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Tag: Program Management

7 Best Practices to Implement Resource Planning in the Audit and Accounting Industry

A Statista survey reveals that the estimated revenue of the accounting industry will grow to $145 billion.

The growth in the audit and accounting industry can be attributed to various factors, including increased demand for advisory services, the growing complexity of tax regulations, a rise in financial fraud, and ongoing technological advancements. As a result, there’s an increasing necessity for audit and accounting services as companies worldwide aim to safeguard their profit margins and retain a competitive edge.

Nevertheless, these firms encounter several workforce-related challenges, such as a scarcity of skilled consultants, suboptimal resource utilization, burnout, etc. Hence, it becomes crucial for the audit and accounting industry to adopt an efficient resource planning process to optimize their workforce and increase profitability.

 

This blog encompasses the key resource planning strategies for audit and accounting firms and how SAVIOM can help.

Let’s begin.

 

Benefits of resource planning in the audit & accounting industry

Resources are the backbone of audit and accounting firms as they generate revenue by billing their clients for the consultant’s time and expertise. Thus, these firms need effective resource planning to maximize the billable utilization of their employees and increase ROI.

Since this industry experiences seasonal fluctuations, resource planning enables firms to meet the capacity vs. demand gap and fulfill all the project requirements. This approach also bridges the skill gaps, ensuring consultants are available before project onset, thus reducing last-minute firefighting.

Further, it helps these firms identify and assign the right consultants to the right tasks at the right time and cost and deliver top-notch projects. In addition, it also enables firms to remain competitive in a swiftly evolving market and adapt to new challenges.

Now that you understand the importance of resource planning, let’s dive into the essential techniques to implement it.

Here are the seven best ways to create an efficient resource plan in audit and accounting firms:

 

1. Foresee and bridge demand gaps of auditors & accountants

One of the crucial steps of resource planning is where managers forecast the capacity vs. demand gap of consultants for pipeline audit/accounting projects. It will help them analyze the resource requirements ahead of time and take proactive measures to bridge the gaps. For instance, a pipeline project needs four auditors to complete the work successfully.

If the organization has two auditors, it indicates a shortage of two resources. To bridge this gap, managers can implement training programs for junior auditors, utilize out rotation and backfill strategy, or go for planned hiring. Conversely, if they had six auditors, managers could bring forward the project timelines or sell the extra capacity. This will help eliminate the last-minute hiring of resources.

 

2. Allocate competent accounting personnel to projects

The audit firms often utilize niche-skilled employees like forensic accountants, IT consultants, budget analysts, etc., to deliver projects. Since these resources are expensive to procure, managers must ensure they are judiciously allocated to projects based on their skills, availability, etc., to enhance their billable utilization.

Moreover, managers can assign skilled global accounting personnel from low-cost locations per the project requirements. For example, managers can allocate a skilled junior counterpart instead of assigning a senior auditor to audit financial reports. This will help minimize resourcing costs significantly and successfully deliver projects.

 

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3. Build the right mix of contingent and permanent consultants

In the audit and accounting industry, the demand for consultants witnesses a surge during the financial year-end. Therefore, it is imperative to have a blend of on-demand and permanent workforce to fulfill the project demands.

For instance, an audit firm requires a senior tax analyst to prepare and submit the tax filings for a short-term project. Since the existing resources are engaged with tasks, the firm can assign a contingent employee to complete the project on time. Conversely, they can deploy a permanent tax analyst for a long-term project. This will prevent last-minute firefighting for resources, and firms can effectively meet the deadlines.

 

4. Establish & monitor utilization targets of professionals

Most audit and accounting firms leverage internal and external professionals to meet client requirements. Therefore, establishing and monitoring the targets will ensure the blended workforce is utilized to the maximum potential. This will help them prevent operational inefficiencies and increase billable utilization.

For instance, on-demand auditors are hired hourly for short-term projects. Therefore, their billable utilization target can be set to 100%. Meanwhile, the target for permanent auditors can be set between 80-85% to balance their time spent on billable and non-billable tasks. This way, audit firms can optimize the productive utilization of their workforce and ensure seamless project execution.

5. Allow audit & accounting staff to choose projects of their interest

As the audit and accounting personnel spend most of their time working on similar projects, they experience monotony, which leads to disengagement and lowered productivity. To avoid this, managers must allow employees to choose projects of their interest by publishing open positions.

