A Guide to Project Management
Dr Peter Hill
Dr Peter Hill is an experienced
academic, having taught project
management, management,
economics, and research methods
at the University of Warwick, King’s
College London, Royal Holloway
University of London, BPP University,
The University of Roehampton, and
University of Bradford. Alongside these
academic roles he has led a variety
of education and local government
projects, and supported projects in
financial services. Peter became a
Member of the Association for Project
Management (MAPM) in 2012 and has
been a recipient of the APM Research
Fund. He is a Senior Fellow of the
Higher Education Academy (SFHEA),
and is a Councilor on Bracknell Forest
(Unitary Authority) and Bracknell Town
(Parish) Councils.
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Abstract: This article is a short guide to project
­management. It walks the reader through how to plan
a project, estimate the resources required, manage risk,
manage the delivery of activity, and close and evaluate
the project.
Keywords: Project closure, Project evaluation, Project
management, Project planning, Risk management,
Work breakdown structure
1. What Is a Project?
1.1. What Is a Project?
This is not a trick question, I promise. Despite the
academic discipline and study of Project Management
emerging in the twentieth century, projects have been
around for millennia. History is littered with ­projects:
The Pyramids of Egypt, The Great Wall of China,
The Panama and Suez Canals, The Hoover Dam, The
­Manhattan Project, and The Apollo Missions.
Thankfully, Project Management is one of those
­disciplines where, generally, there is strong agreement
about key definitions and concepts. Projects have been
defined by key bodies as:
There are also countless definitions in Project
­Management textbooks, but they all keep coming back
to the same key features. Projects are:
■■ unique (something similar may have been done ­before,
but there is at least one aspect that is unique, e.g.,
­geographical location);
■■ temporary (they have a start and a finish), i.e., they
are not “business as usual”;
■■ designed to meet specific objectives.
As the Association for Project Management (APM)
definition of a project suggests, we need to define what
these objectives are. Are we looking for a simple output,
a broader outcome, or a longer-term benefit?
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 A Guide to Project Management

“A temporary group activity

designed to produce a unique
product, service or result.”

“A unique, transient endeavor,

undertaken to achieve
planned objectives, which
could be defined in terms
of outputs, outcomes or
benefits.”

(Association for Project

Management. The Chartered
Body for the Project Profes-
sion)
“A unique set of coordinated
activities, with a definite
start and finishing point,
undertaken by an individual
or organization to meet
specific objectives within
defined, scheduled cost and
(British Standards Institute)
performance parameters.”

1.2. What Is Project Management? 1.3. Types of Project

The British Association for Project
­Management defines project ­management
as “ . . . the application of processes, ­methods,
knowledge, skills and experience to achieve
the project objectives” (APM, 2012, p. 12).
This is an excellent definition. It is
broad enough to make the point that PM
is about technical expertise (what has
­become known as “hard skills”), but as it
also suggests PM involves people. ­Indeed,
many argue (including myself) that for
projects to be successful we have to be
able to work with people; manage them,
inspire and m
­ ­ otivate them, lead them,
and c­ ommunicate with them (all of which
we call “soft skills”). You could be the best
­engineer or c­ omputer programmer in the
world, but u ­ nless you can deal e ­ ffectively
with people, you are unlikely to be
­successful in project management.
Of course there are many ways to c­ ategorize
projects, but a helpful way to do it is by
looking at what is driving or motivating
the project. Projects therefore fall into four
broad categories:
■■ Market-driven
These are projects developed typically in
response to consumer trends, end user needs,
or competition (perhaps a new ­entrant to
the market or increasing c­ ompetition from
existing market participants).
■■ Crisis-driven
These are projects initiated in response
to an urgent situation, for example, a
­humanitarian relief effort.
■■ Innovation-driven
These are projects that aim to drive ­progress
or development. For example, the CERN
Large Hadron Collider.

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 A Guide to Project Management
■■ Change-driven
These are projects aimed at an ­organization
to meet the needs of its internal/
external environment; for example, a
project to introduce a new IT system to
reduce internal business costs.
1.4. The Project Life Cycle
Projects have a beginning and an end (but
hopefully not a premature or unplanned
one). We therefore talk about projects
­having a life cycle.
This life cycle can be linear:
Or circular, suggesting that project
­delivery is more of an iterative process.
Both models tell us the same thing, that
projects consist of a number of phases t­ aking
us from a beginning to an end. H ­ owever,
many projects may be more iterative
than linear; for example, developing new
­products, software, or pharmaceuticals.
The key phases of a project are:
1.4.1. Project Initiation
The project initiation phase is where the
­decision will be made about which of the
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­ ossible projects will be delivered. U
p ­ sually
there is a range of different ways to d ­ eliver
a ­particular set of objectives. This is ­often
addressed using a formal Trade Study ap-
­
proach where different options are ­assessed
against the same set of ­criteria, often ­using
weighted a­ssessments. The ­ resulting ta-
ble is then used to inform the technical
­recommendation and business decision.
As part of this process it is also ­important
to determine the business case, i.e., why are
we thinking about doing this project? What
are we hoping to achieve? What (­historical
or current) data do we have to support our
­decision? How does this ­project fit within and
support broader strategy? How will we know
whether the project has been a success?
We also need to determine the high-level es-
timates, the project’s deliverables, c­ onstraints,
and any assumptions. Again, until we go into
the full-blown planning phase, we will not be
able to provide more accurate estimates, but
these high-level e­ stimates are still important.
If we cannot deliver the project on time or on
budget, is it worth carrying on?
At this point it can help us to define
what the project manager’s ­responsibilities
will be (remember, no two projects are
alike), and also the other high-level
­responsibilities, for example, if the ­project
is going to be delivered mostly through
outsourcing, who will be responsible for
­
which parts of the project?
The deliverables of this phase of the
project will be the Statement of Work and
the Project Charter. We will come back to
these in Section 2.
1.4.2. Planning
This is the phase of the project where the
in-depth planning occurs. This includes
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