Every project manager’s goal is to produce a complete project that meets its objectives. This isn’t always easy due to the many factors to consider, and just as many challenges to overcome. Understanding the how-tos can help you prevent problems before they begin. These 10 project management tips will help you learn what you need to do to run successful, profitable projects.
Lets start with the Top Project Management Tips;
1. Plan from the start
The most important of all Project Management tips, is planning! Most projects fail because of poor planning and research. Planning your projects before they start helps you to account for every possible factor, risk and resource. Through planning you’re able to identify specific and measurable goals for the project. During the planning stage you will also identify the project team members and assign them their exact roles in the project.
When planning your project, keep in mind that project priorities change during the course of a project. So constantly revisit, reshape and refine your plan to make sure you’re adjusting accordingly.
2. Be flexible with your project methodology
The next of the top 10 project management tips, and the next step is setting your project up for success, is finding the right methodology. Methodologies are the guiding principles and processes used to plan, manage, and execute projects. They help to prioritize, visualize, and complete work.
There are lots of project management methodologies from Agile to Waterfall to Lean to State-Gate and more. When it comes to choosing the right methodology, you need to be flexible. Be open to mixing up different methodologies instead of sticking to just one. This will enable more flexibility and efficiency in your projects.
3. Avoid micromanagement and promote transparency
Transparency makes dealing with the complexities and sensitivities of managing a project. By promoting a culture of transparency, team members will feel freer to take ownership of their work. Although this is one of the under estimate project management tips, it makes them feel trusted to get their work done thereby making them take ownership over tasks and deliverables. Ultimately, this will motivate them to get more done without you having to micromanage them.
The best way to avoid micromanagement and make the project more transparent is by using a solid project management workflow, which you can create with Mission Control.
4. Have a realistic project scope
Managing scope is an essential part of a project manager’s role. Define your project sope from the beginning to avoid scope creep. Scope creep is what happens when the scope, deliverables, or features on a project expand from what was originally set—without additional time or budget. For instance, what started as a single deliverable becomes five, or a product that began with three essential features must now have five.
While scope creep could be related to uncontrollable factors throughout a project, having a realistic scope from the start could help avoid a lot of frustration later.
5. Don’t lose sight of the main goal
As the project progresses, make sure you stay abreast of the big picture and purpose of the project. Check in with the team regularly to make sure they’re still aware of the main goal and they understand how their work contributes to the main goal.
Put an objective standard for measuring progress in place so everyone can evaluate their own contributions.
6. Schedule and prioritize project tasks
Create work schedules that are realistic to your team’s workloads and the intended delivery date. This will keep your team productive and enable them to finish tasks within set deadlines. Clearly communicate schedules to help mitigate delays and other costly setbacks.
With a task scheduling tool like Mission Control’s Action Pad, you can see and manage tasks assigned, deadlines, overdue tasks, hours spent across the lifetime of a project, and more from one dashboard.
7. Communicate with your team often
Your project is doomed if there’s any communication breakdown between you and your team members. Try to communicate and engage with the entire team as much as you can. You could use a collaboration tool or a communication app to make this an ongoing practice. The more open you are to communicating with everyone the more successful your project will be.
8. Engage with clients too
Number 8 of our top Project Management Tips. Never forget that clients are also important stakeholders in the project. Needless to say, they’re directly invested in its success. Communication with clients should be established before, during, and after a project. Project management software can help you not only generate important data and timesheets in real-time, but can also serve as your centralized communications hub for external stakeholders. You can share progress reports and updates with clients through the platform to keep them updated on project progress.
9. Allocate and utilize your resources effectively
Project management relies heavily on how wisely you use and manage your resources. Resource management is the process of pre-planning, scheduling, and allocating your resources to maximize efficiency. It’s important that you utilize your available resources to their fullest by allocating them the task that brings the most value to the project. Continuously track and measure how your resources are being utilized in the project to make sure everyone is being productive.
10. Make use of modern project management technology
And last but not least, the final Project Management tip. With remote work and collaboration fast becoming commonplace in project management, it’s imperative that project managers embrace modern project management platforms.
A good project management tool will help you plan work, control budget, manage resources, track progress, and adapt to change as quickly as the project does. Embrace the various features of your tool for better, more streamlined project management results.
Seeing a project to completion successfully and within a set time frame and within budget is every project manager’s goal. With the right team, the right software and the right methodology in place, achieving successful outcomes becomes a much easier process.
