What you need to understand about Project Scope Management?

Project Scope Management might sound like a complicated and technical process, but once you understand what it is and how it’s done you will realise that it can be easily reciprocated in everyday life. It involves listing down the work that needs to be done to deliver a product, service or result with specified features and functions.

In simple words, in order to complete any task or objective, this is the first thing that you’ll have to do by including some or more things listed below:

-Project goals

-Deliverable

-Features

-Functions

-Tasks

-Deadlines

-Costs

But why do that and not just go with the flow?

Imagine a cricket field with no boundaries, how will you determine when a batsman hits a six or four? You wouldn’t be able to determine it. The situation is quite like project scope management as well, you must set boundaries, in this case a project scope to create a plan so that project:

-Does not miss the deadline

-Does not overrun the budget

-Does not FAIL

-Avoid any unnecessary risks

Also, project scope management can help:

-Support you to understand what you want to deliver

-Help you make decisions during the life of the project

-Provide a reference point on any decision making

-Help standardise and make the process easier

You might be convinced on its importance by now, so let’s move on to the part where we talk about how it is done.

Step One: Planning

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” ― Abraham Lincoln

men in black plan GIF by Men In Black: International

As the name suggests, you will be capturing and defining the work that needs to be done. You will have to start by having a scope statement i.e., that includes the major deliverables of a project with key milestones, requirements, assumptions and constraints.

The scope statement helps in creating something known as “Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)”. With WBS, you can manage a various project deliverable into manageable sections/hierarchy of tasks.

Source: https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/how-to-create-a-work-breakdown-structure-and-why-you-should

This image will give you an idea of what a WBS will look like when you try and create one for your project.

Step Two: Controlling

chair line GIF

Source: https://media.giphy.com/media/GeFj5l3t6lKAU/giphy.gif

As your project comes along, you would want to keep track of all the activities in terms of the schedule. So potentially you should have a timeline for all the tasks that will be beneficial while closely monitoring and controlling project changes.

Step Three: Closing

So, a project is complete, but did it meet the requirements or not? You should have created a few metrics to measure if there’s any gap between your expectations and results of the project.  You’ll be conducting an audit and assessing the outcome based on that.

Project Scope helps in forming a basis of every decision for a project manager. Having a clear scope and delivering the project without any major overruns is success to any project. If you’re thinking about studying project management, you can check our Certificate IV and Diploma course.

Project Management As A Future Career Choice

When seeking a career that will be both rewarding and satisfying, often the main concern is whether or not there are jobs available for the occupation of choice.  While some jobs will provide financial remuneration, they may not provide the satisfaction that people seek.  Project Management skills are transferable, which means that they can be utilised in a variety of industries, from event management to building construction.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) research “Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017–2027” indicates that the demand for Project Managers is growing faster than a demand for workers in other occupations.  This talent gap represents a risk to organisations in general, due to project managers being important contributors to productivity of the organisation as a whole.

Students who are qualified in project management are always in demand.  The future outlook up to 2027 from this report shows that in order to support business development, qualified project managers will be needed to plan and provision the work required.

As a career, Project Management can be both complex and rewarding.  On a day-to-day basis, the job involves planning, organising, securing, controlling, leading, and managing resources and tasks to achieve specific business goals.

In addition, a project manager will also address issues such as how the work will be completed, the process of reporting, skill sets that are required for the project, the assigned budget, the time frame and schedule for the project and all its tasks and managing the team and organisation culture.

The practice of juggling multiple schedules, projects and tasks can be very complex, confusing and difficult and is a big part of the Project Manager’s skill set.  Taking the correct training and experience will help prospective Project Managers to learn the skills required to handle such challenges.

As the demand continues to grow, the PMI expects that there will be around 22 million new job openings available to Project Managers for the next ten years. In addition, the salary offered to Project Managers can be highly competitive, with the national average entry-level project manager salary at around $88,235 per year. (as at 31 Oct. 18)

With all that in mind, Project Management is a career that is worth considering.

How To Become A Qualified Project Manager

Take an accredited course to achieve a Certificate or Diploma

Search for a mentor-ship, internship or volunteer position to gain valuable skills within a professional environment

Manage projects of your own design, to gain experience

Example Job Roles for Qualified Project Managers

Project Officer

Project Manager

Scrum Master

Project Leader

Head of Planning

Head of Project Management

Project Facilitator

Planner

Operations Manager

Project Management Supervisor

Project Strategist

Resource Manager


References:

https://www.min.team/blog/what-do-you-go-by-job-titles-in-project-management

PMI (2017). Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017–2027.

