101: Project Management
We’ve all been there. A project that was expected to take one month has spiraled out of control. Everyone on the project team is frustrated, and there seems to be no end in sight. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Proper planning and monitoring can help the most complex projects reach completion smoothly and under budget. We’ve rounded up some tips from experts on the subject.
Anticipate delays. Complex projects, particularly those in the IT space, are going to hit speed bumps. Susan Cramm, a blogger for the Harvard Business Review on HBR.org, says taking those delays into consideration at the beginning is the safest bet.
“It’s easy to imagine the techno-perfect-world you’d like to live in, but hard — and expensive — to get there,” Cramm writes. “Be sure to make the expense worthwhile by anticipating delays and planning for them.”
Monitor. It’s not enough to get the right people in the room and just walk away and hope for the best.
If you don’t check in with your team and your vendors on a project until the day before the deadline, you’re sure to be disappointed.
An article on ProjectKickStart.com recommends that “tracking progress on a project should be a regular part of your daily routine, even if you have other duties that require your attention.” Items to monitor include whether deadlines are being met, whether the project is moving under or over budget and whether you have the resources needed to complete the work.
Step back. If you sense your project is moving off the rails, do something about it. Don’t sit back and just hope for the best. If you aren’t proactive, you will likely be unhappy with the result.
As Brad Egeland on the blog “Project Management Tips” says, “We have all learned along the way that proper planning costs money but it costs less than the alternative of diving in without the proper planning. In the long run, it’s the project that will suffer from lack of patience and planning.”
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments