Tag: Skills

Best Of: The 10 Most Common Project Management Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Written by David Baker on October 2, 2024. Posted in Articles.

If you find yourself repeatedly failing to meet essential project deadlines or KPI’s, you might be making one, or more, of these very common project management mistakes.

Making an error in the workplace is inevitable. In fact, there’s a high probability many of us have made the same mistakes, and while at the time it can feel like an utter disaster it is the ability to recoup and learn from our failures that ultimately makes us better at our jobs.

Unfortunately, as project managers, even our smallest mistakes can have much larger implications further down the line, sending us over budget and past deadlines. Although each project will have its complex set of issues unique to it alone, across the industry there are some predictable and recurring factors we can address, that often doom a project to failure before it is gotten off the ground.

1. Assigning the Wrong Person to Lead the Project

Too often candidates are determined to lead projects due to factors other than their suitability or experience. Not that a lack of workplace experience cannot be made up of other factors, but taking charge of running a project is a difficult task, and often requires specific experiential skills or knowledge.

While it is true that skilled managers can lead across subject matters, for large scale projects with complex attributes, a greater number of team members, or a targeted technical knowledge requirement, it is much better to source the most experienced leader, rather than just the one who’s available.

Place as large a focus on assigning the correct manager for the job as you usually do to allocate resources, and place a higher priority on choosing a manager whose skill set more closely matches the project requirements.

2. Lack of Communication

Communication is essential in every relationship, but never more so than when between you and your project team. Not communicating properly, or at all, with your team and client, is one of the quickest ways to send your project to the grave.

By creating a culture of open communication, and setting out some simple communication strategies from the outset, such as regular check-ins and deliverable reviews, you and your team will have a clear view on your projects progression, and be able to proactively spot and resolve any issues coming up on the horizon.

Similarly, by engaging better with your team, you can keep your client in the loop with real-time project updates and avoid the awkward due date deliverable talk.

3. Mismanaging Team Members Skillsets

As important as it is to choose the right leader for the project, it is equally as important to choose the right team members and to take the time to understand exactly how their particular skillsets will fit into the larger scope of your project.

An excellent project manager analyses the project needs and utilizes his team in agreement with their strongest attributes.

If you do not have the luxury of handpicking a team to suit the project, then be sure to you sit down with your team before you begin and discuss their experience and competencies. Don’t be afraid to get specific. It is not enough to just know one of your team members has experience in web developing, filter out their specific disciplinary strengths and weaknesses and optimize their workload accordingly.

4. Too Broad a Scope

Anyone who’s been in the business long enough has experienced a project with a scope that appears to increase continually, while the price remains stagnant. Although this kind of scope creep where the project focus changes continuously over the length of the project should be in no way viewed as an inevitable part of the project process.

Scope creep often happens when the real outcome of the project is misunderstood by or is not consistent with the client, management, and the project team. This is why developing a clear scope statement at the outset of your project is so important.

A carefully thought out scope statement should include a clear and firm definition of the project goal, deliverables, what is both “in” and “out” of scope, and project constraints. Simultaneously, you must develop a system of strict, universal and well-documented approval processes so that any subsequent changes to scope, budget, schedule, resources, and risk are vetted and approved.

The scope statement should regularly be referred to for making future project decisions, and outlining a shared understanding of the project, and should never be created in isolation, but instead with the input of your entire team. Not only will they have knowledge, experience and valuable insights, but they will then be more aware of how and when to implement the process throughout the project

While it is true that project scope must have some degree of malleability placing checks and balances against changing any aspect of the scope allows you to make more considered decisions and control of rampant scope creep.

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5. Over-Optimistic Scheduling

The importance of creating a realistic schedule for your team, and the project, cannot be understated.

It is too easy to create an over-optimistic schedule designed to impress the client but is completely infeasible. Not only is the probability of finishing the project with an acceptable, quality product very unlikely, but attempts to meet these dates will cause unnecessary stress for both you and your team, schedules to slip and throw your whole project out of whack.

