In this guide, we\u2019ll break down, step by step, how you can use project management to do just that \u2014 all in plain English.<\/p>\n
What is project management?<\/h2>\n
Project management is the process of planning and managing employees, locations, and money to ensure that a project is successful.<\/p>\n
It involves many essential processes, including:<\/strong><\/p>\n When managed right, projects are practical tools companies can use to develop new or improve existing products or services, transform internal business processes, and more.<\/p>\n They are a driving force behind innovation and change in a company.<\/p>\n But if you don\u2019t have the right system in place, projects can become a time and money suck for your organization instead. In 2020, 11.4%<\/a> of every dollar invested in projects was wasted due to poor performance or management.<\/p>\n That\u2019s over $114,000 for every million your company invests.<\/p>\n Oof.<\/p>\n To avoid falling into that trap, you need to build a robust foundation of good project management.<\/p>\n Get started with monday.com<\/a><\/p>\n Here are the 7 building blocks to successful project management.<\/p>\n The first step towards successful project management is to find the right framework or methodology. It must suit your industry, scope, workflow, and team structure.<\/p>\n A framework outlines the team hierarchy, deliverables, up-front plans, and actual management process. Choose wisely.<\/p>\n We’ll dive into PM frameworks in a second, don’t worry.<\/strong><\/p>\n Transparency<\/a> can make all the difference when managing a project. No matter how granular your plans get, your individual employees will control their own work.<\/p>\n If they don\u2019t understand your long-term goals, KPIs (key performance indicators), or plans, they won\u2019t know where they fit into the puzzle.<\/p>\n Start a culture of transparency and accountability. Involve every employee in the planning process (at some level), and give them ownership over tasks or even deliverables.<\/p>\n This culture shift will transform your company. \u201cRegular\u201d employees will self-manage more effectively than a manager could ever micromanage them.<\/p>\n Scope creep is one of the main challenges project managers face. 52%<\/a> of companies experience some level of scope creep or unforeseen changes to the scope during a project.<\/p>\n (Image Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n Want to reduce the chance of scope creep and avoid unrealistic projects altogether? Include stakeholders and experienced workers in the early stages of planning.<\/p>\n That will help you avoid guesswork and rely more on collective experience and data.<\/p>\n If you want your team to stay productive, you need accurate schedules (within reason). Perfect is of course out of the question, but that\u2019s no excuse to cut corners.<\/p>\n Bad schedules and unplanned dependencies can lead to teams stuck waiting.<\/p>\n If you use an agile framework like scrum, you avoid this by focusing on the shorter term and smaller deliverable increments.<\/p>\n With traditional up-front planning, this means scheduling with breathing room to account for unpredictable issues and interruptions.<\/p>\n Effectively using your resources throughout the project is key to keeping costs down.<\/p>\n For example, if you handle 2 building sites, you can plan the project in a specific order so that you can get away with renting a single concrete pourer for a few days.<\/p>\n For digital projects, resources are more often specific employees or teams. A graphic designer might develop wireframes for 2 or 3 separate development teams, so planning with that in mind is key.<\/p>\n A stakeholder<\/a> is a person directly invested in the success of a project. They could be a key client, internal product user, executive, or product manager.<\/p>\n If those directly affected by the project aren\u2019t involved, you risk that the project goes off-course as the marketplace and user needs change.<\/p>\n Finally, no company can succeed in project management with a system of endless spreadsheets and emails. There\u2019s nothing practical or transparent about a system like that.<\/p>\n To succeed in the modern world of remote work<\/a>, inter-departmental collaboration, cloud file sharing and 1,000 other variables unique to your company, you need a modern project management platform.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Oh hi. Fancy meeting you here.<\/strong><\/p>\n monday.com is an easy-to-use Work OS that slots perfectly into whatever project management framework you use.<\/p>\n With views ranging from our custom table (with color-coded statuses) to Kanban board, Gantt chart, timeline, and calendar views, you can truly customize the experience to your workflow.<\/p>\n Check us out.<\/a><\/p>\n One of the most crucial project management decisions you\u2019ll make is choosing a framework.<\/p>\n A framework controls how you structure your team and how you make vital decisions when planning and monitoring your projects.