Editor’s Note: Joshua is Originally US’s Project Manager who comes from both design, cybersecurity and development background. With 4 years of Project Managing experience, Joshua believes in delivering value to clients and establishing long-term partnerships with them.
Operationalising a project is a crucial step to bringing it to life, minimising risks and keeping the project going. However, it is a step that often gets overlooked.
Having a dedicated and conscientious Project Manager ensures high team morale and productivity.
What does a Project Manager do?
Project Management involves identifying and managing risk, careful resource management, and clear communication across different stakeholders and teams.
People management is also an essential part of Project Management. It goes without saying that the Project Manager needs to keep the delivery team motivated with clear, achievable goals and objectives. Beyond that, Project Management also involves ensuring stakeholders are all on the same page so that the initiatives and goals of the project can be strategically aligned. Throughout the whole project, it is essential that all these are addressed throughout the planning, execution and post phases.
Let’s take a closer look at Project Management during the planning phase:
Planning Phase
According to TeamGnatt, 39% of projects fail due to the lack of planning. However, simply having a plan is not enough – rather, the project plan must be well thought through and executed for it to be effective.
Many project owners who come to us are working on a mobile app development project for the first time. Having seen what’s in the market, they bring us their desired vision but it is often a much bigger scope than what’s achievable with their budget and timeline.
This is where Project Managers step in.
Having a good idea of my client’s motivations and priorities is key to forming the first part of the project plan. I always start by working with project owners to understand their business objectives.
If the client’s side has multiple stakeholders, I will also conduct requirements gathering workshops with them to bring everyone on the same page. From these workshops, I will try to understand:
- Project Scope
- Estimated Budget
- Desired Launch Date
- Communication channels
After the requirements gathering session(s), I will then bring the client’s requirements back to the design and development team to discuss, planning out resources, approach, risk management plan as well as timeline.
Ironing out these details will give all stakeholders a good idea of the project details and also helps to keep everyone on the same page.
Project Management Is the Bridge Between The Client And The Vendor
Most of the time, Project Managers work behind the scenes, working hard to ensure good communication of ideas between the client and vendor side.
They are the ones who gel all the aspects of the project together and sort out the nitty gritty details to ensure the smooth flow of the project.
What’s next after planning? Executing the project itself of course. Stay tuned to find out how I tackle the challenges of keeping a project running!
At Originally US, we place our clients’ needs at the forefront of what we do. If you’re looking for a trusted mobile app development company to build your vision, come chat with us to see how we can help you!
To find out more about how we execute projects, read our case study for Price Kaki, a price comparison app built for Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE).
