
One common type of project management professional are construction managers, who are responsible for delivering construction and engineering projects ranging from single-family homes to office buildings to roads, power plants, and other critical infrastructure. While the project development process may be similar across industries, the widespread applicability of these skills allows you to work on an incredibly diverse range of project types. If you’re an organized person with a talent for managing teams and a passion for getting things done, a background in project management can open up a wide range of career paths.
Chevron Right What kind of jobs can I get with a background in project management?. Read our article and learn about skills, salary, requirements, and reasons to consider a versatile career in project management. This methodical process is important - and powerful - because it is used to deliver an incredibly wide range of project outcomes that indeed span “products, services, and results.” Project management skills are required to create everything from skyscrapers to mobile apps to consulting white papers, and talented project managers can make a huge difference in making these investments profitable. Managing the project development process requires careful upfront project planning, an identification of key project milestones and a detailed schedule for achieving them, cost estimates and methods of cost control throughout the process, and risk analysis to identify potential challenges and risk management plans to limit them. Project management is the set of skills and techniques used to ensure that these projects are successfully delivered on time and within the bounds of other constraints including budget and resource allocation.
According to the Project Management Institute, a project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.” Both “temporary” and “unique” are key words in this definition they imply that a project is a process that takes place over a specified, limited period of time, and that this process is designed to achieve one specific outcome and is not a routine business activity.
To define project management, we first need to define what a “project” is.