20 March, 2025
For many businesses and organizations, project management has received a lot of renewed focus in recent years. One reason for this is that analytics and data-driven approaches have become a high priority across industries of all kinds, because they enable teams to approach challenges more systematically.
As many organizations increasingly rely on data to achieve the best outcomes, effective project management has become more important than ever. The best project managers are data-driven themselves: using the power of data to make informed and efficient decisions on processes and approaches to different projects.
Effective, data-driven project management is important to organizational success, going beyond an individual project and enabling organizations to optimize, such as:
- Operational workflows
- Resource allocation
- Budgets and revenue
In this introduction to the importance of project management, we will provide a comprehensive guide on a variety of topics related to project management. Read on to learn exactly why 25 million new project managers will be needed in the workforce by 2030.
In a hurry? Jump to the sections you need the most:
- What Is Project Management?
- Key Components
- Models and Frameworks
- Key Industries for Project Managers
- Benefits of Project Management
- Why Are Project Managers Important?
- The Future of Project Management
- Purdue University’s Online Project Management Series
What Is Project Management?
“Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. It’s the practice of planning, organizing and executing the tasks needed to turn an idea into a tangible product, service or deliverable.”
At its core, project management is the process of taking an idea through the entire project lifecycle: ideation, strategy and execution. The project management process can differ greatly from organization to organization, but the benefit of this adaptable business function is that it can be used for all projects — from minor deliverables to an entirely new venture.
Project managers are responsible for tasks that ensure cross-team alignment and efficiency in project completion. The variables influencing the quality and outcome of project management are: Scope, Cost and Time.
Key Components in Project Management
Planning
Once an individual, team or organization has an idea for what they’re looking to accomplish, the first phase of project management begins: planning. The planning phase includes key steps such as creating a proposal, establishing project goals, defining a project’s scope, creating timelines and identifying specific deliverables. This step requires careful attention to several factors:
- Deadlines
- Restrictions, limitations and risks
- Budget
- Existing workflows and tasks
- Personnel
Execution
In project management, execution is about actualizing the vision defined in the planning phase. Project management professionals are responsible for supervising the execution: ensuring that the project is following both the granular aspects of planning and meeting the big-picture needs that necessitated the project in the first place. At this stage, project managers play a more supportive role, empowering the team to take ownership of the project plan. This is achieved through strategic task delegation, effective communication and collaborative effort.
This is completed through strategic task delegation, effective communication and collaborative effort. Project management professionals will often leverage skills in communication and leadership along with technical knowledge in various tools to help ensure that project parameters can be met on a day to day basis.
Project execution can look different depending on the project, department or function, organization and industry, organization. But every project manager will be responsible for a few core tasks to make sure that the execution is happening within scope, budget and timeline, such as:
- Hosting progress meetings wherein team members can communicate with each other about the project, resources and any needs they have
- Supporting teams by providing resources and training so they can accomplish their duties and responsibilities
- Breaking down large goals into smaller tasks and delegating them
- Responding to any issues or roadblocks quickly and effectively
Monitoring
After a project is completed, monitoring is the next critical component of project management. During the monitoring stage, project management professionals can determine whether the execution of a project is sufficiently aligning with the planning and goals of a project, including budget, scope and timeline.
Project managers might use a range of tools and techniques to monitor the progress of projects, including tracking metrics that are meaningfully tied to the success of established project parameters. For example, a project management professional overseeing software application development might track “mean time to resolve,” which is how long it takes to resolve issues on average.
Project managers across various industries might track other metrics related to:
- Budget adherence
- Timeliness of deliveries or tasks completed
- Quality of products
Monitoring also requires communicating with team members and stakeholders to ensure that the project is reaching critical milestones and achieving set goals. Some monitoring-related communication tasks might include:
- Establishing reporting frameworks for project parameters
- Regular analysis of success signals and other important metrics
- Meeting with teams and team members to review progress
- Verifying that project parameters are being met in a timely manner
Communication
Communication is a vital part of project management because project managers typically serve as a central point between multiple individuals and teams. Project management professionals must be able to communicate effectively with team members, stakeholders, vendors, customers and clients.
Effective communication ensures that team members are aware of their roles and responsibilities. It also supports teams as they try to reach goals within any established parameters. Common communication strategies include:
- Regular team meetings
- Emails and other written communications with team members, stakeholders and other management professionals
- Memos, training sessions and dissemination of training materials
Project Management Models and Frameworks
There are a number of methodologies, frameworks and conceptual models for how to “do” project management. Many organizations rely on these kinds of frameworks to improve on workflows and production practices over time — implementing lessons iteratively as they identify areas for improvement. These are some popular frameworks and methodologies used in project management:
- Agile consists of a set of methodologies rooted in an iterative approach to project management. The goal of this approach is to quickly deliver value by completing work in smaller increments, rather than one big project. While Agile is typically associated with engineering and software development teams, it has gained a lot of popularity in recent years as it delivers high-quality value sustainably and rapidly.
