Successful project management can be the difference between outstanding results and a project filled with disagreement and delays.
From guidelines to a solid kickoff meeting to a simple way to ensure that a project stays on track, here are three keys for successful project management.
Getting Off to a Good Start is Essential for Succesful Project Management
The kickoff meeting is the foundation of a successful project. A solid and clear kickoff meeting puts the project on the right track. Conversely, an unfocused or disorganized meeting is usually the source of a series of time-consuming problems that may have an impact on the project’s schedule.
These are some steps you can follow to ensure that your project gets off to a good start:
- Make sure to include the client’s project manager (or someone in an equivalent position).
- Before the meeting takes place, gather all relevant information from your team.
- Begin assigning well-defined responsibilities when appropriate.
- Establish a schedule for future meetings.
Identify Key Stakeholders
The stakeholders of a project are those with an interest in the success of the project. This category may include company owners, senior management, and technical managers. It’s worth remembering that some stakeholders may not be particularly interested in the technical aspects of the project. Moreover, that kind of information may bore or overwhelm them, so it’s wise to adjust your communication strategy on a person-to-person basis.
Tracking
Once the project is in motion, tracking is the name of the game for successful project management. This factor is essential to move the project forward. The lack of an effective tracking strategy usually results in delays, disagreements, and finger-pointing.
Luckily there is a very simple strategy that goes a long way toward ensuring that any project is running on schedule: Be proactive about tracking. The most basic way of doing this consists in making a point of never waiting until a target date to check on the results of a task. Instead, always double-check before the due date to get a sense of how the task is progressing.
Darnell Technical Services is an engineering design firm in Santa Ana, California, with the expertise and the drive to always deliver outstanding results.
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