Design Project Management
Many projects involve the assembly of existing parts in standard ways. Construction of a new building, while a very complex project, is pretty mechanical. But design project management is different because you really don't know at the beginning of a design project what the finished product is supposed to be.
There is often a certain tension between design and project management. Design is a creative, freewheeling process in general, while project management is a disciplined, organized thing with standards and best practices to be followed. One of the greatest challenges of design project management is getting all the creative people involved in a design project to practice proper design project management. If the project management functions are not performed scrupulously, there is a danger that the entire design project will fail to produce the results desired: a satisfied customer.
One of the critical steps in design project management is taken at the very beginning: deciding the level of innovation required. Does your customer want a "me-too" design or something no one else has ever come up with before? Too often, design project management gets bogged down as the creative team gets carried away with coming up with something brilliantly new, when all the customer wants is something serviceable but delivered on schedule and under budget. So it's important to get everyone to agree right at the beginning what "good enough" is going to look like.
A design project may be handled entirely in-house, but many design projects involve one or more external suppliers or subcontractors. Selecting the right suppliers for a given design project management is a matter that deserves thoughtful consideration. The in-house people who will work on a project should mesh well personally with the staffs of external suppliers. Of course, the cost of external suppliers must be considered too. The level of innovation required guides the selection of suppliers; some are chronically creative and others are reliable but ordinary workhorses.
Communication is intense between in-house staff, external suppliers, and customers during many design projects. Scheduling, conducting, and documenting such communications is part of the design project management process, and a very important one. Documentation, in particular, may become critical if there are any disputes or dissatisfactions at the completion of the project.
Design project management software is often relatively simple and based upon standard office productivity tools such as Microsoft Project, which is available as part of the Microsoft Office suite. Design project management templates for Microsoft Project are available on the Web, often free of charge.