What is project management?

Project management is a systematic process of planning, executing and controlling resources and activities in order to achieve predetermined goals. It covers the identification, prioritization and scheduling of every task that must be completed to reach the objective.

What a project manager actually does

A project manager defines the scope and the deliverables, builds the schedule, secures the resources and the budget, then tracks progress against that reference. The role is as much about communication — with the sponsor, the team and the stakeholders — as about planning.

The main constraints

Every project is arbitrated between scope, time, cost and quality. Changing one of them mechanically affects the others: adding scope without extending the deadline means either more resources or a lower level of quality. Making that trade-off explicit is what turns a wish list into a plan.

Where a PPM tool helps

Managing one project on a spreadsheet is possible. Managing twenty, with shared resources and a consolidated budget, is not. FoxPlan centralises schedules, workload and budgets so that arbitration between projects rests on facts rather than on the loudest stakeholder.