- Lean is one of the most time-tested and well respected project management frameworks. It aims to improve efficiency primarily by limiting waste and reducing delays, and it is designed around five principles that focus on value for the end customer.
- Six Sigma helps organizations deliver the highest quality products or services by minimizing the amount of defects, errors and mistakes that occur during a process or product. While Six Sigma is most associated with product manufacturing, nearly any industry can use this methodology because at its simplest, Six Sigma is about using data to find efficiencies.
These approaches can often be combined, meaning that organizations might employ multiple frameworks or methodologies to complete projects efficiently and effectively. Some complementary frameworks have even been combined into unified systems. For example, organizations might utilize Lean Six Sigma, which combines elements of quality improvement from Six Sigma with efficiency optimization elements from Lean.
While there are many resources available, it can be difficult to learn one project management methodology on your own, let alone all of the most popular ones. University-backed, PMI-accreditated courses and certificate programs can teach you these methodologies and give you the resources to incorporate them in your work place. In a comprehensive certificate, you’ll learn the most common methodologies, general best practices for project management and emerging methods in the field. And, a university-provided program also can help add value to a resume, as employers recognize the quality of education in these certificate programs.
Key Industries for Project Managers
Project management encompasses a broad set of efforts and concepts with the goal of ensuring that projects are carried out effectively and efficiently. Given the expansiveness of project management, it can be applied to businesses in any industry. However, there are certain industries where project management is particularly important, such as:
- In manufacturing, certain project management strategies like Six Sigma ensure that products meet high quality standards. Other project management processes can lead to products being manufactured efficiently and with minimal unnecessary costs or wastefulness.
- In software and tech, project management allows teams to systematically meet complex technical goals through attainable milestones.
- In healthcare, where individuals’ health and rights are paramount, project management can be an essential part of creating effective healthcare intervention systems and ensuring that patients can receive the care they need.
- In construction, project management is a critical part of establishing safety and legal compliance. It also enables construction projects to be completed within budget and in a timely manner.
- In finance, project management supports individual departments and teams in meeting broader organizational goals. On the project level, project management helps finance professionals to mitigate risk, carry out due diligence and adhere to industry standards.
Benefits of Project Management: Why Does It Matter?
Project management does more than just support projects from ideation to completion: it provides tangible benefits to the overall operations of an organization, especially in the areas of efficiency, resource allocation and risk management. All of these benefits are interrelated, and by optimizing these areas project managers can better support their organizations.
Efficiency
Efficiency is often a hallmark of effective business operations, so it is often a broad goal of project management efforts. Project management provides a structured framework to plan, execute and monitor projects, ultimately leading to faster completion times, reduced costs and improved quality.
Systematic project management can enable organizations to improve their operational efficiency by:
- Cutting waste from workflows
- Identifying more efficient ways to utilize resources
- Initiating ongoing improvement projects as a result of project success signals and KPIs
Resource Allocation
Ensuring that resources are allocated effectively is a key part of project management. “Resources” are not limited to material goods — they are anything that helps you complete a project. Depending on the project, resources can be defined as:
- People
- Materials
- Budget
- Time
- Equipment
- Tools or software
- Ideas and skills
By leveraging resources in the most effective and efficient way possible, project managers can maximize productivity, minimize waste and bottlenecks, and ensure that all tasks are completed on time and within budget.
Risk Mitigation
In industries with the possibility of physical injury, such as manufacturing, risk mitigation is essential for safety. However, even in industries where there may not be present physical safety hazards, tangible risks are not uncommon.
For example, a project management professional in the finance industry might practice risk mitigation by establishing due diligence procedures that seek to identify and avoid the risk of losing money on a venture. In a healthcare setting, risk mitigation might involve ensuring that patient information is safeguarded from cyberattacks, breaches or data loss.
Ultimately, risk mitigation often involves a certain level of consideration at the project management level. By helping teams to ensure that operations are carried out in a manner conducive to safety and security, project managers will help protect their organizations and employees from harm or legal pitfalls.
Why Are Project Managers Important?
Project management professionals fill critical roles across industries and fields. Through their roles as leaders, project managers are key to ensuring that teams are aligned, that projects succeed and that challenges are appropriately navigated. They also are key to an organization’s ability to achieve efficient operations and meet their development goals.
