How do you use project management techniques to improve business operations?

Sometimes operations just can't see the logical steps to a project and the implementation, that's where a PM can be that interface between the business and contractor(s) and help. Clarifying the specification I find the hardest part of all projects, actually driving out of your customer what they really need to improve their process is key.

I agree, however making too many changes at one time to your current processes can be confusing and difficult to define what changes were valuable to your bottom line. Keep it simple and make sure you have buy in from your team.

Use SWOT to understand and analyze your company business operation. We strategies our business plans based on SWOT. Enhance the strength of the company, eliminate the risks.

In my experience, defining a clear and concise goal is the most critical step in any project. Not having a well defined goal can lead to a common mistake in project management: “scope creep”; this costly mistake can divert attention beyond the initial scope of the project and can cost significant amounts of time & money. Keep your project goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Timely.

it’s important to set clear and specific goals: for example using the SMART method. If goals are not well-defined, teams will lose the focus and scope - as well it will be very hard to make these goals measurable. In summary, defining goals in business operations is like setting a roadmap for success. It not only clarifies the destination but also guides the journey, ensuring that efforts are purposeful, efficient, and aligned with the overall strategy of the organization.

As a part of the project planning, divide and subdivide project deliverables – any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability – into smaller, more manageable components. The lowest level is called a work package. One of the most powerful tools for this exercise is the work breakdown structure (WBS) which is a hierarchical decomposition of the scope of work. The WBS may take different forms: an outline, an organizational chart, or a mind map. We want to be sure the WBS includes all the product and project work, including the project management work. The WBS is most often used for predictive projects.

This doesn't always mean you have to use a full blown Project Management software system; a simple spreadsheet to track these items can work just as well.

Planning actions will involve analysing in detail all the work that must be done, in order to complete the improvement effort. The schedule management techniques can be used to plan the tasks, understanding the sequence in which the tasks must be performed, defining their interdependencies, and understanding Leads and Lags. One of the most important technique that can be implemented in operations is risk management technique of identifying what can go wrong, analyzing the probability and impact of risk events and how to respond to the risk events. This is one area, where project management can help operations management, as projects are far more risk prone, compared to operations.

Consider Change Management: Change management within project management is crucial for business operations. It minimizes disruptions, maintaining stability and productivity during transitions. Engaging employees in the process boosts morale and innovation, enhancing productivity and adaptability. Businesses can swiftly respond to market demands, fostering a dynamic environment. Efficient change leads to streamlined processes, cost savings, and reduced risks. It aligns changes with strategic goals, ensuring long-term success. It cultivates resilience, enabling organizations to thrive amidst challenges and drive growth.

Come?ar com um planejamento estratégico detalhado, que define claramente os objetivos, metas e entregas do projeto. Este planejamento ajuda a alinhar as opera??es de negócios com os objetivos estratégicos da organiza??o, garantindo que todos os esfor?os estejam direcionados para alcan?ar os resultados desejados. Além disso, uma comunica??o eficaz é fundamental no gest?o do projeto. Estabelecer canais claros de comunica??o e garantir que todas as partes interessadas estejam informadas sobre o progresso, mudan?as e decis?es importantes pode melhorar significativamente a coordena??o e colabora??o dentro da organiza??o.

The key factor here is consistency; maintaining a “drum beat” or a set frequency for follow ups & updates is critical. I personally find it helpful to block my calendar on weekly basis for specific projects to manage execution.

Project management techniques of variance analysis, and Earned Value Management (EVM), forecasting etc. can be effectively used for monitoring the performance of improvement efforts. The EVM technique can be used for understanding both schedule and cost variances. They can also predict where the efforts are going and how likely it is that the effort will succeed. It can also suggest the areas where remedial measures may be required.

Completely agree that scope, budget, time, quality are extremely important to be monitored but equally important is the relationships and monitoring and engaging stakeholders. Quite often people forget that the project success isn't just maths/numbers anymore, its a story telling experience that involves hearts and minds. Biggest risk to any project is always the people. If not managed correctly can cause havoc.

Although sometimes necessary, changes should generally speaking be scrutinized at this stage in your project as they will almost always negatively impact it. Proper project management techniques like Early Management & Risk Assessments are designed to anticipate and mitigate future changes. Any changes at this point should be carefully evaluated and controlled to ensure a successful implementation.

Putting up a proper Change Management System may help. But if the improvement efforts are continuous and small duration, it may help to use Agile methods of roadmap, sprint planning and reviews.

Retrospectives and lessons learned are invaluable tools for teams seeking to continuously improve their processes, avoid repeating mistakes, and enhance project success rates. They promote a culture of learning and adaptation, which is crucial in today's dynamic business environment. It’s a an opportunity as well to accept failure and to define new ideas and approaches to be better at what they are doing … most important is to keep such sessions Blameless with an aspect and perspective of shared responsibility within the team.

All of the above are very appropriate to improve the business operations and achieve higher levels of performance and satisfaction. In the end, the operations represent a strategic program for 3 or 5 years for the implementation of which it is necessary to divide it into projects with implementation into time units: years, months, weeks, days, shifts. It requires the planning and budgeting (forecast, planning, building the budgets), controling and monitoring (time, money and benefits). It is needed a plan for quality assurance and for communication, milestones and a contingency plan for the situation in which things do not go according to estimation. A Program or Project Manager is a very good candidate for a General Manager position.

The PDCA or PDSA cycle best describes the methodology that must be followed in the continuous improvement efforts. As it is a cycle, and virtually endless, feedback loop is always a must and lessons learnt from one cycle must be implemented in the next round. For this reason, shorter cycles with "Fail Fast" philosophy of Agile methods are best suited. We can quickly check if the improvement options we have decided to implement are likely to succeed or not, and do a course correction, if need be.

We attempted to assign a PMP project manager to guide an internal business process improvement. The challenges: they didn't own a defined scope from the leaders, just "contiously improve" - no finish. Also, the resources they were supposed to manage, were not assigned to the PM for the time required. They continued to report to assigned bosses who had differing opinions of what defined improvement. Finance = profit, Ops = resource mgmt and HR = retention. The resources couldn't rely on client input because it was an internal project. Total fail for PM. Instead a really strong Ops leader was promoted to lead an outsourced team. She quickly aligned the work, dolled out tasks and held the firm accountable. Fixed process in 8 weeks.

In my experience you need to know exactly what your current processes are in order to measure and make improvements as needed. Of course having a great team of people make all of this much more successful.

Undoubtedly, Project management technique is critical element in driving improvement. One may refer to Toyota's continuous improvement culture, Haier's Rendanheyi and other successful companies, it is people empowerment! What I think PM technique is offering to improvement: - A structural framework governing the resources, timeline, budget, impact & change and roll out strategy. - Critical thinking to evaluate scope & size, effectiveness of proposed solution, stakeholder acceptance, practicality in roll out and contingency handling. - Ownership & accountability of the work improvement unit (or team). Successful companies encourage the bottom-up project-like work improvement unit, that evolve into continuous improvement culture.

In simple terms project management is nothing but identification of what to do, how to do coupled who is to do. Simple enough but a structured discipline is needed to make ownership and accountability is crystal clear. And the most important thing is to understand what’s done, what’s being done and what’s to be done. No matter how many frameworks we adopt, the core aspects are the above stated. So don’t worry about the jargon, but focus on the job to be done

See the business, as a project with 1 year deployment, goal to increase turnover with x% and a quality rate of y%. Then establish what it needs to achieve this, build the project plan which should be the business plan and ( including risks and contingency plan), define the budget and start implementation. For this reason, a project manager with expertise is leading different types of projects is a very good candidate for a position of top manager.