Broad Advice to Be Successful Managing Projects
Broad Advice to Be Successful Managing Projects
There is so much to learn to become a great Project Manager. You have to juggle time, money, people, equipment and materials. To do it all, some people feel like they have to be a miracle worker! But it’s not the case. Just take these essential steps.
1. Plan carefully
Plan the project before you immediately jump into execution. Define the process by which you’re going to manage your project from start to finish. Be sure to adopt and define the project management processes as well as the project lifecycle processes. You will need to do the following activities.
- Define the work, including project objectives, scope, deliverables, risks, constraints, assumptions, organization, etc.
- Lay out a baseline project schedule
- Estimate the cost of the project and prepare the budget
- State how you will manage the project, including communication plan, risk plan and any other plans needed
2. Execute swiftly
The next step is to execute your plan quickly and efficiently. This is the part of the project where you are building deliverables, while at the same time managing the work itself. This is the longest part of the project, but there never seems like enough time. From a project management perspective, this work includes:
- Manage the baseline schedule and budget
- Focus on initial scope of work, and manage scope changes when they occur
- Communicate and engage stakeholders proactively
- Identify and manage risks and issues
- Make sure quality meets the customer expectations
- Manage the project team to get them to perform their best work for you
3. Close and learn
When you’ve produced all of your deliverables and handed them over to your sponsor or customer, you’re ready for closure. Do this by releasing project staff, contractors, suppliers and equipment. Then hold a lessons learned meeting and circulate the results so that they can be leveraged by projects ion the future.
