Tag: Project Management

Best of PMTimes: 5 Ways Your Company Culture Affects Project Management

Written by Jacob Wilson on September 12, 2023. Posted in Articles.

A brand’s culture is the personality and identity behind the company.

It is the set of values, rules, and commitments that the employees live by at the office, and employers use to build an appealing brand image both internally and externally. So naturally, you can expect your company’s culture to influence and affect every process in every department, and thus effectively shape the future of your brand as a whole. When you’re managing a new project or several projects, though, your company’s culture will have avital role to play.

Not only will it help you assemble a crack team of professionals, but it will also help you delegate roles, ensure healthy and continuous communication and collaboration, set your goals and objectives just right, and ultimately deliver on the projected results ahead of time. With all of that in mind, here are the five ways your company culture can affect project management, and how to use it to take your projects to new heights of success.

Incentivize employees to increase productivity

At its core, your company’s culture serves the purpose of incentivizing your employees to love their job and the brand they work for. Through numerous employee-oriented rules and routines, the causes your company supports, and the values your brand stands for, you’re building a friendly work environment where people can live, laugh, and work with a positive attitude and a clear goal in mind – to give it their best on each and every project.

This is why it is important to find ways in which your company’s culture can directly influence and elevate the productivity of the individual, before you can start optimizing it to positively impact the team as a whole. Be sure to find out what moves your employees as well as the values they stand for, and try to weave them into the narrative in some form in order to inspire them to care for the project and its outcome.

Ensure accountability and boost collaboration

In order to manage a successful project from inception to finalization, you need to build accountability among your team members. Your employees and colleagues need to hold themselves and each other accountable for their actions, as well as the actions of the team as a whole in order to keep the project moving forward at all times, react to mistakes and setbacks effectively, and even predict possible pitfalls to avoid them successfully.

When you have accountability, you can also boost collaboration and co-dependence easily. Through a positive company culture that nurtures accountability and collaboration, your employees will lean on each other for support, you will be able to spark innovative thinking and decision-making, and of course, you will have an easier time running a tight ship with minimal risk of error.

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Bringing diversity to the team and the project

It’s no secret that one of the keys to an efficient and successful project is diversity. But beyond the project itself, your company’s culture should emphasize the need to attract, bring in, and retain diverse talent from numerous communities and demographics in order to improve the brand’s image, and bring value to the company in terms of skilled and loyal employees. This is a solution favored by Australian business leaders, so let’s take a look at their example.

In Sydney and other highly-competitive business hubs, project managers will source diverse talent from agencies such as atWork Australia in order to bring people with disabilities into their ranks and tap into a lucrative talent pool that resides within this community. Likewise, they will use AI-software and specialized HR recruitment programs to eliminate all bias from the recruiting process, in order to give all applicants a fair chance at proving their worth to the company.

Following the same mindset, be sure to bring people from all walks of life to your project in order to spark creativity and innovation, improve collaboration, and gain loyal brand members.

Define leadership roles and strengthen organization

Another way in which your company’s culture can help you manage your projects and deliver on the desired results is helping you assign leadership roles, structure communication, organize workflow, and organize your employees individually. Now, this requires you to combine your own leadership skills with the insights your company’s culture brings to the table in order to help with delegation and workflow.

Using your skills as a leader, be sure to analyze how your team members respond to the values of your brand and the governing rules that shape your culture, and then proceed to pick out the individuals best suited to run the team. Assign complementary personalities to your leaders, people you know are devoted to the cause and passionate about their work, and of course, find the right “contrasting” figure that will serve as the counterweight to the team – in order to improve the decision-making process and ensure critical thinking.

Carrying the project with shared values and passions

And finally, keep in mind that a positive company culture builds passionate mindsets. When your employees and team members are in love with their job, and when they resonate with the values of your company, they will invariably become more committed to the project, and they are likely to become passionate in the process. Through this shared passion, your team members will carry the project to fruition.

Final thoughts

Project management is the driving force behind long-term business success in the modern corporate world. Be sure to act on these insights and work on your company’s culture if you are to fine-tune the PM process, and create a diversified and passionate team that will take your brand forward as a whole.

Published: 2019/09/04

Best of PMTimes: 7 Tips on How to be a Great Project Manager

Written by Jasmin Ali on August 22, 2023. Posted in Articles.

Project management may sound easy, but taking up the role of a Project manager requires sword play with the right wit.

Many a times, when the Project Manager is at fault or does not abide to an employee’s needs, the company is bound to lose a valuable resource. A good Project Manager is hard to find, but a great Project Manager? It is harder. Understanding the goals of the company, project deadlines, managing time effectively and being a good boss to employees can be easy if these seven tips are followed:

1. AVOID MICROMANAGEMENT

Project managers tend to get extremely observant and controlling when a project is assigned to their team. It might be because of irrational deadlines, lack of time, underestimating the power of their resource and panicking about proving their position. This leads to constant micromanagement where Project Managers constantly nag or monitor employees and their work, breathing down their shoulders through the entire day or week, until the project is done and dusted. Sometimes, employees are never given an off and might be asked to work during the weekends which would eventually drain them out. A great Project Manager understands that every employee is human enough to have their own time and space to figure out how much they can deliver and how fast they can. Employees should be given their own freedom to work around schedules and plan out how they can deliver before deadlines. Micromanagement only demotivates employees and puts them in a position where they are rendered as incapable of deliveries unless monitored. A great manager avoids micromanagement like the plague and uses it when and wherever necessary.

2. EVALUATE PRIORITIES

Many project managers follow agile methodology where different parts of the project that have various dependencies are mapped out and listed in the beginning. With time, priorities change. Re-evaluating priorities in a periodic manner and changing work deliveries is important. Priorities are never the same throughout a project and it takes a great manager to find the loops and holes of it, to deliver projects on time.

3. MANAGE TIME EFFECTIVELY

Time management is a great manager’s number one priority. Maintaining a balance between being productive during the productive hours at work and allowing employees to have their free time is important. Project managers must make sure that employees get the work done on time, without stressing them out by pressurizing them. Any good resource would work efficiently when the work is handed over to them, without the need of a push. Figuring out the good and the bad egg from the team is crucial. Laying out tasks and targets for employees to meet during each day is a good way to start.

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4. COMMUNICATION IS KEY

Good communication is good project management any day. The ability to communicate to the stakeholders as well as the team effectively can drive a project to be delivered on time. Giving out broken promises to stakeholders and urging employees to complete their tasks as promised would cause huge problems to the team as well as to the clients. Being an effective communicator between the team and the clients is important.

5. UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGY

They say that great project managers understand their employees. Keeping track of how much an employee is able to deliver, how fast they can and what fields and skills they are good at is important. The ability to drive employees to complete tasks they love accomplishing and are good at. Knowing your team’s strengths and weaknesses and allotting tasks similar to what they can and cannot do is vital.

6. EQUIPPING THE TEAM

Technology is an ever-evolving stream of today and to be knowledgeable in all kinds of software and technology is a challenging task. Being up-to-date on technology and exposing your team to the existence of such, is important. Project management training for employees to be knowledgeable on various fields that are emerging in the current technology-driven world can bring the company a lot of projects and profit.

7. GREAT PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS

When there’s a project assigned to you, there will be problems assigned to you as well. These problems can arise at any time of the project. Problems can vary from being related to the employees within the team, health-issues or emergencies that occur mid-way or at the time of delivery, misinterpreting requirements, missing out on SLDC processes, bug issues and problems that are completely unexpected. Being a great problem-solver by understanding what is to be done at such situations is the best trait of a great project manager. A great project manager works towards the success of the company and its products and it is vital to know how to handle unexpected situations in a witty way.

BEING PREPARED

Being a good project manager takes time while being a great project manager takes experience. Using the right kind of skill at the right time and handling organizational problems takes time in understanding what each member of the team is capable of. Believing that your team can perform better at every step of the project is crucial. Preparations for the worst can improve problem-solving abilities.

