What's the general approach in managing projects?

Planning, Estimating, Setting realistic goals, Co-ordinating, Organising, Calculating project estimated time. Check on the project timeline by various tools like Gantt Chart , if delay calculate new estimate time against the actual time taken by the project. Keep an eye on cost of the project.Above are some of the basic things which need to be looked while managing the projects.

Time, Cost, Scope (Resources) - basics of project management, these3 attributes has to form an equilateral triangle to make the project successful

The basics are:

1. Planning
2. Organizing
3. Budgeting
4. Controlling 

The controlling is to be taken in broader perspective- scheduling, maintaining the approved schedule and meeting the deadlines so that the project operation could be stated as planned to reap benefits.

Meeting deadlines under critical Project times as per Project Program