Project Management Principals

Projects and project development is an expensive process. It consumes budgets, time, man hours taken from other areas, and a concerted effort by many individuals to bring it to completion and delivery. Therefore, it is very critical the project manager and leader has their game face on, and operates at a high level, guiding the project forward, putting out fires, answering questions, while moving the team to project victory. Anything outcome less than planned expectations and satisfaction becomes a waste of time, money, and efforts.

Before a project is discussed, the circumstances revolving around the necessity of a project must be clarified and understood. What is the project resolving? Why is it a critical need? How long will it take for the project to return the investment put into it? Creating a project and allocating funds, resources, and time without a viable reason serves no one.

Everyone involved with the project has to have a grasp and understanding of their particular roles and how they will contribute to the success of the project. How is a certain resource responsible for a given task? Who do they answer to? How will their responsibility fit into the larger project scheme? With a clear cut assignment, no one should question their role, and have the ability to pass accountability should they fail to deliver their part. Once a misunderstanding arises, chaos brings more confusion, leading to a project off the rails.

Those in charge of patronizing the project should leave the daily activities to the project manager. Micro managing is a dangerous road, interfering with the concentrated efforts of the project manager and leading to confusion of duties, a blurring of the project facts and specifics, and hindering the entire process until emotions rise and trouble ensues. Once the costs and delivery times have been agreed upon, it is up to the manager to keep within expectations. If a project can not deliver in the set frames, discussions should be set in motion to arrive at an agreeable solution.

No one who is successful tackles the entire problem at once. Larger portions of a project is accomplished by breaking them into smaller, manageable parts. Mile posts are set, providing a target to achieve. Decisions can be made according to the forward or stagnant motion of each section, allocating more or less resources as necessary. As each portion is completed, it can be inserted into the larger picture, watching the project move along without hitches or situations threatening to end the project.

Before any project begins, the exact specifications should have been hammered out and agreed upon. Realistic expectations and understandings move a project along. Arriving in the middle of a project, only to discover it is moving in the wrong direction because a customer was not clear in what they desire, is a bad way to achieve the final outcome. Cloudy expectations fall into the category of risks and unnecessary change management. If requirements are not clear, do not progress until a firm decision and understanding has been brought forth.

Every project to arrive should have your own lessons learned attached to it. Use your previous experience and knowledge in the next project and how you can correct past mistakes.

Errors in one project should not carry over to the next. Keep a document, or a journal of a project and its motion. Learn from the notes and discoveries. Successive projects benefit from your preceding tasks.

There is no cookie cutter project management procedure that you can use each and every time in a project. What worked in one project may not fit into the next one. The environment may have changed, the project may be a much larger one, with special needs attached to it. You must have the ability to adapt to the changing atmosphere. Certainly, what you do to develop, lead, and deliver a three week to one month project will be radically different to put together and manage a three year project, especially if it has great visibility attached to it.

Your chances of success are heightened with a PMP online training course in project management. Training, knowledge, and improved abilities bring success and benefits. More and more employers demand project management certification to ensure their resources are not wasted on failing efforts due to a lack of leadership and project management. K Alliance offers superior training courses designed to enhance a project manager, as well as other great training in other IT areas.

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