Now that you have learnt what a project is, the next logical question would be ‘what is meant by managing a project?’. If project can be considered a problem and its result is a solution to the problem then managing it is to adopt the best suitable way, out of many, to reach the solution by addressing the problem. In the simplest possible words, the project management is knowing all your options and choosing the best as per your limitations (environmental, financial, logistical, etc.) to solve your problems. These limitation are called ‘constraints’ in project management terms.
Project management is an art and a science at the same time. It has both professional and social aspects, that is why people with better social skills become better project managers. There is no doubt about technical knowledge of project management being the prerequisite for a project manager but the equal importance of social skills can be judged by that fact that during a project’s life cycle, the project manager spends 90% of his time in managing communications and dealing with the project team, management, customers, cross functional departments, end users, etc. collectively known as stakeholders. So I believe that the basic skill that you need to build, before learning the project management professionally, is social skill and that’s the very essence of project management.
