10 things to improve project management
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My top 10 list of the tops things you can do to improve your project management, this is the 20% of project management that will give you 80% return.
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10 things to improve project management
- 1. 10 thing to improve project management A guide for Small and Medium Sized business Month, day, year Placeholder for footer if needed 1
- 2. Document Requirements Requirements Placeholder for footer if needed 2 Striking Project Management
- 3. Cloud project management tools (saas) Improves collaboration Improves in teams engagement levels Improves stake holder communication Appearance of robust framework Use cloud based tools to increase collaboration Placeholder for footer if needed 3 Striking Project Management
- 4. Maintain a Schedules or Task Lists Should list Cloud PPM all major Does not tools can Maintain a steps need to be a do this schedule or (<1 day) Gantt chart task list Placeholder for footer if needed 4 Striking Project Management
- 5. Maintain a risk management strategy Does not need to be Scientific. As much as Project requires Murphy’s Law - What could go wrong will go wrong Write it down and plan a Strategy to avoid Do in a Group environment Placeholder for footer if needed 5 Striking Project Management
- 6. Set Milestones Schedule can change dynamically Milestones as a guide post Use for calibration or re-calibration Align to key project deliverables Placeholder for footer if needed 6 Striking Project Management
- 7. Capture Learnings Write it down! What went wrong What could be done better Why things went wrong What went right? Share & use for future reference Placeholder for footer if needed 7 Striking Project Management
- 8. Communicate with stakeholders Tailor the Social tool and We are not Create message for cloud PPM naturally good communication relevance can help communicators groups Concise and frequent Striking Project Management
- 9. Use a qualified Project Manager Many PM’s are not certified AIPM, PMI, IPMA, IPM Prince2 are the largest professional bodies CPPM, PMP, CPPD body certifications AdvDip and MPM theoretical qualification Striking Project Management
- 10. Understand the reason for the project What is the benefit? Not often clear Financial? Risk reduction? What is the driver for the Regulatory? project? Use to frame decisions Striking Project Management
- 11. Use the experts PM is know what we Don’t the Project Engage any Management SME don’t know required SME Striking Project Management
- 12. Get Projects Done! Chris O'Halloran (MAIPM) Striking Group Pty Ltd +61 432 023 627 www.clientsidepm.com @strikinggroup
- 13. Thank you End slide caption Placeholder for footer if needed 13
Editor's Notes
- A sound project plan must start with documenting the project’s requirements, the project deliverables; What must be delivered in order for the project to be completed to the satisfaction of the stakeholders. Sometimes this takes some digging, so spend time getting down to the details of what needs to be done until everyone that is important agrees, then get it signed off!
- There are many cloud based project management tools available from the small & medium sized businesses that can make you look much larger and more robust than your competition. Some of these cloud PPM tools are free, others are several hundred dollars per month and everything in between. The real power of these tools is their ability to increase collaboration, transparency, communication and therefore improve the engagement levels of the stakeholders and project team members.
- Make a list and check it twice, even Santa, with all his elves keeps lists. The importance of listing out all the steps required to actually do the project and how long each steps should take may seem like a lot of work, and for some projects it can be, but there effort will be well rewarded. You do not need to invest in expensive Gantt Scheduling tools, but they do help to visualise time based lists, but you do need to keep a list of some description. Most cloud based project management tools will allow you to maintain task lists and share them with project team members.
- It has been my experience, that this is one of the main areas that companies shy away from, I think probably because it sounds too scientific, and many academics will have you believe it should be. Garbage! risk management only needs to be as scientific as the level of project risk requires, and for most projects, gut feeling and discussion amongst the project team will capture plenty of risks and come up with a pretty suitable risk management strategies. Spend some time thinking about what could go wrong, if it possible then write it down, decide as a group how critical the risk is then put a plan in place to manage it. Simple...
- Milestones are a great way to check in on how the project is tracking, tasks and schedules can often move dynamically and having a list of milestones to refer to can be reassuring check that the project is on the right track or a quiet reminder that the project might need recalibrating. Try and create milestones around obvious points in the project, if possible align them to key deliverables.
- Capturing lessons learnt sounds so simple and I bet you were tempted to skim passed this one saying “ yeh we do that anyway ” do you? really? Do you gather as a team to reflect on: what went right, what went wrong, why and what could be done next time to improve things, then capture that in a central location for the benefit of the rest of the company and as a reference for future projects? This is amazing IP, it should be captured it is all gold!
- Some reports claim that up to 70% of projects fail... In my experience, I believe most of these projects failed simply due to poor communication. Lets face it, we really are not great communicators, so really make an effort to communicate. Forget long written reports, just keep the communications flowing by as many means as you can. Keep communication to short relevant chunks that are tailored to each stakeholder group.
- This one seems like a no brainer. But statistics tells me that 68% of project managers are not certified or qualified for the role. Many would have come from an Engineering or technical background, probably great at what they did so naturally they would be a great PM? Not always the case. Project Management is a very specialised management skill set, a skill set that has been honed over many years of best practice. The biggest project management bodies are the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), the International Project Management Association (IPMA) and the Project Management Association (PMI). Each offer certification programs, so look for either a Certified Practicing Project Manager (CPPM) Project Management Professional (PMP).
- The reason for the project is obvious isn’t it? It’s just the deliverables right? In order for a project to have a reason for existing, there must be a benefit, that benefit is usually related somewhere to profit, risk reduction or a similar business driver. Really understanding and capturing this reason will help improve your decision making exponentially. For example imagine being the project manager for the first iphone and someone comes to you and says we will miss the launch date unless we spend another $1 Million dollars today. Your first instinct might be to protect the budget at all costs, because that is what you will be measured against, but how much would Apple stand to lose of it lost the first mover advantage? and 1 Million dollars pales in comparison to the profits the Iphone has generated. Understanding the benefits or reason for the project makes all the difference.
- Against popular (mis)belief the project manager should not be the subject matter expert in whatever the project is. The Project Manager should be the subject matter expert in Project Management. Know that you don’t know about stuff that you don’t know you don’t know. Go on, read that last line again. That’s right, you don’t know what you don’t know, so ensure that you have any subject matter expert that you need to get the project done. Well those are my top 10 tips the every business can use to improve their project management processes, I hope you have found them useful. Did I miss a critical tip that should be in the top 10? then leave a comment for everyone to add to their bow of tricks!