10 Powerful Tips For Project Management Success
Project managers are often posed with some serious challenges that can derail the success of a project. The common challenges that keep them on their toes includes keeping up with the pace of the project, managing resources and making sure it is on track and within the desired budget. Ensuring success of a project involves knowing the nitty-gritties of a project, effective planning, proper work management system and evaluating the project.
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There is no single way to ensure project management success but there are few powerful project management tips for managers which when included in a management style can produce remarkable results. So in this blog, we will take a look at 10 project management tips for effective project management and succeed at it.
Let’s take a look at ten amazing project management tips, tricks, and techniques:
1. Know the project inside out
The first and the foremost thing that needs to be done to make a project successful is to lay a strong foundation. For this, you need to identify the clients, stakeholders and understand their interests and expectations regarding a project. The next step would be to develop a solid project plan where the roles and the job responsibilities are clearly defined.
You need to define the goals and objectives for better clarity and understanding. To make planning more effective, you can establish measurable and trackable success criteria to make sure if the project is on the track or not.
2. Identify the project requirements
It is essential to identify the project requirements because the project resources are the key factors that contribute in making a project successful. Once the plan is developed, the next step is to create a team capable of implementing the plan effectively. Now this starts with defining roles and allocating the right set of tasks to them keeping in mind their personalities, strengths and expertise.
If your team needs a seasoned professional in a specific domain, bring this to the HR department so that they can hire the right candidate and the future projects don’t suffer. After all, the project management resources are the key contributors in delivering a successful project.
3. Get a qualified project manager
To make sure the project is progressing in the right direction, it’s essential to appoint a qualified project manager. The catch is to either find an effective manager or someone who is always interested in knowing how to be a better project manager. A project manager who is credible enough will leave no stone unturned to make the project a success.
He would know how to manage a team of different personalities by allocating work to the right person and making sure that the process is both productive and fun. He will entrust the team with their decisions and will step in whenever something goes unexpectedly. He knows how to gain the trust of the clients and communicate their expectations to his team to work in unison to achieve a shared goal.
4. Define critical milestones
The success of the project depends upon the identification of the defining moments throughout the project. This can be done by providing the life cycle of a project which includes the main phases such as initiation, planning, execution and closure. You can perform an evaluation test after every phase. From parts of the product to the technical documents, you need all of the elements involved in the project to be perfect to make sure that it is exceeding expectations of the clients.
These milestones are effective indicators of the teams working with sincere dedication to complete the project successfully. Along with this, you can also manage projects risks and can track the project progress by defining critical milestones.
5. Communication is the key
To run a project smoothly, consistent effective communication needs to take place between the stakeholders and clients and new changes should be communicated to the team members to avoid ‘surprise attacks’. Being a project manager, the best thing you can do is to ensure that the communication lines between you and the team members are always open so that anyone can walk up to you without any second thoughts.
Ineffective communication often leads to the failure of the projects. So, make sure everyone has the required information to make decisions and proceed with the project. Project status reports are a good way to keep everyone on the same page by keeping them updated about new developments in a project.
6. Tap into team members strengths and weaknesses
The success of a project largely depends on skills of the team members. An effective manager will always make an effort to get to know about his team members inherent strengths and weaknesses so that he can allocate work accordingly. As someone’s strength is someone else’s weakness thus an effective manager will make sure the work is given to the team member who is inherently competent and faster at completing it.
Tapping into the strengths of team members will definitely ensure faster task completion and better time management. With everyone in a team putting their best foot forward and making the most of their strengths, the project will be nothing less than a success.
7. Use a Project management app
Technology has given many gifts to the project managers with online project management software topping the list. The software acts as a big store-house of all the relevant project information. From files to documents, file-sharing to giving feedback, effective communication to seamless collaboration — project management software acts as a centralized platform for everything and everyone in the team.
With so many apps available today, you can choose the one that fits the bill for your organization. ProofHub is one such online project management app that empowers teams to collaborate and deliver amazing projects with some powerful features. Online proofing tool, Gantt charts, reports, and customized workflows and kanban boards are few to name.
