Why Project Management is So Important to Startups

Over the last few years, many startups have been encouraged to “go lean or go home”. In this article, we're going to address some of the drawbacks of lean startup management and why project management remains essential for startups even today.

Order Out of Chaos

Projects are chaotic in nature and the primary goal of project management is to organize this chaos. Having a clear plan right from the start with a set of clear objectives will ensure that your project comes to term in a timely matter.

Timelines are extremely important when it comes to any project and not having one in place is a clear path to impending doom. A good project manager should be able to assign specific timelines for each phase of a project and delegate specific tasks to maximize the workforce.

In many cases, a project manager will also have to consider outsourcing certain tasks in case his current workforce is lacking in certain areas. For instance, if your team doesn't have a resident SEO expert on the books, it would be more advisable to hire the services of a company such as Go Mungo SEO, if only for a single project.

In addition, project management is essential for teamwork. Projects should bring people together, not divide, and you, as a project manager, should be able to identify those with the right leadership skills and expertise to carry out certain tasks.

Each group should have someone who is in charge, and  the major aspect of project management is identifying who has the right organisational and interpersonal skills to be in charge of each portion of a project. In many cases, the person in charge might not always be the most skilled, but even the most skilled worker might ruin a team's effort if he doesn't have the personal or organisational skills needed.

Managing Integration

These days, projects are as integrated as ever. Tech startups, in particular, have to integrate things such as payment processing, sales, user experience, design, etc. Projects have to take all these factors into consideration. This is why project management is essential to make sure that the final product is cohesive and tackles all the various objectives at hand.

Budgeting

One of the most important aspects of project management is budget. Budgeting properly is absolutely essential for any startup, and good project managers should be able to identify costs early and find solutions in the event some processes end up costing more than expected.

With resource conflict solutions, managers can downsize certain operations and reduce the amount of workforce allocated to certain tasks. Also, having clear timelines for each phase will reduce time management inefficiencies that could eventually cause projects to go over budget.

Conclusion

As you can see, project management remains absolutely essential for startups to be successful. A poorly planned project is set to fail for many reasons. First, chances of going over budget are much greater and successful integration is impossible without a clear roadmap in place. In addition, the chaotic nature of any project demands for sound project management.