9 Secrets to Project Management Success 1. Ensure that you have full project details before starting. Creating a completely detailed project scope approved by all stakeholders is a necessity, states Adam Balkwill, technical director, Garfield Group, an integrated marketing agency. The scope should include interim milestones, with deliverable dates and a budget worksheet that represents all time involved. If the initial project writeup has enough detail, the better you and your client will interact through its production, Balkwill says. Change requests will happen on every project, but this allows you to manage the client when something is out of scope. 2. Have the right (and right-sized) project management team in place. In order for a project to be successful, you need to have the right project team in place, people whose skills and experience can benefit the project, from the project manager on down. It also helps to limit the number of people involved, says Josh Meah, COO, JackMyRep, a reputation management company. 3. Set expectations -- and milestones -- up front. Set relatively (based on risk) frequent milestones and check in often to ensure projects stay on track, advises Pat McGuinness, chief technology risk officer, GE Capital. If you only set longer-term or high-level milestones, you wont realize a project is in trouble until its too late. 4. Be clear about who is responsible for what -- and deadlines. When multiple people are collaborating on the same task, assignments, deadlines and other important details often get lost in translation, explains Fred Mouawad, founder and CEO, Taskworld, a task management platform. To avoid confusion, determine which team members are responsible for which pieces of work [up front], and enforce accountability. 5. Dont micromanage. Meet regularly with the team members who will be working on the project. However, allow them breathing room to work without feeling micromanaged, says Shilonda Downing, owner, Virtual Work Team, a virtual assistant company. Creating a balance here is key to ensuring that work is being done and that team members feel empowered to do their best work. 6. Make sure you have a good system in place for managing the project, one that everyone can and will use. Email seems the most obvious form of communication when managing a project, but it can hinder progress, says Chris Griffiths, CEO, DropTask, a visual task management solution. Trawling through email threads for previous correspondence is a huge time waster. Using software that keeps all project information and communication in one place not only saves time, [it] maintains a productive workspace. 7. Keep team members motivated by rewarding them when milestones are reached. It is useful to set milestones while planning projects, notes Ajay Kaul, managing partner, AgreeYa Solutions, a provider of business software. To ensure projects stay on track, recognize team members whenever a milestone is met. Celebrating milestones can be a great way to track progress while keeping team members motivated. 8. Hold regular project status meetings or calls, but keep them short. Frequent communication with all members of the team as well as the client is the best way to ensure a project is on track, says Driehorst. This is especially important in a virtual environment, where [you] dont have the luxury of popping into a colleagues office to check the status of a task. I find scheduling regular calls in addition to all the other forms of digital communication we use ensures open and clear communication for all concerned. . Build in time for changes. In technology, projects dont ever seem to follow specifications exactly, notes Samit Shah, cofounder, EventEdge, which builds custom event apps. To avoid pain points and save time, build in extra time for specification changes and requests. You will be thankful.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 08:40:20 +0000
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