<\/p>\n Consider your scope, deliverables, and workflow.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re developing a new food product, you can\u2019t rush through a new increment without testing that it\u2019s safe for consumption and getting it approved for sale.<\/p>\n As promised, here are the leading project management frameworks (with links to even more comprehensive deep-dives):<\/p>\n Waterfall or traditional project management is focused on \u201cperfect planning.\u201d Before you even get started, you break down and schedule the entire project from start to finish.<\/p>\n It may seem like an old-fashioned idea, but in some cases, it\u2019s still the best approach.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re working with physical products with lots of dependencies, or services where your SLA demands perfection, consistency, and set-in-stone deadlines, there\u2019s no better alternative.<\/p>\n Check out our complete guide to the waterfall project management framework here.<\/strong><\/p>\n Kanban project management instead focuses on continuous improvement. Using a Kanban board (a simple board divided into columns from \u201cto do\u201d to \u201cdone\u201d), your team plans how to improve products, campaigns, or processes.<\/p>\n The method originated in Japan\u2019s car manufacturing industry and is often used as a way to implement principles of Lean management.<\/p>\n To learn more about the <\/strong>kanban project management framework<\/strong><\/a>, check out our guide.<\/strong><\/p>\n The scrum framework is the most popular way to implement Agile project management. It divides larger projects into shorter, 1\u20134 week sprints to make it easier to adapt to the demands of the project as it evolves.<\/p>\n It also lays out rules for team size, team roles, planning, meetings, deliverables, and more.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a great framework for teams that can deliver functioning increments of their work during a project, not only software projects. For example, you could use it for marketing campaigns, product design, or other creative projects as well.<\/p>\n Read our dedicated post on the scrum methodology<\/a> to learn more.<\/p>\n Agile has become a buzzword in project management and is often prescribed as a catch-all solution to inefficient companies.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not a perfect system. It has its own unique shortcomings.<\/p>\n (Image Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n In fact, most companies that try to make the shift encounter major problems.<\/p>\n Agile frameworks, like Scrum, are poorly accustomed to flawless operations. They can also be hard to scale beyond a smaller team level.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s incompatible with your company\u2019s workflow or existing structure, you don\u2019t need to force the issue. It\u2019s not a requirement for successfully managing a complex project.<\/p>\n Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean you couldn\u2019t learn from it. You could implement some agile-inspired values into your project management process.<\/p>\n To learn more about running your next project using an agile framework, <\/strong>check out our walkthrough.\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Or, read about all the project management methodologies<\/a> to get insight into all your different options.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, there\u2019s no textbook answer for the single best framework for every company. We can\u2019t tell you which one you should pick.<\/p>\n You need to do the necessary legwork and make your own decision.<\/p>\n Get started<\/a><\/p>\n If you want your projects to succeed, it\u2019s not enough to nail the initial planning process. You need to control the project throughout its entire life cycle.<\/p>\n What are the 5 stages of a project management lifecycle?<\/strong><\/p>\n The lifecycle of a project is complex and involves multiple stages from initiation and planning to execution, monitoring, and closing. Let’s jump in.<\/p>\n Initiation is the pre-planning stage of preparing for a project. It\u2019s where you iron out the basic idea for the project, brainstorm potential outcomes, and try to figure out if the project is worth it.<\/p>\n You also analyze what resources the project may require in terms of money, staff, locations, and more.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve decided that a project is a good idea, you start the planning stage. In this phase, you break deliverables down into smaller tasks and map out the entire workflow.<\/p>\n Then you assign ownership and start scheduling different milestones for the project.<\/p>\n This stage is where you start putting the plan into action. You must work closely with all the teams to make sure they follow the script.<\/p>\n Execution is the \u2018doing\u2019 stage, where you turn your plan into reality.