This will enable interested professionals to apply for suitable vacancies, and accordingly, managers can choose the best-fit consultants for the projects. When consultants work on assignments of their interest, it will increase their motivation and performance and improve their career trajectory.

 

6. Create training and development programs as appropriate

According to a survey, 80% of finance and accounting workers say it’s vital for a company to offer training programs to keep them upskilled for the future. 

Training and development programs are crucial in the audit and accounting industry as they help consultants build in-demand skills. For this, managers can formulate various upskilling programs, individual development plans (IDPs), etc.

Further, they can facilitate development initiatives like blended learning, shadowing opportunities, on-the-job training, etc. This will enable the professionals to take up multi-faceted projects, bridge existing skill gaps, and diversify their career portfolios.

 

7. Implement succession planning for critical roles

When consultants in critical positions retire or suddenly exit the firm, it can derail the projects, leading to client dissatisfaction. To avoid this situation, firms can implement succession planning.

For this, managers must regularly monitor professionals’ performance and determine who is eligible for the critical positions. Then, they must provide appropriate training to these resources so that they can take up strategic and leadership roles. This will enhance the consultants’ engagement and ensure project continuity.

Now that we know the steps, let’s understand how ERM software can help.

 

How does advanced ERM software help in effective resource planning?

Implementing Saviom’s ERM tool can enable audit and accounting firms to plan their consultants efficiently. The tool offers:

  • 360-degree visibility and advanced filters enable managers to identify and assign consultants based on their skills, competencies, location, etc.
  • Forecasting and capacity planning enable managers to foresee pipeline project demand and identify the shortage/excess of resources. Then, managers can take corrective measures like training, hiring, etc., to bridge the gaps.
  • BI reports like forecast vs. actual, and utilization helps implement remedial measures to eliminate under/over utilization. Besides, it helps mobilize accountants from non-billable to billable or strategic tasks.
  • What-if-analysis enables managers to create and compare various project scenarios and determine the best-fit resource plan.
  • With the open seat feature, managers can publish open positions, and professionals can choose projects of their interest, thus improving engagement.

 

Final thoughts

Resource planning is essential for audit and accounting firms to maximize workforce efficiency and improve project quality. By implementing the above strategies and a futuristic resource management solution, these firms can optimally utilize the professionals and maintain profitability.

Best of: The Paradox of Patience, Planning and Expectations

If your goal is optimal performance, cultivate the mindful awareness that enables clarity and responsiveness. Accept and work with paradoxes to embrace both-and thinking.

A well-respected mindfulness meditation master, advised that “A mind which thinks, expects, and plans, blocks off wisdom.” Following this advice would leave most of our projects at sea without a rudder. That is the problem with a great deal of the mindfulness teachings that have become common in the project management and general business communities – over simplification. The wise embrace both-and thinking.

The full quote is:
“Notice every time the mind is eager for
results and remind yourself of the right attitude.
You need to practice patience.
Only when the mind is simple, can wisdom develop.
A mind which thinks, expects, and plans, blocks off wisdom.” Tejaniya

 

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the ability to objectively observe everything occurring within and externally. It is beneficial, based on many studies and personal experience. Mindfulness techniques – formal and informal meditation methods – increase mindfulness and concentration. Mindfulness enables responsiveness as opposed to reactivity. Concentration brings calm, relieves stress and enables focus in the face of distractions. Together with effort mindfulness and concentration promote wisdom.

But how many project managers will sign up for simple mindedness? How many organizations will hire simple minded project managers who are not eager for results? Not many.

 

The Wisdom of Paradox – Eager and Patient

Yet, there is wisdom in the master’s advice. Like all quotes it is taken out of context. No meaningful statement about the nature of mind and mindfulness is absolutely true. There is paradox – events or ideas that are unlikely to coexist. Paradox is “seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true:” Oxford Dictionaries.

Investigating more deeply, we can know that to be aware of the eagerness for results and to have patience is good advice. Over eagerness in projects leads to rushing to complete, by-passing risk management, testing, and other parts of planning and controlling the project. The over eager stakeholder is more likely to make mistakes and set unreasonable expectations. The eager stakeholder is motivated to achieve.

