How can you continuously improve project management processes?

I see that the lessons learned repository, in addition to scheduled audits, are the best tools project management professionals can utilize to improve project management processes.

Ensure everyone always follows the written process-- even knowing it may be flawed. This is the only way to gather data to know exactly what needs to be addressed. If everyone is using a workaround, then it will appear to be in working order. Additionally always keep current workflow drawings of the process, review them periodically for input and feedback and address any bottlenecks.

Sometimes it really does make sense to take full stock of how things are done today and then try and craft a future state. In a particularly difficult clinical improvement process, the CMO felt that the entire process was bad (and he was right). He wanted a fix and yesterday. We simply did a high level overview of the processes in place without the normal deep dive and started from there. We did a lot of asking "if you could change this process what would you do and why?" type conversations. We met the CMO's expectations

Communication, Engagement and Authenticity is key to assessing current processes. Our contributions as Stakeholder, Sponsor, Product Owners, business, operational or maintenance resources, PM or project team members is critical to the evaluation and analysis of our current processes and to building a portfolio of successful projects. Projects are about people. We are the resources contributing to success or failures whether incremental or of broader impact to a project. This requires a leadership foundation intent and focused on maintaining Trust and Support for the most valuable organizational assets, people. Having a people focused approach and engaging environment, enables the assessment and builds a platform for project success.

The reliability of the data is crucial in the assessment process itself, which needs effectiveness in data gathering. The implicit and explicit data or information has paramount importance in assessment outcomes, which is mainly will affect on the next steps or milestones of the project.

Any improvement process has two major parts: The ?What“ and the ?How“: What to improve and how to improve it. Improvement process often fail as organization focus on the What - and loose traction on the How. The ?How“ is the actual implementation process and requires dedication and the organizational will to invest time and resources into it. The ?How“ must be translated into defined action with: - a tangible deliverable as outcome - a clear action owner - allocated resources and - a defined mandate by the executive level to ensure support by the various parts of the organization. With it comes a clear path forward, allowing to go through a continuous PDCA cycle for improvement.

Though it’s good to be SMART about improving any process, you cannot ignore all of the business constraints that may prevent you from getting to the BEST goal and you should stive for “Better” over “Best”. Step your way into your goals and reevaluate along the way. Just wanting to reach 100% improvement is not enough when you don’t have the financing, time or resources to achieve that goal. This is real life and overcoming the real with a SMART plan is critical to a successful outcome. If you want to improve your goals to reflect the desired outcomes, don’t overreach. Take manageable steps and even the smallest improvements will appear and the goals will be achieved.

Setting up SMART objectives is key to make a difference in the quality of execution, however, I think the objectives settings has to follow the strategies and vision of the organization, as well as the forecast of where the business wants to be in the future so we can safely and productively contribute towards reaching that state.

In my experience the first questions should not be what to change and how to change. We need to start with the Why!! Why gets to strategy! All business processes should be designed to support the strategic goals and values set by the organization. If this is not done the best process and flawless execution will not produce the desired outcome.

We also need to consider the 'who'. Cultural context can have a significant influence on process improvements & should not be overlooked.

Committing to improvement is a huge part of continuous improvement. This needs to come from the top of the organization but should also be at every level of the hierarchy. Everyone needs to be on the same page regarding continuing improvement

Execution is normally when the vision and progress gets stuck on the organizations, in order for an execution process to be successful, discipline, tight controls and continuous adjustments are needed, a program manager or leader needs to be highly involved in the day to day to make sure the course is steady and on sight always.

4 dependencies in this 1. Resources -Budget and human resources determine whether you can afford to implement your changes. 2. Senior support - It's fine to have a process and tools but you also need to have strategic buy in. 3. Organisational Change - Changing PM processes can significantly affect your organisation and it's stakeholders. Need to be mindful of what's going on in the business first. 4. Timing is everything - is it the right time to implement when for example 6 projects are in differing stages of progress?

I would agree with the advice already shown, but reflect that it is important to be realistic about timescales. It can take 18-24 months to raise the game and make change stick.

I apply agile practices to my development efforts. Using Trello - as I identify improvement opportunities I add them to my practice development backlog. I execute two week sprints where I incorporate several of these opportunities into my two week planned effort as the opportunity arises. Another benefit of Trello is it’s in of AI which can provide spot guidance on how to implement an improvement saving time.

Once a project is completed it is essential to review what went right, what went wrong and what could have been done more efficiently. Review these with the group, team leaders or your key people who help carry out the project. Celebrate your wins, because it helps boost morale and helps to motivate people to get excited about the next project. If possible, always research what others in your field are doing and how they are doing it, to stay competitive and to be knowledgeable, but if what you are doing really works well for you and your business don't make drastic changes. We want to improve and be on the cutting edge, but you also want to be wise about what you know and understanding when and how to use that information is essential.

