What Is Project Management?

Project management refers to the practices that provide structure and guidance for the completion of a project. This process turns ideas into plans, plans into tasks, and tasks into deliverables efficiently within a set scope, schedule, and budget.

In a nutshell:

• Project management refers to the processes that guide teams in achieving their project goals
• The project management stages include initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing
• Various project management methodologies exist, including waterfall, agile, Lean, and The Shortcut Way
• The use of digital tools can help project teams streamline the project management process

The 5 stages of project management

The project management life cycle takes your project from conception to completion through five distinct stages: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closing. Let’s take a look at each step in more detail.

1. Initiation

The initiation stage centers on conceiving a feasible idea. At this stage, the team meets with stakeholders to outline the project’s purpose, scope, and objectives. After setting parameters, you evaluate the project’s feasibility based on your available resources, budget, and time. 

Project managers will typically formalize this information by creating a document called a project charter. The document serves as a quick reference for all key project information, including the project’s purpose, parameters, key deliverables, and stakeholders and sponsors involved. 

A good project management software will let you set objectives and give you avenues for tracking progress. Shortcut objectives let you add work items (called Epics), key results, and deadlines and translate your progress into color-coded bar gauges. 

Example:

An Amazon retailer wants to build their own eCommerce website. They determine that the project is a worthwhile endeavor by narrowing down its benefits: eliminating Amazon seller fees, increased control over user experience, and enhanced branding credibility. 

After identifying the project’s purpose, they conduct research to determine whether the project will produce returns worth the potential risks and costs. They then evaluate their financials and other resources and adjust their project scope based on what’s available. 

2. Planning

If the initiation stage outlines what goals you aim to achieve, the planning stage outlines how you intend to achieve them. 

A good plan should account for the following:

• Tasks: What actionable steps can you take to achieve the goals established in the initiation stage?
• People: Who is available to perform the designated tasks?
• Schedule: When does each task need to be completed?
• Budget: How much money can you afford to spend on this project?
• Resources: How and where will you allocate your resources to minimize spending and maximize returns?
• Communication: What communication channels does your team intend to use?
• Reporting: How will you measure results, and what channels will you use to report them?
• Risk management: What challenges do you anticipate, and how will you face them?

Example:

A project manager handling a website-building endeavor would break down the project’s requirements into smaller tasks. Tasks could include creating assets like logos and headers, choosing a website-building platform, and optimizing product descriptions for SEO. 

After laying out what needs to be done, decide when each task needs to be completed and assemble a team to tackle the work. A good website-building team would likely include graphic artists, UX designers, and SEO specialists. 

The team can stay on the same page by establishing a centralized communication channel, such as Slack. They must also determine what metrics they need to evaluate. For a website, this can include load speed, SEO optimization, and user-friendliness. 

3. Execution

The execution stage is when your team performs the tasks defined in your project plan. You allocate resources to complete the deliverables according to your schedule. 

It’s also the time to account for anything your plan couldn’t anticipate. Since the execution stage happens concurrently with the monitoring and controlling stage, you can make changes to your strategy according to the data you collect. 

Example:

The execution stage involves all tasks included in the website-building process. Here is when the team would design the website’s layout and assets, integrate payment gateways, and set up product listings. 

4. Monitoring and controlling

The monitoring and controlling stage is all about tracking the project’s progress based on the goals the team set during the project planning stage. This stage occurs concurrently with the execution stage. 

An effective project management strategy should track the following factors:

• Progress: How many tasks have been completed?
• Time: Are you completing tasks according to your schedule?
• Cost: Are you spending according to your budget?
• Quality: Does the quality of deliverables meet stakeholder expectations?

If the project isn’t moving according to plan, identify the causes and adapt your strategy accordingly. 

Shortcut Tip: Your project management software will typically come with built-in monitoring tools. The Shortcut reports feature creates graphical representations for data like tasks completed, tasks created, and time spent per task. 

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Example:

While building an eCommerce website, the project team might monitor relevant website quality metrics, such as responsiveness, load speed, and site health. This is on top of measuring basic project progress.

5. Closing 

Once the team has completed all tasks, it’s time to hand the deliverables over to stakeholders. Typically, your stakeholders will formalize the end of the project through approvals and contract closures. 

The closing stage also involves reviewing the entire project management process and evaluating your overall success. Documenting any project learnings will help you improve workflows for future endeavors.  

Example:

The closing stage of a website-building project might involve launching the website to the public. The team might spend the next few months evaluating the website’s performance through metrics like page views, bounce rates, and conversions. 

The project manager might then ask the team to review the entire project management process. Feedback might include ways to make the process more efficient, tools that were useful (or otherwise), and adjustments to schedules and expectations. 

Project management methodologies

A project management methodology is a set of techniques or principles that guide your approach to project completion. Methodologies help ensure that your team is on the same page about how to tackle a project. 

