2. Plan, Organize, and Manage Resources.
This would have been my answer if you had asked about
the roles of a project manager few years back. Ask me now
and I can add gamut of other things to this list.
Here’s a 7-point checklist that every Project Manager
needs to look at in order to be in a win-win situation all the
time -
3. Being a Fortune Teller (Not literally though)
The key to becoming successful at Project Management
lies in always looking a few paces ahead. Things like
resource utilization, comparing project revenues, macro
and micro-analysis of projects, and similar others can help
you in forecasting the outcome, which is ultimately going to
add up to bring an improved performance.
4. Getting into the Sherlock Holmes skin
Another important thing that you as Project Manager must
always do is to Identify the processes that have not been
working for the organization and finding the most effective
solutions to make them work. Or, in case there is no
solution, then replace them with something better. In
technical language, this is called as Pipeline Flow.
5. Beginning with WHAT, not WHY
For a Project Manager, asking what should always be more
important than why. Questions like ‘what are the possible
outcomes of the project? What are the challenges being
faced by the team? What are the risks involved?’ should
always be kept in first place. Last, but not the least, a
Project Manager must know what exactly is the goal of
project?
6. Infecting With Accountability
Successful achievement of project objectives is one of the
biggest responsibilities of a Project Manager and, the best
way to do so is by making the goals visible to everyone in
the team. By doing so you are making every individual
aware of the expectations out of their work. This will make
them more responsible towards, and at the same time
inculcate a habit of becoming more result oriented.
7. Presence, Visibility and Engagement
Lack of communication is the biggest reason for the failure
of a project in almost all organizations. This is the reason
that Effective Communication holds such an important
position in a Project Manager’s inventory of skills. By
communication I do not mean simply to talk to the troops,
it’s more about being available to listen when someone in
the team wants to share something about the project and
the challenges being faced.
8. Planning for the Worst
Ask any of the successful project managers about their
mantra of success, and 9 out of ten times you’ll get the
same reply i.e. the key to success lies in planning for things
that go wrong. Errors, Assumptions Gone Wrong, Poor
Judgement, Fluctuations, and all such things are always
going to be part of the project, no matter how well you plan
things.
9. Making Friends with Technology
We live in a world where technology is everywhere and
making friends with it can take you places. By making use
of web-based applications like ProofHub, you can
eventually share data, plan, communicate, collaborate,
analyze and do almost all the other things that come to
your mind when you think of Project Management.