Project Management

The normal project cycle is:

Start

Feasibility Study/Business Plan

Finance

Project Planning

Project Execution

Project Completed

A PM is a very different animal, (In some cases the "Animal" is literal), unlike someone managing a day-to-day operation a PM is constrained by time, budget and resources. The successful PM will form a small project team and prepare the following documents. Many of which will refer to the business plan.

Project Plan

Often this will be in the form of a software package, this will be discussed later.

Resource Plan

A list of labour, materials and equipment.

Financial Plan & Budget

Recording all costs for the project

Quality Specification

Stating the specifications for all materials and works.

Procurement Procedures

The policies referring to purchasing and acquisition.

Reporting Procedures

How the Stakeholders and stakeholders will be informed of progress.

Deliverables

A definitive list of what constitutes to completion of phases or the whole project.

There are many different methodologies to Management of a Project, some, particularly on large civil projects require a considerable amount of people to operate. Since this guide is for start-ups and first timers then these methodologies would not normally apply.