UNIT 5. MANAGING PROJECTS

 

STARTING POINT

Task 1▐ Discuss the questions.

·     What is a project?

·     What can be considered as project management skills?

·     When facing challenges in project management, what would you do?

 

READING

Task 2▐ Read the article abstract about the essential project management skills and define those you are good at.

 

10 Essential Project Management Skills

By Dana Miranda and Adam Hardy, Forbes

 

Some people naturally possess project management skills. You know who you are. The innate ability to keep things in order and keep people on task is valuable in a team environment, and you can actually make a living out of it. To formally turn those strengths into a career as a project manager, identify and hone these 10 essential project management skills.

What Are Project Management Skills?

You need a variety of both hard and soft skills to be a successful project manager.

The soft skills are those you can develop through any education or work experience, and they help you shape the right temperament for project management. The hard skills are those you need to learn specifically for this role, and you can learn them through formal project management training or on the job as a project manager.

You’ll also need to learn common project management techniques and tools, which you can pick up through training or work experience. The exact techniques and tools you need depend on preferences in your industry, company and team, and you have a wide variety to choose from.

Hard Skills for Project Management

Aside from learning specific project management methods and tools, these are the hard skills you can gain from formal training or on-the-job experience in project management.

1. Risk Management

The process of making conscious decisions to maximize the upsides and minimize the downsides of actions in your business is known as risk management.

As a project manager, you have to be aware of a project’s potential for profit or loss and the decisions that could lead to either.

2. Cost Management

You’ll either receive a budget for a project or be tasked with presenting a cost estimate for decision makers to approve. It’s your job throughout the project to stay aware of the costs and keep the project from going over budget.

Cost in project management is one part of what’s called the “triple constraint” or the “project management triangle”- the three boundaries of cost, time and scope that define the project.

Managing cost includes balancing that constraint with the other two. You have to stay within budget while keeping the timeline on track and fulfilling but not exceeding the scope.

3. Reading and Writing

Reading comprehension and clear writing are vital skills for project managers. Strong reading and writing skills are important for just about any job, and they play a particularly prominent role in project management.

You may be tasked with reading and interpreting technical documents or legal jargon with which you have no subject matter expertise. Then you need to turn that information into briefs everyone involved with the project can follow.

4. Planning and Forecasting

One of the key roles of the project manager is creating a roadmap for the project that’ll guide all other stakeholders in their roles. Understand that different scenarios will require different project management methodologies, and you should know how to determine which is the best option for each situation.

Forecasting involves providing a prediction of project outcomes. You have to be comfortable with data analysis so you can interpret how past projects have performed and use the information to inform the future of the current project.

Soft Skills for Project Management

You can’t learn specific processes or practices for these project management skills, but these innate strengths are important to your success in a project management role.

5. Leadership

Though you don’t spearhead projects yourself in this role, your entire job is guiding others through a project. That requires management and leadership skills to feel comfortable doing things like facilitating meetings, holding participants accountable and enforcing constraints.

6. Communication

Hand in hand with leadership is strong communication. You’re the point of contact for parties in a project who may have no other contact with each other, and you have to facilitate cohesive teamwork within that environment.

You should feel confident interpreting the needs of one group or department and explaining them to another.

7. Time Management

In addition to learning hard skills for planning, forecasting and scheduling projects, you should possess or develop a personal strength for time management.

This is a soft skill you can learn, but project management is probably best suited for those who have a natural tendency toward organization and order.

8. Patience

Being at the center of multiple teams attempting to work together toward a common goal can be rewarding – and it can be frustrating.

You’re in charge of managing disparate expectations and objectives, all while mediating conflict,communicating needs and helping everyone around you work within the constraints you’re given for a project. All of these require serious patience.

9. Adaptability

Tools and strategies for project management are constantly evolving toward better efficiency, teamwork and communication. You should enjoy and excel at learning new programs and methods quickly and encouraging others to get on board.

A measure of tech-savviness is important because much of your role is understanding and properly using project management software, as well as other tools for things such as analytics, document creation and sharing and communication.

10. Critical Thinking

Key for any management role, critical thinking will come into play daily in project management. You have to be able to make quick decisions within a set of constraints, foreseeing the potential implications for the future of a project.

Critical thinking in project management supports your ability to analyze the data and information you’re given to make decisions in the planning stage then carry that knowledge throughout the project as conditions change.

 

Task 3▐ Define true, false and not-given statements.

1. Everyone can naturally possess project management skills.

2. To become a project manager, you don't need to identify and hone essential project management skills.

3. A successful project manager requires a mix of hard and soft skills.

4. Soft skills are not important for project management.

5. Hard skills can only be learned through formal project management training.

6. Project management techniques and tools can be acquired through training or work experience.

7. There is only one technique and tool needed for project management.

8. Hard skills can only be gained through formal training.

9. Forecasting does not involve predicting project outcomes.

10. Critical thinking is not important in project management.

 

VOCABULARY

Task 4▐ Match each project management term with its correct definition.

Terms:

1.   project management skills

2.   soft skills

3.   project management techniques and tools

4.   timeline

5.   life cycle

6.   critical thinking

7.   hard skills

8.   kickoff meeting

9.   conception

10.            milestone

11.            corrective action

12.            green light

 

Definitions:

a.   The start of a project where the initial idea and objectives are formed.

b.   The set of skills including technical knowledge and abilities required for specific tasks.

c.   An event or point in the project timeline that marks significant progress.

d.   A meeting held at the beginning of a project to establish roles, objectives, and plans.

e.   The ability to analyze situations and solve problems effectively.

f.    Tools, methodologies, and techniques used to plan, execute, and monitor projects.

g.   The overall duration and schedule of a project from start to finish.

h.   The process of ensuring that a project remains on schedule.

i.     Approval to proceed with a project or a phase of a project.

j.     Actions taken to correct or mitigate issues to keep a project on track.

k.   Personal attributes that enable effective interpersonal interactions and team collaboration.

l.     The series of stages a project goes through from initiation to completion.

