Why project management is an essential skill for information professionals
Jinfo Blog

By Yulia Aspinall

Abstract

Almost half of all failed projects are caused by poor decision-making, so the importance of good project management (PM) skills, particularly for information professionals, is paramount, Yulia Aspinall explains.

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According to research by the Project Management Institute, 47% of unsuccessful projects are impacted by poor decision-making. The slogan, "The right information delivered to the right people at the right time enables the right decision", highlights that it's possible to draw a parallel that in 47% of unsuccessful projects, the data/information/knowledge management was not efficient.

Project management (PM) skills are becoming must-have capabilities in a complex working environment. The need to manage tasks, projects and portfolios in order of business priorities cannot be done via emails or calendar reminders. 

Software and practical steps

As part of Jinfo's Research Focus, "Benchmark information roles - Jinfo models of excellence", my article, "The importance of project management for visibility into capacity" looks at the importance of PM skills to the information professional and highlights some of the leading software available, along with some practical steps you can incorporate into your daily work.

Project management tools and software help to run projects more effectively from start to finish. As you might expect, there are many project management solutions on the market, from free online apps to enterprise-level solutions.

John Speaker, on the Workzone blog, listed "18 ways project management software can help you", dividing all benefits into three groups:

• Visibility
• Accountability
• Organisation.

Information flow

However, despite the plethora of packages available, the ideal solution, combining the highly customisable features specific for the individual or business, is probably still to come. For that reason, the process for PM software selection is very much the same as for any software. That is: developing the user requirement specification (URS), comparing several relevant solutions, and running a case study. 

The state of health of the information flow in the organisation, from routine information enquiries through tasks, activities, projects, programme and workflow management to decision-making, is the responsibility of the information professional. Having PM skills, understanding people, processes and tools, and enabling organisational PM will, undoubtedly, allow information professionals to monitor and correct the health of information flow and provide invaluable strategic support to the business.

If you already have a Jinfo Subscription, log in and read more about project management in my article, "The importance of project management for visibility into capacity".

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