Project Management

What is Project Management ?

Project management is like juggling three balls – time, cost and quality. Being a Project Manager is like being an artist, who has the different colored process streams combining into a work of art. The life of a project manager is challenging. Without the right set of tools, it becomes too difficult to manage and organize projects efficiently.

Today, project managers are responsible for a wide variety of tasks, from developing project plans and budgets to communicating with stakeholders. PMs ensure projects’ full completion on time and within budget.

How to Effectively Organize Project Management

Since we’re behind the stages of the project management process, it’s time to give some insights on how you can effectively organize your projects. Projects are not easy to handle. If they were, everyone would be doing it. So, hope that these will help you get your projects better organized.

1. Set Clear Expectations and Priorities

When we talk about setting expectations, the first thing I need to do is to define ‘expectation’. What I mean is an ‘outcome or goal that you are seeking to achieve’, the process of figuring out and communicating what is expected.

Not leaving enough room for interpretation is the first step to avoid any issues later on. You need to be clear about what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. Be clear in what you expect the end goal to look like and how to measure it, and do it early.

2. Use project management software from the very beginning

When starting a project, most people tend to underestimate just how much work it’s going to be and how quickly it will start piling up. The reality is, projects are complex beasts and they need to be treated as such.

Even if you think you’ll be better off managing everything yourself, we urge you to at least consider using project management software for individuals from the beginning. It will make your life so much easier.

3. Define Project Scope

This step is an absolute must. Defining the scope of your project will help you (and everyone else involved) keep track of what needs to be done and, just as importantly, what doesn’t need to be done. Lack of defining project scope, or not being precise enough, is one of the most common causes of project failure.

To avoid scope creep, ensure you are clear about what’s included in the scope of your project and what’s not. Define it in detail and document it well. This will help you keep everyone on track and prevent any unnecessary tasks from being added to the project.

4. Make a Mind Map

While this step is not strictly necessary, we find that making a mind map of your project can be extremely helpful in getting a better overview of the tasks at hand.

Mind maps are basically just a way to organize information visually. You can use them to brainstorm ideas, take notes, or in this case, plan a project.

5. Create a Project Plan

Having a crystal-clear vision of what and how needs to be done is crucial for the success of any project. A project plan will help you stay on track and ensure that everyone involved knows what their responsibilities are.

You can start by listing all the tasks that need to be done and then assigning them to specific team members. Add dependencies, as usual in projects; one task can’t be started before another is completed. And especially in larger scale projects, it’s important to add estimated durations for each task.

This will give you a good idea of how long the project will take and if any tasks need to be prioritized.

6. Set Deadlines

Deadlines are a great antidote to insecurity. Setting deadlines is important to keep the project moving forward and ensure that everyone involved is aware of what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

Missing deadlines is one of the quickest ways to kill a project. So, set up a couple of buffers around your deadlines. By setting up a buffer, can account for these and ensure that the project is completed on time.

7. Delegate Tasks Where Possible

Learning how to delegate big chunks of tasks is one of the essential skills a project manager can have – but one of the most difficult to possess.

Delegating doesn’t mean that you are giving away all responsibility for the task. It just means that you assign the task to someone better suited to do it.Delegating tasks also has the added benefit of freeing up your time so you can focus on other aspects of the project.

8. Always Leave Room for Unplanned Issues

No matter how well you organize and plan your projects, there will always be unplanned issues that come up. That’s just the nature of projects.

The important thing is to be prepared for when these issues arise. Always leave some room in your budget and schedule for unplanned issues.

Effective project management all comes down to good organization and planning. The better you are at setting clear expectations and priorities, creating a project plan, delegating tasks, and leaving room for the unexpected, the more likely you will succeed.