The Benefits of a Methodology. Organizations that embrace a project management methodology benefit from an improvement in the project outcomes. A methodology is a documented approach for performing activities in a coherent, consistent, predictable, and repeatable manner. It includes the methods, procedures, and techniques employed to accomplish the objectives and the goals of the project. A methodology is a method to capture the best practices around project management and disseminate them in the organization. It is a system of principles, practices, and procedures. It’s the collection of practical ideas and proven practices.

Matrix based project structure organizations allow program units to focus on their specific technical competencies and allow projects to be staffed with specialists from throughout the organization. The main advantage of the matrix based organization is the efficient allocation of all resources, especially scarce specialty skills that cannot be fully utilized by only one project. 

The programmatic structure refers to a traditional structure in which program or functional sector managers have formal authority over most resources. It is only suitable for projects within one program sector. However, it is not suitable for projects that require a diverse mix of people with different expertise from various program sectors. 

In this type of structure the project managers have a high level of authority to manage and control the project resources. The project manager has total authority over the project and can acquire resources needed to accomplish project objectives from within or outside the parent organization, subject only to the scope, quality, and budget constraints identified in the project

Project governance can be defined as an organization’s overall process for sharing decision rights about projects and monitoring the perfor-mance of project interventions. All development organizations have some form of project governance. Those with effective governance have actively designed a set of project governance mechanisms (committees, budgeting processes, approvals, etc.), that encourage behavior consistent with the organization's mission, strategy, values, norms, and culture.

The Project Management Cycle represents a continuous process in which each phase provides the foundation for the next phase. For example, during implementation the monitoring phase provides inputs to adapt the original implementation plans. The cyclic nature among the design, implement and monitor phases is repeated throughout the life of the project.

A basic dictionary definition of risk is “the possibility of potential harm that may arise from some present process or from some future event”. As such risk is also associated with the probability that the event may or may not occur. Risks are also associated with the potential benefits or payoff a project may receive in light of taking action that have a potential risk. 

Project stakeholders are the groups or individuals whose interests are impacted positively or negatively by the project or whose interests can impact the project. From this definition one can see that there are many stakeholders, all with different attitudes, levels of interest and support that bear an influence on the project.

The Logical Framework (Logframe) is the term used to the logical structure of a project’s information. A Logframe is a project management tool constructed during the project design phase and is a structured summary of the project design information needs. It should be flexible; that is, there should be opportunities for refining the details during the life of a project as more is learned about the realities of conditions in the project area.

The Project Budget. A project budget is the total sum of money allocated for the particular purpose of the project for a specific period of time. The goal of budget management is to control project costs within the approved budget and deliver the expected project goals. Project Budgeting is performed at the initial stages of project planning and usually in parallel with the development of the project schedule. The steps associated with budgeting are highly dependent on both the estimated lengths of tasks and the resources assigned to the project.

The Project Constraints. The constraint of a project include scope, schedule and budget, these are closely dependent of each other and have a direct impact on quality. Managing these constraints is the main responsibility of the project manager. Each constraint has a specific goal and a project is deemed successful when it achieves all three. Failure in any of the three has an impact in the other two, a delay in a project has an impact on its cost, and an increase in scope has an impact in both time and budget.

The Project Quality. Quality has been defined as "the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs."1 The stated and implied quality needs are the inputs used in defining project requirements from the donor and the beneficiaries. It is also defined as the “Conformance to requirements or fitness for use”2; which means that the product or services must meet the intended objectives of the project and have a value to the donor and beneficiaries and that the beneficiaries can use the material or service as it was originally intended.

The Project Schedule. The project schedule is the organization of all project activities by time and by their logical dependencies and each with a start date and a finish date.The goal of defining the schedule is for the project team to have a complete understanding of all the work that needs they must accomplish, by defining the schedule the project also develops an understanding of the constraints, dependencies and sequence of the activities.

The Project Scope. Scope is the description of the boundaries of the project. It defines what the project will deliver and what it will not deliver. Scope is the view all stakeholders have from the project; it is a definition of the limits of the project. The purpose of scope management is to establish a process that will allow the incorporation of changes by ensuring the changes contribute to the ultimate goal of the project, changes are agreed by stakeholder and approved by management and the donor.

The Responsabilities of the Project Manager. Managing projects requires more than technical skills, this article discusses the key responsabilities a project manager must assume to effectively manage a project. The project manager is the ultimate person accountable for the project she is the one whose job it is to make sure the project gets done, and would be the principal contact person for the donor, beneficiaries and the key stakeholders

The Roles of a Project Manager. The different roles a project manager must have to be successful in leading a team to deliver high quality results. The project manager is the ultimate person accountable for the project she is the one whose job it is to make sure the project gets done, and is the principal contact person for the donor, beneficiaries and the key stakeholders. As responsible for the project she needs to make key decisions regarding the management of the resources available to the project.

The Skills of a Project Manager. Project managers need more skills to deal with the managerial and interpersonal demands of today's projects. In order to perform the functions of management and to assume multiple roles, project managers must be skilled in both the science and the art of project management. There are five managerial skills that are essential to successful management: technical, problem solving, negotiating and conceptual skills.