The project schedule directs the project team on the what and when of their actions. For your client, it projects significant milestones and the due date of key deliverables, as such, it is important that you treat the creation of your schedule as a collaborative effort.

By checking in with your team on project effort and time estimates, and your clients own schedule, you can strike a compromise by which to meet your client’s expectations, and your team has the breathing room to finish the project to a high quality.

6. Lack of Detail in the Project Plan

A project plan is one of the essential elements of a successful project outcome, yet the most misunderstood when it comes to project management.

A project plan does not just mean ‘project timeline.’ While an expected chronology of your project is a major component of your plan, a project plan requires a much deeper level of information regarding all elements necessary to the planning process from the specification of the new project to the budget, schedule, and quality metrics.

When done correctly, a project plan acts your very own route planner. By providing insufficient detail in your project plan, you are not only opening your team for confusion about the full requirements of their time or tasks but leaving yourself without clearly defined metrics to measure the success of your project and management strategies.

Take the time before you start your project to identify all the activities and related tasks required to meet the project’s scope statement successfully and all your project deliverables including the estimated time duration and the assignment of a resource that will be held responsible for completing each task. Keep in mind, that the plan you make at the start may not be the one you finish with, but learning to create a clear project plan and knowing how to discuss its key components is crucial to your project’s success.

7. Not Recognizing Your Team’s Successes

Team morale and productivity go hand in hand, and refusing to recognize your team’s successes, often has a detrimental effect on both. Sometimes it is too easy to focus on the end game, metrics, and numbers, and forget the employee that pushed them to success.

The small successes, the short-term objectives, and daily goals, any extra effort to contribute to advancing the team’s mission is, where the individual shines, and should be celebrated.

Develop a performance review system as part of your project management plan, and ensure that performance on projects is measured, reviewed and recognized as equally as it is in their day to day responsibilities.

8. The Wrong Project Structure Used

Project management is not one size fits all, and while you may have had great success with a particular project structure before, it is dangerous to get too comfortable with one approach and ignore each project’s variables.

Let’s take size, project teams with a larger number of individuals, around 8 or above, will find it difficult to report to the same project manager. Just as, you, the project manager will find it overly challenging to maintain communication and follow ups with too many team members reporting directly to you. If parts of the project are undertaken in different regions of the country, communications may suffer from a lack of clarity and jar with the larger project structure.

It is key to assess each project individually and adapt communication strategies and reporting protocols to suit each new approach.

It may be useful to educate yourself and your team in umbrella project management methodologies that teach adaptable, industry standard project structures, so each project structure retains an efficient cohesiveness and familiarity.

9. Being Reactive Instead of Proactive

Your project is running correctly, aligning with your scope and project plan, but then something unexpected comes along and disaster hits. The project gets derailed. Even though you and your team mobilize quickly, identifying the best options and solutions based on experience, you have got no opportunity, nor time, to test these solutions viability. Acting reactively, management by crisis only leaves your project vulnerable to further failure.

Risk Management is the process of identifying, analyzing and responding to risk factors throughout the life of a project, and developing a stable basis for decision making in regards to those risks. A robust risk assessment provides controls for possible future events and is proactive rather than reactive.

While it is impossible to know every likelihood of every potential occurrence, by undertaking a thorough risk assessment before you execute your project plan, and continuously re-focusing that assessment throughout your project, you can reduce the likelihood of a disastrous event occurring, as well as its impact.

10. Being Resistant to Change

Although most this article has been spent pontificating about the importance of preparedness, clarity, and structure, the ability to be flexible and adaptive are qualities intrinsic to your project’s success.

Despite your extensive risk management and project planning, it’s likely the functionality of your project is going to change daily, whether it’s the small things such as missed meetings, employee absence, or a change in direction that requires you to develop a new approach or resource, and being rigid about your processes only ensures that your project is unlikely to see completion.

Being flexible isn’t something you can plan for. Remember that your project is an ongoing process, keep an open mind, and trust that you and your team will be competent enough to come up with a suitable solution.

Developing Leadership – How To Take Control

Written by George Pitagorsky on September 18, 2024. Posted in Articles.