Project Management Leadership
Projects both large and small can involve a lot of moving parts. Amid all of those individual components, project managers must still find a way to complete these projects on time and within specifications. Serving as leaders and decision makers, project management professionals support teams in a number of ways from ideation to implementation in order to lead projects to success.
Project managers use their leadership skills to:
- Ensure that the project team has the resources and capabilities to complete project goals
- Align individuals and teams on an operational level
- Assign relevant personnel to roles, goals and responsibilities within a project
- Attend to team members needs
- Navigate conflict and employee burnout
Effective project management professionals are often prized for their specific leadership capacities. By aligning team efforts with organizational goals and helping teams to navigate challenges, project managers support their teams to ensure project success.
Aligning Team Efforts With Organizational Goals
Project management isn’t just about establishing the right parameters and making sure the team is able to accomplish goals. Importantly, project management is also about ensuring that the granular details and considerations of the project align with the broad-level goals and mission of the organization.
By taking a bird’s eye look at how project operations might contribute to the organization’s larger goals, project management professionals can leverage their leadership skills to align teams with these goals.
Navigating Challenges
Even the most prepared teams can run into unexpected challenges. Project management professionals can be a valuable ally to teams who are dealing with challenges. Leveraging their leadership skills and knowledge of overall organizational operations, project managers can support teams as they work toward success. This might involve anything from navigating conflict within teams to re-establishing project touchpoints and parameters as needed.
While it may feel uncomfortable at times, handling challenges can be one of the most important responsibilities of project managers. Given their expertise and leadership capabilities, project management professionals can help teams solve problems without panicking or giving up on a project.
Organizational and Industry Impact
While much of project management focuses on granular tasks that inform a project’s day-to-day operations, project managers also often have a critical place in the organization’s larger strategy, long-term development, and overall operational and organizational capabilities.
Aligning Development Goals to Operational Action
Project management can be a key factor to bringing an organization’s development goals to life through its operations. When operations teams carefully consider which projects to support, and ensure that project managers are working on projects that bring the organization closer to its broader goals, project management can be the process by which an organization succeeds.
Successfully supporting an organization’s overall goals can be defined in a number of ways, and project management can be used to adhere to budgetary goals, more effectively allocate resources (which reduces waste and costs) and ensure that high-priority projects are completed in a timely manner.
Achieving Efficiency Without Compromising
At the organizational level, project management is about improvement: improving output, improving processes, improving quality and improving efficiency. Managing projects in the most efficient way possible can save an organization time, effort and resources. This means that project managers can be a key stakeholder in improving the efficiency of an organization without compromising on operational capability or product quality.
What’s in the Future of Project Management?
Project management is poised to continue shaping how organizations of all kinds approach projects and resource allocation. And, by leveraging the explosion of data-driven project management strategies, project managers will be able to better support organizations as they work toward their broader organizational and operational goals.
[CALLOUT] Want to tackle emerging trends in project management? A Project Management Professional (PMP)® or Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® credential may be your next step. Read our article to learn more about these two credentials and how to earn them.
Some trends in project management we may see in the future include:
- Growing demand, lasting impact: Organizations find effective project management can help them operate more efficiently and effectively, so it’s likely that project management techniques will continue to hold an important role. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 7% growth in project management specialist roles between 2023 and 2033.
And, with project-based work being embraced by more and more industries, we may see an increase in project-based work in general, underscoring the need for project management professionals.
- Greater emphasis on AI and data analysis: As AI and other advanced technologies continue to evolve, it’s likely that project management teams will continue seeking new ways to leverage data to support projects, identify opportunities and simplify operational tasks.
Purdue University’s Online Project Management Series
Professionals who participate in Purdue University’s online project management series can gain a wealth of field knowledge, solid foundational skills and exceedingly effective preparation for the PMP exam, which is a step toward earning a project management certification. Course materials and activities align closely with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) to help learners retain project management knowledge and apply it to their current projects.
This 100% online, instructor-led course runs for eight weeks and allows working professionals to gain familiarity with basic project management concepts and terms. Learners can effectively apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills to current projects and earn project management hours that can help qualify them to take the PMP exam.
This 100% online, self-study course is for project managers with a minimum of three years’ experience and assumes prior knowledge of the PMBOK® Guide. It includes four live webinars presented by an instructor for in-depth review of some of the most challenging learning material.
The Purdue Agile Certificate Online Course equips learners with modern Agile tools to enhance project outcomes and customer satisfaction. This asynchronous course includes on-demand lectures, practical assignments and interactive discussion boards that foster engagement with instructors and peers.
The Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) and Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
Request
Information
To learn more about Purdue University’s online Project Management courses and , fill out this form. You can also email us at PMonline@purdue.edu or call us at (765) 253-6940 to speak to one of our enrollment specialists.