La pregunta clave en este momento de la gestión de proyectos es ?Qué hemos aprendido?. Esa gran interrogante se puede detallar a partir de estas otras preguntas ?Cuánto y cómo entregamos valor? ?en qué acertamos? ?En qué fallamos? ?Qué opinan los otros actores involucrados sobre ese desempe?o?. Y estas interrogantes se deben responder desde la evidencia, desde las métricas que hemos realizado sobre el proyecto. Luego se complementa con la vision prospectiva ?cómo podemos innovar? ?qué podemos hacer mejor?. Luego es indispensable construir una narrativa para compartir con todos los participantes, equipo, clientes, proveedores, contrapartes, autoridades y un indeterminado etcétera.

For me as a Sr. PM I would reserve time every other week to read industry publications and participate in webinars. In this I stay updated on the latest industry trends and best practices in project management. For lessons learned we would do the Start, Stop, Continue debrief where entire project team would contribute. Final results (top 3) were compiled and shared with stakeholders, PMO (if present) and leadership. From there we would work to incorporate that into next project and track our performance.

It's always important to take an open, learning-focused approach. After finishing a project, schedule a lessons learned session focusing on forward-looking discussion. Talk about what went well that's worth repeating next time, and what could be improved. Listen without judgment and encourage everyone to share openly. Capture all the feedback and then work together to turn improvement ideas into concrete next steps. Of course, get other's perspectives by asking stakeholder groups what is working for them and what isn't. Just be ready to accept constructive feedback.

If we don't learn and improve, then we'll eventually run into a solvable problem that we can't solve or a runnable project that we can't run well.

Here is where the growth mindset comes in quite handy to be able to not only identify the lessons learned, but also implement them with less friction or conflict.

We tend to focus on what went wrong, and ensuring mistakes are not repeated and new challenges being mitigated in the future. In addition, there is a lot of gold to be found in making best practices even better! Brainstorming around best practice improvement should not be left out of the improvement process.

Once I had a project challenge related to seemingly cantankerous team members. Internally, I walked through my process for identifying the work tasks and tracking progress and communicating status. However I was still troubled. So I walked through the process again with my colleague Project Manager. Finally, she pointed out that I had two people assigned to the task however only one of them was performing therefore the conflict could be avoided by removing one of the persons from the task.

Según mi experiencia, revisar referentes y experiencias de otros proyectos cercanos a los que a mí me interesa dise?ar es un excelente punto de partida para detonar la creatividad. Periódicamente consulto las redes sociales de organizaciones culturales que me gustan, reviso el tono, la forma en que se comunican con sus comunidades y tomo nota de lo que me gusta con la intención de adaptarlo en mi entorno. Me parece que las ideas están ahí para ser tomadas y tamizadas por las experiencias de cada una. Eso sí, siempre citar, dar el crédito y acercarse con lxs creadores para solicitar su autorización, en caso de ser necesario.

When you know you have a good team around you it is to your advantage to utilize their skills and input and it also builds confidence and cohesion. People enjoy being giving opportunities to grow and learn. However, there are times when you must look outside for solutions, and having a network of other project managers can be extremely beneficial as they may have had previous experience with an issue or situation you are trying to troubleshoot. Also, there is usually an expert or professional who specializes in assisting with specific issues and challenges. Being able to employ their services may prove to be invaluable and help to elevate your business, your strategies, and your overall productivity and performance.

Seeking external input and feedback can help a Project Manager look at the processes more critically and arrive at solutions faster. As humans there is always a possibility to see one side of the coin, get stuck in a particular way of working or overlook certain gaps which might exist in the project implementation and processes. Asking another colleague, another team member, feedback from supervisor, or attending webinars, conferences and talks around the area of work is always beneficial to catch the gaps quickly and work on it. Also, I truly believe in getting different perspectives and ideas on board as it can help improve the project quality exponentially and also work as a sounding board for brainstorming.

I have always found it is essential to ensure that your team leads are communicating among themselves, are friendly, and respect each other. This will help to ensure that clashes among disciplines don’t get out of hand or bring “surprises” to the entire work process

As with most of the AI garbage that LinkedIn foists upon us, this article has ZERO to do with project management. Replace "project management" in the title and anywhere else it occurs with any other discipline (product design, accounts payable, onboarding, bathroom cleaning) and everything in the article holds true.

Participate in workshops, share your field experience, collaborate within working groups, and actively learn from the collective expertise.

In a prior project, I joined a team in the midst of evaluating the current state, yet the project vision had not been fully defined or aligned with the overall business vision. It is imperative to establish a clear project vision before initiating the current state assessment and project planning. This clarity is vital for aligning communication, especially among teams and external stakeholders, streamlining decision-making, and ensuring that project outcomes contribute to benefits in line with overarching business objectives.

I don’t think most project managers can change their processes. Initially all projects in the portfolios I saw were run as waterfall projects, and there were a number of components in the surrounding ecosystem of training, financial reporting, performance tracking and reviews that acted to ensure that all projects were being executed the same way. The decision to allow piloting of agile development processes for software and non software projects was made by senior management & created turbulence for project managers being converted to product owners and scrum managers who could not create waterfall like deliverables. So no problem in tweaking deliverables in a project process- while changing from a waterfall to an agile process is BIG.

Retrospectives are the name of the game. Take the time with your teams to go over lessons learned and opportunities for growth and then implement your solutions at the very next opportunity.