10 Tips for Successful Project Management
Among the other things that should be remembered by successful project management team, there is the fact that sometimes there’s nobody who manages the manager. Thus, all taken decisions should be made following by deep base of knowledge and thorough understanding of this job.
Here we provide some tips along with a useful project management tool that can improve the working process and answer the How to become a successful project manager question, even a successful project manager without experience.
1. Ensure You Have a Detailed Project Scope
This is a starting point for any successful project. A manager who from the very beginning has all important information in documented form will have all chances to get success in management.
If something goes wrong, this document will show to stakeholders and project team members how everything was planned. And of course, it will decrease chances of project scope creep.
2. Follow Agile Methodology
To get success in project management, a manager needs to say goodbye to old and rigid methodologies. Agility is what works well in today’s fast passed business, IT, construction, etc. environment.
One of the main ideas of the Agile project management methodology is the one of the propriety of working tools and interactions between stakeholders over comprehensive documentation. Among the other features, this one allows reaching higher flexibility of the project.
3. Work with a Project Step by Step
Imagine, you are supposed to build a house for your family. All work that is to be done looks like a burden now coming out of the blue. There is no understanding where to start with and what to do in general. But what if to divide all work and plan it step by step? At every stage you know what to do, by what means, etc.
The same situation is with project management, especially successful one. If a manager plans all work step by step with all clear deliverables on each stage, it is much easier to achieve set tasks during project’s fulfilment.
4. Be a Project Team Member, Not an Overseer
In successful project management there is no need for a manager to be a completely controlling person. Instead be a team member like everyone else. Involve in working process and understand its every issue, even the most insignificant.
How does it work in practice? For example, even if you’re not a professional developer, a fresh view from the outside can lead to unexpected opinion of the current state of a project and its possible perspectives. Remember: your opinion in online team management is equivalent to the others. Create an atmosphere that turns opinion sharing into natural part of working process. Encourage everyone to express opinions, even if they go against the common idea.
5. Plan Well How You Will Build Your Team
In successful project management you should rely on your own skills. They, in their turn, come only with experience, but it’s always good to have some food for thoughts, so here are some tips.
One of the most important tasks is to reach a high level of confidence among team members. Every single person should realize that he’s an integral part of a well-functioning mechanism despite the level of his experience and position held.
6. Open Communication
This is the continuation of what has been stated above. Communication is the key in many spheres, not only project management. To be successful, stick to a policy where each from your team can express ideas not fearing to face disagreements and be blamed. Every opinion should be debated which can lead to the new, unexpected solutions.
Thus, a project gets chances to be accomplished with less money and time losses. At the same time, problematic actions and mistakes will be detected as soon as they appear as well as new ideas will pop-up to boost a project.
This point should be referred to on all stages of a project fulfillment.
7. Assign Tasks and Roles Carefully
Anyone who is given a task should know what he fulfils and how. To get success in project management, a manager should assign tasks exactly to those members who will do their best while performing them. It is a key to successful management in general and task accomplishment in particular.
Thus, be sure that everyone is aware of what is expected from him and what responsibilities he has. Detailed differentiation of roles saves you from I didn’t know excuses for the uncompleted work.
Of course, this point can’t go well without communication.
8. Know Where and How Everything Goes
If you are going to be successful during project management, clearly define the current state of affairs. To quickly estimate the progress, it’s better to visualize it. There are different approaches, but one of the most popular is Gantt chart. Series of horizontal charts help to define what and when should be done, and determine possible bottlenecks.
Try GanttPRO Gantt chart – an online application with the advanced features like setting duration step, milestones and critical path, viewing history of changes and many others.
Thus, a manager knows what, why and when tasks are to be accomplished. Of course, those tasks are also assigned to definite team members.
9. Be Aware of Risks and Know How to Manage Them
Among all other keys to project management success, every manager should have a command of risk management. A successful project manager is likely to define most of those risks during preparation and project planning. Therefore, he will have plans how to handle those situations.
But remember that finding and handling risks should not become the first and the primary task. All in all, in successful project management one should cope with other significant things.
10. Reward Your Team
Of course, it is up to a project manager what to use as a reward. If to use at all. But success factors of project management include this point.
We don’t speak about something massive like parties at the end of each task. This is probably not necessary. But if to express your gratitude during management for the work done, team members will appreciate it.
Remember
Project management is difficult and challenging process and work. It is a complicated chain of tasks with some place for accidents. Success criteria in project management include a variety of steps which are important for a project to be successfully complete.
During management you can foresee risks, manage them, communicate with your team, have everything in details and be a nice guy. But you may encounter situations where everything does not conform to the rules. In this case all management and successful factors in your project depend on your ability to apply your personal skills and knowledge.
