This website shows you how to take charge of a big project, define it, and then break it down into
smaller, more manageable phases. You will learn how to control a budget and schedule and lead a project
team through to successful completion. You will find out how to anticipate problems and plan for them during
the various project phases. And you will discover methods for establishing clear objectives for your project,
even when they are not defined at the point of assignment.
Because it’s a long-term process, project management causes even well-organized managers to experience
difficulty. But if you are accustomed to controlling routine work in your own department, you already
understand recurring workload cycles, staffing limitations, and budgetary restraints—the same issues you’ll
confront with projects.
However, the context is different: First, a project is nonrecurring, so problems and solutions are not matters of
routine; second, unlike the limitations on your department’s range of tasks, a project often crosses
departmental and authority lines; third, a project is planned and organized over several months, whereas
recurring tasks are projected ahead only for a few days or weeks.
Managing a project doesn’t require any skills you don’t already possess; you will employ the same