Tips on Choosing Project Management Courses

A Project Management course can open many doors for your career. While the role of a project manager is especially essential in the fields of engineering and information technology, there are other areas where their expertise will be needed. These include working as contract officers and quality officers. Those looking to start their own business will also have the necessary skills to run it with speed and efficiency, particularly in industries where timelines are narrow and resources are limited.

If you haven’t taken this course yet, then you may start with the Certificate IV in Project Management Practice. Once completed, you may choose to pursue a Diploma of Project Management, a Diploma of Business, or a Diploma of Leadership and Management.

Here are a number of things to consider when looking for schools.

Your Choice of School Matters

One thing you need to know when choosing project management courses is that while schools follow standards when teaching the course, their approach and dedication to your education will vary considerably. It would help for you to check out reviews of the school, and get the opinion of former and current students to get a clearer picture of what it’s like to study there. In addition, review the school’s course description and content to ensure you know what you’ll learn.

You also need to consider the development that they offer outside the classroom. Ideally, there has to be a balance between classroom instruction and real-world experience. That is the reason why there are schools that offer immersion trips relevant to the course being taught in order to show students what they might expect once they go to work in their new role.

If you’re a foreign student, it’s also worth looking into schools that cater to non-Australians. This is critical because having a welcoming environment inside and outside your classroom will help you transition a lot faster. That also means that there’s a good chance you’ll be working with other foreign students, thus expanding your knowledge further as you will be exposed to a wide range of cultures and approaches to project management and other subjects. Please be aware that there may be special requirements for foreign students in order to be able to take the course.

Location is also Important

We mentioned earlier the importance of having a holistic education. This is where the location of the school also matters. KCBT is a convenient choice for students who rely on public transport, or live and work close to the CBD. We are located in the free transit zone, on Wellington Street, with a yellow cat bus stop right outside the front door. Full time students are eligible for a discounted StudentSmartRider card – please visit reception for application forms or visit http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/smartrider/types-of-smartrider/student-smartrider.

The Important Role of a Project Manager in Organisations

Are you naturally a good leader? Do you know how to lead and motivate others? If that’s the case, becoming a project manager maybe the right career path for you. Read this article and find out what you need to be a project manager and its importance in the business world.

Why is it important for organisations to have a project manager?

Businesses rely increasingly on project managers. Entrepreneurs and other company executives deal with daily responsibilities of managing an organisation, making it important to use a dedicated and well-trained project manager to oversee projects from conceptualisation to completion.

Understanding effective project management techniques helps the organisations carry out large-scale projects on a specific timeline, exact budget, and with a minimal interference to the rest of the business.

The project management role encompasses the full range of project management methodologies supporting a wide range of external and internal clients. A project manager will have full and direct responsibility and accountability for the entire project delivery life cycle while working on other projects at the same time.

Many business projects involve large-scale planning that affects every aspect of its operations. Thus, a project manager will need a high standard of learning and skills towards managing a client relationship and gathering requirements, as well as setting client’s expectations.

The Effective Project Manager

The project manager plays a vital role in a business, a combination of educational attainment and training skills, including the ability to detect unstated assumptions and general management skills. The key factor of an effective project manager is to be responsible for developing a positive initiation of planning and execution for a specific project.

A dedicated and highly motivated individual who works autonomously and be flexible and responsive to a client’s unique need will do well in this role.

Education will also play an integral role in choosing an effective project manager. The ideal candidate must have taken project management courses or have a diploma of project management.

Why hire a project manager?

A project manager can definitely make or break every business organisation, so it is very important to hire a competent one with a good educational background and commendable credentials. Selecting and assigning a well-qualified project manager is the best course of action for achieving success. Remember, hiring a project manager is not an overhead expense, but rather, it can actually help to reduce the project cost.

What do I need to do to become a project manager?

In order to become a project manager, you must obtain at least a bachelor’s degree in business management or have taken project management courses. You can also get a bachelor’s degree in specific business courses such as marketing, engineering or computer science, depending on what type of project manager you want to become.

Some colleges and universities similar to this school, offer project management course and organisational management programs for which you can sign up, giving you a distinct advantage should you choose to apply for a project management position.

Project management certificate programs are also available online in which the credits are received with a certificate that could be useful for graduate level project management, depending on the school and the program itself.