First, a quick run through of the project management process that governs all projects. Many of these terms will help you better understand the core project management principles ahead:
Step 1: Project initiation and conception
Initiation is your launchpad for your project. Either you’ve received a request from a client or discovered a business need, and it’s up to you and your stakeholders (those affected by the project deliverables) to determine whether or not accomplishing this project is feasible and valuable for your business.
Step 2: Planning and ideation
If you’ve decided your project is viable, the next step is to put together a project management plan that’ll guide you through the execution process.
Step 3: Project launch and execution
Once your plan is in place, it’s time to put it into action. Don’t be afraid to amend your plan based on changing circumstances.
Step 4: Project monitoring
Throughout the execution process, you’ll need to monitor, measure, and report project management metrics so you’ll have everything you need to inform your stakeholders about your progress.
Step 5: Closure and presentation
Time to tie up all of the loose ends by developing final project reports and presenting your deliverables to your stakeholders.
Now, the principles successful project managers should follow...
Create clear and concise project goals
Every project needs goals that are clear, concise, and most importantly, measurable. Without these goals, a project becomes an aimless endeavor that’ll never reach any worthwhile conclusion.
The best way to create project goals is to use the S.M.A.R.T. criteria, which stands for:
Manage your risks
All projects face risks no matter how simple or complicated they might be. The unexpected always happens at some point or another, so it’s important to create fail-safes, schedule buffers, and even team backups to ensure you are managing and anticipating risks.
This can be accomplished through team brainstorms, risk assessments, checklists, and response planning.
There are even different types of risk management software options on the market that can help you increase the resiliency of your projects and your company.
Establish a performance baseline
There are three basic components of a project plan:
When planning out these three components, it’s crucial to set baselines, also known as KPIs (key performance indicators), to measure them against.
These three components all affect one another, so if your scope must change, so will your costs and your schedule in order to make room for that adjustment. Having a baseline will help you keep these three components in check during the execution phase of your project, even when you need to make changes to your plan.
Establish and maintain healthy communication
I’ve always held that effective and efficient communication and followup is Job One for the project manager.. Communication is one of the most crucial necessities for project success. Not only should your team feel comfortable communicating with each other as well as you, but you must also maintain a healthy line of communication with your project stakeholders as well.
Encouraging open and consistent communication will help you avoid issues, anticipate risks, resolve project conflicts, and coordinate tasks and schedules in a timely manner.
Clearly define team responsibilities
When you define and outline the responsibilities of your team members, you are actively engaging in risk management that will avoid confusion later on during the execution phase of the project.
RACI charts are an effective means for organizing your team and tracking tasks, milestones, or project decisions.
RACI stands for:
Using a RACI chart will help you set clear expectations so no one is left in the dark about who needs to do what, where, and when.
Summary / Call for Input
This is basically some straightforward, get you on the right track PMI (Project Management Institute) principles for running successful projects. In the real world of project management how closely you follow PMI principles will depend on a few things when managing projects… what the project customer wants and will pay for, what your senior leadership believes in and will fund, and how well it is working for your project and team. But following this roadmap above will definitely put you on the path to project success more often than not so stay the course and work these into every project as much as possible.
Thoughts from readers? Anything to add or comment on? Please feel free to provide feedback or any value-added knowledge you have on the subject matter. Thanks!
Step 1: Project initiation and conception
Initiation is your launchpad for your project. Either you’ve received a request from a client or discovered a business need, and it’s up to you and your stakeholders (those affected by the project deliverables) to determine whether or not accomplishing this project is feasible and valuable for your business.
Step 2: Planning and ideation
If you’ve decided your project is viable, the next step is to put together a project management plan that’ll guide you through the execution process.
Step 3: Project launch and execution
Once your plan is in place, it’s time to put it into action. Don’t be afraid to amend your plan based on changing circumstances.
Step 4: Project monitoring
Throughout the execution process, you’ll need to monitor, measure, and report project management metrics so you’ll have everything you need to inform your stakeholders about your progress.
Step 5: Closure and presentation
Time to tie up all of the loose ends by developing final project reports and presenting your deliverables to your stakeholders.
Now, the principles successful project managers should follow...
Create clear and concise project goals
Every project needs goals that are clear, concise, and most importantly, measurable. Without these goals, a project becomes an aimless endeavor that’ll never reach any worthwhile conclusion.
The best way to create project goals is to use the S.M.A.R.T. criteria, which stands for:
- Specific: Make sure your goal has a specific endgame.
- Measurable: Quantify your goals using KPIs (key performance indicators).
- Assignable: Make sure this goal is assigned to a specific individual or individuals.
- Realistic: Create attainable goals that are achievable in a reasonable timeframe.
- Time-related: Set a specific timeframe for your team members to achieve this goal.
Manage your risks
All projects face risks no matter how simple or complicated they might be. The unexpected always happens at some point or another, so it’s important to create fail-safes, schedule buffers, and even team backups to ensure you are managing and anticipating risks.
This can be accomplished through team brainstorms, risk assessments, checklists, and response planning.
There are even different types of risk management software options on the market that can help you increase the resiliency of your projects and your company.
Establish a performance baseline
There are three basic components of a project plan:
- Cost
- Schedule
- Scope
When planning out these three components, it’s crucial to set baselines, also known as KPIs (key performance indicators), to measure them against.
These three components all affect one another, so if your scope must change, so will your costs and your schedule in order to make room for that adjustment. Having a baseline will help you keep these three components in check during the execution phase of your project, even when you need to make changes to your plan.
Establish and maintain healthy communication
I’ve always held that effective and efficient communication and followup is Job One for the project manager.. Communication is one of the most crucial necessities for project success. Not only should your team feel comfortable communicating with each other as well as you, but you must also maintain a healthy line of communication with your project stakeholders as well.
Encouraging open and consistent communication will help you avoid issues, anticipate risks, resolve project conflicts, and coordinate tasks and schedules in a timely manner.
Clearly define team responsibilities
When you define and outline the responsibilities of your team members, you are actively engaging in risk management that will avoid confusion later on during the execution phase of the project.
RACI charts are an effective means for organizing your team and tracking tasks, milestones, or project decisions.
RACI stands for:
- Responsible: Who is responsible for the task?
- Accountable: Who will delegate and review the task before it’s complete?
- Consulted: Who will help review and consult about how current tasks will affect future ones?
- Informed: Who will you keep in the loop about overall project progress?
Using a RACI chart will help you set clear expectations so no one is left in the dark about who needs to do what, where, and when.
Summary / Call for Input
This is basically some straightforward, get you on the right track PMI (Project Management Institute) principles for running successful projects. In the real world of project management how closely you follow PMI principles will depend on a few things when managing projects… what the project customer wants and will pay for, what your senior leadership believes in and will fund, and how well it is working for your project and team. But following this roadmap above will definitely put you on the path to project success more often than not so stay the course and work these into every project as much as possible.
Thoughts from readers? Anything to add or comment on? Please feel free to provide feedback or any value-added knowledge you have on the subject matter. Thanks!
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