In this blog, we are going to talk about – What is Project and Project Mindset? And will cover a really solid technique on How to Visualize Multiple Projects together. So, Stay Tuned.
Let’s see What is Project?
No. 1 – The Project is nothing but a set of activities that are done in a direction to achieve a certain goal or mission. Here, the Goal is very important, and all the activities will be done keeping that one Goal in mind
No. 2 – Project is a Temporary endeavor, because it will start at one point and will end at one point. Remember Project is done keeping that 1 Goal in mind, once the goal is achieved that project is ended. We can always begin the next project, keeping an extended Goal in mind and forming new set of activities to be done, which will have new starting point and a new ending point.
No. 3 – Every Project is Unique, It is Unique by its own characteristic such as Big Budget or Small Budget, Simple or Complex, Long Term or Short Term. and
No. 4 – Project is executed under Boundaries. Boundaries such as period which is start date and end date, under limited set of resources, and under limited set of activities to be performed.
These 4 Pointers are key takeaways to think about the project as a unique entity. Now Let’s see what Project Mindset is all about
Do you see something familiar here, our life is also filled with such small or big projects, they can be personal Projects, Family Projects, a Daily Regime such as doing some health exercise, or a Travel Plan for a Road Trip. Also, project at work, these are professional projects, customer projects, Long term or short term assignments.
Each activity that we do is in some or the other way is part of the project that we undertake.
Well, this is how we need to think and carry a project mindset, if we do this then there will be no confusion about how much involvement is required in order to manage the project, also it will be very easy to identify the difference between projects and avoid mixing up things within each other.
Having Project Mindset will also help to achieve a right balance between Life and Work.
Next, let’s see what are the parameters which makes the project unique and also these are the boundaries to be controlled.
For a project, there are 3 important parameters, 1. Scope, 2. Time, and 3. Cost. We also call it as STC, i.e. Scope, Time and Cost.
Here,
Scope is Nothing but a Set of Activities that are performed as part of the project, remember each activity is directed towards the goal of the project
Next is Time-
Time is also called as Duration or Schedule. It is the time required to complete the project. remember project is a temporary endeavor, so it will be a very specific duration.
Next is Cost,
Cost is the Budget. A monetary value for managing the project end to end.
I hope you are learning something very important today, Now, let’s see how to visualize a project.
Let’s imagine the project in a form of a triangle, This concept is taken from Project Management institute (PMI) – Project Management Professional (PMP) Course
This triangle is an inverted equilateral triangle, where top is the one flat side of the triangle and bottom is the one angle of the triangle. Each side of triangle is represented with each parameter of project i.e., STC – Scope Time and Cost.
The Top flat side is named as Time with a start date and end date of project. The left side of triangle is the scope – which is the set of activitie sand the right side of the triangle is the Cost.
So like this way, we plot a triangle depicting the parameters for each project that we are undertake in life or at work.
Now Let’s take an example of Project, for Building an App for Fitness Tracking and try to put some real values to these parameters.
The Top flat side is named as Time or Duration – it is 6 months having a start date and end date as 1st Jan 2021 to 30th June 2021
The left side of triangle is the scope – which is the set of activities such as Research, Create Design, Build App and Deploy App
and on the right side of the triangle is the Cost – Estimating the project to complete within $20,000
So, isn’t this easy, Let’s do a small level up here and Visual Multiple Projects in a form of a dashboard. Remember, this is the simplest and easiest way to have a complete view of all projects that you are doing right now.
Now, its time for some action, yes that is right, You can prepare a dashboard of yourself, Draw the triangles for the projects you are doing in Work and Life, name them with right titles. This exercise will really bring a full clarity of the projects that you are part of and what are the parametric values under which the project needs to manage. Isn’t this exciting to have such clarity. I am sure you will be amazed by doing this exercise.
To create your own Projects Dashboard, Make a list of at least 10 Projects, Represent each one of them in a form of a triangle, Draw 10 project triangles in a piece of a paper or on your computer. And So there you go – Your dashboard is ready.
So now you get started with this activity and I will meet you in the next episode, I hope you must have enjoyed this episode. As you all know, My mission is to help professionals to become a project manager and for that having a project mindset is so important.
I will be covering more such topics on Project Management in my next blogs,
This content is also available on other Social Media Platforms – YouTube, Facebook, Spotify, Telegram and LinkedIn.
Thank you all. That’s all for this blog, Have a Great day, Bye Bye.
To create your own Projects Dashboard, Make a list of at least 10 Projects, Represent each one of them in a form of a triangle, Draw 10 project triangles in a piece of a paper or on your computer. And So there you go – Your dashboard is ready.
So now you get started with this activity and I will meet you in the next episode, I hope you must have enjoyed this episode. As you all know, My mission is to help professionals to become a project manager and for that having a project mindset is so important.
I will be covering more such topics on Project Management in my next blogs,
This content is also available on other Social Media Platforms – YouTube, Facebook, Spotify, Telegram and LinkedIn.
Thank you all. That’s all for this blog, Have a Great day, Bye Bye.
