Project Management is a discipline that has received a relatively sudden rise in visibility and popularity over the past few decades. Organizations like the PMI (Project Management Institute) have developed based on the need to create formal training and certification for the discipline, and companies all over the world are reaping the benefits of efficiency and predictability.

Formal project management organizations typically define a project as any endeavor that has a start and an end, and generates some measurable result or deliverable. This definition distinguishes it from operational management, which addresses similar issues but is related to repeated sequences of events (which do not have a start or stop).

The basic approach to formal project management starts with defining the project. This includes: outlining the goals; identifying the people who will participate in the work to generate output (known as team members); identifying the people who have a vested interest in the success of the project; the ways in which the project’s success will be evaluated; the scope of work involved; schedule expectations or targets; and so forth. Risks to the project schedule, cost, and scope are assessed and strategies are selected for addressing them.

After the ground rules have been worked out, a more detailed planning phase is used to flush out the project structure in more detail. A “work breakdown structure” (essentially a collected list of tasks or defined lower-level deliverables) is created. Dependencies between the tasks are defined, especially with regard to timing. Resource requirements for each task are assessed. Budgets for resources, time, and cost are balanced and negotiated with a team, and finally a plan is “blessed” by the group.

Once a detailed plan is in place, a project manager’s role is focused on maintaining momentum by tracking progress and by facilitating copious amounts of communication between various team members, and by reporting on progress to the stakeholders.

Interestingly, formal project management techniques and systems reportedly trace their modern history to the infamous Manhattan Project, the project initiated in the early 1940’s by the US government to develop atomic weapons. Now, half a century later, the same techniques, tools, strategies and systems are being applied to everything from software development to political campaigns and restaurant franchise expansions.