 

Right Attitude – Patience

The “right attitude,” is to be both eager and patient. Patience is a tough one, particularly when faced with high ranking stakeholders who are eager for results. Patience is “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset:” Oxford Dictionaries

Patience requires a stepping back to mindfully observe the uncomfortable feelings that get in the way of consciously taking stock of the situation, planning, communicating, and establishing the most effective foundation for performance. Alan Lokos, in his book “Patience:The Art of Peaceful Living” makes the point that patience is not passivity. Patience is taking control of thinking, speech, and action so that what you say and do makes good sense and gets the results that you want. Patience is an ingredient for effective project management and performance.

Practicing patience requires effort. It requires the ability to notice and be able to accept the urge to dismiss the annoying functional manager or team member who is ‘obstructing’ progress. Noticing and accepting are part of the practice of mindfulness. When I teach meditation practices, I often recommend “sitting with an itch,” patiently waiting for the itch to change or disappear on its own rather than scratching it. Try it the next time you have an annoying itch. It builds the patience “muscle.”

 

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Who Wants a Simple Mind?

Now lets turn our attention to “Only when the mind is simple, can wisdom develop.”

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Albert Einstein

To have a simple mind does not mean to be simple minded. A simple mind, in the context of mindful awareness, is a calm mind that sees things objectively, as they are. There is elegance in simplicity. The simple mind can integrate the sophisticated, complex skills and thoughts needed to manage and perform complex tasks in a complex, changing environment. The simple mind is free of the unnecessary noise of biases, confusion, and obsessive thinking.

Bertrand Russell said, “Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day.” The simple mind, the mind that is mindfully aware, sits behind it all, open-minded, free of the comforting convictions. It observes objectively. The simple mind is like the eye of the storm – calm and clear while the storm rages. The flies are still there but they no longer get in the way of clear, focused thinking. In fact, mindful awareness promotes greater clarity and focus.

We can have a simple mind and simultaneously achieve objectives by applying our intelligence, skills and knowledge.

 

Planning, Expectations and Wisdom

To say that “A mind which thinks, expects, and plans, blocks off wisdom.” is overly simplistic. It is misleading. It is the kind of thing that can drive people, particularly project managers, away from the practice of mindfulness and the benefits it brings. The meaning is clarified by saying that a mind that is distracted by thinking, that unrealistically expects, and over-plans blocks off wisdom.

Wisdom is seeing things as they are and having wise intention. Wisdom can be blocked by Russell’s “flies.”

In Buddhist thought, things are impermanent, imperfect and the result of a continuous process of causes and effects. Wise intention is to give up the causes of suffering, cultivate good will, do no harm, and to ethically achieve objectives to benefit stakeholders.

Expectations are normal. Planning is necessary if you want to successfully achieve project goals and satisfy stakeholder expectations. However, having irrational, unrealistic expectations leads to disappointment and suffering. Constantly changing the plan moment to moment, gets in the way of being in the moment and performing optimally.

 

The Bottom-line

In the spirit of both-and thinking, we can say that we can both be patient and take skillful action. We can keep the mind simple and apply complex skills and knowledge to complex problems. And we can expect and plan and be in the moment, performing optimally, while allowing wisdom to develop.

Mindful awareness is the foundation for optimal performance. Cultivate it by practicing to focus the mind and open it to the full range of internal and external experience. Practice both-and thinking.

 

Published on: November 18, 2020

Principles of eCommerce Project Management

What is eCommerce Project Management and Why is it Important?

eCommerce project management is the application of knowledge skills, tools, and techniques in a structured manner to reach eCommerce project goals and requirements. Proper project management can improve a business’s efficiency, foster collaboration between teammates, boost a team’s performance, and improve customer satisfaction. eCommerce project management differs from traditional project management because online businesses function differently at a fundamental level. For example, the storefront management component of a traditional business isn’t relevant to completely digital companies.

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Methods of eCommerce Project Management

  • Lean Project Management

Lean project management is an iterative process, meaning it is meant to be updated continuously until the desired outcome is met. The primary objective of lean project management is to deliver value to the client. This is done by polishing the final product at each stage in the management process, rather than focusing on a long-term implementation plan. In this sense, lean project management is a more reactive process than other management methods.

  • Agile Project Management

Agile project management is another iterative form of management similar to lean project management. The primary difference with agile project management is that each phase of the process focuses on a new element of the final product rather than refining the product at each step. Agile project management also allows for customer feedback to be gathered and implemented very quickly. Flexibility is the primary benefit of agile project management.

