HOW TO KEEP THE PROJECT MOMEMTUM GOING

Tip #1: Set achievable deadlines

Complete everything by Friday? That's a lot to ask. So set deadlines for your team members that are achievable. In fact, it's even better to get them to help you set the deadlines. If they sign up to completing a task by a particular date then they are far more likely to achieve it than if you told them what the deadline is.

Split big tasks into smaller tasks so that each part has a separate end date. This will also make the deadlines more achievable and easier to monitor.

Tip #2: Monitor progress

You'll be able to see how well you are making progress on your project if you monitor the status of each task. Monitoring will also help you see if anything (or anyone) is slowing down, allowing you to talk to them about keeping the momentum going. Use real-time information to check the progress of tasks and ensure that everything is moving forward.

Of course, you need a plan to monitor progress against, so make sure you have all the tasks and proposed completion dates noted down for you to check against.

Tip #3: Share your progress with others

It isn't enough for you to know that progress is being made. In order for others on the team to feel as if they are achieving their project goals everyone should be updated on the project progress. 

Being able to see that the project is moving forward is a great motivator and will help the team keep going towards those end goals.

Tip #4: Celebrate success

Don't wait until the end of the project to celebrate success! Find a few moments through the project where something has been achieved that is worth shouting about and celebrate those. For example, the end of the testing phase when you have a product that is fit for shipping, or the completion of a big piece of design. It really doesn't matter what you are celebrating as long as it is linked to the project somehow and you can use the occasion to demonstrate what progress is being made and what is still to do. Even small celebrations motivate team members which in turn helps you drive the project onward.

Tip #5: Don't take on too much

A massive project can be daunting for everyone on the team and you might find that work slows down because people are overwhelmed. Split your project into smaller phases and deliver it a bit at a time. This can help structure the work into achievable pieces and make it manageable. If it feels less daunting, the team will be more confident about making progress.

5 BIGGEST CHALLENGES AS A PROJECT MANAGER

1. Dispelling PM myths about Project Manager’s and project management in general

It’s the myth that Project Manager’s are just paper pushers. They’re just working on admin, administrative stuff, that they’re bullies. They’re the ones who are always on my back about things and they get in the way. They give me too much extra stuff to do. They just add extra work to the project. Those are myths that I think Project Manager’s spend a lot of time working on trying to dispel. Just to get the credibility back into their role and to the field of Project Management.

2. You have to re craft and reorganize

There’s so much going on now whether it’s your industry, whether it’s technology, but it’s keeping up, not only on that, but also the changes that are occurring constantly on the project. So, hang on, change is coming, because what happens is that changes the priorities and when priorities change you lose your resources, you lose your budget, and things constantly change. 

3. Staying relevant. So, having the time to develop yourself

To learn what are the trends going on in my industry. What’s the technology that people are using? Now organizations are incorporating using mobile phones, social media, and new tools. Also, policies. What kind of policies are infecting the environment, our industry? Whether it’s telecommunications, technology, real estate, all types of industries. What methods? There are all kinds of methods now and knowing which method is appropriate for you type of project.

4. Losing resources

So, as things change and they’re higher priority projects, invariably you lose your people or your budget. You know, the critical resource, the super star on your project, that you fear, “Oh my god if I lose that person, I’m dead in the water”. Well typically, we do, and then the budget, so budget gets reallocated to other projects. So therefore, you have to go back re prioritize your work. Change it, and that’s constantly happening.

Then the other one is standing firm. There’s actually a song that says “Know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em”. I think it’s harder to actually stand and hold ‘em. Meaning, step up or go to bat for things in your group, whether it’s resources, trying to fight for or stand for the people so that you don’t lose them. Go to your organization and let them know why it’s important that you keep that resource. Or time, you may have to go back to your stake holders and position and stand firm that you need more time, things have changed, actually go to your change control board. Then process changes. So, there may need to be some process changes in your organization where you have to change things in order to be more efficient.