While methodologies are typically distinct in their core tools and goals, they can be used in tandem to support a project. 

Below are a few examples of project management methodologies.

Waterfall

The waterfall methodology centers on completing tasks in a strict, linear progression. It is a predictive methodology — it emphasizes detailed planning and clearly defined expectations. 

Like a waterfall, the workflows are down in sequential order. The team must complete each project phase before moving on to the next.

The waterfall methodology is best for projects with predictable outcomes. If you are confident in your estimate of scope, budget, and time and anticipate a few unexpected events to affect your project, adopting the waterfall methodology is an effective way to ensure that your project is perfected at each stage of the process.

However, the waterfall methodology is ill-suited for dynamic projects. Its emphasis on completing phases in sequential order makes it difficult to backtrack or correct mistakes in planning.

Example: If you were building an eCommerce website using the waterfall methodology, you would start by creating a detailed plan for all features you want your website to include at launch. Your plan might account for things like SEO, design and branding, customer support chats, and payment acceptance. Only when you have finalized your exact project plan will you begin executing related tasks. 

Agile

The agile methodology was developed in response to the waterfall methodology’s limitations in dynamic environments. While waterfall aims to create the most complete possible product after a single, well-defined process, agile aims to create a minimum viable product within short sprints, then add corrections and improvements through multiple feedback cycles.

Agile’s adaptability makes it suitable for projects with loosely defined requirements or changing customer expectations. Having regular communication with stakeholders through feedback cycles ensures that you’re always on the same page about what the project needs. 

However, agile prioritizes responding to problems and feedback over planning and documentation. This might put your team at a disadvantage when handing projects over. The lack of clearly defined instructions can make it difficult for new team members to take on existing project tasks. 

Example: If you were building an eCommerce website using the agile methodology, you would first try to identify the minimum requirements for a functional eCommerce website. This could include having a domain, a layout, basic product descriptions, and secure payment gateways. 

Once the minimum viable product is complete, you can collaborate with your team and stakeholders to determine what the website needs next. Because plans are typically loosely defined, you can improve features according to feedback as you move through iterations. For example, the website’s branding might change repeatedly as the team tests new designs. 

Scrum

The Scrum framework is a collection of prescriptive pillars, roles, and activities designed to promote adaptability. As another subset of Agile, it centers on completing incremental work within short cycles called sprints. 

The Scrum hierarchy consists of a product owner, a Scrum master, and a Scrum team. The product owner defines the project goals for the Scrum master, who leads the Scrum team through the project’s execution. The Scrum master also leads Daily Scrums, which are 15-minute daily discussions on project progress and problems. 

A core part of the Scrum framework is Scrum artifacts, which help Scrum teams track progress. These are:

• Product Backlog: A list of work items required for the project’s completion, sorted by priority.
• Sprint Backlog: A list of work items that need to be completed within a sprint. 
• Product Increment: The list of all completed work items.
• Burndown Chart: A graph comparing work completed against time remaining. 

Example: The product backlog of an eCommerce website project might consist of designing a layout, taking product images, writing product descriptions, and auditing SEO. If the Scrum master prioritizes designing the website layout and creating product descriptions for the incoming sprint, they will add those items to the sprint backlog. 

Once those tasks are completed, the team will add them to the product increment. The team will then meet to select which tasks to prioritize for the next sprint. 

Kanban

Kanban is a subtype of agile that uses customizable boards (called Kanban boards) to visualize progress. Kanban boards consist of cards that represent work items and columns that indicate each work item’s level of completion. The system makes it easy for team members to see which tasks have been completed and which tasks still require work. 

The number of columns will vary depending on your project’s needs. However, the average Kanban board will typically contain the following three columns:

• Future tasks
• Works in progress (WIPs)
• Completed tasks

A core principle of Kanban methodology is limiting the number of WIPs the team works on at a time. These limitations ensure that the team allocates their energy to perfecting individual work items rather than dividing their attention across multiple tasks. 

Example: 

A Kanban board for an eCommerce website project might include tasks like creating assets, designing the website structure, writing product descriptions, and finding a good payment acceptance tool. 

Lean

The lean project management methodology, also known as lean production, aims to maximize quality while minimizing waste and cost. The five key principles of lean production are:

• Define Value: Using lean production involves analyzing your stakeholders’ needs in depth to identify what they need or value most. Narrowing down their exact needs helps you avoid adding unnecessary project features, thereby reducing waste and spending. 
• Map Value Stream: The value stream refers to all the steps involved in creating value for your stakeholders. Effective lean production identifies areas in the value stream where value can be added and waste reduced. 
• Create Flow: Flow is the movement of your project along the value stream. Lean production aims to keep the project flow efficient by making accurate budget, resource, and obstacle forecasts. 
• Establish a Pull System: Rather than using a push system, which involves starting work before you’re certain demand exists, lean production uses a push system, which means work only starts once there is demand. This means every resource you allocate for a project has a guaranteed return. 
• Pursue Perfection: Following the steps above while continuously keeping your eyes peeled for areas in your workflow that require improvement will help you consistently deliver projects at the highest quality possible. 