  • Waterfall Project Management

Waterfall project management is the oldest method of project management that is still common today. The waterfall project management method is sequential instead of iterative. In this method, the entire project is planned at the beginning of the process. This includes research and development, product introduction, and product launching. The primary benefit of the waterfall method is that your team will have a solid final goal to work towards and an overall sense of direction. However, this method of project management is pretty rigid and does not adapt well to customer feedback or new ideas for implementation.

  • Scrum

Scrum project management has a strong focus on collaboration between team members. Scrum management usually involves short, frequent, oftentimes daily, meetings where team members review project progress, discuss the problems they are facing and plan the objectives for the day. These frequent meetings make it easy to ensure that every member of a team is on the same page. The scrum process is divided into phases known as sprints. Each sprint focuses on creating a ready-to-use product that can be refined in later sprints.

  • Kanban

Kanban is similar to the scrum style of project management due to its use of sprints, but the lifecycle of each sprint is shorter than in the scrum method. The Kanban management style is also more flexible than scrum because it allows for project elements to be refined whenever necessary, not just in later sprints. Kanban focuses on continuous changes and updates that contribute to overall task progress.

Photo by energepic.com from Pexels

How to Plan Your eCommerce Projects

The planning process of your eCommerce project will vary depending on the style of project management you have implemented, but there are a few crucial aspects that are present in any eCommerce planning process.

  • Competitor Analysis

The eCommerce market is growing rapidly and has a fierce amount of competition. Competitor analysis will give you valuable insights into the competition’s strengths and weaknesses, which can benefit you in a few different ways. Firstly, these insights will allow your business to adapt. You’ll be able to avoid the mistakes that other companies have made and implement strategies that have worked. Secondly, competitor analysis will show you what makes your business unique compared to other companies. This will enable your business to focus on a niche in the market that you can better serve.

  • Website Planning and Business Optimization

Having a fast, intuitive website that is easy to use is incredibly important to eCommerce businesses. If your website doesn’t offer customers a good user experience, then it is unlikely that they’ll return to make another purchase. Creating a memorable website goes beyond the design and structure of your website, it should also have modern functionality such as responsive windows and automation. Many online shoppers today make purchases through mobile devices so your eCommerce business’s website should be capable of responding to different screen sizes. Websites that function well on multiple devices generally outperform unoptimized websites. Many consumers also expect websites to have automated functions. Automation can also streamline certain business operations. For example, shipping APIs can streamline warehouse processes and allow more orders to be fulfilled.

  • Advertising

Advertising is important for businesses of all sizes in any industry. There are several channels that can be used for advertising. These include physical advertisements, influencer campaigns, social media profiles, and digital advertisements. Social media is arguably the most important advertising channel for eCommerce businesses because it offers them a means of two-way engagement with potential customers.

The PMBOK guide® – Seventh Edition Summary

In this article, I show a forecast of the new edition of the PMBOK-7 Guide for Project Management. I have read the new guide and it is important to show everyone how this guide can help us and how we can apply it to our role as project managers.

The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) has been the go-to resource to help Project Management professionals use best practices to add value to their work.

However, rapid improvements in technology and the need for organizations and professionals to adapt more quickly to changes in the market, have made our profession evolve incorporating agile approaches in projects. Professionals now have the responsibility to select the most appropriate management approach (predictive, agile, or hybrid) to do their job and deliver value.

Therefore, for the new PMBOK Guide® – to remain useful, it must reflect this flexibility and help the professional in decision-making and the management of their projects, in a way that allows them to obtain the expected results.

Thus, the PMBOK® Guide supports this need for flexibility by adopting a structure based on principles and domains, rather than groups of processes and areas of knowledge from the above versions.

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Some key facts from the new guide

  1. The PMBOK® Guide provides a framework for applying the ISO-21500 Project Management
  2. This edition reflects the full range of development approaches, with no preference for any of them.
  3. Instead of focusing solely on project deliverables, it also places great importance on the results/value the project brings.

      

Figure 1. PMBOK-7 Changes. Source PMI

Structure and Content

The Guide is separated into two blocks “The Standard for Project Management” and the “Guide to Project Management: Body of Knowledge”.

Figure 2. PMBOK-7 Structure

The main sections of the new guide are described below.

System to deliver value

The main purpose of a project is to deliver value to the organization where it is executed. This value is achieved through customer satisfaction, the creation of a new product or service, the improvement of a process, or the implementation of a new change that can enhance the process and operations.