<\/p>\n Once the project is live, you need to monitor the project team<\/a> and make sure they work efficiently.<\/p>\n If someone falls behind schedule or runs into an unforeseen problem, you need to adjust and adapt.<\/p>\n After you finish the project, you should analyze and learn from everything that happened. If it\u2019s a replacement product, you also need to make decisions on how and when to phase out the original product.<\/p>\n By standardizing a unique process for managing the entire life cycle, you can ensure a higher rate of successful project completion throughout your company.<\/p>\n monday.com’s aptly-named <\/strong>project management plan template<\/strong><\/a> can help with that…<\/strong><\/p>\n If you don\u2019t quite grasp the concept yet, read more about the project life cycle<\/a> on our blog.<\/p>\n Top project planning tip: Lay a proper foundation during the initiation and planning stages<\/strong><\/p>\n We can trace most top reasons for project failure back to poor planning and research.<\/p>\n (Image Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n 35% of projects fail due to inaccurate requirements gathering, 29% because of inadequate risk assessment, and so on.<\/p>\n Lay a solid foundation for project success by taking this initial phase more seriously:<\/strong><\/p>\n Top project planning tip #2: Facilitate communication and collaboration during execution<\/strong><\/p>\n Once your project is up and running, some companies start dropping the ball on management. \u201cThe planning is done\u201d is a dangerous mindset to have.<\/p>\n Facilitate communication, collaboration, and empower the project team to adjust their course as the project evolves.<\/p>\n How you structure your project team largely depends on your framework and the scope of your project.<\/p>\n Here are a few proven strategies for building a successful and productive team.<\/p>\n The actual talent for your project team will likely come from different departments.<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n Because every project needs varied expertise and input from different stakeholders.<\/strong><\/p>\n The benefit is two-fold. Instead of hiring new talent, you can better utilize existing resources. And by including members from different departments, you can also get the whole company’s buy-in into the success of the project.<\/p>\n For smaller projects with a single team, you should make sure it includes all the staff members required to complete the project.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s a website redesign, you need graphic designers, front-end developers, and copywriters on board.<\/p>\n For more complex projects, it may be easier to divide the project into smaller teams based on deliverables. But the same rule applies to these teams.<\/p>\n Your teams need to be self-sufficient. It may sound obvious, but most companies fail when setting their teams up.<\/p>\n The role of a project manager depends on your framework and the type of person you choose for the job.<\/p>\n For example, a project manager could be someone educated as a professional PM or a subject matter expert (SME) \u2014 someone who\u2019s exceedingly knowledgeable in the area of the project.<\/p>\n (Image Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n A professional PM might play more of a facilitating role during initial planning. They give room to stakeholders and SMEs to shape the project plan with their hands-on experience.<\/p>\n If the manager is an SME, they might take on more of a visionary role, directly shaping the roadmap and high-level plans.<\/p>\n Smaller companies may not be able to afford a dedicated project manager role, in which case, an SME or executive is the logical choice.<\/p>\n Either way, a project manager should…<\/strong><\/p>\n You can outline a framework for what sort of decisions a team should make in the moment.<\/p>\n Employees at \u201chigh-trust\u201d companies report 50%<\/a> higher productivity than their low-trust counterparts. Micro-management will slow down your progress and ruin team morale.<\/p>\n With task ownership and complete transparency of what\u2019s expected from them, your team members will take over. They have the space to go above and beyond and become the driving force behind the project.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve figured out the framework and the project lifecycle, it\u2019s time to put things into practice.<\/p>\n While technically possible with spreadsheets, email, and whiteboards, a project management platform will make your life a whole lot easier.<\/p>\n monday.com gives you all the functionality you need, from platform-specific templates, boards, and workflow automations to collaboration tool integrations. (Humility might be a virtue, but we\u2019re more concerned with helping more projects succeed).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s how you can set up your digital workspace to empower your project teams.