Project management is important. It is also often overcomplicated.
The 4M’s is a term out of the construction industry and provides a simple but effective way of looking at any task you need to do.
Men - What people do you need? What skillsets should they have? How many do you need? How do they work together?
Money – what’s the budget? How do you raise the money? What contingency do you have? Purchase versus hire?
Machines – Trucks, cars, cement mixers, PCs, server racks, telephones, and so on. What physical machines/tools do you need to do the job. You can add in office space, software, etc. here too.
Materials – concrete powder, sand, rebar, pencils, glue, USB drives, printing paper, diesel, electricity, stationery, etc. What do you consume to do you consume to deliver your task?
It’s not sophisticated, and misses a lot of aspects such as schedule, reporting, governance etc. However, it does set the core of what you need to do for the task and is a good starting point for any kind of planning.
Unfortunately the complexity of the industry is hidden within payment terms set in contract. It's not enough to just do the work any more regardless of your performance as a trades person. Its now all about management of collection with a complete focus on 'entitlement'. (The new key word for all construction companies.) Terms are hard and fast and are the major reason for the demise of many building and construction companies over the past few years. Managing task related compliance is difficult if there is no preset process or detailed understanding of payment legislation. Vertical management doesn't work or is high risk but is still the most used format. Flat management is the key to success which requires modern tech solutions.
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