The approach is that projects are considered as systems to deliver value. That is, the strategies, missions, and objectives of an organization determine the portfolios of projects. In other words, the value that a project brings to the organization has a relevant weight, without excluding the rest of the aspects of the triple constraint triangle that ensure the success of the project (Scope, Time, Cost).

The achievement of benefits in the broad sense is closely linked to value management. Value management is described as “a management approach that focuses on motivating people, developing skills, and fostering synergies and innovation with the ultimate goal of optimizing overall organizational performance.” In a sense, the value that projects brings to an organization is especially focused on those organizations that implement project management at their full capacity. In this case, the business value is achieved through the optimization of business functions in several ways, including:

  1. Alignment of business strategy and execution
  2. Integration of business functions
  3. Navigating, evaluating, and watching environmental and business ambiguity
  4. Achieve enterprise scalability
  5. Distributed collaboration management
  6. Reduced time to profit

Figure 3. PMBOK-7 Factors to consider

Project Management Principles

Figure 4. PMBOK-7 Principles

The guide has 12 generally accepted principles used in project management. A Principle is “A statement, truth or rule that guides and leads our thoughts and actions“. Principles guide the actions, but do not detail how to do things, and are not strict. To ensure the expected results of project delivery, project team members should follow these principles:

  1. (Stewardship) Pay Attention/Care: Be a diligent, respectful, and caring steward. Carry out activities with integrity, care, and trustworthiness while maintaining compliance with internal and external guidelines. They demonstrate a broad commitment to the financial, social, and environmental impacts of the projects they support.
  2. Team: Create a collaborative project team environment. Project teams that work collaboratively can accomplish a shared objective more effectively and efficiently than individuals working on their own.
  3. Stakeholders: Engage stakeholders to understand their interests and needs.
  4. Value: Focus on value. Align the project with the objectives of the organization. Continually evaluate and adjust project alignment to business objectives and intended benefits and value
  5. System thinking: Recognize, evaluate, and respond to system interactions, with the aim to respond to the dynamic circumstances within and surrounding the project in a holistic way to positively affect project performance.
  6. Leadership: Motivate, influence, train and learn. Demonstrate leadership behaviors in areas of honesty, integrity, and ethical conduct and adapting leadership style to the situation.
  7. Tailoring: Adapt the approach of deliveries according to the context. Adaptability is the key through the use of an iterative approach.
  8. Quality: Incorporate quality into processes and results. Maintain a focus on quality that produces deliverables that meet project objectives and align to the needs, uses, and acceptance requirements set forth by relevant stakeholders.
  9. Complexity: Address complexity using knowledge, experience, and learning. Continually evaluate and navigate project complexity so that approaches and plans enable the project team to successfully navigate the project life cycle.
  10. (Risk) Opportunities and threats: Optimize responses to opportunities and threats. Maximize positive impacts and minimize negative impacts to the project and its outcomes.
  11. Adaptability and resilience: Be adaptable and resilient depending on the context to help the project accommodate change, recover from setbacks, and advance the work of the project.
  12. Change management: Enable change to achieve the expected future state.

The adoption of these principles does not mean that the process-based approaches (process groups) of the previous version are no longer relevant or useful, are still valid, and represent a way of applying the previous principles in practice.

Body of Knowledge: Performance Domains

These are areas of knowledge that must be focused on to manage the project. The goal is not only to provide deliverables but also results, regardless of how often this delivery is made periodically or at the end of the project, made through product increments or improvements all over the project life.

 

Figure 5. PMBOK-7 Performance Domains

  1. Team: Develop high-performance teams.
  2. Stakeholders: Build good relationships with Stakeholders.
  3. Life Cycle: Develop appropriate phases and approaches for the project.
  4. Planning: Carry out adequate planning at each precise moment.
  5. Navigating between uncertainty and ambiguity: Analyze the project environment to anticipate risks and seize opportunities.
  6. Delivery: Proportionate value.
  7. Performance Measure: Track to ensure results are achieved.
  8. Project work: Guarantee the activities to facilitate the team the delivery of results.

The way these domains interact and combine among them, it is typically different in each project.

Body of Knowledge: Tailoring

An entire section of the new guide, which significantly improves on what was included in the previous ones, is to have a framework and criteria for the adaptation (tailoring) of the approaches for each project. With conventional cascading project management approaches, it was difficult to address rapidly changing requirements in projects. That is why agile methods and approaches to project management emerged, especially in the IT and software industry. Depending on the characteristics of each project, the specific industry, stakeholder requirements, and the organization, project managers have to apply different approaches to managing projects. These approaches can be predictive, agile, hybrid, or cascading.

