Figure 1.1: China’s Three Gorges Dam

The Three Gorges Dam in China is one of the world’s largest recent projects. With an estimated cost of US$22.5 billion (€17.0 billion), construction involved moving 1.3 million people and took 10 years

On a much smaller scale, you can think of preparing a meal as a project. It has specific aims, it needs to be carried out using certain resources and must be finished on time

Very few of us will ever work on a project as big as the Three Gorges Dam, but many managers use project management techniques on a regular basis at work and in their personal lives

Managers in many roles will also need to plan the running of a team, use systems for planning, allocating and controlling of resources to achieve objectives, and ensure that the work fits into tight deadlines and limited timescales. In your personal life, you may need to plan and implement a holiday or a major decorating project, or complete specific tasks relating to a hobby such as restoring cars or researching the family history. All these tasks use techniques similar to those used in formal project management

This module starts by looking at the basics of project management. The first section emphasises the importance of defining exactly what the project is designed to achieve, on the need to satisfy a specific business need, and then focusing all the planning on creating the required output

The later sections then look in turn at the various stages of the project. Section 2 describes the key planning stages. These are perhaps even more important in a project than they are in day-to-day work: after all in a project you only get one chance to get things right

Section 3 then looks at implementing the plan.  How can the project manager ensure that all the many elements of the project contribute effectively to the whole project? How can you ensure that a delay in one team’s work does not have a knock-on effect on the whole timetable? Perhaps most important of all, how can you plan all of the various activities so that you achieve the project deadline

Finally, Section 4 starts by describing the processes of monitoring performance and output by individual teams and across the whole project. You’ll then see a brief description of how the project team can assess the problem and plan changes that will bring the project back on track. Finally, we’ll consider what actions must be taken before the project can be handed over to the internal or external customer. How does the project manager assess whether the final output satisfies the original requirements, and what can the project team learn so that they can improve their performance on future projects