Everyone is a leader. We lead and are led by others. And everyone leads themself.

But not everyone is a good leader. Ego-driven leadership refuses to learn from the past, fails to plan effectively, is self-serving, vindictive, is not limited by truthfulness, and manipulates.

Leadership

Leadership is “the process of getting a group of people in a direction, to pursue common objectives. The most effective leaders use mostly non-coercive means and seek to satisfy the group’s best interests.”[1]

According to the U.S. Department of the Army Field Manual leadership is:

“A process in which a soldier (person) applies his or her beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills to influence others to accomplish the mission….

The soldier (person) watches what you do so that his/her mind and instincts can tell him/her what you really are: an honorable leader of character with courage, competence, candor, and commitment, or a self-serving phony who uses troops and expedient behavior to look good and get ahead.” (Slightly edited for gender equity.) [2]

When you apply this to yourself, it implies significant self-awareness. Good leaders must know their beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills. They must realize that they influence others by their behavior – what they say and do. They must continuously assess and improve their skills and performance. And they must know what the mission is.

Start with Yourself

If you aspire to be a good leader, start with yourself.

Define your goal,
Assess your leadership capabilities,
Identify strengths and weaknesses, and
Commit to a development plan.

Any good leader does this for their “troops, ” employees, or followers. It represents one of many leadership qualities – developing skills in oneself and others.

Define Your Goal

What is your personal goal as you hone your leadership skills? Your most valued goal motivates your behavior. My goal is to be calm, compassionate, competent, and self-aware.

Leadership goals are complex. We have personal goals, like being happy, succeeding, making more money, being in control, getting ahead, and maximizing our wellness. There are organizational goals – being profitable, serving, ecological health, etc. Every stakeholder – employees, managers, executives, clients, suppliers, partners, etc. – has personal goals.

Good leaders step back from their own goals to acknowledge all the goals and consider them when making decisions that will affect themselves and others. When goals conflict with one another, apply your values to decide on your actions while considering short and long-term impacts.

If your goal is to further your personal agenda regardless of its effect on others, consider that compassionate servant leadership promotes optimal performance. And optimal performance furthers your agenda.

A recent Harvard Business Review article, Compassionate Leadership Is Necessary — but Not Sufficient posits that “Compassion in leadership creates stronger connections between people. It improves collaboration, raises levels of trust, and enhances loyalty. In addition, studies find that compassionate leaders are perceived as stronger and more competent.”

“The article’s authors define compassion as “the quality of having positive intentions and real concern for others.” According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, compassion is the “sympathetic consciousness of other’s distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” Compassion is exhibited in helpful acts of kindness. “[3]

Consider Servant Leadership as an option. You can apply its principles in deciding on your goal. It is an approach to leadership built on the idea that managers are there to serve their subordinates. “Servant-leaders share power, put the needs of others first, and enable people to develop and perform optimally.”[4]

As you define your goals reflect on the leadership behavior you want to exhibit. How do you want to be perceived? How comfortable and competent do you want to feel? What is your position in the hierarchy, what influence do you have, and how do you lead from there?

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Assess Your Leadership Capabilities

Leadership capabilities are combinations of many skills.

“Leadership skills boil down to the ability to create a vision, motivate and influence followers to realize the vision, build teams, communicate, listen, and negotiate. These skills are supported by mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom.”[5]

We can summarize leadership capabilities as maintaining a positive mindset, relating well with others, and being able to make effective decisions.

In a Google search, Search Labs | AI Overview identified the following 16 skills:

Communication
Empathy
Conflict resolution
Delegation
Resilience
Ownership
Critical thinking
Honesty
Feedback
Self-awareness
Integrity
Relationship building
Agility and adaptability
Innovation and creativity
Decision-making
Negotiation

Other sources add Empowering Others as a skill.

That’s a lot of skills to manage. Focus on the capabilities and then home in on the skills that may need tweaking.

Identify strengths and weaknesses

There are many assessment tools. These tools are most effective in the context of an ongoing leadership development program. It may be your organization’s program, though make sure you have your own.

