Project management is a complex managerial discipline which involves a leader shepherding a team through a project that has a clearly-defined beginning to a predetermined end.
Traditional Project Management
A project has a defined goal and objectives to ensure that the goal is met. Project managers undertake projects to create a positive change in a company or organisation. These changes add value to the company; for instance, the completed project may improve the product line or increase profits. The challenge project manager’s face is dealing with constraints like time, funding, or deliverables. They are constrained by the scope of the project, the knowledge and skill of the team, the level of technology and material allocated for the project, the time it takes to complete the project, the quality guidelines of the project and the budget allocated to the project.
Unlike the tasks necessary to run a business, project tasks are those that have been specially set aside to provide a long-term benefit. A business, then, usually runs business-as-usual tasks and project-management-tasks parallel to each other.
In essence, then, the purpose of project management is to use available resources to meet a predefined time-based goal while working within constraints.
New Project Management
The role of project management has changed in an additive way. While the job is still defined in the same way, it has added a telecommunication component that has increased collaboration across geographical boundaries.
Project management is no longer an in-house project, where a project manager and his or her team work within the parameters of a local organization. Instead, through the agency of telecommunication, it is a national or global phenomenon. A project may be shared with other teams across the country in the same organization or through the Internet if the company is a multinational or has global partners. The result of this extension is an increase in resources and a reduction in constraints. Some open projects–like an environmental project— may even be shared with the public through social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn.
National and international collaboration through telecommunications has changed the face of project management. Innovation is faster now because team interaction is richer and broader. Project management has changed from a team working in a room to a worldwide virtual community.
Understanding the Shift
Here is an analogy to understand the shift:
In the past, a college class consisted of a professor lecturing in a room to a group of students. During class discussions, the students, who shared the same cultural beliefs, interacted on the basis of their socioeconomic understanding of the world. Today, however, a virtual college class can consist of a professor speaking in any university in the world to students who are sitting in front of their computers anywhere in the world. During class discussions through virtual discussion boards and forums, students from different cultures and belief systems share their unique perspectives. The result is a much richer learning experience for everyone.
Similarly, project management used to consist of a project manager working with fellow employees, with everyone sharing similar worldviews, perspectives, and conventions. However, with national or international collaboration, all the dynamics change. More people are now available to offer more knowledge and skills, each unique to their own education and environment. The result is that typical constraints are expanded considerably; for instance, time constraints can be expanded when people in different time zones collaborate to complete the project faster and cheaper.
Summary
Project management has changed by adding a new element: telecommunication. Now devices like computers, mobile telephones, and live video conferencing have made it possible to communicate on a national and international level with ease, sharing files and ideas. This has considerably expanded the scope of what a project manager could hope to achieve working in a regional office. Additionally, when it comes to open projects, project managers can even collaborate with members of the public.