Project management has now become an integral part of any business undertaking. It takes strategy, organization, and efficiency to manage any project successfully. So today, smart businesses invest heavily in project management.
Ever since its conception, project management has come a long way. Granted, the basics of project management have and will always remain the same. However, there have been plenty of changes in the way we perceive and undertake project management.
Along the way, project managers worldwide has discovered that certain things work – and others don’t. These best practices have helped project managers in dealing with the uncertainties. Regardless of what you know about project management – methodologies, change management, risk management, and so on – the best practices are what make it work.
So, if you are a project manager, here’s a little reminder of what works that will lead you to project success. Here are ten best practices to get your project is started on the right foot:
1. Over-communicate
Communication is essential in any business activity, particularly in project management. That said, you need to be able to communicate with all project stakeholders right from the start of the project. This is detrimental in making your next steps easier or harder.
2. Establish a Risk Response Team
There are always threats to your project’s success. As a PM, you can’t afford to try to put the fire out every time it occurs. It would help if you delegated such a firefighting effort. This is why you need to create a Risk Response Team as your first line of defense when project issues occur.
3. Do a meeting before your project commence
Meetings aren’t always practical – and fun. But if you have to keep meeting sessions minimal, be sure to make one mandatory: The Project Kick-off meeting to get everyone starts on the same page. That said, everyone has to attend this uber-important meeting.
4. Let a detailed work definition document rules
Your project needs a set of guidelines; this comes in the form of a detailed work definition document. As the name implies, it contains what all project stakeholders should know about the ins and outs of the project.
5. Make a detailed work plan
Similar to number four, you need guidelines, this time for the project in progress. Whenever possible, create a detailed work plan for this based on the previous, similar projects.
6. Document everything. I mean, EVERYTHING
Detailed steps, setbacks, changes, etc. must be recorded to ensure that not a single detail left behind. This is useful for reviewing the projects later on.
7. Ask for feedback
Regular feedbacks matters. Your leadership needs to be assessed daily. So, it would be best if you asked your team members to give you feedback on your management methods, as well as ways to improve them.
8. Show the impact of any new project requests
Your stakeholders will always add new project requests. While that’s expected, you do need to let them know how the requested changes will affect the project timeline and budget.
9. The scope can change, but make sure everyone signs a new agreement document for this
When your project scope changes due to the requests mentioned in number 8, make sure always to request for everyone to sign a new agreement document.
10. That’s a wrap!
When the project ends, hold a final meeting to discuss the project, as well as about the lessons learned during the course of the project.
To recap, here’s an infographic for your takeway:
Infographic brought to you by Wrike leading project management software