What is a project?

A project is a temporary endeavor, having a defined beginning and end (usually constrained by date, but can be by funding or deliverables), undertaken to meet particular goals and objectives, usually to bring about beneficial change or added value.

What is project management?

Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.

Fundamentals of project management?

1. Steps?
   1. Planning
   2. Execution
   3. Delivery
   4. Sign Off
2. Planning?
   1. What is the scope of the project?
   2. What resources are available? i.e. time, money, team, know how etc
   3. What end product should look like?
   4. What are the standards against which the end product will be evaluated?
   5. What unforeseen incidents can adversely affect:
      1. timely completion of the project?
      2. cost of the project?
      3. scope of the project?
3. Some key points
   1. Divide whole project into smaller milestones
   2. Efficient delegation is the key to success
   3. Its not always possible that you have all the skills available in your own team - hire required skills from outside
   4. Maintenance costs are mostly ignored when preparing the cost estimates - keep these into account.
   5. More than 90% of the projects never get finished on time and mostly all projects cost more than the initially planned estimates. Reasons vary from incomplete/bad cost estimates to currency conversion rates and some natural calamities to government policy change.
   6. No project management application can replace the project manager; but can definitely help them manage the project more efficiently, especially in delegating tasks and controlling the costs.

Tools Which Can Help?

• Gantt Charts and PERT [Program Evaluation and Review Technique]
• Project Management Applications; make sure the chosen application meets your requirements - different projects require different Project Management Applications ; some are too vast and some are not so elaborate to help you manage large projects.
• Best project management tool is the one which you are comfortable with - you need not start using a new project management tool just because that's the latest one in market or has lots of features which you don't need at all.