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Project Management Institute, which was founded in 1969, is a professional organization for project management specialists. Its services include the development of standards, research, education, publication, networking opportunities in local chapters, hosting conferences and training seminars, and providing accreditation in project management.

Outcomes of a project are generally evaluated by three factors: cost, schedule, and performance.

The initiation phase is the first phase of a project. The planning phase is the second.

Global competition,  knowledge explosion, corporate downsizing, and increased customer focus can be considered as reasons why the importance of project management is increasing?

With the fall of Soviet Union and Communist Asian countries’ opening to the world, people in these countries exploded the demand for customer goods and infrastructure development. Western companies had a very big chance of introducing their products to new markets. Within all these processes, project management helped a lot in finding new distribution channels and global
operations. These big changes in the world created a huge market for construction and
telecommunications, especially in eastern Europe and Asian countries who were trying to reconstruct their industry.

There are two outputs of the initiating process group: developing a project charter and identifying stakeholders.

Monitoring and Controlling Process consists of tracking and reviewing the performance of the projects. It also includes controlling changes and monitoring present project activities in accordance with the project management plan to help ensure project plans are successfully applied and the desired results are obtained.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a method for dividing the overall project into smaller elements that are called work packages. The WBS usually defines the organization or individual responsible for each work package. It also makes it easier to prepare schedules and budgets.

The project management methodology helps the project manager to (1) identify the required project tasks, (2) identify the required resources and costs, (3) establish priorities, (4) plan and update schedules, (5) monitor and control end-item quality and performance, and (6) measure project performance.

The level of effort is highest at the performing phase where a major part of the project occurs in this stage. The performing phase includes the stages of design, production, and implementation. It can be referred to as progression through which a system moves from being an idea to an end item. This phase results in the accomplishment of the project objective in a quality manner within budget and on time.

Although Tower of Babel or Egyptian pyramids
are called some of the first “projects”, it is probable
that cavemen ancestors built first projects around
150,000 years ago. It is definitely true that the
construction of Boulder Dam and Edison’s
invention of the light bulb were also projects.
However, it is assumed that modern project
management began with the Manhattan Project
(Meredith, & Mantel, 2000).

In this section, attributes of a project firstly are provided and then it is explained differences between program and project. Lastly, definition of product life cycle and its phases are described.

Attributes of a Project
A project is usually a one-time activity with a well-defined set of expectations and objectives. The
fundamental attributes of a project are given as follows:
1. A project states certain specific objectives that can be defined in terms of schedule and cost. For
example, the objective of a project might be to plan a wedding in six months and within a budget
of $8,000. It is expected that the wedding will meet the performance predefined by the bride and
groom.
2. As stated in the definition of project, projects are temporary activities. They have a definite
beginning and ending point, and they can last minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years. For
example, a raw food workshop might be organized between January 25 and February 3. However,
a bridge project for Bosphorus can take four years.
3. A project may be unique or may have some unique elements. Especially, megaprojects like Panama
Canal are unique since they have never been done before. Other projects like building a shopping
mall or an apartment building include established set of routines. On the other hand, these projects
are also unique because of the customization.
4. A project uses various resources to conduct project activities. Such resources can involve
people, equipment, material, machines and facilities. For example, a bridge project may
include resources such as machines, concrete, labor and so on.

As illustrated in Figure 1.2, outcomes of a project
are generally evaluated by three factors: cost, schedule,
and performance.

Project Versus Program
The program is alternatively used with project due to their similarities. The objective of them is to
accomplish within budget in quality manner and customer’s satisfaction at a given time. However, the
main distinction lies in life span and objective. A program covers a longer time period and includes several
parallel or sequential projects that share common goals and resources.

Project Life Cycle
Although projects are unique and highly unpredictable, most projects pass through similar phases on
the way from origin to completion. These stages are called as the project life cycle. The life cycle indicates
that projects have a specific time frame and that there are changes in the level of effort over the life of
the project. In the project management literature, there are a large number of life cycle models. A classic
project life cycle is set out in Figure 1.3. As can be seen from the figure, project life cycle consists of four
distinct phases: initiation, planning, performing and closure.