For example, a leadership development program may contain assessment tools, coaching, training, and candid criticism, including 360-degree feedback. It would be structured to accommodate the needs of beginners as well as seasoned leaders.

To assess your capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses, objectively observe your behavior and its effects on your ability to achieve your goals. Obtain feedback. Answer the questions: Are you achieving your performance goals? Are conditions harmonious and productive? What would you change to make things even better than they are?

Commit to a development plan.

Thinking about leadership and planning to improve are starting points. Action is what makes for success in a continuously improving ability to lead. Committing to the plan means planning and then acting to meet objectives.

On the surface, the plan is to define your goal, assess your leadership capabilities, identify strengths and weaknesses, and commit to a development plan.

On a more tactical level, it includes taking part in workshops and training programs, finding a coach, adopting mindfulness and other methods to support stress management, relationship management, focus, and decision-making, as well as honing skills like the ability to create or interpret a financial plan or make better use of technology.

The key point is to take control of your leadership development, to continuously improve. Assess, plan, act, repeat.

[1] https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/compassionate-leadership/

[2] From Wisdom at Work Discerning Insights on Leadership 9-10-24 Joel & Michelle Levey <[email protected]> ]

[3] https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/compassionate-leadership/

[4] https://www.projecttimes.com/george-pitagorsky/the-caring-manager.html

[5] https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/compassionate-leadership/

Managing Software Testing

Written by Martin Fenelon on September 10, 2024. Posted in Articles.

You cannot test quality into software.

Some project managers make the mistake of stepping back when software testing takes the forefront in their projects.

It may be due to a lack of hands-on testing experience, concerns over the increasingly technical nature of software testing, or a willingness to let the QA Lead drive the bus for a short period. None of these reasons are valid. Regardless of their roles prior to becoming PMs, they can and should continue to lead the team during testing. In the next few articles, we’ll focus on helping PMs better understand how to guide their teams to delivering better software. Testing the software is just one part of that journey.

Let’s clear up some misperceptions. The purpose of testing is not to attempt to break the software, nor to find every possible defect, but to demonstrate that the software will fulfill its intended purpose with a reasonable level of confidence. As highlighted by the quote above, software quality must be built into the project and development process from the beginning rather than being added through testing. Testing allows us to confirm that the expected quality is there and to find and correct those places where it is not. Remember the definition of software quality that we are using:

Quality code is code that in order of importance, does what it is supposed to do, is bug free, and is well-crafted.

– Stephen Vance

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) definitions for verification and validation apply during this project phase, so their formal definitions may inform discussions about software performance under testing.

Verification: The determination by objective, repeatable methods that an item satisfies its stated requirements.*

In other words, the software works as it is intended to work, and it meets the requirements it is connected to.

Validation: The determination by objective, repeatable methods that an item can be used for a specific purpose.*

In other words, the software is suitable for purpose, meaning the requirements correctly describe the business need that the software satisfies.

(*Adapted from The Project Manager’s Guide to Software Engineering’s Best Practices, by Mark J. Christensen and Richard H. Thayer, IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, 2001.)

Every test should be traced back to a requirement, either functional or non-functional. If we cannot trace a particular test back to a requirement, we need to question why that test is needed and what purpose it serves. To ensure that we are not wasting time with unnecessary tests and that we are performing the required tests in an appropriate manner and sequence, we start by developing a test strategy. The test strategy defines what will be tested, how it will be tested, and what results are needed to determine that the system is ready for production.

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Once the test strategy is established, one or more test plans are created to meet the goals of that strategy in a methodical, effective, and efficient manner. Test plans describe the purpose of the test, entry and exit conditions, and specifically where and how the system will be tested. Once we have test plans, we can dive into the detailed planning of each test or series of tests. This usually results in test cases, definitions of test environments or regions, test interfaces, test data, and so on.

