In any organization, projects are necessary to get work done. However, not every project is created equal. Some have high value and are worth investing time and resources into. Others are more of a burden and should be avoided at all costs.
If you’re looking to improve your project management skills, you’ve come to the right place! This article will learn about the four main features of great project management. You’ll discover tips and common mistakes to avoid and be better prepared to take on your next project. Let’s begin.
What are the 4 Main Features of Project Management?
In any organization, projects are necessary to get work done. However, not every project is created equal. Some have high value and are worth investing time and resources into. Others are more of a burden and should be avoided at all costs.
If you’re looking to improve your project management skills, you’ve come to the right place! This article will learn about the four main features of great project management. You’ll discover tips and common mistakes to avoid and be better prepared to take on your next project. Let’s begin.
Define
Before managing anything, you first have to understand what it means to manage something. A project is an act of working toward a common goal under the supervision of a project manager and with the help of a team.
A project can be big or small, simple or complex. It can be anything from an extensive overhaul of a company’s supply chain policy to the development of a single software application. The only thing that matters is that a project has a common goal and a team of people to work toward it.
Managing a project will require you to take a step back and look at your task from a strategic angle. You’ll need to think about the long-term goals of your team, identify their strengths and limitations, and establish clear communication between each individual so that everyone is operating in sync.
Define your goals and identify your team’s strengths
Your project’s goals will help shape each team member’s responsibilities. These goals will shape your team’s strengths by identifying their areas of expertise. You’ll have a better idea of what your team members are best at, and you can avoid micromanaging them so that they can focus on their tasks.
Set clear communication guidelines
As the manager of a project, you are responsible for setting up clear guidelines for communication and reporting between your team and the rest of the organization.
By establishing these guidelines and then enforcing them, you can ensure that all of your team members know what they need to do and interact with each other daily.
Establish a working process for your team
How you operate your team will depend on your project’s nature. Some projects may require a more “traditional” approach to project management, while others may rely on a more “innovative” approach.
If your team’s approach to project management is more “traditional,” you may find it helpful to “ground” yourself and your team members by anchoring yourself in the “basics.”
Plan
Plans don’t always work. They are simply a wish list that helps you visualize the future. However, plans often go awry due to a lack of resources or a messy external environment. To avoid that, you’ll need to plan. If a project is defined and not planned, it will only lead to trouble. That’s why you should start with the planning stage. What is the project’s purpose? Who are the stakeholders? What are the dependencies and constraints? What are the key milestones? By answering these questions and planning your project, you can avoid problems that could otherwise arise later.
Why is planning so important in project management?
Project planning can help you avoid project failure. While it’s very common to have people who dislike project management and believe it slows down their work, it’s not the project management slowing things down. The problems are rooted in the lack of planning and poor planning that cause project failure.
Planning your project management will help avoid project failure by:
- Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your team members
- Having a clear understanding of the tasks your project team must complete
- Setting realistic timelines and expectations
- Preventing delegation errors and other issues
Effects of not planning your project management
To truly understand the importance of planning your project management and why it’s so important, let’s look at what happens when you don’t plan your project management. What are some examples of what happens when you don’t plan your project management?
- Everyone hates project management. Project managers hate it, team members hate it, and managers hate it.
- Deadlines get pushed, plans get changed, and work is not done as expected.
- The project manager is in the wrong and blames others.
- People are unhappy and have a hard time working with one another.
- The project is behind schedule and has to be postponed or canceled.
Organize
Organizing is a good thing; it’s also a huge part of good project management. While you can’t control the external factors, you can control how they affect your organization. That’s why you need to organize your project. But, when you organize, you also want to structure your project management workflow.
Once your project is structured, you can create a process. The project management workflow will tell you where you stand, who is doing what, and when the assignments need to be completed. This workflow can be used for many different types of projects. It can help track dependencies and avoid overlapping or unnecessary tasks. In short, an organized project allows you to be more effective and efficient.
6 Reasons to Start Organizing Your Project Management
There’s no getting around it: project management isn’t easy. Keeping track of tasks, deadlines, and potential conflicts can feel like a constant challenge even for the most organized people.
