Project management is a fact of life for most businesses and corporations. There is usually a pressing need that makes a project necessary. It could be a move to a new strategic location, the implementation of a new product or service, or system changes that need to be made for performance, regulatory or legal concerns.
Whatever the reason for the project, effective project management is essential to your company’s bottom-line. Ineffective project management can have a negative impact and can actually cost the company in more ways than one such as delays, missed income opportunities, and lost management and labor hours.
Effective project management means that the project is run at its most efficient and lean level. The project manager, through the use of several tools and skill sets, is responsible for delivering results that are on time and below budget. Several key factors go in to making a project a success, and management should not ignore these factors. Too many times management puts projects into the hands of “good people” or even highly educated people without considering whether or not that person is qualified to run an initiative.
Choosing the right Project Manager
The first challenge is to find an individual that is experienced in project management and trained with the tools needed to lead a successful project. It is not enough to put a performing employee in charge of an important project, and it is not enough to put a person with several projects experiences if they are not skilled for the considered one. Project managers need to know what they are doing. The project manager must be trained specifically in project management and have a deep understanding of the specific environment.
It is important that the project manager possesses the following attributes:
1. Task oriented. Projects are all about tasks. A good project manager needs to understand how to manage multiple and sometimes complex tasks and knowing how to deal with all types of disciplines is key. This requires a skilled listener and quick learner.
2. Pays attention to deadlines. Timelines are important and the project manager lives and dies by the calendar. Late projects can hardly be considered successful projects. This trait can be judged by an employee’s behavior. If they are usually late for work and meetings, they may not pay attention to deadlines.
3. Trained in project management techniques. A project manager MUST have the skills required to scope out and plan a project. These techniques are not common knowledge and require training (e.g. dependency planning).
4. People oriented. Project managers face a host of challenges during the course of a project. Often their biggest challenge is dealing with the people on their project team. Cross-functional and cross-company projects just about guarantee that there will be a variety of personalities involved. To be successful, and to lead through persuasion, the project manager must have excellent people skills.
Assigning the Project Team and Accountability
Project teams are assembled either by the project manager or by other key management individuals. Project team members should be chosen based on the following criteria:
1. The team member has in-depth knowledge of a certain element or elements of the project.
2. The team member has the ability to contribute to the project and get the job done in a timely manner (i.e. commitment). Project team members must not only have knowledge but also are able to put that knowledge to good use in helping the team achieve its goals on time.
3. The team member’s supervisor must be in support of the team member’s participation.
4. The project manager must be able to come to the team member’s supervisor for support during difficult times, as referenced earlier, such as when deadlines are missed, the team member has conflicting priorities, etc. This is key to the success of the project as it can suffer serious delays if this understanding is not in place.
5. All relevant areas from the firm must be represented in the project team. This reduces the risk to miss part of the requirements and support acceptance of potential decisions by all departments.
Planning The Project
The project manager in the early stages of a project is responsible for bringing the team together to scope out and plan the project. Sufficient time must be dedicated to this phase.
Project planning is a critical step in the project. It sets the groundwork for everything that lies ahead reducing the risk of failure due to unexpected analysis or issues. There is no substitute for good, up front, thoughtful and thorough planning.
One common and effective planning method is the construction of a PERT Chart (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) combined with dependency planning. This allows capturing all of the key tasks that need to take place, the time and the effort required for each task. The team also identifies what is the critical path (i.e. the longest end to end set of tasks, each dependent on the other, in the project). It is extremely important to be as detailed as possible (i.e. capture as many tasks as possible). Of course there will be additions in the future, but early extensive planning will reduce those adjustments.
Executing The Project
Once the project is planned it is time for the project manager to bring his/her team together to begin work. At this point, the project manager’s facilitation skills really make a difference. The kick-off and all subsequent meetings should be concise, task driven, and to the point. Long drawn out forums that often lose focus are a tremendous waste of time and money to the company. Discussions and debates over tasks should take place in the planning phase of the project, not the execution phase.
The project manager must now turn his/her attention to making sure the project stays on schedule and that each component of the project is carried out according to plan. Depending on the size of the project, this can be accomplished a number of ways.
For large projects, sub-teams and sub-team leaders should be assigned to carry out chunks of the projects that make sense to group together. For instance, a process reengineering project could be split by business/product lines. The allocated lead is responsible for making sure that all analysis related his area is carried out on time. The sub-team leaders meet regularly with the project manager to give updates and clear up issues.
Communication done via meetings is an important part of all projects. It ensures that the information is shared adequately and that the project manager is constantly on top of what is happening in each area of the project. Bottom - Up - Bottom information flows will help coordinate efforts, unblock issues and set priorities.
Insufficiently involved project managers irregularly meet with their team, blindly accept what they are being told, and then go back to the office to wait for the next update. Successful project managers know what is going on and must stay constantly informed. Missed deadlines should never be a surprise and must be aggressively challenged and dealt with.
Staying On Track - Battling Project Creep
The tendency to let other tasks and issues “invade” the project plan is often referred to as “project or scope creep”. During the project life-cycle sometimes very valid issues come up and need to be addressed. The high performance project manager has the ability to resist project creep. Only very valid issues are inserted into the project plan but everything else is resisted and kept out.
A way to monitor for project creep is to create a scope statement from the outset and refer to it from time to time. This acts as a guiding compass for the project manager. The project manager, the executive sponsor, and the steering committee must agree to any change to the scope.
Along the same lines, make sure there is a regular meeting with the Executive Sponsor and Steering Committee and make sure successes are highlighted. The prospect of meeting these individuals keeps the project manager motivated to stay on track and to complete a project successfully and on time.
Completing the Project
The success of an initiative heavily depends on the ability to finish it - it means finalizing and presenting that analysis which includes all recent information, getting that piece of software up and running, getting a major change in procedures documented and in place. It all comes down to the finish and there are a couple of issues to think about when completing a project.
First, all exceptions and postponed pieces of work must be reconsidered in the light of the end result. It consists in the analysis of pending topics or tasks to determine their impacts on the initial scope and the related decision to leave them aside or incorporate them again in the delivery.
Second, the project manager must ensure that all documents produced during the initiative are correctly updated and shared. This will make potential hand-overs or maintenance more efficient and keep the knowledge available.
Finally, the assumption that users or stakeholders will independently use the elements developed by the project is wrong. The project manager must proceed to presentations, trainings or town hall to share the news with all those individuals or employees affected by the changes.
Successful project managers and successful project teams should be proud of their work. Reputations are established through effective communication of project successes. It is also a great idea for project teams to celebrate their successes, consider throwing a party or even a luncheon for the successful project team. This is a great motivator to tackle future projects and the team is recognized for their accomplishment.