Sometimes we get carried away by fashions and it seems like all projects have to use an agile approach. The new project management standard is neutral in this regard, does not favor one approach over another, and provides guidance on how to carry out this “tailor-made” approach.

Figure 6. PMBOK-7 Tailoring Process. Source PMBOK7

Body of Knowledge: Models, Methods and Artifacts

This last part includes a series of models, methods, and artifacts that can be used or implemented to manage projects. Here it includes the group of processes, methods, and artifacts that allow:

  1. Initiate: defines and authorizes the project or a phase.
  2. Planning: clarifies and refines the objectives, planning the necessary actions to carry them out.
  3. Execute: Integrates people and other resources to produce the deliverables and performance information of the project.
  4. Monitoring and controlling: measures and monitors the progress of the project in order to identify possible variations and discrepancies with respect to the original plan and correct them when necessary.
  5. Close: completes all activities of all groups of project management processes to formally complete the project (or a phase) and formalize the acceptance of the product, service, or result.

Shows the range of options that the project team can use to produce or generate project deliverables, organize work, facilitate communications and collaboration. Models, Methods, and Artifacts can be used in the Domains. In fact, the PMBOK in this section shows the crossover between them. Many of these Models, Methods, and Artifacts were mentioned in earlier versions of the PMBOK within the processes.

Figure 7. PMBOK-7 Methods

5 Ways You Could Be Improving Project Management

Even if you’re the most skillful and experienced project manager, it’s important to understand that there is always room for improvement. This is because every project presents a new set of challenges that you might not be very familiar with. Here are some ways you could be improving project management:

Build a great team

As a project manager, you need to have a great team with you to help you execute the project in the best way possible. For a successful project, you’ll need to assemble qualified and competent individuals who are ready to work together seamlessly for a common goal.
After assembling the team you’ll need for the project, the next step is assigning representatives. It is these team representatives that will help you run the project in a more organized manner. The team representatives are responsible for communicating any messages from the team members and attending meetings.
There are professionals that have more information on creating high-performance teams.

Outlining the project

As a project manager, before proceeding with any project, it’s very important that you outline it to the rest of the team. You might know everything about the project, but this doesn’t basically mean that the rest of your team is aware of everything that is expected of them.
For this reason, you need to educate all the team members about every important detail of the project. For example, you want to ensure that everyone working on the project understands the project goals, the estimated time of completion, and their job descriptions, among other aspects.
This means that before the project officially begins, you need to present the project outline to everyone involved in it. As a project manager, it’s very important to understand that communicating the project goals from the start plays a critical role in achieving them.

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Focus on communication

If you’re looking to improve your project management skills for the best results possible, you need to improve your communication skills. You could be a very great planner, but without good communication between you and your team members, your project is bound to fail.
For this reason, if you’re going to improve your project management, you need to be ready to communicate your expectations, project goals, deadlines and always provide updates to the team and the stakeholders in the project.
With good communication, you can undoubtedly transform any team and get the best out of it. It’s important to note that good communication doesn’t only improve the performance of the team, but also enhances the overall quality of the project.

Establish and prioritize goals

For better project management, you need to establish firm goals for the project. This is very important because it lets your team members know what exactly they’re aiming for and what they have to accomplish for the project to be labeled done.
After you’ve established clear project goals for the entire team, the next step is to ensure that you prioritize these goals. You need to ensure that every task that is carried out by the team is only focused on achieving the set goals within the time limit set.
By doing so, your team will gain a better understanding of the expectations you have for the project and the deadlines to meet them. In simple terms, prioritizing the project goals will optimize the project progress and put you in a better place to succeed.

Set realistic expectations

Everything from good project planning, communication, and getting the best out of the team is fueled by realistic expectations. You can never build a successful project if the goals you’re setting for the team are not realistic.
You need to consider your team’s strengths, weaknesses, and all the challenges they might encounter throughout the project before setting any goals for them. When you set realistic goals, it will motivate the team, and you’re likely to achieve great success by the end of the project.
Setting goals that way above your team’s capabilities will only demoralize them and derail the whole project.

Conclusion

The above tips will guide you better to improve your project management. However, you should always be open to new ideas and particularly new learning opportunities to perfect your skills.