10 Rules Of Highly Successful Project Management
10 Rules Of Highly Successful Project Management
The Project Management Institute defines PM as the application of knowledge skills tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements PMBOK Guide 3rd Edition Project Management Institute Inc. PN 2005. To sum PM is all about making the project happen. It is a discipline of initiating planning executing and managing resources with the goal of completing specific deliverables within budget and time.
A successful project manager is one who can envision the entire project from start to finish and have the prowess to realize this vision. To keep pace with business and IT project managers need to make their management practices more flexible.
1. Be Agile: Traditional project management methodologies are proving to be too rigid bureaucratic and time consuming for today’s dynamic business environment. In fact these methodologies can work against IT departments. Today you need to respond with agility to rising issues and changes. The formal documentation and processes involved in traditional project management can weigh you down.
2. Do Not Micromanage: The ideal project managers are leaders not control freaks. Some project managers can be overly analytical and invest too much time in perfecting details when they should really focus on achieving milestones and the completion of the project. Flexible project management requires a balance of both the left and right brain hard and soft skills.
3. Keep Improving your Project Management Practice: Technology is always evolving to meet the changing needs of users. In the same way your approach to project management should evolve alongside business and IT processes. Communicate with your team client and business partners as to how you can improve your project management practices.
4. Ongoing Planning: The single most important activity of project managers is planning. Planning must be detailed organized and require team participation. And like the real world plans always change and reprioritize with situations. For this plan replan and plan.
5. Work with a Sense of Urgency: Wouldnt it be great to work with an unlimited pool of time money and resources? Here on Earth however we have fixed 24 hours in a 7day week and we have been taught early on of the importance of spending within our means. Because projects are constricted with a set timeline budget and resources it is of utmost importance that the project process is constantly being driven towards completion. Regular updates meetings and followups are essential.
6. Visualize and Communicate all Project Deliverables and Activities: In short the project manager and team must have a picture of the finished deliverables in the minds of everyone involved. This guides everyone in the same direction. Avoid vague descriptions at all costsbe specific draw diagrams and pictures and make certain everyone agrees with it.
7. Complete Deliverables StepbyStep: The thought of climbing a mountain in one go can be crippling. But to see it as a succession of steps and peaks is less intimidating and more achievable. In the same way you dont want to jump in a project with the intent of building all project deliverables at once. Work on each item step by step get process reviews and approvals and always maintain a sense of direction.
8. Healthy Risk Management: Assign a risk officer who will be responsible for detecting potential project issues. You want someone who has a healthy dose of skepticism.
* All team members should not hesitate to report concerns or challenges.
* Maintain a live project risk database that tracks all issues and resolutions.
* Do not obsess. Assessing risks should not be your main priority. The last thing you want is to be wasting your time and resources on risk management as it will prevent you from ever completing a project let alone give you the courage to start it. Remember you want a healthy dose of risk managementnot a crippling one.
9. Open Communication: Communication is vital in all aspects of project management. Adhere to a policy of open communication encouraging all members to voice opinions and concerns. This cuts through waiting games and significantly reduces the risk of mistakes saving you time and money.
10. Never Lost Sight of the 3Factors Time Budget and Quality: While PM practices have changed to be more flexible and open the foundation remains the same. Project success occurs when it is delivered on time within budget with a level of deliverables that are satisfactory to the client. The Project Managers main role is to keep all team members aware of these big 3sTime Budget and Quality.
About the writer: JNC Solutions is Southern Californias premier provider of business software solutions. It is committed to delivering the best service to fulfill critical business needs in today’s competitive environment. JNC provides custom and prepackaged applications that have a combination of strategic marketing analytics and exceptional design to help streamline complex operations and help leaders achieve their goals. Lisa Ahn serves as the Operations Director and writer for JNC Solutions. For more information visit www.jncsolutions.com.
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