Lean production is great for repeat projects where the variables are mostly known. Because its success hinges on accurate forecasting of expectations, risks, and demand, it’s not a great fit for projects where requirements are less defined. 

Example: 

Lean production would have your website-building team first identify which parts of the eCommerce website provide the most value. This is similar to creating a minimum viable product in agile. The basic goal of an eCommerce website is to sell, so you would need a website, a user-friendly design, a secure payment gateway, and shipping methods. 

The next step is determining the most cost-effective way to create value-adding tasks. This might mean using free website builders like Wix or WordPress and then using pre-made online store layouts. 

The Shortcut Way

Shortcut’s project management software is built on The Shortcut Way, a new project management methodology centered around linking objectives directly to project tasks. By understanding which task directly contributes to which goal, Shortcut gives you a clear picture of your success.

The Shortcut Way also encourages concurrent planning and building. This principle allows teams to test their ideas as they conceive them, reducing time wasted drafting unviable plans. 

Example: 

When building an eCommerce website using The Shortcut Way, you first need to identify your company’s objectives. If the primary objective is to build brand awareness, you can narrow it down to more specific goals, such as attracting a specific number of visitors, ranking for a target keyword, or launching your website by a target date. 

You would then identify which tasks were necessary for achieving each goal. 

How to choose the best project management methodology for your team

All project management methodologies were created with different goals: waterfall for preparedness, agile for adaptability, and lean for cost-efficiency. It’s important that the methodology you choose complements your situation and objectives. To select a project management methodology, take note of the following factors:

1. Stakeholder expectations: How clearly defined are your stakeholders’ project objectives? If they already have a specific output in mind, it might be best to follow their plan to a T through the waterfall approach. However, if stakeholders are flexible in their output expectations, consistent collaboration through an Agile framework might be a better approach. 
2. Stakeholder engagement: How involved are your stakeholders? Stakeholders who maintain regular contact and prefer hands-on approaches may benefit from the constant feedback cycle of Agile methodologies. 
3. Familiarity: Has your team executed a similar project before? Documentation from previous projects might help you anticipate problems before they arise. With an existing proof of concept, it may not be necessary to rely on feedback-heavy methodologies like Agile. 
4. Resources: How easily can you acquire the necessary resources? Lean production is the best methodology for cost-efficiency. However, if resources are readily available, and you have a clear understanding of how to allocate them, the waterfall approach would be a good fit. 
5. Scope: How many work items must be completed before the project closes? Kanban might help you visualize workflow for smaller projects, but larger projects might leave your boards cluttered. Meanwhile, Scrum’s backlog system gives your progress a similar level of visibility with fewer visual constraints. 
6. Project Duration: How much time do you have to complete the project? Long-term projects may benefit from Agile's flexibility. However, simpler projects with shorter timeframes may benefit from the exactness of the waterfall approach. 

Best practices in project management

To maximize your project’s success, take the following things into consideration: 

1. Heed the quality triangle 

Good project management is about balancing three main constraints: scope, cost, and time. 

• Scope refers to the specific tasks a team needs to complete to achieve a project’s goals.
• Cost refers to the amount of money a team needs to allocate to necessary resources, including labor, equipment, operating costs, and contingencies. 
• Time refers to the amount of time a team is allotted to complete a project. 

All three variables link together to create quality. When you adjust one variable, another must follow to keep all sides of the triangle linked. Here are a few examples.

• Scope: Increasing a project’s scope means either spending more on resources and labor or giving your existing team more time to complete their work.
• Cost: Decreasing a product’s cost means extending deadlines to give your team more time to complete their work or aiming for smaller goals to keep the workload lighter. 
• Time: If you want to finish a project within a tight deadline, be prepared to perform intensive labor or spend more to create a bigger team.

When planning, learn to work with constraints. Don’t over-prioritize one variable if you’re not prepared to account for the others.

2. Create a risk response plan 

Never assume that everything will go according to plan. Unexpected events, such as technical failures, operational changes, scope creep, and changes in stakeholder expectations, have the potential to derail your project. 

You can safeguard your project by identifying potential risks at the project planning stage. If you’ve completed similar projects before, refer to old documentation for data on the challenges previous teams encountered and how they navigated them. If you’re tackling a new type of project, research problems other teams have faced. 

3. Document everything

Building on the above point on risk management, proper documentation helps future teams achieve success more consistently. Historical data gives teams a clearer picture of the challenges they need to prepare for and the processes that have worked in the past. 