While the project manager is not responsible for creating any of these documents or artifacts, they should be closely involved in their development, review, and ultimate approval. They will have a significant impact on the project schedule, including task duration, task sequencing, key gates, and their location in the schedule. Quality assurance and testing schedules must be coordinated with those of the other teams within the project and typically external to the project (for example, the infrastructure team). These, in turn, impact the budgets and resources that go into the project plan. There may be significant risks or issues that will need to be addressed via specific testing, such as a new external interface or a set of complex calculations, with solutions that must be clearly described in both the testing and overall project plans.

The project manager is not expected to be an expert in software testing design or execution, just as they are not expected to be software engineers. They are expected to be familiar with the role, purpose, and types of testing required by their project under the delivery methodology being followed. PMs should ask thoughtful questions, ensure open issues are properly resolved, and participate in walkthroughs of key quality assurance and testing deliverables. We’ll briefly go through common ones in the following sections. While PMs should not be the ones driving the team through testing, they need to ensure that it is being done and done effectively. Some tips on how to do this are covered below.

The key point to remember is to be proactive, not passive, with these deliverables and tasks. Although quality cannot be created by testing, testing should identify where quality is lacking so it can be improved. Thorough testing supported by appropriate metrics will find and eliminate most defects and improve confidence that the team is delivering a high-quality system. This section highlights key considerations and leverage points for PMs to help them get the best results possible. There are separate books, whitepapers, and training courses that go into software testing in greater depth. Don’t hesitate to refer to them if desired or if you encounter a particularly unique or difficult testing issue.

Next Up: Types of Software Testing

Concerned about all the news stories about significant software failures over the past few months? My upcoming book, Building Better Software is focused on providing Project Managers an easy-to-follow guide for successful software development projects.

Surfing through Change and Anxiety

Written by George Pitagorsky on September 4, 2024. Posted in Articles.

Change often triggers fear of the unknown and a sense of helplessness, expressed as anxiety. Change disturbs the peace. In the realm of project management, change is a given. Projects both create change and are subject to changes that seem to make planning futile.

But project management – if done well and if you are self-aware enough to manage your emotions -reduces anxiety by dynamically making everyone aware of actions, outcomes, and the probability of success. Effective PM accepts and manages volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA).

Cognitive Readiness

Cognitive readiness is a critical quality to enable surfing through change. It is the capacity to operate skillfully in any situation, particularly when faced with VUCA.

Cognitive readiness is critical because everything is changing, sometimes more and sometimes less quickly, unless we can calmly and competently respond to each change without reacting to emotions like disappointment and anxiety it can bring.

For more on cognitive readiness see my PM Times article, “PM for the Change Makers” https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/pm-for-the-changemakers/.

Multiple Levels of Change

On a global scale culture wars are on and have been since the dawn of time. Imagine how the traditionalists reacted when some smart aleck insisted that you can start your own fire.

For example, take gender fluidity. There are multiple perspectives on what happens in society when a person’s gender preferences mean no more than the color of their eyes. Not knowing how it will turn out creates anxiety. Worst-case stories create fear and anger. Resisting the change reactively is counterproductive.

In the realm of project work:

Methods and cultures change. For example, as organizations turn from structured “waterfall” to Agile methodologies, or strengthen, weaken, or eliminate a PM Office.
During a project’s life, change takes the form of late deliverables, staff turnover, changes in requirements, and more.
Projects deliver products and services delivered to change organizations, the marketplace, the public arena, and individual experiences.

Breaking Norms

When a deep-seated norm is challenged by a change, there is anxiety and resistance. We see the same dynamic in organizations, families, teams, and personal relationships when security, long-held beliefs, and models are challenged.

Anxiety may be triggered by shifts from rigid procedures to agile and adaptive approaches and changes in management style. It may arise over behavioral issues, disruptions, changing attitudes about abortion, political beliefs, monogamy, gender identification, race, and more.

We feel anxiety if we are faced with life-changing choices that leave us feeling as if the ground has given way and we are in free fall, out of control.

The Impact

Feelings of anxiety may be subtle or acute. Self-awareness identifies feelings quickly before anxiety morphs into anger and despair, fueling physical symptoms and reactive behavior like aggression, withdrawal, and depression. Anxiety about being anxious makes it all worse. Managed well it becomes a wake-up signal.

