Tips for Project Management

1. We as a project manager always keep the project at the highest priority. These are absolutely correct!! But always try to see the bigger picture, connect your project with the business acumen. We are working for an organization; a project will only be successful if it is fulfilling the dynamics of a company as a whole.


2. Meetings, meetings & more meetings!! We all got bugged down with these meetings. Let’s have a 10 minute quick review meeting everyday! But we all know that the quickest meeting last for at least half an hour and it result is that it hamper the work; disrupt your chain of thought. So what’s the solution? Well… meetings are necessary evil so these can’t be avoided. What you could do, make sure that all the meetings is covered in one part of the day. Do keep your at least two to three hours at a stretch for work. I am sure you will see this is the time where you can get the best ideas for the project.


3. We all tend to bog down by the problems which we faced day to day; from HR related; say one of key resource is rude with others or server is down and important delivery is on bay. Think these problems as a part of life, because as a project manager you are suppose to resolve issues of any sort. Take pride to be multi-tasker and issue resolver.


4. Give your team some space to explore! We are all, living in a competitive market. Continuous improvement is one of the major agenda of the companies. Completing the work quickly, with quality and within budget is the basic essential now you are expected to do the work with innovation so that you do give something extra to client and within this process you are able to save more for your own organization. One smart method will be empower your team, you could only grow when your team grows with you. Support them, guide them but don’t spoon fed them. Let them shine and be the leader to make them shine!


5. To error is human, how to reduce the error. Well, the best thing is to check. Obviously no one is asking the project manager not to belive their team member or start behaving like QA. But it’s a good idea to check the outcome. By doing this he is achieving two points, one he is improving the quality and two he is getting involved in the project thus improving his team members confidence in him.


6. We all know about RCA and CAPA’s but how much we work on it is important. Whenever anyone complains, human tendency is to get a quick fix solution and give some freebies to them to get the issue resolved. Avoid it as much as possible. Always try to get into the deeper of the problem. Find out the reason why it is happening and then figure how to avoid it. Make a brief plan and stick to it. Do monitor the progress. This will definitely give you desired results over the period of time.


7. Know your agenda, what you wanted to achieve. Being in control is the first aspect of project management. You can never say that I am not in control over situations. And you could be in control if you are in control of yourself. Your vision is crystal clear. You know what are you looking for. If there is any slightest doubt. Take a back seat, think and then roll again.


8. We all understand that the market is growing in a tremendous speed so is the skill set of people. To be able to cope with the ever changing scenario, learn new skill set. This will make you more comfortable to get involved into new territory. And who knows you might some extra bucks because of the new language you learn recently.


9. Making real plan is THE most difficult part of a project management. The best way to handle this is to be skeptical as much as possible. It is good to be optimistic but to see the potential problem you need to on your toes. Thus ask many questions before coming up a plan, my suggestion don’t be very pessimistic. It will also not solve the purpose :)


10. And most important point, result. Nothing is viable till the time you are not delivering. Thus your every job should have an objective to reach your goal. How you are going to achieve it is your choice!!!