8. Manage potential risks
Risk management being one of the imperative project management practices today is essential for project success. Risks are the potential threats that can creep anytime and can jeopardize the whole progress in a project. To make sure your project is successful, potential risks need to be identified beforehand so that effective measures can be taken if they arise in the need of the hour.
With considerable experience and expertise with similar projects, you will be able to foresee when the risk is imminent and when corrective measures need to be taken. After realizing the importance of risk management, many organizations are now paying special attention to it so that it doesn’t come in the way of the success of a project.
9. Test deliverables
To guarantee project management success, the deliverables should be tested at every critical milestone. Doing this gives you a fair idea whether the project is what it was planned to be. Testing deliverables are crucial to determine whether it is meeting or exceeding the expectations. If any fallacies are encountered, corrective measures can be taken immediately to bring it back on track.
10. Evaluation of project
Each project can be a learning tool. An effective manager will always review the project as a whole, as well as analyze various project components. By doing so, he can note down the successes in a project, what went wrong in the project, and what can be improved for future projects.
These are project management tips for manager but what if you are not a project manager and you’re tasked with managing a project? Even if you’re no expert at project, we’ve got you covered.
Here are some project management tips for non-managers:
1. Get into extensive planning
The most effective way to approach a project, whether big or small, is to create a plan in the first place. A good project manager will always vouch for the importance of having a planning process. Divide a project into a number of stages. Collect the required information for each stage. Create a timeline for each stage. Create tasks and assign roles. Combining a comprehensive workflow with the right strategy is the key to success. Remember what they say about planning? They say that failing to plan is planning is to fail.
2. Know your budget and deadlines
When you are handling a project, it becomes your responsibility to figure out how you’re going to manage the budget of your project. Do your homework and get your hands on the facts and figures. You can ask for cost breakdowns for every task and take a look at the relevant details. Make sure the progress is in accordance with the desired deadline. If required, be willing to make changes to the project budget in order to get things done on time.
3. Choose team members wisely
If you select the right person for the right role, half the battle is won there itself. While taking charge of a project, make sure to choose your team members wisely. When people who you’re working with are clear about their tasks, it becomes easier to work together to achieve a shared goal. Keep them in the loop when project requirements are changed by clients and stakeholders. It not only makes them accountable but also creates a work environment more collaborative.
4. Manage risks
Whether you are a veteran project manager or a debutant, a good manager always takes time to foresee risks and issues that might affect a project in the future. Always assess risks with team members and have a plan in place if things don’t go as planned. Don’t forget that risk management is an essential part of project management. Learn to manage risks before they ruin all the progress and derail your project.
5. Track your progress
It’s always a good idea to track your progress and find ways to fast track it. Set time estimates, track time spent on tasks and maintain a record of every minute being spent on tasks. If required, get a reporting software that provides a clear picture of how the resources are being utilized, how the projects are progressing so that you can get rid of the inefficiencies in the projects.
6. Work smarter, not harder
Don’t succumb to the pressure of being a project manager by working for long hours at a stretch. Don’t overwork yourself just for the heck of it. It’s not always about working hard, sometimes smart work gets your work done. Delegate tasks to team members strategically keeping their strengths in mind.
7. Don’ts of project management
As important it is to find the right thing, it’s equally necessary to know what not to do. And project management is no different. The do’s of project management are already discussed, here are the list of things you should not never do while working on and managing projects.
Let’s take a look at them:
- Don’t move to the other tasks before completing the ones at hand
- Don’t have too many meetings
- Don’t lose sight of goals throughout the project
- Don’t make assumptions. Communicate things as clearly as possible
- Don’t micromanage
- Don’t put too much pressure on team members
- Don’t confuse monitoring with control
- Don’t put urgent over important
- Don’t be too shy to ask for feedback
Summing it up
Evaluating every aspect and the nitty-gritty in a project can be resourceful to ensure success for future projects as well.
The above discussed project management tips and techniques can help you ace your future projects in 2019. Don’t forget to add some determination, dedication, and fun to them.
We hope you find these project management techniques and tips for 2019 very helpful. These project management tips and tools will make managing projects easier, faster, and smarter.
All the best!
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