Project Management Facts That May Surprise You

Here are a few fun facts relating to project management. Some of them sound far-fetched, but they’re true to the best of our knowledge! Read up!

• According to the Project Management Institute, the country with the top salary for project management practitioners was Australia at US$134.658. The United States came in at #3 at US$108,000, while Canada hit the mark at US$95,140.
  
  
• The Australian based company, Goal Group highlights the top ten factors contributing to project success:

1. Clear goals/objectives
2. Support from senior management
3. Adequate funds/resources
4. Realistic schedule
5. End user commitment
6. Effective leadership/conflict resolution
7. Flexible approach to change
8. Clear communication channels
9. Taking account of past experience
10. Effective management of risk
    
    

• Wrike via Slideshare uses a meme to bust myths about project management, they share the following stats:

Myth 1 – Remote collaboration is unproductive.
In fact, remote work makes happy employees and increases performance by 13%.

Myth 2 – Project management certification is a must.
In fact, even at IBM, only 56% of project management specialists hold a certificate.

Myth 3 – Project management is pure paperwork.
In fact, a project manager spends 90% of their time communicating.

Myth 4 – Frequent meetings are necessary to keep everyone in the loop.
In fact, 47% of workers called meetings the #1 time-waster at the office.

Myth 5 – Project failures are fatal.
In fact, if failures are responded to correctly, they may be the link to future successes.

• According to Bright Hub PM, projects have 5 phases.

1. 1. Initiation – includes an overview of the project in addition to the strategy you plan on using in order to achieve the desired results.
   2. Planning – includes a detailed breakdown and assignment of each task of your project from beginning to end.
   3. Execution/Control – the planned solution is implemented to solve the problem specified in the project’s requirements
   4. Closure – a written formal project review report which contains the following elements: a formal acceptance of the final product (by the client), Weighted Critical Measurements (a match between the initial requirements laid out by the client against the final delivered product), lessons learned, project resources, and a formal project closure notification to higher management.
      
      

• Bonus factoids by the ACS Distance Education include:

– Nearly 70% of organizations implementing project managers report that project success rates have improved significantly as a result.
– 90% of global senior executives and project management experts say good project management is key to delivering successful results and gaining a competitive edge.
– More than 16 million people regard project management as their profession.

The original source of this article can be read here.