Project Management

Project management involves planning, organising, controlling resources, monitoring timelines and activities, reporting and completing a project to achieve a goal that meets identified criteria for judging success. 

All projects, no matter how large or small, are designed to meet a need of some kind. 

The projects you undertake in this course will teach you a great many things about that topic. However, an even more valuable lesson will be what you learn about project management. The skills you learn will be useful for many activities in your life; from planning a holiday, making a large purchase, preparing for important exams or managing a birthday party.

You will need to consider costs, assess and manage risks, make decisions, control quality, evaluate processes, collaborate and communicate.

After the project is completed, you need to consider whether it meets the initial need and is innovative. Also ask what future risks it may face. Is it sustainable? 

Consider how some software needed to adapt to touch-based input methods. Others, including Microsoft Office products, moved to the cloud and added collaborative tools.

Project management involves planning, organising and checking timelines, activities and resources. Each person has different strengths and weaknesses and different personalities. Some of us are happy to let others lead us, while others like to lead. Some may like to lead too much, and others may like to stay in the background too much.

Most technology projects require many people to succeed. They require specialist abilities and knowledge to build them. The projects you complete will help teach you how to work with others to reach a goal. This is never easy!

The Importance of good Communication 

Communication is the most important skill you will learn. Project management involves the skills of collaborating and communicating with others. This can involve verbal, written and graphical (e.g. sketches, storyboards, mind maps) communication among the project team and between the team and uses.

Project team members needs to keep in touch with one another. Collaborative apps such as Google Docs, Forms and Sheets can be used. Many software projects such as video games have been entirely produced without the team members ever meeting in person. Social networking is used to coordinate activities using Facebook, Twitter, blogs and wikis. Most will involve collaboration in a group. Some will be simple and others quite complex.