8 Tips for Improving Project Management

I worked recently with a team of performers looking to improve the speed, efficiency, and outcome of the strategic projects they are rolling out. Individually, the members were impressive: highly knowledgeable in their domain (a difficult one, I might add), driven, and with high expectations from themselves. The issue? They were having more strategic projects at the same time, overlapping timelines, and overlapping people, so there was a lot of confusion, lack of priority and understanding of who does what and when. And a huge overload for people whose expertise was needed in multiple projects.

Some of the suggestions I have seen working in previous projects are:

1.All Project Managers need to be trained in project management methodology and skills. In Romania, in the projects we develop with our clients, we see this quite frequently: people that are more proactive, driven, and that deliver results end up being entrusted with projects and are expected to perform, even though they had no learning opportunity for (at least) the basics.

The issues that rise from this:

• They don’t know what they don’t know. And they don’t have ideas on how to improve their competency and results.
• They work intensely and are frustrated that they don’t get the results they are aiming for.

2. If you have more projects and all are important – bring in a Program Manager. The value of the Program Manager comes from aligning between the projects, from highlighting the bottlenecks and to having recurrent alignment meetings with the Project Managers.

The issues for not having a Program Manager, when is needed:

• Without a clear prioritization between projects (this is part of the Program Manager’s role, to align between stakeholders) and clear estimations, oftentimes the Project Managers are left to try and persuade all the other colleagues to collaborate in their project. The people involved usually have their operational job, to which they are already 100% allocated, and make extra efforts to help in projects. If they choose to help at all.
• Without a Program Manager to have the whole perspective, is difficult for the Project Managers, as well, to know what other projects they are competing against internally and how to negotiate priorities and deadlines.

3. Build a minimum structure for project governance. Project Management methodologies offer a large array of tools and ways to manage your project. It can be overwhelming. And the knowledge level can be very different in the organization. The recommendation is to choose just the tools and methods that can be used in all projects (the minimum) and leave the decision to each Project Manager on what they want to add over that minimum if they see fit. This is the fastest way to increase the performance level in projects, at organizational level.

4. Build a unique dashboard. The best way to ensure the results is to have a clear method for following up on them. The dashboard should show:

• Projects timelines – what was the planned, what is the status and the projection
• Budget - what was the planned and what is the status and the projections
• Needs for each project (can be bottlenecks, additional resources, negotiations etc.)

5. Build clarity by using a company roadmap. This roadmap should be periodically updated and communicated, so all the parties involved have a clear perspective on the progress and what’s next.

6. Make visible the stages of the project and the people involved. The RACI Matrix is one of the most efficient tools in aligning over tasks, people, and responsibilities. This one of my personal favorite tools to use, is simple, yet very effective in clarifying:

• who is accountable (who oversees things happening – may supervise or work directly on tasks),
• who is responsible (who needs to do which activity),
• who needs to be consulted (formal or informal validations) and
• who needs to be informed.

7. As a Project Manager, make sure to include and estimate the effort necessary for managing the project. Visibility over this load (and usually is a great deal more than we think) helps the PM in better managing the project, but also the stakeholders, that need to understand the impact of allocating enough time specific for PM activities, especially if the PM has an operational role, as well. ?

8. Establish recurrencies and routines around projects governance. A well-designed plan is one of the success factors for delivering projects on time, budget and within the requirements agreed upon. One other, just as important, factor is following through, making sure the project meets the milestones and if there are obstacles and issues, being proactive in overcoming them. This means periodical reviews of the status. Our suggestion is to define and follow specific routines for this – meetings, time allocated for project review etc. and frequencies. This will build the needed habits, not just for this project, but for all that will come after.

Managing a project will always bring unexpected challenges. To be on top of our projects, we need to find smart ways to make sure we have “control keys” and effective management and response methods.