<\/p>\n Add project documentation that outlines your new framework and process to all project tables. It\u2019s the fastest and easiest way to speed up the adoption of your new project planning process.<\/p>\n Projects that lack vision and direction are unlikely to inspire employees. That\u2019s why a project roadmap is so important.<\/p>\n Make sure you don\u2019t just outline the general scope of your project but also why the project matters and its potential impact.<\/p>\n You can do this in the project scope section or create a separate, dedicated outcomes section.<\/p>\n Once you have a roadmap or some other form of high-level project plan, it\u2019s time to break down the project schedule.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re using a waterfall model, you can use what\u2019s called a work breakdown structure (WBS). It is essentially just a plan where you break down separate deliverables into specific tasks.<\/p>\n How granular you should get depends on your framework and the scope of your overall project.<\/p>\n Within the monday dashboard, you can easily assign ownership of tasks or subtasks to individual employees.<\/p>\n Click the person icon in the owner column and search for the name. They\u2019ll now receive notifications for due dates and comments.<\/p>\n But that alone isn\u2019t going to be enough to inspire your employees to own their tasks. You must work with them to outline clear performance goals.<\/p>\n You should also give them simple responsibilities like reporting on progress during status meetings and identifying their own roadblocks.<\/p>\n You can easily comment on and collaborate directly on tasks. monday.com supports file attachments, mentions (with email notifications), and threaded discussions.<\/p>\n Click the speech bubble to open the comments tab. It\u2019s that easy.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve created different plans and dashboards, you can start customizing them to suit your workflow.<\/p>\n These are just a few examples of the flexibility of our digital workspace. After you\u2019re done customizing, you can easily save the board as a reusable template.<\/p>\n You can also easily set up monday.com Automations to speed up your workflow. For example, you can notify managers automatically when due dates are passed, create a new task item every week, and more.<\/p>\n Once your projects are up and running, and everyone\u2019s used to their new workspace, your managers need an easy way to monitor the project status.<\/p>\n With monday.com, they can create a custom dashboard that highlights their preferred KPIs with just a few clicks.<\/p>\n Managing projects is hard enough already, and attempting to change your organization\u2019s culture is a scary undertaking.<\/p>\n We understand that.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why we\u2019ve developed a step-by-step project management plan template<\/a> to help you formalize a new process for your organization.<\/p>\n You can customize it freely to suit existing workflows and your company\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n Take back control of your projects.<\/p>\n Get started<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Project management provides leadership, motivation, and solutions teams need to meet company goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":159133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"pages\/cornerstone-primary.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_title":"What is Project Management? The Complete Guide [2026]","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Learn everything about project management, including definition, history, approaches, phases, types, tools, templates, roles, software, and best practices.","monday_item_id":18059524383,"monday_board_id":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13904],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-management"],"acf":{"lobby_image":false,"post_thumbnail_title":"","hide_post_info":false,"hide_bottom_cta":false,"hide_from_blog":false,"cluster":"","banner_url":"https:\/\/auth.monday.com\/users\/sign_up_new\" target=","main_text_banner":"Try monday.com project management","sub_title_banner":"Join the 152K+ teams that use monday.com","sub_title_banner_second":"","banner_button_text":"","below_banner_line":"","sections":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content_1","blocks":[{"main_heading":"","content_block":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","content":" Efficient project management is a must-have when delivering projects on time, within budget, and satisfying all stakeholders.<\/p>\n But what does best-practice project management look like, what are the best frameworks to use, and what features make or break the software you choose?<\/p>\n Our definitive project management guide answers all these questions and more. You\u2019ll learn about project management processes, the best frameworks, and how to manage a project effectively.