Whatever your job title, you probably are a Project Manager at least some of the time. Here’s some ideas on how you can be most valuable to your organization:
- Take the time to define requirements – don’t just dive in and hope for the best. Figure out what resources you’ll need and arrange for their time, whether it’s in house staff or outside consultants.
- You don’t need a fancy tool like Microsoft Project to develop your project plan; MS Excel sometimes will work just as well. Whatever you use, provide an online site where everyone can review current status.
- Send agendas in advance for meetings, and send minutes afterwards to recap what you’ve covered. And keep meetings short and focused.
- Be respectful of team members’ time (usually they are only working on your project part of their time), and make sure their managers are aware of work they’ll need to do for your project.
Scope creep is still the most frequent cause for project failure. After you decide on what you will do, don’t promise to add more work unless there is also a change in schedule and/or resources- Keep it simple; use an agile approach by taking a ‘phased’ approach to work in small increments rather than trying to do everything at once
- Keep all stakeholders informed by a variety of communication techniques. Don’t rely on team meetings and especially don’t over use email – sometimes one-to-one in person or phone conversation is best
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!