SUMMARY

Understanding the project strategy vision, bringing out the best out of your team, timely delivery of projects, being an effective communicator, solving problems, preparing, disclosing, bargaining and closing projects can go a long way in tuning your project management skills. Looking into administrative details of projects is also an area that can’t be missed out. Project management takes planning, leading, implementing and collaborating.

Any good project manager can become a great project manager any day. Taking a keen interest in your development, the team’s as well as individual development is an added asset. Keep your doors open for employees to put in their thoughts and worries that serve as barriers to meeting deliverables or taking up projects. Delegate tasks and sub-tasks to get work done in a simple and easy way. Finally, a great project manager works with the team and accomplishes their mission.

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great someday”.

Published: 2017/12/25

Questions to Ask in the Project Management Interview

Written by Carmen Kesho on July 12, 2023. Posted in Articles.

I have worked in Project Management for over a decade and in a variety of different organizations. While most organizations value the PMP ® Certification, as is evident in the many jobs descriptions where this is a “Preferred Qualification”, not all organizations prescribe to the PMBOK guidelines/framework.

In some organizations, due to extremely aggressive timelines, the project may already be in progress and the charter (which defines the scope) and or budget have not been finalized. There are also scenarios where scope creep occurs frequently due to the lack of ability to say no to the customer and project management insight into the level of effort that is received, but not considered in determining the timeline once a customer or senior leadership has a certain deadline in mind.

Project Management is a discipline and if you are like me, you were drawn to Project Management because of the process, order, and structure it provides. There is no better feeling than adding Project Management structure and organization to help an organization reach its goals. However, it can be disheartening when the skills you have acquired and honed to be a Project Management Professional are not valued. Even worse, it can lead to burnout.

I want to help mitigate the risk (see what I did there) of your joining an organization, department, or group that does not value the project management discipline and help you identify a role/organization that does.

Here are some questions to ask during the project management interview so you can determine whether a role within that organization will be a fit for you.

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Questions and Insights

1. Do you have a centralized PMO?

If the organization has dedicated resources to building a Project Management Office, then there will be some standard practices and processes in place to promote organization, standardization, governance, and guidance for all projects. They should also provide access to deliverable and report templates. Feel free to ask more questions about the PMO so you can understand how you will be supported by the organization during your employment.

2. How are projects approved?

There needs to be a formal approval process for projects, so the Project Manager is not inundated with too many projects. Whether you are using Agile or Waterfall methodology, managing projects takes thought and planning.

3. What is the change management process?

Issues with changes typically arise more with Waterfall projects because with Agile projects, only certain amounts of features can be added within a sprint. If you are in a Waterfall environment and internal or external customers are frequently asking for more, there needs to be a formal process in place to assess the change requested and the impact on the project to determine if it can be completed. This way your team members aren’t overworked, or your timeline is not derailed by additional requests.

4. What authority do Project Managers have in this organization?

Project managers are problem solvers, strategists, communicators, and much more. In some organizations, the role is more focused on administrative tasks such as scheduling meetings, taking notes, and creating status reports. While that is a component of project management, that is not the entirety of the role. Asking about the authority the Project Managers have within the organization can help you identify whether their expectations of the role and yours are aligned.

5. How do you support your Project Manager when they have difficult clients?

Having formal processes in place to manage the project can help with difficult clients. However, there are times when the Project Manager may need support in enforcing those processes. Asking this question can help you determine whether your perspective manager will give in to client requests or if they will support you in enforcing processes and procedures.

Keep these questions in mind during your next interview. The Project Management role in the right organization can be extremely rewarding and fulfilling. Now you have more tools to get you to the right fit.

Shake up Your Stand-up

Written by Carmen Kesho on June 21, 2023. Posted in Articles.

Standups are a cornerstone of Agile project management. As a Project Manager, conducting stand-ups provides a daily communication touch point with your team that allows you to build rapport while gaining a deeper understanding of each individual team member. However, after you have worked with your team for a while and established a good sprint cadence and team dynamic, the standup may lose its flare and, in some cases, its necessity.

