Why Is Project Management Important?

Running projects is not an easy job. However, when quantified by the famous and platitudinous definition of project management – project management is planning, organizing, and controlling the work of a team to achieve specific goals, it seems like project management is simple and perhaps even unnecessary. (Can’t teams self manage? ) This notion perhaps rises from there being no physical deliverables of project management other than just guiding the team to do what they do the best. But, this could not be farther from the truth! Without project management, projects almost invariably fail. Project managers are the ones that keep the team sane and on track, so that the project can progress as planned. Hell breaking loose is usually just one project manager away. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), organizations that don’t value project management enough, experience 50% more of failure outright. That is a staggering number! But, to investigate this better, you can take a look at the following list of points that show why project management is essential:

1. Organization of Chaos: Project management methodologies are credible, tried & tested techniques created by groups of project management experts and provide a ‘method to the madness.’ Projects are incredibly complicated and involve multiple variables such as stakeholders, project risk, and project resources. Project management tames the volatility of such variables. Plus, project managers act as an interceptive link between the project team and the rest of the stakeholders, keeping everyone on the same page.

2. Centralized Leadership and Legitimate Expertise: Project management and project managers bring leadership, leadership that is unified and applies to all the diverse disciplines amongst the project team. This way, all teams are encouraged and led by someone who can recognize and leverage the potential each teammate holds. The proven expertise that project managers bring is irreplaceable.

3. Clear objectives: Project management gives project managers and teams the tools and knowledge necessary to come up with a realistic, attainable, and clear baseline schedule. Such clear goals allow project teams to perform better.

4. Risk Management: Risk identification, prevention, control, and management form an unavoidable, integral part of project management. Risk management is vital to a project to ensure that it is not compromised in any way preventable. This obviously increases the chances of project success.

5. Cost Reduction: Project management introduces order, organization, and efficiency into the project. With project management and project managers to guide project teams, teams become more efficient, productive, and save a lot of costs as a result. In 2018, according to PMI, 9.9% of every dollar invested was wasted due to poor project performance—that’s $99 million for every $1 billion invested.

Tip: The benefits of project management are only amplified with project management software. Investing in good project management software goes a long way.