Written by: Beverly Lerch
If most of your projects have been poorly executed or failed, then something is wrong with your project management strategies. You need to re-strategize to ensure successful project execution which is of vital importance to your company. When you complete projects at the right time, within the given budget and without flaws, the company grows.
It is not easy to spot a firm that achieves 100% completion of their entire projects every year. But it is not impossible to achieve. In this post, you will discover three must-know strategies that can improve your project management and grow your business.
1 Improve project awareness and visibility
Companies need to start changing how they view project management. It is better to adopt a project mindset which gives room for the valuation of the proposed project from top to bottom.
Before the project commences fully, the senior influencers or top officials in the company should take out time to understand the value of the adopted project management strategy, and then render their support. Abiding by this process will ensure proper participation of both senior officers and their subordinates.
About carrying team members along, project managers with the right education, knowledge, and skills to execute the project need to influence other team members to key into the idea of the project manager and guidelines for project execution.
Improving project awareness is essential. Most teams reportedly fail to execute projects or fall behind schedule because of ignorance. Team members should be fully aware of any given role assigned to them, schedule and completion time. If they are expected to work collectively, the system must keep all of them informed
Also, if there are changes in the schedule or any aspect of the project, there should be immediate notification to that effect. If the responsibility of any team member changes, communicate details of the new role to them in the best possible way.
2 Customize your approach
Your approach to projects matters a great deal. And using the same method that worked for another company without conducting thorough research to know what they did to achieve the gravity of result they got should be discouraged. Organisational culture varies even amongst two companies operating in the same industry. So you need to find a practical approach that can work successfully within your environment and team.
Here are few steps to take:
Compare PM strategies of other companies:
Most companies, especially tech professionals adopt Eylean, an Agile, TFS-integrated task board for Scrum and Kanban. Agile project management allows multiple team members to test versions of a program and initiate changes where required without slowing down the project. If you are in the tech profession, you may want to try this program to weigh the outcome.
Adopt a daily routine for team members
After careful evaluation, you can determine the habits team members need to have to execute the project successfully. The daily routine could be to log in on a regular basis (daily) to check on the project. Doing so will enable them to get involved and keep up to date with the progress of work. Just like when you assign a task to a thesis writer. You always want to make sure the person is working on the job to meet the deadline and quality. You definitely would continue in this act until the project is complete.
Ensure the team likes your tool and project
Think of the last time you were given a bulky textbook to read in college. You felt discouraged and stressed out just by thinking of how to go about it, right? The same thing happens when projects are assigned to a team and made more complicated. Make the project simple, easy to navigate and update and you might enjoy successful execution.
Ensure that team members are accountable
Allowing a few people to update or provide information about the progress of work will make it difficult for you to ascertain the strength, weakness, and level of participation of other team member. That said allow everyone to take responsibility and even write reports about the progress of work to ensure full participation.
Implement lessons learned from previous projects
Once you can identify an approach that works effectively within your environment, replicate that approach across the company. You can also create a standard procedure for project execution when you implement lessons picked up from previous projects completed. In fact, these lessons can help new and established managers to be more productive and get on top speed quickly.
3 Monitor the budget and schedule
After careful planning of the project, execution can begin. Since there is agreement concerning your project definition, and you already have your project management procedures and work plan in place, the primary challenge would then be to execute the processes and plans adequately.
It is almost impossible for projects to proceed as planned and estimated fully. There might be specific changes during execution you need to address. The team might spot these changes when executing the plan, but the challenge here is using your project management skills proactively to tackle it.
Here are steps you need to take for successful project execution
- Review your work plan regularly to know the progress made. Small projects should be weekly while larger ones could be once in two weeks.
- Always update your work plan. Check for activities already completed and ensure it reflects on the work plan. Find out if there are activities the team has not finished and if they can complete the project within the stipulated time frame and effort.
- You also need to consider your budget, how much you have spent and how far you have gone with the project. If the money isn’t going to be enough from your estimation, come up with a plan on how to manage the available resources to complete the project. If not, you may end up exceeding your original budget.
You can successfully execute projects with these three strategies. But remember communication is one of the essential tools for successful project execution in any team or environment. You need to update the team on a regular basis and also be proactive. Have in mind that as the project manager, your skills and approach would also be tested multiple times from the start of the project to completion.
Beverly Lerch is a young freelance writer and a great expert in self-improvement, motivation and productivity. She has many various interests and cannot imagine her life without sport. You can ask her advice on Twitter.