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If your stand-ups are getting stale, try a few of these tricks to freshen your stand-ups:

Have a Standup or Two Via Slack. Post-Covid, we are inundated with virtual meetings. While the daily stand-up is meant to align all team members and get the day started with a common goal in mind, that 15 minutes may slow your team down if they are in the zone and want to complete a task. Try having the team write their updates at the start of their day and share them in a slack group chat. Chime in to help remove blockers as needed. Pro tip: Send out a template with the questions and ask for the responses by a certain time daily.
Reduce Frequency. If team members are working on higher pointed tasks with multiple components, there may not be a daily update. Depending on the end of your sprint, try incorporating a no standup Friday.
Celebrate Wins. While the “What did I do yesterday? What will I do today? What blockers are impacting me?” format is riveting, it may get a bit monotonous. Incorporate some time to celebrate wins during the standup. Pro tip: Name someone King/Queen of developers for a day when they complete a complex feature.
Incorporate Team Feedback. A team member may want to pass along some nuggets of wisdom they acquired from working on a feature, another team member might want to share a helpful article or tutorial. Again, to keep to the true nature of the standup, it needs to be concise and contribute to the completion of tasks and the betterment of the team’s performance. Sharing knowledge helps attain both of those goals.
Stand-up and Move. If you are working on-site and can meet with your team in person, have a walking stand-up. Walk with the team to get coffee or around the courtyard at your office space. If walking won’t work, get a stress ball, and pass it around as the team is talking through updates. Movement will help get everyone’s energy flowing and help the momentum for the day.
Finish with a Bang. You could equate the standup for a project team to a huddle before a basketball or football game. It sets the tone for what you are about to accomplish for the day. End the standup with a team chant, special handshake, or a theme song. “Eye of the Tiger” comes to mind. Try whatever gets the people going and sets the day on a positive and motivational tone.

Every person is different, and teams are made of people, so tailor these tips to your team. If you don’t see something that will work for your team, consider this a challenge to motivate you to develop more ideas of how you can shake up your stand-up.

15 Project Management Tips for Beginners

Written by Sonika Malviya on June 20, 2023. Posted in Articles.

Project managers have to juggle multiple tasks every day, while coordinating with various teams. They are accountable for a project’s output, analyzing its goals, creating workflows, facilitating team collaboration, and ensuring that stakeholders and team members are on the same page. This article explains some of the best project management tips that can help beginners kick-start their careers as project managers.

Project Management Tips for Beginners:

● Know All the Minute Details About the Project

Before you kick-start the project, gather all information from the project stakeholders or the clients. This can include project timelines, deliverables, resource requirements, skill sets needed to accomplish the work, etc. Make a list of all the requirements, contingencies or scope creep that might occur during the project. The more detail you get, the better you can initiate and execute the project.

● Choose the Team Wisely

People onboarded for the project with the right skill sets can make a significant difference. You should have the right number of resources on the team so that it does not face a lack of skills gap. However, at the same time, your team should not be large enough to indulge in social loafing. To deal with this, first, you must decide on the skill sets required for the project and the number of people with those skills to make a strong team. Then, onboard them based on their qualifications, certification, and capability.

● Set Clear and Realistic Goals

Make sure to clearly define the goals before embarking on the project. The goals should be precise, clear, and realistic. Project goals help teams complete the project and finish the deliverables in a timely manner. Communicate the project’s goals and objectives to your team clearly, so that there is no ambiguity. Also, make sure to set some milestones throughout the project so that you can estimate the pace of your project.

● Know About Your Team

Put some effort and time into gelling with your team and increase cohesiveness among team members. This way, they would more likely go out of their way to deliver you the best possible output. Moreover, getting to know your team will help you understand each individual’s skills, strengths and weaknesses, enabling you to delegate and distribute tasks in the best possible manner.

● Empower Team Collaboration

Collaboration is crucial for the seamless management and execution of the project. To foster effective collaboration, you can conduct team-building activities, deploy collaborative tools, and leverage digital conferencing and messaging tools so that your team does not feel any challenge while working in unison. The tools must help team members connect with each other instantly, whether to share any files or collectively work on project roadblocks.