But, as frustrating as it can be, this is just part of the job for someone who takes their project management responsibilities seriously. In fact, being organized and methodical are key to making sure your team is completing tasks on time and within budget.
Here are six great reasons you should start organizing your project management process with that in mind. If you’re ready to get started, read on for step-by-step instructions on how to do it.
- You’ll Be Able to Manage Your Project Better.
One of the most important benefits of organizing your project management process is that it will allow you to manage your projects better.
This is because you’ll be able to prioritize tasks and plan for potential conflicts better.
For example, you’ll be able to set realistic deadlines and assign tasks to the right people. You’ll also be able to identify bottlenecks more quickly and work with your team to iron out the slowing down issues.
- You’ll Be Able to Identify Issues Faster.
Another benefit of organizing your project management process is that it allows you to identify issues faster.
With a better understanding of how your projects are structured, you’ll be able to identify potential issues before they become big problems. As a result, you’ll be able to take corrective action quickly and avoid costly delays.
- You’ll Be Able to Communicate Better with Teammates.
Even if you feel like you’re doing an excellent job communicating with your team, you can still be doing better. Organizing your project management process can help you communicate better with your team members.
With a better understanding of who is responsible for what tasks, you’ll be able to communicate more clearly with your team members. You can also use this organizational structure to assign tasks, delegate responsibilities, and avoid conflicts.
- You’ll Be Able to Estimate Better.
Organizing your project management process can also help you estimate better.
With a better understanding of what each team member is responsible for, you’ll be able to estimate the time it will take to complete their tasks more accurately.
This will help you plan ahead, particularly if you are managing multiple projects at once.
- You’ll Be Able to Facilitate Better Teamworking.
Finally, organizing your project management process can also help you facilitate better team working.
For example, if you have a load of tasks that need to be completed over a few weeks, you can use the organizational structure you’ve created to assign them to team members.
This will help ensure that there are no conflicting tasks and that everyone is working on the same things at the same time.
- You’ll Be Able to Identify Improvements for the Future.
Organizing your project management process can help you identify improvements for the future.
For example, if you have a system in place for tracking project progress, you can use this to track your progress over time.
With a better understanding of how things are progressing, you can identify areas for improvement. This can be particularly effective if you have a team that is rotating assignments.
Monitor
The last feature of great project management is monitoring. How do you know if everything is going according to plan? That’s where monitoring comes in. While you won’t be able to control all the factors, you can keep track of them. You can do so by tracking key metrics and tracking objectives.
For example, let’s say you’re managing a project to renovate an office space. However, you don’t have enough staff to get the job done properly. So, you’re looking to get some more hands-on deck. However, your manager says that the resources are needed to finish the renovation project first. One way to handle this is by tracking key metrics.
You can track the metric “Number of Staff Required to Finish Renovation Project.” That way, you can tell if you need more staff or if you just need proper approval.
Here are the three ways to monitor your project management:
- Define your goals and identify your team’s strengths
Your project’s goals will help shape each team member’s responsibilities. These goals will shape your team’s strengths by identifying their areas of expertise. You’ll have a better idea of what your team members are best at, and you can avoid micromanaging them so that they can focus on their tasks.
- Set clear communication guidelines
As the manager of a project, you are responsible for setting up clear guidelines for communication and reporting between your team and the rest of the organization.
By establishing these guidelines and then enforcing them, you can ensure that all of your team members know what they need to do and interact with each other daily.
- Establish a working process for your team
How you operate your team will depend on your project’s nature. Some projects may require a more “traditional” approach to project management, while others may rely on a more “innovative” approach.
If your team’s approach to project management is more “traditional,” you may find it helpful to “ground” yourself and your team members by anchoring yourself in the “basics.”
Conclusion
Ultimately, great project management comes down to effective execution. In other words, it’s about doing what you say you’re going to do. That includes following up on your commitments, delivering on time, and not leaving behind any tasks. However, that’s only half the battle.
The other half is doing it without anyone realizing it. That means doing things in a way that is efficient and effective without drawing too much attention to them. That’s why you need to follow these four core features of project management.