1. Why is there a new or renewed interest in the field of project management?
Project management has a high level of importance in running a good business because it allows one person or a team of managers to provide structure and aims in order to succeed in their project.
Timing is everything in business, especially when you need to make a product. Some experience very tight deadlines so a project manager must distribute tasks to their team and calculate how much time they have to complete them in. Also, they are ultimately responsible for what goes ahead in terms of the actual products and the final decisions.
There are a number of advantages for product management in terms of business. One particular advantage is the structure. In order to create and market a potentially successful product you need order and discipline to get the job done. Having a project management team provides the organization so in the allocated time they have they can work to the best of their ability.
2. What is a project and what are its main attributes? How is a project different from what most people do in their day-to-day jobs?
A project is an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned and designed to achieve a particular aim.
A project consists of a goal or objective; something the team is trying to accomplish, a triple-constraint: Scope, Cost, and Time, a start and end date, a sponsor and stakeholders, Project phases (i.e. Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring & Control, and Closure), Identified risks, mitigation strategy, and contingency plans, a design and requirements defining the details of the goal, a schedule of what will be done when by whom, often including interim milestones, Functional and/or non-functional resources working on the project and testing implementation, a project manager that tracks & reports progress, identifies & solves risks, issues, and problems, manages the project team, escalates issues to project
References: http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Case%20Study/Case_Quartier%20International%20Montreal.ashx http://www.qimtl.qc.ca/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartier_international_de_Montr%C3%A9al/