4. Keep communication organized

Project management is a highly collaborative process. When communication is disorganized, it can be easy to lose track of who said what and where. Stay on top of the information your team passes around:

• Taking meeting minutes and transferring important notes to easy-to-locate documents
• Recording video conferences
• Creating folders for emails 
• Use communication tools with organization features, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams

5. Make people your priority

The success of your project hinges on not just your team’s level of skill but also their level of engagement. Processes, tools, and techniques are secondary to nurturing a team that is motivated enough to execute projects at the highest possible quality. 

Meet with team members regularly to discuss their needs and concerns. Ensure that the tools and methodologies you implement effectively complement their work styles. For example, a visually oriented team might benefit from the clarity Kanban boards offer. Having a clear picture of their progress reduces stress, helping them stay motivated and work more efficiently. 

6. Maintain project-wide transparency

Make progress visible across the entire team. Full transparency allows everyone to identify or solve problems. It also shows the team that you trust them outside their defined roles. 

Transparency also means providing the rationale behind executive decision-making. When no one is left in the dark, faith in your leadership increases. 

Key project management tools

Project management involves tracking multiple moving parts, including tasks, schedules, files, documentation, and reports. Using one or more of the following tools can help you stay organized and streamline workflows.  

Project management software

Project management software keeps all information related to a project under one centralized location. Most project management software lets you create tasks and objectives, delegate tasks, manage due dates, link related files, and visualize progress.

Effective project management software offers integrations with other software involved in project management. Shortcut, a project management software built around The Shortcut Way, integrates with communication tools like Slack, planning tools like Notion, and time-tracking tools like Clockify, among others. View the complete list of Shortcut integrations to learn more. 

Calendars

Calendars help the project management process by providing a visual representation of your work schedule. Modern calendar tools automatically notify you of impending events or deadlines. Some also integrate with other apps and display links to tasks (such as video conferences) directly under event details, sparing you from the manual load of having to locate links yourself. 

Connecting your Calendar to your project management software can streamline your workflow. Shortcut’s Google Calendar integration, for example, automatically transfers due dates from Shortcut to Google Calendar. 

Communication Tools

Whether your team meets in person or collaborates remotely, having a communication tool helps keep everyone on the same page. Communication tools vary from messaging platforms that let you send information in real-time to video conferencing tools that help facilitate remote meetings. 

Integrating your communication tools with your project management software helps you move more seamlessly between workflows. Shortcut’s Slack integration lets you create user stories directly through Slack. It also gives you real-time notifications on project updates. 

Cloud Storage 

Project teams work faster when there is a centralized repository for all relevant files, including deliverables, resources, and documentation. Cloud storage apps make your files easy to organize, locate, and update. You can share access to cloud storage and customize permissions to keep all files secure. 

It’s easier to move between cloud storage and project management when your tools are integrated. Shortcut offers integrations for both Dropbox and Google Drive, which let you attach files from the cloud directly to your Shortcut projects. 

The bottom line

Projects are the building blocks of organizational outputs. They drive organizations forward by giving them a framework for meeting their objectives.

An improperly managed project can set teams back. Poorly managed projects can cost resources, create team burnout, delay progress, threaten relationships with stakeholders, and diminish an organization’s credibility. Having effective project management in place provides guidance for completing a project within a designated scope, budget, and timeframe. 

Methodologies like waterfall, agile, kanban, Lean, and The Shortcut Way provide principles that can guide you through the different project management stages. You can also support the process with digital tools, such as project management software, calendars, communication tools, and cloud storage. 

If you want to execute successful projects consistently, be sure to implement effective project management. Find a methodology that suits your project, then apply best practices to ensure streamlined processes and quality outputs. 

A good project management software can help give greater clarity to your workflow. Shortcut gives you many useful project management tools, including Kanban boards, roadmaps, tailored reports, and third-party integrations. View our pricing page to learn more!  

Frequently asked questions 

What is the main purpose of project management?

The main purpose of project management is to keep workflow organized. It guides teams into meeting stakeholder objectives within the constraints of scope, time, and cost. 

Why is project management important?

Project management gives your workflow a clearer structure. By moving through five distinct steps (initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing), project management ensures that your team has a clear direction and an outline for avoiding mistakes and achieving objectives. The structure helps teams assure quality, avoid mistakes, and mitigate risks. 

What is the difference between project management and product management?

Product management centers on ideating, planning, building, and launching a specific product or service. It follows a product through its entire life cycle. Meanwhile, project management focuses on executing projects, which typically have shorter time frames. 

Managing the life cycle of a new piece of software would fall under product management while launching a marketing campaign to promote the software would fall under project management. 

What is a project manager?

A project manager oversees all aspects of a project to ensure its completion within a designated time frame and budget. The project manager is typically responsible for drafting project plans, assembling teams, delegating tasks, and facilitating communication between all involved parties.