With the global rise in multi-skilling and multi-tasking, and the explosion of instantly accessible digital planning and tracking tools, who needs a project manager?
Surely it’s something we do instinctively? Why would any business – large or small – commit a budget to project management?
Yet the most successful organisations do. And they engage an astute, qualified project manager time and time again. In the USA, high performing organisations successfully complete 89% of their projects, while low performers complete only 36%.* Clearly, successful organisations understand the huge value a project manager adds.
In a fast and competitive world, industries of all kind, whether private or state based, are more heavily focused than ever before on efficiency, accountability and quality. From construction to IT, and from oil and gas to law, healthcare and management, the world’s sustainable growth relies, more and more, on successful development.
Whatever the project, and wherever in the world, the emphasis on keeping things on track from cost and safety to reliability is paramount. And for that, a well qualified, smart and versatile project manager is worth their weight in gold.
Who was fired and why?
If we’ve learned one thing from reality TV shows like ‘The Apprentice’ it’s that a great project manager equals a successful project outcome.
Sadly, project management is often seen as an unnecessary overhead, or simply a bureaucratic headache of paperwork that gets in the way of progress. Sadder still, it’s one of those things that looks easy – until you try it.
The thing about good project management is it’s only apparent when it’s missing. That’s because project managers are the people who brilliantly organise the enormous chaos of a project into seamless, smooth and streamlined order.
What’s your superpower?
The Australian and global demand for project management qualifications and skills is growing rapidly across all industries. Pursuing specific postgraduate studies, such as Curtin’s courses, puts you firmly in command as you master a wide range of practical organisational, leadership, analysis and time management skills among many others.
Curtin graduates take these superpowers into the world:
- Saving time. Meeting deadlines and achieving objectives, often for a number of stakeholders, delivers a domino effect of positive outcomes.
- Saving money. Maximising available resources and working within budgets gives projects a distinct advantage. For every $1 billion invested in the USA, $122 million is wasted due to lack of project performance.*
- Managing risk. Understanding a raft of risks on a project and planning for them is key to minimising everything from failure to accidents and injuries.
- Managing quality. Every smart organisation pursues excellence. Great project managers have the ability to understand reliability that drives real improvement, leading to greater success.
- Managing change. Preventing negative organisational stress matters. Projects involve people, so Curtin’s courses organisational structure, human perceptions, personality, motivation, leadership, group processes, performance appraisal, conflict and work redesign.
- Managing integration.
- Projects don’t happen in a vacuum, so a great project manager has the power to successfully pull many competing and often disparate processes and systems together to achieve common goals and success.
- Amassing and using knowledge. Projects are exceptionally varied, and managing them calls for the unique ability to take in vast amounts of knowledge that can be innovatively applied to drive improvement in all business areas.
Want to find out more?
The good news about project management superpowers is that an internationally regarded postgraduate qualification from Curtin places them all within your reach.
Discover how you can gain globally portable skills and practical knowledge to help you master project management and forge a successful career across many industries.
*Source: US Project Management Institute (PMI). www.PMI.org
