Monitor

May 16, 2025
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What is Monitor?

In project management, monitoring means observing, tracking, and assessing a project’s progress and performance against its planned goals, timelines, and budgets. Monitoring ensures the team completes tasks as expected and identifies any issues or delays early. Keeping the project aligned with its objectives and maintaining stakeholder confidence is critical. This activity involves gathering data, analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs), and communicating findings with the project team and stakeholders. It is an ongoing process that takes place throughout the project lifecycle.

Key Points

  • Monitoring helps project managers detect problems early and take corrective action before minor issues grow.
  • It involves regularly reviewing schedules, costs, risks, and quality to ensure everything stays within scope.
  • The information gathered during monitoring supports decision-making and reporting.
  • Monitoring often uses tools like status reports, dashboards, checklists, and control charts.
  • Effective monitoring improves accountability, transparency, and the chance of project success.

Related Terms

  • Project control is closely tied to monitoring, as it involves taking action based on monitored data to keep the project on track.
  • Performance measurement is essential to monitoring that compares actual results against project baselines.
  • A project management plan provides the framework for what the team should monitor and how to measure success.
  • Risk management benefits from monitoring because it allows early detection and mitigation of potential threats.
  • Earned value management is a technique used during monitoring to assess cost and schedule performance.

Monitor: Example

A website redesign manager uses weekly team check-ins and project dashboards to monitor progress. The dashboards show that design tasks are ahead of schedule, but content writing is falling behind. By identifying this issue early, the manager reallocates resources and adjusts the timeline to prevent further delays. Regular monitoring ensures the project stays aligned with its goals and delivers timely value.

Monitor: Best Practices

  • Define clear performance indicators before the project begins.
  • Establish a regular monitoring schedule with consistent reporting formats.
  • Use tools and software to collect and present data clearly and accurately.
  • Involve team members in the monitoring process to encourage ownership and accountability.
  • Adjust plans and resources promptly based on monitoring results to keep the project on track.

Additional Resources

Monitor - Keeping on Track: Monitoring and Controlling Projects     Monitor - Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling

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