The Biggest Problem with Overlooking the Importance of Project Management, And How to Fix It.

The importance of project management as an integral business strategy can never go unnoticed. Ask why?

Organizations that underestimate project management as part of their business strategy, report an average of 50% more of their projects failing outright.

Take a minute and quickly recall the contribution of your project managers during last year’s unexpected turbulence?

Could your team single-handedly stay on top of customer projects, deadlines, productivity, and project cost- all at the same time? And how would the mission-critical projects have survived?

And what about customers? They were equally caught by surprise while trying to adapt to the new circumstances.

All project stakeholders are acclimatizing to the unpredicted situation- economy standstill, resource crunch, shrinking revenue, government restrictions, stay-at-home orders, and mental fatigue, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

Evidently, managing risk and rapid scope changes, owing to the ongoing pandemic, could only be handled by stalwarts, and experienced professionals- The Project Management team.

What Is Project Management During a Crisis?

Without Project management, you’re lost, just like a sailor without a compass.

There is a reason why project management is a profession where excellence is attained after many years of practice and professional training. We’ll tell you why.

During last year’s slow down, pretty much all phases and elements of an ongoing or upcoming project faced alteration. Considering the complexity and associated stakeholders, you’ll be startled to learn certain enterprises enhanced the performance of their projects.

According to the COO of PMI, many projects were put on hold during the pandemic, the performance of those that did continue, surprisingly, surpassed that of last year’s projects. In fact, 72% met their original goals compared to 69 percent last year. And 62 percent were completed within budget and 55 percent on time.

What accounted for the favorable outcomes was the Adaptability Quotient of the Project Management Team. Rather than letting go of project management, these enterprises thoroughly redefined all methods and project management tools to resolve hurdles, as they arrived. And despite all expected alterations, project outcome and customer-centric practice remained the focal point.

Another remarkable trait witnessed last year was sensing business opportunities. Outgrowing the traditional project management approach, project management professionals sniffed new market requirements and immediately addressed them, resulting in more revenue and tighter customer relationship.

Evidently, a company may thrive without project management, however when organizations undergo the tests of time, even giant names may see themselves going downhill without the correct combination of project management practice, people, and tools.

What Is the Importance of Project Management in Achieving Business Goals?

Big changemakers of the world view project management as an essential ingredient and not a hefty financial investment.

After assessing the impact of the pandemic, we listed a few reasons to emphasize the importance of project management as a strategic business plan-

1. Proactive Strategic Alignment

“If your organization is not good at project management, you’re putting too much at risk in terms of ultimately delivering on strategy.”- Mark Langley, President, and CEO| PMI

Essentially, project management must adhere to and align with the overall business strategy. In the state of crisis, scope creep is expected but sabotages overall project goals, tasks, and milestones; consequently, affecting the organization’s strategy.

Continuous communication and reaffirmation of the organization’s strategy can keep all project stakeholders on the same page. And to achieve this level of collaboration, project managers and their tracking platforms play a vital role.

2. Adhering to Quality Controls

Quality constraints are disrupted in several cases and can’t be completely blamed on an emergency. However, organizations can’t risk quality snags and end up spoiling customer loyalty.

Last year, teams were under tremendous pressure to meet deadlines and deliverables. It was the project management team that kept a sharp eye out for quality parameters and constantly met the bar despite all the hurdles.

3. Strategic Project Decisions

A classic example of project kick-off decision was observed back in 2004 when Steve Jobs commenced the iPhone development project. Initially, the proposal was submitted in 2001 as a market disruptor but wasn’t launched immediately. Allocation of resources and R&D on the new product was a strategic and gradual move that took shape only in 2004.

Similarly, several project decisions can’t be relayed in haste but derived at and realized only with a thoughtful approach. Once again, it’s the trained project management teams that undertake and supervise strategic decision-making.

4. Improving Productivity

Before we dive deeper, you may want to take a closer look at a fresh perspective on productivity for an organization’s growth.

An article, published by Megan Holstein, a former software company CEO and now a personal development and productivity coach, stresses on being productive- not just to finish a larger number of tasks, but gather more free time by decreasing time invested in wasteful activities.

The reason project managers invest time in software tools is to enable productivity tracking and reduction in avoidable working hours.

Focusing on productivity definitely accelerates projects but the real impact can be observed in project cost savings which leads to our next point of discussion.

5. Manging Increasing Costs

Changing priorities, scope, and budgets, largely determines the project direction. But the bigger concern- is the associated cost.

Major scope changes, as observed last year, solicited experienced project management teams to tactfully reduce project costs by enhancing efficiency, optimizing resources, and alleviating risks.

Hence, the business gains received by organizations outperformed the investment made in project managers and supporting tools.

The Cost of Forgoing Project Management and How to Fix It

The arrival of the vaccines can barely solve the business impacts prevailing in affected organizations.

While internal resources are getting more optimistic about the new normal, customers are slowly maturing with the new alterations. The fear is natural as resource crunch, remote operations, and customer insecurity may linger a bit longer than expected. However, scaling organizations need to see this fearful time as an opportunity to build customer relations that fosters long-term business relationships.

Develop a holistic project management approach towards project goals, budgets, deliverables, and timelines, which can expedite and elevate the project success rate.

Organizations need to full-proof projects by looking at the bigger picture and outlining a booster plan inclusive of project managers and supporting project management solutions. And you’ll be amazed to observe the growth curve with the timely investment in project management.