The Importance of Project
Management
Project Management Institute had more than 24,000 members in 1997 and current membership is now over 500,000 with members from different countries. It is the best indicator of the rapid growth and interest in project management. An increasing percentage of the organization’s effort is being devoted to projects. In below, some of the reasons why importance of project management is increasing according to Gray and Larson (2000)
are described: 
• Compression of the Product Life Cycle:
One of the most important reasons for demanding a project management process is product life cycles. For today, products in high-tech industries have an average life cycle between 1-3 years. Just 30 years ago, the average life cycle was 10 to 15 years, which was considered normal. Because of the short life cycles, when the product will enter the market is important . This situation is so important that if a high-tech products  development project delays six months, the revenue will decrease 33 percent. • Global Competition: Today’s market expects better products for lower prices. This makes the ISO 9000 -international standards for quality and guarantee managements- mandatory for production all over the world. These standards are applicable for every possible business in terms of quality assurance, design and delivery processes. Therefore, project
management is an efficient way to get work done under favor of its focus on time, cost and performance.
• Knowledge Explosion: Over the years, knowledge of new things has significantly increased, which leads to complexity in projects. In the beginning of 1900s, building a railroad was not that complex. 
But today there are many variables like materials, equipment, codes, required specialists etc. This complexity needs different technologies to integrate with. Project management succeeded to making things possible.
• Corporate Downsizing: In the last years, organizational life has changed dramatically. With rising expenses, many companies tried to downsize and focusing core qualifications to survive. Also, today’s organizations are flatter and leaner, and they need a change. In this respect, project management does the work of middle management for improving things. Downsizing also lets companies approach their projects differently.
• Increased Customer Focus: Competition between companies have increased the value for customers. Customers want more specific products for their needs and enjoyment over the old generic products. This situation necessitates a closer relationship between the customer and the producer. Because of that, sales representatives evolve into project managers for answering their customers’ specific needs. With the increased customer needs, customized products became more common in the industry. For example, if you want to buy a golf club about 10 years ago, you only looked for price and feeling. But today, there are many golf clubs like long
or short handles, for power shots or more technical shots etc. Project management has become mandatory for producing that kind of customized products for customer satisfaction. 
• Rapid Development of Third World and Closed Economies:

With the fall of Soviet
Union and Communist Asian countries’ opening to world, people in these countries exploded the demand of customer goods and infrastructure development. Western companies had a very big chance for introducing their products to new markets. Within all these processes, project management helped a lot for finding new istribution channels and global operations. These big changes in the world created a huge market for construction and
telecommunications, especially in eastern Europe and Asian countries who were trying to reconstruct their ndustry.

According to the Project Management Institute
(PMI®), the term project stakeholder refers to
“an individual, group, or organization, who
may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to
be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome
of a project”. The primary stakeholders are
customers, end users, and builders.

Initiating Process Group
All projects start with an idea. Within the initiating process group, this idea turns into a project
and is described. The initial scope and estimated budget are clearly defined and financial resources are
committed. Project manager is also assigned. The official authorization of a project is handed over during
this process group stage. There are two outputs of the initiating process group: developing a project charter
and identifying stakeholders. Inputs of developing a project charter might be project statement of work,
contract, business case, enterprise environmental factors, and so on. The process of identifying stakeholders
includes defining all people or organizations affected by the project. Inputs of identifying stakeholders
might be the project charter, procurement documents, organizational process assets, and so on.

Executing Process Group
This process is performed to accomplish the
work defined in the project management plan to
meet customer’s satisfaction. It includes managing
the project team such as giving and explaining tasks
to all team members, defining how the team will
perform, and so on. A large portion of the budget
is expanded in this process group. It includes the
following project management processes:
• Direct and manage project execution:
Performing the activities in the project
management plan,
• Perform quality assurance: Controlling
the quality requirements to guarantee
appropriate quality standards,
• Acquire project team: Confirming human
resource availability,
• Develop project team: Improving the
team interaction to increase the project
performance,
• Manage project team: Tracking team
member performance and providing
feedback,
• Distribute information: Ensuring relevant
information to project stakeholders,
• Manage stakeholders’ expectations:
working with stakeholders to meet their
expectations,
• Conduct procurements: obtaining seller
responses, selecting a seller and so on