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The Cause

Hypothesis: we resist change because we are threatened by anything that upsets our sense of reality or threatens our security. We seek assurance that things will be OK. We like the stability of solid ground under our feet, or at least having a reliable parachute. We like certainty and to be in control.

How to work with Anxiety

The best we can do when anxiety arises is to “be with” or accept what we are feeling and not let it drive behavior. Then we can do what we can to cut through to a calm presence.

Present and consciously aware, we can perform optimally in any conditions. We stop worrying about making deadlines and we figure out what best to do under the circumstances.

A method to change the way anxiety influences your ability to perform optimally uses feelings as triggers to:

Focus attention to be mindfully self-aware
Acknowledge what is happening – you may not want to keep it going but in the moment, it is what it is
Accept discomfort – don’t run away from painful or annoying feelings of anxiety, anger, or disappointment
Step back into a calm mindful presence being here, now.
Cultivate a positive mindset with confidence that you will be OK; stop the scary negative “stories” you create
Let go into Flow to allow your skills, intelligence, and experience to optimally work together to do what needs to be done, or not done.

The anxiety may not disappear, but it will become a short-term visitor rather than a persistent demonic ghost. While it is there, treat the symptoms using skillful methods like breathing techniques, bodywork, conceptual reminders like sayings or mantras, and/or, if appropriate, medication. As you work to address the symptoms, address the causes.

NOT for Everyone

Addressing the causes of anxiety is not for everyone. It is not easy. It requires confronting long-held habits and beliefs, including the strong need to avoid discomfort.

It is the path of a peaceful warrior, using an array of concepts, tools, and techniques to create a personal path. We learn acceptance to become comfortable with anything that comes our way and to let go into optimal action.

Next Steps

Address these questions:

- What changes rock your world?
- What do you cling to or push away when you are anxious about change? Why?
- How self-aware are you? Do you recognize feelings as they arise or after you have reacted to them? Do you know why you are anxious?
- How does anxiety (or any emotion) feel in the body? Can you be calm and accepting in the face of physical and psychological discomfort?
- What frightening stories are you telling yourself?
- How confident are you that you can handle anything that comes?
- Are you ready to change your attitude?

Cultivate an attitude of confidence in your ability to handle anything, you can go beyond treating the symptoms of anxiety to cutting its roots. Weave a path that works for you using meditation, breath, and bodywork, with concepts like systems/process thinking and spirituality.

For a guidebook to developing the skills for managing anxiety and achieving optimal wellness, check out my recent book The Peaceful Warrior’s Path: Optimal Wellness through Self-Aware Living.

Owning the Rules of Project Management

Written by Kathleen Booker on August 7, 2024. Posted in Articles.

Project management (PM) developed over time and will continue to evolve as innovative technologies and practices are embraced. Rules of PM are sometimes brandished around as if they are things that never waiver, things that are a must-have. These include scoping the project, creating the project charter, asking for stakeholder input, managing budgets and timelines—and the list goes on. But rules need to be malleable; they need to adapt to the project.

First Things First

No doubt, it’s hard to let go of things we learn, things that courses, seminars, webinars, and experience teach us. Things our gut says to pay attention to. There are times, though, when those things fade into the background like a sunset dissolving into the western horizon. Everything about project management should unfold according to the project’s needs and not based on rules defined by instructors and books. We need to be accommodating.

After earning my project management certification (whew!), and after a few hours of in-house PM training geared to enlighten various management and professional teams about the value of structured project management—and company-designed forms to use—my ethos was one of a rule enforcer (kind of an inherent trait of mine anyway): This is how it’s done. This is how to ensure the project will be successful!

I can honestly say that this rigid mindset did not get far. I am not going to say that I threw a hissy fit when someone refused to follow a certain “rule”, but I voiced my concern. Someone in management challenged me with the question: Why is it so important that things be done this way?

My response was: Because this is proper project management. This is what I learned from PMI (the Project Management Institute), and this is what we learned in-house.