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image_type":"normal","image":236076,"image_link":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/auth.monday.com\/users\/sign_up_new","target":"_blank"}}]},{"main_heading":"What is project management?","content_block":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","content":" Project management is the application of processes, methods, skills, knowledge, and experience to deliver the project goals within scope, time, and budget constraints.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Project management (PM) is the practice of planning and managing projects<\/a>, from start to finish. It involves coordinating all the necessary activities and resources to meet deadlines and achieve your desired project outcome. For example, your goal might be to launch a new product, develop software, or plan a networking event. To achieve your end goal, project management includes:<\/p>\n Numerous structured frameworks, such as Agile, Kanban, or Scrum<\/a>, can help you achieve your project objectives. Although these frameworks take different approaches, each focuses on taking the necessary steps to complete your project on time and within budget.<\/p>\n Project management is critical because it provides the leadership, motivation, and problem-solving that enable teams to introduce new products or services, grow revenue, and meet company goals. If you prioritize effective project management styles, you can proactively and continuously improve workflows to avoid any mistakes, overspending, or other project challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n The most successful companies know how to manage a project to remain efficient and productive.<\/p>\n\n
The building blocks of successful project management<\/h2>\n
1. The right framework or methodology<\/h3>\n
2. A culture of transparency and ownership<\/h3>\n
3. Realistic scope<\/h3>\n
![\"Graph](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Project-success-and-failure.png\" "\\"Project")
<\/p>\n4. Accurate and predictable schedules<\/h3>\n
5. Efficient management of resources<\/h3>\n
6. Stakeholders who are directly involved<\/h3>\n
7. Next-level project management software<\/h3>\n
![\"Project](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Project-management-software-graphic.png\" "\\"Project")
<\/p>\nHow to pick the right framework to manage your projects<\/h2>\n
1. Waterfall<\/h3>\n
2. Kanban<\/h3>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Kanban-board.png\" "\\"Kanban")
<\/p>\n3. Scrum<\/h3>\n
4. Agile<\/h3>\n
![\"Graph](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Agile-project-management-challenges.png\" "\\"Agile")
<\/p>\nHow to manage the entire project life cycle<\/h2>\n
Step 1: Initiation: Pre-planning<\/h3>\n
Step 2: Planning<\/h3>\n
Step 3: Execution: Making the project a reality<\/h3>\n
Step 4: Monitoring: Managing in real-time<\/h3>\n
Step 5: Closing<\/h3>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Project-management-plan.png\" "\\"Project")
<\/p>\n![\"Graph](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Project-failure-reasons.png\" "\\"Project")
<\/p>\n\n
\n
How to structure your project team to ensure productivity<\/h2>\n
1. Recruit talent across departments<\/h3>\n
2. Identify all resources necessary to complete the project\/their deliverables<\/h3>\n
3. Know exactly what a project manager is responsible for, and how to choose one<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/recreate.png\" "\\"Recreate\\"")
<\/p>\n\n
4. Empower \u201cregular\u201d team members<\/h3>\nIf the project manager has to babysit every team member and make the final call on every little decision, the project will crawl forward at a snail\u2019s pace. Instead, empower your team members to make their own judgment calls.<\/span><\/a>\n
How to make the most of project management software<\/h2>\n
1. Use project documentation to speed up framework adoption<\/h3>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Project-documentation.png\" "\\"Project")
<\/p>\n2. Create your roadmap and high-level project plan<\/h3>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Project-roadmap.png\" "\\"Project")
<\/p>\n3. Break the project down and map out your workflow<\/h3>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Project-WBS.png\" "\\"Project")
<\/p>\n4. Encourage ownership of deliverables<\/h3>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Assign-task-owner.png\" "\\"Assign")
<\/p>\n5. Collaborate directly on tasks<\/h3>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Task-comments.png\" "\\"Task")
<\/p>\n6. Customize your boards to suit your workflow<\/h3>\n
\n
7. Automate repetitive tasks<\/h3>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/monday-Automations.png\" "\\"monday")
<\/p>\n8. Use custom dashboards to stay up to speed<\/h3>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/monday-dashboard.png\" "\\"monday")
<\/p>\nConclusion<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
Why is project management important?<\/h3>\n