Learning English

A five-point guide

Are you interested in a career in project management? A project can be many things from producing a language course to building a bridge. Read our guide and learn five basic principles of project management.

Read the text and complete the activity

Now you're going to read a five-point guide to project management.

Before you read

Look at these two summaries. Then read the article once, quite quickly, and decide which summary is correct.

1. Good project management is about creating a plan and making sure it doesn't change.

2. Good project management is about making a plan and changing it if it's not working.

The principles of project management

1. A good development phase is important.
This is when people involved in the project decide the objectives: what it aims to achieve and within what time. They calculate costs and if they do this carefully, the better the chance of success. In some cases, if they hadn't noticed the need for extra funding at this early stage, the projects would have failed.

2. Roles and goals must be clear and realistic.
The project manager is responsible for the achievement of the objectives, and a kick-off meeting with the project team helps everyone to understand their roles. Further meetings take place to discuss individual workers' goals and these goals should be realistic. There are many examples of projects where they were not and problems arose as a result. If the project manager had considered the team members' goals more carefully, they could have avoided many problems.

3. The schedule and risks must be managed efficiently.
The project manager produces the schedule and uses it to check that the team have completed tasks on time. Higher management will need reports at regular meetings, where they consider any risks to the project in terms of funding, time or staff. They make key decisions at these meetings.

4. Have good communication within the team.
There are many examples of projects on which the staff would have felt more motivated if there had been more communication. For project managers, good social skills and regular contact with the team are essential to make sure that everyone remains involved and informed.

5. Be ready to adapt.
Projects rarely go exactly as expected. Good project management requires the ability to deal with new challenges as a project develops.

Which was the correct summary?

The correct summary was:

2. Good project management is about making a plan and changing it if it's not working.

To do

Now it's time to look at the article in detail. Read it again and then answer the questions. They will test your general understanding and your knowledge the third conditional. Good luck!

End of Session 4

We hope you now understand more about project management. Now try Unit 10, and learn about false friends, loanwords and linking devices.