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Planning A Career With Project Management Skills

All businesses need to Project Manage their procedures. Those considering training or retraining to build a career in this sector will find it a stimulating and exacting profession, and extremely rewarding. People who have good logic skills and a strong sense of order can do very well in this type of work. Other skill-sets that are useful to have are an ability to explain things well to others and good management skills.

...On Time, On Budget

For most companies time and money are critical, yet they don't want to compromise on quality and delivery. When a plan involves different but inter-dependent things happening at different times and in different places, it must be project managed all the way. Project management work today is very highly respected and can command an excellent salary. Why not learn the skills of effective project control and build a worthy career for yourself?

Project Management courses at various different levels can be studied through a number of training institutions. Entry level courses will cover the basics of project preparation, costing, execution and completion. More advanced courses will lead onto human resource management and risk analysis etc.

Language

There is a language within Project Management that trainees need to get to grips with. Training will help you to get inside not only the terms, but also the thought processes that have developed into the recognised techniques and tools. There are a number of schools of thought in project management but you will discover many processes have a lot in common.

An Old And Revered Profession

It sounds like a very modern application, but in fact you could say project management is as old as the pyramids! In the Industrial Revolution, civil engineers such as Thomas Telford and Brunel would have taken responsibility for project managing their own builds. Henry Gantt and Henri Fayol were born in the mid-nineteenth century and are considered to be two of the key forefathers of project management.

Gantt was called the father of planning and control techniques. F W Taylor's great scientific management contribution is still in evidence today, as modern project management tools have their origins in much of his work including WBS (work breakdown structure) and resource allocation.

Let's Bring It Up To Date

It took another four decades or so for Americans to really start to embrace the idea that Project Management was a distinctive discipline arising from management techniques. There was a major challenge facing the US Navy - how to incorporate and integrate a complex system to build the Polaris submarine.

This led to the invention of the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). Other mathematical project- scheduling models were also developed which quickly spread to private enterprises. In 1956 the American Association of Cost Engineers was formed as technology for cost control was developed.

IPMA (International Project Management Association)

European project managers formed an association known as the IPMA towards the end of the sixties. It was an amalgamation of several national Project Management associations, and now boasts worldwide membership. Training from the IMPA comes as a four level program that is designed as an on-going competence development process.

The PMI

Shortly afterwards in 1969 the American 'Project Management Institute' was launched. A project management guide, the 'Project Management Body of Knowledge' from PMI is now on its fourth edition. This process-based guide deals with just about all information and practices in project management. A thorough understanding of the fundamentals covered would make you a subject matter expert. Learning programs can be accessed which teach the elements of the guide in great detail. These prepare students for the most widely recognised Project Management certifications across the globe, the PMP (Project Management Professional) and the CAPM (Certified Associate of Project Management).

PRINCE2:2009

You will discover many training organisations offering various courses in PRINCE2 - a generic project management method that was released in 1996. It offers a structured approach, combining the original PRINCE program with IBM's MITP (managing the implementation of the total project) methodology. It's a process-based approach for project management providing an easily tailored and scalable method. The model ensures that the focus is always on the viability of the project in relation to the overall business objectives. It's very specific, efficient and manageable.

There are a variety of other qualifications and training levels, such as the entry level APM UK Introductory Certificate in Project Management. Look for training that handles both the leadership and personnel skills as well as the mathematical and logistical elements. Draw up a critical path now to work out the optimum career track for you.