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In many industries, including the IT segment, project management is a key to the efficiency and success of projects. In today's business, IT has an increasing importance and is in a direct alignment with the need for innovation. Whether new products are being introduced, existing processes are being improved or replaced altogether. Companies are addressing the transition to cloud solutions, automating processes or developing or integrating applications.
The key to successful completion of the desired changes is the proper preparation of the project content within all requirements and expectations. As well as the way the project will be managed.
This article focuses on the importance of project management in the IT segment.
1. Understanding the corporate environment
There are a number of methodologies with principles on how to handle the project management in general, but they will not be as beneficial if they are not adapted to the specific environment and requirements. Thus, in the context of 'tailoring', there is first necessary to determine how communication, risk management, change management, or quality will be approached.
An essential input right at the outset is an analysis of whether a similar project has already been implemented in the company and whether there are experiences that would help in the implementation of the next project. These lessons learned and avoiding repetitive mistakes not only helps the efficiency of project delivery, but also unnecessary budget expenditure, delays and the overall professionalism of introducing change into the corporate environment.
2. Resource planning and optimization
The decision to implement a project requires pre-project preparation and involves to answer the questions - why the project is needed in the first place, what is its content, how long it will také or how much it will cost the company.
However, when starting complex projects, there is usually not yet enough information to implement the project smoothly and thorough planning is required. Normally, a project manager is assigned at this stage and only during the planning activities are the detailed characteristics of the project or whether the project is viable defined.
Viability and whether the original rationale for the project still exists is needed throughout all phases of the project.
Planning includes the detailed definition of the project deliverables, organizational structure, responsibilities, communication strategy, budget or risks. Together with the implementation team, a project plan is drawn up with important milestones and responsibilities for individual tasks.
The undeniable benefits of this process are the efficient use of available resources, minimization of waste and overall successful delivery of the project within the time and budget.
3. Risk and change management
By definition, projects are susceptible to risk and change. In a project-based approach, the basic risks are identified in the pre-project phase. During the planning process, and indeed throughout the project, potential risks are added.
With a scenario established for each risk, the likelihood that it will occur and the impact it could have, appropriate actions can be determined. Risk monitoring is one of the fundamental activities leading to a successfully delivered project. The strategy that is chosen as a measure should significantly minimize the impact on the project.
Risk management is an integral part of decisions whether the project should modify plans according to new conditions or move to the next stage altogether. If it is assessed at any stage of the project that the risks are too great, it is up to the evaluation whether to proceed.
Every company faces a changing environment and its operations are affected by a variety of effect , both internal and external environment. Even on a project, change management becomes change management at some stage. Their identification and implementation in an already running project is very important in project management. Beyond the methodologies, it is then up to each owner of the change to include, for example, the culture of the organisation for its ease of implementation.
4. Effective communication and collaboration
The importance of appropriate and sufficient communication within a project or any change is often overlooked. However, choosing an appropriate communication strategy is crucial for the smooth running of the project. The first step is to identify key people who have a direct influence and interest in the project. Communication needs to be two-way so that the necessary information is shared regularly to prevent any misunderstandings, identify threats and problems, and also to solve them. Last but not least, the benefits of teamwork and synergy of the people involved in the project delivery should be taken care of.
Within the strategy, each person or group is assigned to the content of what is being communicated. While key change approval decisions are made with the main project sponsor, for example, 'just' the status of the project is shared with other groups.
At the same time, the appropriate communication channel is chosen. This can be a physical meeting, an online conference, a call, an email or a stored presentation on an agreed platform. The communication strategy is further defined by the frequency with which the content will be shared, as well as the person responsible - either the project manager or a team member.
5. Achieving project objectives and successful completion
Project management enables the achievement of the objectives as originally intended, which can ensure, among other things, that organisations become more competitive - completing the project on time, achieving the desired quality of results and using resources efficiently. Organizations that specialize in effective project management in the IT segment have an advantage over their competitors and are better able to respond to rapid changes in technology and the marketplace.
Ending a project properly is just as important as starting it. When the final works are completed, ideally a handover report should be drawn up to summarise the whole project and serve as a basis for both the billing and the overall evaluation.
The description of the project progress and any suggestions for improvement are the best basis for further planning of the project and thus we come back to the beginning of this article.
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And this is how we handled customer projects, whether it was building a completely new IT infrastructure for a large international company or managing a process of complex migration to the cloud. Applying project certified methodologies with a simultaneous understanding of the environment and company culture went hand in hand with almost immediate positive results and customer satisfaction.
We do IT differently and our customers enjoy it. And you can enjoy it too.
