A Project Manager leads and oversees the progress of the team and makes decisions to ensure maximum value.
Project Managers gather the project requirements and prioritize when and how to perform the necessary stages within their chosen methodology. They set and manage the budget and oversee all elements of the project’s development until closure. Project Managers are distinct from Product Managers.
OpenClassrooms offers the freely accessible course “Project Management 101” to set you down the right path of understanding the basics of project management. (101 means introduction.)
This course is including in the OpenClassrooms Digital Project Manager career program.
Learning the basics of project management is relevant whether you are in a large company working with project managers or in a smaller startup where both the product management and project management fall on your shoulders.
In this article, let’s take a look at one of the most important initial stages of project management: determining a realistic budget for your project.
How do I cost a project?
Costing a project is an important initial stage, not least because the estimate produced will be used to authorize the budget. Also, the more accurate your estimate of the project cost is, the better you will be able to manage your budget as you move forward.
Here is the 4 step framework to follow:
1. Deconstruct each requirement into a set of tasks
A task is a piece of work that one team member can do.
You need to sit down with your team and make a list of the required tasks. Then you will allocate a team member to each task, and the amount of time you anticipate it will take to complete.
2. Calculate the cost of completing these tasks
Take the hourly rate for each person on the team. Then you can multiply the hours by the cost per hour of the relevant person.
3. Compute the cost of each individual task to arrive at the cost of team resources
This involves adding up the cost of each team member to get a total manpower cost of completion.
4. Add any other non-resource costs to arrive at the cost of delivering the project:
Consider direct costs, such as specific materials used exclusively for this project including new laptops, servers, etc; travel costs for any team members; and a portion of costs for upper management involvement.
And any relevant indirect costs, such as office rent, employee benefits, and the time required of the finance department, contract department etc.
You should always approach the exercise of costing your project in this logical, step-by-step way. This ensures that you won’t forget anything, but also at the end you will have a clearly set out task list from which to write your project plan.
Want to learn more about Project Management?
Here is the introduction to the free OpenClassrooms course, Project Management 101:
About OpenClassrooms
OpenClassrooms is a global online education-to-employment platform, designed to teach people the skills they need for the most in-demand jobs.
We provide programs in areas such as web and mobile development, data analysis, design, project management and digital product management, career coaching and more.
All the courses that make up our programs can be accessed freely online.
Our associate’s-, bachelor’s- and masters-level diploma programs are conducted fully online through a mix of videos, online reading, and projects a student would realistically face in a future role. Programs take an average of 6 to 18 months to complete.
To augment the online learning experience, students that sign up for a diploma program are paired with experienced professionals in their field that serve as a dedicated mentor. Mentors help with their coursework and career coaches help them find a job.
If you would like to inquire about one of our paid, career programs, book a call with one of our student advisors to learn more.
