the project is launched. Control processes help the PM to monitor and regularly report on progress, reschedule and adjust the project in a timely manner, if necessary. Work on the project is completed by the processes of its closure. They allow ethical termination of relationships with participants, archiving of documentation and, in addition, provide a basis for the development of the project system.

In this article, we examined the main points related to the emergence, content and current state of development of the project management method in business. This approach, having undeniable advantages, is promising and will be developed. In any case, mastering it has long been among the key development tasks not only for PM, but for all managers who intend to make a career and succeed in commercial organizations on any part of the world.