● Assess Distractions and Ways to Reduce Them

Distractions can hamper project workflow and delay delivery. Distractions may appear in any form, whether it is gossiping co-workers, a noisy work environment, the need to reply to email threads, or notification pop-ups while working. Project managers can leverage distraction-blocking apps, such as StayFocused, for their teams to block distracting notifications from the background for a stipulated time frame. Moreover, some tools like Desksight.ai can also be deployed to help project managers analyze how much time their team members are spending on which websites or applications.

● Be Prepared for Project Risks and Contingency

Changes and impediments are bound to arise during the project and can appear at any stage. Such changes can derail the project and delay delivery. This is the reason why you should prepare for potential risks and contingencies. To tackle such situations and deal with risks and contingencies, you should moot a risk management plan beforehand. The risk management plan ensures that you are armed with appropriate plans and strategies to mitigate their effects.

● Embrace Automation

Automation can really help you undertake tedious tasks so that, as a project manager, you can zero in on more significant tasks that require your expertise and attention. AI-backed technologies can help you manage everything – from allocating resources and updating task progress to scheduling the calendar as per your availability.

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● Adopting Right Project Management Methodologies

Irrespective of your industry, adopting the right project management methodology that resonates with your requirements can really help you step up your game. Project management methodology is a set of rules and guidelines to efficiently plan, manage, and execute any project. You can pick and implement the methodology that fits your project and apprise the team of its workflow, algorithm, and rules. For example, suppose your project may require frequent, ongoing changes. In that case, Scrum is the best methodology for you. You can opt for the Waterfall approach if the goal is clearly defined and there are no alterations during the project.

● Explain the Tasks to Team Members in Detail

One of the major reasons why output does not meet the client’s expectations is that project managers assign tasks to team members without providing details and information. Instead, they assign tasks assuming that team members will figure out what they need to do, how the result should be, which factors are most important and which ones they can neglect. This assumption is why teams sometimes complete tasks differently from clients’ expectations. Project managers are responsible for comprehending every single detail of the tasks assigned, such as attaching screenshots or adding notes when allocating tasks or even recording a short instruction video in case of complex tasks. Better comprehension will lead to an end product that matches the expectations.

● Manage the Team’s Time

Being a project manager, you are responsible for maintaining your team members’ time to maximum efficiency. You should be able to track how much time your team members utilize to complete respective tasks and assess their bandwidth to delegate tasks. You can leverage a project time tracking tool to track the number of employees working and the number of hours spent on specific projects or tasks.

● Determine Milestones with Stakeholders

Ideally, a project manager should continually update their stakeholders about the project’s progress and inform them of the part or the product developed thus far. Even if you are working on the approved pre-defined plan, chances are that the project may go off track or not meet the client’s expectations; therefore, stakeholders must evaluate the project’s progress regularly. The sooner you find out they are unsatisfied with the work done, the less effort your team will have to put into rectifying deliverables. You can even set milestones in between the project to keep stakeholders abreast of the progress.

● Post-project Evaluation

It is necessary to conduct a post-project assessment, where you can determine what worked well and what did not. You can also evaluate the risk management plan, such as whether or not it worked well. Or could the project be completed on time? Every project you handle can be a learning lesson that helps you gain experience about what can come in handy during critical situations and what can be improved in the near future projects.

● Understanding and Utilizing the Team’s Capacity

One of the biggest mistakes most project managers make is considering that their team will work consistently 8 hours every day. However, it rarely happens as teams need some time to relax and chit-chat, check their phones, reply to emails, etc. In fact, according to one analysis, an average full-time employee works productively only for 5 hours every day. So, if you are continuously missing project deadlines, you need to re-evaluate its schedule and introduce some buffer time. Also, be empathetic toward your team members and don’t be too stringent. This attitude will help build good team relationships and motivate team members to go the extra mile for you.

Conclusion:

These effective project management tips can help any beginner initiate and execute the project smoothly, while overcoming the roadblocks arising during the workflow. Equipped with these simple tricks, project managers can analyze complex scenarios and implement the best possible solutions.