Project Management

To provide context for managing project human resources, it is useful for you to review and consider the definition of a project and the key elements within a project lifecycle.

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Resource Glossary. You can find a glossary of project management terms at Smartsheet.

There are many ways in which a project differs from business as usual (BAU). Each of these has unique requirements, as seen in the table below.

The PMBOK Guide defines project management as ‘the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.’

Project management aims to achieve required project outcomes within defined limits and constraints, such as quality, budget, and time. 

A project management framework includes defined phases that provide a systematic methodology for managing and controlling the key elements of a project. Key elements include risk, cost, time, quality, reporting, and performance, among other things. 

Utilising a project management framework with several defined project phases guides a project from beginning to end. The application or completion of specific tasks will trigger the beginning and end of each project phase. 

The PMBOK guide contains ten knowledge areas that can help project managers better plan, execute, and close their projects. 

The ten knowledge areas include:

• Integration
• Scope
• Time
• Cost
• Quality
• Procurement
• Human resources
• Communications
• Risk management
• Stakeholder management

Although the specific details and requirements of various project management frameworks will vary based on a variety of factors, they should, at a minimum, define:

• what work must be accomplished
• what deliverables must be generated and reviewed
• who must be involved
• how to control and approve each project phase.

This will provide you with a project baseline to help you manage and control the project.

Five project phases

There are five key project management phases within the project life cycle, including:

There are often variations in how these phases are represented, which will depend on the project management framework being used. Human resource management is applied to all phases of a project.

Fit for purpose

Projects vary enormously in size and complexity, with no two projects being the same. Making sure that your approach to the project is ‘fit for purpose’ is an important contributing factor to effective project management. 

Choosing the right framework for context and specific project needs is important. The approach should be simple, meaningful, and effective. 

What does success look like? 

A successful project delivers the required outputs/deliverables, provides desirable outcomes, and meets quality standards and stakeholder expectations within the agreed-upon timeframes and budget. 

If you apply the principles and practices of project management to your management of project human resources, you can avoid common pitfalls and set yourself and your team up for success. 

As a project manager, you are responsible for ensuring that a project is completed as required, to the satisfaction of a project sponsor/owner and stakeholders. This essentially means that work is completed on time, within budget and to the required quality standard. 

The roles and responsibilities of Project Managers will vary between different organisations and depends on the project's size. In small projects, the project manager reports directly to the project owner or sponsor and performs all key roles in the five phases of a project management framework. In addition, they are solely responsible for managing the project team created to complete the work. 

The project team structure becomes more complex for larger projects, with several layers of management and stakeholders. In these situations, a Team Leader may lead a project team and have the support of a team.  

To manage project human resources, you need leadership qualities and the soft skills which underpin leadership roles. These attributes are necessary to grow and develop your team, transforming them from a random group of individuals to a cohesive high-performance team. Most importantly, you must plan and acquire the ‘right’ people for the work. To achieve this, you must clearly understand project requirements, work tasks, deliverables, and outputs. Each of these elements should be documented during the initiation and planning stages of project management

The right team for the work

Success cannot be achieved without the right team in place. Each project will have a variety of deliverables and goals, requiring the right talent for the job. As a project manager, you are responsible for planning, acquiring, developing, and managing the team, so they perform effectively individually and as a team. 

Aim for success by carefully planning human resources using your knowledge of project requirements. This means that you must ensure you have the right people at the right time, doing the right things within the budget, to the quality required, and in the timeframe allowed.

As a project manager, you may not have been responsible for developing the different components of project documentation during earlier stages. For example, other entities may have completed the project charter, plans for stakeholder engagement, risk management, communications and reporting, quality control, the overall project management plan, and other high-level project planning documents. 

As a project manager, it is essential that you have access to this information when it comes to developing the human resource plan for the project team, which will be directly responsible for doing the actual work of the project. 

Your responsibilities are twofold: you must manage the overall project, keep it on track, and manage and develop the project team doing the work.