Sidebar: The people involved in this matter were in the same in-house sessions as I was.

I knew what I was doing, right?

Wrong … sort of.

I am a detail-oriented person, and I believe in structure and rules. Those traits can be too stringent and can get in the way of managing a project from the stakeholders’ perspectives. I needed to unlearn—well, maybe adapt—my inherent beliefs if I wanted to survive as a good project manager. I needed to satisfy the stakeholders needs, and not my own.

At the end of the day, the “rule” was not going to be followed for this project (and mostly all projects since then).

Did I feel defeated at first?

Yes.

Did I get over it?

Yes.

Every company will have its own unique way of managing projects. Each project will demand its PM to lead it in a way that suits the scope, goals, stakeholders, timeline, budget, and, more importantly, the company’s culture and style. Your corporate culture is not something you can be taught in a PM course. You must know it and make it part of your PM skills.

Communication

You need to know your stakeholders and what they need from you. Communication needs are not one-size-fits-all. Emails, status reports, and meetings need to be tailored to your audience. As examples:

The sponsor wants a weekly high-level status report.
The technical team lead requires a thirty-minute face-to-face meeting every two weeks.
The business manager only cares about monthly budget and timeline updates.
The functional subject matter experts team doing the project work needs weekly meetings.

Managing a project involves stakeholder registers and communication plans which ensure everyone is informed when and how they want to be.

It is important to note that communication with third parties is crucial. Vendors and suppliers, at least in my experience, are not psychics. They must be listed on your stakeholder register and assigned the same level of value as those in your company. No secrets! If there is a change in the timeline or resources, it is beneficial for them to know so they can adjust accordingly.

Objectives, Scope and Deliverables

We need to keep perspective when it comes to project scope and objectives. Complex projects may require occasional check-ins with team members and sponsors when new learnings trigger a flurry of “what if” questions. There almost always are unknowns, things we cannot predict, that could change some facet of the project. Nothing is set in stone, and things about a project can be adjusted if necessary.

Always keep risk management in the forefront when it looks like an aspect of the project needs adjusting. Assess the impact of the change and make sure that all requests are feasible.

The Requirements Traceability Matrix

When I first learned about the Requirements Traceability Matrix, I at once felt a bond that almost matched my love for Excel (I cannot envision a world where I could live without Excel, at least not in a business setting). I created a version of an RTM I found online that I liked, and then I adapted it to my needs. It really helped get me through a large, multi-year project. No one else referred to it. Everyone thought it was overkill.

A rule of thumb – use what works for you but expect that it may not work for anyone else on your project team. And that’s okay. If it keeps you focused on the tasks in the pipeline, the successes, and the near misses, that is what is matters.

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The Plan

Let’s not forget about the project plan. Regardless of the size of the project, you need a plan. What are the tasks? When do they need to be complete? What is contingent upon something else? What is the status of each task? Have communications gone out as planned?

Plan the work, work the plan—that was something my instructor at UMUC (now UMGC, University of Maryland Global Campus) told us one day during class. Those words still stick with me today, even when it’s related to personal projects and tasks. For me, this is a golden rule. No caveats.

Prioritization

Prioritizing your work is tantamount to success. And that means assigning priority to non-project work, too! I am not a full-time project manager. Along with my projects, I run supply chain models, pull data for various analyses and GHG reports, and take care of monthly reports and transportation management system support.

When you feel like you are overwhelmed (and it will happen), it’s good to step back and assess your priorities. Usually, that is done throughout the day as emails arrive in your inbox, impromptu meetings pop-up on your calendar, the phone rings, and a myriad of other things vie for your attention. STAY CALM and think rationally. Things will get done! Make sure to communicate if anything needs to move to the backseat instead of being in the driver’s seat.

The bottom line is that it is okay to make the rules up as you go along. Each project’s requirements will be different—sometimes only slightly while other times a major overhaul is needed. Be adaptable and responsive to the static and changing needs of your stakeholders and the project in general. Enjoy the plethora of challenges presented by project management.