5. Politics, dealing with the gremlin of politics in your organization

So, it’s harder to stand firm. I think if a Project manager can overcome some of these challenges then they can begin arming themselves to handle the other challenges, like the risk, the change, the managing risk holders expectations, and all those things that the other research reports back.

5 RISKS TO PROJECT SCHEDULE

Project managers rely on their schedules. The Project Schedule is the one document that tells everyone what they should be doing, when it needs to start and how long it should take. It is also used to track progress, so managing a project without a schedule is virtually impossible if you want to achieve the agreed milestones and delivery dates. However good we think our schedules are, there are always risks when it comes to managing tasks, resources and the project scope. Here are 5 scheduling risks that you could be facing – how will you manage these on your project?

1. Not Scheduling Vacations

Is anyone taking an annual vacation this year? Yes? Well, are those dates incorporated into your project schedule? It can be difficult to get this information from your project team members, especially if they don’t work directly for you, but the best thing to do is to bring it up during one of your regular team meetings. Use your normal team collaboration approaches to check the dates of everyone’s planned annual leave (including your own). Then you can incorporate this downtime into the schedule. If you don’t, there is a risk that you’ll be allocating tasks to team members when they aren't even in the country. This will delay the project overall and it could inconvenience other teams and departments that are waiting for those tasks to be completed.

2. Scheduling Everyone At 100%

Everyone is dedicated to your project and gives it their all, right? Wrong, but not for the reasons you might think! Even the most dedicated project team member won’t spend 100% of their day – 7 or 8 hours – working on your project. They go and buy a sandwich, they talk to a colleague they haven’t seen for ages, they have a doctor’s appointment… The list of things to fill up a day with (that aren't your project) is huge.

The risk here is that your schedule will suffer delays as tasks take longer in reality than you planned. The best way to handle this is to make sure that you only schedule project team resources at 80% capacity. You can do this every day by limiting the amount of hours of tasks they have to do, but it is probably easier to do it by week. Everyone’s availability per week then only becomes 4 days out of 5.

If you report or update your schedule on a weekly basis this should be manageable. If you do update your schedule more regularly than this you may have to look at scheduling on a daily or hourly basis instead.

3. Forgetting Tasks

Ideally, your project schedule should include absolutely everything from the very first day that you commit your thoughts to your online project management tool. Unfortunately, it is rare that project teams have that much clarity about project tasks, and there is normally something that has been forgotten!

Small tasks may be able to be accommodated without many issues, but if you have left out something major – well, that’s a different problem.

There’s a risk that uncovering a large task that has been missed delays your schedule to the point where you can’t achieve the published deadlines. Then you’ll have to submit a change request to your project sponsor and ask for the end date to be officially moved.

Build in a mechanism or process to deal with forgotten tasks and remember to review your schedule regularly with your team. This will at least ensure that you have the time to discuss any extra tasks with your team members, so there is less likelihood of tasks being overlooked.

4. Inaccurate Estimates

If you are doing something for the first time it can be difficult to work out exactly how long tasks will take. Even subject matter experts may not know, even if they have done something similar before.

Projects are generally unique and anything with a bit of innovative thinking may require you to plan for tasks that have never been carried out in the company before, such as the launch of a new piece of software or a new product.

Inaccurate estimates can be a risk to your project schedule because they mean your milestones and end date can change dramatically. Normally the problem comes when the estimates are too low – not many project sponsors worry about delivering a project early!

5. Scope Creep

Scope creep is when unauthorized changes slip through and make it into the project scope. This results in the team doing more work than originally planned. Scope creep normally happens when a key stakeholder puts forward a request to change something and this does not, for whatever reason, go through the change management process.

Over-enthusiastic sponsors are often the culprit! They ask for changes without necessarily understanding the full implications for the schedule, resource plan or budget, and yet the team has to make the change. The risk here is that the overall project schedule slips. Critical tasks may not get completed on time as team members are working on new changes, and that can create delays that you might not be able to make up.

The best way to avoid the risk of scope creep is to ensure that all changes go through the approved change management process. A good project schedule is the foundation for any project, and the project manager should make sure that it is as accurate as possible. All projects face risks, and risks to your schedule are no different.