 

Task 5 ▐ Match each sentence on the left (Column A) with its corresponding sentence on the right (Column B) that has a similar meaning.

 

A 1.     Effective project managers can communicate clearly with all stakeholders. 2.     Risk management involves identifying potential problems before they occur. 3.     Strong leadership skills are essential for motivating and guiding a team. 4.     Project managers use various tools to plan and monitor project progress. 5.     Critical thinking helps in making informed decisions and solving complex problems. 6.     A kickoff meeting sets the stage for the entire project by establishing roles and objectives. 7.     Meeting deadlines is crucial to keep the project on track. 8.     A project’s life cycle includes multiple stages from initiation to closure. 9.     Soft skills like empathy and communication are vital for team collaboration. 10. Technical knowledge is necessary to handle specific project tasks effectively.

B a.      Managing risks means anticipating issues and developing strategies to prevent them. b.      Tools like Gantt charts and software are essential for tracking project milestones. c.      Leadership involves inspiring the team and providing direction. d.      Good communication ensures everyone understands their responsibilities and project goals. e.      A project progresses through phases such as planning, execution, and completion. f.       Initial meetings help clarify objectives and team roles. g.      Thinking critically allows project managers to tackle challenges efficiently. h.      Staying on schedule is vital to ensure timely project delivery. i.        Interpersonal skills are crucial for effective teamwork and conflict resolution. b.      Having technical skills is important for executing specific aspects of a project.

 

GRAMMAR USE ▐ Prepositions of place

In business contexts, prepositions of place help to describe locations, positions, and spatial relationships within offices, buildings, and other business-related environments. Here are some key prepositions of place and their typical business uses:

In: Used for enclosed spaces or areas within a building (e.g., in the conference room, in the office, in the headquarters).

On: Used for surfaces or floors within a building (e.g., on the desk, on the first floor, on the agenda).

At: Used for specific points or locations (e.g., at the reception, at the entrance, at the meeting point).

Under: Used for something directly below another object (e.g., under the table, under the desk).

Over: Used for something directly above another object (e.g., over the desk, over the entrance).

Next to/Beside: Used for something immediately adjacent to another object (e.g., next to the office, beside the conference room).

Between: Used for something situated in the middle of two objects or areas (e.g., between the two departments, between the lobby and the cafeteria).

Behind: Used for something at the back of another object (e.g., behind the office building, behind the receptionist’s desk).

In front of: Used for something at the front of another object (e.g., in front of the building, in front of the main office).

Above: Used for something higher but not directly over another object (e.g., above the main office, above the break room).

Below: Used for something lower but not directly under another object (e.g., below the conference room, below the executive office).

 

Task 6▐ Fill in the blanks with the correct prepositions of place: in, on, at, under, over, next to, beside, between, behind, in front of, above, below.

1.   The CEO’s office is ____ the top floor.

2.   The reception desk is located ____ the entrance.

3.   The marketing department is ____ the sales department and the finance department.

4.   The meeting will be held ____ the conference room.

5.   The projector is set up ____ the table for the presentation.

6.   Please leave your business cards ____ the desk.

7.   The printer is located ____ the IT office.

8.   The cafeteria is ____ the first floor, ____ the lobby.

9.   The HR manager’s office is ____ the finance office.

10.            There is a parking lot ____ the office building.

11.            The company’s logo is displayed ____ the main entrance.

12.            The storage room is ____ the break room.

13.            The new intern is sitting ____ the project manager.

14.            The financial reports are ____ the cabinet ____ the desk.

15.            The emergency exit is ____ the end of the hallway, ____ the fire extinguisher.

 

VIDEO   Task 7▐ Watch the introductory video about project management [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DQpQb-R9vXa6e5IyefDeBnhCFuaJVI_h/view?usp=drive_link].

Task 8▐ Fill in the blanks with the correct project management terms mentioned in the video (project, project management, scope, stakeholders, resources, timeline, milestones, risks).

 

1.        The primary objective of _____ (1) is to achieve project goals within given constraints.

2.        Clear definition of the project _____  (2) helps in preventing scope creep.

3.        _____ (3) are critical checkpoints in the project timeline to assess progress.

4.        Effective management of _____ (4) ensures that any potential obstacles are identified and mitigated.

5.        All _____ (5) involved in the project need to be kept informed about the project’s progress.

6.        Allocating sufficient _____ (6) is essential to keep the project on track.

7.        _____ (7) provides a framework for organizing and managing tasks and deadlines.

8.        Each _____ (8) in a project should have a clear start and end date to measure progress.

 

COMMUNICATION PRACTICE                                

Task 9▐ Work in groups and discuss the following situations.

1.   Do your projects always go as planned?

2.   What do you do if a project is behind schedule?

3.   Explain the importance of setting clear project objectives and how they contribute to the overall success of a project.

4.   Describe the role of a project manager in leading a project team and what key responsibilities they have.

5.   Discuss the importance of effective communication in project management and provide examples of how a project manager can ensure clear and effective communication throughout the project.

 

WRITING

Task 10▐ Read some freely available material and write a paragraph about one of the best project management practices.