A huge part of running a business is successfully managing different projects. These projects could refer to client-forwarded projects, such as delivering a service or project. Or a project might be more internal, such as planning a marketing campaign or ways to improve productivity.
At the end of the day, the most important thing is to make sure that projects can run smoothly and effectively. This is where good project management comes into play.
Planning Each Project
Before you can even start a project, you need to make sure that you and your team have a plan in place. This includes setting a goal, working out who should work on the project, and deciding on a budget and a deadline.
Some of these decisions will be made for you. For example, if the project is to deliver a service for a client, the goal and deadline are quite self-explanatory. You can also have a “set plan” in place for projects that operate on a regular basis, so you can spend less time in the planning phase and more time in the execution phase.
Tools like PPM software can help you properly arrange your project portfolio to make sure that you know exactly what needs doing and when. Organization is a project manager’s best friend, so any tool that makes it easier to organize projects is a tool that makes project management much easier.
Building a Team
While some projects are a one-person job, most of the time, you will use a team to work through more complicated projects that require a lot of work. In this case, you will need to choose the right people for the job carefully.
If you have a small business, this comes down to the hiring process. Your employees should all be able to work well together, so you can build teams for different projects according to their skills and schedules.
Speaking of skills, you should work out what skills and qualifications each project needs in the planning process. Highly technical projects might require multiple people with very specific skills, while other projects would benefit more from a well-rounded group of people.
Management Skills
Of course, project management isn’t all about everyone else on the team. The manager is the person that brings the team together and makes sure everything runs smoothly and according to the plan. It’s a bit like a conductor in an orchestra. Every player has their own skill, but the conductor keeps everyone on time.
Successfully managing a team and a project does require specific management skills. You need to be able to work well with people and to keep everything on track and well organized.
If there are interpersonal problems, it’s up to the manager to solve them. If issues crop up in the project, it’s up to the manager to work out what needs to be done and who would be best suited to handle that job.
It can be helpful for managers to also have skills applicable to the project, so they can take a hands-on approach and help the team. However, the most important skills for a managerial role are management skills, so this isn’t a must-have. Still, it’s helpful to at least understand the work that needs to be done.
Staying Flexible and Dealing with Disaster
Unfortunately, we can’t expect everything to run smoothly all of the time. Things go wrong, disasters happen, and surprise costs and delays might crop up.
Ideally, your plan of action should account for unexpected events and costs. When building a budget, don’t push the boat out and leave absolutely no room for wiggle room. The same applies to creating a schedule and milestones.
If everything does happen to go right, this means that you will end up with lower costs and a project completed slightly ahead of schedule. That isn’t a bad thing. But it also gives you the ability to roll with the punches of a more complicated project.
Another way to deal with issues is to be able to react quickly when they do happen. Real-time reporting gives you the ability to put your finger on the pulse of your company and your projects, so you can notice a problem as it’s happening, rather than after it’s caused a lot of issues.
Whether your office is struck by natural disasters, team members become unwell, or a project proves more complicated than you first estimated, flexibility will help you to roll with the punches and still run your project well.
